[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-grave-robbers-chronicles":3,"chapter-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-214":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Grave Robbers' Chronicles",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},16071,44,"Chapter 214: Snake Marsh Ghost City (Mid): Grave Robbers' Notes","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-214",214,"\u003Cp>This was a mysterious basement in a mysterious sanatorium, where a mysterious woman had done some unbelievable things. Since she had lived here, there were bound to be some traces left behind. If I could find even a little, perhaps I could understand the truth of some matters. Even if it was all useless information, I could still know what her life and mental state were like at that time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew almost nothing about everything that had happened in this sanatorium; every clue was important to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I began to search. Anything I could look at, I would take a look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ceiling here was low, and I felt quite oppressed, but the lighter's illumination was relatively effective because of that, able to light up a good distance. I roughly looked around and decided where to start examining.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the blurry black-and-white images of the videotape, I couldn't freely view the room's full view and details, but now I could, and what I saw was more intuitive. I first imagined the real Huo Ling combing her hair, which was quite terrifying, and quickly shook my head to divert my attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Zippo in my hand could sustain a flame for illumination, but it had gotten so hot that if I pinched it any higher I couldn't hold it. I found a rag on the table, wrapped it, and continued using it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the faint firelight, I first looked at the walls. The four walls of this room were all painted with whitewash, now covered with dust. On the wall by the door was nailed a wooden stick with clothes hooks, a place for hanging clothes. Below the stick, newspapers were pasted to prevent the hanging clothes from touching the whitewash on the wall. Next to the stick was a cabinet without doors; this should be where Huo Ling changed clothes. Now it was empty inside. When I approached and looked, I saw that the cabinet seemed to have been scratched by something, covered in marks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wall further along had nothing else, only the wires hanging on it, all gray. On one side, there was a doorway connecting to the next room. I didn't know if it had been left unsealed during construction or broken through later. The room opposite was completely empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Opposite the cabinet were two desks placed side by side, piled with things that seemed to be newspapers and trash I couldn't make out clearly. On the wall by the desks were pasted large amounts of paper, all covered in dust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I blew off the dust and looked at them one by one. I found the contents on the wall were very trivial. I saw electricity bills from the 1990s and some casually written, meaningless numbers. These papers, which had almost become one with the wall, were probably used at the time as a phone memo pad, because I remembered the phone was placed in this spot. But now it was gone, only a severed phone cord remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These things couldn't give me any information. I could only know that she used electricity while living here. I sighed and then began to search through the documents on the desk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those papers were all in dust; moving them stirred up clouds of smoke. I couldn't care less. I flipped through them one by one. The inside of the papers had rotted, and tiny house centipedes were disturbed and came out. But compared to the snow bugs from Changbai Mountain, these were small fry. I quickly sorted through the papers and pulled out a few notebooks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I took them out and shook them. I found they seemed to be large manuscript pads, used for writing drafts before computers existed. Something was written on them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I opened it and saw on the first page three lines of text: Back Room 2-3.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Category number 012~053: 20, 939, 45. What does this mean? I thought to myself. It seemed like some file numbers. Could it be some handwritten documents or texts? I turned over the first page and saw that it wasn't. On the second page, there was actually a picture, drawn in ballpoint pen, and quite sloppily. At first glance, I couldn't tell what it was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I steadied myself and carefully tried to identify it. After five or six minutes, I finally made out that it was actually an ancient figure painting, except the person clearly couldn't draw. The figure was almost deformed, looking extremely eerie. That ancient figure didn't look like a human, but rather like a long-snouted fox.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the figure were also many bizarre lines. After I recognized that weird thing as a person, the meaning of those lines became clear: they should be the background of the figure painting, with landscapes, temples, trees, and the like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn't help laughing. I thought, what is this? Could it be Huo Ling's sketch? Her hobbies were quite diverse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I flipped through the next thirty or forty pages; all were pictures like this. No text content. I put it down and looked at another notebook. Same thing—aside from the content on the first page being different, the inside was all similar pictures. I didn't know what they were. I set them aside and continued flipping through those papers. But there was nothing underneath; I only found a few rag-like clumps, not a single paper with content.