Yama Rising

Lee Jung-sook then snapped her fingers and instructed, "Bring me the files."

Qin Ye looked around at the empty interior of the vehicle with a surprised expression.

Was there someone else in there? But that was impossible! There was no way another person could be hiding in the vehicle... Unless they were above the Abyssal Prefect level! What exactly had Lee Jung-sook been up to these past three years?

"Of course. Xiao Ai is happy to be of service to you." In the next instant, a mechanical female voice completely shattered his train of thought, following which a cupboard door sprang open to reveal a document bag in a compartment.

Qin Ye: "..."

This is who she was speaking to?! 

Lee Jung-sook wasn't looking at Qin Ye, so she couldn't see the expression on his face. She picked up the document bag between her slim fingers before offering it to Qin Ye.

She didn't say anything and Qin Ye didn't ask any questions as he opened the document bag, following which he raised an eyebrow in a surprised manner.

"You're constructing a factory in the Fujian province?" he asked in a casual manner as he read through the documents, "Why aren't you staying in Daehan anymore?"

"Even in the past, I would stay for at least a season per year in Cathay." Lee Jung-sook crossed her legs as she sipped her juice then said, "On top of that, this is a particularly sensitive time period, so why would I go back?"

Qin Ye nodded in response as he continued to carefully examine the documents. Several seconds later, he raised an eyebrow and said, "There are four coastal cities in the Fujian province, among which Jianhui City has the best port. Is that why you've chosen Jianhui City as the site for your factory?"

Before Lee Jung-sook had a chance to reply, he picked up a photograph that was enclosed with the documents. "Don't tell me that the municipal government is allowing you to demolish the earthen buildings? Those are world cultural heritage sites!"

This was a photo of none other than a cylindrical earthen building.

There were many tourists doing sightseeing in the photo, and some of them had even made their way onto the second and third floors of the building.

Lee Jung-sook shrugged as she replied, "Well, the municipal government actually did permit it. Up to this point, the earthen building you're looking at has already stood for over a thousand years, and it's one of the earliest earthen buildings. Despite the government's best efforts to preserve it, it's already on the verge of collapse..."

She picked out another photograph before handing it to Qin Ye, and this photograph displayed the same earthen building from another direction. From that perspective, it could be seen that a large section of the building had already collapsed.

"The Huang Clan's earthen building is situated in Anjing Village. There are a total of 18 coastal villages in Fujian, among which Anjing City has the best terrain. The village has remained undeveloped thus far, and that's precisely because of the earthen building's existence. My research tells me that this earthen building was constructed at the tail-end of the Song Dynasty, and it was constructed by the Huang Clan, which was an affluent family in the area at the time. It's sitting in a prime location, and if it were to be demolished and replaced by a Samsung factory, it would be a huge source of tax revenue for the city of Jianhui."

She leaned back onto the couch as a faint smile appeared on her face. "If it isn't for the fact that this earthen building isn't going to last more than 10 years, I wouldn't dare to demolish it, either. The municipal government has organized experts to examine it on multiple occasions, and they've confirmed that it's beyond repair. In fact, tourism services have already ceased there, and only then was it made public for bidding."

Qin Ye asked, "Tourism services have already ceased there? Does that mean this photo is from a few years ago? Do you have more recent photos?"

A peculiar look appeared on Lee Jung-sook's face as she replied, "This is a recent photo."

Qin Ye put on an unconvinced look as he countered, "If tourism services have already ceased, then why are there tourists in this photo? Even at the latest, this photo had to have been taken prior to the cessation of tourism services..."

He didn't continue as Lee Jung-sook was staring directly at him, displaying no sign that she was not being serious. Three seconds later, she declared, "This photo is from last week, and there's no one on it above the first floor."

Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately lowered his head to look at the photo again.

Sure enough, there was no one on the second or third floors!

He had clearly seen all three floors occupied just a moment ago, but now, only the first floor on the photo had any occupants.

