Is this what a zombie is?

70. I am the gravedigger

Jiang Chen had some impression of this dog leader; it was located near the scenic area, but even more remote and desolate.

However, in reality, neither locals nor tourists visit that scenic area, even though the scenery is truly beautiful.

The reason is simple: the mountain, from its foot to its summit, is densely covered with graves.

It only gets lively around the time of Qingming Festival.

Normally, especially at night, ordinary people would never set foot in this place.

At the foot of Dog Head Ridge, an industrial zone has been developed in recent years, with factories of all sizes scattered throughout.

There's even a sizable waste-to-energy plant built on the mountainside, constantly consuming the city's waste day and night, with the white smoke billowing from its chimneys standing out prominently in the night sky.

There is also a university town nearby, and the vitality of the young students has, to some extent, diluted the gloomy atmosphere of the area.

Even so, at night, apart from those workers who need to work the night shift, almost no one goes into the mountains.

Jiang Chen's figure moved through the night like a ghost. After tempering his body, his physical qualities were no longer what they used to be. He could run silently, but his speed was astonishing.

A person and a cat travel along a quiet mountain path.

They seemed completely unafraid, but if an ordinary person saw this scene, they would inevitably start to overthink.

The higher you go up the mountain, the more the hustle and bustle of the industrial zone is left far behind.

The roar of machines and the sound of truck engines gradually faded away, replaced by a chilling silence.

Even the chirping of insects and birds, which are most common on summer nights, have disappeared without a trace.

The entire mountain forest was as quiet as a silent painting.

It's very clean here, but the cleanliness feels somewhat abnormal.

Jiang Chen's steps did not falter at all; on the contrary, they quickened even further.

Something's not right, it's not normal, that means he's found the right place.

Soon, as he rounded a mountain pass, the sight before him made him stop in his tracks.

Ahead, a large, meticulously manicured cypress forest came into view.

Each of those cypress trees was perfectly shaped like a pagoda, arranged in neat rows like soldiers awaiting inspection.

When Jiang Chen was a child, his favorite drawing style was this kind of tree: three triangles of different sizes stacked together, with a trunk at the bottom, that made a tree.

The cypress trees in front of him were even more precise and orderly than his drawing.

In Feng Shui, cypress trees are evergreen, symbolizing longevity and prosperity, and planting them near cemeteries is considered auspicious. Wealthy families often use cypress trees to enclose their family graves and define their boundaries.

But the current situation is clearly not as simple as "having a solid financial foundation".

Under the cool moonlight, Jiang Chen could see clearly.

Beneath each pagoda-shaped cypress tree lies an exquisite urn containing ashes.

This is a tree burial cemetery.

The scale was far beyond his imagination.

As a medical student, Jiang Chen didn't have much fear of death and corpses. He held the most basic respect for these deceased people in his heart. His gaze swept over them without lingering for long; his goal was clear: he was there to find someone.

He walked lightly through the eerily quiet cemetery, making no sound.

Just as he was about to pass through the cypress forest and head towards the deeper mountaintop.

A hoarse, aged voice rang out behind him without warning.

"Young man, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

Jiang Chen's body tensed up instantly, but he did not react excessively at first. After the body tempering, his perception ability had improved by several levels.

Even without consciously sensing it, the slightest movement within a hundred meters of him cannot escape his electromagnetic induction.

But the owner of this voice was able to silently reach ten meters behind him, something Jiang Chen hadn't noticed before, which in itself speaks volumes.

Jiang Chen slowly turned around.

An elderly man with a hunched back stood less than five meters behind him; in the blink of an eye, the distance was halved.

The old man looked to be over seventy years old, with deep wrinkles on his face. He was wearing a faded blue work uniform and holding an old-fashioned flashlight that shone an orange beam.

"Young man, are you here to steal?"

The old man looked Jiang Chen up and down, then grinned, revealing a set of teeth blackened by smoke.

"I'm here to find someone," Jiang Chen replied succinctly, subtly scrutinizing the old man before him.

"Looking for someone?" The old man's smile turned somewhat eerie. "Looking for someone in a graveyard in the middle of the night... could it be that you're looking for a dead person?"

His tone carried an indescribable sarcasm, as if he were telling a not-so-funny joke.

Jiang Chen's face remained expressionless as he coldly replied, "If we can't find him, my friend will indeed die."

"It seems you and this friend have a very good relationship!"

Jiang Chen nodded and answered very seriously, "We are like father and son."

That was the truth, though it sounded a bit absurd, and the old man's smile froze for a moment.

"Old man, who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I am the caretaker of this grave. They all call me Lao Lin. In addition to my daily care of the grave, I am also responsible for pruning and planting these trees."

"I'd like to ask if you've seen a group of people going up the mountain in the last couple of days, driving a black minivan."

The old man, who called himself "Old Lin" and was the tomb keeper, rolled his cloudy eyes and said vaguely, "Every day, people come and go from Dog Head Ridge. Some go up the mountain to sweep tombs, some go on outings, and there are even some young people who do live-streaming adventures. How can I remember them all?"

As he spoke, he waved his hand as if shooing away some annoying flies, trying to get away with it.

However, Jiang Chen seemed not to have heard him and abruptly changed the subject.

"Although you call yourself a gravedigger, you have no human warmth about you."

Old Lin's face instantly froze, his smile seemingly stuck on his face.

"I...I've been in this cemetery for decades, and it's not strange that it doesn't seem very human."

"Yeah?"

Jiang Chen sneered.

The lightning strike pattern, as dazzling as a galaxy, shimmered with eerie blue light.

An invisible electromagnetic field spread out from him instantly.

In this field, the electrical signals of all living organisms have nowhere to hide.

The rhythm of the heartbeat, the sound of blood flowing, the faint electrical currents transmitting information from neurons...

All of this was as clear to Jiang Chen as the lines on his palm.

"But I can't sense the bio-electromagnetic field that a living being should have on you..." Jiang Chen's eyes were sharp as knives as he said, word by word, "I can't sense the bio-electromagnetic field that a living being should have on you."

"You're not even alive! What are you? A walking corpse or a zombie?"

These words completely shattered Lao Lin's pretense.

"Hehehe..."

A strange laugh, not like a human voice, came from his throat.

His eyes gleamed with a ghostly green light, like a hungry wolf spotting its prey.