Chapter 4: Land-Bound Spirit

The underground parking lot on the second level was huge.

Li Yi walked alone across the muddy ground, his body taut, alert to every direction.

“They know this place is haunted, that many have died here, yet they still insist on going solo—looks like they’ve made up their minds to gamble their lives. That old crow really is cruel, dangled such a big bait—who could resist?”

“At first they just wanted to risk it for a few ten thousand yuan, but now they don’t even care about their lives—even I, in this situation, can’t help but seek out the strange artifact.”

“After all, such an opportunity might come only once in a lifetime. Everyone is just too eager to advance.”

As Li Yi wandered in thought, he swept his flashlight around, searching.

The flashlight’s beam was limited, and abandoned buildings and load-bearing pillars blocked the view, making the search harder.

Most importantly, Li Yi didn’t know what he was looking for.

Because he didn’t recognize strange artifacts.

“While no danger has appeared yet, I’ll just wander a bit and head back. Don’t go too far and get lost. This time, I’ll make enough money and be satisfied—I won’t risk my life for some uncertain artifact. What others do is their business; I won’t be swept up blindly.”

Li Yi grew slightly calmer now and slowed his pace.

After walking a little farther, he felt his search area was sufficient to justify his report, so he stopped going deeper.

He swept his flashlight left and right—if nothing unusual showed, he’d turn back.

But soon, Wei Li’s voice came from the darkness ahead.

“I think I’ve found something—don’t know what it is, but it feels strange. If you’re interested, come closer.”

“Found something? Good, I’m coming,” Wang Hu replied.

Zhang Kaiwen added: “Wait for me, I’m on my way.”

Soon, several beams of light moved toward the same direction.

“Not far from me—I’ll go take a look. If I get no intel, I won’t get paid.” Li Yi hesitated, then, curious, moved closer.

Soon, the group converged in one area.

Though spaced far apart, their flashlights all illuminated the same spot.

It was a slightly raised burial mound—but the mound had clearly been dug open. Nearby lay scattered fragments of tombstones and ritual offerings. Yet this damaged grave was peculiar: not of Earth’s making, more like a newly built ancient tomb.

“Is this my imagination?”

Li Yi shone his flashlight at the mound, only to see a faint halo surrounding it—but as he moved the light away, the halo vanished into darkness.

“Not imagination. That place really is different.”

His previously calm heart thudded again.

Could that be the strange artifact they spoke of?

Uncertain.

But it was close—if he stepped nearer, he’d know.

Yet he wasn’t the only one with that thought.

But at this moment, everyone held back, silently refraining from acting rashly—because Wei Li’s flashlight wasn’t pointing at the mound, but at the ground around it.

There, grotesquely sprouting from the earth around the mound were dozens of dead men’s arms, caked in mud, twisted and deformed, eerily unnatural. The farther forward one looked, the more there were. More horrifying still, they faintly saw something writhing beneath the mud.

“No wonder Wei Li won’t move forward.”

Li Yi’s blood ran cold—he had a premonition that stepping into that area would bring an unimaginable, horrific attack.

If disaster struck, their chances of survival as ordinary people were near zero.

So Wei Li wasn’t warning them out of kindness—he couldn’t cross the zone himself and needed others to test the danger.

“The path is right before you. Risk exists, but the reward is great. Choose as you will.”

Wei Li, wiping his lenses slowly, said: “If you turn back now, getting the remaining hundred thousand yuan won’t be a problem. But think carefully before deciding.”

All of them fell silent, caught in brief stillness.

They hesitated—and seemed to wait for someone else to step forward.

Meanwhile, on the first floor of the building.

The tall woman stood motionless in an abandoned room, eyes closed.

She had held this pose for some time—then suddenly, a faint smile touched her lips: “They’ve safely reached the core zone. I sensed their location through disturbances. So far, none of the five have died. My earlier assumption was right—ordinary people aren’t targeted by the wandering ghosts downstairs.”

“Because they haven’t opened their spiritual medium—can’t see the ghosts, so aren’t attacked. Those of us who’ve entered cultivation can perceive things ordinary eyes can’t. In truth, once we enter the first basement, we’re swarmed by ghosts. The second basement has even more—dense, countless. If we charged in with our current strength, we’d die horribly,” the old crow said in a low voice.

“Thinking of those five surrounded by countless deadly ghosts makes my hair stand on end—but sometimes I envy them. Not seeing means not existing; not existing means no fear. Otherwise, how could they reach the core so easily? They’d have been terrified to death long ago.”

The tall woman continued: “Avoiding unseen ghosts is only the first step. But what’s there is no ordinary thing—it has formed a land-bound spirit. Get too close, and you’ll die horribly.”

“These five are sharp, cunning—they won’t rush in. They’ll probably just glance from afar, snap a photo, and leave,” the old crow mused.

“That’s fine. One photo is enough for me to pinpoint the exact location. Then I’ll gather a few friends and charge again. If we move fast enough, retrieving the object won’t be hard.” As she spoke, she suddenly let out a soft “Huh?”

“What is it?”

The woman snapped open her eyes and immediately said: “Damn it—Wang Hu is trying to snatch the object from the land-bound spirit. His action has triggered a mass uprising of the dead. We can’t stay here—we must retreat from this building, or we’ll be caught in the backlash.”

“Then those five are dead for sure,” the old crow’s face darkened.

The two swiftly evacuated the danger zone, instructing their subordinates to stay clear.

At that moment, on the second level of the underground parking lot.

Wang Hu charged forward, leaping ahead—his feet landed precisely on solid ground. Normally, his body would have sunk into the mud—but it didn’t, because beneath his feet lay a car buried in sludge.

The car became his stepping stone, letting him quickly approach the lone grave.

Even with this tactic, his action triggered a chain of horrific reactions.

“Ahh! Ahh!”

Pained screams echoed through the darkness. Dozens of twisted, grotesque corpses writhed in the soft mud, mouths open, faces contorted in agony, crawling toward Wang Hu. The muddy arms, like wild grass in the wind, began to sway, reaching for anything they could touch.

“What the hell are these things?”

The sight sent chills down the spine.

Wang Hu leaped again, avoiding a terrifying arm deep in the mud—but this time, luck turned against him. The parking spot ahead was empty—no car beneath the sludge.

Instantly, nearly half his tall frame sank in.

His movement slowed. The corpses around him writhed and surged forward. In mere seconds, he was surrounded by those dreadful things—about to be dragged into the mud, utterly consumed.

“Move, damn it—move your body!”

He roared, muscles straining, unleashing unimaginable strength through sheer will to survive.

Wang Hu broke free of the mud’s grip and scrambled onto the roof of a nearby car.

But danger hadn’t passed—the corpses surged toward him in greater numbers.

Yet at this moment, Wei Li moved. Step by step, he trudged through the soft sludge at his fastest pace, heading straight for the lone grave.

The horrific corpses were all drawn to Wang Hu—this was his chance.

“My life’s already worthless. If not now, when?” Zhang Kaiwen immediately kicked off his shoes and tried to cross the dangerous zone too.

At this moment, all three were gambling with their lives.

“Go—or not?”

Li Yi thought rapidly. He was tempted—his path ahead had cars as stepping stones, and the corpses nearby were distracted by the others.

He was confident he could cross the danger zone safely and reach the grave.

But only that far.

Whether the grave held further dangers, whether the artifact was real, whether he could return alive—he didn’t know, and didn’t consider.

Because the next moment, he charged forward.

“I want to advance too.”