“Since everyone is here, let’s go.”

Uncle Gen did not open the door after he was done talking. Instead, he stood where he was as he scrutinized everyone.

The moment his eyes landed on the workers, they felt as though a venomous snake were looking at them and couldn’t help trembling.

Xiaowu was unafraid of him, but he deliberately acted scared so as not to blow his cover.

“Don’t try anything funny!”

Now that everyone was looking at Uncle Gen respectfully, he felt happy with the effect of his scrutiny and reminded them kindly, “You know what to do. You take turns pushing the cart every day at work. After you are done burying the things, you have to scatter the medicated powder in the basket.”

For some reason, even though people continued talking after they left, they became increasingly quiet on their way there until all that remained was the sound of breathing.

Despite Uncle Gen’s age and hunchback, he walked as fast as the middle-aged men.

They quickly arrived at the magistrate’s office’s mortuary.

Xiaowu was the second man in the line. The man in front of him covered the cart with an old straw mat and pushed the cart just like Uncle Gen ordered. The rest of the men each collected a metal spade and a wicker basket with a blue fabric covering it.

After giving out the things, Uncle Gen brought them out of the city.

The previously wide and well-constructed roads gradually became rough.

The stone-paved paths disappeared and were taken over by a single man path when Xiaowu and the others got to the mountain.

“Can the cart fit onto the path?”

The brawny guy in front of Xiaowu was a new guy, so he couldn’t help asking.

Uncle Gen turned to glare at him sternly the moment he spoke, leaving the brawny guy trembling.

The moment Uncle Gen turned, Xiaowu clearly detected a murderous look in Uncle Gen’s eyes as he warned the guy.

“Stop talking and focus on pushing the cart.”

Xiaowu couldn’t help finding Uncle Gen’s voice sounding empty as he kept urging the team to press forth.

The brawny guy pushing the cart had no choice but to grit his teeth and dug his feet into the ground as he pushed the cart.

The cart rolled onto the path diagonally. Despite the awkward angle, it was surprisingly able to keep balance and did not fall once as they took the path.

The brawny guy pushing the cart could not help heaving a sigh of relief when he saw the stone-paved path up ahead.

However, Uncle Gen felt he was too slow. “Don’t stop! Do you know how to push a cart?”

Uncle Gen sounded impatient and was ready to let someone else pushed the cart.

The brawny man did not dare to slow down and kept up to Uncle Gen’s pace as he pushed the cart.

Before they knew it, the clouds had scattered. The dim crescent moon hanging in the air glowed softly and helped to light the path on this barren mountain.

There were a lot of rocks with strange shapes on the mountain. The moonlight was surprisingly able to bounce off them, making them look a little like silver taels in the distance.

Xiaowu furtively observed his surrounding on the way up the mountain, but he did not notice anything strange about the place.

As for the gossip about the mountain being haunted, only the pine trees seemed a little eerie since they were little like ghosts reaching their hands out towards them.

Xiaowu contemplated as he followed behind them. Before long, Uncle Gen finally halted.

“Enough. If you keep going forward for 200 meters, you will reach the unmarked burial gravesite. I will not be coming along with you.”

The workers stopped along with Uncle Gen.

The moment Uncle Gen said this, the new workers looked at each other and spoke worriedly.

“Aren’t you coming with us? It is our first day on the job. What if something happens?”

“Uh huh.”

“Precisely…”

Since everyone was chiming in, Xiaowu shouted as well.

Uncle Gen put on a stern face and the lines on his face deepened a lot. He shouted at the workers, “Shut up!”

His face seemed particularly eerie under the moonlight. As it seemed like the face of a dead man, it sent chills down the workers’ backs.

“Wang Er and you lot, keep an eye on them!” shouted Uncle Gen angrily towards the man standing behind Xiaowu.

Wang Er was the veteran burial worker talking about ghosts at Uncle Gen’s yard earlier.

Wang Er stepped forward looking like a hooligan leader and got straight to the point, “Those of you who want the job can follow me. As for the rest, make yourself scarce and stop wasting our time.”

Xiaowu wanted to investigate the unmarked burial site, so he took the cart from the brawny man while the rest of the men hesitated about going.

“If you are not going, I will!”

Initially, the brawny man with the cart was unsure about going. He made up his mind when Xiaowu took the cart from him without warning out of fear he might lose his job.

He pushed Xiaowu aside. “Go away! The cart is mine! All you get to do today is dig graves and scatter medicated powder!”

The rest of the workers watched as the brawny guy and Xiaowu fought over the cart. They consoled themselves that they could go home after the work was done and stopped hesitating. They took their tools and headed towards the unmarked burial site.

“Slow down! Queue up behind us before you go over.”

Wang Er glanced at Xiaowu. Xiaowu smiled at him sheepishly and looked totally like a farmer from the countryside.

