Chapter 1 The Red Light

There were lights in front of the foreign-style building. They observed for a long time before finally confirming that there was no one nearby.

But out of caution, everyone consciously chose not to enter through the main entrance. After all, what they were doing was reconnaissance.

Secret reconnaissance.

If possible, they wouldn't even want to touch the edges of the lamplight. The lamps shone brightly, giving everyone a very bad feeling.

In the end, Luo He led the way. The group circled a large area to avoid the light and arrived at a remote location behind the building.

This was considered a blind spot near the building, almost unnoticeable.

On the way, Chen Qiang stared at Luo He's back, his expression becoming more and more strange.

This man seemed to be very familiar with the terrain of the Feng residence. Otherwise, how could he have found this place in the dark?

Unless his eyes could see through the darkness.

But that was too ridiculous.

"Look," Pi Ruan's sudden voice interrupted Chen Qiang's thoughts. He turned his head and looked in the direction Pi Ruan indicated.

There was a window ajar, still the old-fashioned wooden type.

Part of the window frame had rotted away. Perhaps because it was inconspicuous and unimportant, no one had bothered to repair it.

But what really attracted everyone's attention was the faint light leaking through the window cracks.

It was... red.

Something inside the window seemed to be emitting a dark red light.

"Red light," Huai Yi frowned, but his voice was very low. "What is it?"

"Whatever it is, it's not good," Chen Qiang replied, staring at the window, his eyes never leaving it for a moment.

A figure flashed before their eyes. To everyone's surprise, a small, thin figure stepped forward to the window and slowly opened it.

It was Fu Fu. As she did this, she looked nothing like the little girl she once was.

As the window opened little by little, the red light gradually revealed itself.

But strangely, the light was not strong. In fact, it became weaker as the window opened.

The group exchanged glances, then walked over very quietly.

Through the window, they saw that the red light was coming from the top of the stairs not far away. By the time it reached them, almost nothing was left, and it would have been ignored if it hadn't been so dark.

Luo He signaled everyone to gather around. "The red light is coming from upstairs. But after we go in, we'll search the first floor first, then go upstairs together."

Everyone understood Luo He's meaning. He was worried that the red light was bait, and the real danger was lurking on the first floor, waiting to cut off their retreat after they went up to the second floor.

Clearing all hidden dangers before going upstairs was the right choice.

Fu Fu was still the first to climb into the building, through the window that had been opened earlier.

Much to everyone's surprise, Luo He did not stop Fu Fu's reckless behavior. Instead, he seemed to indulge it.

Could it be that... they weren't companions, or that the relationship between the two wasn't as good as they thought? Everyone wondered secretly.

About half a minute later, Fu Fu's face reappeared at the window. "No problem," she said, her finely sculpted face full of seriousness, with a hint of affected maturity.

Then, one by one, they climbed into the Feng family's building.

The moment they landed, everyone felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

One window, two worlds.

Luo He was the last one in, and after he landed, he did something that shocked everyone.

He closed the opened window.

That was their escape route!

As their eyes met, Luo He understood everyone's dissatisfaction and said in a very light but confident tone, "The aura in this building is wrong. If we leave the window open, it may alarm the things inside."

Unconsciously, everyone had accepted the assumption that there was a problem in the building, even that there were ghosts.

After all, the weirdness of the Feng residence was obvious to anyone with eyes.

Looking around, they were currently in a warehouse.

It was about twenty square meters in size, filled with firewood for cooking and several large black pots.

The firewood was neatly stacked together. Chen Qiang walked over, squatted down, and touched it with his finger. His fingertip felt damp.

As expected...

Chen Qiang's eyes flickered, and he slowly stood up, retracting his gaze from the firewood. "The firewood is damp. It'll be troublesome to use this firewood to cook."

"You mean..."

"This should be where the Feng family cooked, but it looks like they haven't eaten here in a long time," Chen Qiang replied.

They had been to the dining room where the Feng family servants ate, so the difference was obvious.

To the right of the warehouse was a completely open door, through which they could see the outside.

It was a large living room with a full set of sofas and a long table large enough to seat more than a dozen people.

There were vaguely some things on the table, faintly emitting a cold light.

Upon closer inspection, they were several sets of silverware, including silver chopsticks, silver plates, knives, and forks, as well as two silver candlesticks.

They didn't see any candles. The candlesticks were covered with dark red candle tears that had solidified, like drops of blood-soaked tears.

Again, they didn't see anyone.

After a moment's thought, Luo He took the lead and walked out of the firewood warehouse.

The first floor was larger than they had imagined, but it was all functional rooms, such as the living room, warehouse, and kitchen... They even found a game room dedicated to the children's play.

The only thing that made them uneasy was that they could find mysterious talismans and stickers in every room.

Most of them were yellow paper with red and black drawings on them.

They were all incomprehensible words and pictures, but putting everything together, it was not difficult to guess that the Feng family had sought these from experts.

The purpose was to pray for blessings and ward off ghosts.

Finally, after searching the entire first floor, they arrived at the stairs leading to the second floor.

A faint red light spilled down the stairs.

The luxurious, old wooden stairs seemed to have been splashed with a ladle of blood.

The blood was dim, but the unease hidden in everyone's hearts began to ferment.

"Let's go up and take a look," Luo He said. Then he added, "Be careful. Don't touch anything you shouldn't. If you find anything unusual, notify the others immediately."

"Especially... don't scream or speak loudly!" Chen Qiang added the last sentence.

Luo He glanced at him, but said nothing.

Fortunately, the situation was better than expected. Their shoes didn't make the unbearable creaking sound as they stepped on the old wooden steps.

They had only walked halfway when they suddenly stopped. The scene before them stunned them, and then a chill ran through their hearts.

At the top of the second floor, there was a corridor with two bright red lanterns hanging on it.

Like a pair of malicious eyes, staring at the approaching living beings.