ER doors swished open. Feng leaned against antiseptic-scented tiles. Lao Wu's shotgun hid in his trunk, barrel slick with mold residue. When nurses第三次 demanded payment, drizzle blurred the windows.

  "Folkloric survey accident." Feng slid cultural bureau papers forward, bandages oozing yellow. "Landslide buried heritage structures. Colleague critically injured."

  The cop eyed his gunpowder-burned collarbone: "This isn't rock..."

  "Luoyang shovel rebound." Feng exposed lightning-wood burns. "Methane explosion. Full report forthcoming."

  Dawn pierced rain. Feng stood beyond police tape. Excavators loomed over the ancestral hall, cabs plastered with vermillion charms—warding journalists, not spirits.

  "Door groove!" Feng grabbed an officer. As cranes lifted the threshold, a key-shaped cavity emerged. His phone flashed bronze key photos: "Crucial relic..."

  "Experts will handle it." The cop blocked him. Tremors shook earth—gatehouse collapsed, revealing a bronze altar. Its trigrams matched the Codex's inverted corpse.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Cultural bureau arrived swiftly. Feng chewed ration bars on the slope. Binoculars caught a gray shadow—old man in Mao suit surveying the altar. His rodent-headed bone ring glinted.

  "That's no bureaucrat." Feng's spy cam whirred. When police cleared the site, he "tied shoelaces"—slipping hand-drawn talismans into altar cracks. The ground rumbled as sigils connected.

  "Evacuate!" Safety officers waved flags. Feng ducked under tarps—altar bells resembled ritual objects. Fingers grazed cold bronze...

  "Halt!" Two armed police (PAP = People's Armed Police) officers approached. After rigorous ID checks: "Obstruct again, criminal detention."

  Lao Wu's room reeked of incense. Mountain Burial Relic Codex lay open, holding yellowed diary pages:

  Dec 7, 1993

  Third Uncle said Lord Grey Eighth grants lifespan for artifacts. We found bronze vessel in Mangshan Wei Tomb, interior carved with names. Night watchman Ma went mad, hugging it screaming "Ten more years..."

  Windowpanes rattled. Feng saw a hunchback vanishing downstairs—rat tail tattoo on nape. Lao Wu's monitor beeped erratically.

  Night rain returned. On the roof, Feng opened Annals—page 177's tear held bronze shards. UV light revealed microscript:

  Mountain-Calming Zun is Life-Debt Cauldron

  Lord Grey Eighth judges life-death contracts

  To break pact...

  His phone buzzed. Anonymous message: "Karmic debt unbroken. Proxy cycle continues."

  End of Huangjue Chronicles