[Rural Mystery] [Folk Customs and Investigations] [Family Secrets] [Hanging Coffin Legends] [Revenge and the Search for Truth]
My name is Lu Chenzhou. I'm an investigative reporter for the provincial newspaper.
The day I got a call from home, I was undercover at a corruption den.
"Chenzhou, your grandpa fell from Hanging Coffin Cliff. His body has... five claw marks, exactly like in the legend!"
I rushed back to Luo Guan Village overnight. As soon as I reached the village entrance, Zhao Dehou and his men blocked my way. "What are you doing back here? Trying to ruin everyone's livelihood?"
I ignored him and headed straight for the funeral hall. I lifted the white cloth: five wounds gaped across Grandpa's chest, the flesh torn open. They didn't look like injuries from a fall.
Wu Tianci, the temple keeper, handed me a wooden tablet. "Your grandpa saw what was inside the hanging coffin."
That night, all the candles in the funeral hall went out, and the claw marks on Grandpa's sleeve began to bleed.
A baby's cries came from the direction of Hanging Coffin Cliff. I crept toward them in the dark and found a mine hidden in the cliff face, filled with brand-new mining equipment.
I understood: this wasn't a curse. Someone was behind it.
The more they feared my investigation, the more determined I was to get to the bottom of it.
But when I opened the notebook Grandpa had left behind, the first page said:
"Chenzhou, the dragon vein must not be opened. If it is, the whole village will be wiped out. And your father didn't kill himself..."
The rest of the writing was obscured by blood.
