The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

The intermittent flickering of the silver cocoon inside the door seemed to set the air in the villa in the same rhythm.

Li Haotian didn't leave immediately. He pressed his palm against the alloy door, feeling the faint yet firm vibration that seemed to travel from his fingertips all the way into his bones. It wasn't just ordinary "restlessness"; it was more like some new organ learning to breathe—learning to mesh with the rules of this world.

He withdrew his hand, the numbness still lingering in his fingertips. The cold white light of the corridor made his features appear even more striking. Liu Hu's hushed report came through the earpiece: "Extended guard duty on the perimeter is complete, and airspace is under surveillance. Qin Yue... just sent a message saying the Dragon Shield personnel have left, but they've left informants in the surrounding area."

"Let them see," Li Haotian said. "Don't let them get close."

He turned and walked downstairs, his steps slow, yet each one seemed to be measured in time. The people in the villa were beginning to get used to this oppressive feeling: the police tape outside the door, the pounding heartbeat of Silver Cocoon inside, and an invisible net—the net of the Nameless Cult—that could tighten from the darkness at any moment.

As soon as I stepped into the foyer, the wind suddenly changed.

The afternoon light, which had been warm, suddenly felt as if a layer of dust had been slapped across the window. The sky darkened abruptly, the clouds hanging low and pressing down on the treetops. The branches of the pine trees in the yard were tugged by the wind, making a soft, rustling sound, like blades being sharpened.

The security guard's walkie-talkie beeped twice, his voice tight and hoarse: "Brother Li, there's someone outside... not one of ours."

Li Haotian paused in his steps.

The next second, he had already pushed open the side door of the foyer and walked along the inner corridor towards the main entrance. He didn't bring many people with him, only Liu Hu following behind. He didn't draw his gun, but his hand never left the safety.

Outside the gate, the tomb keeper stood at the bottom of the steps.

He was still wearing the same worn clothes, his hat pulled low, his figure like an old tree bent by the wind. The difference was that this time he stood further away, not even stepping into the shadow of the outermost threshold, as if that threshold was a line—crossing it would mean getting tainted by something he shouldn't have.

"You do know how to be polite." Li Haotian stopped inside the door, not opening it, but looking at him through the iron bars.

The gravedigger looked up, revealing his cloudy yet extremely sharp eyes. His gaze first fell on Li Haotian's face, then, as if drawn by something, passed over him and went straight through the depths of the hallway—as if the thickness of the alloy door did not exist at all.

When that glance landed, the gravedigger's brow furrowed slightly, as if he had been doused with cold water.

"Silver Cocoon?" His voice was even lower than before. "You're letting it 'heartbeat' in your house?"

Liu Hu's expression changed, and he almost raised his gun. Li Haotian raised his hand to stop him, and said calmly, "You didn't come here to lecture me."

The tomb keeper didn't argue. He slowly extended his hand from his sleeve, his knuckles rough, like calluses from years of touching stone tablets. He didn't point to the villa, but to the distance—to the north of the city, at the mountain range where the imperial tombs were located.

"The deathly aura emanating from the imperial tomb has intensified," he said. "It's not the kind of eerie, haunted feeling you usually talk about. It's something sealed inside the tomb... at the top."

Li Haotian narrowed his eyes: "Didn't you say before that you could seal it off?"

"The seal is intact, meaning the formation is still there." The tomb keeper shook his head. "But formations can tire. The most troublesome thing is that the overflowing death energy is starting to affect the surrounding ancient sealing nodes—all these years you've been digging subways, building roads, and driving piles, which have broken many of the original connected 'stabilizing formations.' Now that the imperial tomb has moved, the external nodes are loosening as well."

The wind picked up again, causing the iron gate to tremble slightly. Dark clouds pressed down, and the temperature in the courtyard seemed to be sucked away; Liu Hu's breath even turned slightly white.

Li Haotian didn't respond immediately. He knew the tomb keeper wasn't bluffing; these old men rarely wasted words. What he was more concerned about was—why did the other party arrive precisely when the silver cocoon showed a "heartbeat response"?

"You've seen the changes in the silver cocoon," Li Haotian said. "So that's why you're only getting anxious now?"

The gravedigger paused for two seconds, then said in a deeper voice, "The transformation of the Void Child will attract the 'Predators'."

Those four words were like a nail, driven straight into the silence of the hallway. Liu Hu swallowed hard and asked in a low voice, "What is a predator? A person or a thing?"

The gravedigger glanced at him, his gaze sweeping over a stone: "He's not someone you can handle."

Li Haotian sneered: "Then I shouldn't have listened to you and gone to the imperial mausoleum to die."

The tomb keeper was not angered. He remained standing outside the threshold, as if observing some kind of rule, but his tone was more serious than ever: "I'm not sending you to your death. I'm sending you to hide from the secrets of heaven."

Li Haotian raised an eyebrow.

The tomb keeper slowly said, "There is an ancient formation in the imperial mausoleum, originally used to suppress the tomb and also to conceal it. That formation can conceal you for a period of time, making it difficult for those tracking you—or those tracking it—to pinpoint your location. By leaving the silver cocoon here, the secrets of heaven are exposed to the light. Those spies, those schemes, those cults outside... are just small fry. The real ones will come when they smell it."

