Yan Zhi

The air in the tactical meeting room seemed to have frozen solid.

The cold light from the projector hit Song Zhiyi’s face. He sat up straight, his steady voice breaking the silence.

“I can’t be sure about other things, but I’m certain its power absolutely exceeded the scope of a conventional Level 4 mutant beast.”

Recalling the scene in the hall, Song Zhiyi’s voice was a bit dry. “Whether it was speed, strength, or that incredible self-healing ability. My full-strength strike cut through its scales, but they healed completely within seconds. But the most bizarre thing wasn’t that; it was its ‘attitude.’”

He turned to look at Cao Tianlin. “It didn’t have the instincts of a predator. The way it looked at us was with a kind of... I suppose you could call it ‘pity.’”

Zhou Yan pressed his hand against his gauze-wrapped chest and spoke in a muffled voice, “The captain is right. When that monster swatted me away, it didn’t use its full strength at all. It felt like a guard who had been sleeping and just casually waved its hand after being woken up.”

Cao Tianlin nodded, his gaze shifting to Qiu Shubai.

“Student Qiu, what about you?”

Qiu Shubai lowered her eyelashes slightly, her water-clear eyes showing no ripples. “My strength was insufficient, and I had too little contact with it. I could only feel that its energy structure was very unstable, like a container that had been forcibly pieced together. When it finally fell and dissipated, it was... very peaceful.”

“Peaceful?” Cao Tianlin’s fingers tapped on the table. “A mutant beast, dying peacefully?”

He stopped tapping, his sharp gaze piercing toward Luo Yang.

“Luo Yang, you were the one closest to the final kill of that beast and that girl named Yan Zhi. You spoke with her, didn't you?”

Luo Yang leaned against the back of his chair, still holding the cup of tea Cao Tianlin had personally brewed. Meeting everyone's gaze, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his expression natural.

“We had a brief chat. However, I didn’t get any valuable intelligence.”

He set down his teacup, his tone level. “The girl calls herself Yan Zhi and says she’s a ‘Gravekeeper.’ As for that mutant beast, she doesn’t know it; she only said it was related to the original owner of that hall—that is, the dynasty that has long since vanished.”

“As for the mutant beast’s core, the creature left it behind of its own accord. I’m not sure if it has any special use. But according to Yan Zhi, it was specifically left for me.”

His words were brief. He told only a part of the truth, skillfully hiding Yan Zhi’s statement that she had “been dead for a long time.”

Before he figured out the girl’s background, describing her as a dangerous “dead person” would likely result in her immediately becoming a specimen for slicing in a military laboratory.

Although he didn't want to cause more trouble, he also didn't want to push a girl who seemed to have no hostility toward him—and even seemed a bit simple—into a fiery pit.

Qiu Shubai glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Given her understanding of this guy, she was almost certain that Luo Yang was hiding the most critical part.

But since he didn't say it, she naturally wouldn't expose him.

Cao Tianlin stared at Luo Yang for a full ten seconds, as if trying to find some flaw in that gentle and harmless face. But Luo Yang’s disguise was seamless, his eyes as clear as those of a pure student.

“Fine.” Cao Tianlin finally withdrew his gaze. “The military will continue to push forward with the investigation of the girl and the testing of the core. That’s all for today. The entire Blade Squad is on a one-week leave. Luo Yang, your re-examination mission is considered successfully completed. I will personally write a report for Zhang Xian.”

The meeting adjourned.

...

The Isolation and Containment Zone on the third basement floor of the military district.

The security level here was extremely high, with guards every few steps and the air filled with the cold scent of metal.

But Luo Yang encountered no obstacles along the way.

He had a special authorization card granted by Cao Tianlin and easily pushed open the door to the special care ward.

There was no hospital bed in the room, only a simple sofa, a table, and a television playing a melodramatic drama.

Yan Zhi was sitting on the sofa. She was still wearing that black Lolita dress, barefoot, hugging her knees like a quiet little black cat. Hearing the sound of the door hinge, she looked up, her pitch-black eyes quietly watching Luo Yang.

“You’re here.” Her voice was still light, carrying that unique texture.

She wasn't surprised by Luo Yang’s arrival in the slightest; there was even a faint trace of joy in her expression.

She stood up, walked over to Luo Yang, and looked up at him, her nostrils twitching slightly. “The scent of ash on you has faded a bit.”

Luo Yang pulled over a chair and sat down, gesturing for her to sit on the opposite sofa as well.

“I took a shower, so of course the scent faded.” Luo Yang looked at her, putting away the persona he had used in the meeting room, his eyes becoming somewhat deep.

