Chapter 193: Buried

About 500 nautical miles west of the Amami Islands near Kagoshima, there lies a small, uninhabited island, technically classified as a deserted island in international waters.

Half a month ago, this previously unnoticed island suddenly caught the attention of many. The reason? Over forty students from Teikyo University, a prestigious school in Tokyo, had been stranded on this island for more than a week. Their plight began when their ferry struck a reef, forcing them to survive on the island until they were eventually rescued by the maritime authorities and safely returned to Tokyo.

Humans, being forgetful creatures, soon moved on. Just two weeks later, with the constant flood of news, the deserted island faded from public memory.

Yet at this moment, faint campfires could be seen glowing on the island. In the pitch-black night, these flickering flames evoked an eerie resemblance to the ghostly fires of folklore.

Suddenly, the hum of an aircraft engine shattered the tranquil silence over the sea.

Around 3 AM, a small plane landed on the beach near the campfires.

After jumping out of the aircraft, Lei Yin carefully observed the fires and scanned the surroundings. Soon, he noticed the subtle sound of several people breathing nearby.

Moments later, a tall figure emerged from the forest lining the beach.

“Master, you’re here!” Lei Li, dressed head-to-toe in military camouflage and combat boots, approached Lei Yin with enthusiasm. Behind him followed a group of similarly burly men in the same attire.

Yawning, Lei Yin remarked, “This is brutal. I’ve never flown for so long in my life.” After taking a plane from Kyoto to Tokyo, he had immediately piloted a plane here without rest. Except for two brief stops to refuel, he had no time to relax. Flying a plane is entirely different from being a passenger; the former demands intense concentration. And since small planes are significantly slower than commercial aircraft, even someone with Lei Yin’s extraordinary stamina felt exhausted after over ten hours in the cockpit.

Lei Li grinned. “Master, you must be tired. Let me take you to the tent to rest.”

Nodding, Lei Yin walked alongside him.

As they walked, Lei Yin asked, “How many people did you bring this time?”

Lei Li replied, “Seven, all of them my trusted men. There’s no issue with loyalty. Since you said there was something strange about this matter, I didn’t bring too many. But because they’re more used to… other types of work—like arson and murder—this digging job was a first for them. Progress was slow, but we finally found the entrance the day before yesterday.”

As they approached the tent, Lei Yin caught a tantalizing aroma. In front of the tent, over a campfire, a pot of food was simmering on a makeshift stand of thick tree branches. The delicious smell was coming from the pot.

Lei Yin smirked and scolded, “Looks like you’re treating this like a camping trip.”

Lei Li laughed cheekily. “This place is amazing! Fresh seafood, natural hot springs—and we even brought a bunch of canned food, thinking we’d need supplies. But once we got here, nobody touched them. Everyone’s been busy fishing and catching shrimp. Honestly, if we set up a few beach chairs and umbrellas, and added some bikini-clad beauties walking around, it’d be like a tropical Hawaii getaway.”

“Cut the crap. I haven’t had dinner yet. Hurry up and bring me something to eat.”

“Okay, okay, coming right up!” Lei Li quickly went to the campfire and poured the contents of the pot into a large dish.

Inside the tent, the master and apprentice ate the seafood ravenously, like men who hadn’t had a proper meal in months.

No one would believe that someone as rough around the edges as Lei Li could cook so well. But there was a backstory to this.

When Lei Yin first took Lei Li as his disciple, he intended to train him as the successor to the Black Dragon. Consequently, Lei Yin was extremely strict while teaching him martial arts. After being beaten a few times for failing to meet his master’s standards, Lei Li turned to Chang’an for help.

Chang’an told him that Lei Yin was a foodie and that if he could satisfy his master’s palate, the beatings would naturally lessen.

Terrified of the beatings, Lei Li began learning how to cook in his spare time.

Sure enough, after Lei Yin had a few of Lei Li’s home-cooked meals, his strikes did become noticeably lighter. Realizing this trick worked, Lei Li worked even harder to improve his culinary skills, hoping to reduce the physical punishment.