He paused, his gaze involuntarily drifting deeper into the villa again, his expression even more sinister than before: "Now that it has learned to 'synchronize,' it means the transformation has entered its second stage. After the second stage comes hatching. You can withstand one collapse, but not a second."

Li Haotian's heart sank.

He had considered moving Little Black away, but he kept waiting—waiting for the situation to become clearer, for D.H.I.E.L.D. to stop bothering him, and for more clues about the Nameless Order. But the Gravedigger's words, "Predator," crushed all the reasons for waiting.

He slowly exhaled: "You've given me a question. Well, I'll give you one too: Why are you helping me? Don't tell me it's some kind of duty to guard the tomb."

The tomb keeper's lips twitched, as if he wanted to laugh but couldn't: "You think I'm helping you? I'm helping the imperial tomb. If you bring that thing in, the imperial tomb's array can block it, and the imperial tomb can also use it—use it to push back some of that deathly aura inside. Between two evils, choose the one you can control."

"You're quite frank," Li Haotian said coldly. "Then what will you give me if I lead the team into the imperial tomb? Don't make me stumble upon a trap in the dark."

The tomb keeper raised his hand, revealing an old bronze plaque in his palm. Its edges were worn smooth and gleaming, covered with dense, fine lines that resembled talismans or paths. The plaque did not reflect light in the eerie wind, yet it exuded a heavy, oppressive aura.

"Access permissions," the tomb keeper said, "and the route. I can open one of the outer patrol gates; you'll have to find your way to the inner gate yourself—I can only lead you to the entrance; I can't go any further in."

Li Haotian stared at the bronze plaque for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "You're not stepping over the threshold because you see this villa as a 'temporary ominous place'? Or are you afraid that if you come in, Silver Cocoon will mistake you for one of their own?"

The gravedigger's eyes turned cold: "I don't step over the threshold; it's the rule. Rules can save lives. If you don't understand the rules, you'll think everything can be done by brute force."

Li Haotian chuckled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "I know the rules. My rule is—my people don't go for nothing."

He raised his hand, and the team members behind the entrance hall had already quietly gathered. Several gazes fell on the bronze plaque, then returned to the tomb keeper. Liu Hu whispered, "Brother Li, what about Xiao Hei over there..."

"I know." Li Haotian interrupted him, and after a moment of silence, it was as if he were weighing two paths on a scale.

On one hand, they could stay at the villa, relying on the formation, the people, and the cordon, betting that Xiao Hei would be stable and that the "Predators" wouldn't arrive so quickly; on the other hand, they could enter the imperial tomb, which offered great rewards—ancient formations for concealment, a source of death energy, and possibly even something the Nameless Cult wanted—but also great risks. Any wrong step in the imperial tomb could result in the entire team being buried.

But the gravedigger's words, "After the second stage comes the hatching," kept the scales almost still.

Li Haotian looked up at the gloomy sky: "When do we set off?"

The tomb keeper answered decisively: "The sooner the better. Today the yin energy has turned, the death energy is more active, and the formation can more easily take advantage of the situation to conceal itself. If we delay until night, the tomb will 'awaken,' and if we go in then, you will be seen by it."

Li Haotian nodded, his voice firm: "Half an hour. Prepare the team, bring sealing equipment, gravity array modules, and backup power. Liu Hu, you select the men, no more than ten, elite troops. Leave two people to keep an eye on that lead with the Nameless Cult, don't let it go unchecked."

Liu Hu immediately replied, "Understood."

Li Haotian looked back at the tomb keeper: "Give me the route now, and you're in charge of opening the entrance. Also—you have to tell me which parts of the imperial tomb are off-limits, even if they look like treasures."

The tomb keeper gently handed the bronze plaque inside the iron gate, but didn't let his hand cross the threshold. Li Haotian reached out and took it; his fingertips touched it as if he were touching a cold tombstone, a chill creeping up his skin.

The gravedigger whispered, "There are many places you shouldn't touch. But the one thing you should remember most is this: If you see a 'lamp without fire,' don't go near it. If you hear someone calling your name, don't answer."

Li Haotian's eyes narrowed: "A lamp without fire?"

"The lamps in the tomb are lit, not by fire," the tomb keeper said. "They are the eyes of the formation, and also... their eyes."

After he finished speaking, he turned and walked away, his steps not fast, but as if following some unseen rhythm. After taking a few steps, he stopped again, without turning back, and only added lightly, "Whether you take the silver cocoon or not is up to you. But if you decide to go into the mausoleum, don't let it 'wake up' on the way. Waking up on the way is more troublesome than waking up in the villa."

A gust of wind slipped in through the crack in the door, carrying the smell of mud and cold metal. Li Haotian gripped the old bronze plaque tightly, a slight stinging pain shooting through his palm, as if the patterns on the plaque were biting him.

He turned around, and the alloy door at the end of the corridor stood silently. The indicator light continued to flash at a steady frequency—once after again, like a heart learning about the world.

Li Haotian stopped and whispered through the door, "Xiao Hei, there's a formation at the imperial mausoleum. There's a place for you to hide."

"Don't cause trouble for me on the street."

The silver cocoon inside the door trembled slightly.

Like an agreement.

It also sounds like urging.

His gaze deepened, and he raised his hand to press the microphone: "Everyone assemble. Imperial Mausoleum—enter ahead of schedule."