1TWITF[C Chapter 62

Chapter 62

In the center of the main room, the lingering glow of the setting sun streamed in, dividing the entire hall into halves of light and shadow. It landed squarely on a statue of a white-haired, smiling old woman placed within a shrine. In front of the statue, an ancient incense burner was filled with accumulated ash, indicating that it had been venerated for quite some time.

The moment one stepped inside, a noticeable drop in temperature could be felt, along with a faint, peculiar musky odor unique to certain animals.

Lu Yanli didn’t move, his gaze sweeping over the ground before looking at Luo Ying.

The light inside the room was dim; Lu Yanli wondered if Luo Ying had noticed that Zhang Bo’s shadow on the ground was off.

Clearly, Zhang Bo was in the form of a human, but the shadow on the ground had a hunched back, and one could even see a tail swishing back and forth.

“Little Lu? Little Luo?” Zhang Bo stood in the shadows, his mouth practically splitting to the roots of his ears. “Aren’t you going to worship?”

Luo Ying stood frozen in place, her fingernails digging into her palm.

Lu Yanli retreated a little to the side, wanting to see what Luo Ying would do.

Luo Ying endured it again and again, nearly failing to maintain her usual gentle smile. After a long while, she barely managed to squeeze out an even more amiable smile: “I understand.”

Having said that, she took three incense sticks from Zhang Bo’s hand and walked step by step toward the shrine.

Seeing that she had done this, Lu Yanli followed behind, bowing down as well.

Sincerity brings spiritual response; he wasn’t sincere, and he figured Luo Ying wasn’t either.

But what exactly were their plans? Luo Ying could actually endure this?

Was it just for this village?

Lu Yanli pretended to be ignorant, bowing respectfully three times.

On the shrine, the powdered-face, white-haired old woman held a jade scepter in her hand, smiling kindly. But Lu Yanli clearly saw that within her curved, smiling eyes was undisguised, chilling murderous intent.

Just then, a series of light footsteps came from the room beside them.

Zhang Bo gently patted her head: “Don’t be silly, we have guests.”

A soft reprimand came from the room as well: “Lili, don’t be noisy, Great-Grandma likes peace and quiet.”

Zhang Bo introduced them: “Little Lu, Little Luo, this is my son, Zhang Huixuan, and my granddaughter Lili.”

Auntie?

Lu Yanli’s face didn’t betray anything, but he noted it in his mind.

Zhang Huixuan’s face turned even paler in an instant: “What nonsense are you talking about again?”

Lili wouldn’t let it go: “Daddy, can I give some of my clothes to Auntie to wear?”

Strangely, Zhang Bo didn’t stop Lili, only looking at his son coughing with a look of pity.

Lili stopped smiling, quietly watching her father finish coughing, and continued to ask in her childish voice, “Daddy, really not allowed? Auntie said, she’s so cold.”

Once she was gone, Zhang Huixuan smiled weakly at Luo Ying: “Sorry, Lili has been spoiled by us.”

The atmosphere in the main room instantly froze.

Zhang Huixuan’s face was even whiter, practically no different from the whitewashed wall. He said coldly, “What does it have to do with you? Don’t ask what you shouldn’t.”

Luo Ying still wore a saintly, gentle smile: “I’m also a member of Shangxian Village, of course I want to know.”

Zhang Huixuan’s expression suddenly turned as if he wanted to devour someone, his eyes becoming narrow and long, even his voice turning shrill: “Get out!”

Strangely, even though Lu Yanli and Luo Ying had come together, Zhang Huixuan’s anger was only directed at Luo Ying. And when Lu Yanli wanted to follow her, Luo Ying silently shook her head, signaling him to stay here.

Lu Yanli could only withdraw his steps, watching her walk away. His face didn’t show anything, but countless thoughts raced through his mind.

Luo Ying had clearly deliberately provoked them, just to leave alone. What did she want to do?