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I cursed again. I thought, it seemed that when they left, they might have taken all the informative things away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I was not giving up. I didn't believe they could take everything and leave nothing. I sat down in the spot where Huo Ling combed her hair, rested for a bit, and then pulled open the drawer in front of me, wanting to see what was inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the largest drawer in the middle of the desk, under the desktop. I pulled at it and felt resistance. Damn, the drawer was locked, and it felt heavy. Usually after moving, you wouldn't lock abandoned furniture, and this feel indicated there might be something inside. I got excited. This kind of lock was no problem for me. I stood up, took off a clothes hook from behind the door, inserted it into the crack of the drawer, and pressed down hard. In one go, I enlarged the gap, the lock tooth came off, and I pulled the drawer open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I picked up the lighter and shone\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was definitely a woman's drawer, filled with all sorts of trivial odds and ends, very messy. Clearly, she had taken the useful things with her when she left, leaving behind a wooden comb, a small 1990s-style pancake-like compact, a thick stack of *Contemporary Cinema* magazines. These old magazines were ancient—I remember reading them as a kid as if they were porn. There were also those black metal hair clips, many empty envelopes, and an empty photo album.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were a great many envelopes, but none had been used. Patiently, I opened each one to check inside, but there was nothing. The photo album also had no pictures—it was clear that there had been photos before, but they had all been removed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, I flipped through those old magazines page by page, exceptionally carefully, but still found nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I collapsed into the chair, not caring about the dust, and leaned back. Somewhat tired, I looked across the table through the dim light of the lighter. All around was pitch black, deathly quiet, and my heart was equally disappointed. Clearly, if this seat belonged to Huo Ling, then this woman was extremely meticulous and deliberately left no clues behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cold all around was already greeting me. I clenched my teeth: I can't give up. Damn it, Roger's Law—it's impossible that nothing was left behind. I'm sure I can find something! I encouraged myself again, though I was already somewhat despairing inside. I pushed the drawers back in one by one, stood up, and went to look at the desk opposite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no chair on the other side, so I bent down and discovered that the largest drawer in the middle was still locked. This was a bit strange. I repeated the same trick and pried the drawer open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I fully expected the scene to be the same as before—that I'd have to search through the trash for clues. But to my surprise, when I pulled it out this time, the drawer was very clean, completely empty, with nothing inside except a large yellow envelope placed right in the center. It was bulging, about A4 paper size, sitting there squarely, as if deliberately placed waiting for me to see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eh?\" My heart stirred. I realized something and immediately picked it up to look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the type of labor insurance envelope from the late 1980s, made of kraft paper with a faded portrait of Mao Zedong. I touched it and found something thick inside, but it had gotten damp; when I felt it, it was rough and fuzzy, very soft and crumbly. There was no writing on the envelope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt that this was a lead. I quickly turned it over, opened the envelope, reached inside, and pulled out a worn work notebook the size of a large magazine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was stunned for a moment. I opened the cover and found on the first page of the notebook a section of extremely elegant running script in pen: \"I don't know which of the three people you are. Whoever you are, when you come here and find this envelope, I believe you must already be involved in this matter.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The videotape was the last safeguard we set up. The sending out of the videotape means that the person keeping the tape can no longer contact me, and thus it represents that I have already died, or that \"It\" has discovered me and I have already left this city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whichever the case, it means that I may soon leave the world. Therefore, the videotape will guide you here, allowing you to see this notebook.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This notebook records over a decade's worth of our research efforts and experiences. I leave it to you, so you can learn from it the things you want to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, I must warn you: its contents involve some huge secrets that I once swore to take to my grave, but in the end I could not keep my vow. After reading these secrets, fortune or misfortune is unpredictable. You must act wisely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Wenjin, September 1995.\u003C\u002Fp>",1752,"2026-05-28T17:14:01.101Z","2026-06-01T04:28:20.357Z",1,"deepseek-v4-flash","67ac037d0fbf2d2dd6af4b03ae60122c630fbef9de0b35112dd1dce090ea3ff2","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-215","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-213",513,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-grave-robbers-chronicles-cover.jpg"]