Chapter 2: The Yin Gate Opens
Three knocks ended.
I didn't move.
According to the Xiang family rules, when you hear knocking at night, you don't look through the peephole, and you definitely don't answer.
I pulled out the bronze probe, crouched by the door, and extended it through the gap under the door.
The tip had just gone out half an inch.
Buzz—
The probe in my hand vibrated violently.
I immediately withdrew my hand.
At the same time, the computer beeped.
The graphics card fan spun up to full speed instantly.
Whoosh—!
The UPS was still supplying power.
On the monitor, the Python terminal was scrolling wildly.
I brought up the packet capture program.
The local network card was receiving abnormal data.
Not Wi-Fi.
Not Bluetooth.
Even the network cable wasn't plugged in.
Yet data packets kept coming in one after another.
I converted the traffic into an image.
A humanoid figure appeared on the screen.
Right outside the door.
The outline lasted only a few seconds.
Head.
Shoulders.
Two arms.
Then the entire image began to distort.
I glanced at the VRAM usage.
6142 MB.
Full load.
"Electromagnetic interference?"
Just as I said that, the door panel suddenly shook.
Bang!
I stepped back half a step.
A second time.
Bang!
Dust fell from the door frame.
A third time.
Bang!
The lock cylinder made a metallic cracking sound.
I grabbed the bronze probe.
Under the door gap, a yellow paper slowly slid in.
I didn't reach for it.
I used the probe to flip it over.
On the paper was printed a string of IP addresses.
10.24.7.13
Below that was a port.
4F2A
And a string of hexadecimal characters.
I scanned it.
This was a node information left by someone.
Not a talisman.
Someone was sending me an address.
Outside the door, it was quiet again.
I took a photo of the paper with my phone.
Just as I imported the photo into the computer, the door suddenly opened a crack.
About three fingers wide.
A hand reached in.
That wasn't a human hand.
The skin was pale.
The fingers were long and slender.
But the nails were black and shiny.
Five fingers groped along the floor.
As if looking for something.
I stared at that hand.
It stopped less than a meter away from me.
The wrist had no blood color.
And no pulse.
The next second, the five fingers suddenly curled.
They lunged straight at me.
I dodged to the side.
The nails grazed my pant leg.
The fabric tore instantly.
I kicked the door.
Bang!
Instead, the door was pushed open even more.
That thing squeezed half its body in.
Its face was still outside the door.
I couldn't see clearly.
I could only see one eye.
Red.
Exactly the same as the eye on the cover of the ancient book.
I didn't retreat.
For tomb raiders, when a hand reaches out from a coffin, the first reaction isn't to run.
It's to cut off the hand.
I grabbed the bronze probe.
And stabbed it hard into its wrist.
Thud!
The probe sank in.
A black substance flowed out along the probe.
It didn't look like blood.
More like sewage from a tomb.
That hand retracted suddenly.
A strange sound came from outside the door.
Not a scream.
It sounded like someone gritting their teeth through a thick coffin.
I took the opportunity to grab the iron chain by the door.
This was what I usually used to lock my bicycle in the basement.
Thirty centimeters.
Enough.
I wrapped the chain around the door handle.
And inserted the bronze probe into the bottom of the door frame.
This was an old method.
Probing the Yin Gate.
Using metal to suppress evil.
I bit my finger and smeared blood on the probe.
"Borrowing the mountain god's position."
"Suppress the earth gate."
As soon as I finished speaking, the door was hit hard from outside.
Bang!
The chain tightened.
The door frame cracked.
The probe bent.
I pushed it in another inch.
The second impact.
Bang!
The door panel was knocked open directly.
The chain flew off.
That hand reached in again.
This time it was faster.
Five fingers directly clamped onto my shoulder.
Ice cold.
The strength was not like that of a living person.
I was dragged toward the door.
My shoes left two white marks on the floor.
I reached back and grabbed the compass on the table.
And smashed it hard on the back of its hand.
Crack!
The compass broke.
That hand loosened for a moment.
That was enough.
I grabbed the bronze probe.
And stabbed it again along the wound on its wrist.
This time, the probe went straight through.
The thing outside the door convulsed violently.
I smelled a strong odor of dead earth.
Like a freshly opened ancient tomb.
Or like a corpse well that had been soaked for ten years.
It finally let go.
I grabbed the cardboard box in one motion.
Pulled out the computer hard drive.
Stuck the bronze probe into my waistband.
Turned and rushed toward the ventilation window.
Behind me came the sound of the door panel being hit.
Once.
Twice.
On the third time, the entire door crashed to the ground.
I kicked open the rusty iron window.
Cold rain poured in directly.
I squeezed out sideways.
Just as I landed, a dull thud came from the basement behind me.
I didn't look back.
I ran along the drainage ditch toward the alley.
The rain was heavy.
Ten minutes later, I had already run into the old city.
The roads here were even more chaotic than the basement.
Old buildings.
Abandoned shops.
Power lines.
Neon lights.
Rainwater flowed down the billboards.
The phone regained signal.
I opened the scan results from earlier.
That IP was still there.
The node location hadn't changed.
I continued to trace.
The proxy exit jumped three times.
The final coordinates were locked.
Northwest corner of the old city.
The former mass grave.
I stopped.
The cardboard box suddenly moved.
It wasn't an illusion.
A "thump" came from inside.
Like someone knocking from inside a book.
I opened the box.
The red eye on the cover of the ancient book was moving.
It wasn't looking at me.
The eyeball slowly shifted toward the northwest.
Exactly the direction of the mass grave.
I took out my phone.
On the map, there was no tomb there anymore.
Only an abandoned construction site.
But the red eye was still turning.
I closed the book.
But the eyeball didn't stop.
Through the cover, it still pointed in that direction.
"You want me to go there?"
No answer.
Across the street, a white light suddenly turned on.
An old man was sitting at the entrance of an abandoned car repair shop.
No umbrella.
He wore an old military coat.
In his hand, he held a bowl of hot tea.
He looked up and saw me.
First at the cardboard box in my hand.
Then at my shoulder.
Finally at the ancient book in the box.
His face changed.
"Yunfeng?"
I stopped.
No one had called me that in over ten years.
The old man put down the tea bowl.
"Didn't your grandfather say?"
"This thing must not come out again."
I stared at him.
"You know it?"
The old man didn't answer.
He glanced toward the northwest.
In the rain, all the lights at the abandoned construction site suddenly went out.
The old man stood up.
"Come in."
"Close the door first."
"After tonight, the old city might not be peaceful."
Just as I stepped inside, the red eye in the box suddenly turned.
This time, it wasn't pointing at the mass grave.
But at the basement behind the old man.
The old man saw it too.
His face turned pale.
"Too late."
"It has already found this place."
