Old House Exploration

By now, killing a man with underworld connections was as easy for Gao Tian as crushing an ant. After casually taking over the man's underlings and resources, the real business for tonight was only just beginning.

Ghosts were far more frightening than gangsters.

A few of the underlings took shovels from the back of the off-road vehicle. Panting, they dug a large pit and tossed the faceless Zhao Qiang into it. As they began to fill the hole, they thought they were burying Zhao Qiang's old classmate. No one suspected that the "Zhao Qiang" supervising them had long since been replaced.

After running around and handling everything, they finally cleaned up the scene. It took about twenty minutes. The men tossed the shovels into the back of the vehicle and prepared to leave. Gao Tian called out coldly:

"Why are you rushing off? What's the hurry? Are you trying to get home and be reborn?

"Have you forgotten why we came here tonight? Aren't we going to search that old house belonging to Xu Yuan? You even brought the big bolt cutters for breaking the lock."

Shou Hou looked at "Zhao Qiang," surprised.

"We've already taken care of the guy. Why go to that old house now?

"Boss, didn't you say we could leave after killing him? The people who wanted to see the house are lying in the dirt. Who are we doing this for, ghosts?"

Gao Tian raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face.

"I said we're going to take a look, so we're going to take a look. Why are you giving me all this shit?"

Zhao Qiang had always spoken to his men like that. His temperament was unpredictable, and he often acted on a whim, changing his mind whenever he felt like it. His men had long since grown used to his foul temper.

Shou Hou muttered a few words after being slapped but didn't dare fight back, afraid he'd become the next roommate of the man in the pit. Looking at the dilapidated, three-story detached house in the distance, Gao Tian smiled.

"My old classmate was looking for quite a place.

"Word is, this house was where some corrupt official hid his money. There's a huge jar of gold bars buried inside, and the owner had an accident and never came back. Otherwise, why do you think I dragged him all the way out here in the middle of the night? If I wanted to kill someone, there are plenty of remote places."

The men knew nothing, and with his Memory Ghost ability, he could make up whatever story he wanted. All he needed was an excuse to get them moving.

Few dared defy "Zhao Qiang's" authority. And when they heard the words "gold bars," their eyes lit up.

Someone took the huge bolt cutters from the off-road vehicle, and the group headed for the run-down White House. At the entrance, the bolt cutters snapped through the completely rusted chain, which fell to the ground.

Creak...

With the chain no longer holding them shut, the two iron gates to the White House's yard swung inward slightly in the breeze. Their completely rusted hinges groaned in agony.

From outside, the yard looked pitch-black, thick with weeds. They couldn't make out a thing. After all, this was Xu Yuan's old home. He'd been a Ghost Hunter in life and had become a ghost after death. Even the posts he'd made seven years ago carried Supernatural Power. No one could be certain what Evil Spirits might be lurking in the unoccupied house.

Although Gao Tian had no Ghost Cards, he could at least come back to life five or six times. Still, good steel had to be used where it mattered. He didn't want to waste his Supernatural Items in a place like this.

He'd use Zhao Qiang's underlings as stepping stones and see whether they triggered any Vengeful Ghost's Killing Rule inside.

"Shou Hou, San Hu, take a lap around the yard first and see if anything's going on. If it's clear, tell the brothers waiting outside to come in."

San Hu wasn't the sharpest. He chuckled foolishly, thinking the boss trusted him enough to send him in first. He had no idea that in his boss's eyes, he was already expendable. Completely unsuspecting, he and Shou Hou opened the gate and went inside, one after the other.

Gao Tian waited outside for about five minutes. The yard's gates rattled again, creaking as they swung open. San Hu and Shou Hou came out.

"Boss, we went all the way around the yard. There was nothing but weeds and a bunch of furniture that's probably been sitting there for years.

"But behind a window on the Second Floor, I think I saw a shadow move. It scared the shit out of me. Could someone still be living in this White House, even though it's been abandoned for decades? I nearly drew my gun."

San Hu honestly described everything he'd seen in the yard. When he mentioned the shadow on the Second Floor, Shou Hou kicked him hard in the ass from behind.

"You lazy bastard, making things up. What shadow? You must've seen it wrong.

"No one's lived in this house for decades. The water and power have been cut off. How could anyone still be on the Second Floor? You could walk ten kilometers around here and not find a supermarket. Who'd live out here?

"You just want to go back, so you made up an excuse."

San Hu said he'd seen a shadow moving on the Second Floor?

The White House had three stories, each with several grimy windows through which one could get a rough glimpse of what was inside. Above the Third Floor was a small attic for storing odds and ends. It had no windows, and it would be hard for anyone to hide up there.

