Chapter 46 Memories of the Past
Old Deng’s voice was a bit hoarse, and a bit low.
“At that time, it was the first time I set foot on the land of Jiangliu City, so when I heard about such a haunted house, I naturally prepared to investigate it thoroughly with friends.
In the beginning, our actions were very smooth, and we searched the haunted house thoroughly, but we only found a lot of resentment, and no ghosts.
This matter was very strange. Logically speaking, with such dense resentment, there must be an extremely terrifying fierce ghost. So on the night of the second day, my friends and I entered the haunted house again to explore… and this time, something strange happened.
The haunted house, which should have been overgrown with weeds, was covered in blood that night, with dark red spots and burn marks everywhere.
In order to find the source of the supernatural phenomena, we performed a ghost-asking ritual, but we didn’t find the ghost in the haunted house, but were surrounded by a large number of fierce ghosts and wronged souls that came from nowhere.
After fighting our way out…”
Old Deng paused here and noticed Deng Xiaolin behind Liu Haoyu, her eyes sparkling, completely engrossed in the story.
He couldn’t help but sigh and said.
“You’re not allowed to go.”
“…I wasn’t planning to go, okay.” Deng Xiaolin pouted.
After the near-death experience last time, she was absolutely unwilling to go to that haunted place this time.
After warning Deng Xiaolin, Old Deng continued.
“After we fought our way out, we found that at the end of the first-floor corridor of the haunted house, a door had appeared, a… rusty iron door covered in blood.”
Hearing this, Liu Haoyu’s heart tightened.
The door Old Deng described was almost exactly the same as the one in his dream.
That haunted house really had a basement, but maybe some conditions were needed to see the entrance to the basement? Liu Haoyu pondered, but had no clue.
As Old Deng spoke, his hands began to tremble, as if recalling something terrifying.
“The iron door slowly opened a crack. My companions and I looked through the door crack and saw a large number of ferocious ghosts, bound within. They roared to break out from inside. One of my companions reacted too slowly and was directly pulled into the door, dying on the spot.
My companions and I didn’t have time to mourn our comrade’s death. In order to prevent the wronged souls from escaping and harming people, we used all our strength to seal the door and fled outside the haunted house as quickly as possible.”
Liu Haoyu fell into thought after hearing this, so he asked.
“So, that means the red iron door is now under seal?”
“Logically, yes,” Old Deng took a deep breath and warned Liu Haoyu, “Don’t investigate this matter… you will die.”
To make Liu Haoyu understand the seriousness of the matter, Old Deng closed his eyes and continued.
“The story isn’t over yet. About a week after we sealed the door, a few companions who entered the haunted house with me told me that they started dreaming of that strange blood-red iron door.
Day after day, night after night, even when their minds were tormented to the brink of collapse and their sanity completely confused, when they woke up, even closing their eyes for a second would make them see that blood-red iron door. In the end… they all died.”
Old Deng extinguished the cigarette butt in his hand.
“One shouted ‘Freedom!’ and jumped from the roof of his house. Although it was only three stories high, he shattered into pieces, his flesh and bones all stuck together, as if he had been run over by a steamroller.
Another person went mad, constantly slamming against the wall, repeatedly saying, ‘I don’t want to go in, I don’t want to go in,’ until his brain matter gushed out…
So Xiaoliu, that’s why I’ve been advising you not to continue in this line of work. This is not something young people like you should be doing.”
Old Deng’s words were so real that even Deng Xiaolin, who had always been interested in the supernatural, instinctively covered her chest, looking somewhat fearful and nauseated.
But Liu Haoyu’s reaction was very calm. He replied.
“I know this line of work is dangerous, but someone has to step forward, right?”
Just like anti-drug police, firefighters, border guards, and so on in society, someone has to continue this endeavor.
Facing Liu Haoyu’s resolute attitude, Old Deng could only sigh helplessly.
“Alright then…” He patted Liu Haoyu’s shoulder and said, “Be careful, protecting yourself is the most important thing. Xiaolin likes you very much, don’t die.”
“Grandpa!”
Deng Xiaolin, who was just listening to the story, didn’t expect Old Deng to betray her so decisively. Her entire face turned red.
At the same time, she kept stealing glances at Liu Haoyu, trying to see something on his face.
But unfortunately, this heartless and cold man just took a puff of his cigarette and said.
“I like Xiaolin very much too.”
“Mmph!”
Those words pierced Deng Xiaolin’s heart.
“To me, Deng Xiaolin is like a younger sister.”
Those words then stitched Deng Xiaolin’s heart back up.
The young girl expressionlessly pushed away the Cupid on her face.
“Ah yes, yes, I also like Hao-ge very much.”
“Heh heh…”
Old Deng looked at Deng Xiaolin’s bulging little face, as if he had seen through everything, but he didn’t expose it. He just looked at Liu Haoyu.
“Is there anything else?”
“No, nothing else. I just wanted to ask if you still have Red Jade, Old Deng?”
Originally, Liu Haoyu just wanted to ask about the earth veins and try to find information about the basement through the earth veins.
Unexpectedly, Old Deng had actually seen that door with his own eyes. Although the result was not pleasant, for him, it was already the most useful clue.
There was no need to ask further, as it would only cause the elder more worry.
So, it was better to ask if he still had Red Jade.
He only had one piece of Red Jade left now, and it probably wouldn’t be enough to take Qin Liu out.
“Yes,” Old Deng took out five pieces of Red Jade from the counter and said with some confusion, “You used up your three pieces so quickly?”
“I’ve encountered many ghosts recently.”
Liu Haoyu didn’t reveal anything about Qin Liu.
And he wasn’t lying, he had indeed encountered quite a few ghosts recently.
However, Old Deng didn’t ask for more details after hearing this, he just warned.
“Although I’ve told you so much, I still have to say one thing… absolutely do not investigate that haunted house. It is definitely not a danger you can handle.”
Liu Haoyu nodded after hearing Old Deng’s words.
“I know.”
After speaking, he left the folk custom shop with the Red Jade, but behind him, Deng Xiaolin followed.
The young girl looked at Liu Haoyu worriedly.
“Hao-ge… Are you really okay living there?”
In response, Liu Haoyu thought for a moment and replied.
“There are no problems at the moment.”
“Really?”
Liu Haoyu’s mood was a bit heavy, but as soon as he recalled Qin Liu’s cute snoring, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl up slightly.
“Really, Qin Liu is actually quite cute. Why don’t I bring her over for you to meet next time?”
“Don’t do that!!”
