Really long-lived, huh.
"Let's go... he's dead..." He Wanwan and Zhang Yichi huddled together.
Meng Lan turned back, "You two stay here, I'll go in and take a look."
"Lan Lan! You're not a god or a psychic, hurry back! If he suddenly comes back to life and bites you, or if a vengeful ghost comes after us, we'll all be done for here!" He Wanwan anxiously stamped her feet.
"He won't, just like Zhang Jinlong didn't come back to life yesterday. I'll just go in and take a look." Meng Lan took a step forward and picked up a palm-sized stone to smash it at the body.
The stone collided with the body and rolled around on the floor, and the body remained motionless.
The room was too foul-smelling.
It was nauseating!
With her eyes red, Meng Lan turned on the light.
The warehouse was messy, especially in three corners where there were two cloth bags. From the arrangement of the items, it seemed that this was the younger brother's place, not shared with the older brother. Inside the bags were three dusty old school bags, one of which caught Meng Lan's attention.
The light blue NIKE school bag with a fluffy rabbit hanging on it, like the attire of a junior high school girl. Inside the bag were three junior high school textbooks and a Polaroid album, with only a few photos but they looked precious to the original owner.
The owner of the school bag was indeed a cute female student, with double eyelids, big eyes, tied in a ponytail, and wearing the blue and white sports uniform common in schools across the country.
After inspecting it twice, Meng Lan tucked the photos into her pocket.
She wasn't accustomed to being in the same space as a corpse, so she used her foot to wipe off the blood on the sole of her shoe.
Just now, everything seemed fine. Why did this man suddenly commit suicide? Did he do something or say something?
"Meng Dashen... are you coming or not?"
"Lan Lan?"
He Wanwan was afraid that Meng Lan might suddenly pick up a wrench and hit herself in this eerie warehouse, so she took two steps forward and pulled her out.
"Let's go, let's go, there's nothing to see here!"
The three returned to the small building.
Qi Huan, Zhao Che, and Li Xiaoqing were already sitting inside.
The auntie from this morning had made a table full of dishes, and the braised pork made people salivate, while the potatoes in the "Di San Xian" dish were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. After cooking, the auntie didn't want to disturb the young people, so she left first.
Zhang Yichi almost pounced on the table. After running around outside for the morning, his stomach was already hungry. But as he stared at the braised pork, he suddenly remembered the broken limbs of the man just now, feeling uncomfortable all over again, and couldn't swallow a single bite. Meng Lan's gaze had been on the dry-fried string beans, but she didn't make a move.
Zhao Che and Qi Huan didn't pick up their chopsticks either.
Suddenly, Meng Lan reached out and knocked Zhang Yichi's chopsticks away.
"What's wrong?"
"I suspect this village is involved in human trafficking." Meng Lan said expressionlessly, sounding no different from when she pretended to be a great deity.
Zhang Yichi: ?
Suddenly, he stopped and looked serious when he heard the word "trafficking".
After hearing the word "trafficking," he couldn't help but clench his fists.
Meng Lan recounted everything that happened this morning and her speculation.
The farmhouse dishes looked delicious, but no one dared to touch their chopsticks after hearing the story. What if they were drugged?
"Trafficking? Is the murderer we're looking for involved in trafficking girls?" Zhang Yichi asked.
"I don't know, what did you find?" Meng Lan looked at Li Xiaoqing and asked, "Are you feeling better?"
"Better... a little better." Li Xiaoqing hadn't recovered from the horror of seeing Meng Lan's creepy smile this morning.
Qi Huan said, "There's a bloodstain in my room. If it's really trafficking, the building we're living in should be one of the dens. Let's lock the doors tonight and block the entrance on the first floor. Don't eat anything given by others, and be careful yourselves."
Zhao Che interjected, "But, trafficking doesn't seem to have anything to do with Zhang Jinlong's death, right? None of us participated in trafficking. We're all newcomers here." He looked up and down, realizing that Meng Lan, who had received the red alert, really had nothing to do with it.
The group exchanged a few words.
He Huanhuan remained silent, her stomach churning from the disgusting scene earlier, causing her to feel nauseous. She stood up and said, "Um, I can cook. If you trust me, I can make something simple!"
"Clap, clap, clap—"
Clear applause rang out.
Meng Lan, expressionless, silently applauded as well to show her agreement. She couldn't cook herself and usually only made salads with cleaned lettuce drizzled with oil and vinegar when she was hungry.
He Huanhuan went into the kitchen and kept her word, preparing stir-fried spinach, dry-fried green beans, tomato and scrambled eggs, leftover toasted mantou from the morning, and shredded pork with green peppers. She proudly said, "Do you want some green beans? There isn't much meat left, but I think I did a pretty good job. My parents always say my cooking is delicious!"
"Thank you."
Everyone started eating.
He Huanhuan really wanted to eat, but she couldn't help but rush to the bathroom to throw up! She had been holding it in, not wanting to cause trouble for everyone, but now her tense nerves had relaxed.
Although He Huanhuan's cooking was delicious, Zhang Yizhi also found it hard to swallow. Who could eat after seeing such a bloody scene?
Zhang Yizhi followed He Huanhuan to the bathroom to vomit.
Meng Lan, on the other hand, quickly adapted. She had eagerly watched pig slaughters at rural fairs when she was a child.
In the afternoon, the three of them set out again.
The six of them split into three groups.
