the last gentleman

Chapter 3 Existence Beyond Cognition

【4】

Standard Arabic numerals, engraved on the stone arch.

The hollowed-out, printed iron gate with spikes on the top was slowly pushed open.

A wooden cart, shovel, twine, and sack are provided beside the door for repairing, altering, or leveling the cemetery.

Yi Chen also put the ax and the kerosene lamp on the cart,
Huh ~ take a deep breath,

pushing the wooden cart,

When the cart's wheels pressed into the soil of the cemetery, no danger was expected.

Yi Chen also looked around when he set foot on Cemetery No. 4,

cursory look,

Neither found any 'monsters' wandering here,
There's nothing weird about it either,

Compared with other cemeteries, this place feels 'regular',
suitable temperature and humidity,

Hard soil with few weeds,

The proportions of open spaces, graves, and vegetation are also just right.

but,

There are two special places worth noting.

1. The vegetation here, especially the trees distributed on the edge, gives people a feeling of withering and may break at any time... The leaves are also falling off in pieces, not as lush as other cemeteries.

2. There are more than [-] graves here, more than other cemeteries.

And the style of the tombstone is not 'unified', there are all kinds of tombstones,

Stone, wood and even metal,

rectangle, arch, cross,

As messy as a mass burial area,

Yi Chen moved the wooden cart between the cemeteries,

After carefully observing every passing area and further confirming that there is no 'foreign object', the tense heartstrings relaxed slightly.

Then,

Call up the 'original distribution map' from the brain, compare it with the cemetery in front of you, and try to find out the difference in quantity and order.

After all, he is from an engineering background.
He is very good at this kind of 'finding differences', and soon got the answer, an answer that made Yi Chen shudder.

【An extra grave】

This redundant tomb is located deeper,
A cross-shaped metal tombstone is inserted in the ground,

The height of the uplift of the mound is the same as that of the surrounding area.
Staring at the extra grave, Yi Chen thought:

"According to the rules, the extra graves need to be completely leveled.

If there is a body buried inside,

According to Rule V, it should be possible to transfer to Cemetery No. 7, which only accepts unknown corpses.

But... things are definitely not that simple, otherwise the original owner of this body would not have chosen to commit suicide, so he must be careful. 』

After confirming that there is nothing abnormal around, start working.

did not lay hands on the metal cross,

In his opinion, this kind of sacred cross may be able to suppress evil spirits.

Pick up the shovel on the cart and aim at the raised mound... Crack!

When he was in the orphanage during his lifetime, he often helped to do a lot of farm work in the backyard, and he was quite comfortable with the use of a shovel.
when!
Until there was a loud metallic crash,
In the light of a kerosene lamp, part of the coffin lid was revealed.

"A metal coffin?"

Shovel off the top layer of soil,
The black hexagonal coffin lid tightly sealed the coffin body, and there was no sign of opening the coffin.

Now that I have made up my mind to solve the problem and clean up the mess,

Facing the metal coffin in front of him, Yi Chen immediately found an effective fulcrum.

try knocking,

Gah!
The sound of the coffin lid being pried open was like a sharp thorn, piercing the curtain of silence in the cemetery in an instant.

The flames released by the kerosene lamp can't wait to squeeze into it, showing the specific situation inside the coffin.

"This is……"

a naked adult male corpse,
His skin was completely green, marbled with rotting veins, covered with corpses...and covered in profuse moss.

The beads between the eye sockets are long gone, replaced by colonies of fungi,

These slightly wriggling mushroom caps are like the compound eyes of insects.

"Moss, fungus?
How could these things grow in this completely sealed metal coffin? "

While wondering,
Yi Chen noticed an additional detail.

The corpse lay flat between the palms on both sides,
nails fall off,

On the surface of the nail flesh, slender roots grew out, extending to the bottom of the coffin.

Gives a feeling of being 'glued' to the bottom of the coffin.

