Forbidden Land – CH 133

On May 21st, the 17th day of the fourth lunar month, the Xiaoman, the weather was clear, and the moon was full and bright.

Zhang Chao was also in a good mood. 50,000 yuan was in his pocket. He figured that if he lifted the coffin lid, maybe Boss Li would have a change of heart and give him another 50,000. Rich and foolish—that was his assessment of Boss Li.

It was already evening. Strange, why hadn’t Zhu Xiaoyu called to invite him today?

Lin Yi’ang sat down in Zhang Chao’s dorm room. The two chatted while waiting for Boss Li’s instructions. At 8 PM, Li Zheng indeed called, saying, “Xiao Zhang, are you with Xiao Lin? You two should quietly come to the back of the School of Medicine now. Be careful not to get spotted.”

Zhang Chao said, “We need to ride bikes to get there. Why don’t you drive over and give us a ride?”

Li Zheng hesitated for a moment, then said, “I don’t have a car. Tonight’s business is confidential; we need to keep it low-key. Come on over.”

Zhang Chao was puzzled. If he didn’t have a car, how would he bring the tools to dig the coffin? Li Zheng looked very thin, and with Wang Hong, a woman, added to the mix, even with him and Lin Yi’ang, they couldn’t possibly dig up a coffin encased in sheet metal, let alone lift it out.

But after thinking about it, since Li Zheng had said so, he would surely figure out something this simple; he didn’t need to worry about Li Zheng at all.

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After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chao and Lin Yi’ang didn’t ride their bikes but walked briskly towards the School of Medicine.

They kept an eye out for anyone following them. Zhang Chao was still thinking about the person who had sent him the text message, so he was extra careful.

Nothing seemed amiss; no one paid any attention to these two very ordinary students.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at the back of the School of Medicine. Ahead of them was the small river, with planks leading down to the marshy fields.

They looked around; there was no one there.

Just as Zhang Chao took out his phone to make a call, Lin Yi’ang pointed, and Li Zheng and Wang Hong quietly emerged from the School of Medicine. Li Zheng was dressed entirely in black, while Wang Hong was in her usual clothes, though she was carrying a large package.

Upon reaching them, Zhang Chao asked, “Brother Li, when do we start?”

Li Zheng glanced at Zhang Chao and Lin Yi’ang, smiled, and said, “Now. Let’s go in together. Oh, and give me your phones.”

Zhang Chao asked, “What are you going to do with your phones?”

Li Zheng replied, “Electromagnetic signals can interfere.”

Zhang Chao and Lin Yi’ang both took out their phones. Li Zheng turned and handed them to Wang Hong, saying, “You handle this. Xiao Zhang, Xiao Lin, I’ll give it back to you when you’re done.”

Zhang Chao and Lin Yi’ang nodded. They didn’t suspect that someone who had given them 50,000 yuan would steal a phone just for fun.

After handing it to Wang Hong, the four of them walked across the plank.

Upon reaching the swamp on the other side, Wang Hong turned and pulled the plank up with all her might.

Zhang Chao asked curiously, “Aren’t we going back later? Pulling it up and then putting it back down seems redundant.”

Li Zheng explained, “Based on your text messages, we suspect someone is following us, so we moved to this place first. It’s to avoid being interfered with later and any accidents that might happen.”

Zhang Chao nodded, thinking he made sense. He then started walking forward.

Li Zheng walked in front.

Wang Hong, walking at the back, casually tossed Zhang Chao’s phone into the river as she pulled up the last plank, but she didn’t throw away Lin Yi’ang’s phone, nor did she turn it off.

Following behind Li Zheng, Zhang Chao noticed that Li Zheng was not only thin, but his legs were also very slender. It was rare for a man, except perhaps one wearing hanfu, to have such thin legs. However, this wasn’t particularly unusual, and he didn’t think much of it.

After walking for five or six minutes, they weren’t following the same path they’d taken before, but rather a smaller path further southwest. Clearly, this path had been used before as well.

Wait a minute, why were there so many footprints ahead on this path?

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Zhang Chao felt a little strange. The grass was soft and damp, making the footprints very clear. But at a glance, the various messy footprints intertwined suggested that many people had walked here, indicating that it wasn’t just Li Zheng and Wang Hong who had been here.

Zhang Chao couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Brother Li, look at the ground; why are there so many footprints?”

Li Zheng stopped, paused for a moment, then turned and smiled, “Wang Hong and I have been here many times.”

They continued walking for more than ten minutes, until they reached a clearing ahead. This clearing was somewhat elevated and relatively dry, and strangely, not a single blade of grass grew on it.

Could it be that something extremely yin resided there, causing the barrenness?

After entering the clearing…

Zhang Chao saw a large coffin already placed in the middle of the open space. It was completely covered in sheet metal, clearly very heavy, as the ground beneath it had sunk into the earth by its weight, sinking at least half a meter deep.

About five or six meters away from the coffin was a large pit. Zhang Chao walked to the pit and saw that it was at least six or seven meters deep.

How did Li Zheng and Wang Hong manage to dig out such a large coffin? Even with tools, the two of them couldn’t have done it, let alone excavated it, unless they were using a large construction crane.

Zhang Chao asked curiously, “Brother Li, when did you dig out such a huge coffin?”

Li Zheng seemed not to hear him. Instead, he looked up at the moonlight, took a deep breath, his facial muscles trembling, and exclaimed excitedly, “This day…this day…it’s finally here!”

Zhang Chao looked at him, puzzled, and asked, “What day?”

Li Zheng was clearly overwhelmed with excitement, staring fervently at Zhang Chao, and said, “Zhang Chao, Zhang Chao, I want to thank you; I want to thank you so much! Guess who I am? Guess who I am? Haha, guess who I am? Who sent you the text message? Who? It’s me, haha; my name is—Li Jiaming!”