The underworld garden behind Xuanming Temple is called Lijiadu Underworld Garden, which is about 300 meters away from Xuanming Temple in a straight line.

We have two legends about the Lijiadu Garden. The first one is said that the Lijiadu Underworld Garden was originally a mass grave, and after the completion of the Underworld, there were still many lonely souls and wild ghosts wandering outside the Underworld. People often pass by in front of the gate of the Garden of Hades at night, and they can hear a lot of whispering sounds, but they can't see anyone. The second is that it was circulated when I was in elementary school with the fat man, because our primary school is not very far from this underworld, I heard that there are teachers on duty at night, and when you go to the toilet at night, you will suddenly see someone's face flashing outside the toilet, and more than once, several teachers who are scared would rather take three buses than live in the school again.

But most of the folklore can't be taken seriously, isn't there a joke later? Every school was built as a cemetery, and every women's toilet was heard of someone hanging.

I arrived with the fat man the next afternoon, mainly because of the stepping point. The doorkeeper was an old man, who looked lean and monkey-like, and when he saw me and the fat man, he pulled his throat and asked, "What are you two doing?" ”

The fat man was more excited, and said with a smile: "I will accompany my buddies to worship the old man, and you smoke a cigarette." ”

China's doorman and security guard can generally do it with cigarettes.

I lifted my feet and entered the gate of the Hades Garden, the whole Hades Garden is still relatively large, divided into three areas, the left is the Cedar District, the right is the Hanmei District, and the middle is the Cuizhu District.

According to the record of "Mountain Monsters", there was a kind of earth beast called "Fangwei" during the Republic of China, which acted near mass graves on weekdays. The physical characteristics of this earth beast are very similar to those of the bamboo rat, with a round head, very small eyes, and a pair of front teeth exposed, but the difference from the bamboo rat is that the tail of the "square tail" is square, just like its name.

"Square tail, two feet long, black gray throughout, small and long eyes, hence the name of the tail quadrangle. It often lives in a land with many corpses and ghosts, feeds on yin qi, and likes to live among corpses and bones. The habit of being timid will also attack when in distress, and the short bones of its tail can be taken from the catch, and it can be used to make magic tools and psychic. ”

That's what the book basically says, Beads and I talked on the phone at night, and the price was not low, but it depended on the sales.

I walked around the cedar district and found nothing out of the ordinary, there were almost no grave sweepers, I saw one when I came in, and then left. I am the only one left in the vast garden of the underworld. Turned his head and walked to the Cuizhu area, but there were some discoveries in this turn.

There are some places in the garden that have not yet erected tombstones, they are empty, but they are covered with a slab. This kind of place is generally a cemetery for sale, and cremation was still relatively common in Shanghai at that time, but the atmosphere of buying a cemetery has not yet formed, and there are more on the shelves.

What I saw was an empty cemetery, but the stone slab on top had been opened a gap. In fact, this gap is not remarkable at all, and if I don't pay attention, I will miss it.

However, several plants next to this stone slab have died, and what I noticed the most is that the weeds surrounding the cemetery are also dead! This is an unusual phenomenon!

How tenacious are weeds? There is no shortage of rain in Shanghai, and now that spring has just begun, why is there no grass growing here?

I felt strange, so I slowly leaned over, bent down to look at it, and immediately made a discovery! There's a hole in it!

The cave was covered with a stone slab and was therefore inconspicuous, but when I saw that there was no one around, I had the courage to move the slab a little bit out, so that I could clearly observe the hole in front of me.

It looks very deep, and I don't have a measuring tool, but it has to be at least a meter by sight. The hole was a few points bigger than my fist, and the walls looked smooth and looked like they had been dug out. I squatted down, pinched the dirt next to me, it felt a little damp, put it under my nose and smelled it, there was a faint smell in the dirt.

Rats and the like can also burrow in the wild, and the soil at the mouth of the hole will smell of rat droppings, which is not a field skill, but it is a natural learning when I played with my classmates when I was a child.

