Free Web NovelChapter 375: Chapter 353: Is There Anything Else?
The moonlight deepened,
like a great black curtain pressing down heavily upon the entire village.
The village was terrifyingly quiet. It was the kind of silence that could make one’s very soul tremble,
as if all sound had been mercilessly devoured by the darkness.
The villager was still standing at his own door, a bewildered look on his face. He was like a detached bystander,
seemingly unable to comprehend the meaning of the conversation between Chu He and the group of young men and women.
His confused expression looked almost comical in the dim light.
However, when Chu He’s words reached the ears of the young men and women present,
it was like a cold wind from the Nine Netherworld Hell. In an instant, everyone felt a chill
creep straight up their spines, then spread throughout their bodies like a cold snake.
Everyone couldn’t help but shiver, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
The ground beneath their feet seemed to turn into a giant block of ice in that moment,
and an icy chill rose relentlessly from the soles of their feet. The strange, cold sensation
felt like countless icy hands gripping their hearts.
"You’re really something else. Give you an inch and you take a mile, huh?"
Zou Baixuan, as if he had caught onto something,
immediately seized the opportunity to speak again, his face full of ridicule.
His eyes were filled with disdain, and the corner of his mouth curled into a malicious smile. "All you do is put on airs and act all mysterious,
deliberately creating this terrifying atmosphere to scare people.
You know, for all we know,
this whole so-called ’bizarre haunting’ tonight is just a farce you directed and starred in yourself.
Wait, don’t tell me you had two plans for today?
Plan A was to go to the villa yourself and steal valuables,
but you didn’t expect to get caught by someone as sharp-eyed as me,
so you couldn’t go through with it.
So, you pulled out your Plan B,
which was to create a terrifying atmosphere and poison my girlfriend,
and who knows where you found that actor to put on this whole weird Evil Spirit drama for us.
Your ultimate goal was a diversionary tactic to get all of us to leave the manor.
Your accomplice has probably already snuck into the manor by now,
ready to clean out everything of value, right?"
Zou Baixuan spoke with great conviction, his tone brimming with confidence in his own reasoning.
It had to be said, Zou Baixuan’s theory was somewhat logical,
and it even sounded quite plausible.
His words were like a stone tossed into a calm lake,
stirring up ripples of doubt in the hearts of many of the young people present.
They began to have second thoughts.
After all, it was Lai Yu Yao who wanted to catch the thief in the first place.
The atmosphere at the time was as tense as a fully drawn bow. Just as the evidence was about to be revealed
and the thief was about to be apprehended,
news of the strange phenomenon at the manor gate had suddenly arrived.
After that, it was as if everyone was pushed by an invisible force,
falling into a strange rhythm that led them, bewildered, to this Xia Shui Village.
In the midst of the terrifying atmosphere, no one had the mind to think too deeply,
and no one had suspected the mysterious young man in the black duck-tongue cap and black mask.
"Could what Zou Baixuan said be true?"
someone muttered under their breath.
This single sentence ignited the flames of suspicion in everyone’s hearts.
The crowd’s gazes began to shift toward Chu He, their eyes filled with distrust.
"I think it sounds kind of true, too,"
a young man said hesitantly.
His eyes held a hint of suspicion, and his gaze toward Chu He turned somewhat hostile.
"You guys actually believe Zou Baixuan?"
A girl immediately retorted, "Then how do you explain the strange plants growing in this village?
Have you all forgotten what that villager looked like before?
He was covered in mushrooms from head to toe. That’s not something a makeup artist could pull off.
You can’t be suggesting this entire village is in on it,
just so this young man in the black cap can put on such a show."
Her voice was clear and loud, echoing in the silent village.
Hearing her words, the people around her
either nodded slightly or fell into deeper thought.
In the crowd, some believed Zou Baixuan’s theory, while others remained skeptical.
For a moment, everyone broke into a flurry of discussion, their noisy voices intermingling in the night sky.
"Just call again and verify."
Lai Yu Yao raised her wrist slightly and glanced at her exquisite mechanical watch.
The hands on the dial glinted faintly in the darkness.
Ten minutes had passed since the call to the Defense Team.
Normally, if nothing unexpected had happened,
the Defense Team should already be on their way.
"Okay, okay, okay, I’ll call right now."
The girl who had made the call earlier quickly replied.
She took out her phone again, her fingers trembling slightly.
She subconsciously glanced at the signal bars in the upper-right corner of her phone screen.
Seeing that the signal was still full,
her tension, which had been stretched as taut as a bowstring, finally eased a little.
She took a deep breath and redialed the Defense Team’s number.
Sure enough, just as expected, the call connected quickly,
and the familiar voice of the Defense Team operator came through the line again.
The sound of this voice was like a stone tossed into a calm lake,
instantly making everyone present tense up.
