A Tragedy That Shouldn't Have Happened

The uncles and elders from the same village as Chu Xiaotian were not among the group that had been rescued; they remained buried in the central section of the tunnel, with at least another day of work required to reach them.

It was at this moment that the rescue expert spoke up. Based on his years of experience, he declared that the ten people buried in the middle had no chance of survival. Even if iron supports had created a small pocket of space, there was no way there would be enough oxygen for ten people to survive for so long. Since that was the case, the expert added, the rest of you can dig them out slowly on your own; I have to head to another collapsed building to oversee rescue operations elsewhere.

The rescue expert was not lying; he was truly a busy man. In this era, shoddy construction projects were everywhere, and accidents occurred without pause. As a rescue expert, he had to move rapidly from one location to another, guiding others in pulling people from beneath the earth or piles of rubble. Spending a precious day here directing a rescue team to dig for ten people who were already beyond saving—the expert felt it was far more reliable to go elsewhere and help save more lives.

The person in charge of the project was named Quan Siguang. It must be said that this was a name practically begging for a lightning strike, especially in such a high-risk line of work. Yet, despite the unfortunate name, Quan Siguang was wealthy. He had contracted many projects, and none had ever run into trouble, defying the implications of his name. Consequently, his reputation had soared, making him a trusted contractor. Many projects sought him out, and with things going this way, it was hard for him not to make a fortune.

This time, however, Quan Siguang's luck had run out, and an accident occurred. But up until now, there had been no fatalities, and thanks to the timely rescue efforts, many had survived. As such, this incident had only benefited his reputation rather than harmed it. Previously, Quan Siguang had been in a decent mood, but after hearing the rescue expert's assessment, he found himself in a difficult position.

If there had been a chance of survival for the ten people trapped inside, saving them now would have been another legendary tale to further boost his fame. But the situation was different now; the expert had stated that those trapped inside were definitely dead. In other words, even if he dug them out immediately, they would just be ten corpses, which offered him no benefit at all.

Most importantly, if he continued to let the rescue team dig, the expenses would be astronomical. Having this professional rescue team and the expert stay here for another day would cost at least several hundred thousand. The rescue team's efficiency was beyond reproach, but those pieces of equipment required money to run; without hundreds of thousands being burned, those machines wouldn't budge.

Hundreds of thousands for a single day—this figure made Quan Siguang's heart ache, the kind of ache that cut to the bone. However, Quan Siguang was a clever man. He knew that the current situation was an opportunity; as long as he could rescue a few living people in time, what he gained would surely exceed the money he spent. That was why he had gritted his teeth and paid up. But now that the living were all out and only ten corpses remained in the tunnel, he no longer wanted to spend the money.

He decided to follow the rescue expert's advice and let them leave. Once he made his decision, he let his own construction crew dig out the ten trapped victims slowly; at worst, he would just pay a bit more in burial fees afterward.

To others, Quan Siguang's decision was nothing out of the ordinary—people were like that, always looking to save a penny where they could. But Chu Xiaotian, a practitioner of Spirit Guiding, was vehemently opposed. Having dealt with the dead for years, he possessed a vague intuition regarding life and death. At that moment, he felt a faint sensation in his heart that his ten uncles and elders from the village were likely still alive. This feeling was baseless, even absurd, yet he did not doubt it. He told Quan Siguang of his intuition, begging him not to give up and to keep the rescue team digging.

However, to Quan Siguang and his entourage, these words were merely the typical reaction of a young man who had lost his kin and friends. The rescue expert even patted him on the shoulder, offering a pained, consoling look. "Young man, I know you don't want to believe it, but this is the truth. You must be brave and face it." After saying this, he left. Quan Siguang, ignoring Chu Xiaotian's pleas entirely, ordered another team of his men to continue excavating the tunnel, aiming to get those people out sooner rather than later. Dead bodies shouldn't be buried for too long; it wouldn't be good if they started to rot.

