Corpse Recovery Diver

At Run Sheng's pace, he continued running for nearly an hour before he saw the Miao village buildings on the opposite slope.

This was a Miao village that had already made contact with the outside world, yet it had not truly been developed. The closer you got, the more you could feel the ancient and uncomplicated aura.

Brother Liangliang once said that in the future, places like this would become tourist attractions.

But that was for the future. At least for now, when an outsider suddenly entered their world, aside from curiosity and exploration, there remained a sense of vigilance.

Before even reaching the village gate, someone came to inquire about the purpose of Li Zhiyuan and his companion's visit, speaking with a heavy accent in Chinese.

However, Li Zhiyuan could understand just fine, as he had been trained in the Nantong dialect.

Li Zhiyuan told them he was a new investigator at the construction site, there to inquire about last year's accident.

Upon hearing this introduction, clear hostility appeared in the eyes of the people around, but an elder dispersed the young ones and gestured for them to follow him inside.

Young people are easily led by emotions affecting their logic, while elders understand that bickering is not the true way to solve problems.

The environment within the Miao village was filled with a wild beauty.

However, it wasn't so primitive; things from modern life found outside could also be found here.

Especially when seeing two children in a family's yard sitting on small stools, holding pencils and doing homework, the wind through the village illustrations in their language textbooks became somewhat light.

The middle-aged man led Li Zhiyuan and his companion into an old house, where an elder was sitting, smoking a bamboo pipe.

After a brief exchange, the elder nodded to show he understood, and the middle-aged man withdrew.

The elder took a long breath, lifted his head, and, with a slight surprise in his eyes upon seeing Li Zhiyuan, asked:

"Why has a kid come?"

The elder's Chinese was very standard and fluent.

Li Zhiyuan took out his credentials, which included his student ID and the intern certificate issued by his organization.

The elder took a careful look at them, returning them to Li Zhiyuan while turning his head and calling out into the room:

"Amei, bring some food."

A melodious response came from inside: "Does an outsider come?"

Usually, it was only when guests came that the elder would speak Chinese.

"Yes, an outsider, quite something, a clever kid."

Amei came out with food. She was about the same age as Yin Meng, with bright eyes and a smile as crescent as the moon.

Upon seeing Li Zhiyuan, Amei couldn't help but reach out to touch the young man's face:

"He's really handsome."

"Ahem..." the elder coughed, interrupting his granddaughter's action, reminding her, "Though still a child, he is now with the public sector."

"Oh, that's really surprising." Amei withdrew her hand and covered her mouth in shock.

The elder offered the bamboo pipe to Li Zhiyuan.

Li Zhiyuan shook his head, indicating that he did not smoke.

By his side, Run Sheng's eyes lit up.

The elder smiled and handed the bamboo pipe to Run Sheng.

Run Sheng took the bamboo pipe, and the elder taught him how to smoke it. After inhaling, unsatisfied, Run Sheng took out a metal box from his bag, opened it, took a thick incense stick, lit it, and placed it into the bamboo pipe.

Sucking on it more forcefully, a look of comfort and relaxation appeared on Run Sheng's face.

The elder was quite curious.

Run Sheng took out a thick incense stick and handed it to him.

The elder did not try to light it and take a puff, but instead raised it to his nose for a sniff, suddenly stood up, and looked at Li Zhiyuan and Run Sheng with a changed expression:

"Who are you, really?"

Being able to discern another layer of identity from an incense stick proved the elder was not an ordinary person either.

Amei looked nervous and moved to her grandfather's side.

The elder patted his granddaughter's hand and then asked in a softer tone:

"Are you here to deal with that thing?"

Li Zhiyuan spoke up, "Grandfather, can we sit down and have a good chat?"

"Please sit."

Stepping outside the realm of ordinary identity, conversations became easier and simpler, which was the development Li Zhiyuan was pleased to see.

Traditional Miao people typically have two surnames, a Miao surname and a Han surname; the elder's Han surname was Wen, and his Han name was Wen Xiushan.

Just from the sound of the name, you could tell the elder's family was quite good in the past. Of course, he now held a high status in the Miao village, much like the clan leader in southern regions, managing not only the clan's secular affairs but also the rituals.

These rituals evidently had some significance, as Mr. Wen wasn't curious about Run Sheng smoking incense, but rather had seen the hidden mysteries within the incense.

Back at the General's Tomb, Tan Wenbin was using these incense sticks to establish connections and shortcuts with those ghosts.

Li Zhiyuan's self-introduction was quite simple, saying someone in his family studied Xuanmen, and he had learned some by influence.

The elder clearly didn't believe this explanation, but not exposing too much about oneself when away from home was a common principle, so he did not find it strange.

The conversation soon turned to matters at the construction site.

The elder said that it was after people from the village went to work there that he noticed something wrong at the site.

The three people involved in the incident were also his disciples from the village, and he originally intended to help by having them resolve the issues to avoid affecting the construction.

After all, he could discern the benefits and knew the hydroelectric station's completion would favor the local community.

But who would have thought, instead of solving the issues, the issues solved them.

While speaking about this, a sense of helplessness and dejection appeared on the elder's face.

Before Li Zhiyuan could speak, the elder preemptively asked: "Do you think we should seek compensation?"