Chapter 24: After Death, Ascend to Heaven

  At that time, we all thought the four people in their car had been killed by the death worm. But thinking again, even if they were 'played' with by the death worm, they would have screamed in pain. Their car was more than 200 meters away from us, but we didn't hear any movement or noise. We didn't dare to take risks and go forward to investigate. Everyone knew that the death worm was waiting for us to come and die, who dared to go there without wanting to die?

  Why did their car stop there for so long? Why did it take them so late to start the car and leave? I took a glance at that ordinary person who was almost non-existent, I knew his name, it seemed like Yu Gang had mentioned before that he was called "Yin" Gui Ye, a very famous grave robber, and the driver was him.

  He doesn't seem to fit in, and he doesn't talk much. From the beginning until now, I haven't heard him say a word. However, since he's a tomb raider, I think he must be familiar with some things, and he definitely wouldn't let the car 'die' on fire.

  Tomb raiding and archaeology are almost the same in nature, the difference between them lies in one being permitted by the state and the other being against the law. Archaeology is openly excavating ancient tombs under the name of the state, while tomb raiding is secretly carried out.

  Tang Guangze listened to my question, he just furrowed his brow, but didn't say a word, as if recalling something. His eyes were evasive and uncertain, which made me feel uneasy for a moment. Clearly, I saw that Tang Guangze's face seemed unnatural, which meant that what I had guessed was probably not good news. Not telling everyone might also be to avoid causing panic.

  I'd rather die than believe that car also broke down.

  Then he said clearly to everyone: "There's nothing else, I just wanted to see what the Death Worm looked like at that time."

  Bullshit.

  What I didn't expect was that Yu Gang and the old professor actually believed what he said, neither of them planned to ask anything, and even if I persisted stubbornly, I wouldn't be able to ask anything.

  So, all of us looked at the back of the sand dune to rest, I was lying on the back seat of the car, my strength had not yet recovered to its original state, and the others were all heading to the shady side of the sand dune to cool off.

  A group of idiots, it's so hot in the desert, don't think that being in a 'shady' place will make it much cooler. The sun above the desert is scorching, the temperature of the sand rises sharply, to the point where stepping on the sand feels like walking into a sea of flames.

  I was secretly sneering at them when suddenly I heard a panicked cry from Hui'er.

  "There's someone here..."

  I heard this and hurriedly struggled to get up, moved my body, and slowly got off the bus.

  In the distance, I only saw a few people gathered in one place. My heart skipped a beat - had we encountered another group of people blown over by the storm?

  My idea was soon knocked down as Tang Guangze said coldly, "It's just a pile of bones after all."

  My walking posture isn't very good-looking, like I've got a wounded foot or something, and I'm limping along, really damaging my image. At first, it wasn't very comfortable to walk, but the more I walked forward, the more I "felt" my way into the rhythm, and before long, I arrived back at the spot where I was standing earlier. The others had all dispersed, leaving only Professor Old standing there, his eyes fixed on the half-buried skeleton in the sand.

  I'm not the first time to see a dead person's bones, when I was reading books, the brother of the neighbor's family in the village said that the feng shui of the tomb is not good, and they want to dig up his grandfather's tomb and move it elsewhere. At that time, I was in the rebellious period of youth, with a strong curiosity about everything, so I followed him and his family to the mountain, dug open the tomb, and finally opened the coffin.

  That was the first time I saw a dead person's bones, to be honest, at that time, I was fearless and daring, but when I saw a corpse lying in a coffin with a skeleton that had not yet fully formed, I was so scared that I didn't dare go out for a month.

  Later on, all the human skeletons I saw were works of art and never as terrifying as that one.

  Now that I've seen a human skeleton again, I'm still a little scared in my heart, but it's not as bad as before. The white bones under the sand in front of me are preserved quite perfectly, unlike before when some were missing arms or heads. Of course, things in the desert, although the sand flows very strongly, it's precisely because of this that many animal carcasses and the like are often preserved in their original state.

  As I raised my head, I found that the old professor was holding a crucifix in his hand and muttering to himself.

  This old man still believes in Jesus, and there are really all kinds of people in this team.

  "Oh Lord, protect me on this journey so I won't encounter death, I believe that after I die, I will go to heaven."

  When I heard this sentence, I almost burst my eyeballs out.

  This old man is what kind of person, usually with a timid and fearful look, doesn't seem like someone who has been walking in the desert for years. Now he says that after he dies, he will go to heaven. What kind of person is this? Everyone wants to live well, but he's already got his death planned out. I couldn't help but smile bitterly in my heart, and then I asked a question: "Professor, you seem to be looking forward to kicking the bucket?"

