Chapter Eighty-One: The True Colors of an Engineer

  Upon hearing the translation from the civil police officer, I furrowed my brow involuntarily. How did the old lama know that Jin Gang Pao and I were here to help the villagers?

  "Lao Yu, that old toad won't live much longer." Jingang Cannon watched as the old lama departed, and only withdrew his gaze after a long while.

  "That's what they call a lama, can't you just shut up?" I glared at Jincheng Cannon helplessly. Among these villagers, if there was anyone who understood Chinese and heard Jincheng Cannon blaspheme the sacred person in their hearts, wouldn't they want to fight us to the death?

  As we were talking, a middle-aged man who looked like a village chief rushed towards us. He raised his head and said something to us. I quickly turned my head to look at the civilian policeman who understood Tibetan.

  "The village headman asked you if you came to help them." The police officer became my personal translator.

  When I heard this, I couldn't help but secretly sigh. Originally, I had only agreed to come and take a look at the invitation of Director Xie, who would have thought that as soon as I came, that old lama would put me in an awkward position. Under duress, I could only force myself to respond: "It was Director Xie from the police station who invited us to come and help everyone."

  The villagers cheered as the police finished translating, and excitedly surrounded us as we walked towards the village. Even a group of unpopular policemen were swept up in the enthusiasm and pulled into the village by the crowd.

  The Tibetan way of treating guests is very enthusiastic, no matter whether you agree or disagree, they start busy making food and tea.

  We sat on the carpet in the village chief's house, and Jin Gang gun casually put down his backpack.

  "Don't put down the bag." Mr. Xie hastily spoke out to stop him, but it was too late, Jīn Gāng had already casually placed the backpack in the corner of the north side of the house.

  The village chief and the onlookers saw Jin Gang put down his backpack and seemed extremely happy, speaking quickly.

  "What's wrong with putting down a bag?" Jin Gang Pao was confused, staring at Xie Suo Chang with wide eyes.

  "You have to sleep here tonight." Director Xie said with a smile. It turned out that the Tibetan and Mongolian masses had a rule, when guests entered the house and put down their bags, it meant they would be staying overnight. And wherever the bag was placed, that's where they would sleep.

  "I didn't put my backpack in the toilet, what's there to be afraid of?" Jin Gang Pao was nonchalant, carefree and unbothered.

  After a while, the wine table was set up, with many meat dishes, very rich and sumptuous, but I had something on my mind and didn't have any appetite at all.

  "Let's get things done first before eating." I suggested, looking up. If we eat their food and can't accomplish anything, that would be too embarrassing.

  After translation, some Tibetans did not agree. Under duress, we reluctantly ate a little under the guidance of the civil police and then ran out in a hurry.

  "Why are there so many rules for eating?" Jin Gang was driven crazy by the complicated etiquette at the dinner table.

  I smiled wryly and shook my head, the Tibetans have too many table manners, I'm also unaccustomed to it.

  Followed Xie Zuo and others back to the village front highway fork, pinched the key to observe and found that there was indeed a faint gray gas emanating from under the highway.

  I waved my hand to signal to Chief Zhai and a group of villagers to wait here, and walked aside with Jin Gang Cannon.

  "Old cow, what do you think is down there?" I asked with a frown. The road in front of us used to be a small hill, but it was directly cut through due to construction needs. That gray aura was pressed right under the asphalt surface.

  "I feel that gray gas is not common, it shouldn't be a living thing, right?" Jin Gang Pao said uncertainly. Gray gas indeed was not common.

  "I feel like a living thing, the earth energy is green in color, and there should be stones under the road surface. Further down, I can't see clearly, but I feel that there should be something alive." The ancient Taoist techniques have many places that are no longer applicable today, just like this asphalt in front of me seriously hinders my ability to perform the "Observing Qi" technique.

  "How about digging it open and taking a look?" Jin Gang Pao's eyebrows were also furrowed.

  "Can the highway be dug casually?" I shook my head and walked back. "Old Xie, ask them if the old lama from before said what kind of thing was haunting." Although that old lama had a gloomy aura, I still felt he should have some abilities, so it wouldn't hurt to listen to his judgment first.

  "Kwok Yat, Kwok Yat......" The police officer translated, and the village chief immediately responded.

  "What does Guo Ri mean?" I asked the police officer who understood Tibetan. The township where Director Xie was located was called Guo Ri Township, but what "Guo Ri" meant in Tibetan I really didn't know.

  "Guo Ri means 'round head' in Tibetan, it's an adjective." The police officer translated promptly.

  "Who are the people who died in their village?" I didn't dare act rashly without a thorough understanding.

  "Over thirty elderly people and children have died this year." Zhang said with a sigh.

  "Are there more men or women?" I continued to ask.

  "It's all men!" Director Xie sighed endlessly "If there were both men and women, it wouldn't be called a mess"

  "Why don't they move?" Jin Gang handed a cigarette to Director Xie.

  "Tibetans also respect their ancestors very much, and after death, they all bury them in the ground. If the ancestral tomb is not here, they would have left early." Director Xie lit a cigarette, "Sky burial and water burial are not common here."

  "Lao Yu, won't that grey gas pillar on your map have some connection with the grey aura here?" Jin Gang Pao's words shocked the dreamer awake.

  The fifth breath on the map of Cold Mouse left by Feng Dao Ren is indeed gray, and gray breath is not common either. Could it be that the thick asphalt on the highway in front of us has covered up most of the gray gas?

  "Old Xie, to be honest with you, I don't have any grasp of this situation at all." I turned my head and revealed the truth to Director Xie. "The current situation is likely that there's something hidden under this asphalt road, unless we dig up the surface, we won't be able to do anything."

