Embers Ad Infinitum

Judging from the distribution and state of the pile of human bones in the soil, Long Yuehong was more inclined to the team leader's theory of collecting the bones and burying them.

This can indeed rule out the possibility of survivors doing this, because even if survivors do return to Linhe Village after many years, they know that life is difficult and they cannot not take away useful supplies.

If they don't do this, they will do the same thing to the wilderness wanderers who find them in the future.

So, who would have buried these villagers in the ancestral hall?

Shang Jian picked up the engineering shovel and slapped his face:

"I know who it is!"

"Who?" Although Long Yuehong didn't expect to hear a normal answer from this guy, she still couldn't help but want to hear what "wonderful ideas" the other party had.

This may bring inspiration to everyone.

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"Xiao Chong."

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian and others to question, he explained in detail:

"Didn't Xiao Chong stay in the ruins of Swamp No. 1 for many years?

“He also has a group of ‘uninterested people’ who often work for him, and it’s only a 20-30 minute drive from here to the ruins of Marsh No. 1.

"Could it be that one day, he suddenly remembered the people in his hometown, and remembered that his body was cold but had not been buried yet, which was not in line with the folk custom of laying it to rest, so he sent a large number of 'unintentional people' to take him into the bones. Come over and bury the body under the old locust tree, while collecting the body for the villagers in Linhe Village and stuffing it into the ancestral hall?"

This is really a pure ghost story. What does it mean to think that one's body is cold and has not yet been buried... Well, this feels a bit funny... Long Yuehong muttered something secretly.

He had to admit that the situation described by Shang Jianyao was really possible!

After all, Xiao Chong cannot be treated as a normal person. There is a high probability that he is a split personality or one of the incarnations of Zhuang Sheng, and he does have a precedent of driving "unintentional people" to work, and even makes those high-level "unintentional people" work. "The person" works to support him.

Based on his relationship with Linhe Village, he accidentally remembered this place and sent his "men" to bury everyone in his hometown. It was a very reasonable development.

Jiang Baimian thought for a while and said:

“The possibility is quite high.

"Well, because this is Xiao Chong's hometown, those 'unintentional ones' are restrained and do not take anything indiscriminately, and even bring their own dry food."

Bang bang bang, Shang Jianyao released his hand holding the engineer's shovel and applauded himself.

But the engineer's shovel stood in the soil, motionless.

Bai Chen also nodded slightly and said:

"Indeed, Xiao Chong has motives and abilities, and he lived very close to here before."

Jiang Baimian originally wanted to take a few steps back and forth, but he saw that there were graves everywhere and he would step on "someone else's" head accidentally, so he gave up this plan.

She considered it and said:

"But there are two questions. One is why the bones under the old locust tree are incomplete, and the other is why Xiao Chong didn't bury himself in the ancestral hall."

"Maybe the old locust tree has special meaning to him." Shang Jianyao said, "I know Xiao Chong very well."

"What's the point..." Long Yuehong muttered.

Bai Chen said "hmm":

"There are so many possibilities."

Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up, as if he had imagined a drama about love entanglements.

Jiang Baimian didn't give him a chance to show off, nodded slightly and said:

"What if it wasn't Xiao Chong, but those who buried the remaining bones in the ruins of the Swamp No. 1 ruins laboratory?"

This obviously does not refer to the three ruin hunters, but to those behind the scenes.

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong began to consider this possibility.

Jiang Baimian thought to himself and said:

"They obviously have a certain understanding of the Marsh No. 1 ruins, or Dajiang City. They know where the secret laboratory is, so it's not too strange to find Linhe Village.

"Well, one year after the destruction of the old world, they took Du Shaochong's body into the depths of the swamp, came to Linhe Village, and buried it under the old locust tree. But for some unknown reason, they took Du Shaochong's body Taken apart, only half buried...

"Haha, this reminds me of the art of hating victory that I mentioned before.

"At the same time, perhaps in cooperation with the victory-weary technique, or perhaps under the orders of a certain being, these people collected the bones of the villagers in Linhe Village and buried them in the Du Family Ancestral Hall."

Long Yuehong recalled her and others' experiences and boldly guessed:

"They only buried half of it because they knew something would happen if they buried it all.

"However, before Qiao Chu came in, the ruins of Marsh No. 1 were not known at all..."

Jiang Baimian suddenly laughed:

"Qiao Chu knows this place because he belongs to the Eighth Research Institute.

"Those people may also have some relationship with the Eighth Research Institute."

