Midnight.
Under the pitch-black night sky, Mount Maojun—so scenic by day—had taken on a sinister and eerie presence.
Lu Chen glanced around and thought, What a perfect night for something spooky—dark skies, high winds. If nothing ghostly happens in this atmosphere, it'd almost be disappointing.
He and Zhongli followed the bandit through the shadows, relying on faint moonlight to navigate the terrain.
In the deserted wilderness, the occasional roar of wild beasts pierced the silence. Every time such a sound echoed, the bandit ahead would flinch and stumble, nervously glancing around.
Lu Chen frowned. With guts like that, this guy has no business tomb raiding.
Still, the man seemed to know the way. After about an hour of hiking, they arrived at a foothill on the northwestern side of Mount Maojun.
"Th-this is it!"
The bandit pushed aside waist-high weeds, revealing a tunnel entrance dug into the side of a barren slope.
The tunnel was concealed beneath overgrowth, about as tall as a person. Lu Chen shined his flashlight inside—it was bottomless and silent.
The tomb raiders must be farther down.
"Finally found it." Lu Chen turned to the bandit and casually asked, "That loudmouth leader of yours—what was his name?"
Sensing Lu Chen's relaxed tone, the bandit let down his guard and gave the name.
"Got it." Lu Chen nodded and, pulling up the system interface, took out a mask and put it on.
The mask melted seamlessly into his skin. His features began to twist and distort grotesquely...
The bandit, who thought he'd narrowly escaped death, was stunned in horror at the sight.
"Y-You... what are you? A man or a ghost...?"
"Nonsense!" Lu Chen's gaze turned cold. "Of course I'm human!"
But the bandit only grew more terrified—Lu Chen's face continued to contort, and even his voice became rough and raspy...
"Who are you?!"
At last, his transformation stabilized—Lu Chen now bore the exact likeness of the gruff-voiced bandit leader.
[Ritual Phantom Mask]
[Effect: Alters physical appearance via illusion. Duration: 1 hour. Cooldown: 160 hours]
Apparently, it didn't just change one's face—it altered one's voice too. A perfect disguise.
The bandit panicked and tried to flee.
Lu Chen took him out cleanly with the Traveler's Handy Sword.
He rifled through the body, found a flashlight, then dragged the corpse away.
What followed was a familiar process of body disposal.
According to the info they'd gathered, the tomb had a maze-like layout. Lu Chen planned to use the "professionals" down below as his guides.
He wondered how far into the tomb those graverobbers had gotten.
Lu Chen glanced at Zhongli, then descended into the tunnel first.
The tunnel sloped steeply downward, pitch-black inside. He flicked on his flashlight.
After walking for some time, the beam finally hit a wall. At the tunnel's edge was a rope, but Lu Chen didn't need it. He simply jumped.
He dropped nearly five meters and landed inside the tomb.
The air was thick and stale, and a wave of cold swept over him as soon as he touched down.
He involuntarily shivered—it was several degrees colder than outside.
Qiqi would probably love this place.
He swept his flashlight across the room. Faded murals lined the walls. There were no coffins, and the space was narrow.
"Looks like an antechamber," came Zhongli's voice from behind.
Lu Chen looked back. He wasn't surprised anymore—Old Man Zhong seemed to know a little about everything.
Zhongli explained, "Antechambers are usually located on the left and right, like human ears—hence the name. They were typically used as storage rooms."
"Got it."
Zhongli studied the murals thoughtfully. "These show scenes of war—marching, horseback charges. There aren't many burial goods. The tomb's owner was likely a military general."
"Makes sense."
Lu Chen nodded. He wasn't interested in the tomb's occupant—only in the system's "Ley Line Anomaly."
He scouted the antechamber and found a corridor leading deeper inside. At the end of it, he could see a faint glimmer of light.
"Probably through there..."
He led the way in.
Breaking into an ancient tomb in the middle of the night—not exactly something he'd expected to check off his bucket list.
And the deeper they went, the thicker the eerie atmosphere became. The cold breeze seemed to be coming from within.
A thousand-year-sealed tomb… and there's wind blowing out?
Just as suspicion set in, a chorus of ghostly wails echoed from the corridor ahead.
But Lu Chen was certain—it wasn't ghosts. It was people running.
He turned to warn Zhongli not to get spotted—only to find Zhongli had vanished.
Huh? Where'd he go?
The moment Zhongli disappeared, Lu Chen's sense of safety evaporated. He looked around, bewildered.
"I'll be protecting you from the shadows."
A steady voice came from the darkness.
Lu Chen sighed in relief. That damned sense of security...
He turned back—and two beams of flashlight hit him square in the face. Two tomb raiders came stumbling out, drenched in sweat and clearly terrified.
They nearly jumped out of their skins when they saw someone standing in the middle of the passage.
But then, they recognized the face Lu Chen was wearing.
"Holy crap! Old Zhang? What're you doing down here? Didn't we tell you to stay up top?!"
"You scared the hell out of me!"
Using Old Zhang's gruff tone, Lu Chen asked, "What's going on? Why are you two running?"
"What do you think?!" One of them panted heavily. "Something's wrong. Really wrong. There's something down there! Something nasty!"
"Nasty?" Lu Chen asked, feigning ignorance.
"There's a ghost! A woman!" the other man said, pale as a sheet, completely shaken.
"A female ghost?" Lu Chen frowned. Wasn't this supposed to be a general's tomb? Where'd a woman come from? Did one of the concubines come back to life?
Perhaps because they were too panicked, neither of them noticed how suspicious Old Zhang's sudden appearance was.
The first guy just kept running, muttering, "Knew the Yin energy was too heavy… shouldn't have come…"
The second tried to run too, but Lu Chen grabbed him.
"Old Zhang, what's with you? You said you weren't going down! What's with the interrogation? You lose your mind or something?!"
After a few more probing questions, the man finally gave a clear answer.
After braving numerous obstacles, their four-man team had reached the main burial chamber. Just as their leader, Wu Lao, was about to pry open the coffin, an eerie, ghostly singing echoed through the pitch-dark tomb.
The melody was strange and mournful, like it came from another world. It made their hair stand on end.
Terrified, they all scattered. None dared look back. They just ran—and by the time they noticed, only two of them were left.
"A female ghost...?"
Lu Chen stared at the man, puzzled. The raider seemed agitated.
Then Lu Chen asked what the ghost had been singing.
The man replied:
"Something like... 'Lottie... died... Lottie is sick...'"
Lu Chen's expression shifted dramatically.
"…Huh?"