Chapter 793: Buried Alive

"Oh?" Qi Xia replied indifferently.

This reaction clearly displeased the old man in front of him.

"Young man, what do you mean by this attitude?!" the old man said. "Do you think I'm crazy?!"

"I just want to ask you..." Qi Xia said, "if a person can't see, can't hear, can't smell, and can't eat... is that still considered a 'person'?"

"Of course it is!" the old man replied, suddenly blinking. "No wonder... this is exactly what the kaoguxuejia on TV have been studying! How people from ancient times survived! Yes! Now I'm a kaoguxuejia of the Zhong Yan Zhi Di... I have to stick to my research findings!"

Qi Xia didn't respond, just stared coldly at the old man in front of him.

He actually referred to bones from ten years ago as "ancient."

The old man shook his head and continued, "What a shame... originally, I could 'echo' just by digging. But this time, it's like I've been cursed— the deeper I dig, the less 'echo' I get... How strange. Maybe I still need to keep digging..."

"Stop digging," Qi Xia said coldly. "If you keep going, you'll get into trouble."

"Trouble...?" The old man paused slightly, then showed a smile tinged with nervousness. "Young man, do you know something?!"

"I don't know," Qi Xia shook his head.

"Tell me!" the old man said excitedly. "I'm so curious! This question has been bothering me for years. The 'participants' who were active here ten years ago— were they all people without faces?! What a monumental discovery! Just like you said... could they not even walk? Did they have their own way of getting information from the outside world? How did they communicate?"

Qi Xia just kept staring coldly at the old man, then slowly stepped back.

The old man stood by the pit, his eyes flickering. "Is it that all people were like that... or only a few mutated? There are many more faceless skulls in this pit... it's certain they formed a group!"

"I said, stop digging," Qi Xia whispered from behind the old man. "If you can give up researching this, you'll end up better off."

"How can I hold back from researching?!" the old man said. "The origin of all progress in the world is 'curiosity'! Since I know about it, I'll definitely find the answer... It's just some bones. Would the ones in charge here kill me over these bones?"

"They won't, but others might," Qi Xia said.

"Even if I die, it doesn't matter..." the old man said. "Even in death, I want to research."

Qi Xia stared silently at the old man's back, feeling that "curiosity" was like a plague growing on him— incurable, impossible to drive away, and ultimately fatal.

The old man kept muttering to himself, and perhaps when Qi Xia first encountered him, he wasn't mad. But the joy of unearthing that skull had gradually made him lose his reason.

He thought he had found the ultimate answer, not knowing that this skull was a ticket to escape the cycle of reincarnation.

After mumbling for a while, the old man sensed that the young man behind him had been quiet for a long time. He turned around, about to say something, but suddenly saw a hand pushing against his chest.

The hand wasn't too strong or too weak— just enough to shove him straight into the pit behind him.

The old man never expected the young man to suddenly reach out, and he couldn't grab hold in time. His whole body fell straight down.

Splash!

With a dull sound, the old man let out a wail. But the pit wasn't deep, and the soil below was soft, so he quickly stood up and shouted upward, "What do you mean by this?! Young man! What are you doing?!"

He waited for a moment and saw Qi Xia appear at the edge of the pit with a kerosene lamp. The dim light shone on his grayish-white eyes, making him look like a demon.

"I warned you," Qi Xia said. "But you refused."

"Warned me...?" The old man suddenly understood. "You don't want me to keep investigating?! Why?!"

Qi Xia didn't answer, just looked down at the old man coldly.

The old man felt a chill run through his body under that gaze, so he quickly lowered his head and dug another skull out of the pit with his hands.

"Young man, don't you believe me?!" The old man held up the skull for Qi Xia to see. "Look! There's more down here! It's all full of them! This place is covered with the bones of faceless people, buried underground! Aren't you curious about what happened?"

"I'm not curious," Qi Xia said. "Because I know the answer."

"What...?" The old man blinked.

"I can't let anyone else know this answer, so you have to die," Qi Xia said.

The old man slowly lifted his head at these words. Clearly, he wasn't afraid of death, but he regretted not knowing the truth. The regret on his face far outweighed the fear.

"What kind of logic is that...?" he said. "You know the answer and it's fine... but if I know it, I have to die?"

"That's right," Qi Xia said. "Things have come to this point— no mishaps can happen. So, you'll just have to suffer for it."

"You..." The old man slowly lowered his head. "It's no use... Even if you kill me, even if I don't retain my memories, I'll still be curious about what's underground next time. One day, I'll dig up all the secrets... One day, I'll find the answers here. What will you do to stop me then?"

This was the last thing Qi Xia wanted to hear.

With a somber expression, he said, "I never expected someone like you to exist here. Everyone else is thinking about how to break the game, how to get away from the city, and ultimately how to escape this place. But you're curious about what's under the ground."

"Isn't that right?!" The old man looked up. "Maybe if I keep digging through the ground, I'll find a way out that no one's discovered— a way to leave here! Young man... are you really not considering joining me?!"

"Not considering it," Qi Xia replied. "When you actually dig through the ground, you'll find an endless abyss waiting for you."

"What...?" The old man was stunned. "Then where are we exactly? Why are these bodies buried underground? You don't have to tell me... I'll find the answer myself... One day!!"

"Don't worry," Qi Xia said. "You won't have another reincarnation."

"What?!"

Qi Xia slowly stepped back and vanished into the darkness.

"Hey! Don't go!" the old man shouted. "What nonsense are you spouting?! I won't have another reincarnation?! Do you think you're Shen?!"

Rustling sounds came from outside the pit, but no one spoke.

Before the old man could shout again, he saw the skull thrown back in, followed by a large amount of soil raining down from above.