Chapter 3 Existence Beyond Cognition

  【4】

 Standard Arabic numerals, carved on stone arches.

 The hollow, printed iron gate with spikes on the top was slowly pushed open.

 There is a wooden cart, shovel, hemp rope and sacks on the side of the door for repairing, changing or leveling the cemetery.

Yichen put the ax and the kerosene lamp on the cart together.

Huh~ take a deep breath,

  Pushing the wooden cart,

 When the cart's rollers pressed into the soil of the cemetery, there was no danger as expected.

Yi Chen also looked around when he stepped into Cemetery No. 4.

 At a cursory glance,

 Having not found any ‘monsters’ wandering here,

There is nothing strange about it,

 Compared with other cemeteries, this place feels "fair".

 Suitable temperature and humidity,

 Soil that is hard and has few weeds,

 The proportions of open space, graves and vegetation are just right.

but,

 There are two special places worth noting.

  1. The vegetation here, especially the trees distributed on the edges, give people a feeling of withered and about to break at any time...The leaves are also falling off in pieces, unlike other cemeteries that are as leafy as other cemeteries.

  2. There are more than sixty graves here, more than any other cemetery.

And the style of tombstones is not "unified", there are all kinds of tombstones,

 Stone, wood and even metal,

 Rectangle, arch, cross,

It’s as messy as a mass grave.

Yichen pushed the wooden cart between the cemeteries,

Carefully observe every area you pass by, and after further confirming that there is no ‘foreign object’, your tense heartstrings relax slightly.

  Immediately afterwards,

  Call up the ‘original distribution map’ in your brain, compare it with the cemetery in front of you, and try to find the difference in quantity and order.

  After all, I am from an engineering background.

  She is quite good at this kind of "finding differences", and she quickly got the answer, an answer that made Yi Chen shudder.

  【One more grave】

This extra tomb is located deeper,

 A cross-shaped metal tombstone is inserted into the ground.

 The raised height of the grave mound is consistent with the surrounding area.

Looking at the extra grave, Yi Chen thought:

　　　According to the rules, the extra graves need to be completely leveled.

 If there is a body buried inside,

 According to Rule V, transfer to Cemetery No. 7, which is dedicated to unknown corpses, should be feasible.

However... things are certainly not that simple, otherwise the original owner of this body would not have chosen to commit suicide and must proceed with caution. 』

 After confirming that there is nothing unusual around you, start the work.

 Haven’t attacked the metal cross,

 In his opinion, this kind of sacred cross may be able to suppress evil spirits.

 Pick up the shovel on the cart and aim it at the raised mound of soil...Crack!

When he was in the orphanage, he often helped with a lot of farm work in the backyard, and he was fairly comfortable with a shovel.

 Dang!

 Until a loud metal collision sound came,

 In the light of the kerosene lamp, part of the coffin lid was revealed.

 “Metal coffin?”

 Shovel away the surface soil,

The dark hexagonal coffin lid tightly sealed the coffin body, with no sign of the coffin being opened.

 Since you have made up your mind to solve the problem and clean up the mess,

Facing the metal coffin in front of him, Yi Chen immediately found an effective fulcrum.

 Try to knock,

 Gah!

The sound of the coffin lid being pried open was like a sharp thorn, instantly piercing the curtain of silence in the cemetery.

 The flames released by the kerosene lamps couldn't wait to squeeze into the coffin, showing the specific conditions inside the coffin.

"This is…"

 The corpse of a naked adult male,

 His skin is completely green, with marble-like lines formed by rotten blood vessels, covered with corpse spots... and is also covered with a large amount of bryophytes.

 The beads between the eyes are long gone, replaced by colonies of fungi.

These slightly squirming fungi are like the compound eyes of insects.

  “Moss, fungus?

How could these things grow in this completely sealed metal coffin? "

 At the same time of doubt,

Yi Chen noticed another additional detail.

 The body is placed flat between the palms of both sides,

 Fingernails fall off,

 On the surface of the nail flesh, slender roots actually sprouted, extending to the bottom of the coffin.

 It gives people a feeling of being 'glued' to the bottom of the coffin.

