Deep in the Living

Chapter 9 Feeling at Home
"Is this a white lantern? I heard that you Chinese people used to hang this thing during funerals... I've seen many pictures of it in books, but this is the first time I've seen it in real life."

Anna was tall enough to easily reach the lantern. Driven by curiosity, she wanted to take a closer look, but was pulled away by the monitor.

"Let's go! This thing is unlucky and may even be dangerous in practice."

"I know, Wenwen, I won't touch anything."

Anna trusted her best friend without any discrimination, and turned to look at the unlocked mahogany door, supporting it with her strong arms.

Ga~
The slightly decayed heavy wooden door was pushed open.

The overgrown courtyard had covered the stone path, the chilly wind was still blowing, and the cold was getting worse.

After making sure there was nothing unusual in the front yard, the four of them walked along the vaguely visible stone road buried in the grass and came to the door of the main building of the mansion.

The door with delicate wood grain was not locked, but no one was in a hurry to push it open. After all, the incident had already begun and the danger might be behind this door.

Still using the old method,
Everyone retreated as far as possible, and the squad leader gently pushed the door with the trekking pole in his hand.
As the door slowly opened, everyone held their breath and prepared for battle.
Waiting for the door to open,
Nothing jumped out, nor was there any human figure.

But a strong smell rushed out, like an invisible slender arm drilling into everyone's esophagus, gently pinching the stomach wall and pulling the esophagus with its fingers.

Although everyone has undergone various training in school, there is basically no training at the smell level.

Except for Rody, the other three had strong nausea reactions.

The squad leader reacted very quickly. He immediately took out the masks that had been prepared in advance from the backpack and distributed one to each person. This eased the situation.

After leaving aside the distraction of the smell, everyone walked into the hall of the mansion one after another.

This place was set up as a mourning hall.
The white curtains were waving around the hall, floating in the cold wind.

The red wood altar is placed in the center.

Four bowls of moldy white rice were still pierced with burnt incense sticks.
The dishes and fruits were completely rotten, and saprophytes had built their nests in them, enjoying this hard-earned feast.

The overall observation was very strange. The various funeral items on site were arranged very traditionally and completely, but the most important thing was missing.

"Photos of the deceased"

At this time, the monitor wearing a mask changed his temperament. After quickly scanning the entire hall with a sharp look, he gave instructions for the next step:

"Next, we need to maintain the integrity of the team, act together throughout the process, and conduct a comprehensive inspection of the mansion. Once we have confirmed that it is safe here, we can come back here to clean up these moldy things."

Under the leadership of the squad leader, the whole house inspection officially started.
All the windows of the mansion were covered with white floral paper, which greatly reduced the amount of light entering and gave the whole a dark tint that was difficult to scrape off.

This dimness also emphasizes the white lanterns hanging in the corridors, each of which becomes an indispensable source of light.

The rather intense house inspection came to an end soon.
The expected dangers and strange events did not occur. There was not a single person in the entire mansion, and the [portrait] that was supposed to be there was not found.

It is worth mentioning that,
The master bedroom on the second floor is large and has good lighting. If safety can be ensured, everyone can rest inside without having to set up a tent outside.

Since no problems were found in the main building, the only thing left to check was the backyard.

Strange to say,
There is not a single window facing the backyard inside the two-story main building.

However, Gao Yuxuan observed carefully and found that the windows did exist, but they had been sealed with cement long ago.

There is only one door in the main building leading to the backyard.

And it is a modern iron door that does not match the style of the old house at all.

There was no keyhole structure on the door, and it was completely locked from the inside. It even felt like there was a heavy object blocking the back, and the door could not be opened with the help of four people.

no way,
The four of them could only go around the outside of the mansion and try to climb over the wall to get into the backyard.

Although the front yard wall was in good condition, the top of the backyard wall was covered with sharp barbed wire with blades and was rusty.

Through the wall, only the top of a twisted tree could be seen, which seemed to be somewhat similar to the locust tree where Rody found the wooden box in the mountains before.

