Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 410

Upon seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan looked up, picked up the water glass on the table, and took a sip of water.

For a lie to be believable, it must maximize its internal truth content; if the truth content is limited, it should not be evenly distributed, but concentrated at the beginning.

When they first met, Ye Dui bluntly referred to himself as "a monster without human skin".

The bait has been placed here.

It needs to have something attractive enough to exert influence on itself, like dangling a carrot to lure itself into following it.

Furthermore, considering that the sealed area beneath the tomb is likely not the core area, you will most likely encounter it early on when you visit the Goguryeo tomb.

Therefore, all things considered, the interrogation records from the beginning to this point should be largely authentic.

But from here on out, things might start to get adulterated.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his water glass, looked down, and continued reading:

"Are you happy to have been spying on me for so long?"

Ye Dui didn't know how to answer the question, but the other party didn't seem to expect him to answer it either.

Because when the other person looked at him, everything about Ye Dui was frozen in place.

Although he could still think, he was unable to respond to the outside world, as if he had suddenly been abandoned by the world.

Ye Dui used a metaphor here:
It's like a fish that's been cooked and placed on the dining table, its eyes still open.

Li Zhuiyuan drew a circle around this sentence in his heart.

It's a feeling of being treated as food.

Li Zhuiyuan knew someone who possessed this ability.

In the cave at the foot of Langshan Mountain in Nantong, which is now covered by quicksand, there once stood that person's dining table and chopsticks.

However, this feeling is hard to describe so accurately unless you experience it yourself.

So, is this feeling really Ye Dui's?
Or is it... its?
Next, the person climbed out of the well.

He returned here, looking around as if reminiscing about the dwelling he had once built himself.

Ye Dui spent ten years here spying on past records, which means that this person has not left this well for at least ten years.

Of course, one extreme possibility cannot be ruled out: that this person might take advantage of the time when Ye Dui returns to his cell to send a message to him.

But the probability is extremely low, because Ye Dui has no room to resist in front of him, and he has no reason to avoid Ye Dui and come back.

Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly because the following statements were somewhat chaotic. It wasn't Ye Dui's statements that were chaotic, but rather Ye Dui's subsequent experiences were quite confusing.

After a brief moment of reminiscing about the familiar place, the man spoke:

"Since you enjoy peeping so much, I'll take you to see more interesting things and satisfy you properly."

Ye Dui was grabbed by this person and taken down the well.

As mentioned earlier, the water here had been deliberately brought to a boiling point by this person. Therefore, when Ye Dui was forced to be submerged below the surface of the well, he experienced firsthand what it meant to be "worse than dead."

In that instant, Ye Dui felt that his will to survive and his resentment towards his fate had vanished like a bubble.

He wanted to die. He even wanted to cooperate unconditionally, just to die faster, even if it was only by a breath, no, even half a breath earlier.

But the torment disappeared in the next moment.

Ye Dui was bewildered.

It's like a chicken that's been scalded and plucked by boiling water, and then suddenly you're told it doesn't need to be cooked anymore.

He continued to be dragged along by this person. The bottom of the well seemed endless, as if it would never reach its end.

But soon, Ye Dui's thoughts changed. Suddenly, an image appeared on the water in front of him. In the image, he saw a man dressed as a sorcerer, floating up and down.

Ye Dui vaguely guessed the identity of this sorcerer.

When the four of them communicate with each other, they do some basic exchanges, such as reporting on their respective directors.

Immediately afterwards, the water ripples disappeared, and the scene vanished.

Then came another long journey. When despair rose in Ye Dui's heart again, he saw another "prison cell" with an old man with a full head of white hair inside.

The old man lay there with a sword stuck in his chest. He gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, not trying to pull it out, but pressing down hard to prevent the blade from leaving his body.

The old man had told Ye Dui during a summons that he was using this self-destructive method to continuously increase his resentment.

Then came another long stretch, and the third cage appeared.

Inside was a middle-aged, plump woman, naked, sitting cross-legged, with a fat, golden maggot constantly burrowing in and out of her body.

The woman mentioned in the message that she used a kind of Gu poison, devouring herself and repeatedly binding herself to golden maggots to prolong her existence.

Ye Dui finally realized that the man who was pulling him along had the ability to inspect the prison beneath the tomb.

This person has been at the bottom of the well for so long not to be sleeping or prolonging his "life," he was... digging a tunnel!

A method that all four of them had tried and collectively determined was impossible to succeed was achieved by this person.

Now, Ye Dui's real torture began.

During the journey, he was repeatedly thrown out by this man, experiencing all sorts of torment from the water.

Each unique ripple on the water is a prison cell... an empty prison cell.

This person is using himself as a stepping stone, testing the waters with his own experience.