 An indescribable strange feeling grew in Yi Chen's heart, which even stimulated the emergence of fear. He gave up the idea of ​​'transporting the corpse',

 He grabbed the kerosene lamp and tried to throw it into it,

 Give this weird corpse an ‘on-site cremation’,

The idea has been formed, and the right hand also makes a downward throwing motion...

However,

 At the moment when the kerosene lamp was about to be released,

The image of the lighthouse leading the way flashed through my mind,

The intuition in his brain told Yi Chen that the kerosene lamp, which was the only source of light in the cemetery, must not be destroyed.

Yi Chen, who was born in an engineering field, attaches great importance to and understands the meaning of intuition.

  【Intuition】

It is the result of the brain, under certain opportunities, super-quickly collecting environmental factors, integrating all memory data, including subconscious data, and comprehensively analyzing them.

 Since self-awareness cannot keep up with this process, it gives people a feeling of coming out of nowhere.

 Some people don’t take it seriously,

 However, it is often a correct and valid analysis result.

 Such an intuition kept the kerosene lamp in his hand instead of throwing it away.

“The only source of light…I can’t yet determine what the real ‘danger’ is.

 If there is a problem in the entire cemetery, once I lose the light source, I may be swallowed up by the darkness here instantly.

 Let's just follow the original idea and transfer the body. "

Yi Chen slapped his cheek with his hand to improve his concentration.

 Pick up the shovel again,

  Stretching into it against the wall of the coffin,

 Try to pry the body up and change it to a [sitting position]... This way, it will be easier to transport the whole body out.

However,

 Even stranger things happened,

 The prying process was extremely difficult, and it was with great difficulty that the body was lifted within two fingers.

 Through the gap opened by prying,

Yichen saw a strange scene that he would never forget...

 There are densely packed roots of different thicknesses growing on the back of the corpse.

These roots have already penetrated the bottom of the coffin and penetrated deep.

Pulsating,

　　sucking,

 Extracting,

 Nutrient materials from the ground.

This horrifying scene immediately reminded Yi Chen of the withered and dilapidated trees in Cemetery No. 4.

 “This guy is sucking the ‘life’ out of the cemetery!”

 At the same moment,

A familiar warning sound came from the outside of the cemetery.

§careful§

This voice is exactly the same as the voice of thanks heard before in Cemetery No. 6, and it is very recognizable.

 Due to high concentration of spirit,

The sudden warning sound prompted Yi Chen to roll backwards instinctively, opening a distance of about one meter.

 Where he just stood, rotten vines appeared on the ground... If he hadn't rolled away, he might have been entangled in his feet and dragged into the coffin.

  Immediately afterwards,

 Gajigaji~

 With the support of roots,

  The corpse in the coffin stood up,

 The roots stuck in the ground were pulled out one after another, ranging in length from 30cm to 100cm, swaying on the back.

 The fungi in the eye sockets of the corpse gathered together to form a shape similar to eyes.

　Looking directly into Yi Chen’s eyes.

 Between looking at each other,

Yichen immediately understood why the owner of this body - [William Behrens] did not want to fight to the death, but committed suicide.

 The pain of dying from drinking poison is indeed much more comfortable than being killed by monsters, or even being sucked out of the body's nutrients and eaten alive.

Impossible to beat≯

If it were just a zombie in a science fiction movie, Yi Chen thinks he could still fight it head-on.

 But the living corpse in front of me,

 Far beyond his knowledge,

Facing such an unknown individual, if you step forward recklessly... you may be instantly killed in the next second.

run!

 Without any hesitation,

　　The kerosene lamp was hung on the leather buckle on the waist, and he ran away.

Also imagined the best roundabout route in his mind.

　　　　You must take time to make detours and observations to figure out some of its characteristics...there is no rush! Calm down and maintain a normal breathing rate! 』

Just when he was about to slip out of Cemetery No. 4,

　　哐婷!

 Without any warning,

The iron gate, about three meters high, slammed shut.

 Yi Chen, who was in sprinting state, kicked the iron door violently...Dang!

The closed door didn't move at all, completely sealing it inside.

Looking at the iron chain wrapped around the door at some point,

Yi Chen couldn't help but burst out the quintessence of Chinese culture.

The work has been signed and we need sacrifices, we need sacrifices, we need sacrifices~

  Thanks to the book friend [My favorite novel (CS)] for offering the leader’s sacrifice

　　

 (End of this chapter)