This hole should have been dug out of something similar to a mouse, but judging from the hole, it should not be a mouse, and I have not seen a large mouse in Shanghai that is wider than my fist. That may have been dug up by the "square tail", but other possibilities are not ruled out.

"Square Tail" has an aggressive tendency, and although he is usually timid, he may attack me if he is in a hurry. This earth beast feeds on yin qi, and it should also eat some insects and mice, whether it is poisonous on its teeth, whether there are bacteria in its body I don't know, and now rash action may outweigh the losses.

Thinking of this, I pondered for a moment and moved the slate back. If some of the habits of the "square tail" are similar to those of mice, then this hole will definitely not be the only exit, and the so-called cunning rabbit three holes, rats are also in this habit.

I carved a small mark next to the stone slab and began to walk around the neighborhood. However, what surprised me was that even though I had been carefully observing for a long time, I still didn't find any other holes here.

"Strange, is it just a hole?"

I frowned in confusion.

At this time, the fat man came from a distance, and the janitor looked at me from behind, looking a little vigilant.

"Okay, okay? The old man was a little suspicious, and I think he took us for thieves stealing tribute. ”

The fat man whispered.

"If you find something, go back and talk about it."

With a full stomach full of doubts, the fat man and I left the Li family to cross the underworld.

The two of us had dinner at a small restaurant nearby, and the fat man opened two bottles of beer, took a sip and said, "You mean there may be traces of 'square tails', but I'm not sure?" ”

"Well, do you think, if it's really a clever and timid earth beast like 'Square Tail', will it only dig a hole? If that's the case, then why don't I get some cigarettes and smoke them inside, and just plug the hole? Rats aren't so stupid, let alone earth beasts. That's why I'm not sure. ”

Speaking of his concerns, the fat man wiped his mouth and laughed: "Damn, isn't it over if we go to verify it at night?" If this thing you're talking about is like a mouse, it's nocturnal, and maybe we've caught it right in the past. When the food is finished, go back to their respective houses to prepare some guys, and I dare not enter the underworld garden empty-handed. ”

I made an appointment with the fat man, I went home and prepared the amulet given by Daba and the bell given by Master Han, and then brought the old flashlight and thick gloves at home, and waited until about nine o'clock in the night, and the fat man and I met on the side of the road opposite the Li Jiadu Immortal Garden.

"I brought a rope and a half-cut ladder, as well as a dagger and a shovel. Hehe, in case of fighting, you can also use this to defend yourself. ”

The fat man handed over the dagger, his grandfather was an old Red Army, and there was a gun at home in the past, which he handed in a few years ago, but the dagger was still kept. It's all bladed, even things that have been touched by human life!

"Dagger for me? Do you take a shovel? ”

I was stunned and asked.

"Hehe, you did me a favor to get in danger, if you get hurt, how can I explain to your dad? Okay, stop talking nonsense. I have figured out during the day that the garden is closed now, and the old man basically fell asleep at about half past eight. Let's climb in through the back wall, and don't make too much noise. Work secretly, don't shoot guns, hehe......"

The fat man finally said a witty remark, and we walked down the street one after the other.

Stepping on the ladder over the wall, I glanced into the garden and trembled slightly.

I didn't dare to think about entering the garden in the middle of the night, although I was bold when I was young, and I said that I was not afraid of heaven and earth, but when you really stood in this gloomy cemetery, the light around you was not good, and there was only the sound of the "whirring" wind, if you still insisted that you were not afraid, it would be pure nonsense.

"It's weird and scary, what's the matter, do you split up?"

The fat man carried the rope on his back and pulled the ladder in from outside the wall.

"Let's go see the hole first."

I took the fat man and groped by the light of the flashlight to the stone slab that had been marked during the day, looked down, and suddenly my heart "clicked"!

The slate was removed!

In such a hidden place, no one comes to sweep the tomb during the day, and the gatekeeper will not push away the slate with his hands, so who else can remove such a heavy slate? It must be the "square tail" hiding inside!

"What's wrong?"

The fat man asked me in the back.

"The slate has been removed, and I guess the contents have escaped."

I lowered my voice and answered in the cold wind.