A few minutes later, the five of them emerged from the grove. Ahead lay a side peak of Li Mountain, like a sleeping giant. The sky was a brooding gray-blue, and night was about to shroud the Quiet Valley.
Before them was a dried-up pond. To its left lay a vegetable patch enclosed by a bamboo fence, long abandoned and overrun with weeds.
Beyond the pond and vegetable patch stood a small village. A dozen or so houses were staggered in a trapezoid formation at the foot of the mountain, all dilapidated buildings made of yellow mud bricks.
A narrow stone path ran through the front yards of the dozen-odd households, winding up a slope. At its crest stood a building with black bricks and white roof tiles, just recognizable as an old-fashioned ancestral hall.
The five followed the dirt path beside the pond, crossed the vegetable patch, and arrived at the village entrance.
Night had fallen completely. There wasn't a soul in the village. All around them were the sounds of a cold wind, faint insect calls, and strange noises they couldn't identify.
Officer Wu took out a flashlight and illuminated a cracked stone marker at their feet. The character for "Gu" carved into it had split along with the stone, making it look deeply unsettling.
"W-wait..." Pang Jun's face paled, his throat tightening. "Um... I'm suddenly feeling unwell. I might be about to have an episode. Maybe I should go back to the villa's basement, tie myself up, and stay put."
Honestly, Gaoyang found the place creepy too. After all, this was a deserted village where a massacre and a mass disappearance had taken place. But since they'd already come this far, the sunk cost meant he would have to grit his teeth and press on.
With one hand in his pocket and a flashlight in the other, Wang Zikai swaggered ahead as though he owned the place. He kicked over a bamboo basket blocking the roadside, utterly unfamiliar with the concept of fear.
Qingling's face was expressionless, but her gaze and movements betrayed her vigilance.
"Is it really that scary?" Officer Huang asked Pang Jun.
"Officer Huang, this place really is eerie." Pang Jun darted his eyes around like a startled bird. "I once went to a fortune-teller. He said my constitution made me prone to attracting unclean things, and told me to avoid places with heavy yin energy. This place feels exactly like that. It makes me really uncomfortable..."
"I'm an atheist. Go back on your own if you're scared." Officer Huang didn't insist.
Pang Jun looked back at the path they'd taken. It was completely dark now, and countless dangers seemed to lurk in the shadows. While he was still hesitating, the other four started forward. Left alone, Pang Jun felt the air around him grow colder. He shuddered and hurried after them. "Hey, wait for me..."
The five soon climbed the small slope and reached the ancestral hall at the far end of the village.
The hall had been built against a cliff. Two small stone lions with savage expressions stood before its entrance. Damp moss covered the blue-gray brick walls, and the black lacquer on the doors was peeling. A plaque hung overhead, thick with dust and cobwebs. Reading from right to left, they could just make out the traditional characters for "Gu Ancestral Hall."
Officer Huang walked up to the black doors, took hold of a lion-head door knocker, and knocked gently three times.
Thump, thump, thump. The doors gave off an ancient, hollow sound that echoed through the darkness.
"We've knocked. Can we go in now?" Officer Huang turned to Pang Jun.
Pang Jun's bulky frame cowered behind Gaoyang, leaving only his round head visible. "D-don't ask me... How would I know?"
Officer Huang slid the brass key into the lock. "Yes, this is the lock. It fits."
He took a deep breath and turned the brass lock. A crisp snap rang out.
Gaoyang had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, Officer Huang gave a wry smile. "I think the key broke."
"Move! You're taking forever!" Wang Zikai had long since been rubbing his hands, itching to get started. He charged forward and kicked the doors open.
Bang! He used so much force that one door tore free and crashed to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.
"You bastards! Your granddaddy's here!" Wang Zikai charged in first.
The others exchanged looks and hurried after him.
Inside was a square courtyard, surrounded on three sides by old-fashioned two-story buildings. The courtyard opened to the sky above, allowing a dim shaft of light to fall directly onto a dry well at its center.
Directly in front of the dry well stood the ancestral hall, its doors wide open.
