Chapter 14, Section 2, Polling Bureau

These seven individuals had a daily routine of reading records from various historical periods before the liberation and old newspapers. They even borrowed and transcribed court archives from the Qing and Ming dynasties at the Palace Museum. Then, the six officers would take turns going on extended missions, lasting three to five months. Where did they go? What were they doing? Nobody ever inquired.

Before each mission, the officers had to carry a substantial amount of office funds, which was considered a large sum at the time. They also carried thousands of pounds of national food coupons and a stack of introduction letters stamped with the seal of the Ministry of Public Security. Remarkably, every time they returned, both the funds and food coupons would be completely spent, with only one or two introduction letters left unused.

The returning officers never came back empty-handed; they always transported several truckloads of items, which were tightly sealed. Nobody knew what was being transported, but during these times, all the staff at the Archives Division would rush into the warehouse and stay there for several days.

In the early 1970s, during the peak of a special period, the first director of the Special Archives Management Division retired. To escape the criticism of the Red Guards, a director named Zhang from the Ministry of Public Security volunteered to take over the position.

Unfortunately, the news leaked, and shortly after the new director took office, a large Liberation truck carrying about twenty to thirty Red Guards stormed towards them. Initially, they had intended to directly drag the new director out for criticism, but when the young radicals learned of the existence of the Special Archives Management Division, they changed their minds.

About two miles from the destination, the Liberation truck suddenly stopped. The distance of two miles would take only about ten minutes to walk. The Red Guards jumped off the truck with banners, formations, and slogans, heading in the direction of the Archives Division.

Although it was just a two-mile journey, more than a hundred people hadn't reached their destination by nightfall. Initially, they thought they had taken the wrong route, but when they attempted to retrace their steps, they realized that the two Liberation trucks had disappeared. A road that should have been straight with no forks seemed to have no end.

At this point, everyone felt that something was amiss. After walking back and forth for a long time, they couldn't find any trace of the two Liberation trucks. Despite the fact that it was a suburban area, it was far from being isolated, especially with the local Red Guards who had come to connect with them. One of these locals, by now quite bewildered, asked, "Where the hell are we? Does anyone know how to get back?"

"You don't know, and who among us would?" someone replied.

"We're here now, what should we do?" another asked.

"What can we do? Keep going forward; wherever we reach is where we'll be," came the response.

"Are you kidding me? There's nothing around here, and we're in the middle of nowhere. You still want to go forward?"

The Red Guards began to panic.

Finally, one of the local Red Guards hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's keep going forward. About seven, eight, maybe ninety miles ahead, there seems to be a train station."

"Is it ten or ninety miles?"

"At most twelve or thirteen miles."

"Can we trust you? Who knows what's up ahead? Maybe there's a haunted graveyard or something."

The local Red Guard chuckled and said, "Trust me. I've lived in this area for over twenty years, and the nearest graveyard is at Jiubao Mountain, fifty miles away. There are no haunted graveyards here, not even a single tombstone."

"But... what's that?" The head of the Red Guards pointed to a dark expanse nearby.

Fifty meters from them, haphazardly scattered, were thousands of tombstones. The moonlight that night was eerily pale, casting an eerie glow on the tombstones. Due to years of decay, several tombstones had already exposed their coffins. Most astonishing were a few coffins that were deteriorating to the point where white bones were visible, and they emitted an eerie, ghostly light.

"You said the graveyard was fifty miles away, right? So what's this?" The head of the Red Guards pointed to the gleaming bones nearby.