“Now, shouldn't we speak some truths? About that hall, about that mutant beast, and... about yourself.”

Yan Zhi sat back obediently on the sofa, her hands folded over her knees. She looked at Luo Yang and, without any hesitation, nodded directly.

“As long as you want to know, I will tell you everything.”

Her trust came for no apparent reason, yet it was so pure that it was impossible to doubt.

“What was that dynasty called?” Luo Yang asked.

“I really don’t know that.” Yan Zhi shook her head, her long black hair swaying with the movement. “When I arrived there, they were all already dead. That hall, those pillars, and the cracks on the ground were all covered in dust. I only walked there later.”

Luo Yang frowned slightly. “You said you are a ‘Gravekeeper.’ Since you didn’t know them, why keep their graves?”

Yan Zhi tilted her head, seemingly trying to organize her words.

“Because... when I died, no one looked after me.”

She spoke a sentence that made one’s spine tingle in the flattest of tones.

“I don’t remember what my name was when I was alive, nor do I remember how I died. I only remember waking up in a very cold, very dark place. That was when I discovered that my body would no longer bleed, my heart would no longer beat, and my whole person was cold.”

Luo Yang’s breath hitched slightly.

A walking corpse that had returned from the dead, yet retained human reason and a soul?

“I walked a very, very long way.” Yan Zhi continued, her pitch-black eyes reflecting Luo Yang’s silhouette. “I didn’t know where I was going until I walked into that space that hadn’t turned red yet. There were many dead people there, thousands of them. They were wearing strange armor and lying in the ruins; they looked so pitiful and so lonely.”

“I thought they must feel cold, just like me. But they couldn’t move anymore; they couldn’t cover themselves with soil.”

“So, I started digging holes.”

The girl held up her slender, fair hands, turning them over to look at them.

“Dig a hole, bury a person. Dig another hole, bury another person. I didn't feel tired, and I didn't need to eat. I dug for a long, long time—maybe a hundred years, maybe a thousand. So long that I buried every single bone there into the ground.”

Looking at this girl who appeared to be only thirteen or fourteen, a storm surged within Luo Yang’s heart.

Burying the remains of an entire dynasty with her bare hands. For hundreds, even thousands of years.

No wonder. No wonder she called herself a “Gravekeeper.”

She wasn't appointed by anyone; she was just a homeless ghost who, over the long years, had built a resting place for another group of ghosts.

“What about that lion?” Luo Yang took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. “That man-faced lion—why was it there?”

“It was originally a stone statue,” Yan Zhi said softly. “It stood right next to that throne. After I finished burying everyone, I felt a bit tired, so I sat on that throne to rest. After a long time, the sky slowly turned dark red, and many ugly monsters grew around us. And that statue, in the red light, slowly grew flesh and blood, becoming what you saw.”

“Perhaps it thought I was the new king of that dynasty, so it stayed by my side the whole time. Actually, it was very foolish. The people it was waiting for had long since been buried underground by me. Its coming to life was only to guard a phantom that didn't exist at all.”

Yan Zhi lowered her gaze, looking at her pale feet.

“That bead is the final proof it could leave for this world. It said you have a power that can end everything on you, which is why it gave the bead to you. It was too tired; it can finally sleep now.”

A long silence fell over the room.

Only the faint rustling sound of the exhaust fan could be heard.

Looking at the girl before him, Luo Yang suddenly felt that perhaps the most absurd and saddest things in the world were all concentrated on her.

A ghost who buried a civilization out of kindness, and a mutant beast that grew flesh from stone out of obsession.

“Do you have any plans for the future?” Luo Yang suddenly spoke, his tone softening considerably.

Yan Zhi looked up, a trace of confusion flashing in her black eyes.

“I don’t know. I don’t seem to have anywhere else to go.”

She stared intently at Luo Yang, then suddenly stood up, walked to him again, and reached out to gently tug at the cuff of his shirt.

“You have the scent of ash on you. I like this scent.” She looked up at him like a child asking for candy. “Can I follow you from now on?”

Luo Yang looked into those eyes that seemed to hide starlight, and his account balance flashed through his mind.

Raising a thousand-year-old walking corpse of unknown origin? This was definitely a massive headache.

But he sighed and reached out, gently ruffling Yan Zhi’s long black hair, just as he would rub the head of the Samoyed at Yu Mingyang’s house.

“Fine.” He smiled helplessly. “But let’s get this straight: I’ll provide food and shelter, but there’s no allowance. After all, I’m a poor man too.”