Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 322 Looking at each other
The old dormitory building, shrouded in a light mist, has rough, dirty exterior walls that bear the marks of time.

Outside each window, metal security bars, resembling cages, are welded in.

Through the gaps in those security bars, one could vaguely see what was inside.

There was a light on behind the window on the third floor, and it seemed that someone lived inside.

Long Zongshu hesitated for a moment, then looked around and whispered, "...Should we go up and take a look?"

Ran Jianfei disappeared on a minibus at midnight, so he may have also taken that minibus to this ghost town.

Now, clues to his whereabouts have been discovered in the ghost town...

Ran Qing frowned, paused for a moment, and then nodded: "Let's go up and take a look."

If Ran Jianfei is indeed trapped in this ghost town, perhaps we can deduce what he has encountered from his situation.

And the real dangers within this ghost town.

—At least from the current situation in the ghost city, Ran Qing did not find any danger.

Even with the old man following along, such danger was not serious for Ran Qing, let alone for Ran Jianfei, who had once reached the Ghost King's Coffin.

The dangers currently manifesting within the ghost city are not enough to keep a seasoned unorthodox cultivator alive.

Ran Qing walked at the front and stepped onto the stairs.

Almost everything in this ghost town is an illusion, but the solid and steady feel of stepping onto the stairs makes it feel like you've actually arrived at a dormitory building.

Even the dusty smell that often lingers in old dormitory buildings is captured so vividly, it's practically the same as the real thing.

Ran Qing walked in front, with the Nuo opera mask on the back of her head, and leaning on the strange dead man's hammer.

The head on the cane, which looked exactly like him, had its eyes slightly closed, as if it were taking a nap.

But the eyes were not completely closed; there was a slit in them, as if the person was pretending to be asleep, constantly watching for any movement in the darkness.

Tuk Tuk——

Dull footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Ran Qing and the others climbed to the third floor without any hindrance and arrived outside the room where the lights were on and the suspected female corpse in red was located.

The old tin door stood silently on the wall, coldly refusing entry.

This is a ghost town, inhabited by evil spirits.

But Ran Qing had no inhibitions and went straight up to knock on the door.

dong dong dong-

The rhythmic knocking echoed in the darkness, breaking the deathly silence of the shadowy figure.

At that moment, the three people gathered in the stairwell suddenly felt a strange sense of dread.

It seemed that their knocking had disturbed something in the darkness.

It was as if many eyes were suddenly watching them from the darkness...

Mo Li said in a low voice, "How about I give it a try?"

Ran Qing knocked on the door three times, but there was no response from inside; it seemed no one would come to open the door.

Mo Li then volunteered and took out two thin iron wires from his pocket.

Ran Qing glanced at Mo Li in surprise, wondering what she was doing with the thin wire.

But then Mo Li walked to the door and somewhat awkwardly inserted two magnetic wires into the keyhole, starting to slowly turn them.

Surprisingly, the girl knew how to pick locks.

It was quite obvious, however, that her lock-picking skills, which she had learned from who-knows-where, were far from adequate.

Even Ran Qing, an amateur, could see that Mo Li's lock-picking movements were somewhat clumsy and awkward.

He and Zong Shu stood by, using their flashlights to illuminate Mo Li's path. The girl bent over and pried at the door for over ten minutes, making rustling noises in the keyhole, but the door still wouldn't open.

Long Zongshu asked in a low voice, "...Is there any other way to open the door?"

Long Zongshu looked at Ran Qing, clearly having lost hope in Mo Li.

Since it's a ghost town, perhaps Ran Qing, a spirit medium, has a solution. Ran Qing did indeed come up with a plan and nodded, saying, "Yes."

But as soon as Ran Qing finished speaking, the iron gate in front of her clicked open... by Mo Li.

Amidst the surprised gazes of the two men, Mo Li glared at them and said, "You have absolutely no patience!"

The girl, who had successfully unlocked the lock, was a little smug.

Ran Qing coughed, pretending not to see the girl's gaze, and stepped directly into the room in front of her.

It's a very ordinary old dormitory building with a floor area of ​​about 60 or 70 square meters, featuring two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.

Whether it's the living room, bedroom, or kitchen, the space is cramped and crowded.

After the three people and the dog rushed into the living room, the small living room suddenly felt crowded.

The living room was dimly lit, and a cheap-looking plastic painting of eight horses was pasted on the wall behind the sofa. On the TV cabinet directly opposite the sofa sat an old television with a huge back and a small screen.

The coffee table was empty, with no vegetables, fruits, or melon seeds, but all the necessary bowls, plates, and fruit platters were present.

Ran Qing looked at the ordinary-looking house in front of her and frowned slightly.

He finally reached into the canvas bag and pulled out two longans.

After the shriveled longan was crushed, the dark seed fell to the ground and began to spin.

They seemed to have found their target and rolled quickly around the room.

However, the two longan fruits rolled in completely different directions.

And they kept rolling around the living room, then into the kitchen, then out of the kitchen, into the bathroom, the bedroom... they rolled all over the floor.

Finally, they rolled back to where they were and stopped moving.

This strange sight surprised Little Cotton: "Why is Longan rolling around everywhere?"

Either you can't find your target and keep going around in circles, or you find your target and roll straight to your destination.

But the rolling of these two longan fruits was extremely unusual.

They rolled across the whole room, but found nothing.

The empty house did not contain the body of the woman in the red wedding dress.

There was nothing related to the female corpse in this ordinary little house.

Ran Qing was also somewhat confused by the scene.

He walked cautiously at the front, carefully exploring all the rooms in the house.

But there was indeed nothing in this room related to Ran Jianfei or the woman in the red wedding dress.

It seems that Mo Li just misread it.

—This thought had just surfaced in Ran Qing's mind.

Standing by the window, his face suddenly stiffened.

He lowered his head in disbelief and quickly looked down at the path below the dormitory building.

On the road below the dormitory building, the corpse of a woman, with a red veil covering her head and dressed in a red wedding gown, was quietly following a middle-aged man with a tired face as he passed by.

As they passed by the dormitory building, the middle-aged man, who looked exhausted, seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up at the window where Ran Qing was.

The father and son's eyes met in that instant.

Ran Jianfei, who was standing downstairs, suddenly changed his expression, as if he had seen something terrifying.

Just as Ran Qing was about to respond, a small, cold hand suddenly reached out from behind and patted his shoulder.

"...Ran Qing? Ran Qing?"

Mo Li's worried voice rang in Ran Qing's ears, causing her to snap back to reality.

When he looked downstairs again, there was no trace of Ran Jianfei or the woman in red.

Everything that had just happened seemed to be just his hallucination.

(End of this chapter)