Chapter 114 Secret Passage
She kept repeating this sentence until her soul was completely scattered.
Liu Haoyu silently listened to the other party’s words. After her voice had long since disappeared, he said in a dull tone.
“Dust to dust, earth to earth, the wronged will have their heads, and the debts will have their debtors… I have accepted your obsession.”
“What are you talking about?”
Qin Liu saw Liu Haoyu muttering to himself in place, not knowing what he was doing.
But this man did not explain further. He held the fire axe in his hand, ready to investigate this Panwang Temple.
Although this temple was not very large, there were still quite a few rooms inside, and perhaps one of them was a secret room.
And judging from what the remnant soul said, those fierce ghosts had not left, but were lurking in this place.
No wonder it was so eerie here.
“Qin Liu.”
“Ah? What’s wrong?”
“Come in.”
Seeing Liu Haoyu take out the Hong Yu, Qin Liu did not think too much and slipped inside.
As for Liu Haoyu, Qin Liu’s deterrence was too great.
Even if this guy did nothing, just standing there could scare away ghosts. He was here to catch ghosts, and if they ran away, who would he cry to?
“Okay.”
Qin Liu was naturally very happy to stay inside the Hong Yu. This eerie Panwang Temple, just staying here made her feel a bit uneasy.
Let alone going deeper to explore later.
If something were to rush out, she would be scared to death.
Liu Haoyu was brave, but Qin Liu’s little heart couldn’t handle it.
After Qin Liu entered the Hong Yu, Liu Haoyu found a relatively clean place to sit down.
He rummaged through his backpack for the Black Book, then bit his finger and wrote on it.
“Was that drowned corpse manipulated by the fierce ghosts of Longshan Vocational High School?”
Facing Liu Haoyu’s question, the Black Book still tried its best to maintain its prestige.
After a moment of silence, scarlet blood characters began to appear on the blank pages.
“A person who jumps into the river to commit suicide for love naturally retains a longing and obsession for their lover.”
“The dead cannot be resurrected, but the insane fierce ghosts chose to help him.”
“When the drowned corpse climbs back ashore from the water, it will take its ex-girlfriend to hell.”
“However, this was just a trick played by the fierce ghosts.”
“When he killed his ex-girlfriend, these fierce ghosts swarmed forward and, in front of him, played with his ex-girlfriend’s soul. The newly born fierce ghost shattered like a vase, and he could only watch it all happen.”
“There is a reason for the pitiable, and a reason for the hateful. In the end, this person who dived into the water to commit suicide was just a tragic clown.”
“Pitiable, regrettable, but not worthy of sympathy.”
The Black Book’s words also clarified the situation for Liu Haoyu.
Just as he had predicted at the beginning, a drowned person would turn into a water ghost and could not kill people on shore. If they could kill people on shore, it must be with the help and guidance of something.
It was likely that only those hateful and abstract fierce ghosts could do such a thing.
They pleased their souls with evil deeds, building their pleasure on the despair and pain of others.
But precisely because of this, this matter could not be delayed any longer, otherwise more innocent people would die.
Liu Haoyu pondered for a moment, then continued to write.
“Can those fierce ghosts who were burned to death truly free me from the gaze of the Red Gate?”
In response, a few more lines of text appeared on the blank page of the Black Book.
“They were originally targets locked onto by the Red Gate, and they are also the targets that the guide has been tracking.”
“Catch them, find their graves, perhaps within them… is your name.”
After the Black Book finished saying these words, there was no more space for writing.
Having no choice, Liu Haoyu had to close the book.
Picking up the flashlight beside him, he was going to look for the secret room.
Before looking for the secret room, Liu Haoyu first went out of this eerie temple and set up a large number of talismans outside.
These talismans could prevent the fierce ghosts from escaping, so they had to be set up first.
After finishing with the talismans outside, Liu Haoyu returned to the Panwang Temple.
In the completely dark temple, there was only the sound of Liu Haoyu’s footsteps on the wooden floor.
Although the place was not large, Liu Haoyu’s flashlight could only illuminate the area in front of him.
The Panwang Temple was so dilapidated that it was exposed to the wind from all sides. Although it was indoors, the temperature was still very cold.
