Translator: Cinder Translations
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"Mr. Pei," Zhou Rong, walking on the flagstone road, turned his head and asked with interest, "Which path do you think we should take?"
Pei Qian, leaning on a walking stick that the village chief had given him, the delicate carvings on the wood and the rare money toad design on the handle, squinted his eyes and smiled faintly. "Since Mr. Zhou has already made a decision, why bother asking?"
"I'm not as capable as you young folks. The future belongs to someone like you, Mr. Zhou, who is both virtuous and talented…"
"Ahem." Jiang Cheng coughed twice forcefully, then rubbed his throat, making it seem as though he had a sore throat, and not for any other reason.
Pei Qian couldn't be bothered to respond to Jiang Cheng.
After that, the group walked to a place with a pleasant view, where they could see a small stream winding around the village.
The water was clear and the flow was gentle. Various smooth pebbles, polished by the water, lay at the stream's bottom, and occasionally, a few fish swam leisurely by. It looked quite soothing.
Pei Qian leisurely observed the scenery in front of him, seemingly forgetting the current crisis.
Zhou Rong, too, gazed into the distance. The boundary between the mountains and the forest became increasingly blurred because of the backlight, and the distant mountains and rivers seemed to merge into a single line.
In that moment, the tense survival game they were in seemed to diminish a thousandfold, turning into an unspoken leisurely journey.
The two of them were subtly competing in private, as if the one who appeared more composed, more relaxed, and less concerned in that moment, would have a higher chance of survival.
Pei Qian occasionally commented on the nearby mountains and rivers, saying that, based on the terrain, there must be a grand tomb in the mountains. Even if it wasn't for an emperor, a minister or general would not be impossible.
He then mentioned how he had traveled with his mentor to many places and seen many great mountains and rivers, but few had scenery better than this.
Zhou Rong smiled faintly. "Well, it seems Mr. Pei hasn't traveled much. In places like Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, such scenery is hardly remarkable."
Pei Qian wasn't offended. Slowly, he leaned his wooden cane against a tree and stood on the slope, his silver hair fluttering slightly in the breeze. "Youngsters look at feng shui as wind and water, but at my age, I can't see the wind and water anymore. When I look at it, it's all about the essence of the landscape."
Pei Qian stood in the wind, exuding an air of someone who seemed isolated from the world, like a poet who's sober while everyone else is drunk.
The two were initially just passing time and planned to wait until the sun was at its peak before doing something more serious, but with each exchange, they found themselves getting unusually serious.
By the time they left, the sun had already reached its zenith, and the warmth of the sunlight was comforting.
The three of them, with perfect tacit understanding, turned back, choosing a path that circled around the village to avoid a chance encounter with Chen Xiaomeng's team.
Of course, they didn't mention this to anyone.
Back at the familiar yard, the three of them went straight to the abandoned building.
At this moment, they felt the strangeness of the building even more strongly.
Standing beneath the structure, even the warm sunlight no longer felt comforting. Instead, it gave them an inexplicable chill.
Zhou Rong felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Ben Fu, who had died on the first night, had disappeared near this building.
And yesterday evening, Jiang Zhongyi had also been killed after entering the building, his death being horrific.
According to Pei Qian's recollection, the villager who had pretended to deliver food mysteriously entered this building and never came out again.
At this point, all the clues to the deaths seemed to point toward this mysterious building.
They had been waiting, waiting for the sun to be at its highest before exploring it.
Although it was a bit risky, the situation had already exceeded their endurance, and this task was different from previous ones. There was no clear time limit mentioned.
This was an escape mission without a time limit.
But from another perspective, this also indicated the difficulty of the task.
Moreover, there were no newcomers in this mission.
There was a real possibility of complete annihilation.
All of these factors were forcing them to explore the building, which clearly had something wrong with it. They had already mentally prepared to lose one person.
As for who that person would be, it depended on their individual abilities.
They hadn't chosen to cooperate with the three women for reasons everyone understood.
Based on the clues they had so far, it seemed the ghost's target was focused on men. Initially, there were 5 men and 3 women. Now, the numbers were even.
Even Li Lu, who had a leg injury and had been left alone in a room, hadn't been threatened.
So bringing the women along to explore wouldn't dilute the risk. Moreover, they would also have to share the clues they had gathered, which was unacceptable.
Zhou Rong, with a serious expression, stared at the window, which looked dark even in the daylight, and whispered, "Are you ready?"
"Ready," Pei Qian nodded coldly.
"Mm-hmm!" Jiang Cheng grunted.
The three of them chose the window farthest from where Jiang Zhongyi had fallen in the evening before. After using Pei Qian's walking stick to clear the broken wood around the window, they each climbed in.
Zhou Rong, surprisingly agile, landed almost silently.
Next was Pei Qian. Although he was older and not as nimble as the younger ones, with Zhou Rong's help, he managed to land smoothly.
But when they turned to assist Jiang Cheng, they found he was gone.
The two immediately panicked. Pei Qian, who was closest to the window, stretched his neck to look outside. After a while, he finally spotted Jiang Cheng, crouched under the window, silent.
"What are you doing?" Pei Qian snapped, but didn't dare make too much noise, causing his old face to turn red.
Jiang Cheng remained silent.
It wasn't until several seconds later that Jiang Cheng cautiously peeked his head out, quickly scanning inside the window. Upon seeing that everything was normal, he stood up, dusted himself off, and elegantly climbed through.
After landing, he casually said to the stern-faced Zhou Rong and Pei Qian in a low voice, "I was afraid the ghost would suddenly appear and cut off our escape route."
(End of the Chapter)
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