While chatting in the main room, the sound of stir-frying came from the kitchen, white steam rising from the chimney, and the aroma of food wafted over, making people hungry.

Lu Yanli didn’t have much of an appetite for food, but Zhang Huixuan was different. When the aroma of roast chicken drifted over, he visibly swallowed, his slender tongue licking his lips.

This appearance didn’t resemble a human, but rather… a fox.

Zhang Bo’s wife hurried to the statue, placing a plate of chicken on the shrine, and she prostrated herself, constantly chanting words of blessing.

In just two or three minutes, the heat that had been steaming from the plate of tempting dishes visibly disappeared.

Zhang Bo’s wife visibly breathed a sigh of relief, picking up the plate and walking out.

Lu Yanli softly asked, “Auntie Zhang, how should this be disposed of?”

Zhang Bo’s wife didn’t turn her head: “It has to be buried. Grandma Hu San has tasted it, so no one else can eat it.”

Having gotten this answer, Lu Yanli returned to the dining table, waiting with everyone.

To his surprise, Lili, the youngest child in Zhang Bo’s family, was sitting at the head of the table. A plate of roast chicken was placed in front of her. Before anyone else had touched their chopsticks, she had already reached out and started eating.

Only at this moment did Lu Yanli understand why Lili didn’t show her teeth when she smiled.

She clearly had two rows of sharp white teeth like an animal, and the way she opened her mouth to tear into the half-raw chunks of meat in front of her was especially fierce.

The others weren’t surprised, and Zhang Huixuan even gently patted her back, telling her to eat slowly and not choke.

Among the family at the table, Lili’s “auntie” wasn’t there, nor was her mother. Lu Yanli didn’t dare to ask, fearing that he might inadvertently violate some taboo, and he planned to have Luo Ying try tomorrow.

After dinner, Zhang Bo finally revealed some of the inside story.

The New Year was approaching, and every household had to worship their ancestors. Their family was no exception. Coincidentally, an old lady in the village chief’s family had been in poor health recently. Grandma Hu San had said that she was about to pass away, and each family had to send someone to help carry the coffin.

Lili was too young to go, and Zhang Huixuan was in poor health and couldn’t lift it, so Zhang Bo hoped that Lu Yanli could replace Zhang Huixuan.

Lu Yanli didn’t agree immediately.

He didn’t yet know the process of ancestral worship in this village. What if he rashly agreed, and the result was death?

“Does Great-Grandma agree?” he asked in return.

This question stumped Zhang Bo. After a long while, he hurriedly stood up, clearly intending to go into the main room.

Zhang Bo’s family’s conditions weren’t good. The room where they ate was next to the kitchen, and a light bulb hung from a wire above the dining table, flickering, glaring and dim. Lili was sitting at the head of the table, and at the instant that Zhang Bo stood up, she spoke, “No need to ask, he can go.”

The light bulb swayed back and forth, revealing her shadow behind her, with two erect, pointed ears on her head being especially obvious.

Lu Yanli’s heart sank, and he changed his mind and agreed.

Only then did Lili revert to the appearance of an ordinary little girl, skipping away. Lu Yanli stared at the shadow she left on the ground.

It had returned to the normal image of a little girl.

Since they needed him to replace Zhang Huixuan in ancestral worship, then he would be safe before the ancestral worship. At least they would try to preserve him. Therefore, Lu Yanli didn’t refuse Zhang Bo’s invitation to stay overnight. Zhang Bo’s wife prepared a guest room for him, which happened to be at the very end of the corridor.

As soon as she finished speaking, the electricity crackled twice, and the room instantly went dark, pitch black.

“Thank you, I’ll be careful.” Lu Yanli stepped aside to let Zhang Bo’s wife out of the door.

Just before closing the door, he saw Lili standing at the end of the corridor. She had changed into a red dress, and the kerosene lamp in her hand illuminated her fair face. Her long hair was loose, and her pair of dark, round eyes stared straight at the room he was in.

He couldn’t tell if she was looking at him or at her grandma.