As no one had taken care of it, there were spider webs, leaves, and garbage everywhere.
These things were blown around by the wind, and coupled with the thick dust here, Liu Haoyu, wearing a gas mask, already had poor visibility. With this smoke and dust, his field of vision became even narrower.
However, he couldn’t take off the mask, otherwise, the dust here alone would make him dizzy.
“Tsk… is there really a secret room here?”
After searching fruitlessly many times, Liu Haoyu scratched his head in annoyance.
Qin Liu, who was inside the Hong Yu, also heard Liu Haoyu’s complaints, so she poked her head out and asked.
“I can phase through walls. Uh… do you need my help?”
Although Qin Liu was timid, she was fine with scouting ahead and finding things.
Moreover, this temple was not large, even smaller than the residential house last time, so it was unlikely that she would get separated from Liu Haoyu.
If she really encountered a ghost, she would just shout.
“Liu Haoyu, save me!”
That should be fine.
Liu Haoyu heard Qin Liu’s words and pondered for a moment.
Although he didn’t want to use Qin Liu as a weapon first, under the current circumstances, he might not be able to find the secret room even if he searched until dawn.
More importantly, the formation outside had already been set up, so even if those fierce ghosts were alerted by Qin Liu, they would not be able to escape.
Therefore, Liu Haoyu nodded and said.
“Please.”
“Alright.”
Unlike humans, Qin Liu, as a ghost who could phase through walls, was clearly much more efficient at finding things than Liu Haoyu.
She just needed to phase through the wall and peek inside to know if there was a passage, without having to go around like a person.
While searching, Qin Liu kept talking.
In such a creepy place, talking more actually helped to boost courage. If it were completely quiet, it would be truly terrifying.
“When we get back… I want to eat barbecue!”
“…”
Liu Haoyu couldn’t help but laugh at Qin Liu’s words.
Putting aside whether this was tempting fate, Qin Liu’s request…
It was too easy to agree to.
While talking, Qin Liu, as before, phased her head through the wall to look inside.
This time, she finally found the so-called secret room.
However, it was more like a huge underground prison.
And its structure was very complex, with winding passages and corridors everywhere.
The surrounding walls looked very old, like tunnels left from the Anti-Japanese War.
But what was terrifying was that these walls were covered with large patches of shocking dried bloodstains.
Because there was no ventilation for a long time, the air was stuffy and smelly. Even Qin Liu couldn’t help but recoil from this foul odor.
Pinching her nose, she said to Liu Haoyu, who was rummaging for things over there.
“The entrance to the secret room is found, it’s here.”
“Oh? So quickly?”
Liu Haoyu looked in the direction of the voice and saw a large black water tank.
This water tank was very heavy, and even Liu Haoyu could not move it.
Having no choice, he had to move a rock and smash a large hole in the bottom of the tank.
Now, he could finally see the situation inside clearly.
Beneath this abandoned water tank, a pile of black tiles covered something.
After Liu Haoyu flipped over these tiles, he saw a rotten wooden door.
“It’s here.”
Liu Haoyu opened the wooden door, took out a candle, and put it inside.
As soon as it entered, the candle ignited, but the flame was very weak and could be extinguished at any time.
The self-ignition of the candle indicated that there were ghosts in the secret passage.
The weak flame indicated that the oxygen content inside was a bit low.
Looking at the dim flame, Liu Haoyu couldn’t help but frown.
The gas mask he was using was a filtered type, which could not be used in areas with oxygen content below 18%.
Judging by this secret passage, the oxygen content inside was definitely not enough for 18%. If he went in rashly, there was a risk of suffocation.
To enter such an environment, one would need to wear an insulated gas mask and have an oxygen respirator.
But this thing… was very expensive and bulky, and not convenient for ghost exorcists.
Fortunately, when the wooden door was opened, Liu Haoyu felt a breeze blowing in, which meant that the air circulation inside was still possible.
So, Liu Haoyu opened the wooden door and, after letting it air out for a full half an hour, he put the candle in again.
This time, the flame burned brightly.
It seemed they could go in.
Liu Haoyu put on his flashlight and went down the stairs.
