More Unknowns

The tomb chamber was extremely spacious. Aside from the spirit tablet in the very center and the candle sconces on the walls, there was nothing else.

Liu Haoyu took several candles from his pocket. After lighting them, he placed them in the sconces.

One each in the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest.

The candlelight brightly illuminated the tomb chamber.

Liu Haoyu finally confirmed that the four large characters written on the spirit tablet were indeed "Tomb of Qin Liu."

Deng Xiaolin could not help stepping forward to take a look as well.

"Brother Hao... Qin Liu is that Fierce Ghost from the haunted house you mentioned before?"

"Yes."

After answering Deng Xiaolin's question, Liu Haoyu crouched down and took a small brush from his pocket. Little by little, he carefully cleaned the dust and cobwebs off the spirit tablet.

It took quite a while, to the point that Deng Xiaolin grew a little impatient and took two apples out of her shoulder bag.

"Want an apple?"

"Thanks."

Liu Haoyu did not refuse. After taking the apple from Deng Xiaolin, he bit into it and continued carefully cleaning the dust from the spirit tablet.

After spending more than ten minutes on it, Liu Haoyu finally cleaned the spirit tablet completely.

It did not list Qin Liu's birth father or mother. On the solitary memorial tablet, there was only Qin Liu's name, along with her date of birth and date of death.

"1971–198*..."

Judging from those dates, Qin Liu had lived for only ten-* years.

Seeing this, Deng Xiaolin could not help feeling a trace of sympathy.

"She was even younger than me... Did she die from some illness?"

"I don't know."

Liu Haoyu shook his head. They knew far too little at present.

He looked at the offerings before the spirit tablet. There were only a few weathered candy wrappers, along with a little incense ash and joss paper.

Apart from that, there was nothing...

Nothing at all.

The altar was utterly desolate. There was not even a single weed.

It was possible that no one had come here for more than a decade.

Looking at the altar covered only in dust, Liu Haoyu said,

"Xiao Lin, do you still have any apples on you? Snacks or something would work too."

"Ah... No."

Deng Xiaolin had brought the apples because she was worried about getting hungry while she was out. Besides, two apples were already plenty; she could not have carried many more.

Hearing this, Liu Haoyu had no choice. He took out his knife, cut the apple in his hand in half, and placed the halves in the center of the offering tray.

He also inserted some incense before the spirit tablet.

No matter what, this counted as a small repayment to Qin Liu.

After finishing everything, Liu Haoyu said to Deng Xiaolin,

"Let's go back."

"Ah... So soon?"

"I didn't expect us to end up here in the first place."

People said that plans could never keep up with changes, and tonight's situation fit that saying perfectly.

Liu Haoyu had originally planned to find the door to the haunted house's basement and Qin Liu. He had never expected to be transported to a place like this.

The two of them returned to the surface. As Liu Haoyu looked at the bright moonlight, several questions still lingered in his mind.

Where had Qin Liu's body gone?

Why was her soul so far away from her tomb?

And what exactly was Qin Liu's background?

People said that exploring the unknown meant encountering more and more unknowns.

Now it seemed that this saying was not wrong. Until the very end, it would be difficult for him to uncover the truth of the matter.

As for asking Qin Liu, he figured that the Fierce Ghost would not tell him either.

"Brother Hao, I think I came here before on a spring outing,"

Deng Xiaolin said, pointing to the left.

"If I remember correctly, the road should be not far in that direction."

"Let's try our luck and see if we can find a private car passing by."

It was only two in the morning. If they were lucky, they should be able to encounter one or two private cars.

Thus, the two of them reached the roadside. To avoid waiting indefinitely without finding a car, they continued walking toward the city while they waited.

After walking for a full half hour, headlights finally appeared behind them.

Liu Haoyu turned around and waved to the private car behind them.

The driver also saw them and slowly stopped beside them.

"Are you two heading to Jiangquan City?"

Once the car window rolled down, they saw a square-faced man.

However, after he stopped, Liu Haoyu sensed that something was slightly off.

Were there still Jetta 2000s this new in this era...?

Liu Haoyu clearly remembered that this model had gone out of production long ago. Even if it had been bought secondhand, it should not have been this new.

He checked the talismans in his pocket and said,

"That's right. Can you give us a ride? We can discuss the price."

"Of course, no problem." The square-faced man smiled readily and said, "Fifty per person. Get in."

Liu Haoyu gave him one hundred yuan. After the driver accepted it, the car started moving again. The noise reduction and suspension of this 2000s-era sedan were indeed rather poor, forcing the girl to press tightly against Liu Haoyu in order to find even a little comfort.

After driving for a while, Liu Haoyu noticed that the driver had turned onto another road with even fewer people around.

There were streetlights on both sides of the road, but they were not lit because they had fallen into disrepair.

On top of that, the increasingly thick fog made visibility extremely poor.

The temperature inside the car gradually began to drop. He did not know whether it was because of the air conditioner or something else.

"Driver, you took the wrong road. This doesn't lead to the city."

Liu Haoyu spoke with complete calm.

"You need to turn around to get to Jiangquan City."

However, the driver remained completely unmoved by Liu Haoyu's words. Like a walking corpse, he continued driving.

"Brother Hao, Brother Hao..."

Deng Xiaolin spoke in a trembling voice that only the two of them could hear.

"When I came here from Jiangquan City on that spring outing, I remember there being only one road... There weren't any forks at all."

Seeing that Deng Xiaolin was somewhat frightened, Liu Haoyu soothed her and said,

"I know what's happening now, but don't be afraid. Do you still have a signal on your phone? Mine's out of battery."

"Yes, yes."

Deng Xiaolin took her phone out of her pocket and said,

"The signal's full too."

Liu Haoyu kept his eyes on the driver and did not look away.

For safety's sake, he said to Deng Xiaolin,

"Look up this car's license plate for me. I can't spare a hand right now."

"Mm-hmm!"

Deng Xiaolin knew that Liu Haoyu was keeping watch on the driver's movements, so she used the fastest method available and began searching with the help of a little technology.

But when she saw the results, her eyes widened. Suppressing the fear in her heart, she spoke in a trembling voice.

"This driver... died ten years ago!"