A different kind of torment, chaotic pain, a disorder and tearing of consciousness...

Ye Dui never imagined that torture could be so diverse.

Fortunately, each ordeal was short-lived, and each time he felt he was about to perish, the person would lift him up in front of him.

Black blood seeped from this person's body, constantly surging towards him, bringing him waves of pure resentment so intense it was suffocating.

This is not about prolonging life, because Ye Dui has already died. What is being extended is the duration of Ye Dui's existence.

The above content was compiled and summarized by Li Zhuiyuan himself. It is impossible to delve into the details because Ye Dui's memories of this stage were very chaotic. It was not necessarily because he had suffered too much torment, but because Ye Dui had accepted this resentment.

However, Li Zhuiyuan can extract three key points here:
First, this person probably isn't in a hurry to escape from here, but rather wants to go somewhere else.

Second, this person has the ability to instill resentment in others, which can severely damage the consciousness of the recipient.

Third, the reason Ye Dui was able to enter that person's cell and achieve refuge may not have been due to the influence of any fragment, but rather because this person deliberately gave Ye Dui the key.

He anticipated that he might need a pebble ten years from now, and Ye Dui was the perfect size and weight for him.

At the same time, this also explains why the second page of the "Wordless Book" remained completely black for so long.

Because Ye Dui had experienced this level of torture before, the "Evil Book" took more time and effort to torture and interrogate him.

How thoughtful! It's like recounting past experiences, yet it feels like a "dialogue" with the self who is currently reading the book.

However, Li Zhuiyuan still insists that this is because "it" did not expect that he would directly include it in the "Book Without Words" and arrange for the "Evil Book," such an unreliable evil thing, to interrogate it. This forced it to first cut off its sight in order to readjust its plans.

As for why Ye Dui could "see through" his lack of decency at a glance, an explanation was given earlier when Ye Dui deduced this person's appearance. Later, when Ye Dui described the feeling of being infused with this resentment, he said that at this moment, he would be very, very close to this person, so close that it was as if he had merged into this person's body and soul, and he saw the person's true appearance.

This person has no skin, not the skin of flesh and blood, but the skin of this person's soul, which is naturally smooth and pure. Ye Dui cannot understand why such a deformed existence, which is out of step with this world, could be born, and why it has survived to this day.

Upon reading this description, Li Zhuiyuan reflected on his own actions.

He often compared his past emotions to a desert, unable to retain water; to some extent, this corresponds to Ye Dui's description. In short, this person "manipulated" Ye Dui quite a bit, so it's no wonder that Ye Dui reacted so strongly when he encountered a "self" like this person again.

Finally, Ye Dui found himself thrown into a bustling banquet hall.

The hall was so vast that it seemed to stretch to the horizon, filled with countless dancers, singers, and guests.

But when you focus your attention on the center, it feels so close to you.

Ye Dui saw that a terrifying being sat high above on the throne in the hall.

It was wearing armor and carrying a knife.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze lingered here for a moment.

In the old library of Haihe University, I once saw this scene in the shadow of the Great Emperor, but at that time, there was only a set of armor on the throne and a sword hanging next to it.

What Ye Dui saw was a person wearing armor and carrying a sword...

Continue to look down:

Behind Ye Dui, the person took the initiative to walk up, and the terrifying being on the throne also stood up.

It was very tall, even majestic, and it slowly drew the sword from its waist.

At this moment, everything around fell into dead silence, as if it represented a pair of supreme eyes looking down on the masses below.

Ye Dui described it here: At this moment, he finally understood why he had deduced this place to be an auspicious place, because the person who came down from the throne was simply the embodiment of being favored by the heavens. He was here, and no matter what place this was, it was an auspicious place in the heavenly secrets.

The drawn knife was pointed at that person.

It spoke, saying, "By the will of Heaven, I hereby grant you divine punishment."

The man pointed to his face:

"Come on, come on, cut here! Follow this line all the way down! I beg you, Heavenly Punishment, please kill me!"

"Buzz!"

The knife fell.

Ye Dui said that he saw the alternation of night and day at that time. The knife was not aimed at him, but it brought him real terror.

It turns out it wasn't a fraud; it turns out I wasn't wrong; it turns out it really was acting on the will of Heaven, sitting here waiting for me to take the bait, be imprisoned, and be slaughtered!

With this strike, Ye Dui was forced back quickly, and he was once again thrown back the way he came.

The last thing he saw was a beam of light emanating from the person's body. Then, using that beam of light as a dividing line, the person's body was cleaved diagonally in two from top to bottom, the two halves sliding off and crashing to the ground.

The person who had just given Ye Dui such a terrible shock is dead.

