A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

The opening wasn't big; it was a narrow strip, only about the width of a hand, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

The edges of the crack were jagged, as if it had been torn open by some enormous force.

Qiqi tilted her head, a hint of curiosity flashing in her big eyes.

She climbed out of the coffin and stepped onto the cold ground.

The ground was hard and cold, and her toes curled up slightly, but she didn't pay attention.

She walked to the crack, turned sideways, and squeezed in little by little.

The crack was narrow, and her shoulders ached from the rough stone walls, but she didn't stop.

She gritted her teeth and moved forward little by little until she finally passed through the crack.

On the other side of the crack was another tomb.

When Ji Zuodao saw the layout of the tomb, he was completely stunned.

He recognized the tomb.

This is the grave where he discovered Qiqi.

He remembered the structure of the tomb, the brick patterns on the walls, and the way the floor was paved very clearly.

Because he had carefully searched every corner of this place, trying to find clues about Qiqi's identity.

So Qiqi's grave isn't here at all, but next door?

The two tombs are right next to each other, separated only by a wall. They're like two adjacent rooms.

When the thermobaric bomb exploded, the shockwave it generated slammed into the ground like a giant hammer, cracking the wall between the two tombs and creating a gap.

It was through this opening that Qiqi, in a daze, slipped into the tomb next door.

Then, she set her sights on the small coffin in the tomb.

The coffin lid was tightly closed, covered with a thin layer of ash.

Qiqi walked to the coffin, stretched out her little hand, and pushed the coffin lid.

The coffin lid remained completely still.

She pushed it again, but it still wouldn't budge.

She frowned, a hint of displeasure appearing on her small face. Then, she took a deep breath, braced her hands on the edge of the coffin lid, and suddenly exerted force—

"boom!"

She forcefully pushed open the coffin lid, which slammed onto the ground with a dull thud.

Qiqi opened the coffin, and inside lay a small skeleton, its bones already yellowed, looking quite old.

Qiqi stared at the skeleton for a few seconds, then reached out her little hand and pulled the skeleton out of the coffin.

Her movements were very gentle, as if she were afraid of hurting the other person.

She put the skeleton aside and then looked down at the skeleton's neatly arranged clothes.

Although it's been around for a while, it's in much better condition than hers.

Qiqi picked up the clothes, held them up against herself, and then started putting them on.

She dressed clumsily, buttoning the wrong buttons twice and putting the sleeves on backwards. It took her quite a while to get it on properly.

The dress was a bit too big for her, with loose shoulders and sleeves that were too long, but it was still much better than her previous tattered rag that was about to fall apart.

Qiqi looked down at her new clothes and nodded in satisfaction.

Then, she yawned and tried to climb back down the crack to continue sleeping.

After all that fuss, she was sleepy again.

She wanted to go back to her coffin and continue sleeping.

She walked to the crack, turned sideways, and prepared to squeeze back in.

Then--

She got stuck.

The crack was too narrow. She had to squeeze through sideways when she came over.

But when I went back, I don't know why, I just got stuck there, unable to move forward or backward.

She tried to push forward, but her shoulder got stuck on the stone wall, and she couldn't get through.

She shrank back, but got stuck on the other side of the stone wall and couldn't go back.

She was stuck in the crack in the wall, her upper body in the adjacent tomb chamber, and her lower body still in the original tomb chamber, suspended in mid-air, swaying precariously.

Qiqi struggled for a long time but couldn't break free from the crack. Her face turned red, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as she strained, making "hmm hmm" sounds.

In the end, she gave up.

She got stuck in the crack in the wall and drifted off to sleep again.

She tilted her head to the side, leaning against the stone wall, her breathing gradually calming down, a hint of grievance still lingering on her little face.

Ji Zuodao learned what happened next.

The tomb raiders came in first and stole all the valuables from Qiqi's body.

It also startled Qi Qi, who unintentionally killed one of them.

Then he came in, pulled Qiqi out from the crack in the wall, and took her out.

It turned out to be the case.

Ji Zuodao let out a long breath, feeling the suffocating feeling in his chest finally dissipate.

The Seven Seventh Incident dates back to at least the Ming Dynasty.

This girl has lived for at least several hundred years.

No, it should be said that it has been lying there for hundreds of years.

Just as Ji Zuodao was preparing to withdraw from this fateful path, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

He saw a scene.

That was this afternoon.

Qi Qi and Zhao Lingling were on their way to the Qi Refining Market.

As the sun set, golden sunlight streamed down the street, casting long shadows of the two little girls.

The plane trees lining the street rustled in the breeze, and occasionally a few fallen leaves drifted down, swirling as they landed on the ground.

The two little girls held hands and skipped along the sidewalk.