Chu Xiaotian pleaded with Quan Siguang for a long time to no avail, so he turned his attention to the other members of the construction crew who were digging. These men were much easier to talk to than Quan Siguang; they could understand Chu Xiaotian's feelings, and so they dug through the tunnel with all their might. Chu Xiaotian himself dug with everything he had, because his intuition told him that if he didn't open the tunnel quickly, his uncles and elders would never come out.

Although Chu Xiaotian and his group dug with all their strength, working in two shifts around the clock, they were no match for the rescue team with their professional equipment. The professionals could have reached the center in a single day, but even pushing themselves to the limit, it took them two. Two days later, they finally reached the center and found the ten uncles and elders from Chu Xiaotian's village who had been trapped in the tunnel.

Just as the rescue expert had said, they were dead. However, when everyone went to lift their bodies out, they were shocked to discover that the corpses had not yet stiffened and still held a faint, lingering warmth. This meant they had only died a short while ago.

The rescue expert had been wrong; two days ago, these ten people had not actually been dead. There had been a water pipe at their location that led to the outside. When the tunnel collapsed, the pipe broke, cutting off the water, but they had used that pipe to draw in enough oxygen from the outside to barely survive. Yet, to stay alive, oxygen alone was not enough; they needed food and water. Lacking these, after holding on for five days, they finally reached their limit and starved to death.

This was a tragedy that should never have happened. If Quan Siguang had listened to Chu Xiaotian and let the rescue team continue digging, they would have reached them a day later, and those ten people would certainly have been alive.

What should have resulted in no loss of life ended in ten deaths, a situation far more serious than if they had died instantly. Quan Siguang panicked. On the very evening the cause of death was confirmed, he vanished, and no one knew where he had fled.

With his ten uncles and elders dead and the project manager having fled, Chu Xiaotian didn't receive a single cent from Quan Siguang—not for compensation, not for burial fees, not even for the bus fare home. He went to many so-called relevant departments, trying to secure what was owed to his deceased kin.

But the result was always that he had to wait for their investigation, and that they could only decide how to handle it once Quan Siguang was apprehended. Chu Xiaotian had no choice but to wait. He waited for three days, but instead of results, he received a notice: his ten uncles and elders had to be cremated immediately to prevent the bodies from rotting and polluting the city environment.

He had waited for justice but received only this notice, and Chu Xiaotian fell silent. In the eyes of his people, the body was sacred. He had never once considered cremating his uncles and elders; he intended to bring them back to the small mountain village where they had grown up. He had stayed here all this time only to secure the compensation and burial funds. Now, with no money and a demand to cremate them, Chu Xiaotian felt a profound sorrow.

In truth, as a practitioner of the Corpse Guiding Technique, Chu Xiaotian possessed methods for preserving bodies that ordinary people could never comprehend. In his hands, the bodies of his ten uncles would not rot—at least, not for a long time.

He explained this to the so-called city management officials who had come to notify him, demanding they help him transport the bodies back to his hometown. But they didn't take him seriously and insisted on taking the bodies away. And so, the silent Chu Xiaotian erupted. He grabbed a pickaxe, and with it, he smashed the faces of the officials who had come to take the bodies, sending them fleeing in a panic.

Chu Xiaotian waited no longer. He opened the bundle he had brought from the mountain village, took out the Corpse Guiding tools he hadn't used in a long time, and prepared to guide his uncles and elders back to his hometown himself.

The Corpse Guiding Technique appeared incredibly mysterious and terrifying to outsiders, but under Chu Xiaotian's hand, it was remarkably simple. He took out several yellow paper talismans and stuck them to the chests of the ten corpses. He then produced a wooden sword carved from peach wood and performed a series of movements. Those ten people, who had been dead for some time and lying motionless on the ground, actually stood up stiffly. Chu Xiaotian shook a copper bell in his right hand, and the corpses walked in three circles on the spot. Then, one by one, they placed their hands on the shoulder of the person in front of them, while the one at the very front placed his hand on Chu Xiaotian's shoulder. Following the ringing of the copper bell, they began to walk toward the outside.

This was Chu Xiaotian preparing for a long-distance corpse guiding; he linked them together to ensure they wouldn't get lost. If it were only a short distance, he could simply shake the copper bell to guide them, allowing them to walk as if they were normal people.