By now, Lei Li no longer needed to cook to appease his master during training, but occasionally, when the mood struck, he would prepare a few dishes to reminisce about the past. However, the only people privileged enough to taste his cooking were Lei Yin and Chang’an.

After finishing their meal, Lei Yin glanced at Lei Li, who was still devouring his food due to his larger appetite, and scolded, “Damn it, are you a pig? How can you eat so much?”

Mouth full, Lei Li mumbled, “I wasn’t planning to eat, but seeing you go at it like a starving man rubbed off on me.”

“Bullshit,” Lei Yin retorted, ignoring him as he grabbed a bottle of water and took a few sips.

Once both of them were full, Lei Yin asked, “Have you gone inside yet?”

Lei Li’s expression suddenly turned serious. “I took a look. I didn’t explore everything, but what I saw was shocking. That’s why I immediately flew to an area where my phone had signal and called you.”

It was rare to see such a look on Lei Li’s face, which made Lei Yin frown.

※※※

The next day, after lunch, Lei Li instructed the others to stay on the beach while he led Lei Yin into the forest.

When they reached the spot where Lei Li had previously caught a wild rabbit, Lei Yin found that the area had completely changed. The once-small pit had been excavated into a massive, deep hole hundreds of meters wide.

In the center of this enormous pit stood a colossal object with a dull, gray-black metallic sheen.

The sheer size of the object far exceeded Lei Yin’s expectations. From above, only a small portion of it was exposed, as though they had unearthed part of an ancient city. The scene was the very definition of “the tip of the iceberg.” Lei Yin couldn’t even begin to imagine how much of it was still buried underground.

The depth from the top of the pit to the bottom was over thirty meters. Even with Lei Yin’s martial skills, he didn’t dare to jump straight down. Instead, he followed Lei Li’s lead, descending carefully via a rope ladder tied to the trunk of a large tree at the edge of the pit.

Once at the bottom, Lei Yin noticed several massive patterns etched onto the surface of the metal plates. The designs were bizarre and incomprehensible.

Lei Li remarked, “I didn’t expect this thing to be so enormous. Excavating the whole thing could take two or three months. Fortunately, we got lucky and found an entrance not long after we started digging.”

With that, he led Lei Yin toward the eastern side of the pit.

When they reached the so-called entrance, Lei Yin saw that it wasn’t a proper entryway but a gap forcibly torn open by some tremendous external force. The opening was wide enough for four people to walk side by side. Carrying high-powered floodlights, Lei Li and Lei Yin ventured inside.

It wasn’t until around 8 PM that the two of them emerged from the gap.

Once outside, both master and disciple had somber expressions.

Staring into the pitch-black darkness of the gap, Lei Yin gave a bitter smile and said, “Let’s hope we haven’t opened Pandora’s box.”

Initially, he had thought it was an underground base or laboratory from World War II, prompting his curiosity to dig it up and investigate.

While Lei Yin didn’t hold much animosity toward the average Japanese citizen, he could never forgive the Japanese government’s refusal to admit to the atrocities committed during the war. If it had been a laboratory, he wouldn’t have minded exposing it to the world, just to see the reactions of those self-righteous politicians when confronted by international reporters. But he hadn’t expected to unearth something this shocking.

Lei Li’s eyes gleamed with a peculiar light. “If everything inside is functional, it might not even be impossible to conquer the world.”

“Do you want to be Adolf Hitler? Don’t be ridiculous. In any major war, advanced weaponry alone isn’t the key to victory. Besides, how can you guarantee your subordinates won’t betray you? Most importantly, there’s no infinite energy source in this world. Even if those things work, who knows how long they’ll last?”

Lei Li looked a bit deflated. “You’ve got a point. Besides, taking over the world sounds exhausting and doesn’t really suit me. I think I’ll stick to being a gang leader and enjoying the high life instead. So, what do we do now, Master?”

Lei Yin countered with a question, “Do the people you brought with you know the route to this place?”

“They shouldn’t. I was the only one flying the plane, and they were all seated in the cabin.”