Zhao Lingling was chattering away, gesturing wildly, and even bursting into laughter when she got excited.

Qiqi held a string of candied hawthorns in her hand, her mouth covered in red sugar stains from eating them. Every now and then, she would stick out her little tongue to lick the corners of her mouth, and her face was filled with a happy smile.

It looks normal.

That's perfectly normal.

Anyone who sees this scene would think it's just an ordinary everyday scene of two elementary school students walking home from school.

But Ji Zuodao noticed that there was a person about twenty meters behind Qi Qi.

The man was wearing a gray jacket and a black baseball cap pulled low, obscuring most of his face. He was also wearing a face mask, revealing only his eyes.

He walked among the crowd at a steady pace, neither getting too close nor too far away, always maintaining a fixed distance.

He looked like an ordinary pedestrian.

But his gaze remained fixed on Qiqi.

It's not the kind of occasional glance, but a continuous, focused, and purposeful observation.

From the moment Qiqi left the school gate, to the moment Qiqi turned into the alley, to the moment Qiqi entered the Qi cultivator market, to the moment Qiqi wandered around the market for more than an hour, to the moment Qiqi went home...

That person kept following.

Ji Zuodao's heart sank suddenly.

He looked back along this line of fate.

yesterday.

School ends on the 7th.

That person was there too.

This time he wore a dark blue coat and a gray hat, but Ji Zuodao recognized his eyes.

the day before yesterday.

Qiqi goes to school.

That person is still here.

He squatted on the side of the road opposite the school, holding a newspaper in his hand, pretending to read it, but his eyes kept glancing towards the school gate.

The day before yesterday.

a week ago.

Two weeks ago.

One month ago.

every day.

From the time Qiqi got home from school until Qiqi went out to play...

Every day, someone is following Qiqi.

Sometimes it's the man in the gray jacket, sometimes it's the woman in the black coat, and sometimes it's the young man in the baseball cap.

They take turns coming, and they dress up differently. Sometimes they pretend to be deliverymen, sometimes sanitation workers, and sometimes office workers passing by.

But the goal is the same—

Follow Qiqi.

Moreover, these people are clearly professionally trained.

Their tracking skills were extremely proficient; they never got close, never attracted attention, and never even looked directly at Qiqi for too long.

They always maintained a proper distance, using crowds and buildings as cover, and their routes were carefully planned to make it seem like they were just passing by by chance.

There was no malicious intent.

At least judging from their behavior, they did not show any signs of wanting to harm 77.

They simply followed, following at a distance, silently trailing behind Qiqi like shadows.

There was no approach, no contact, and no unnecessary movement.

Simply follow along.

Tracking for the sake of tracking.

Ji Zuodao's heart sank little by little.

On many occasions, he personally picked up and dropped off Qiqi at school.

He considered himself to be perceptive and vigilant; if someone was following Qiqi, he should have been able to detect it.

His years of living on the edge were not for nothing; his instinct for danger is more acute than that of wild beasts.

But he didn't even notice these people.

It wasn't his oversight.

These people are just too professional.

So professional that even he, a seasoned veteran who deals with all sorts of monsters and demons every day, was fooled.

If it weren't for his God-like perspective as a preordained expert, he probably wouldn't have been able to discover the existence of these people.

Who are they?

Why follow Qiqi?

Who sent them?

What do they want to do?

Countless thoughts raced through Ji Zuodao's mind, but not a single one made sense.

He felt his temples throbbing, and a nameless fire surged in his chest.

He took a deep breath and stepped out of the line of fate.

In the living room, the lights were dim, casting a warm orange glow.

The clock on the wall ticked away; it was already 11 p.m.

A few distant barks from outside the window broke the silence of the night.

The dog was still lying on the carpet, scratching its belly with its paws. When it saw him come out, it lazily asked, "Finished watching?"

"After reading it, I found a problem."

Ji Zuodao's voice was somewhat deep, as if he were pressing down on a stone.

"Someone is following Qiqi. And it's not just one person, it's a group, working in shifts."

"The tracking skills are very proficient; they never get close, never attract attention, rotate frequently, and are very well disguised."

"If it weren't for my God-like perspective of knowing fate, I would still be in the dark. If these people were to become spies, they would definitely be top-notch."

Dog opened his eyes, and his tail stopped wagging.

He closed his eyes, looked at it again, and after a long while, spoke in a cold voice: "Damn it, it really is. What are you planning to do?"

Ji Zuodao grinned, his smile somewhat distorted.

"Of course, we'll drag them out, skin them alive, and cut off their bones and flesh! The people around me are really hot commodities; they're all desperately jumping ashore."

"Perfect timing, I'm craving fish."