I stopped what I was doing when I heard that. As a smoker, it's normal to be asked to borrow a light. Just as I reached into my pocket to take out my lighter, I was suddenly shocked. Why would someone ask to borrow a light in this desolate place?

I remembered what my grandfather had mentioned in his letter: the thing I needed to borrow a light from later must be something unclean.

This time, however, I didn't feel any chill on my back, so I guessed it wasn't anything evil.

I suppressed my nervousness and, following the instructions in Grandpa's letter, spoke softly, "I didn't bring any fire. You can light whatever you want on the incense sticks."

After I finished speaking, nothing came out behind me, and I didn't turn around to look. After a rustling sound, it became quiet behind me, with only the occasional cry of a lonely bird coming from afar.

In such a mass grave, it's not surprising to hear the cries of lonely birds. If you're extremely lucky, you might even see the legendary will-o'-the-wisps. However, science has already explained the formation of will-o'-the-wisps. My grandfather's USB drive also mentioned that will-o'-the-wisps are simply the spontaneous combustion of yin energy and nothing more.

I calmed myself down, stopped worrying about it, picked up the hoe, and continued digging.

Time is running out. I must retrieve the item before midnight and then put the soil back in.

It was already past 10:30. Time was of the essence, so I didn't care about anything else and swung the hoe vigorously to start digging.

In no time, I had leveled the mound and dug down several tens of centimeters.

As I swung my hoe, I suddenly felt like I'd dug up something. I cleared away the soil and saw that it was a tattered and worn-out object, probably the water quilt that Grandpa had mentioned.

They jumped down and tore open the waterway cover, and saw two packages inside, one on top of the other two tattered coffins, tightly wrapped in tarpaulins.

"Mom and Dad, I'm sorry to have disturbed you. Your son is unfilial."

I bowed to the two coffins, then gritted my teeth and took out the two packages.

After I got out of the pit, I quickly filled the soil back in and then piled up a mound.

After I finished doing all this, I looked at my watch and it was already 11:58.

Thankfully, the time limit hadn't been exceeded. I supported myself with the hoe, panting heavily.

After resting for a while, I looked at the newly piled grave mound and said softly, "Mom and Dad, I'm going back now. I still have some things to take care of. If everything goes well, I'll buy some things to bring back for you."

I hoisted the hoe onto my shoulder, picked up the two bags from the ground, and took a deep look at the two small mounds of earth. My eyes were filled with guilt and self-reproach, but now was not the time for sentimentality. I took a deep breath and turned to walk back the way I came.

But when I turned around, the scene before me left me completely stunned.

I don't know when, but the surroundings have been filled with densely packed figures, no, to be precise, ghostly figures.

Although I didn't count them exactly, there were no fewer than several dozen, and they were all different shapes.

There are men, women, young and old. A small number of them look no different from when they were alive, but most of them are quite terrifying. Missing an arm or a leg is considered mild. Some only have half a head, and some don't even have a head.

Each of them held a burning incense stick in their hand, and regardless of whether they had eyes or not, they were all facing me.

I immediately got goosebumps all over my back. Although these filthy things didn't give me a cold feeling, their sheer number was overwhelming.

Especially around that Bagua incense array, there were at least a dozen people standing there, greedily inhaling the rising smoke.