[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-grave-robbers-chronicles":3,"chapter-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-265":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},16122,44,"Chapter 265: Second Night: Blind","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-265",265,"\u003Cp>Poker-face sat motionless, glanced at Fatty, who hadn't pulled anything off but instead wiped the mud from his own hands onto Poker-face's face. Fatty gave an awkward smile and said, \"Just to be safe, Xiao Ge, you're also one of the four. Damn it, caution is the mother of safety.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Poker-face took a drink of water, not angry but ignoring Fatty. I said to Fatty, \"You didn't have to ambush him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty said angrily, \"Ambush? I was just a bit quick, that's all.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was used to Fatty's behavior and smiled helplessly. Fatty sat back down, probably feeling awkward, and changed the subject: \"Now we can prove that all four of us are innocent. So it seems the meaning of 'It' might be different from its literal meaning. Maybe it's not a living creature, but something completely different.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do you mean?\" I asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"'It' can refer not only to animals but also to objects. Maybe what Wenjin has been fleeing from is a thing?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty always had sudden ideas, but this one seemed a bit far-fetched. \"A thing?\" I asked. \"You mean what she's been fleeing from for over a decade could be our underwear or boogers?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Damn it, the thing I'm talking about is definitely not that,\" Fatty said. \"Do any of you have anything on you that's related to this matter? Take it out and let's have a look. Maybe we'll find something.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shook my head, thinking, what could I take out? I hadn't even brought those snake-browed bronze fish. Poker-face suddenly frowned and said, \"No, speaking of objects, we've missed one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What thing?\" We immediately leaned in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A Ning.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shuddered: \"You mean the corpse?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was possible, and it made my mind tingle, but on second thought, there was no direct evidence. However, what happened to A Ning was quite strange; maybe there really was a connection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty clapped and said, \"Aiya, Xiao Wu, remember what we encountered in the forest last night? Could it be that A Ning was problematic, so after she died she turned into that thing?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I opened my mouth, thinking how could I say it? This thing couldn't be proven by guesswork; the body was gone too. As for strangeness, wasn't everything here creepy? Besides, we hadn't seen clearly; no one could guarantee whether that thing was actually A Ning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unable to bear it, I immediately waved my hand and said, \"I think we'd better stop talking about this. The premise isn't clear yet; Wenjin might really have gone mad. Forcing ourselves to find a traitor among these people is unlikely. Let's think about something more practical, like how to catch her.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty lost interest, stood up, and said, \"What is there to think about? I told you it's impossible; we definitely can't figure it out. Maybe if we had a dog we could think. You don't have your grandfather's skill. The practical thing now is how to get through tonight; stop talking nonsense.\" With that he walked over, picked up the bucket of mud they had dug, and headed to Panzi's tent to smear it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked at my watch; night had fallen, and the last trace of daylight had long disappeared. To be safe, we really should take protective measures first. So I sighed and went over to help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We smeared mud all over the tent and covered it with a waterproof tarp to prevent rain at night. I checked on Panzi; he was still fast asleep with a normal temperature. Fatty told me that while I was sleeping, Panzi had woken up once, but he wasn't lucid yet, so they fed him some water and he fell into a deep sleep again. Still, the low fever had subsided; those injections were effective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, we looked for weapons. Fatty was the type who couldn't feel safe without a gun. He rummaged through everyone's gear but found no firearms in the camp. Fatty picked up a bunch of stones and piled them aside. I said once we threw all the stones, we'd have to surrender.