The entourage finally arrived at their destination before long.

Was this the legendary unmarked burial site?

Xiaowu looked around and didn’t notice anything odd.

Although the so-called unmarked burial gravesite was littered with corpses, he could detect some sense of orderliness in the chaos.

It felt as though the corpses were being readied for inspection.

Xiaowu felt tickled by the notion. He must be too nervous. Who would want to inspect an unmarked burial site?

He kept looking around until someone finally noticed him.

“Hey, you over there! What are you doing?”

Xiaowu instantly pretended to look anxious as he turned the moment he heard the voice.

“Hey, bro. I need to use the bathroom desperately.”

The men belted out laughing and one of them was Wang Er.

Wang Er had a very unusual voice. It sounded like the voice of someone traveling in the desert who had gone without water for a long time. It was incredibly hoarse as he told Xiaowu, “Then do it here! Why do you have to act so uneasy? You are such a girl!”

Xiaowu contemplated it in his head. Wang Er was the girl here. Xiaowu was certain that even he was terrified of crossing his path when he was macho.

However, he continued acting indignant. “My mother told me never to pass motion at a graveyard. She said my Qi will get sucked out by the dead bodies!”

“You are such a bother! Then go ahead.”

Even though Wang Er was disbelieving, he did not make things hard for Xiaowu since they were at the unmarked burial gravesite.

Xiaowu placed his hand on his stomach as he went off on his own and stopped acting when he reached high ground some distance away.

From the looks of it, everything seemed completely normal at the unmarked burial gravesite.

Was it a sheer coincidence that those men went missing at the same time?

Xiaowu stood on a rock behind as he contemplated leaning against his chin while he looked around.

If only Chu Yunshen were here now. He was an intelligent man, so he was bound to detect anything amiss easily.

The men Uncle Gen hired did not practice martial arts and relied solely on their strength to make a living and were working right beneath Xiaowu now.

Xiaowu did not dare to wander off for long. He was worried that he might miss out on any signs and lose the men in the process.

He patted the dust off his robe and stopped looking serious.

Fog had started together and clouds formed in the sky again. They were so dense that the moonlight was completely concealed behind them.

Xiaowu seemed to hear something coming from behind when he was about to leave. He hastily turned around only to see nothing but barren empty land under the night sky.

Was he imagining things?

Xiaowu looked into the darkness for some time before he turned to leave.

He did not realize a pair of eyes staring at him under the cover of the night on the barren mountain.

Those eyes glinted slightly in the fog as moonlight occasionally escaped from the cloud cover.

“Are you satisfied now?” asked a man standing beside Wang Er. He even stopped working as he asked in concern.

“Huh?” Xiaowu was wrapped in thought about the sound he heard, so Xiaowu did not notice him talking to him right away. Xiaowu immediately replied sheepishly when he realized the man was asking about him wanting to use the bathroom, “Uh huh. I feel great now.”

Xiaowu saw everyone working hard as they shoveled the ground.

He stood in between Wang Er and the man and spoke to them occasionally as he worked.

Xiaowu quickly learned the man was called Li Erfa. Wang Er, Li Er Fa, and the people behind them were a part of the original burial team. Uncle Gen had to hire new workers when they became understaffed.

“You guys have it good for getting into the burial team so easily.”

Xiaowu could sense Li Erfa was displeased with the newcomers. He kept placing the shoveled earth on the side as he asked Li Erfa casually, “What do you mean by that? Did it use to be very hard to get this job?

Xiaowu kept his eyes on his shovel as he spoke quizzically. From the side, it looked like he was at a loss.

“People used to have to go through a selection process to get on the team. Not any random person could take the job.”

Li Erfa parted his lips and wanted to tell Xiaowu more, but Wang Er cleared his throat and glared at Li Erfa, so Li Erfa realized he was talking too much. He stopped talking to Xiaowu and diligently shoveled the earth.

Xiaowu didn’t give up and kept making conversation with Li Erfa.

Since Li Erfa did not have a tight lip, Wang Er kept looking at him threateningly out of fear he might blurt the wrong thing. Li Erfa decided to shut up altogether.

Since Xiaowu was unable to squeeze any intel out of Li Erfa, he turned his attention to Wang Er and spoke casually, “Er, when did you start working for Uncle Gen?”

Even though Wang Er disallowed Li Erfa from talking, he started to chat with Xiaowu, “Why do you keep asking things?”

Wang Er could sense himself losing grip on the spade, so he paused to spit on his hands before continuing to work. Despite reproving Xiaowu for talking, he replied candidly, “We have been working for Uncle Gen for some time.”

“I see…”

Xiaowu nodded as he worked quietly without talking anymore.

After some time, Wang Er asked, “How did you know we had openings?”