The new tunnel sloped sharply downward, its walls narrowing into an uneven throat of stone. Torches ignited one by one as the strike team advanced, the flames stretching thin and pale—like they were afraid to burn too brightly.
Li Wei walked at the front beside Yan Xiu, with Zhang supporting two freed prisoners behind them. Peng and Yao guided the rest, whispering reassurance where they could.
But even with the added weight of survivors, the air felt heavier than before.
Something was waiting.
Something old.
Something cruel.
And that feeling only grew as they approached the third chamber.
Yan Xiu whispered, "Be ready. He doesn't reward mercy."
Li Wei nodded, gripping the bronze shard hidden beneath his tunic.
The Chamber of the Carved Frontier
The tunnel opened without warning, walls widening until the space became a circular cavern—larger than the previous two combined. The floor was carved into a jagged basin, smooth in places and sharply ridged in others.
At the center stood a towering slab of stone.
Ten feet tall.
Curved like the spine of a monstrous beast.
But that wasn't the horrifying part.
The front of the slab was carved with bodies—hundreds of them.
Hands stretched upward.
Mouths open in silent screams.
Figures crushed beneath larger ones.
Some shapes unmistakably human.
Others warped and twisted by artistic exaggeration.
Zhang recoiled. "What kind of sick—"
Yan Xiu stepped closer, eyes sharp. "No… these represent locations."
Li Wei blinked. "Locations?"
Yan Xiu nodded, tracing her finger along the carved bodies. "Each figure marks a village… a ridge… a frontier post."
Yao gasped. "This… this is a map."
Li Wei stepped forward.
Yes.
A map.
The shapes were symbolic.
The positions aligned with the northern border.
The clusters of bodies represented settlements.
The thick lines carved beneath represented mountain ranges.
The twisted, tangled forms marked territories of tribes.
And the hollow pit at the center…
Li Wei's breath hitched. "That's the garrison."
Peng stared wide-eyed. "He… carved a map out of bodies?"
"No," Yan Xiu whispered. "He carved a map using the deaths he caused."
Li Wei ran his hand across one cluster of carvings.
Twenty-three figures.
All carved together.
All slumped the same way.
He swallowed. "This village was destroyed two months ago… wasn't it?"
Yao nodded grimly. "Tong Ridge. Twenty-three dead."
Zhang muttered, "He memorized every death… and built this."
Li Wei's jaw tightened.
"No," he whispered. "He documented every death. This isn't art. It's a record."
Yan Xiu's gaze softened—not with pity, but with grim understanding.
"He's tracking destruction," she said. "His own… and Qin's."
Peng pointed shakily at the southern edge of the slab. "What about those symbols?"
The carvings there were different—fresh. Not bodies, but twisted shapes like spirals and arrows.
Yao leaned in. "These are troop movements. Recent ones."
Zhang's face paled. "But that—those lines—those match our own scouts' patrol routes."
Li Wei felt cold spread through his body.
"He knows our patrols."
Yan Xiu nodded grimly. "He always has."
Li Wei moved slowly to the right side of the slab.
Scrawled there was a single symbol—a circle with a vertical slash.
He recognized it.
"Hunter-General's mark," Yan Xiu whispered. "His base… or his next target."
Li Wei touched it with trembling fingers.
The circle was carved over… a cluster of bodies.
Zhang swallowed. "Which place does that mark belong to?"
Yao lifted his lamp. The light cast a clearer angle over the slab.
"That is…" Yao whispered, voice cracking. "The garrison."
Silence fell.
Peng's knees buckled. "He's going to attack us?"
Yan Xiu's expression hardened. "He's been planning to."
Li Wei clenched his fists. "No. He's already begun."
Yao pointed at the surrounding carvings. "Look here—these marks represent missing scout routes. And here… tunnels."
Zhang muttered, "He's building a network. Underground. Connecting locations."
Yan Xiu stepped back, trembling despite herself. "This… this is his war map. His view of the frontier. His plan."
Peng whispered, "Why show this to us? Why reveal his secrets?"
Li Wei turned to the freed prisoners.
One of them spoke weakly. "He… he said… the builder must understand the foundation before he chooses where to place the stone."
Li Wei froze.
"He wants you to see," the prisoner whispered. "He wants you to understand the war he wages."
Yan Xiu exhaled shakily. "He's not just taunting you… he's recruiting you."
Zhang growled, "Recruiting him to kill us?!"
Yao swallowed. "No. To join him against Qin."
Silence.
Then—
A whisper.
Soft.
Cold.
Close.
"You see the truth now."
Li Wei spun—nothing.
The torches dimmed.
The prisoners whimpered and hid their faces.
Yan Xiu lifted her daggers. "On guard!"
The voice breathed against Li Wei's ear.
"Come deeper. There is more to learn."
The air shifted.
A new tunnel revealed itself behind the stone slab—lit by sickly white flame.
Peng stammered, "This wasn't here before—"
Yao whispered, "He opened it for us. Just now."
Zhang gritted his teeth. "We shouldn't—"
Li Wei stepped forward.
"We go."
Yan Xiu grabbed his arm. "Li Wei—why?"
Li Wei stared at the map of the dead.
"At the garrison mark."
"At the paths."
"At the bodies."
"At the war already unfolding."
"Because if we turn back now," Li Wei said softly, "we return blind."
Yan Xiu's jaw clenched. "And going forward might kill us."
Li Wei nodded. "But going back guarantees more men will die."
Zhang exhaled. "Then lead, brother."
Li Wei stepped toward the new passage.
The pale flames flickered.
A cold wind rushed past him.
And as he crossed the threshold, he whispered:
"I'm not your successor."
The voice answered from the shadows:
"We will see."
---
Teaser:
In the fourth chamber, Li Wei finds something unthinkable—evidence that someone inside the garrison has been helping the Hunter-General from the beginning.
---