章節 2: Chapter 2 Cemetery
Yi Chen, having read through the various "Rules",
could roughly confirm that the place he had transcended to was mixed with 'strange' factors not present in his original world,
At the same time,
unknown crises were constantly approaching.
But he still had a glimmer of hope,
Following the hint from the last rule, Yi Chen bent down to look under the wooden bed.
He pushed aside the movable floor's hidden compartment, grabbing a hand axe of a suitable weight from the recess.
"Is this what's referred to as a self-defense tool?"
The hickory handle of the axe, with its surface etched for added grip,
was lightweight, sturdy, and not easily dropped,
The carbon steel-forged axe head was flawless,
Sharpened through a special process, exceedingly sharp, and with the axe blade plated in silver,
Bright, hard, and incredibly destructive,
Hum~ When he tried swinging it, it produced a faint whistling sound in the air.
Such a well-crafted hand axe brought a vague sense of safety, slightly relaxing his tense state of mind.
"Not a bad weapon for self-defense..."
After a simple warm-up, he returned to the desk.
"According to the records in the will, the root cause of this guy's mistake was Rule [Number Three],"
"That is, he failed to notice the changes in the number and order of the gravestones while patrolling Graveyard Number Four."
Yi Chen bit his fingernails,
Now he was faced with an important decision,
Was it better to stay in the wooden hut waiting for danger to come knocking,
or to head to the graveyard alone, facing the danger head-on to break the predicament?
"I should be proactive... According to the records in the rules, perhaps only by restoring Graveyard Number Four can the crisis be completely eradicated. Simply staying put in the hut is likely tantamount to waiting for death."
Yi Chen tried to view the situation in front of him as a test after his transcendence.
However,
there was a series of preparations to be made before setting off.
Firstly,
using his still clever brain, he deeply memorized the graveyard map, as well as the annex's detailed plans for Graveyard Number Four, and the organization's markings, etc.
In addition,
he put on the work clothes folded at the foot of the bed,
It was a dark gray overcoat, somewhere between a raincoat and a trench coat, with a loose hood that could cover half of the face, hiding one's visage in the darkness.
"This coat fits too perfectly... I've never worn such a comfortable jacket before. Was it made to measure?"
Far from restricting movement, the coat allowed his body to move even more fluidly.
He also discovered a metal badge on the left chest, bearing the name of the body's original owner - [William Behrens].
All set,
Just before stepping through the iron door, he tried using the telephone on the wall beside the door.
However,
there was nothing but a harsh buzz inside the receiver; it seemed the telephone line had been damaged, cutting off outside contact.
"Most likely due to a breach of the rules, the 'Manager' above has severed the connection to this place... Time to leave."
Click~ Click
As the door hinges turned, it was as if an elderly person issued a series of warnings from his hoarse throat.
Yi Chen stood at the doorway, wary of any danger that might arise,
Seconds ticked away,
and all that arrived was the nauseating smell of rotting flesh mixed with soil,
The moon tonight was completely obscured, with the only source of light being the kerosene lamp in his hand.
"It seems that [danger] hasn't actively sought me out yet, which is good... Let's start exploring."
With the silver-sparkling axe held in his right hand, hanging by his thigh,
and the kerosene lamp horizontally lifted in front of his chest by his left hand,
Yi Chen, dressed in the dark gray coat, had fully assumed the role of the 'Tomb Guardian,' initiating his first exploration of the graveyard.
Firstly,
just as the map depicted,
the wooden hut known as the "Safe House" was located at the center of the graveyard,
with Graveyards Number One through Six encircling it,
Separated by a lofty three-meter-high openwork iron fence that kept each numbered graveyard apart without interference.
The narrow paths between graves, at most wide enough for a hearse to pass through,
where the wildly grown twisted branches met overhead, shrouding the night sky, enveloping the entire graveyard... If the earlier hut was like a small coffin, then this graveyard was the larger coffin.
Yi Chen felt his heart panic under the oppression of such an environment,
even imagining that a pale foot was following right behind him, and the various branches transformed into arms that wanted to touch his shoulder.
Whoo...
He took a deep breath.
As a child, he had heard from people at the orphanage that one must never look back when passing through eerie places at night, or it might lead to unclean things latching onto oneself.
Therefore, his gaze remained fixed straight ahead, occasionally turning his head at most 45 degrees.
Following the map memorized in his memory, he quickly arrived at the iron gate of graveyard number 4.
However,
a thought suddenly popped into his head.
"I've been moving through the cemeteries for several minutes... Although creepy and oppressive, at least I haven't encountered any danger, nor have I seen any dirty things.
The danger within graveyard number 4 that could drive a person to suicide is certainly not something that can be easily dealt with.
Perhaps I need to run away, to fight a guerrilla warfare.
Wouldn't it be better to first walk through the entire cemetery, to become familiar with the area, and to suss out escape and hiding routes—yes! That's what I'll do."
He temporarily left from the front of graveyard number 4,
Yi Chen began to tour the whole cemetery in a clockwise direction,
and as time flowed, he gradually became accustomed to the atmosphere in the cemeteries,
and also discovered interesting details and settings that existed between the burial grounds.
The numbered cemeteries were different in nature.
For example, all of the tombstones in graveyard number 1 were uniformly made of stone arches, with clean steps and stone pathways, giving a tidy and comfortable feeling.
The neighboring graveyard number 2 adopted oak cross-shaped tombstones, lopsided and overgrown with weeds... the whole area was extremely gloomy, with temperatures differing by as much as 10 degrees Celsius.
He encountered no dangers smoothly along the way,
and in order of their sequence, he arrived at the last, graveyard number 6.
The soil here was unusually moist,
every step felt like stepping into a quagmire, with the soles sinking at least two centimeters.
All the tombstones here were piled up with stones and did not record any information about the deceased's life.
"Hmm... What's that?"
His keen powers of observation led Yi Chen to notice a detail,
in a corner of graveyard number 6,
a stone-built tombstone lay scattered on the ground, as if it had been destroyed by something.
Carrying his axe, he approached to check, walking around the grave mound twice and found nothing unusual,
perhaps fully immersed in his current profession,
or perhaps out of respect for the dead,
once he confirmed there were no dangers, Yi Chen crouched down and painstakingly restored the scattered stones, rebuilding the tombstone.
Before leaving, he unconsciously brought his palms together and bowed slightly.
However,
he had not taken two steps before
a strange voice came from behind.
§Thank You§
The voice was odd, as if a mix of several people's voices, with fluctuating pitches that penetrated deeply.
Yi Chen immediately turned towards where the sound had come from, all the while holding the axe in front of him.
However,
the cemetery behind him was all quiet, without any change.
"Am I just too tense that I'm hearing things? No... I definitely heard it.
There indeed is something supernatural here—only, the voice of thanks just now didn't seem to carry any malice.
Better not to stir up trouble and focus on resolving the most crucial problem at hand."
Yi Chen quickly exited the muddy graveyard number 6.
By now,
apart from graveyard number 7, which was set aside at the edge for storing and dealing with unknown bodies,
he had a clear idea of the general situation of the cemetery in his mind and had also devised the best-evading and diversionary routes.
Next, he needed to confront the troublesome "graveyard number 4".
Not long after Yi Chen left,
in graveyard number 6,
the grave mound that he had just repaired began to show signs of the soil loosening,
and a mouth chewing on fragments of a coffin lid and smeared with moist soil emerged,
seemingly still holding an eyeball in its mouth,
as if it could gaze through the layers of fences and plants at the 'helpful' young man.
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