Chapter 3

The standard Arabic numeral "4" was engraved on a stone archway. The intricately patterned iron gate with a spiked top creaked as it opened slowly. Beside the gate stood a wooden cart equipped with a shovel, hemp rope, and burlap bags, all used for cemetery maintenance, alterations, or leveling. Yi Chen placed his axe and kerosene lamp on the cart as well, took a deep breath, and pushed the wooden cart forward. As the wheels of the cart pressed into the soil of the cemetery, no expected danger arose. Yi Chen looked around as he entered Cemetery No. 4. On the surface, nothing unusual appeared—no wandering "monsters" or strange occurrences. Compared to other cemeteries, this one seemed "ordinary," with a comfortable temperature and humidity, firm soil with few weeds, and a balanced ratio of open space, graves, and vegetation. However, two peculiar details stood out: 1. The vegetation, especially the trees along the edges, appeared withered and brittle, as if they could snap at any moment. The leaves fell in clusters, unlike the lush greenery in other graveyards. 2. The number of graves exceeded sixty, more than any other cemetery, and the headstones were varied in design. Stone, wood, and even metal gravestones coexisted, with rectangular, arched, and cross shapes, making the area look like a chaotic burial ground. Pushing the cart between the graves, Yi Chen inspected each area carefully, confirming the absence of any "anomalies" and relaxing slightly. Next, he compared the current cemetery layout to the "original distribution map" in his mind, searching for discrepancies in the number and arrangement of graves. Being an engineering graduate, he was skilled at spotting differences and soon found an unsettling answer: "An extra grave." This additional grave was located in a deeper area, marked by a metal cross embedded in the ground. The mound's height matched the others. As he stared at the newly discovered grave, Yi Chen thought: "According to the rules, any extra grave must be completely leveled. If a body is inside, it should be transferred to Cemetery No. 7, designated for unknown corpses, as per Rule V. However, things can't be that simple; the original owner of this body wouldn’t have chosen suicide otherwise. I need to proceed cautiously." After confirming no unusual activity nearby, he got to work. He left the metal cross untouched, believing it might serve as a holy symbol to ward off evil. Grabbing the shovel from the cart, he struck the mound—crack! In his orphanage days, he had done plenty of farm work in the backyard, so handling a shovel felt natural. Clang! A loud metallic sound rang out. In the lamplight, part of a coffin lid emerged. "A metal coffin?" He cleared away the topsoil, revealing a hexagonal black metal lid sealed tightly without any signs of prior opening. Having resolved to deal with this issue and clean up the mess, Yi Chen found a leverage point to pry open the lid. Creak! The lid creaked as it was lifted, the sound slicing through the cemetery’s silence like a piercing spike. The light from the kerosene lamp rushed inside, revealing the contents of the coffin. "This is…" Inside was a naked adult male corpse. His skin had turned green, with rotting blood vessels forming a marble-like pattern across the body, covered in blotches… and a dense layer of moss and fungal growth. His eye sockets no longer held any eyeballs but were instead filled with clusters of fungi, which wriggled slightly like insect eyes. "Moss and fungi? How did these grow in a completely sealed metal coffin?" His curiosity piqued, Yi Chen noticed something else: The corpse’s hands lay flat beside him, with nails that had fallen off. Thin roots sprouted from the nail beds, extending toward the coffin's bottom, as if "adhering" to it. A sense of inexplicable unease crept over him, intensifying his fear. Abandoning the idea of "relocating the corpse," he grabbed the kerosene lamp, planning to incinerate the strange body then and there. His hand readied to throw it… But just as the lamp was about to leave his grip, an image flashed in his mind—the guiding light of a lighthouse. His intuition warned him: the kerosene lamp, the cemetery's only light source, must not be broken. As an engineering graduate, Yi Chen valued and understood the importance of intuition. [Intuition] The brain, under certain conditions, rapidly gathers environmental factors, integrates all memory data, including subconscious information, and derives a result through comprehensive analysis. Because the conscious mind cannot keep up with this process, it feels like a sudden flash of insight. Some people don’t take it seriously. However, it’s often an accurate and effective analytical outcome. This intuition made him keep the oil lamp in his hand rather than discarding it. "The only source of light... I still can’t be sure of the true 'danger' here. If there’s a problem with the entire cemetery, losing my light source could mean being instantly swallowed by the darkness." So he decided to stick to his initial plan to transport the corpse. Yi Chen patted his cheeks to stay focused. He picked up the iron shovel again, pressed it against the edge of the coffin, and slid it in, attempting to pry the body into a 'sitting position'... this way, it would be easier to lift the whole corpse out. However, something even stranger happened. The process of prying it up was unexpectedly difficult, and he barely managed to lift the body just a few inches. Through the small gap he had pried open, Yi Chen saw a haunting sight he would never forget... Thick, tangled roots of varying sizes had grown out of the corpse's back. These roots had penetrated the bottom of the coffin, reaching deep into the ground, pulsating, sucking, and extracting the nutrients from underground. The eerie sight instantly reminded Yi Chen of the withered, decaying trees in Cemetery No. 4. “This thing is drawing the ‘life force’ of the cemetery!” At that very moment, a familiar warning sound came from the edge of the graveyard: §Be careful.§ The voice was identical to the one he’d heard at Cemetery No. 6, a unique sound that was unmistakable. Due to his intense concentration, the sudden warning instinctively made Yi Chen roll backward, putting over a meter of distance between himself and his previous spot. Where he had been standing, rotting vines had erupted from the ground... if he hadn’t rolled away, they would have wrapped around his legs and dragged him toward the coffin. Then, creak, creak~ With the roots holding it up, the corpse in the coffin rose to its feet. The roots pulled out from the ground, dangling from its back like strands between 30 and 100 centimeters long, swaying behind it. In its eye sockets, clusters of fungal spores converged, forming shapes that looked like eyes, staring straight into Yi Chen’s own eyes. In that instant, Yi Chen realized why the owner of this body, 'William Behrens,' would rather have taken his own life than fight to the end. The pain of dying from poison was far preferable to being slain by a monster or being sucked dry of nutrients and devoured alive. ≮There’s no way to win.≯ If this was just a zombie in a sci-fi movie, Yi Chen might still have fought head-on. But this living corpse was far beyond anything he’d ever known. To approach it recklessly would likely mean instant death. Run! Without a moment's hesitation, he hooked the kerosene lamp to his belt and bolted. In his mind, he mapped out the best escape route. ‘I have to take the time to evade and observe, learn about some of its traits... don’t rush! Stay calm, keep breathing steadily!’ Just as he was about to slip out of Cemetery No. 4, clang! Without warning, a three-meter-tall iron gate slammed shut. In full sprint, Yi Chen kicked the iron gate... clang! The firmly closed gate didn’t budge, sealing him completely inside. As he watched the chains that had somehow wrapped around the gate outside, Yi Chen couldn’t help but curse aloud.