Yao Shunyu stared at Li Maochun in the distance, the confusion in his eyes no less than Li Bai's. "You mean our intelligence was wrong?"
"Those sayings about 'kill and rob, and you'll strike it rich; build bridges and roads, and you'll leave no corpse' are meant to mislead. Jiang Cheng and the others were fooled too."
Li Bai lowered her voice despite herself, a trace of wariness appearing on her face. "Is it possible that the person you spoke to on the phone wasn't Jiang Cheng at all, but a ghost?"
Hearing that in such a place made Yao Shunyu's face turn grim, but a moment later, he shook his head hard. "Don't scare yourself. That was definitely Jiang Cheng on the other end."
He said it, but even Yao Shunyu couldn't explain the situation before them. They were supposed to leave no corpses after building roads, yet Li Maochun seemed to be getting more and more confident as he worked. There were seven obvious potholes along the road. He had already filled and repaired four of them, and was halfway through the fifth.
Most crucially, he hadn't encountered anything at all. No obstacles, no supernatural events, and no ghosts. Compared with what he and Li Bai had experienced, it was simply unbelievable.
The one thing that comforted Yao Shunyu and Li Bai was that Li Maochun seemed perfectly normal. His fear at first, and the growing satisfaction he now felt as he got into the work, were both written plainly on his face. They wanted to see an "ordinary person" like him survive.
But gradually, Yao Shunyu and Li Bai began to sense that something was wrong. It had nothing to do with Li Maochun or the road. Something around them had changed.
"You feel it too?" Li