Seeing that Lu Yanli had discovered her, Lili opened the door of the room beside her and went in, the wooden door swaying slightly.

Before long, Zhang Bo’s wife followed into that room, and the door closed.

This room was on the far right side of the entire house, with no other rooms next to it. The window faced the back mountain. Zhang Bo’s wife had told him before that to prevent insects and other things from the back mountain from running in, the window of this room was sealed shut, and it was specially covered with thick curtains. Usually, they would open the door to ventilate.

Lu Yanli’s breath hitched.

The other mission takers hadn’t arrived yet, and the world hadn’t changed. So, he chose the usual method of dealing with it, pretending not to see anything, taking off his coat and going straight to bed, blowing out the kerosene lamp, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.

Since this family had invited a household guardian spirit, and they needed him, at least temporarily… he would be safe.

And, this batch of mission takers should be arriving soon, right?

*

“Chuchu, is this really okay for you to do?” Yu Xianguang followed behind Lin Chu, looking conflicted.

Lin Chu was carrying a lot of weapons, as well as several audio and video recording devices, stuffing everything she could into every space she could find. Hearing this, she giggled, “Such a great opportunity to go to another world for research, of course I have to be fully prepared.”

Yu Xianguang: “But, they all said, it’s best not to bring too many things, otherwise you won’t be able to run if you encounter a ghost.”

Lin Chu shrugged: “If I can’t run, then I’ll just die. The termination of a boring life isn’t a bad thing.”

Yu Xianguang nodded.

“The technology in that world is similar to here?”

Yu Xianguang nodded again: “Yes, but the history of the country, and some major events, are not the same. In fact, everyone has tried to investigate from what point it started to be different, but no one has found it.”

Lin Chu fell into thought.

The time flow between the two worlds was clearly different, but why were the dates also close to each other after going over?

She probably wouldn’t be able to get anything out of asking Little Yu, so Lin Chu decided to investigate it herself.

It had been a long time since she had encountered such a challenging thing.

Soon, they arrived at the designated mission location.

Lin Chu and Yu Xianguang arrived the earliest. Under Lin Chu’s coercion and enticement, they arrived half a day early. Yu Xianguang nervously guarded the alley entrance, peering inside with trepidation.

Lin Chu was knocking on the wall, tapping and feeling. She had a lot of storage bags in her bag, and was carefully peeling off a bit of dark green moss with tweezers, and also knocking off a bit of loose soil, putting them all into transparent bags and sealing them tightly.

When it was midnight, she would find a way to take a bit of material again when crossing over to that world, to see what the difference was between the two.

The weather slowly turned gloomy.

Lin Chu walked out of the alley. Yu Xianguang was finally relieved to see her come out. The two decided to go eat something first.

Yu Xianguang was terrified. He was timid to begin with, and even though the other mission takers had said that there were only ghosts in that world, he was still very scared.

Even if there were no ghosts, there were many strange cases recently.

Seeing that the time was approaching, the prosperity in the university town didn’t diminish at all, and the number of students was increasing instead. Yu Xianguang tugged at Lin Chu, who was clearly excited: “Okay, Chuchu, we have to go do the mission.”

Hearing that it was her first time, and then seeing the pile of messy food in her hands, the others twitched their mouths. An Xingyu still took the initiative to say, “My name is An Xingyu, I’ve completed seven missions.”

With An Xingyu taking the lead, the others introduced themselves again. They reiterated each other’s situation again, came to the alley entrance, stood in a circle, and discussed the possible paths to survival for this mission again.

Because of the same surname and the same gender, she had a good impression of Lin Chu: “Many people will share their experiences here, which is very useful for newbies like us.”

When Lin Chu smiled, she had two dimples on her face. She held up her phone and shook it: “I’ve joined, and my ID is *Hua Deng Chu Shang*.”

“You’re *Hua Deng Chu Shang*?” Lin Xueyuan said in surprise.

Everyone’s gazes changed.