Perhaps this tree has a direct connection with this practice.
The squad leader took out all the protective equipment such as knee pads and wrist guards from his backpack, prepared to fully arm himself, and tried to force his way over the sharp wires.

Standing at the back of the crowd, Rody, who was measuring the height of the wall, suddenly gave an idea, "Let me stand on Anna's shoulders, maybe I can saw through the wire on top, which will be safer."

Anna agreed with the proposal very much and knocked her fist on her palm, "That's great! Wenwen, you'd better not climb the wall alone. It will be troublesome if you get scratched and get tetanus." "Okay~ Then it depends on your cooperation."

I have to say that Anna's physical fitness is really good.

As soon as Rody stepped on her shoulders, Anna, who was squatting, stood up at a steady speed without any unnecessary shaking.

But even if the two of them stacked their heights together, they could only barely reach the top of the wall.

Rody tried to grab the edge of the wall with his gloved left hand to increase his stability.

hum!
The automated electric saw purchased from a supermarket was started for the first time. Driven by the motor, the alloy teeth easily cut through the rusty and rough wire.

As a large circle of wire fell, an opening large enough for a single person to pass through opened up at the top of the wall.

Using his hands to support himself, Rody stepped onto the wall nimbly, and seemed to be very good at this.

When his eyes fell on the backyard, he was visibly stunned, and his words became somewhat cold.

"The iron gate leading to the main building should be able to be opened from the inside. Just wait at the iron gate and I'll open it from the inside."

After saying that, Rody leaped and landed steadily in the backyard.

The monitor and the other two hurried back to the mansion. On the way, Anna whispered in the monitor's ear: "Wenwen, this guy seems to be really good. He has a stable center of gravity and does things neatly."

Wu Wen's eyes narrowed into a curved slit on the white mask, "He's very powerful."

When the three of them returned to the iron gate leading to the backyard, they could faintly hear something heavy being moved away one by one behind the gate.

Then there was another sound of electric saw cutting.

Snapped!
The inner chain was sawed off and fell,
The iron door with a sliding structure slowly slides open.

The iron gate opens, and the backyard appears.

The three high school students standing at the door were all stunned, their expressions changing rapidly and multiple times in a short period of time.

It is not only a visual impact,

There is also a smell, a strong smell wrapped in the cold wind,

It can penetrate the mask, get into the nasal cavity, and allow the tongue tightly closed between the lips and teeth to clearly taste this strange taste, which is several times stronger than the smell in the hall.

The interweaving of smell and picture brings the most extreme impact on thinking.

Like a high fever, it took over the consciousness and washed away the thoughts from within the brain.

If the previous experience in the foyer was compared to an appetizer, then this scene must be today's signature main course.

Anna was the first one who couldn't hold on and vomited all over the floor.

Gao Yuxuan covered his abdomen with his hands, turned around and left to go to the bathroom in the mansion.

The squad leader covered his mask tightly with both hands, and after a struggle in his eyes, he finally calmed his restless stomach and once again examined the scene in front of him.

The entire backyard was filled with the carcasses of cows and pigs, their excrement, and swarms of flies and insects.

What was strange was that such a strong smell could not be smelled by everyone outside the wall before, as if the entire backyard was shrouded in something invisible.

The dead animals and the smell are not the real point.
Squad leader Wu Wen's eyes quickly locked onto the center of the backyard, onto the huge and twisted old locust tree.

Four Chinese people dressed in retro clothes were hung by hemp ropes in different parts of the crooked tree. The degree of decay of their bodies was different, but their protruding eyeballs were all staring at the mansion.

Staring at the only entrance and exit,

Staring at the young man who broke in.

Combined with the funeral theme of the house,
It seemed that they had arranged a funeral for themselves, and the guests were the four people who had found the key to the mansion.

　I just signed the contract today and I have received love from the four alliance leaders. Thank you [500-pound King of Expansion], [Tears of the Blue Country], [Food-grade Salted Fish], and [Thousand Feathers of Sorrow].

　　
　
(End of this chapter)