Lei Yin nodded, feeling somewhat reassured. “It’s a good thing you didn’t bring too many people. The only thing we can do now is rebury this thing and leave as if we were never here.”

Lei Li cast one last regretful glance at the gap before saying, “Alright.”

The next morning, Lei Li returned to the site with seven of his men and instructed them to fill in the pit with dirt.

Although the men found their boss’s orders to first dig and then refill the pit puzzling, their long-standing discipline kept them from questioning him. They silently followed his instructions.

Going downhill is always faster than climbing up, and similarly, filling a pit is far easier than digging one. While it had taken the eight of them nearly half a month to excavate the large pit, it only took them less than four days to fill it back up.

Once the pit was buried, Lei Yin decided to head back to avoid worrying Naoko and the others.

Lei Li, though reluctant to part with his master after not seeing him for so long, knew this was a critical matter. He figured it was better to send everyone back as soon as possible, so he deliberately chose to leave the deserted island by plane at night.

After they departed, Lei Yin sighed as he gazed at the island, then boarded his small aircraft and followed suit.

Japan, like many other Asian countries, employed an exam-oriented education system. In this environment, where academic advancement and grades were heavily emphasized—especially in Tokyo, a bustling metropolis home to many prestigious schools—cram schools of various forms, both short- and long-term, had sprung up everywhere.

In Tokyo’s Shinjuku East District, there was a renowned cram school. It was said that many students who had attended this cram school had been admitted to prestigious universities, attracting numerous parents to enroll their children there.

At 9:30 PM, a bell rang inside the cram school, signaling the end of classes for the day.

After a while, more and more students began to file out of the school. Amid the slightly crowded flow of people, a long-haired girl caught the attention of many around her.

Typically, high-achieving students often shared some common traits. The most common was nearsightedness from excessive reading, a shorter stature due to lack of physical exercise, or an introverted personality that made social interactions challenging. While not universally true, these observations held for a significant number of students.

However, this theory clearly didn’t apply to her. Everyone who knew her was aware of her excellent academic performance—so good that it seemed like she didn’t need tutoring at all.

The girl didn’t wear thick glasses like others might, and her figure was unexpectedly tall and graceful. The warm smile she wore while chatting with her companions showed she wasn’t an introvert either. Most notably, she was stunningly beautiful.

Such a combination of intelligence and beauty was hard to ignore. As a result, many male students at the cram school were aware of her presence. Almost every day, one or two letters—clearly unrelated to academic matters—would appear in her desk drawer.

After leaving the cram school, the girl said to her companion, “Sorry, Komaki, I might not be able to go home with you today. My sister just called and said she’s coming to pick me up, so I’ll wait here for her.”

“What? You have a sister?” her companion asked in surprise.

The girl smiled and nodded. “Her name is Kazumi. She’s a year older than me. She’s not my biological sister, but she’s incredibly kind to me. I mentioned before that I’m from Hokkaido. Right now, I’m staying at her house. She came back from her vacation about two weeks ago.”

“Is she already working?”

“Not yet. She’s a first-year student at Teikyo University.”

Her companion exclaimed in awe, “A student at Teikyo University? That’s amazing!”

As the two were talking, a Honda car stopped not far from them. A young woman stepped out from the back seat. She wore silver-framed glasses and a knee-length, light-colored dress, exuding an air of intelligence and elegance.

After getting out, she called out, “Rumi.”

“Kazumi, you’re here!” The girl smiled brightly and ran toward her.

Her companion, watching Kazumi with admiration, thought, she really does carry the aura of a student from a prestigious university.

“Is Uncle Maeda here too?” Rumi recognized the car as belonging to Maeda Ryutaro.

Kazumi smiled without replying.

“Sorry, wrong guess,” a familiar male voice said as a young man stepped out from the driver’s seat.

The moment Rumi saw him, she froze. Slowly, her eyes turned red.

“Rumi, I’m back,” Lei Yin said with a smile.

“Senpai!” With her hair fluttering in the air, the girl dashed toward him.