# Chapter 6: The General's Treasure (VI)
Hmm... punishment...
Jin Huijuan glanced back at Wang Xiangqun and Qi An. The former was still immersed in sorrow and despair, his expression one of utter misery, but when he heard the butler's frivolous words, he instantaneously widened his eyes in disbelief. Jin Huijuan could sense that this young man, raised in an ivory tower, had already begun to darken just a little.
His right hand resting on his left arm began to press down harder, and faint cracks appeared on the petrified, hardened limb.
The sympathy and youthful innocence in Wang Xiangqun's gaze when he looked at Qi An had completely vanished.
Both were punishments, yet the treatment they received was entirely different.
As if that weren't enough, the butler casually produced a table and chairs, then arranged tableware before Qi An, bowing to him with impeccable gentlemanly grace.
Everyone was watching Qi An eat alone. The appetizing aroma tantalized their taste buds. The seated youth ate at a pace that was neither fast nor slow, but his appetite was very small.
Qi An's chopstick movements had already slowed down.
He let out a soft burp.
Nervously and mechanically, he stuffed food into his mouth. The oily sheen coated his lips, making them tender and soft.
Seeing him in this state, the butler collected the dishes that still had most of the food remaining, regardless of the envious, covetous expressions on the others' faces. He spoke gently to Qi An: "These meals are delivered daily by the villagers. There is an exit connecting here to the outside world. Weren't you asking me earlier why I can speak your era's language? It's because we've actually maintained contact with the outside all along."
He had taken the initiative to answer the question Qi An had raised before.
There was another exit inside the ancient tomb.
The villagers... the people from Zhang Pópo's village.
They truly knew some inside information.
"Could you tell us where that exit is?" Jin Huijuan asked urgently.
"Of course." The butler gave an enigmatic smile. "But even if you left through the exit, you wouldn't survive long. There's a curse here—any living person who enters without permission will be gradually assimilated by the yin energy here, unless they can obtain the master's forgiveness."
"We don't intend to leave. We just want to ask about some things." Jin Huijuan's expression grew serious as she spoke to the butler.
This village must have some kind of connection to the ancient tomb. Very likely, they could obtain information about the tomb's occupant from the villagers, which would be quite helpful for completing their mission.
It could be said to be an unexpected bonus for them today.
After the butler had roughly explained the route, he vanished. Wang Xiangqun leaned against the wall, lost in thought. Lin Jiajia, who had already offended her teammates, also stared at the ground in a daze. Seeing this, Jin Huijuan felt a slight twitch in her eyelid.
They were still maintaining the façade of a team, but internally, they had already fallen apart. If they couldn't complete their mission and find a way out as soon as possible, the conflicts between them would only grow larger.
[An'an, headquarters sent a message. We did come to this world before, but the work report we wrote back then won't be sent down until tomorrow.] The system spoke in her mind.
[Hmm.]
[Besides, this is the first world An'an has visited since joining the Quick-Pass Bureau.] The system's voice carried a hint of excitement. [How coincidental—the first world you went to after joining the bureau was also here.]
Hearing this, Qi An was难得地怔了怔—难得地怔了怔 was a rare moment of being stunned.
"It's getting late." Jin Huijuan pointed at the watch on her wrist, trying to ease the atmosphere. "I noticed several bedchambers in the palace earlier. We could rest there."
Jin Huijuan led the group in one direction. The night inside the ancient tomb was unlike the outside—no matter the time, under the illumination of the luminous pearls, everything here remained gloomy and somber.
After a day of everything, everyone was extremely silent.
Qi An lay on the soft bed, and his mind inexplicably drifted back to the murals they'd seen earlier. Painted alongside the underground palace was a figure with no discernible features. From the moment Qi An saw that painting, he had felt the person in it was very familiar.
—As if he himself were the person in the painting.
When he was at the Quick-Pass Bureau, he had never been assigned to worlds with ghosts, but in truth, he was already very familiar with such things. He had been able to see ghosts since he was a child.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary ability had not brought him any help.
He... had died.
Qi An possessed an especially strong desire to live, so when he entered his first world at the Quick-Pass Bureau, he had been especially relentless. He had studied that world's language with tremendous effort, terrified of being discovered as not being the original occupant.
This might have been why he could still vaguely understand the language to this day.
Now, being told that this was his first world at the Quick-Pass Bureau, Qi An suddenly felt a strange sensation. He touched his heart, which had always beat steadily, and let out a light sigh.
Both nostalgic and... exhausted.
When Qi An fell asleep, the man who had called himself the butler appeared in Qi An's room. The man stepped forward several paces, gazing at the young man sleeping so peacefully with such impeccable sleeping posture. Fondness flickered in his eyes. He gently stroked Qi An's smooth, jet-black hair, and lit a stick of incense with a sleep-inducing effect.
Before leaving, the man waved his hand, and a layer of dark light enveloped the room where Qi An slept.
*Thud—*
A violent gust of yin wind suddenly swept through the room, and something dropped to the floor. Pieces of fine porcelain scattered everywhere. Through the dim, ghostly glow, Lin Jiajia, who was on the bed, saw several dark silhouettes moving rapidly.
She gripped the blanket tightly, screaming in panic: "Zhang Zhaoqi!"
No one answered her.
The room held only the echo of her scream and the sound of the yin wind sweeping past.
This eerie silence made Lin Jiajia's palm grip even tighter.
A flash of terror crossed Lin Jiajia's beautiful eyes. She glanced at the nearby door, threw off the blanket, and ran barefoot toward it as quickly as she could.
She ran extremely fast. The fragments on the floor cut her soles, and blood stained the ground. In an instant, her feet had been pierced by numerous shards.
Lin Jiajia covered her mouth, not letting a single cry of pain escape. Unabated in speed, she crashed into the wooden door. Something made a thin cracking sound. The door wobbled precariously several times before remaining completely still.
Both hands pressed against the door, Lin Jiajia turned her head in terror.
She came face to face with a pair of murky, gray eyes.
Gloomy, deathly silent, indifferent, devoid of any spark of life.
She seemed to see in this person's eyes the howls of countless vengeful spirits.
Lin Jiajia heard a toneless voice: "You shouldn't have targeted him. Even if he doesn't mind, I will."
A bone-deep coldness spread through Lin Jiajia's heart. Her voice trembled: "Who... who are you referring to... I'll apologize to him, okay? I was wrong—"
Lin Jiajia's voice abruptly stopped. Her eyes were still wide open, but her entire body went limp as she collapsed onto the floor.
"That one is my properly wedded..." The man didn't finish speaking, his tone carrying a hint of hidden meaning. "Soon. Once those matters are concluded."