The room was quite spacious but mostly empty. There were only four coffins, a large incense pot, and an offering altar cabinet inside.
Inexplicable melancholy washed over Qin Yu, as she trod slowly toward the altar.
Passing by one of the coffins, her steps stopped. She turned around and swept the dust from the lid of the coffin gently.
As she lowered her head to look at the coffin, a trace of splashing water stained the grey stone, turning the colour slightly darker.
Unknowingly, tears started to stream down her face, dampening her porcelain white cheeks.
It was one of the two empty coffins, the ones that should've been her parents' resting place, her mother's coffin.
After all, even after seven years passed, Qin Yu's parents' bodies were never found.
They disappeared together with the bizarre disappearance of the plane that carried them.
It was one of the most mysterious unsolvable cases in the history of both national and international police investigations.
A bogus conspiracy theory claimed that the plane had changed its course before disappearing toward the Bermuda Triangle, which was easily debunked because the plane's last signal was located in the East Sea toward country J.
Another theory stated that there was a possibility that the plane could be hijacked and brought to a secret island or base by a terrorist organization or such. There was no evidence to support this claim, but there wasn't any to refute it either.
All in all, the mysterious disappearance of Qin Yu's parents and the flight were hotly discussed in many forums and private at that time.
Qin Yu certainly hoped that there was still a possibility that her parents were still alive somewhere, but after so many years passed without any good news, she had prepared for the worst.
After a moment of silence, she turned back and continued walking toward the altar.
Stopping in front of the incense pot, she lit up several joss sticks at once, pinched them with both hands in front of her chest as her head lowered, shook her hand up and down three times, and then stuck them in the pot.
The spiritual fragrance of sandalwood with a hint of floral note began to spread across the room.
Finished offering the incense, she strode forward, approaching the altar.
It was an elegantly crafted cabinet made from the best redwood wood.
In there, four spirit tablets made from the finest jade stone were placed in the middle. There were different names grafted onto each of the tablets: Qin Wen Jun, Ling Ruoxi, Qin Hua, and Ling Zhan.
"So, that's my grandma's maiden name," Qin Yu muttered quietly.
She didn't know much about her grandmother because she'd already passed away before Qin Yu was born. The only thing she knew about her grandmother was that she was kind, lively, and loved to make friends when she was still alive and that she really loved to tend her flower garden in the mansion's backyard, which was then inherited by her mother. Perhaps it was also the reason why her mother was named "Hua" which means "Flower" in English.
It was also quite surprising that both her grandmother and her father had similar sounding surnames, though the characters were different. Was it a common thing for the Qin to have a Ling as their spouse?
"Big Sis Luo is also a Ling…"
A blush suddenly appeared on her rosy cheeks as the thought of having Ling Luo as her partner emerged in her mind.
Why did she suddenly think of Big Sis Luo right now?
Did she have different feelings toward the gentle but cheeky big sister?
Qin Yu shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. Then, she grabbed several bundles of fake money from her pocket, burned them, and placed them on the altar.
It was said that burning paper money will enable deceased family members to have all they will need in the afterlife.
When they were still alive, her grandparents and parents weren't in any short of money. Qin Yu hoped that it would be the same for them in Necropolis. If there were any evil or annoying ghosts who tried to bother them there, they could use this money to slap them in the face.
Hehe… it must be really satisfying.
Or they could also use it to bribe the King Yama so that they could be reincarnated in a rich family again and also so they could be together again in the next life.
"Hello Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom… forgive Qin Yu for not visiting you for a long time. I kind of lost my way back then, but don't worry, I'm trying to get up on my feet right now, and I promise I'll visit you more often in the future."
"Uncle Wang is still cheerful and lively. He doesn't look like an old man at all. He might need to tone it down a bit, though, unless he wants his backache to worsen. He's always there to help me, so you don't need to worry. He also seems to miss you a bit, Grandpa…"
"Big Sis Luo is always kind to me. She always cares for me and protects me. But, I might have been hurting her too much in the past, so I'm trying my hardest to atone for my sin in this lifetime. But she also bullied and teased me recently. She is so mean… hehehe…"
After the laughter receded, a silence soon followed.
"Mom, are you there?" Suddenly, Qin Yu lowered her head and her voice started to tremble. "Qin Yu misses you…"
Her fist clenched hard as her tears started to burst out of her swollen eyes.
"I've been through a lot, mom… I even became a zombie. You know, I was living but actually dead, I was once a walking corpse and eating human flesh, can you believe it? And a lot of people will die in the future too, and I killed her too… what should I do, Mom?"
Her words droned on, recounting all her past experiences in detail without omitting anything in front of her family's spirit tablets.
Qin Yu might have decided to keep it herself, but the secret she held was so huge that it started to burden her. She was just an ordinary girl who happened to be granted a second chance in her life. She wasn't a hero who had a strong heart and an indomitable will.
The fact that she couldn't share her problem with others due to her fear of being alienated and persecuted, weighted her heart a lot. So, only in this empty room could she vent her swelling emotions without worry.
Finished telling her story, Qin Yu felt a bit better. It didn't actually solve her problem, but it did help alleviate the heavy pressure on her shoulder.
"That's all for now, mom, dad… I need to prepare for the upcoming disaster, so I can't stay here for too long. I'll visit again next month, so try not to miss me too much…"
Qin Yu wiped her tears and straightened her back. She took a last glance at the altar and then turned around to leave.
Just as she was about to move, something suddenly caught her interest.
In the background, behind the altar cabinet, another wall with twin dragon carvings could be seen. Inside their largely opened jaws, there were circular holes—a little larger than a baseball in diameter but a bit smaller than a half-size basketball, could be found.
Looking at these holes, reminded her of a keepsake that her mother left her before her parents went on the trip that would be their last.
It was a copper medal with the character "Qin" embedded in it. Her mother said it was the most important thing the Qin family had in their possession. They were coming in pairs; one was in her mother's possession and was lost together with her mother, and the other was in Qin Yu's hand.
She didn't care much about it at that time, thinking that it was just another fancy ancient antique collected by her grandfather. However, because it was something that her mother trusted her with, she'd always brought it with her anywhere.
It's just that this time she seemed to accidentally leave it behind in her apartment in K City. It appeared that the medal more than met the eye, and her return trip to K City was more important than she had previously thought.
Qin Yu walked toward the exit with many new questions filling her head. She knew that she couldn't be hasty in answering these questions and should take one step at a time.
.
.
.
Unbeknownst to Qin Yu, after she left the tomb, two of the four joss sticks she lit up were flickering briefly, before they back to normal just like nothing had happened before.