With a click, the door was opened.
The man turned back and said proudly, "Senior Brother, the door is open."
"Shush! Be quiet, don't attract the owner's attention," Shi Jiechang whispered.
The door opened, and Shi Jiechang shone his dim flashlight into the house.
The light fell near a corner, and he was suddenly startled.
Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a motionless clay figurine standing in the inner recess of the corner.
The more he looked, the more unnerved he became. How could this clay figurine look so much like a living person?
"Let's find the dog first." Shi Jiechang gently patted the man's shoulder. After scanning the first floor, he found the dog wasn't there and headed upstairs.
"Senior Brother, why does this shop feel so eerie? It's very different from the Taoist shop you described."
"Are you sure you're not mistaken?" The man kept looking back and forth, growing more flustered with each glance.
He hadn't felt it on the first floor, but the moment he stepped onto the second, he immediately sensed the chilling coldness all around.
Shi Jiechang glared at him. "Do you think I could be wrong? Hurry up and find it, don't fuss so much."
The two of them reached the door of the room on the second floor, about to open Wu Jiaxin's room.
Suddenly, a series of pattering sounds came from behind them.
Shi Jiechang's movements stopped.
This pattering sound was not something a human could make.
Turning around, they saw a large black dog watching them from behind.
This startled them greatly.
Fearing that General Hei Hu would bark and wake Zhao Yan and the others.
But what confused him was that General Hei Hu was just staring at them intently, without making any further moves.
Seeing this, Shi Jiechang quickly took out a spray bottle. This spray had a dizzying effect on animals.
It was especially effective against animals with keen senses of smell, like dogs.
Shi Jiechang was about to spray it in front of General Hei Hu.
He had already made up his mind: as soon as General Hei Hu fainted, he would quickly grab it and leave.
The moment he sprayed, General Hei Hu quickly turned and ran behind them.
Shi Jiechang thought General Hei Hu had run into Zhao Yan's room and quickly led the man downstairs.
As soon as they descended, they heard no footsteps from the second floor. Instead, it was unusually quiet.
This made Shi Jiechang retract his foot that had already stepped out.
He slowly walked back upstairs.
When the flashlight shone on where General Hei Hu had gone.
The flashlight beam happened to fall on General Hei Hu.
At this moment, General Hei Hu was sitting by the door, then stood up and circled twice at the doorway.
It was as if a courtesan in a brothel beckoning customers, only lacking the words, "Come play, sir."
"Senior Brother, perhaps we should leave quickly. I have a very bad feeling," the man said worriedly.
Shi Jiechang gripped the spray bottle tightly. They had come this far; if they retreated now, his junior sister would surely laugh at him.
"It's just a dog, what are you afraid of? You come with me, and we'll catch the dog together," Shi Jiechang said, quickly walking towards the door.
As they approached, General Hei Hu quickly returned to the room.
It went to the left side of the room, stood on its hind legs, and used its paws to pull at the talismans on the coffin.
The talismans fell to the ground, and General Hei Hu used its paws to vigorously push at the coffin lid.
The coffin lid was standing upright and was not nailed down. After General Hei Hu pushed it four or five times, the coffin board immediately tilted backward.
It quickly used its back to prop up the coffin lid, thus preventing the sound of the coffin lid hitting the ground.
Looking at the little zombie inside, General Hei Hu stood upright for a moment and bit off the talisman with its mouth.
Then, it quickly rushed towards the door.
As Shi Jiechang and the man entered the room, General Hei Hu had already stealthily circled behind them.
It ran out the door, and the two of them walked into the room.
General Hei Hu jumped onto Wu Jiaxin's bed.
"Woof!" General Hei Hu barked.
This sound woke Wu Jiaxin, and at the same time, Shi Jiechang and his junior brother in the room felt a jolt.
"What are you doing, General Hei Hu?" Wu Jiaxin said, rubbing her eyes.
"Woof!" General Hei Hu bit Wu Jiaxin's pajama sleeve and pulled towards the door.
"Are you hungry?" Wu Jiaxin got out of bed and led General Hei Hu towards the living room downstairs.
Hearing Wu Jiaxin's footsteps, Shi Jiechang and his junior brother's faces immediately tensed. They looked around the room.
They saw only a standing coffin in the room, nothing else. Even a bed or a wardrobe would have been a place to hide.
Especially as the footsteps grew closer, Shi Jiechang and the man began to panic.
They couldn't tell if the approaching footsteps belonged to Zhao Yan.
Suddenly, a mobile phone flashlight beam swept in from outside the window.
It almost scared the two brothers out of their wits.
Without further thought, they had no choice but to quickly run towards the coffin in the room.
In their haste, Shi Jiechang didn't even see the little zombie in the coffin clearly before immediately crawling into it.
He faced the little zombie directly, with his back towards the coffin opening.
Then his junior brother quickly followed, but his brother's posture was very different; his junior brother faced the coffin opening, with his back against Shi Jiechang's back.
General Hei Hu swaggered behind Wu Jiaxin. When it passed the room where the little zombie was placed, it stopped.
It barked at Wu Jiaxin: "Woof!"
Then it pawed at the doorknob twice.
Wu Jiaxin shone her phone's flashlight at the door and gasped.
Only then did she realize that General Hei Hu wanted her to close the door.
Before going to sleep, she had heard Zhao Yan talking with Wang Xianzhi, saying that this room contained an uncorrupted zombie.
"Sister Zhao must have forgotten to close the door," Wu Jiaxin reached for the doorknob and pulled hard, closing the door.
"Woof! Woof!" Seeing Wu Jiaxin's action, General Hei Hu barked twice more, pawed at the door, and the door opened.
Shi Jiechang's junior brother, seeing the door open and a light shining in from outside, swallowed hard.
Wu Jiaxin observed General Hei Hu's actions, pondered for a moment, then patted her forehead, and immediately understood: "I get it, you want me to lock the door, right?"
General Hei Hu nodded and circled around Wu Jiaxin twice.
Wu Jiaxin petted General Hei Hu's head. General Hei Hu must have been worried, fearing the little zombie might escape from the coffin.
She thought about it carefully; after all, the little zombie was uncorrupted. If the door wasn't securely locked and the little zombie escaped, it would be a disaster.