Drip… drip…
Stepping on the waterlogged steps, his shoes also made strange noises.
As he entered the secret passage, the flashlight began to flicker, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, as if the voltage was unstable.
But Liu Haoyu knew very well why it had become like this.
Because… there were ghosts nearby.
Perhaps around the corner,
Perhaps the next time he opened a door, a pale and terrifying hand would reach out.
Or perhaps, countless eyes were staring at Liu Haoyu from above.
Walking in such a place would cause extreme oppression to a person’s body.
If Liu Haoyu wasn’t strong-hearted, an ordinary person walking in this dark and damp corridor might be scared into hallucinations due to excessive suspicion.
“It looks like a tunnel left from the Anti-Japanese War, but judging by these bloodstains, it must have been discovered by the Japanese devils, otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many dark red bloodstains.”
From these bloodstains, Liu Haoyu could not help but infer that only by piercing a sharp blade into the main artery and then pulling it out forcefully would there be a spray-like trace.
The killer’s methods were very professional, clearly a butcher who had killed countless people.
So many people had died in this secret passage, no wonder it smelled so bad.
Also, because so many people had died here, the yin energy was very strong, but it was only yin energy, not resentment.
Even so, this was the environment most favored by fierce ghosts… except for Qin Liu.
That girl had already hidden in the Hong Yu because she really found it smelly and a bit scary.
Do ghosts have a sense of smell?
Liu Haoyu was a little confused, but he didn’t think too much about it.
If he went by experience, Qin Liu didn’t look like a ghost at all, but a living person.
Therefore, applying common knowledge about ghosts to Qin Liu was obviously inappropriate.
The tunnel was long, and Liu Haoyu walked for a considerable distance without reaching the end.
Under these circumstances, the formation previously set up at the Panwang Temple was clearly useless.
But Liu Haoyu still didn’t stop. He turned two more corners and finally saw the end of the tunnel.
It was a dilapidated iron door, the paint on which had long since peeled off. Its rusty appearance reminded Liu Haoyu of a certain Red Gate.
However, it was clear that this was probably not a Red Gate.
And there was another piece of good news.
The candle in Liu Haoyu’s hand was now burning very vigorously.
This meant… those fierce ghosts that were burned to death were inside!
Liu Haoyu held his breath and tiptoed forward.
Through the door crack, Liu Haoyu discovered that what should have been a kitchen for living was transformed into an interrogation room by someone. It was filled with rusted torture instruments, making it look very old.
Through the door crack, Liu Haoyu could clearly see dozens of dark figures inside, like gluttons, gnawing on the drowned corpse that had crawled out of the water.
Ghosts and monsters liked incense and blood food.
For these fierce ghosts, they might not be able to experience the feeling of being worshipped with incense, so they could only go for blood food.
They wouldn’t refuse even a corpse drowned in water.
As for the previous female victim… according to the news, when people found her body, her internal organs were long gone and had not been found to this day.
It was likely that they had been eaten by these fierce ghosts.
They couldn’t be allowed to continue their evil deeds.
Liu Haoyu held his breath, holding the fire axe and Zhenlei Talisman in his hands.
He had made thorough preparations for the fight tonight. If he really couldn’t win, he would just shout.
“Qin Liu, save me!”
Yes, this move would definitely be useful.
It was just a little embarrassing.
Liu Haoyu looked at the rusty iron door, from which the sound of gnawing flesh and blood continued to come.
After preparing himself psychologically, he stood in front of the iron door and gathered his emotions.
Then, with a powerful kick, he kicked the rusty iron door.
“Open up! We’re checking the water meter!”
“Bang!!”
A loud noise echoed through the secret passage. This dilapidated door, facing Liu Haoyu’s full-power kick, directly collapsed with a bang.
The moment the door was kicked open, the bloody smell mixed with a strong stench, as if it had penetrated the filter of the gas mask and rushed straight to Liu Haoyu’s soul.
But even so, Liu Haoyu endured the nauseating smell and, before the fierce ghosts inside could react, threw dozens of Zhenlei Talismans in his hand.
There is an old saying.
When in doubt, cover with firepower.
