Second Palace of the Earthly Branches

  "Hey, what are you doing?"

  Peng Jianjun's voice suddenly pulled Liao Dongfeng back to reality, and he saw that he was standing next to Old Du's body at this moment. The old man was arranging Old Du's clothes, and when he looked up, he glanced at the two of them and made a gesture for them to leave. Peng Jianjun saw this gesture and was about to get angry, but Liao Dongfeng suddenly pulled him back and whispered: "Let's go! This is indeed not a place where we should stay!"

  Outside the window, it was already dawn, another sleepless night. In the following days, there were still deaths in the hospital, and the old man continued to do what he should do, without anyone asking him what he was doing until the day of discharge, when the director personally sent all the members of the archaeological team to the yard, and it wasn't until then that Liao Dongfeng asked a question.

  "Director comrade, how long has the old man on duty in the mortuary been working here?"

  The dean was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said: "I really don't know about this. I only heard that there is such a hospital when he was already here."

  "When was this hospital built?" Peng Jianjun asked further.

  "Oh, it should have been here before Xiao Riben came in."

  Liao Dongfeng listened to this, and his mind began to repeatedly ponder the words the old man had told him. He designed such a meticulous plan, was it just to prevent people from knowing he was here? He tried every means to restrain Lao Hongjun, what was his purpose? What kind of arch-enemy was this arch-enemy?

  The working group took a three-day break and returned to Xishan on the fourth day in the afternoon. Because of the previous promise with Lao Hongjun, Liao Dongfeng let Wu Liang inform Lao Hongjun on the same day he returned to Xishan. However, when it was time to set off, no one came from his side, presumably because he was still focused on solving the case of the lost body, a case that they could not crack at all.

  Having learned from the previous lesson, Duan Lao spent a lot of money to buy several hard goods for the team this time. Three Russian-style infantry shovels were purchased at a price of over 90 yuan each on the black market at that time. Over 90 yuan was equivalent to more than half a year's income for a frontline worker at that time.

  Apart from the entrenching shovel, Liao Dongfeng's most treasured possessions were those two rifles, a pair of SVT-40 semi-automatic rifles, also Russian-made. According to Duan Lao, these two rifles were not easily obtained and required many connections to acquire, with each rifle costing over 400 yuan, a sum that made Duan Lao's liver tremble.

  Archaeological exploration, in other words, is digging graves, who knows what ghosts will suddenly pop out of them. With these two guns for self-defense, Peng Jianjun was overjoyed and practiced with them on the same day he received them, firing three shots. He said the feel was okay, and afterwards, he carried them on his shoulder all the time, even sleeping while hugging them.

  To be honest, Duan Lao isn't a wealthy landlord either. Even if he made some money from selling antiques, I reckon by now it's all been spent on treating this strange illness of his.

  There is also the fact that Liao Dongfeng knew that the hospital's loss of corpses and the curse of the mouse people had nothing to do with Duan Lao, but the fact that he and Hai Chen were raising corpses was indeed true. So one thing after another, Liao Dongfeng turned a blind eye, because only then could they know their ultimate goal.

  Tu Dogzi An Yue Min due to wound infection did not return to the team smoothly.

  Feng Le Tian returned to the team on the second day after the work group arrived at Xi Shan.

  About her injury, it has always been a mystery, but judging from her current situation, she should be fine, and she never made a big deal out of this matter either.

  It's said that you don't take it seriously, and others may not take it seriously either. Liao Dongfeng is still stuck in the shadow of that night, thinking that if Feng Le Tian was controlled by the old man that night, what was the old man's intention?

  Besides, does the old man know her? If not, there is only one explanation. Either in the team or nearby, there must be someone who also understands the technique of summoning souls, and the biggest suspect is Haicheng.

  The second time they came to the outer palace, Liang Tao and Tang Yuan Chao were also busy unloading the high-intensity lamp from the mule's back. This high-intensity lamp was an old thing that had been used many times before, but it still hadn't broken. There was a black fog in the cave that was afraid of light, so bringing it would at least be useful for something, but it was too heavy. The battery alone weighed three large blocks, and the mule had carried the battery here, but for the remaining distance, they might have to carry it themselves.

  Everyone arrived at the place where they had rescued people earlier, only to find that the entrance was now uneven and had big slopes due to the rain over the past few days. The originally straight edge had become a steep slope, so everyone became more cautious, lest they slip and fall and meet the pioneers of communism ahead of time.

  There was a big tree outside the cave entrance, and the rope just happened to be tied up there. Peng Jianjun experimented back and forth several times before confirming that everything was okay, then he went down first.

  Liao Dongfeng entered the cave secondly, on one hand to keep an eye on Peng Jianjun, and on the other hand, two people went down together to sort out supplies.

  To be honest, this time the preparation was very thorough, almost everything that could be thought of had been thought of. However, Peng Jianjun kept glancing at his protective suit and muttering to himself along the way. After all, he had been bitten by insects before and still had a psychological shadow, so he kept doubting whether the protective suit could withstand the test.

