The Underground Wine Cellar

After watching the two leave, Liu Haoyu silently turned and went back inside.

Just then, the flustered girl in red appeared behind him.

However, Liu Haoyu couldn't see Qin Liu at all, only hearing her voice.

"I found a basement... Huh? Did those two just leave?"

Liu Haoyu retracted his gaze and said, "They can't leave."

"Huh?"

Before Qin Liu could ask for clarification, Liu Haoyu returned to the kitchen.

Qin Liu was already a bit timid, and after what had just happened, she was even more scared and quickly followed him.

"What do you mean? Are they going to be caught by ghosts and brought back?"

"That's right," Liu Haoyu nodded, then continued, "Speaking of which, you look so flustered, what happened?"

"I encountered a ghost!"

"..."

Liu Haoyu leaned back slightly.

The young man imagined a scene.

The ghost that bumped into Qin Liu was definitely screaming louder than Qin Liu.

"Hey! What kind of reaction is that!? I really met a ghost!"

Qin Liu argued.

After all, she was just a weak, lonely ghost, only capable of minor tricks, and didn't have strength like Liu Haoyu, so being scared was normal, right?

However, Liu Haoyu's gaze had already fallen on the split iron pot.

"Wait for me."

After putting on gloves, he searched the ground and quickly found half a skull.

After shaking off the red and white unknown mucus, Liu Haoyu and Qin Liu finally got a clear look at the skull.

This was the head of the college student, Sima Cai.

The swollen head, now only half intact, seemed to have come alive, staring at the two with venomous eyes.

"...Ugh! Didn't those two leave? How... Did they die long ago?"

Qin Liu shivered. Already flustered, she now trembled even more and hid behind Liu Haoyu, not daring to meet the gaze of the half-skull.

Qin Liu had initially thought Liu Haoyu only encountered two suicidal college students, but it turned out... he met two dead people.

And Liu Haoyu seemed to have discovered it a long time ago?

Thinking this, Qin Liu couldn't help but ask.

"I say, aren't you ghost exorcists afraid of death at all? This place looks very dangerous..."

"When I entered this line of work, I already put life and death aside. The more you fear death, the faster you'll die."

After speaking, Liu Haoyu stood up.

Finding Sima Cai's head here meant that the bodies of those two were also nearby.

Scanning the surroundings, Liu Haoyu picked up the Fire Axe.

When he was observing the contents of the pot earlier, he had sensed something watching him from the shadows.

Following this feeling, Liu Haoyu saw a small, dark shadow hunched over the window.

This shadow quietly watched Liu Haoyu.

Liu Haoyu's gaze was fixed on the shadow at the window.

But the shadow remained motionless, hunched over the window.

Moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a long shadow of the figure, making it appear even more spectral.

Judging solely by its appearance, the shadow was very short and frail; if it were human, it would probably be a child who could be knocked over with a single push.

But given how suddenly and eerily the shadow appeared, any normal person wouldn't mistake it for a human.

Liu Haoyu's torch was still burning, and he began to advance with the axe.

The shadow's body trembled.

Perhaps it saw Liu Haoyu's murderous aura.

Perhaps it saw Qin Liu again, and with a scream, it fled like a startled bird.

Its speed was so great that the shadow itself seemed more like it had seen a ghost.

"Why are you running so fast?"

Liu Haoyu kicked open the window, chased outside, and said, holding the axe.

"Don't be scared, little one, Uncle has candy here."

The black shadow shivered as it looked at the two people behind it, wishing it could run with all its might.

Unfortunately, its short legs couldn't outrun Liu Haoyu.

The sounds of "Don't run," "Come on, be good," and "Uncle is a nice guy" from behind were like death curses from the underworld.

Even Qin Liu couldn't help but retort.

"You're scarier than a ghost."

During this brief exchange, Liu Haoyu circled the house and found that the black shadow had pulled a trick, running straight into the house through the front door.

Without a word, Liu Haoyu followed the black shadow back into the house.

Following the trail left by the shadow, Liu Haoyu saw it had fled into the basement.

However, this wasn't the blood-red iron door he was looking for.

It was just a regular wooden door to the basement.

Liu Haoyu pushed the door open and headed down the stairs.

The basement stairs were quite damp, and his shoes made a "drip, drip, drip" sound as he stepped on them.

The air in the basement was even more foul.

There was the smell of rust, rot, alcohol, and... blood.

The flashlight beam was growing weaker, only managing to illuminate a meter or two ahead, leaving the rest of the area hidden in unknown darkness.

"The smell of blood is too fresh, like someone just died."

"See, this is what you call professional."

Qin Liu, standing beside Liu Haoyu, felt much more confident, even having the energy to chime in.

Liu Haoyu ignored Qin Liu's teasing and tightened his gas mask.

"The smell of decay is also very strong."

When Liu Haoyu reached the bottom of the stairs, he suddenly felt something was off.

Why... was the resentment in this basement so similar to the resentment in the haunted house?

Liu Haoyu almost thought he had returned to the haunted house, but looking at the environment of the basement, he quickly dismissed the idea.

This was just a normal underground wine cellar, and the resentment wasn't as dense as in the haunted house.

Upon reaching the deepest part, Liu Haoyu lit two candles.

The candle flames were very weak, threatening to extinguish at any moment.

Liu Haoyu was also finding it difficult to breathe; the weak flames indicated a very low oxygen level in the underground wine cellar.

He had to finish this quickly.

Liu Haoyu turned on his flashlight and saw three dilapidated coffins placed at the far end of the wine cellar.

Two of the coffins were seeping with a large amount of blood. To find out what was inside, Liu Haoyu lifted the lid of one of them.

As the coffin lid was opened, a foul and nauseating stench assaulted him. Even Liu Haoyu, a veteran of many battles, almost fainted from the smell.

But to catch the ghost, Liu Haoyu still opened the coffin.

He then saw that lying inside those two coffins were the bodies of the two college students.

The chests of the bodies were cut open, their internal organs completely gone, and both of their heads had been chopped off and were nowhere to be found.

"This is truly brutal," Qin Liu said with emotion.

Judging by the residual resentment on the bodies, it was clear that a Fierce Ghost was responsible.

With two coffins opened, Liu Haoyu turned his attention to the last one.

He tried to push open the coffin lid in the same manner, but something inside seemed to be resisting, giving Liu Haoyu no chance.

Just as Liu Haoyu was preparing to use force, the coffin lid unexpectedly opened a crack, and a withered, slender hand reached out from the gap, tightly gripping Liu Haoyu's wrist.