The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 428 - 323: Someone’s in the Room

Wuyong was silent for a few seconds, as if reminiscing, while Qinghan observed the room during her silence.

I’ve seen this room before when I came here last time, it’s simply furnished, dust is everywhere, and the cobwebs in the corners are ’freshly’ woven.

Only a few places are clean: the floor, the bathroom floor, and the edge of the basin inside.

There are traces of Wuyong and the Two-headed Wolf walking back and forth on the floor, likely the wolf’s paws have cleaned off the dust.

She often uses the basin in the bathroom, but she probably has never touched any other area.

There is no bed in the room, there is a mirror, which besides being dusty, has clumps of mud. Maybe someone smeared mud on it before it got covered in dust.

Only a small corner at the edge is exposed, judging by the style, I guess it’s a mirror, integrated with a table just like a modern dressing table.

"In the past 365 days, no one, but more than a thousand days ago, someone came in, and they had a team."

More than a thousand days, that would be a few years ago, Ancient City was still underground a few years ago.

"When Ancient City was still underground?" I asked.

"Yes." Wuyong replied in a hollow voice.

I glanced at Qinghan, though I was actually thinking about the cowboy hat. So far, it seems he’s alone; can one person survive when Ancient City was underground and persist until it emerged?

We’ve walked this path without seeing any edible plants, not to mention the animals have mutated, and according to Doctor Du’s theory, eating these mutated plants and animals would cause humans to mutate too.

When the ’pollution’ underground hadn’t leaked, perhaps he was safe, but Ancient City has been above ground for more than a year; unless he has a ’safe house.’

However, I don’t quite believe this assumption; the cowboy hat’s clothes still look almost new, especially that cowboy hat, which he takes care of, wiping off the dust makes it look like new.

If he entered the desert without just a backpack of clothes to change, his clothes and shoes would have worn out long ago.

I wanted to continue asking for details, but Qinghan held my hand and gently squeezed it, which was a hint.

"So, there really was such a person. Thank you, that’s all." Qinghan thanked Wuyong and was about to leave with me.

"Wait." Wuyong’s voice sounded a bit strange; her voice this time was especially hollow, like she had a sore throat.

I watched Qinghan’s actions, ready to run if he decided to; if he didn’t move, I wouldn’t either.

He didn’t move, so I retracted my foot that was about to step out and asked Wuyong, "What’s wrong?"

Wuyong’s voice seemed particularly uncomfortable, like someone with a cold and an inflamed throat.

"Who is he?"

Although she asked this, she still kept her back to us and did not turn around to see what we looked like.

"The rescue team’s leader, here to save Miss Tang."

"He has a strange smell on him."

"Smell? It might be because he hasn’t bathed for days; he did get wet in the rain just now, which counts as a shower."

"No, that’s not it..."

Wuyong tried to turn around but stopped suddenly; from this unnatural pause, I sensed something was wrong.

If someone stops by choice, their body would actively stop; however, it seemed like Wuyong’s body moved, but was suddenly constricted by some force.

"Uh uh uh..." A discomforting burping sound came from Wuyong’s throat.

Qinghan squeezed my hand lightly again, and I looked up to follow his line of sight, which fell on Wuyong’s neck.

Just now, Wuyong had her back to us, and she was covered in bugs, so I didn’t notice her neck.

Now she turned slightly, and with the change in angle, we could see several fingers clasped around one side of her throat.

Those were human fingers, or rather hand-like fingers, without a thumb, as based on the position of the fingers, the thumb should be clasped on the other side of the throat.

This was likely an act of throttling; her body was covered in dark red bugs, but the hand choking her was black, which is why I didn’t notice earlier.

No wonder her voice was so strange; she was speaking while being choked.

"Wuyong." I called her name, thinking that if the black hand could let her go, I might be able to save her.

"One wrong step...every step wrong..." Wuyong squeezed out another sentence from her throat. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

I wanted to enter the room, but Qinghan pulled me back. Wuyong suddenly laughed softly, as if possessed.

"It’s different, no matter how hard I try, it’s different!" Wuyong burst into tears after laughing, her emotions clearly on the verge of collapse.

I kept staring at the black hand, which never left her neck, but there was no one in front of her.

Qinghan pulled me back, Wuyong muttered softly; there were no lights in the building, nor windows in the hallways; in the pitch dark room, she was crying softly, uttering something.

She didn’t stop us, engaging in her monologue. I wasn’t sure if this was normal, as she had been living in the Ancient City for so many years; how she managed, I wasn’t sure. That hand on her throat, she didn’t attempt to break free, making me uncertain if this was her usual state.

Qinghan led me downstairs; once we left the Two-headed Wolf’s territory, I asked, "Do you know what the black hand is?"

The hand choking Wuyong is not the Black Stone Man’s hand; the texture is different.

If Qinghan hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve gone inside for a closer look, although she was restrained by it, I am not Wuyong.

"I feel like there are many people in that room." Qinghan said.

"People?" My night vision doesn’t seem off; why did I only see Wuyong in the room? Oh, and that hand, but the hand had no body, so it can’t be considered a person.

"Yes, it’s just a feeling, a feeling that there are many people in that room."

"Have you been listening to too many horror stories? I just looked around and didn’t find anyone hiding."

"Woo..."

As I was talking to Qinghan, a Two-headed Wolf appeared not far from us, whimpering as if calling us.

Its one head turned in a direction, like two signposts, the head turning means to go that way?

Qinghan moved first, saying the wolf seemed to want to lead us somewhere.

I asked him when he became able to communicate with animals, he was observing and speculating, of course. His guesses were not just based on the Two-headed Wolf’s actions; he was thinking more, like the Two-headed Wolf being Wuyong’s ’underling,’ wolves are highly disciplined animals and wouldn’t seek us on their own.

"So, you think Wuyong wants to tell us something, but she can’t."

"Exactly, someone, or something, won’t let her."

That much was obvious; her throat was gripped, she wasn’t allowed to face us, her recent state clearly was one of being held hostage.