This place was remote, backed by barren hills and facing the sea.
Several white two-story cottages stood alone in a weed-choked clearing.
The paint on the outer walls had long since peeled away, exposing the dull gray cement beneath. The windows were tightly shut like closed eyes, giving off an indescribable chill and deathly silence.
Especially the one at the very edge—the one Leon had booked.
Even the air around it seemed more stagnant than elsewhere. When the sea breeze reached this place, it was as if something swallowed it whole.
"This place... isn't very clean."
The moment Uncle Feng got out of the car, his expression darkened.
He did not take out a compass. Instead, he sniffed the air directly. It was an instinct honed through years of dealing with corpses and baleful yin energy.
"I smell the scent of the dead. Not the bloody smell of someone who just died, but... an old, decayed smell, the kind that has been trapped in an enclosed space for a long time."
"Sir Lin, don't let your occupational habits act up again." Jin Maiji complained as he carried a grill out of the trunk. "This is a resort, not a funeral parlor. Where would all these dead-body smells come from? At most, it's just damp and a little moldy."
"Yeah, yeah. Boss, don't scare me. I'm timid."
Meng Chao shrank back, but his hands did not stop moving as he diligently arranged the chicken wings and sausages on the grill.
Li Dan said nothing. He simply walked quietly into the vacation house's yard.
His gaze fell on a pile of seemingly abandoned old charcoal in the corner. The charcoal was covered in a thick layer of dust, yet it faintly emitted an ominous black aura.
"Since we're here, we might as