Chapter Twenty: Engineering—Skeletons Discovered in the Mine

Zhang Qinglin’s mind ran through every person he had seen here, but he could not imagine who would play such a pointless prank on him.

He lifted his eyelids, glanced at the mine lamp overhead, and shook it idly, thinking it was probably just his imagination. Then he bent his head and forcefully shoveled the gravel in front of him, sending up a cloud of dust.

He pursed his lips, coughing as the dust choked him. Having never done such hard labor before, he was experiencing firsthand the hardships of the lowest rung of the working class.

Blinking, he brushed the dust from his eyes, gasping and coughing. He tried to pull the shovel out with his right hand, only to find it was wedged in far deeper than he’d expected.

If one hand couldn’t do it, then two might. He gripped the handle with both hands and pulled. Perhaps because he hadn’t eaten breakfast, the shovel didn’t budge at all. Zhang Qinglin found it odd and began to wiggle the handle, bracing his feet against the stone wall and using all his strength.

A metallic clang echoed.

He lost his balance and fell backward, the shovel tumbling with him.

At that moment, all the workers turned their heads toward him. Several mine lamps shone directly on him, painfully bright.

Suddenly, one worker cried out in alarm, “What is that...?”

Zhang Qinglin, clutching his aching arm, stood up. The beam of light swept over the shovel, and there, embedded on its head, was a horrifying skull.

The skull faced upward, the shovel’s blade wedged right in its gaping mouth, a grotesque sight. Illuminated by the mine lamps, its hollow eyes seemed to radiate a strange eeriness.

The sudden appearance of the skull startled everyone.

Zhang Qinglin stared in terror at the shovel and skull, never expecting to dig up a skeleton.

He numbly shifted his mine lamp, looking back at the spot where he’d been working. Among the gravel, other bones protruded.

“I knew something was off. Felt like someone was watching me,” Zhang Qinglin muttered.

To unearth a skull in the mine was an ominous sign, suggesting not only the presence of something sinister but also that this was a place of ill fortune.

Some workers were already panicking. They threw down their tools and bolted for the exit in a frenzy.

Their sudden flight thickened the atmosphere, as if something extraordinary might appear in the mine at any moment.

Zhang Qinglin snapped back to his senses and spun around. The group had already vanished without a trace. Oddly, not far away stood a solitary figure, calm and motionless, watching him.

Zhang Qinglin shone his lamp toward the figure, but with limited light, he stepped forward. In the dimness, he thought the person looked familiar.

As he drew closer and saw clearly, his heart leaped. “Uncle Jiang! Uncle Jiang, what are you doing here?” he called, moving forward again, nearly stumbling over himself. When he looked up, the figure had vanished.

It was Uncle Jiang, unmistakably. He wore the same work uniform, his face smudged with black dust, but those deep-set eyes and gentle smile—there was no mistake.

Zhang Qinglin turned again, sweeping his lamp across the pitch-black tunnel. He refused to believe he was hallucinating. He spun and ran toward the exit.

“What’s going on! Why are you all running? Stop! Take me over there and let me see!” The tough man grabbed Zhang Qinglin’s collar and dragged him to the front, accompanied by several workers who had just run outside.

“Hey...” Zhang Qinglin barely managed to speak before he was pulled back into the tunnel w