Furthermore, perhaps it was just a figment of his imagination, but as he looked at this photo again, he couldn't help but sense something indescribably eerie about it.

He couldn't articulate this feeling, but it was nagging at him like an insistent itch. He felt as if there were someone or something leaning right beside his neck, looking at the photo with him, and that a cold Yin breeze was gently blowing against his ear.

He placed the photo face-down onto the table. He knew that his eyes definitely hadn't been playing tricks on him, so there was only one explanation: the supernatural phenomena in that area was already so strong that it was warping the outside world. Even looking at it through a photo alone would be enough to strike the beholder with a sense of extreme discomfort.

What exactly could be lurking there?

Only after around 10 seconds had passed did he raise his head to look at Lee Jung-sook again. "Why are there people on the first floor? Are they tourists?"

"No, they live there. The main condition that the government raised was that the residents have to be vacated safely, and that no forceful eviction will be allowed. The problem is that everyone in this earthen building has the Huang surname. All of the direct and branch lineal descendants of the Huang Clan are living there, and due to the fact that they're unwilling to move out, the building was renovated in the year 2,000. Apparently, renovations were done on the building once every two decades prior to that. Otherwise, there's no way that the building would've been able to last until now."

Lee Jung-sook paused here momentarily as a grim look appeared in her eyes. "What did you see just now?"

Instead of giving her a reply, he asked, "Have you been there yourself? What did you feel when you saw it?"

Lee Jung-sook took a deep breath before replying, "That's the reason I showed you that picture. For some reason, my heart starts beating really fast when I see that building. You and I both know that people like us are very sensitive when it comes to matters regarding life and death. When I saw the building, I felt like there were countless eyes staring at me at once from within."

She tucked a few strands of stray hair behind her ear as she sighed, "The project was actually finalized half a year ago, but construction still hasn't begun, and it's precisely because of this unease that I'm feeling. The government has already urged us many times to begin construction, but it just doesn't feel right to start until I get to the bottom of this, so I began to do some deep research."

She snapped her fingers again as she instructed, "Give me file number A-3."

I'm not falling for that again! 

Qin Ye looked on calmly, waiting for Xiao Ai's mechanical voice to ring out again, but on this occasion... the door was opened.

The caravan was already parked at a resting area, and a bodyguard handed another document back over to Lee Jung-sook before departing. Lee Jung-sook opened the document bag and said, "There were people living here over 20 years ago, but now... Why do you have that expression on your face?"

Qin Ye's eyelids twitched slightly as he shook his head in response. "It's nothing. Please continue..."

Lee Jung-sook gave him a curious look before pulling out a document. "20 years ago, there was a small village around the Huang Clan's earthen building. The village was completely ordinary and nondescript, except for the fact..."

Her eyes suddenly narrowed slightly as she declared, "That it suddenly vanished someday."

"It vanished?" Qin Ye asked in a surprised manner.

He suddenly recalled what the Harken had said about assessing how dangerous a forsaken land was. The more perilous a forsaken land was, the more heavily affected the surrounding residents would be.

And now, he was being told that an entire village had disappeared!

Hold on a minute... This doesn't seem like the least dangerous forsaken land... I strongly suspect that I've been tricked, backstabbed, and quite possibly bamboozled.. 

"The original residents are nowhere to be found. I did some research into the local crime records and files of the deceased, and I found something as interesting as it is disturbing..." She held up the document bag with a hint of a smile on her face as she said, "All 272 residents of that village had disappeared."

The air temperature in the caravan seemed to have suddenly plummeted.

A hint of coldness had also crept into Lee Jung-sook voice as she continued, "No one died or moved away; all of them had disappeared. On top of that, what's particularly intriguing was that the disappearances took place in seven-day cycles with up to 10 people vanishing every seven days. What's even stranger is that none of the local residents moved or reported this to the authorities! It was as if... they were waiting to disappear. Of course, this wasn't a particularly noteworthy incident during the massive wave of supernatural disasters, and it occurred in a very rural area, so not much investigation was conducted into the matter. However..."