  "Dig up the highway?" As soon as I finished speaking, Director Xie's eyes widened in shock "That's absolutely not allowed!"

  "It can't be helped." I stretched out both hands and said "You'd better come every day to catch people from now on." I said, pulling my legs and leaving.

  "Wait a minute," said Director Xiao, grabbing me with one hand. After a moment of contemplation, "Brother, I really can't do the highway excavation."

  "Old Xie, unless I dig it up, I won't be able to find anything. To be honest, even if I do dig up the highway, I'm not sure I'll..."

  "We police can't do anything, but we can ignore it." Chief Xie interrupted me, glanced at the other police officers beside him, and said in a low voice, "Wait until tonight, we'll help you guard the intersections on both sides. As for what you're doing with them, I can pretend I don't know."

  I thought for a moment and finally nodded. It's indeed unrealistic to let the police dig up the highway.

  "Brother, can you tell me what's going on? What's the bottom line?" Director Xie smiled wryly.

  "We suspect that there's something hidden underneath, and when the mountain was removed during road construction, people started dying. We want to dig it open and see what's inside."

  "What does it have to do with whether someone lives or dies if a mountain moves?" Director Xie was left bewildered by what Jin Gang had just said.

  "The aura emitted by the thing below is harmful to humans, if it weren't for that old lama blocking a part of it at the village entrance, I'm afraid more people would have died." I said in a low voice. It seems that Buddhist monks and lamas are mostly kind-hearted.

  "Go ahead, you handle it, anyway I don't understand, it's all up to you." Director Xie listened to me finish speaking, turned around and whispered a few words to the police officer who understood Tibetan, leaving him behind, and then turned to leave.

  "Whose bulldozer is that?" Jin Gang Pao grabbed Xie Suozhang.

  "Hired by our village for us to use..."

  "Stay behind, I'll take care of it!" Jin Gang Pao said with a sly smile.

  “......”

  The truck finally left, and Xie Zong dragged the driver and others away from this place of trouble.

  I watched them walk away, turned around and explained my intention to the villagers. Everyone was overjoyed and surrounded us three people back to the village. Resting and waiting for Director Xie to block the highway intersection at night.

  In the late afternoon, news arrived. I and Jinkang Cannon led the crowd to the village highway. The Tibetans in the village heard that we were here to help drive out evil spirits, and they came one after another with their own horse-drawn carriages to help. For a time, the highway was bustling with people shouting and horses neighing.

  Jin Gang Pao is indeed a skilled engineer, operating the large excavator with ease, and in an instant, the thick asphalt on the roadbed was dug open. The gray spiritual energy suddenly became much thicker.

  "Lao Yu, this is a loader, not an excavator, it can only scoop like this." Jin Gang Cannon turned off the loader and jumped down.

  "Old Cow, you didn't guess wrong, this is indeed the fifth breath marked on the map." I looked serious.

  "It seems that our observation is not only unable to see through iron, but also unable to see through asphalt," Jin Gang Pao laughed. Asphalt is commonly known as "stinky oil".

  As the excavator lost its function, the remaining work could only be done by humans. I directed the crowd to dig in an orderly manner, and saw that the gray gas in the soil was getting thicker and more intense. Worried that these evil spirits would harm the crowd, Jin Gang and I held the dry spear and the nine Yang cannon and jumped into the pit, releasing our own spiritual energy to protect everyone.

  The Tibetans were robust and worked efficiently as their lives depended on it, so they quickly dug a large pit about five zhang square and over one zhang deep.

  "Lao Yu, do you feel that there is a living thing below?" Up to now, neither I nor Jin Gang Cannon have felt any obvious signs of life underground.

  "It's better if it's not alive, otherwise we'll be in trouble!" I shook my head and said. If it were some kind of living creature, just the aura it emits would be enough to take lives, which means it wouldn't be an ordinary opponent. And the spells that Jin Gang Cannon and I have cultivated are clearly more effective against vengeful spirits and ghosts.

  Everyone shouted and cheered non-stop, the enthusiasm was overwhelming. It was a cold winter day but some people were still wearing short sleeves, which left me and Jin Gang Pao speechless.

  At midnight, with a villager's shout, we finally dug up the bluestone.

  "There's a hole below!" I and Jin Gang Cannon dispersed the villagers, observed carefully for a moment. The bluestone was formed naturally, without any carving marks, but under the impact of the pickaxe, there was an echo coming back, it seemed that this below should be a naturally formed cave.

  "How thick is the stone layer?" I looked at Jin Gang Cannon. Jin Gang Cannon was originally a sapper, and this was what he was good at.

  "About 20 work points, a small amount of explosives can blast it open!" Jin Gang cannon lay on the ground, pounding the ground with his fists several times, judging the thickness of the rock layer from the echo.

  Dispersing the crowd, Jin Gang took out a small amount of explosives and set up an explosion point before scrambling out like flying.

  With a faint rumble, I and Jin Gang Pao crawled up to take a look, the stone layer at the bottom of the pit had been blasted open, revealing a dark cave entrance.

  "Alive?" Jin Gang Cannon withdrew his gaze.

  "Alive!" I bitterly smiled and nodded. "Being alive also means going down."

  After the rock layer was blasted open, we could truly feel that there was a vital energy of living things inside the cave.

  The strong wind in winter swept away the turbid air inside the cave in an instant. We took out the rope and tied it to the scraper car.

  "Build the fire bigger, don't run around the fire heap." Jin Gang Pao shouted at the villagers, glanced at me, and slid down along the rope...