Ye Dui desperately wanted to rush over, grab the armored man's ankle, and question him: What wrong had he, Ye Dui, done in his life? He had never overstepped the bounds in his words and deeds, so why was Heaven punishing him? Why!
But Ye Dui no longer had that opportunity.

He was thrown back into the same cage where he had started.

It was like waking up suddenly from a ten-year-long nightmare.

But this is not a dream; here, you cannot enjoy the luxury of dreaming.

Ye Dui did not tell the three people about this. He could still go to that person's cell, which was the reason why he was able to survive. If he had remained in his own cell filled with water, he would most likely have been wiped out before the change happened.

There were three turning points in the incident. The first turning point was when the four of them suddenly felt a strong tremor one day.

Although they were still unable to escape, all four of them were convinced that the restrictions beneath the tomb had loosened, and that, apart from their own cells, they were able to extend their influence beyond the cells to attempt some actions that were previously impossible.

The initial loosening was just the beginning. Next, it would continue to crack, but the process was very, very slow, so slow that the four of them didn't know if they could wait.

Shortly after the first tremor, they sensed a group of people entering the outer perimeter of the area...

What happened next was exactly as Ye Dui had told him that day.

Young engineer Luo participated in the investigation of the Ji'an civil defense project incident, but the investigation team encountered another accident, and the project was put on hold, and the civil defense project was sealed off.

When the project was restarted recently, the four people, including Ye Dui, used the methods they had left on the "survivors" to escape.

To set up this scheme, all four of them used forbidden techniques, which caused the water in the cell to ripple more violently. Ye Dui also found that he could no longer go to that person's cell to seek refuge and could only endure the torment alone in his own cell.

This is also why Ye Dui said he was willing to endure even more terrible torment in order to lay a plan on Luo Gong.

But in fact, for a long time, his life was much more comfortable than the other three.

The other three are the truly terrifying ones. They didn't have a refuge like Ye Dui; they've been enduring hardship all along.

Next, there are messages from those three.

The three-line address was followed by no name, only a description.

Because none of the four of them had ever revealed their real names, and even though they had been sealed here together for so long and had communicated countless times, they had never seen each other's faces... except for Ye Dui.

Ye Dui had seen it before, and Ye Dui was extremely skilled in divination.

Each person is in their most minimalist and undisguised state in their cell, because no one expects that someone has passed by and watched them from outside.

Therefore, Ye Dui could deduce and sense the current location of the three of them. The closer they were, the more accurate the deduction would be.

Ye Dui concluded that he was the weakest of the four and had only survived by sheer luck. Although he did not meet the four of them when they escaped together that day, he could sense that the other three were in a similar state to him. Those three were definitely much stronger than him in history, but now they were as weak as him, or even weaker.

Li Zhuiyuan closed the "Wordless Book," picked up his water glass again, and took a sip.

Three once powerful evil spirits, now newly escaped and incredibly weak... It's really tempting.

Moreover, this arrangement is absolutely reasonable.

If he hadn't doubted Ye Dui's identity and had truly taken him as the prelude to the waves, then he would have gained a positioning compass for those three people.

Even setting aside the merits and gains, the legacy behind these three people and the possibility that their escape location might contain remnants from back then are enough to tempt those who travel the river.

What a complete and normal wave rhythm! In the early stages, you're given three delicious carrots to make you take the bait.

But there's still one missing condition that compels me to visit the Goguryeo tombs.

It's a mysterious place, but it's also very dangerous.

Since Ye Dui's identity was not revealed, it means that during the subsequent search for these three carrots, he will discover a strong motivation to go to the Goguryeo tomb.

If it weren't for the sudden feeling I had when I switched the desk lamp on and off twice that night, and if I hadn't gone on to use the Emperor and Peach Blossom Forest for the identification test, the above would have been the entire process for my next wave.

Just when you think you have victory in your grasp, the one sealed in the wordless book will suddenly appear and turn everything around.

Li Zhuiyuan got up, walked out of the room, and stood on the terrace.

The evening breeze felt damp and sticky on my skin; it was about to rain.

Since it had made such a clear arrangement for itself, Li Zhuiyuan felt he should return the favor.

The evil magic experiment that had been planned beforehand still had to be carried out; they couldn't give up the opportunity to make this terrifying being act like a grandson by their side.

Li Zhuiyuan also planned to eat those three carrots. They could not only help him locate himself, but also ensure that he would not encounter any accidents along the way. It was like food being fed to him, so why not take it?

As for its motive for wanting to provoke him to visit the Goguryeo tomb, Li Zhuiyuan has already come up with one for it.

Throughout Ye Dui's account, he consistently referred to that person as "this person" or "that person."

Then, while eating carrots, it will arrange a suitable opportunity to reveal "this person's" name to itself.

“Wei Zhengdao…”

(End of this chapter)