Beyond Cognition

4

Standard Arabic numerals were engraved above the Stone Arch.

The hollow, patterned Iron Gate, whose top was cast with spikes, slowly swung open.

Beside the gate stood a wooden cart, an iron shovel, hemp rope, and burlap sacks, all used to repair, alter, or level graves.

Yi Chen placed the ax and Kerosene Lamp onto the cart as well.

Phew~ He took a deep breath,

and pushed the wooden cart forward.

When the cart's wheels rolled into the soil of Graveyard Plot 4, no danger descended as he had expected.

As Yi Chen stepped into Graveyard Plot 4, he looked around,

taking a rough glance.

He found no 'monsters' wandering around,

nor anything strange.

Compared to the other graves, this place felt 'ordinary.'

The temperature and humidity were suitable,

and the soil was hard, with few weeds.

The proportions of Open Space, graves, and vegetation were also just right.

However,

there were two unusual things worth noting.

1. The vegetation here, especially the trees distributed along the edges, gave off a withered feeling, as though they might snap at any moment... The leaves had also fallen in large patches, unlike the lush foliage of the other graves.

2. There were more than sixty graves here, more than in any other graveyard,

and the gravestones had no 'uniform' style. All kinds of gravestones could be found.

Stone, wood, and even metal,

rectangular, arched, and cross-shaped.

They were as disorderly as a Burial Zone.

Yi Chen pushed the wooden cart between the graves,

carefully observing every area he passed. After further confirming that no 'foreign objects' were present, the tension in his heart eased slightly.

Immediately afterward,

he brought up the Original Layout Map from his mind and compared it with the graveyard before him, trying to find differences in the number and Order of the graves.

After all, he had a background in engineering.

He was quite skilled at this kind of 'spot the difference.' He soon found the answer—an answer that sent a chill through Yi Chen.

There was one extra grave.

This extra grave was located deeper inside.

A cross-shaped metal gravestone was planted in the ground.

The height of its mound was the same as those around it.

Staring at the extra grave, Yi Chen thought:

'According to the rules, I need to completely level the extra mound.

If there's a corpse buried inside,

then according to Rule V, transferring it to Graveyard Plot 7, which exclusively receives unknown corpses, should be feasible.

But... things definitely aren't that simple. Otherwise, the original owner of this body wouldn't have chosen suicide. I have to proceed carefully.'

After confirming that nothing unusual was nearby, he officially got to work.

He did not touch the metal cross.

In his view, this symbol of holiness might be able to suppress evil things.

He grabbed the iron shovel from the cart and aimed it at the raised mound... Scrape!

When he had been alive in the Orphanage, he had often helped with farm work in the backyard. He was fairly used to handling an iron shovel.

Clang!

Then a loud metallic impact rang out.

Under the light of the Kerosene Lamp, part of a coffin lid was revealed.

"A metal coffin?"

He shoveled away the Surface Layer of soil.

The pitch-black hexagonal coffin lid sealed the coffin tightly, with no sign that it had ever been opened.

Since he had already made up his mind to solve the problem and clean up the mess,

Yi Chen immediately found an effective leverage point against the metal coffin before him.

He tried to pry it open.

Creak!

The sound of the coffin lid being pried open was like a sharp thorn, instantly piercing the graveyard's veil of silence.

The light released by the Kerosene Lamp eagerly squeezed inside, revealing the coffin's contents.

"This is..."

A naked adult male corpse.

His skin was completely green. Rotten blood vessels formed marble-like patterns across his body, which was covered in livor mortis... It was also coated in a large amount of moss.

The eyeballs had long since vanished from the sockets. In their place was a cluster of fungi.

The slightly writhing Fungal Umbrellas resembled the compound eyes of an insect.

"Moss and fungi?

"How did these things grow inside a completely sealed metal coffin?"

While puzzled,

Yi Chen noticed another detail.

The corpse lay flat, with its hands resting at its sides.

Its fingernails had fallen off.

On the exposed nail beds, thin roots had actually grown, extending toward the bottom of the coffin.

They gave the impression that the corpse was 'stuck' to the coffin floor.

An indescribable sense of strangeness began to grow in Yi Chen's heart, even provoking fear. He abandoned the idea of 'transferring the corpse.'

