Corpse Recovery Diver

"Duh... duh duh... duh duh duh... duh duh duh duh!"

Tan Wenbin, holding the crank, quickly turned it to start the tractor.

Once everyone was seated, Tan Wenbin drove the tractor along the mountain road.

Behind them, the Miao village lay in slumber after the celebrations.

Li Zhiyuan sat in the back compartment, looking up at the starry sky.

As they approached the lake, Li Zhiyuan closed his eyes, breaking his moment of peace.

"Get ready."

Everyone began checking their equipment.

Xue Liangliang, who sat in the driver's seat with Tan Wenbin, took over the tractor handle for this final stretch.

They arrived at the lakeside.

Li Zhiyuan, holding a compass, confirmed the position and selected a spot for entering the water and the direction for diving.

Run Sheng crouched down to carry the boy on his back, then leaped into the lake.

Lin Shuyou and Yin Meng followed closely behind.

Tan Wenbin took a strong drag from the cigarette he had just lit before passing it to Xue Liangliang, then jumped in too.

Xue Liangliang stood there, finished the half-smoked cigarette, and restarted the tractor, turning it around.

Inside were some remaining clothes, belongings, food, and medicine. His task was to drive the tractor to a distant safe spot and wait for their return.

Xue Liangliang knew he couldn't help at the front line, so there was no need to cause trouble. He did his best to handle the logistics.

After securing and concealing the tractor, Xue Liangliang sat in the back compartment, looking up, replacing Xiao Yuan, and continued enjoying the starry sky.

Guizhou has extremely rich cultural and scenic resources. Once matters here are resolved, and the construction team returns, their mission would be complete.

Up next would be a long period of free time, without needing to stay on the construction site.

Xue Liangliang took out a small notebook and pen from his pocket, thinking he could make a travel guide for Xiao Yuan and the others, and take them on a good trip.

But as he worked on the guide, an inexplicable sense of ennui rose in his heart.

It wasn't that the mountains of Guizhou weren't beautiful, but Jiang Shui of Nantong was more enchanting.

He thought, compared to a detailed travel guide, Xiao Yuan might prefer him saying:

Let's go back to Nantong.

...

The waters of the night lake were very cold.

Upon entering the water, everyone dived towards the northwest position of the lake.

The closer they got to that position, the colder the water became.

As they dove deeper, the beam of the waterproof flashlight illuminated the lakebed, revealing a layer of white frost.

In the middle of the frost was a dark, gaping hole, surrounded by large swathes of black water plants swaying.

Run Sheng was the first to approach the entrance, and the black water plants actively coiled around, trying to entangle him.

However, Run Sheng's strength was immense, naturally more at ease underwater compared to onshore, and after receiving Uncle Qin's teachings, he was as agile as a fish below the water.

Water plants kept snapping under the pressure, and the Yellow River Shovel in Run Sheng's hand acted like a scythe, clearing the path for his companions' follow-through while harvesting frantically.

He waited a moment, seeing they had caught up, before swimming into the cave.

Inside the cave, the water was turbulent, and an ordinary person entering here might get swept off course.

Li Zhiyuan, with his left arm around Run Sheng's neck and the compass in his right hand.

With just touches and gestures on Run Sheng's neck, Run Sheng immediately understood and adjusted the direction.

As they swam further, a dark silhouette emerged ahead.

When Li Zhiyuan shone his flashlight over, he found rows of corpses, preserved well in this special environment, rather than turning into those gigantic spectacles.

The bodies were of both men and women, but judging by the stature, most were children.

Many children, even in death, still held hands with their "father" or "mother" beside them.

The Old Transgender's main prey were children, and the adults here were likely dragged down in an attempt to save them.

Shining the flashlight down further revealed heaps of shadows piled like small hills below, mostly broken.

The floating ones were more complete bodies.

There weren't many fresh corpses, judging by their clothes, they were from years past.

These were the offerings scavenged during the Old Transgender's last "production."

The devastation of the Evil Spirits' disaster became tangible here.

Li Zhiyuan put away the compass, closed his eyes, and slowly reached downward with his right hand.

[Fengdu Twelve Commandments - Ten Thousand Ghosts in Silence.]

In reality, it couldn't be seen, but in the Walking Yin perspective, it showed patterns of black lines continuously emerging from the boy's palm, rippling forward.

Li Zhiyuan was pacifying "them."

Bodies like these, dead for so long and trapped in a Yin-charged place, upon contact with the living's breath, could easily turn into undead mutants.

Rather than facing such trouble underwater, it was better to pacify "them" first.

Everyone could conserve a bit of strength before encountering the real threat.

With the boy's soothing action, the corpses remained quiet, and everyone swam through them.

Then, the completely water-filled space ended, surfacing revealed a hollow, and they came ashore.

After a quick rest, they continued forward.

This wasn't an Underground Palace; it exuded a raw, primitive aura.

Walking along, they could see the cave's shimmering formations, especially when the flashlight beam hit, reflecting dazzling colors.

Tan Wenbin: "What a marvelous place, perfect for tourism development."

Lin Shuyou: "But Brother Bin, there's something dirty here."