She only said that there was a certain relationship, but did not talk about those people who might be the Eighth Research Institute, because according to the Eighth Research Institute's style of doing things, they preferred to blow up the old locust trees, blow up the Linhe Village, and destroy the bodies instead of burying the bones. Anything that touches on some truth about the old world.

"But why don't those people just collect some supplies?" Bai Chen raised an objection.

Coming here from outside the swamp will definitely consume a lot of supplies, and normal people will replenish some on the spot.

Shang Jianyao suppressed his voice and answered for Jiang Baimian:

"Because those materials are poisonous."

Everyone has a brain, why can you come up with such a strange answer? Long Yuehong didn't know what to say.

Jiang Baimian laughed:

"It's impossible to be poisonous, but this is Xiao Chong's hometown and the hometown of Zhuang Sheng's incarnation. Even if they just take away something, they will be afraid of not sleeping well at night."

"They dared to take away the other half of the body." Honest Shang Jianyao pointed out the problem.

Jiang Baimian thought quickly and answered immediately:

"Because they've been warned that as long as they don't leave the bones intact, nothing will happen. Well, that's limited to the bones themselves."

After Bai Chen listened, he nodded thoughtfully:

"That's pretty much the two explanations."

One is said by Xiao Chong, and the other is said by the mastermind behind the scenes.

Jiang Baimian looked around and issued an order:

"Although time has passed, exposure to sun and rain, and the possibility of traces remaining is extremely low, we still have to put in enough effort. Well, go around and search each room briefly to see if we can find anything."

She wanted to find traces of the buried people.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Baimian added:

"This is Xiao Chong's hometown, and a certain house here should belong to his grandparents or other relatives.

"There might be enough valuable clues hidden inside."

As for Xiao Chong's own family, they most likely moved to Dajiang City, and later to Taicheng.

After hearing that the next main direction was to find the home of Xiao Chong's grandparents, Shang Jianyao suddenly became excited, as if he was playing hide-and-seek with Xiao Chong.

In this way, the "old tune team" wandered around the village, entering different houses, looking for possible clues.

Unfortunately, over the past few decades, this area has been subject to wind, rain and snow, and many of the traces that should have been there have been erased by time.

When it was almost noon, Shang Jianyao, who was always walking at the front of the team, opened the door of a house.

After entering the house, Jiang Baimian did a brief inspection, frowned and said:

"Something's not right here."

"What's wrong?" Long Yuehong didn't notice the problem.

Jiang Baimian looked around again and said:

“Compared with other houses in the village, this place lacks a lot of things.

“The shrine dedicated to the previous generation has no tablets, and there are no family photos or photos of certain family members displayed on the walls, coffee tables, and TV cabinets like many other homes. Also, there is no place for words at a glance... …”

She simply singled out several things that were wrong.

Several members of the "old tune team" immediately dispersed, working in teams of two, to carefully search the first and second floors of the house.

They were unable to find anything to identify the owner, as they had done in other houses in Linhe Village, and they were not even sure how many people there were in the family.

After meeting in the living room on the first floor, Shang Jianyao rubbed his chin and said:

"There are abnormalities but no clues, which just means that this is the home of Xiao Chong's grandparents."

"Someone deliberately erased the traces of Xiao Chong's existence and prevented latecomers from investigating related matters? This is a bit like the temperament of the Eighth Research Institute." Jiang Baimian turned his eyes slightly.

At this point, she was becoming more and more inclined to the guess she made compared to Xiao Chong's suggestion that he sent "unintentional people" to bury the villagers.

"They look similar." Both Long Yuehong and Bai Chen thought so.

Then, they left here and prepared to go to the surrounding houses.

When they walked around to the side, Jiang Baimian and others saw a painting painted on the wall of the house just now.

This painting has been very blurred by the sun and rain, and only a piece of sea and a bird can be vaguely seen. The style is very childish.

"A sea, a bird..." Jiang Baimian turned his head and looked at Shang Jianyao.

She remembered that this was the content of "Zhuang Sheng's" recent dream.

…………

After leaving Linhe Village, we returned to the campsite.

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and slapped his left palm:

"I'm going down to the 'Soul Corridor'."

"You must not explore Zhuang Sheng's dream." Jiang Baimian quickly stopped him.

Shang Jianyao shook his head:

"No, I just want to see what changes there are.

"Then, go to Xiao Chong's gap and try to wake him up."

"How to wake up?" Jiang Baimian asked with a frown.

"How are you sure it was Xiao Chong who woke up?" Long Yuehong was inexplicably frightened.

Shang Jianyao laughed:

"I'm going to play games next to that gap!"