Faced with Jiang Nuo's questioning, Simazi was clearly unwilling to tell the truth, and his eyes kept darting around.
A Wu tried to rush over but was stopped by Song Zheng, and the atmosphere among them became tense for a moment.
Another shadow flashed by.
This time, it wasn't just A Wu saw it; the bright shadows cast by the indestructible oil lamp swayed on the ground, resembling ghostly figures.
Jiang Nuo frowned and looked over, vaguely seeing a person with only half a face remaining... walking by.
No wonder neither he nor Si Yan noticed; it turns out they were just playing tricks.
"Follow him!"
Simazi suddenly became agitated, ignoring the dagger still pressed against his neck, and grabbed Jiang Nuo's arm, shaking it violently.
"If you don't want to get lost here and never find your way out, you'd better follow him!"
Jiang Nuo didn't sheathe the dagger; instead, she pressed it against Simazi's back. "Go."
"Father!"
A Wu wanted to pounce, but Song Zheng was too strong and held him still, so he could only follow.
The group of five followed the swaying figure. As they walked, Si Yan paid attention to the changes in the cave walls. He instinctively felt that there was something wrong with the feng shui of this tomb, that it had been modified by later generations. However, since they had not yet entered the main burial chamber, it was still up for debate whether it was a particularly inauspicious location in the past.
Jiang Nuo whispered in his ear, "This tomb is so large, and the yin energy is so heavy. There must be quite a few vengeful ghosts in the main underground chamber."
"Isn't the Dao Xuan Association included in it?"
Si Yan shook his head helplessly, then put his arm around Jiang Nuo's waist and leaned closer. "The association only became known to the public this year. In the past, we had to operate more covertly, and we were short-handed, so we didn't have time to include many places."
The shadow seemed to be deliberately leading the way, as if worried that they wouldn't be able to catch up because there were too many forks in the road. It would stop every now and then to wait, swaying and drifting in the tomb. A Wu was so scared that he didn't even dare to open his eyes, afraid that the next second he would be killed face to face.
As they walked, everyone suddenly stopped, and everything went black.
Jiang Nuo looked at the cliff face that was only a few meters long, and the endless darkness of the basement on the cliff made it impossible to see how deep it was.
He grabbed Simazi and threw him to the ground, while the hole behind him was already blocked.
"Is this what you meant by following along so you won't get lost?"
Anyone with poor eyesight would just walk down.
Simazi's expression changed at first, then he sat down in despair, holding his pipe in a depressed mood.
"Anyway, if they find us today, we're doomed. Whatever!"
"If you don't tell the truth, I'll make sure you can't even die."
Jiang Nuo smiled, her most beautiful expression conveying the harshest words. In front of Simazi, a red rope, strong enough to strangle someone, appeared out of thin air in her raised palm.
Simazi: "..."
Who exactly are you people?!
He didn't think that good-for-nothing Wang Laoliu could afford to hire a capable person!
Jiang Nuo pointed at Song Zheng, "Him, the cop."
Then, pointing back to himself and Si Yan, he said, "We are the bad guys."
What kind of combination is this?!
Simazi was furious inside, but he was terrified by Jiang Nuo's sinister expression. He stammered and asked, "What about Wang Laoliu?"
Jiang Nuo feigned regret, but the sarcasm in her eyes remained. "Alas, he's already dead."
While Simazi was stunned, Jiang Nuo leaned down slightly and whispered something that sounded like a demonic voice from hell.
"The goods he got from you are all problematic; everyone who handled them will die, including you."
Just as Simazi was about to say that he wasn't afraid of death, he was stunned by the photo that Jiang Nuo suddenly showed him.
"This is how Wang Laoliu died. Do you want to end up like that?"
Simazi stared at the unrecognizable corpse in the photo, swallowed hard, and gripped the ground with his withered, rough fingers, his heart filled with immense struggle.
He glanced again at the hole that was blocked by wooden planks behind him, and could only tell the truth.
"It's not a ghost inside... it's a person."
"I found out when I came in to pick up the goods. These people were originally from the ancient town, but after searching for goods in the tombs for so long, they contracted a strange disease..."
As Simazi spoke, he lit a cigarette and smoked it with a troubled expression. "At first, when they were going down the mountain, very few people noticed them. If someone got close enough, you had to speak loudly, otherwise you would be ignored, just like they became ghosts."
"Then he developed a strange illness, and he had to return to the tomb, otherwise his body would rot... It was incredibly accurate! As soon as he went out, either his hands and feet would rot, or his internal organs would start to rot."
Upon hearing this, A Wu subconsciously touched his face, wanting to ask his father if the mark on his face was a curse, but he didn't have the courage.
"Having no other choice, the group returned to live in the tomb, and the townspeople all assumed they were dead."
As Simazi spoke, he tapped his pipe on the ground to shake off the ash, "There are no ghosts in this tomb, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to live this long."
It was an almost certain tone.
Jiang Nuo: "... Didn't you ever think that if there really weren't ghosts, how could they have contracted the Ghost Plague?"
Simazi suddenly looked up at him, utterly shocked, "You know what this problem is, so can you save me!"
Jiang Nuo's mind stirred slightly, and she leaned mischievously against Si Yan, arms crossed, and nodded, "Yes, I can save her."
Simazi immediately got up from the ground, fiercely pounded on the wooden board, and shouted in his dialect for them to open the door.
"Let us out! Someone can save your lives!"
After calling out several times, someone finally came to open the door. The dim candlelight shone again, and Song Zheng, who was used to the darkness, squinted. When he saw the scars on these people's faces, even with his strong mental fortitude, he was still startled.
There were about twenty people surrounding them, and none of them had any healthy skin on their faces. Their skin was festering as if it had been splashed with sulfuric acid, and some even had half of their heads melted away, revealing scabbed wounds.
Surprisingly, despite the harsh environment and severe wounds, they seemed completely unaffected. They were robust, each carrying a large knife, and no longer resembled residents of the ancient town at the foot of the mountain, but rather a tribe that had lived there for a long time.
"What did you just say? Who can save us?"
The burly man at the head of the group raised his knife and questioned Simazi, his eyes filled with deep disbelief.
"That's him! He's amazing! He can conjure treasures out of thin air!"
Simazi immediately pointed at Jiang Nuo and shouted to talk to them.
Jiang Nuo was immediately stared at by more than twenty pairs of eyes, some suspicious and some scrutinizing, but almost no one believed her.
He huddled behind Si Yan's shoulder and let out a soft "Hey!"
"It makes me feel really embarrassed."
Simazi: "..." Wasn't that Keniu just now?!
Si Yan put his arm around Jiang Nuo, who was hiding behind him and eager to "play dumb," and raised his eyes to reveal a cold, boss-like smile.
" The Ghost Plague is caused by vengeful ghosts. Contact with people will burn you with yang energy. You can only survive by staying in places with heavy yin energy, such as cemeteries, coffins, and deep mountains."
"The longer you are infected, the more likely you are to become Yin Ghost."