He grabbed the Kerosene Lamp and tried to throw it inside,

intending to give the strange corpse a 'cremation on the spot.'

Once the idea took shape, his right hand also began the downward throwing motion...

However,

just as the Kerosene Lamp was about to leave his hand,

the image of the lighthouse guiding him flashed through his mind.

The instinct born in his mind told Yi Chen that the Kerosene Lamp, the only light source in the Cemetery, absolutely could not be destroyed.

As an engineering graduate, Yi Chen placed great importance on and understood the meaning of so-called intuition.

Intuition

was the result of the brain, under certain circumstances, rapidly gathering environmental factors and integrating all its memory data, including subconscious information, before arriving at a comprehensive analysis.

Because Self-Awareness could not keep up with the process, it gave people the sensation of something appearing in an instant.

Some people paid it no mind.

Yet it was often a correct and effective analytical result.

That intuition made him keep the Kerosene Lamp in his hand instead of throwing it.

"The only light source... I still can't determine what the real 'danger' is.

"If the entire Cemetery is problematic, then the moment I lose the light source, I might be swallowed by this darkness.

"I'd better follow my original plan and transfer the corpse."

Yi Chen slapped his cheeks, heightening his focus.

He grabbed the iron shovel again,

slid it in along the coffin wall,

and tried to pry the corpse up into a sitting position... That would make it easier to carry the entire corpse out.

However,

something even stranger happened.

The prying process was extremely difficult. With great effort, he managed to lift the corpse less than two finger-widths.

Through the gap he had created,

Yi Chen saw a horrifying scene he would never forget...

Roots of varying thickness, densely packed together, grew from the corpse's back.

The roots had long since pierced through the coffin floor and burrowed deep underground.

Pulsing,

sucking,

and extracting

nutrients from beneath the ground.

The ghastly sight immediately reminded Yi Chen of the withered, ruined trees throughout Graveyard Plot 4.

"This thing is absorbing the 'vitality' of the graveyard!"

At that very moment,

a familiar warning sounded from the outskirts of the graveyard.

§Be careful§

The voice was exactly the same as the one that had thanked him in Graveyard Plot 6, making it highly recognizable.

Because his mind was intensely focused,

the sudden warning caused Yi Chen to instinctively roll backward, putting more than a meter of distance between them.

At the spot where he had just been standing, rotten vines had emerged from the ground... If he had failed to roll away, they would probably have wrapped around his feet and dragged him into the coffin.

Immediately afterward,

creak, creak~

Supported by the roots,

the corpse inside the coffin rose to its feet.

The roots planted underground were pulled out one after another. They ranged from thirty to one hundred centimeters in length and swayed from its back.

The Fungal Umbrellas in the corpse's eye sockets gathered together, forming shapes resembling pupils.

They stared directly into Yi Chen's eyes.

During that exchange of gazes,

Yi Chen immediately understood why the owner of this body—William Berens—had chosen suicide instead of fighting to the death.

The pain of dying from poison was indeed far more bearable than being killed by a monster, having the nutrients in his body sucked dry, or being eaten alive.

≮There's no way I can beat it≯

If it were merely a zombie from a science-fiction movie, Yi Chen believed he could at least put up a fight head-on.

But the Living Corpse before him

had far surpassed his understanding.

Facing such an unknown entity, if he recklessly charged forward... he might be killed instantly the next second.

Run!

Without the slightest hesitation,

he hooked the Kerosene Lamp onto the leather loop at his waist and took off.

At the same time, he formed the best route for circling around it in his mind.

'I have to spend time circling and observing it, figuring out some of its traits... I can't rush! Calm down and maintain a normal breathing rhythm!'

Just as he was about to slip out of Graveyard Plot 4,

clang!

Without warning,

the Iron Gate, more than three meters tall, suddenly slammed shut.

Yi Chen, still sprinting, kicked the Iron Gate with all his might... Clang!

The tightly closed gate did not budge, completely sealing him inside.

Staring at the chains that had somehow wound around the gate outside,

Yi Chen couldn't help but let out a string of curses.

The work has been signed. Sacrifices needed, sacrifices needed, sacrifices needed~

Thanks to the reader "I Love Novels and Such" (CS) for offering a Grandmaster sacrifice.