  After Liao Dongfeng landed, he saw three cold smoke fires inserted on the ground, shining brightly around him. He felt a little heartache and said casually: "Dear Comrade Peng, we are all children of poor people, we must know that thriftiness is the way to go, can't be extravagant!"

  "I'm the son of a poor man, okay? Your family is rich and oily, stop being hypocritical in front of me. Besides, these things aren't even yours, what's your hurry?" Peng Jianjun said impatiently for half a day.

  "Alright, alright, you're a poor guy. From now on, we are no longer brothers of the same class. You continue, continue! If you dare to save money for me, be careful or I'll cut you off."

  Liao Dongfeng got angry, Peng Jianjun hastily smiled and said: "Don't mind it, Commander Liao, I still have to rely on you in the future! Just kidding earlier, it was a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

  While speaking, Feng Le Tian and others also landed one after another. Liang Tao and Tang Yuan Chao were busy inflating the rubber boat. Qin Liao Shun applied some lubricant to the bottom of the boat. In short, everyone had something to do, except for Hai Chen who stood still and said: "I'm telling you, Dongzi, how are you going to deal with the mercury?"

  Liao Dongfeng replied without lifting his head, "That thing was tested in the hospital and it's a mercury compound. It doesn't pose much harm. You should be more aware of this than us, shouldn't you?"

  "Really?"

  Just after finishing speaking, Peng Jianjun suddenly stood up and threw the medical kit into Hai Chen's arms, shouting loudly: "Get out of my sight! Go do whatever you need to do! I'm fed up with you!"

  Hai Chen was also very obedient, turning his head to help. At this time, a large and heavy package was sent down from the top of his head again. Hai Chen quickly stepped forward to catch it and put it steadily on the ground.

  At this time, Peng Jianjun was a bit dizzy because there were really too many things. The rubber boat was heavily loaded and had limited capacity. He didn't know how many trips he would have to make back and forth, so he impatiently asked: "Why?"

  "Sulphur powder." Hai Chen replied directly.

  "What's going on?"

  Sulfur powder.

  "You think you're cultured, huh? Bullying me because I don't understand your fancy words, is that it? Believe it or not, I'll crawl out of here and report you!"

  Hai Chen remained silent, lowering his head to continue with what he was doing. Liao Dongfeng found it very amusing because since leaving the hospital, Peng Jianjun had been targeting Hai Chen, no matter what he did, Peng would find fault and tease him.

  When all preparations were complete, everyone began to cross the river.

  At this time, there is not a single tiger puffer in the river, I guess it was scared away by that ghost insect earlier, and even abandoned its old nest.

  Peng Jianjun thought so, but Liao Dongfeng still felt suspicious. After all, the tiger sharks had been here for a long time, and they seemed to have no conflict with those disgusting insects, why was that day's battle so fierce?

  Also, at that time the mother insect was on Haichens body, which means that Haichen was attacked while crossing the river. This means that those insects can also live in water. If so, this may be a conflict caused by territorial issues.

  So where did that damned bug live before?

  As he thought of this, Liao Dongfeng began to examine the walls of the cave with his flashlight and discovered that they were not made of rock, but rather a solid rammed earth wall. This type of earth wall was extremely sturdy, with a high level of craftsmanship, and its hardness was on par with modern cement. Additionally, the long-term temperature and humidity in the space had further solidified the wall, making it so hard that even an auger might not be able to shake it.

  Following the earthen wall, he walked all the way until the hot spring water flowed into a long and narrow ground seam. The width of the seam was so small that even the soft-bodied mother insect could hardly pass through it. After returning to the original road, Liao Dongfeng went to the other end of the hot spring water and found a hole with a diameter of about 10 meters on the wall surface. The water actually flowed out from this hole.

  Liao Dongfeng was a bit puzzled at this point. Since the water was flowing out of the wall hole, the tiger puffer could swim in along with the flow, but how would they swim out if they grew up? It's also easy to explain this problem, that is, there must be another hole connecting inside and outside under the water, in other words, the tiger puffer may come out from an unknown place at any time. After understanding these things, Liao Dongfeng let everyone speed up.

  Until the last material was safely transported across the river, Peng Jianjun and Liao Dongfeng finally let out a sigh of relief. They then waved to their companions on the other side of the river. At that moment, the sunlight shining into the cave suddenly dimmed, followed by the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. A few minutes later, they heard the sound of heavy rain hitting the ground.

  The space darkened, and the ghost insects that saw light died very likely to take advantage of the situation, but at that time it would be troublesome. However, Liao Dongfeng never thought that at this moment, something suddenly fell down from above his head with a "pa" sound. When he looked again, his whole body was covered in goosebumps, because the things falling from above were transparent insects that occupied an absolute numerical advantage.