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty stoked the campfire, making the flames bigger, and then lit several other fire spots around the camp for warning and drying. The red firelight illuminated everything brightly. By the time we finished, it was nearly ten at night. I had just started to feel a bit of safety when the surroundings grew hazy again; damn it, fog was rising again. In less than an hour, the entire camp was swallowed by thick fog, with nothing visible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the blurry surroundings, I broke out in cold sweat. Visibility was completely gone; even the flames were invisible beyond two or three meters. At this point, it was impossible to be on guard or vigilant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My nose was full of dampness mixed with the smell of soil. Moreover, the color of the fog seemed different from that in the forest; it had a bluish tint for some reason, which made me uncomfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wondered whether the fog was poisonous. Yesterday in the rainforest, I couldn't pay much attention to such things, but now I had to be careful. I had heard that miasma often rises in rainforests when temperatures drop at night, especially in swamps. Miasma contains large amounts of toxic gases and even volatilized heavy metals; breathing too much could cause chronic poisoning and even slowly rot your lungs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, I asked Fatty if we should check the tent equipment and find some gas masks to have on hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty said, \"This is definitely not miasma. Miasma has a strong smell, and it's not that powerful. At worst, breathing too much miasma gives you arthritis or tuberculosis. In the southwestern mountains, it's humid and there's lots of miasma, so the locals eat chili peppers to prevent it. Why don't you see if anyone here brought chili peppers? We can chew them later, and it'll also help us stay awake.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I said, \"Don't be careless. This place is different from others. I say to be safe, we should find some and wear them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty and Poker-face started smearing mud on themselves, which must have been an extremely uncomfortable process, so Fatty's tone was bad as he shook his head: \"If you want to wear one, wear it yourself. In this weather, with a gas mask on, you can't even see the tree you're about to walk into, damn it. How can we keep watch? If you have time to worry about this, you might as well go to sleep quickly; you may not get to sleep later.\" He immediately spat a few times, \"Jinx, jinx, good luck.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt dejected by his words, but inside I really hated myself. The two of them were keeping watch, Panzi was seriously injured, and I got to sleep the whole night. It was like I was on the same level as the heavy casualties. At that moment, I wondered if I was truly a burden by coming here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I went into the tent and lay down, but couldn't fall asleep. My mind was in chaos and my whole body ached. Because of the mud smeared outside, the campfire light couldn't get in. I had a miner's lamp for light, but I couldn't keep it on often to save battery, so I turned it off and forced myself to sleep in the dark. Listening to Fatty sharpening his machete outside, eventually I started to doze off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn't sure if that state counted as actually sleeping; I was groggy, with things still in my mind but not clear. It lasted a long time without falling into deep sleep. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by the need to pee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I woke up and listened; there was no sound outside. I thought it should be fine, so I fumbled in the dark to lift the tent flap and was about to go out to relieve myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment I lifted it, I was shocked: I saw that outside was pitch black, and all the campfires had gone out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was going on? I immediately became fully awake and retreated back into the tent, thinking: It's over. Had something happened?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But how could there be no sound at all? I hadn't been dead asleep; I could tell I was in a half-asleep state. With Poker-face's skills, what could have taken him out without making a sound?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I quieted down to listen; there was no sound outside. I started to panic. I didn't dare call out. I immediately felt my way back, found my miner's lamp, and turned it on, but after fiddling with it, found it didn't light. Then I felt my pocket, took out my lighter, and flicked it several times, but it didn't light either—there wasn't even a spark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I cursed under my breath, immediately took a few deep breaths, told myself to calm down, thinking, why do all the bad things happen at once? I put it away and was about to check the glow on my watch, but as I put it away I noticed the lighter was very hot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was a bit puzzled, thinking how could it be so hot? Just now there wasn't even a spark. I flicked the lighter again and then put it against my palm; my hand immediately felt a searing heat, and I jerked it back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was stunned, thinking: The lighter was lit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But before my eyes was still pitch black, not a trace of light.\u003C\u002Fp>",1583,"2026-05-28T17:14:01.101Z","2026-06-01T04:28:20.357Z",1,"deepseek-v4-flash","92d42586fc204158cc90886d87bcae1a8d0a6408567794e232834b92abb68262","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-266","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-264",513,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-grave-robbers-chronicles-cover.jpg"]