"Is this a white lantern? I heard that you Chinese used to hang these during funerals... I'd seen plenty of pictures in books, but this was my first time seeing one in real life."
Anna was tall enough to reach the lantern easily. Driven by curiosity, she wanted to examine it more closely, but the class monitor quickly pulled her away.
"Come on~ This thing is bad luck. It might even be dangerous in practice."
"I know, Wenwen. It's not like I'm going to touch it."
Anna trusted her best friend without question. She turned to look at the unlocked redwood gate, its sturdy arms braced against the door.
Creak~
The slightly rotten, heavy wooden gate slowly pushed inward.
The overgrown courtyard had swallowed the stone path. The gloomy wind had not abated, and the chill was even more piercing.
After confirming there was nothing unusual in the front yard, the four followed the faintly visible stone path buried beneath the weeds to the main building of the residence.
The door, carved with exquisite wood grain, was not locked. Still, no one rushed to open it. The event had already begun, and danger could be waiting behind that door.
They used the same old method as before.
Everyone retreated as far as possible while the class monitor gently pushed the door with her trekking pole.
As the door slowly opened, everyone held their breath and prepared for battle.
When the door finally opened wide,
nothing lunged out at them, nor did they see any human-shaped silhouette.
Instead, a powerful stench rushed out, like an invisible slender arm forcing its way down their throats, its fingers lightly pinching their stomach walls and tugging at their esophagi.
They had undergone all kinds of training at school, but there had been virtually no exercises involving smells.
Aside from Luo Di, the other three all had strong urges to vomit.
The class monitor reacted quickly, immediately taking out the masks she had prepared in her backpack and handing one to each person. Only then did they feel somewhat better.
Once the stench was no longer such an interference, everyone entered the residence hall one after another.
It had been arranged as a funeral hall.
White drapes hung in waves around the hall, constantly billowing in the gloomy wind.
A redwood offering table stood in the center.
Four bowls of long-moldy white rice still held burnt-out incense sticks and candles.
The dishes and fruit had completely rotted away. Saprophytic organisms had already nested within them, enjoying this hard-won feast.
Yet one thing was strange. The various funeral arrangements were traditional and complete, but the most important item was nowhere to be seen.
"The deceased's portrait."
At that moment, the masked class monitor's demeanor changed completely. Her sharp gaze swept across the entire hall before she issued their next instructions.
"From here on, we need to keep the team together and move as one. We'll conduct a thorough inspection of the residence. Once we confirm it's safe, we'll come back and clear out these moldy things."
Under the class monitor's leadership, the full-house inspection officially began.
Every window in the residence was covered with white floral paper, severely reducing the light and casting an indelible gloom over the entire place.
That gloom also emphasized the white lanterns hanging along the corridors, turning them into indispensable sources of light.
The tense inspection of the entire house soon came to an end.
None of the anticipated dangers or strange incidents occurred. There was not a single person in the residence, and they still failed to find the portrait that should have been there.
It was worth mentioning that
the master bedroom on the second floor was spacious and well-lit. If they could ensure its safety, they could rest there instead of pitching tents outside.
Since there were no problems in the main building, only the backyard remained unchecked.
Strangely enough,
there was not a single window inside the two-story main building facing the backyard.
However, Gao Yuxuan was observant. He noticed that there actually had been windows, but someone had long ago sealed them all with cement.
There was only one door inside the main building leading to the backyard.
It was also a modern iron door that completely clashed with the style of the old residence.
There was no keyhole. It was locked completely from the inside, and it even felt as though something heavy was blocking it from the other side. The four of them could not open it by any means.
They had no choice.
The four could only circle around to the outside of the residence and see whether they could enter the backyard by climbing over the wall.
While the front yard walls were perfectly ordinary, the top of the backyard wall was covered in sharp, rust-covered barbed wire with blades.
Over the wall, they could only see the top of a twisted tree. It looked quite similar to the locust tree where Luo Di had found the wooden box in the mountains.
Perhaps this tree was directly connected to this practice session.
