A few minutes later, the five of them emerged from the grove. Ahead lay the side peak of Li Mountain, looming like a slumbering giant under a gloomy gray-blue sky. Night was about to engulf the quiet valley.
Before them was a dried-up pond. To its left stood a vegetable patch enclosed by bamboo fences, long abandoned and overgrown with weeds.
Beyond the pond and the vegetable patch lay a small village. A dozen or so houses, all dilapidated earthen structures built with yellow mud bricks, were scattered in a trapezoidal pattern at the foot of the mountain.
A narrow stone path wound through the front yards of the houses, meandering up the slope to a black-brick, white-tiled building at the top—vaguely recognizable as an old-style ancestral hall.
The five followed a dirt path along the pond, passing through the vegetable patch until they reached the village entrance.
Night had fully fallen. The village was deserted, filled only with the cold whisper of the wind, faint insect chirps, and other indescribably eerie sounds.
Officer Huang pulled out a flashlight, illuminating a cracked stone tablet at their feet. The engraved character "Gu" (古) was split down the middle, giving off an unsettling vibe.
"W-wait a second..." Fat Jun's face turned pale, his throat tight. "Uh... I suddenly don't feel so good. I might be about to lose control. Maybe I should go back to the villa basement, tie myself up, and just... stay there."
To be honest, Gao Yang also felt a creeping unease. After all, this was an abandoned village where a massacre and mass disappearance had occurred. But they'd come this far, and considering the sunk cost, he had no choice but to push forward.
Prince Kai, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a flashlight, swaggered ahead with an air of invincibility. He kicked over a bamboo basket blocking the path, completely unfazed by fear.
Qing Ling remained expressionless, but her guarded posture betrayed her wariness.
"Is it really that scary?" Officer Huang asked Fat Jun.
"Officer Huang, this place is seriously creepy," Fat Jun said, jumpy as a startled bird, his eyes darting around. "I once went to a fortune teller who said my body attracts unclean things. He told me to avoid places with heavy yin energy. And this place? It's practically oozing yin energy. It feels all wrong..."
"I'm an atheist. If you're scared, go back by yourself." Officer Huang didn't press him.
Fat Jun glanced back at the path they'd come from. The darkness was absolute, as if countless dangers lurked within. Still hesitating, he watched as the other four moved ahead. Left alone, the air around him seemed to grow colder. Shivering, he hurried after them. "Hey, wait for me!"
Soon, the five climbed the slope to the ancestral hall at the village's far end.
Built against a cliff, the hall had two ferocious stone lions guarding its entrance. The walls, made of blue-gray bricks, were covered in damp moss. The black lacquer on the doors had peeled away, and a dusty, cobweb-covered plaque hung above, its faded traditional characters barely legible: "Ancestral Hall of the Gu Family."
Officer Huang stepped up to the black doors, grabbed the lion-head knockers, and rapped three times.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound echoed hollowly through the darkness.
"Door's knocked. Can we go in now?" Officer Huang turned to Fat Jun.
The hefty boy cowered behind Gao Yang, peeking out with one round eye. "D-don't ask me! How should I know?"
Officer Huang inserted the brass key into the lock. "Yep, this is the one. It fits."
He took a deep breath and turned the key.
Click.
Gao Yang's instincts prickled.
Sure enough, Officer Huang grimaced. "The key... broke."
"Move! You guys are so slow!" Prince Kai, already itching for action, rushed forward and kicked the door open.
BANG!
The force was so great that half the door tore off its hinges and crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Come out, you cowards! Your granddaddy's here!" Prince Kai charged in first.
The others exchanged glances before quickly following.
Inside was a square courtyard surrounded by two-story buildings on three sides, all exuding an antique charm. Above, a dim shaft of moonlight filtered through the open skylight, illuminating a dry well at the courtyard's center.
Directly ahead stood the wide-open ancestral hall.
"That's it? Where are the enemies? The lizard monsters?!" Prince Kai stood under the skylight, one foot propped on the well's edge, looking thoroughly disappointed.
Officer Huang glanced at Gao Yang. "Can you use a gun?"
Gao Yang shook his head, then reconsidered. "I have the Copy talent."
"Good." Officer Huang handed him a pistol.
Gao Yang took it, deliberately gripping the other man's hand as well.
A second later, he successfully copied Officer Huang's Level 3 "Gunslinger" talent. Instantly, firearm knowledge, shooting experience, and muscle memory flooded his mind.
Gao Yang gripped the gun, barrel pointed downward, ejected the magazine to check the bullets, then reloaded—all in one fluid motion.
"Type 92, 15 rounds, effective range of 50 meters. Use them sparingly," Officer Huang said.
"Actually... my Copy talent only lasts three seconds," Gao Yang admitted with a wry smile.
"You... that's way too fast," Officer Huang said, stunned.
"Exactly! What kind of man finishes that quickly?!" Prince Kai burst out laughing.
Gao Yang rolled his eyes. This idiot... I never should've saved him.
"Let's just hope we don't run into anything too dangerous," Officer Huang muttered, then glanced at Fat Jun. "Or any ghosts."
Gao Yang and Qing Ling, weapons ready, flanked Officer Huang as they entered the ancestral hall.
The interior was unremarkable—a built-in wall cabinet with sheer white curtains, filled with ancestral tablets. Above them hung another plaque with four large characters: "Ancestral Virtues Endure."
In front of the tablets stood an altar holding half-burned candles, remnants of incense, and a few empty dishes for offerings.
"Gu Huawen, Gu Huawu... Gu Rongjie... Gu Changxue..." Prince Kai shone his flashlight over the tablets, reading the names from bottom to top.
"Stop! Stop reading them!" Fat Jun bolted out of the hall.
"Look at this coward!" Prince Kai sneered.
"Kai-ge! This place had a mass murder! The whole village disappeared! Who knows what happened here?! These are vengeful spirits! You calling their names is like inviting them over!"
"Now that you mention it, I remember a movie like this," Prince Kai mused, stroking his chin. "Something like Rural Ghost or Mountain Village Possession, about a vengeful spirit slaughtering an entire village..."
"Enough," Gao Yang cut him off. If this kept up, even he would start feeling goosebumps—let alone Fat Jun.
Truthfully, ever since entering the hall, Gao Yang had felt something was off, as if unseen eyes watched them from the darkness. But when he checked his system, his Luck Points weren't doubling—meaning no immediate danger was near.
He turned to Officer Huang. "What now?"
"What exactly did White Rabbit say about the test?"
"Find the door this key opens and take a look inside," Qing Ling repeated.
"Then we've done that. Let's just leave—" Fat Jun's words died as his face drained of color. "What was that sound?!"
Rustle—rustle—rustlerustle—
Suddenly, everyone heard it—an eerie noise, like countless thin snakes slithering rapidly through the darkness of the hall.
"Oh god! Ghosts—" Fat Jun clutched his head and fled the hall.
"Stop!" Gao Yang shouted, but it was too late.
Rustlerustle—
A flood of black hair erupted from the dry well in the courtyard. Under the pale moonlight, it spread like tangled seaweed, filling the entire space in seconds before lashing toward Fat Jun. In an instant, he was wrapped into a squirming black cocoon.
"Help... me..." His eyes bulged in terror as he stretched a trembling hand toward Gao Yang.
It was too late.