Chapter 045: Cemetery Bones (1)
When Tao Xing opened her eyes, she was almost blinded by the light.
She covered her eyes with her hands, then looked up to see herself in a magnificent banquet hall. Men and women in suits and gowns were sitting or standing, some holding red wine glasses, and some carrying exquisite snacks.
Looking down at myself again, I was in my twenties, wearing a white suit and a black bow tie, leaning against the wall with one hand, my face slightly flushed, and I had stomach aches.
The original owner probably drank too much and died of an allergy.
Close by, there was a young man dressed similarly to him, with red lips and white teeth, and a slightly raised eyebrow. He was waving his hand in front of his eyes: "Why are you pretending? If you can't drink, don't drink. I'm warning you, everyone here today is an important figure, don't lose your composure, and get over here quickly."
Tao Xing asked 080: "Is there a mission target here?"
080 Check program: "Nothing in close range."
"Hey, did you hear me?" Seeing that he didn't respond, the young man raised his voice, "Don't think that I will be nice to you just because today is our engagement party. Your Tao family is too contemptuous. The one who arranged the marriage was the elder brother, but when it comes to the engagement, it's suddenly the younger brother. If the invitations hadn't been sent out, do you think I would agree to get engaged to you? I don't even consider whether you are worthy of me, a country bumpkin who was kicked out of the Tao family when he was young."
Tao Xing didn't understand what was going on yet and looked up at him.
The young man was shocked by the look and coughed, "What are you looking at? Go and toast the guests, or you will be in trouble. I warn you again, even if I agree to get engaged, I will never sleep with you. After we get married, don't even think about touching me, you country bumpkin."
Tao Xing rubbed his head and looked around.
Seeing that he still didn't respond, the young man became even more angry and raised his hand to slap him: "Why don't you ..."
The slap didn't land.
Tao Xing grabbed his wrist.
Listening to his words, Tao Xing had almost figured it out. The original owner and this young man were in a family marriage, and the one who was supposed to be in the marriage was the original owner's elder brother, but the elder brother refused, so the younger brother temporarily replaced him.
The original owner was kicked out of the Tao family when she was young. She had no status in the eyes of the Tao family and could be used as a tool for marriage at any time.
"Let me go, you're hurting me." The young man frowned, "You're so brave..."
Tao Xing turned to him and said, "Since you don't like it, there's no need to force it."
After saying that, he loosened his grip.
The young man rubbed his wrist and took a step back, looking at him in disbelief: "What do you mean?"
People in the hall noticed something was wrong and came over to look at the newlyweds in surprise: "What happened?"
Tao Xing faced the young man and said, "I mean, don't get engaged."
The young man was stunned.
There was an uproar all around. Wasn't this too sudden?
Tao Xing had already taken off his tie and walked out.
After he passed through the crowd, the young man finally reacted and roared: "Tao Xing, if you dare to leave today, you will never step into my house again!"
Tao Xing did not stop, but acted as if he did not hear anything.
"Tao Xing, I warn you again, don't leave, otherwise you will be in trouble!" The young man's voice became even more angry.
Tao Xing didn't even turn his head, but strode forward, and his figure quickly disappeared in the hall.
Everyone in the hall was dumbfounded.
The young man's face turned pale and he angrily pushed away the dishes on the long table.
Tao Xing pushed the door open and left amidst everyone's surprised looks.
However, when he got outside the manor, he was a little troubled.
Where are you going?
He found the ID card in his pocket. The address on it pointed to an old street. This should be the original owner's home, so he went there.
He hailed a taxi, got in and told the address.
The driver had just stepped on the accelerator when he suddenly braked. Tao Xing's nose hit the front seat and he gasped, "Are we there yet?"
The driver turned around and said embarrassedly, "On the way to this place, we pass by Beishan Cemetery. It's already past eleven o'clock. I'll take you there and then I'll have to turn around and come back alone. It's scary."
"What's wrong with the cemetery?" Tao Xing thought for a moment, "Your cemeteries are all well maintained now, right? There are staff patrolling and there are street lights."
"This is an old cemetery. No one takes care of it. The street lights... I don't know how many of them are still in good condition. The last time I passed by there at around 8 o'clock, it was pitch black. I really didn't dare to go there. I'm sorry."
Tao Xing didn't make things difficult for him. She got off the car and hailed another one.
The new driver heard this and patted his chest: "Look at his lack of ability, there is nothing to be afraid of, don't worry, young man, if you really see a ghost, I will help you drive it away."
This is more reliable, so Tao Xing got in the car with peace of mind and looked at his mobile phone when he had nothing to do.
The basic situation had just been learned, and with the scattered information in the mobile phone, he learned that the original owner was the son of a wealthy family, but his father had a lover outside, and the lover's child was older than him. After his mother found out, she resolutely took him away and moved to the old street where her mother's family lived. At that time, the original owner was about six years old.
