The scene scared her, causing her to tactically step back, her small face turning pale with fear.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here,” Kelvin comforted, gently patting her back, about to cover her eyes with his hand.
Cheyenne refused.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm. “I-I’m not afraid… They were humans too, just like us.”
So there was nothing to fear, just treat them as tools in the laboratory.
Just as she was mentally preparing herself, Iker boldly reached out to touch the corpses.
Cheyenne watched in astonishment.
“Master Iker, you…”
“Look, they’re wearing Chulae uniforms,” he said calmly.
Upon hearing this, Kelvin and Cheyenne carefully observed the bodies.
From their attire, it seemed that they were respected heroes in their past lives.
Why were they hanging here?
And there were quite a few bodies here, not just a few hundred.
Iker reached out and rummaged through the clothes of the corpses, finding a stack of yellowed papers from the breast pocket of their jackets.
Followed by a second, a third…
Countless, thickly stacked in his hand, these letters were stained with blood, some of them even blurred.
But it was still clear that these were letters of farewell.
With the blood-stained letters in hand, Iker straightened up and saluted the corpses.
Then, his voice choked with emotion, he explained to the two:
“Every soldier writes a farewell letter before going into battle, putting it in the breast pocket of their jacket, just in case they die in a foreign land one day and no one knows.”
The first sentence of the letter usually contains their name, home address, and contact number.
“Me included, my farewell letter has been in my pocket for eight years…”
Perhaps one day, it would be found by someone else.
Hearing this, Cheyenne inexplicably felt a sourness in her nose. She glanced at the pile of bodies, then turned to look at Iker.
At this moment, she understood his hardships and couldn’t help but marvel at the unpredictability of life.
No one knows what tomorrow holds. As a doctor, her duty is to save lives. And as a soldier, Iker’s duty is to defend the country.
Since they chose this path, there would inevitably be dangers and sacrifices.
As a friend, she selfishly hoped he wouldn’t end up on her operating table.
Iker chuckled and turned back, handing the stack of letters to Cheyenne.
“See, I’m getting sentimental again.”
“But Cheyenne… Honestly, if I die one day. You saw how I did it just now, I hope you’ll help me take my farewell letter back.”
Holding the stack of light papers in her hand, Cheyenne felt as if they weighed as heavily as mountains.
These thin sheets of paper represented a vibrant life, carrying the final hope of the deceased, and were the expectations of a family.
“No, you’ll definitely live well. None of us will die,” Kelvin couldn’t bear to listen anymore. He frowned at Iker, his lips slightly curled in sarcasm as he said, “What? Do you know my wife is softhearted, so you’re playing on it with this trick?”
“Don’t worry, if that day really comes, I’ll take your farewell letter back for you. Is that enough to give you face?”
Iker’s face darkened.
“No need to bother, Mr. Foley!”
Kelvin squinted his deep-set eyes slightly, feeling quite pleased with himself for getting the better of Iker.
“Well, let’s talk about the real issue. Haven’t you noticed that these bodies are different from the ones we saw earlier?”
“Their skin is green, and their bodies are swollen like fermented dough.”
While the bodies we saw earlier exhibited normal signs of decomposition, judging from the color of the clothes on the skeletons, they are quite different from these later ones.
“It’s really different, isn’t it?” Cheyenne gathered her courage and reached out to pinch one of the bodies. She discovered that despite being dead for several days, the muscles were still soft. Not only that, the bones seemed twice as thick as normal. “Do you remember what Old Bray said earlier? This used to be a prison. I suspect the front half of the tunnel is filled with imperial soldiers.”
“The thousand people who disappeared didn’t retreat; they died here.”
“And the bodies buried later shouldn’t have been here long, probably no more than half a year… judging by the uniforms, they’re our Chulae military.”
Iker needed to go back and check why they died here, to see what tasks related to Dragon Serpent Isle had been assigned in the past half year.
Sacrificing so many people couldn’t have happened without him catching wind of something.
“Oh, and I’ve noticed something too. The skeletal muscles of these bodies don’t look quite like those of ordinary people.”
“The cause of death wasn’t from gunshots or poisoning, but more like… an explosion.”
Under what circumstances would a human body explode? It would have to be due to pressure from within, possibly originating from their bodies or from external air pressure. But based on Cheyenne’s medical experience, it seemed like an internal explosion, as their bones showed obvious pores and cracks.
“This is just unbelievable. Let me take some photos to study later.”
Poor Cheyenne, terrified of ghosts but forced to capture these horrifying scenes to examine back home. She really had it tough!
After taking the photos, they continued walking along the tunnel. About a hundred meters ahead, they reached the end- an abandoned station. Overgrown with weeds, it looked eerie and terrifying. Now it had become a nest of vipers, with white snake eggs scattered everywhere.
Cheyenne was so nauseated she almost vomited. “Shouldn’t we just burn them all with a torch?”
But Iker stopped her. “No, we can’t burn them. Even though they’re venomous snakes, many locals depend on snake-catching for a living. If we eliminate them, it will cause bigger problems.”
Keeping these creatures around was dangerous, but getting rid of them would create even more trouble. This was the ecosystem, interconnected and delicate.
Cheyenne admitted she had been narrow-minded this time, she was the kind who wanted to eliminate things she feared the most.
“I almost forgot about protecting wildlife…”
“You’re right, I was wrong. Let’s move quickly; I feel like I’m about to pass out.”
People with trypophobia can’t afford to get hurt.
“Recognizing mistakes is also a virtue, Cheyenne, don’t blame yourself. We’re in different positions, so we just see things from different angles.”
“Thank you for your comfort.”
Since they found no secrets at the end, they retraced their steps to meet up with Old Bray’s group.
They also informed Mike of the truth behind the ‘haunting’. The apparitions he saw were likely due to heavy mist, with morning sunlight reflecting off water droplets, creating mirage-like images.