She paused momentarily as a beautiful yet dangerous smile appeared on her face. "If I want to investigate something, I'll get to the bottom of it no matter what. The disappearance of that village took place less than 20 years ago, and the only ones who disappeared were the local residents of the village..."

She looked down at the documents, and her soft and luscious locks spilled down around her.

Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Are you saying there were survivors from foreign areas?"

"Of course. No one wants to remain poor, so there's naturally going to be workers traveling to other areas to earn an income." Lee Jung-sook turned to Qin Ye and said, "Right now, I'm going to meet one of those workers. Are you interested in coming along?"

This was clearly an opportunity that he couldn't miss.

He was beginning to feel quite fortunate that he knew Lee Jung-sook. With her special status, she was able to dig up a lot of information that even many governments wouldn't be able to uncover, and she would be a great help for him during his trip to the earthen buildings.

10 minutes later, the two of them emerged from the caravan, and a Rolls Royce was already waiting for them on the side of the road. The door was already open, and Lee Jung-sook was just about to get into the car when she faltered slightly before turning to the driver with raised eyebrows. "I don't recall ever meeting you before."

For someone of Lee Jung-sook's status, her driver was naturally extremely important.

"I was only recently recruited by Mr. Li." The driver lowered his head in a respectful manner and put on a fawning smile. "I served in the Daehan military, and after my discharge, I worked as a mercenary for a few years. Rest assured, Madam Li, I was able to secure this job, so I'm definitely capable of keeping you safe."

Lee Jung-sook accepted the answer with an ambiguous expression before getting into the back of the car, while Qin Ye sat down on the passenger seat.

The car slowly began to move. Currently, it was already 7 PM. It was autumn, so night arrived quite early. The dying rays of the setting sun illuminated the dark clouds in the sky, presenting an eerie sense of beauty.

The Changle International Airport was situated in the capital of the Fujian province, Fuzhou, and from there, it would take two hours to drive to Anjing Village. The journey was very long, and Lee Jung-sook was looking at the scenery as it flashed past her window. All of a sudden, she asked, "Were you the one who arranged the meeting?"

The question was directed toward the driver.

Seeing as he had dared to apply for this job, he was definitely aware of what the role entailed.

"Yes," the driver replied in a respectful voice.

"Why didn't you bring him to Fuzhou?" Lee Jung-sook closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. "I don't think his time is more important than mine."

The driver heaved a forlorn sigh. "It's not that I didn't want to do that, I simply couldn't. Madam Li, this survivor... is in a rather strange condition. There's no way for him to leave the village, so it's best for you to visit him."

Before Lee Jung-sook had a chance to reply, she suddenly heard a tapping sound from the window of the car.

It was as if someone were tapping the window, but they were currently on the freeway, driving at the maximum speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour.

Who could it be? There was someone gently and rhythmically tapping the window, as if someone were lying on top of the car!

Lee Jung-sook's eyes immediately sprang open, yet before she had a chance to speak, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Do you smoke?"

For some reason, the sound of his voice was rather soothing to her, and she calmed down slightly as she replied, "No."

"Not you, I was asking the driver." Qin Ye turned to the driver and asked again, "Do you smoke?"

"No, but thank you for offering. Smoking is prohibited on Madam Li's cars," the driver replied in a polite manner.

"That makes sense." Qin Ye ignored the driver and lit a cigarette anyway, then gently pressed its smoldering tip against the car's door, and the smell of burning paper immediately wafted through the air. A hole had been burned into the car door as if it were made from paper!

"I also wouldn't want to light any fires if I were driving a paper car."

Lee Jung-sook's pupils contracted drastically upon hearing this. This is... a paper car?

The driver remained silent, but his head turned 90 degrees amid a string of gruesome cracks as he turned to Qin Ye with a smile that was extremely fake,looking as if it had been drawn onto his face. "May I ask who you are?"

A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face. "By Hell’s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

In the next instant, a rapid string of banging rang out from all around the car at the same time!