As soon as they left, the lover naturally brought the child and officially entered the Tao family. Now it has been nearly twenty years, but the Tao family fell into decline and wanted to marry into the Lin family to save the company, but the brother was unwilling to do so. After much thought, they remembered that the Tao family still had a son.
Same-sex marriage is already common in this world.
There was not much other useful information. He looked at it intermittently and what he was most certain of was that the original owner did not have much money.
"Sure enough, no more benefits, and no more money." Tao Xing sighed, seeing that the original owner's mother had passed away, and now he was dependent on his grandmother.
Looking through the chat records with my grandma, I found that she was the one who contacted me most often, asking if I was cold, hungry, tired, and asking a lot of questions. The original owner basically replied with one sentence every few days: OK, got it.
When I was about to scroll up again, my cell phone rang at an inopportune moment. A man named Tao Chi called.
Tao Xing continued on the phone and looked out the window. The car had already left the downtown area. The light and shadows on both sides gradually dimmed. Fog had appeared around them at some point, and it was white and floating.
The bushes on the roadside looked like ferocious ghosts in the night.
In front of us, a round white shadow suddenly appeared from a crooked tree, like a pale head with a swollen face.
Tao Xing was shocked and horrified.
When the car got closer, he could see clearly that it was a panda-shaped hydrogen balloon.
"Tao Xing!" He just patted his chest to catch his breath when he was startled by a roar on the phone. Before he could reply, he heard a barrage of curses from the other end, "How dare you run away from the marriage? Go back quickly! Young Master Lin hasn't left yet!"
The voice sounded like that of a young man, and considering the name, he was most likely the original owner's brother.
Tao Xing tapped on the car window with her fingers: "No."
"you%&%#……"
There was a crackling sound coming from the receiver, as if the electricity was short-circuited, or like the sound of fingernails scratching on a blackboard, sharp and piercing.
"What did you say?" Tao Xing didn't hear a word.
"I said you%&﹪＃..."
Tao Xing was too lazy to listen to the noise. She looked up and patted the driver: "Master, why are you going back again?"
The driver was startled by the photo: "What?"
"I just passed by that crooked tree, and the balloons hanging on it were all the same."
"Is... is that so?" the driver shivered. "It's too foggy. Maybe we took the wrong road."
"Then go slowly, don't be in a hurry, safety first." There was still a crackling sound on the phone. The person on the other end seemed quite irritable and kept talking, but he didn't hear anything clearly, so he simply hung up.
I wanted to continue watching the chat between the original owner and her grandmother, but I found that my phone had no signal and the past records could not be loaded.
He put his phone back in his pocket, looked up, frowned, and filmed the driver again: "It's the same tree again. Are you taking a detour on purpose?"
The driver suddenly burst into tears, trembling as he stopped the car. When he turned around, his face turned pale: "I have been driving forward, but I always go back and can't get out."
"What's the meaning?"
"It's... it's a ghost wall, it must be. Beishan Cemetery is right next to it. What should I do? What should I do?"
Tao Xing looked outside and was also a little scared: "Master, didn't you say that if I really saw a ghost, you would help me drive it away?"
"I, that's just bragging..."
Tao Xing: “…”
There was no signal on the phone. Tao Xing clenched her hands and said, "We have to find a way. Then... let's go down and find the cemetery's management staff and ask them how to get there."
"Wow, I don't dare to go..." The driver cried even louder.
"...Okay, okay, I'll go by myself. Wait for me."
Tao Xing rubbed his hands, prepared himself mentally, opened the door, and got out of the car.
It was really dark over there at the cemetery. There were no lights, so he held up his cell phone to illuminate the area. There was a stone gate with deep weeds on both sides. The words "Beishan Cemetery" were engraved on the gate. There was a security booth next to it. There was no light on inside, but there was a little light, as if it was from a computer screen.
Not knowing if there was anyone there, he walked over.
Behind me, the car lights suddenly lit up, and the driver turned on the high beam. There were two clicks, and the car started and whooshed away.
"Hey, hey..." Tao Xing turned around and chased after him, "Why did you leave me and run away?"
The driver naturally couldn't hear it.
There was no way he could catch up, so Tao Xing stopped speechlessly.
He looked at his phone and the time was 11:45. It was late at night and it was difficult to get a taxi. He stood on the roadside waiting for ten minutes in fear, but no car came.
Even the taxi never came back.
Isn't this a ghost wall? Why don't you stop fighting now and go back?
There was no other choice, so he had to go back to the security booth and continue looking for people to see if he could ask them to help make a phone call or take a rest inside.
He walked to the front of the pavilion and knocked on the glass. No one answered, so he shone the light inside.
There was no one there. The light was indeed from a computer, probably a surveillance computer that was never turned off. The screen was made up of small grids, which originally showed the scenes from various cameras. Now it was much darker, with only one or two still showing images, illuminating the wasteland and haystacks.
The table was covered in dust, the chair next to it had a broken leg, the air conditioner's electrical cord was hanging down, and there were brown water marks on the opening. It hadn't been used for a long time.