An indescribable strange feeling grew in Yi Chen's heart, even stimulating the emergence of fear, giving up the idea of ​​'transporting corpses',

He grabbed the kerosene lamp and tried to throw it into it,
Give this grotesque body a 'live cremation',
The idea is complete, and the right hand also makes a downward throwing motion...

however,
At the moment when the kerosene lamp was about to be released,
The picture leading by the lighthouse flashed in my mind,

The intuition born in his brain told Yi Chen that the kerosene lamp, which is the only light source in the cemetery, must not be destroyed.

Yi Chen, who was born in engineering, attaches great importance to and understands the meaning of so-called intuition.

【intuition】

It is the result of the brain collecting environmental factors ultra-fast, integrating all memory data, including subconscious data, and comprehensively analyzing them under a certain opportunity.

Because self-awareness cannot keep up with this process, it gives people a feeling of popping up in an instant.

Some people don't take it seriously,

However, it is often a correct and valid analysis result.

Such intuition kept the kerosene lamp in his hand and did not throw it away.

"The only source of light...I'm not yet able to determine what the real 'danger' is.

If there is a problem in the entire cemetery, once I lose the light source, I may be instantly swallowed by the darkness here.

Let's transfer the corpse according to the original idea. "

Yi Chen patted his cheeks with his hands to improve his concentration.

Pick up the shovel again,

Sticking to the coffin wall and sticking into it,

Try to pry up the corpse and change it to a [sitting position]... In this way, it will be convenient to carry the whole corpse out.

however,
Even weirder things happened,

The prying process was extremely difficult, and it was hard to pry up the corpse less than two fingers away.

Through the pried gap,
Yi Chen saw a strange scene that he will never forget...

There are densely packed roots of different thicknesses growing on the back of the corpse.

These roots have already penetrated the bottom of the coffin and penetrated deep.

pulsating,

sucking,

extracting

Nutrients from the ground.

This terrifying scene immediately reminded Yi Chen of the withered and dilapidated trees in the No. 4 cemetery.
"This guy is absorbing the 'life' of the cemetery!"

At the same moment,

A familiar warning sound came from the periphery of the cemetery,

§Be careful§
This voice is exactly the same as the voice of thanks heard in Cemetery No. 6, and it is highly recognizable.

Due to the high concentration of the mind,

The sudden warning sound prompted Yi Chen to roll backwards instinctively, pulling away a distance of more than one meter.
At the position where he just stood, rotten vines appeared on the ground... If he failed to roll and escape, he might have been entangled in his feet and dragged into the coffin.

Then,

creak creak ~
With the support of the roots,

The corpses between the coffins stand up,

The roots stuck in the ground are pulled out one after another, the length is between 30cm and 100cm, and they are swaying between the back.

The mushrooms in the eye sockets of the corpse gathered together to form a shape similar to the eyes,

Looking directly into Yi Chen's eyes.

between eyes,

Yi Chen immediately understood why the owner of this body - [William Behrens] did not want to fight to the death, but committed suicide.

The pain of dying by drinking poison is indeed much more comfortable than being killed by a monster, or even being sucked dry of nutrients in the body, and eaten alive.

≮Impossible to beat≯
If it's just a zombie in a sci-fi movie, Yi Chen thinks he can still fight head-on.

But the living corpse in front of me,

far beyond his knowledge,
Facing such an unknown individual, if you step forward recklessly... you may be instantly killed in the next second.

run!
without any hesitation,

The kerosene lamp was hung by the leather buckle around his waist, and he ran away.

He also conceived the best detour route in his mind.

"It must take time to detour and observe, to figure out some of its characteristics... there is no rush!Calm down and maintain a normal breathing rate! 』

Just as he was about to slip out of Cemetery No. 4,

Clang!

Without warning,

The iron gate about three meters high slammed shut.

Yi Chen, who was in the sprinting state, kicked the iron gate violently... Dang!

The closed door remained motionless, completely sealing it inside.

Staring at the iron chain wrapped around the door without knowing when,
Yi Chen couldn't help bursting out the quintessence of the country.

　The work has been signed, and sacrifices are needed, sacrifices are needed, sacrifices are needed~
Thanks to the book friends [My Favorite Novel (CS)] for offering the lord sacrifice

　
(End of this chapter)