  The old professor's face suddenly fell and he hastily waved his hand at me to shoo me away: "Go, go wait somewhere else, don't disturb me."

  I ate a closed-door bun, and I smiled brightly for a moment. As I turned to head back to the car, Lin Wuxuan walked up to me with a calm expression on his face. He didn't even look at me, but instead went straight to the corpse.

  I curiously stopped in my tracks, leaning forward to take a look, and saw Lin Wu Xuan crouching down, stretching out his hand to grab the corpse with force and pulling it out.

  I was shocked, buddy, can't you be less rude? The person has been dead for so long, and you're treating their bones like this, don't you feel guilty? Aren't you afraid they'll come looking for you in the middle of the night?

  However, when the old professor saw this, he pointed at Lin Wu Xuan's mouth with his trembling hands and stuttered: "You... how can you be like this..."

  Lin Wu Xuan seemed to have not heard, he lowered his head and seriously examined the skeleton, I don't know what he found, but saw that his brow furrowed slightly, then, the skeleton was casually thrown away by him like trash. He started digging along where the skeleton was buried. I ignored the old professor's angry accusations towards Lin Wu Xuan's behavior, and I, seeing this, couldn't help but take a step forward, with a smiling face asking him: "Xuan Ge, did you find something? If so, then say it."

  Lin Wu Xuan never intended to reason with me, he was seriously digging the sand with his hands, the speed at which he dug the sand seemed like he wasn't afraid of pain, just single-mindedly doing his own thing.

  His speed was incredibly astonishing, in just a moment, a hole the size of a wooden barrel appeared before our eyes. Suddenly, his hand stopped, paused for a moment, and should have dug up something. The next second, he stood up straight, bent over, with his hands still grasping the sand and soil around the hole, pulling it back forcefully, a burst of dust scattered in all directions, I was choked and covered my nose, retreating several steps back.

  Only to see Lin Wu Xuan's hand had an additional old and tattered package, it was obvious that it was a military tactical backpack from the 60s or 70s, bulging in appearance, apparently there were things inside. He pulled open the zipper and poured out the contents one by one.

  A green-colored thermos, a worn-out flashlight that had rusted, and some clothes. Lin Xuan flipped through the clothes and pulled out a small notebook covered in dust. When he found the notebook, his face couldn't hide its surprise. As he opened it and read on, his expression became increasingly solemn.

  My expression also tightened, and I was extremely puzzled as to why he knew that there would be a military tactical backpack under the naked corpse. The small notebook in the bag, what was written on it, made his face change color like this.

  This military tactical backpack is from the 60s and 70s. Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat, and an idea popped up in my mind - the reconnaissance team that Huang Daxian participated in during the Korean War, which was also the era of my grandfather's time. So, does this tactical backpack belong to the owner of these remains, who is from the reconnaissance team?

  Thinking of this, I suddenly couldn't help but get excited, what exactly happened to the scouting team back then that led to almost everyone dying?

  Is it really related to the curse?

  Are they really just here for reconnaissance?

  Why was Wong Tai Sin detained for so long after he went back?

  Why did Father lead us mother and son into this treacherous desert?

  What kind of story is inside?

  "Xuān gē, shàngmian shuō le shénme?" Wǒ xiǎoxīn yǐyì de kāikǒu wèn.

  Translation:

  "What did he say, Brother Xuān?" I asked cautiously.

  So I leaned in closer this time, and Lin Wu Xuan didn't push me away. The words that entered my eyes shocked me quite a bit.

  All that was seen above was written clearly:

  June 19th

  It's been ten days since we entered the desert. The guide died at night, and no one found anything unusual, not even the soldiers on guard duty. The guide just mysteriously died like that.

  Weird.

  That night, I dreamed of a person who was very short, like an old man who had aged, with a complexion as white as paper, shouting loudly at me.

  I clearly remember him saying, "Run quickly, run quickly, if you don't run, you'll lose your life."

  Later, everyone dreamed of such a person, but no one knew him.

  Everyone panicked.

  Before I could even finish reading, Lin Wuxuan had already flipped through the book to the last page.

  The last page was written in a disjointed and fragmented way, with no beginning or end, only scattered emotions.

  It is written above:

  July 12th

  On that box...

  I met them...

  I desperately escaped, desperately struggled.

  Wait for them to come and get it...