At this moment, a voice came into my mind, 080 said: "Host, the target of the mission is nearby."
"Ah?" Tao Xing was shocked. Here?
"So, he might be a ghost." 080 said.
"What should we do then?"
"Host, you should... go to the cemetery. Ghosts come out at night and cannot be found during the day."
"Hehe..." Tao Xing looked around nervously.
In the previous world, everyone initially thought that the target of the mission was a ghost, but in this world, they guessed right.
But what the system said makes sense. I really have to look for it at night. I might not find it during the day.
Since he was already here, it wouldn't be easy to find the target of the mission so quickly. He took a deep breath and walked in with gritted teeth.
The phone showed twelve o'clock.
There was fog floating all around, the dark cemetery was like a veil, and weeds grew on both sides of the road. It was indeed unattended. I heard the driver on the road say that there is a new cemetery now, and there is basically no space left in this one. They can't make any money, so they don't care much about it.
Rows of tombstones crisscrossed each other. Tao Xing walked forward looking left and right. The light from his cell phone passed over the tombstones one by one. The portraits, names, and life stories were not clear in the night. He could only roughly see that some of the tombstones were very clean, with fresh or withered bouquets of flowers in front of them, while others were overgrown with weeds.
The fog was getting thicker and thicker, and one couldn't see clearly more than ten steps away. Tao Xing walked past two rows of graves when he suddenly heard some strange noises in front of him.
It was like the sound of knocking something, ethereal and strange, as if it came from a distant world, dong, dong dong...
He froze for a moment, his instinct telling him to run away immediately, but... his mind told him that it was very likely that the target of the mission had appeared.
If you miss this village, you will miss this store!
He had no choice but to hold his breath and follow the sound.
I tiptoed to the place where the knocking sound came from and found a grave.
The moonlight is like water and the fog is thick.
He walked around the grave and followed the sound to the side of the tombstone. The tombstone was covered with dust and half-human-high weeds grew on both sides.
The dong dong sound is right next to this monument.
Tao Xing didn't dare to breathe. She held up her cell phone and reached out to wipe the dust off the tombstone.
The dust was too thick and hit his face. He coughed a few times, raised his hand to wave away the dust and stepped back.
Just as he took a step back, he suddenly felt his feet were empty and there was a hole on the ground. Before he could take a closer look, he fell into it with a scream.
First, everything went dark before his eyes, and then he could vaguely glimpse a little light. In the dim light, Tao Xing suddenly saw a human face.
A fair-skinned young man, holding a hammer and nails, was standing in the cave, supporting a ladder.
He couldn't help but widen his eyes.
The young man also widened his eyes and was unable to dodge.
The next moment, Tao Xing fell towards him.
The ladder was smashed into pieces, and Tao Xing fell on the man, hugging him and falling, rolling several times on the ground.
Ding-dong-dong, clatter-clatter, hammers and nails fell all over the floor, broken pieces of the ladder kept falling down. Tao Xing lay on the man, panting, looking around in amazement.
The cave is quite deep and large, about the width of a person, with piles of rocks and smooth surfaces on all sides.
"You..." the man made a sound.
Tao Xing came back to his senses and quickly lowered his head.
The moonlight shines in just right, as bright as water.
Tao Xing saw his face clearly. He had clear features and was very handsome.
He quickly stood up and pulled the other person: "I'm sorry, are you okay?"
The man stood up with him, shook his head faintly, and looked at him doubtfully: "Did you fall from up there?"
"Yes." Tao Xing was also looking at him. He was wearing a Zhongshan suit and had a thin figure.
I just hugged it, and it was warm, so it shouldn’t be a ghost.
Tao Xing asked, "Are you here to repair this hole? This big hole does need to be repaired, but why are you here to repair it in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid of being in the cemetery? And can you see clearly in the dark?"
A hint of doubt flashed across the man's eyes. He didn't answer and looked up. A ray of moonlight slowly floated away from the cave entrance.
His pupils shrank slightly, and he whispered, "You can't get out."
"Yes, we can't get out. The ladder is broken." Tao Xing also looked up. The cave was very deep.
However, due to the background of the world and the physical limitations of the original owner, no matter how skilled he is, he cannot fly.
This ladder is quite long, much longer than the one he custom-made in the last world.
He made some calls, but still no signal.
"I'm sorry, I broke your ladder. I will definitely find a way to get you out." He felt very guilty about the people around him. Right now, getting the people out was the most important thing. Finding the target of the mission could be put on hold for the time being. He couldn't let others take the blame for his own mission.
He used a flashlight to shine around, and saw that the stones were slippery and there was an occasional sound of water dripping. He held up his phone and the light slowly spread out. He stretched his head and looked: "Wow, there are stairs. There is a road here."
As far as the eye can see, there are stone steps leading downwards.
"It should be an underground passage. Generally, there is an exit in front." He turned back and grabbed the young man. "Come on, don't worry, I will protect you."
The man pondered for a moment, put his left hand in his palm, and let him lead him, walking down the stairs step by step.
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