Chapter 30 More Unknowns
The tomb chamber was very spacious. Apart from the spirit tablet in the center and the candle holders on the walls, there was nothing else.
Liu Haoyu took out a few candles from his pocket and lit them, placing them on the candle holders.
One in each direction: east, south, west, and north.
The candlelight illuminated the tomb chamber brightly.
Liu Haoyu finally confirmed that the four large characters written on the spirit tablet were indeed “Tomb of Qin Liu.”
Deng Xiaolin couldn’t help but step forward to observe.
“Hao-ge… Qin Liu is the fierce ghost you mentioned from the haunted house?”
“Yes.”
After answering Deng Xiaolin’s question, Liu Haoyu crouched down, took out a small brush from his pocket, and slowly cleaned the dust and cobwebs from the spirit tablet little by little.
It took a long time, so long that Deng Xiaolin, unable to wait, took out two apples from her shoulder bag.
“Want to eat an apple?”
“Thanks.”
Liu Haoyu did not refuse. He took the apple from Deng Xiaolin’s hand, took a bite, and continued to carefully clean the dust from the spirit tablet.
It took about ten minutes, and the spirit tablet was finally cleaned by Liu Haoyu.
It did not list Qin Liu’s birth parents. The solitary tablet only had Qin Liu’s name, birth date, and date of death.
“1971 – 198*…”
From this birth and death date, it appeared Qin Liu only lived for ten-something years.
Seeing this, Deng Xiaolin couldn’t help but feel a trace of sympathy.
“Younger than me… did she die of an illness?”
“I don’t know.”
Liu Haoyu shook his head. The information known so far was too little.
He looked at the offerings in front of the spirit tablet. There were only a few withered candy wrappers, a little bit of incense ash, and paper money.
Nothing else…
Nothing at all.
The altar was incredibly desolate, not even a single weed.
It was possible that no one had visited this place for over ten years.
Looking at the altar, which was only covered in dust, Liu Haoyu said:
“Xiaolin, do you have any more apples? Or snacks?”
“Ah… no more.”
Deng Xiaolin had brought apples because she was worried about getting hungry when she was out, and two apples were already quite a lot; she couldn’t carry any more.
Hearing Deng Xiaolin’s words, Liu Haoyu was helpless. He took out his small knife, split the apple in his hand in two, and placed them in the center of the offering plate.
He also inserted some incense sticks in front of the spirit tablet.
Regardless of anything, this was a small reward for Qin Liu.
After finishing everything, Liu Haoyu said to Deng Xiaolin:
“Let’s go back.”
“Ah… so soon?”
“I didn’t expect to come to this place in the first place.”
They say plans can’t keep up with changes, and tonight’s situation perfectly fits the description.
Liu Haoyu originally planned to find the door to the haunted house’s basement and Qin Liu, but he never expected to be teleported to a place like this.
The two returned to the ground. Liu Haoyu looked at the bright moonlight, and several questions remained in his mind.
Where did Qin Liu’s corpse go?
Why was her soul so far away from her tomb?
And what was Qin Liu’s background story?
…
They say that the journey of exploring the unknown is about encountering more and more unknowns.
It seemed this saying was not wrong. It would be difficult to understand the truth of the matter until the very end.
As for asking Qin Liu, it was unlikely that the fierce ghost would tell him.
“Hao-ge, I think I’ve been to this place before during a spring outing.”
Deng Xiaolin pointed to the left and said.
“If I remember correctly, the highway isn’t far in this direction.”
“Let’s try our luck and see if there are any passing private cars.”
It was only two o’clock in the morning, and if they were lucky, they should be able to encounter one or two private cars.
Thus, the two of them went to the roadside. To prevent the situation of waiting endlessly for a car, they also walked towards the city while waiting.
After walking for a full half hour, the headlights of a car finally appeared behind them.
Liu Haoyu turned around and waved at the private car behind them.
The driver of the private car saw the two and slowly stopped beside them.
“Are you two going to Jiangquan City?”
As the car window rolled down, a man with a square face appeared.
However, after the car stopped, Liu Haoyu felt something was slightly off.
In this era… was there still such a new Jetta 2000?
Liu Haoyu clearly remembered that this model had been discontinued a long time ago, and even buying one second-hand wouldn’t make it this new.
Therefore, he checked the talismans in his pocket and said:
“Yes, can you give us a ride? We can discuss the price.”
“Of course, no problem,” the square-faced man said with a hearty laugh, “Fifty each, get in.”
Liu Haoyu gave the man one hundred yuan. After the driver accepted it, the vehicle started again. The noise reduction and shock absorption capabilities of the 2000s cars were indeed not very good, causing the young girl to have to stay very close to Liu Haoyu to feel a trace of comfort.
After driving for some distance, Liu Haoyu noticed that the driver had turned onto a road with even fewer people.
There were streetlights on both sides of the road, but due to years of disrepair, they were not lit.
Combined with the gradually rising thick mist, visibility became extremely poor.
The temperature inside the car began to drop, it was unclear if it was due to the air conditioning or some other reason.
“Driver, you’ve taken a wrong turn. This isn’t the way to the city.”
Liu Haoyu said very calmly.
“You need to turn around to get to Jiangquan City.”
However, facing Liu Haoyu’s words, the driver was completely indifferent, as if he were a walking corpse, continuing to drive his car.
“Hao-ge, Hao-ge…”
Deng Xiaolin said in a trembling voice, audible only to the two of them.
“During the spring outing, I remember there was only one road from Jiangquan City to this place… there were no forks at all.”
Seeing the somewhat frightened Deng Xiaolin, Liu Haoyu calmed her down and said:
“I know what’s happening now, but don’t be afraid. Do you still have a signal on your phone? My phone is out of battery.”
“Yes, yes.”
Deng Xiaolin took out her phone from her pocket and said.
“The signal is also full.”
Liu Haoyu kept his gaze fixed on the driver, not looking away.
For safety’s sake, he said to Deng Xiaolin:
“Help me check the license plate of this car. I can’t free my hands right now.”
“Okay, okay!”
Deng Xiaolin knew that Liu Haoyu was being vigilant about the driver’s actions, so she quickly searched using some technological means.
However, when she saw the result, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes. Suppressing the fear in her heart, she said in a trembling voice:
“This driver… died ten years ago!”