Li Xiaoqing still remained silent in the room, while Zhao Che and Qi Huan prepared to search for clues about the curse. Meng Lan, Zhang Yizhi, and He Huanhuan prepared to visit informants again. The village was not large, and it would take forty minutes to walk around it. The villagers did not welcome this group of people, especially after the man "committed suicide" at noon. They regarded these young people as ominous.
Meng Lan could keenly feel the motionless villagers standing in the room like human dolls, staring at the three of them, observing their every move, as if sizing up prey.
"What if they catch us? What should we do?" He Huanhuan was a little scared.
"Then it's like the progress bar of a game moving on its own." Meng Lan said, "If you treat this as a decryption game, it might feel better."
"But, in games, no one dies. People really die here." He Huanhuan's voice still sounded panicked.
Meng Lan showed a rare helpless expression. "I'm just trying to comfort you. Comforting words never make much sense."
He Huanhuan: ...
In the end, the three of them stopped in front of the most magnificent building in the village.
With gray tiles and red walls, the brass gate of the courtyard was tightly closed. The entire building was elevated on a high platform, and even the steps were paved with white jade. Looking in from outside the wall, you could vaguely see the intricate blue and red patterns painted under the eaves of the buildings in the courtyard, decorated with golden color ink. The stone carvings and wood carvings were exquisitely beautiful.
The courtyard gate was very large, two meters high and one meter wide. Two stone lions were placed on both sides of the gate, with a willow leaf branch in their mouths like the Three Goddesses of Mount Hua.
This should be a clan ancestral hall.
Meng Lan was about to pry open the door to take a look inside when she suddenly met a pair of old eyes!
The door was immediately pushed open.
The village chief walked out from inside, feeling offended and said seriously, "This is not where you should be. You can't enter. Outsiders can't enter, and women can't enter unless it's urgent. You are both outsiders and women. Don't peep through the cracks in the door. This is disrespectful to our clan!"
Meng Lan apologized quickly and sincerely, "I'm really sorry, we won't do it again. Sorry, sorry."
After saying this, she grabbed He Huanhuan and walked quickly towards the corner.
Just a few steps away from the village chief's line of sight, Meng Lan's expression changed in an instant.
"Not going?"
"Why should we?"
"They said women and outsiders can't enter; this is disrespectful behavior!"
Meng Lan: ...
Meng Lan wasn't one to stick to conventions, so she unusually flicked He Huanhuan's forehead and said, "In horror movies, isn't this the standard way to hint at the main quest?"
"Ouch, that hurts! It's how the protagonists act recklessly," muttered He Huanhuan, rubbing her forehead.
But she found Meng Lan's deadpan face making such a childish gesture somewhat adorable.
Meng Lan had analyzed and estimated the size of the ancestral hall with her naked eye, which covered an area of about two hundred square meters. Playing around within such a space would indeed be a bit difficult, and since the village chief had just walked out of the ancestral hall unharmed, with no traces of blood or other strange signs, it proved that the hall was safe.
"Shall I go alone?"
"I-I'll go with you!"
Once the village chief left, the three of them circled the ancestral hall, looking for a good place to climb over the wall. Meng Lan stepped on Zhang Yizhi's shoulder and climbed in first.
The three of them rolled on the ground after landing, ensuring a smooth landing.
He Huanhuan couldn't help but laugh when she saw Meng Lan's back covered in dust. Meng Lan now seemed much livelier than when they first met yesterday!
The ancestral hall was not locked.
Inside, there was a mural of San Niang Niang (Three Goddesses) and the story of Longevity Village, with bright red lanterns hanging from the wooden beams. The lanterns burned with flickering candlelight, casting a eerie red glow. On the hall's table was a plaque that read "Respect for Filial Piety," with melon seeds, fruits, and a blue and white porcelain vase. There was no dust on the table, indicating that it was cleaned daily.
Meng Lan stood in front of the ancestral tablet, and on the wall to the right was the family tree.
He Huanhuan followed along, chanting, "Zhang Yunfei, 1996."
"Zhang Miaomiao, 1972."
"Zhang Gaocheng, 1941."
"Wow, there's one from 1921! Let me calculate... that person must be over 100 years old. This place really is a haven of longevity!" exclaimed He Huanhuan. "Look at this person, born in 1817 and died in 1965. That's...148 years old! That's terrifying!" Zhang Yizhi counted on his fingers. "This person lived to be 148 years old. It's incredible!"
Meng Lan also observed, "There's a record of someone in history living to be 443 years old, born in 881 AD and died in 1324 AD. Chen Jun, from Yongtai County, Fujian Province. But here, it feels like the average lifespan is over 100 years old, which is practically a medical miracle. Nowadays, the average lifespan in urban areas is only around 70 to 80 years."
"Maybe living carefree without working 996 is the key to a long life," said He Huanhuan.
Meng Lan continued to wander around the courtyard.
Suddenly, she heard a familiar sound.
"Hehe."
"Hehehe."
Laughter floated into her ears intermittently.
Then, the laughter turned into intense screams. Meng Lan abruptly turned around, but there was no ancestral hall in sight.
Only darkness.
"Crackle—"
"Crackle—"
"Crackle—"
It seemed like a woman's nails scratched her scalp, leaving behind bloody marks.
A faint cold wind blew into Meng Lan's ears. She didn't turn her head, but from the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a female ghost clinging to her back, with a terrifying smile.