The class monitor took out all sorts of protective equipment from her backpack, including knee pads and wrist guards. She prepared to fully gear herself up and force her way over the sharp wire.
Standing at the back of the group and estimating the height of the wall, Luo Di suddenly made a suggestion. "Let me stand on Anna's shoulders. Maybe I can saw through the wire up there. It'll be safer that way."
Anna strongly approved of the idea, slamming a fist into her palm. "That's good! Wenwen, don't climb the wall by yourself. It'll be troublesome if you get scratched and catch tetanus."
"Fine~ Then I'll leave it to you two."
It had to be said that Anna's physical condition was truly excellent.
The moment Luo Di stepped onto her shoulders, Anna rose from her crouch at a steady pace without any unnecessary wobbling.
Even with their heights stacked together, though, they could barely reach the top of the wall.
Luo Di tried to grab the edge of the wall with his gloved left hand to steady himself.
Bzzzt!
The automated chainsaw purchased from Terminal Supermarket activated for the first time. Driven by its motor, its alloy teeth easily cut through the thick, rusted wire.
As a large section of wire fell away, an opening wide enough for one person to pass through appeared at the top of the wall.
Bracing himself with his hands, Luo Di nimbly climbed onto the wall. He seemed quite skilled at this sort of thing.
When his eyes fell upon the backyard, he clearly froze. His voice also turned somewhat cold.
"The iron door leading to the main building should be openable from the inside. Just wait by the door. I'll open it from this side."
With that, Luo Di leaped down and landed steadily in the backyard.
The class monitor and the other two quickly headed back to the residence. On the way, Anna quietly whispered into the class monitor's ear, "Wenwen~ This guy really seems to have some skills. His balance is so steady, and he gets things done cleanly."
Wu Wen's eyes curved into a crescent above her white mask. "He's very capable."
By the time the three returned to the iron door leading to the backyard, they could faintly hear something heavy being moved aside piece by piece behind it.
That was followed by the sound of the chainsaw cutting again.
Clang!
The internal chain was sawed through and fell to the ground.
The sliding iron door slowly opened.
The iron door opened, revealing the backyard.
The three high school students standing at the entrance all froze, their expressions changing rapidly several times within moments.
It was not merely a visual shock.
There was also a smell, an overwhelming odor carried by the gloomy wind.
It could penetrate their masks, bore into their nostrils, and let even the tongues sealed behind their lips and teeth clearly taste its abnormal flavor. It was several times stronger than the smell in the hall.
The intertwining of the stench and the sight delivered the most extreme mental impact.
Like a raging fever, it seized their consciousness and washed over their thoughts from inside their brains.
If the experience in the entrance hall had been an appetizer, then this scene was undoubtedly today's signature main course.
Anna was the first to fail to hold on. She vomited all over the ground.
Gao Yuxuan clutched his abdomen and turned to leave for the restroom inside the residence.
The class monitor clamped both hands over her mask. After a struggle in her eyes, she finally steadied her violently churning stomach and examined the scene before her once more.
The entire backyard was filled with the corpses of cows and pigs, along with the excrement they had produced after death. Flies swarmed everywhere.
Strangely, despite the overwhelming stench, they had not been able to smell it from outside the wall earlier. It was as though something invisible had enveloped the entire backyard.
The animal corpses and stench were not the true focus.
Class monitor Wu Wen's gaze swiftly locked onto the center of the backyard, onto that enormous, twisted old locust tree.
Four Chinese people dressed in old-fashioned clothing hung from different parts of the crooked-necked tree by hemp ropes. Their bodies were in varying states of decay, but their bulging eyes all stared uniformly at the residence.
At the only exit.
At the young people who had intruded.
Combined with the residence's funeral theme,
it seemed they had held a funeral for themselves, and the guests were the four people who had found the residence key.
On the very day I signed the contract, I received the support of four alliance leaders. Thank you, 500 Jin of Swelling King, Blue Tears of the Nation, Food Grade Salted Fish, and Thousand Feathers Thousand Sorrows.
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