Chapter 15 Red Lanterns

Tap tap tap tap.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan ran wildly across the tiled rooftops.

The Flytrap monsters’ bone spurs, launched from their arm skeletons, were incredibly powerful, but they took time to reload and were slow to react and move.

Their accuracy against moving targets was very low.

The two players leapt from roof to roof, never stopping, occasionally performing tactical maneuvers to avoid the dense bone spur fire.

The area where the Fujimura family lived had relatively dense housing.

As the terrain gradually opened up ahead, the distance between the houses increased, too far for the players to jump across using just their own physical abilities. Wang Congshan’s tactical boots with bouncing capabilities, from her Rubik’s Cube,

consumed too much spiritual energy due to their complex structure, making them impossible to retrieve.

Fortunately, Li Ang still had his mind power to use.

Level 1 Psionic Creation ability, Minor Creation.

Li Ang simply tore a long, narrow plank of wood from the void with both hands, picked it up, and tossed it forward, bridging the gap between the roofs of two houses, creating a temporary passage.

The two continued to run wildly, stepping across the wooden plank. After building three temporary wooden bridges, they finally reached the open road with fewer Flytrap monsters.

Engraved Village (Yuan Ke Cun) was built against the mountain, with a slight slope, forming a right trapezoid shape overall.

A Y-shaped road ran through the entire village.

The Fujimura family’s house, along with other residences, was located downhill.

At the top of the Y-shaped road, the right fork led to the Hiratsuka family estate, while the left fork extended and wrapped around the other side of the mountain.

Whether the Flytrap monsters only appeared in the mist in low-lying areas, or the Hiratsuka family estate had some kind of restriction,

they did not continue chasing Li Ang and Wang Congshan along the uphill road,

but lingered downhill, wandering aimlessly.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged a glance and walked up the road. Along the way, they saw three rows of paper red lanterns neatly hung on the eaves and walls of the houses on both sides of the road.

These lanterns had been extinguished for a long time, the candles inside burned out.

The outside was printed with patterns like cherry blossoms, and ornaments hung below.

Some lanterns were also printed with the black characters "Yuan Ke," looking like decorations prepared for a festival.

Without the interference of monsters, the two quickly reached the fork in the Y-shaped road.

The houses here were sparse.

Standing at the intersection and looking to the right, they could see a large, brightly lit Japanese-style mansion. The mansion was surrounded by a square wall, and many trees were planted in the courtyard.

Standing at the intersection and looking to the left, they could vaguely see a torii gate at the end of the road.

The torii gate is an auxiliary building of Japanese shrines. In Shintoism, it represents the entrance to the sacred realm, distinguishing the realm where gods reside from the secular world where humans live, reminding visitors to be mindful of their words and actions after entering the torii gate.

The presence of a torii gate meant that there was a shrine.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged glances and walked a distance along the left side of the Y-shaped road, soon seeing the entire torii gate.

The torii gate was made of wood, with no paint on its surface. The *kasagi* (top lintel) on the pillars curved upward at both ends. A thick *shimenawa* (sacred rope) was tied between the two pillars, with white *gohei* (zigzag paper streamers) hanging on the rope.

"Strange."

Li Ang frowned slightly. Usually, the *shimenawa* is a barrier symbolizing the prevention of disasters and is tied below the *nuki* (pillar crossbeam) of the torii gate.

However, the *shimenawa* of this torii gate in Engraved Village was tied in the middle of the torii gate, which seemed out of place.

More like... a roadblock?

Moreover, the wood used for this torii gate looked bluish-black in color, a bit like the wood that Li Ang had previously found in the Noh mask crafting chamber of the Fujimura residence.

Li Ang took out the piece of wood from his backpack and compared it with the pillars of the torii gate, finding that the textures were very similar.

Wang Congshan carefully touched the *shimenawa* tied in the middle of the torii gate and said in confusion, "Hmm... the system won't let us pass."

"Oh?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow and touched the *shimenawa* like Wang Congshan, but he felt a wall of air. A system prompt immediately popped up in front of him:

[The current area is sealed by a barrier and cannot be passed through.]

Li Ang applied force and pressed, but the air wall did not move at all. He had no choice but to look behind the torii gate.

Behind the torii gate was a bluestone staircase built along the hillside, with hundreds of steps.

The staircase ultimately led to a red and black wooden shrine building.

The shrine gate was tightly closed, and the candle stands in front of the platform had long been extinguished, dim and dark, giving people a strong sense of foreboding.

The entire torii gate was covered by a wall of air.

The *shimenawa* tied in the middle of the torii gate was welded to the space, making it impossible to destroy or dismantle.

Trying to bypass the torii gate and enter the shrine

would also result in hitting the air wall,

triggering the system prompt [The current area is sealed by a barrier and cannot be passed through].

"It seems we need to continue advancing the scenario quest and obtain the key item before we can pass through here."

Li Ang withdrew his hand from pressing the air wall and returned to the fork in the Y-shaped road with Wang Congshan.

The Flytrap monsters were still wandering in the streets below, not chasing after them.

However, by the light of the residential buildings below, the two clearly saw a dark figure walk out from across the street, push open the gate of the Hiratsuka family estate, and step straight into it, disappearing from sight.

The dark figure's body was covered with thick black fur (or perhaps it was wearing a fur coat). Its back was slightly bent, but its silhouette suggested it was humanoid.

Another kind of monster? Or other living people?

Li Ang and Wang Congshan immediately chased after it, rushing to the entrance of the Hiratsuka family estate.

They found the gate wide open, but not a single figure could be seen inside.

"It shouldn't be a hallucination."

Wang Congshan said softly, "When we came earlier, the front gate of the house was closed, but now it's been opened.

And there's a dark handprint on the door frame of each gate."

"Yeah."

Li Ang narrowed his eyes and nodded, thoughtfully, "I understand."

"Eh?" Wang Congshan was stunned when she heard this. "What do you understand?"

"This handprint is a hint."

Li Ang pointed to the handprint left on the door frame and said, "It means they're provoking us,

asking if we dare to go in and have a little spar, to let us know what a black hand is."

"It would be strange if that were the actual meaning."

Wang Congshan twitched her eyes and rubbed her forehead, "Anyway, there's nowhere else to go now. Let's just go in and trigger the next stage of the quest objective."

"Wait."

Li Ang waved his hand. Under Wang Congshan's puzzled gaze, he took a brick out of his backpack.

Wang Congshan's eyelid jumped as she complained, "Damn, when did you bring this thing? You've been carrying it all this way, don't you think it's heavy?"

"As a student, isn't it normal to put a brick in your backpack?"

Li Ang casually said, placing the brick in a position where it could just barely jam the door, to prevent the gate from suddenly closing after they entered the estate.

After preparing, Li Ang nodded. "Okay, let's go."