Xu Yuan's parents were dead. His Teacher was dead, and he'd died in Shanghai City himself. If there was still a living creature in the White House, who could it be?

Could it be a vagrant from the surrounding area who'd secretly climbed over the yard wall and was using this abandoned house as a temporary shelter?

That didn't make sense, either. All the nearby houses had their doors wide open. Why wouldn't a vagrant simply choose one of those, instead of picking the most tightly secured house and climbing over the wall and breaking in?

If it wasn't a vagrant, could it have been some Anthropomorphic Object on the Second Floor? Maybe a hanging coat had been blown over by the wind or something.

The house had been vacant for so many years. Anything that could have fallen over should've fallen over long ago. Why would it fall just as San Hu went inside?

There might really be an Evil Spirit guarding the house. That would fit Xu Yuan's usual style.

But Gao Tian had come prepared. First, he had brought plenty of hired hands, including San Hu and Shou Hou, to use as cannon fodder. Second, in the worst-case scenario, he could activate the Black Card and leave. Even if he triggered an unavoidable Killing Rule and died inside the White House, the Ghost Card could bring him back to life.

Gao Tian had plenty of backup plans. Whatever was inside the White House, it was worth risking a look.

He immediately ordered his men:

"Let's go. Go in pairs. Start by breaking into the first-floor entrance, then search one level at a time. That jar of gold bars is somewhere in this White House. It's not going anywhere.

"Whoever finds the jar gets an extra gold bar. Even if you don't find it, anyone who follows my orders tonight gets at least half a gold bar."

At the prospect of getting their hands on money, the men became a little more enthusiastic. The White House looked increasingly sinister in the darkness, but that couldn't compete with the promise of a payday.

Zhao Qiang had brought seven men in all. Their leaders, San Hu and Shou Hou, went in first. At the first-floor entrance, they used the same bolt cutters to snip the latch with ease. They pushed open the door and were hit by the stench of a place that had been unoccupied for years. After coughing a few times, they turned on their flashlights and continued into the darkness.

The place had clearly been empty for a long time. Every piece of furniture in the first-floor rooms was covered in a thick layer of dust, and cobwebs hung in the corners of the ceiling. A dark shape flashed by in the distance. It might have been a rat or a lizard.

The seven gangsters searched every corner of the floor, turning the place upside down and wrecking whatever they could. They made a huge racket, but found neither the nonexistent jar of gold bars nor a single useful thing.

All they found were a few stacks of newspapers from thirty years ago and several boxes of old clothes, none of which were what Gao Tian wanted.

In a way, though, he'd already achieved his goal. Seven strong men were ransacking the first floor of the White House, making a huge racket. If there were any Ghost's Killing Rules here, they would've been triggered by now.

If no one had gotten hurt, then the first floor was relatively safe.

"Fuck, can you stop laughing?"

A man named Gray Wolf suddenly flew into a rage and punched San Hu beside him for no apparent reason.

San Hu was baffled. The punch made him stagger, then he flew into a rage and pounced on Gray Wolf. The two men traded blows, cursing at each other as they wrestled. The others hurried to pull the two red-eyed madmen apart.

Pinned to one side, San Hu panted and cursed.

"What the fuck is wrong with this guy? I didn't make a sound, and he suddenly tells me to stop laughing. I'd laugh at your mother!"

Gray Wolf's shirt had been ripped halfway off, exposing his muscles. The others dragged him aside as he kept cursing at San Hu.

"You were the only one beside me! Who else would've been laughing? This place is already creepy as hell, and the moment we walked in, someone started giggling. You like laughing so much? I'll send you to the crematorium, you bastard!"

Suddenly, as if they shared some strange understanding, everyone in the room fell silent.

Gray Wolf slowly raised his head. To his surprise, San Hu was still panting across from him, but the faint, intermittent giggling hadn't stopped.

He realized he'd made a stupid mistake. San Hu was right beside him, but that didn't mean the strange laughter he'd heard had come from San Hu. After all, how could a big, burly man like him make a woman's delicate giggle?

They slowly turned around. The giggling was coming from upstairs, from the direction of the Second Floor.

Was there really someone upstairs?

At the same time, Gao Tian, who'd witnessed everything, knew that Xu Yuan had indeed laid a trap for him in his old home.

Just like the trap he'd left in the post he'd already published, which had killed Cao Hua when he restored the file.

"Take the safety catches off all the guns.

"Gray Wolf, Crocodile, you two go up to the Second Floor and take a look.

"The rest of you stay downstairs and wait."