Chapter Thirty: More Unknowns

The tomb chamber was very spacious. Apart from the spirit tablet in the center and the candle holders on the wall, there was nothing else.

Liu Haoyu took out a few candles from his pocket, lit them, and placed them on the candle holders.

One at each of the four cardinal directions.

The candlelight illuminated the tomb chamber brightly.

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

Deng Xiaolin couldn't help but step forward to observe.

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

"Yes."

After answering Deng Xiaolin's question, Liu Haoyu squatted down, took out a small brush from his pocket, and began to meticulously clean the dust and cobwebs from the spirit tablet.

It took quite some time, so much so that Deng Xiaolin grew impatient and took out two apples from her shoulder bag.

"Want an apple?"

"Thanks."

Liu Haoyu didn't refuse. He took the apple from Deng Xiaolin's hand, took a bite, and continued to carefully clean the dust off the spirit tablet.

After about ten minutes, Liu Haoyu finally finished cleaning the spirit tablet.

It didn't list Qin Liu's parents. On the solitary tablet, there was only Qin Liu's name, her birth date, and her death anniversary.

"1971-198*..."

Judging from these dates, Qin Liu had only lived for ten-something years.

Seeing this, Deng Xiaolin couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

"She's younger than me... Did she die of an illness?"

"I don't know."

Liu Haoyu shook his head. There was simply too little information known so far.

He looked at the offerings in front of the spirit tablet. There were only a few weathered candy wrappers, some incense ash, and paper money.

Besides that, nothing else...

Nothing at all.

The altar was desolate, not even a single blade of grass.

It was possible no one had visited this place in over a decade.

Looking at the dusty altar, Liu Haoyu said.

"Xiaolin, do you have any more apples on you? Or snacks?"

"Ah... no more."

Deng Xiaolin had brought apples mainly in case she got hungry while out, and two apples were already quite a lot; she couldn't carry any more.

Hearing Deng Xiaolin's words, Liu Haoyu had no choice. He took out his small knife, split the apple in his hand in two, and placed them in the center of the offering plate.

He also stuck some incense sticks in front of the spirit tablet.

Regardless, this was a small token of appreciation for Qin Liu.

After finishing everything, Liu Haoyu said to Deng Xiaolin.

"Let's go back."

"Ah... so soon?"

"We didn't expect to come to this place in the first place."

They say plans can't keep up with changes, and tonight's situation perfectly described that saying.

Liu Haoyu had originally intended to find the door to the haunted house's basement and Qin Liu, but he never expected to be teleported to a place like this.

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

Where did Qin Liu's body go?

Why was her soul so far from her tomb?

And what was the truth about Qin Liu's background?

They say the path of exploring the unknown is encountering more and more unknowns.

It seemed 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, it was unlikely the Fierce Ghost would tell him.

"Brother Hao, I think I came to this place during a spring outing,"

Deng Xiaolin said, pointing to the left.

"If I remember correctly, the road isn't far in this direction."

"Let's try our luck and see if any private cars pass by."

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

So, the two of them went to the side of the road. To prevent the situation where they couldn't get a ride, they started walking towards the city center while waiting.

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

Liu Haoyu turned and waved at the private car behind them.

The driver of the private car also saw them and slowly stopped beside them.

"Are you two heading to Jiangquan City?"

When the car window rolled down, a man with a square, stern face was revealed.

However, after the car stopped, Liu Haoyu felt something was slightly off.

In this era... were there still Jetta 2000s this new?

Liu Haoyu clearly remembered that this model had been discontinued a long time ago. Even buying a used one wouldn't make it this pristine.

Thus, he checked the talismans in his pocket and said, "That's right. Could you give us a ride? We can negotiate the price."

"Of course, no problem," the square-faced man said with a hearty laugh. "Fifty each. Get in."

Liu Haoyu gave the driver one hundred yuan. After the driver took the money, the vehicle started moving again. The noise reduction and shock absorption capabilities of the small cars from the 2000s were indeed not very good, causing the young girl to have to stick close to Liu Haoyu to gain any sense of comfort.

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

There were streetlights on both sides of the road, but they were not lit due to disrepair.

Coupled with the gradually thickening fog, visibility became extremely poor.

The temperature inside the car began to drop, whether it was due to the air conditioning or something else, they didn't know.

"Driver, you've taken a wrong turn. This isn't the way to the city,"

Liu Haoyu said calmly.

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

However, facing Liu Haoyu's words, the driver was completely unresponsive, driving the car as if he were a walking corpse.

"Hao Ge, Hao Ge..."

Deng Xiaolin said, her voice trembling, only audible to the two of them.

"During the spring outing, I remember there was only one road from Jiangquan City to this place... there weren't any forks."

Seeing Deng Xiaolin looking a bit scared, Liu Haoyu comforted her.

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

"Yes, yes."

Deng Xiaolin took out her phone from her pocket and said.

"The signal is full bars."

Liu Haoyu kept his eyes fixed on the driver, never looking away.

For safety's sake, he said to Deng Xiaolin, "Help me check the license plate of this car. I can't get my hands free right now."

"Okay, okay!"

Deng Xiaolin knew that Liu Haoyu was wary of the driver's actions, so she used her fastest speed and a bit of technology to start searching.

However, when she saw the result, she couldn't help but widen her eyes. Suppressing the fear in her heart, she said in a trembling voice, "This driver... died ten years ago!"