"That's it? Where are the enemies? Where's the lizard monster?" Wang Zikai stood beneath the open sky, one foot planted on the well's rim, looking disappointed.
Officer Huang glanced at Gaoyang. "Can you use a gun?"
Gaoyang shook his head, then thought of something. "I have the Copy Talent."
"All right." Officer Huang took out a handgun and handed it to Gaoyang.
Gaoyang accepted it, taking the opportunity to grasp Officer Huang's hand.
One second later, he successfully copied Officer Huang's level 3 Gun God Talent. The corresponding firearms knowledge, shooting experience, and various forms of muscle memory immediately flooded his mind.
Holding the gun in his right hand with its muzzle pointed down, Gaoyang removed the magazine, checked the ammunition, then chambered a round. Every movement flowed smoothly into the next.
"Type 92. Fifteen rounds, effective range of fifty meters. Make them count," Officer Huang said.
"Actually... I can only use my Copy Talent for three seconds." Gaoyang smiled wryly.
"That's... over way too fast, isn't it?" Officer Huang looked startled.
"Exactly! A man can't be a quick shooter!" Wang Zikai roared with laughter beside them.
Gaoyang rolled his eyes. This idiot. I should never have saved him!
"Let's hope we don't run into any troublesome enemies." Officer Huang glanced at Pang Jun again. "Or any ghosts and demons."
Gaoyang and Qingling each held their weapons, covering Officer Huang as he entered the ancestral hall.
The hall's interior was ordinary as well. A thin white gauze curtain hung over a recessed wall cabinet filled with spirit tablets. Another plaque hung directly above them, bearing four large characters: "Ancestral virtue lives on."
An altar stood before the spirit tablets, holding half-burned candles, remnants of incense, and a few empty dishes for offerings.
"Gu Huawen, Gu Huawu... Gu Rongjie... Gu Changxue..." Wang Zikai shone his flashlight over the spirit tablets, reading the names from bottom to top.
"Stop reading! Stop it!" Pang Jun hurried out of the hall.
"Look at you, you coward!" Wang Zikai scoffed.
"Kai! An entire family was massacred here!" Pang Jun was both frightened and agitated. "Then everyone in the village disappeared! Who the hell knows what happened? These are all restless spirits! Are you trying to summon them by calling their names?!"
"Now that you mention it, that reminds me of a movie I saw." Wang Zikai rubbed his chin. "I think it was called Old Corpse in a Village or Corpse Teacher in a Mountain Village. It was about a vengeful ghost that slaughtered an entire village..."
"Enough. Stop talking," Gaoyang cut him off. If this went on, it wouldn't just be Pang Jun-even Gaoyang's scalp would start prickling.
In fact, ever since entering the ancestral hall, Gaoyang had felt that something was wrong, as though something hidden in the darkness was watching him. Yet when he opened the system, his Fortune point earnings hadn't doubled. That meant no danger had approached them for now.
Gaoyang glanced at Officer Huang. "What do we do next?"
"What did White Rabbit say the test involved?"
"Find the door this key opens, go inside, and have a look around," Qingling repeated White Rabbit's exact words.
"Well, we've looked around. What are we waiting for? Let's get out of here..." Before Pang Jun finished speaking, his face went deathly pale. "What's that sound?"
Rustle-rustle-rustle, rustle-
Everyone heard the eerie noise at once, as though countless slender snakes were slithering rapidly through the darkness of the ancestral hall.
"Oh, God! A ghost..." Pang Jun clutched his head and ran out of the hall.
"Stop!" Gaoyang shouted, but it was too late.
Rustle, rustle, rustle- Countless strands of black hair erupted from the dry well in the middle of the courtyard. Beneath the pale moonlight, they spread in a tangled mass like lush weeds on a lake bed, filling the entire courtyard. A second later, they rushed toward Pang Jun and bound him into a black, human-shaped bundle in the blink of an eye.
"Help..." Pang Jun's eyes widened as he reached desperately toward Gaoyang.
It was too late.
Before you continue