Free Web NovelChapter 849: Chapter 623: Attempt_2
In other words, this was prepared specifically for them.
Inviting one into the pot.
That’s pretty much what it means.
This room is overall slightly larger than the one on the left, but it’s filled with more stuff, so it feels much more cramped. As always, Jiang Qingluan turns to close the door, sealing this room off from the hall and tuning into her surroundings.
But the moment the door clicked shut, Jiang Qingluan felt a distinct malice. She whirled around instantly, eyes locked onto something behind her, her right arm flailing reflexively – if she had been clutching bone ash, it would have scattered in that movement.
"Huff——"
"Huff——"
Her chest heaving, Jiang Qingluan leaned against the door, sweat beads rolling down her forehead. Just then, she almost thought she was about to die.
Why?
Why was that feeling of impending death so intense?
Still unsettled, Jiang Qingluan couldn’t explain it. She guessed it might have been a vigorous reaction triggered by her actions and behaviors.
But that sensation couldn’t have been faked. Jiang Qingluan gradually calmed her nerves, staring intently around her. There... there had to be something wrong in this room!
Mustering up her courage, Jiang Qingluan lifted her lantern and began to wander the room. The shoes creaked noisily on the old floorboards with every step.
In such a tense and oppressive environment, any little mishap was magnified countless times. The light from the lantern she held grew increasingly dim, like an old person on their deathbed, taking their last breaths.
As the lit area shrank, the room’s atmosphere grew weirder, the peripheral vision of her eyes scanning the furniture at a distance seemed to have been assimilated by the darkness, turning into blurred dark silhouettes.
Sometimes, Jiang Qingluan would feel a mysterious palpitation, perhaps a figment of her imagination, as if one of the dark silhouettes suddenly moved.
"Creak."
"Creak."
To ensure a clear line of sight, Jiang Qingluan had to keep moving, but it wasn’t enough to give her any real sense of security. Most importantly, she was running out of time.
The suffocating darkness kept eroding her sanity. She paced faster, wanting to open the door for some fresh air, but the moment her fingers touched the door, she hesitated and gave up. Now was an excellent opportunity to confirm those abnormalities that she couldn’t pinpoint in a short time.
Opening the door would have given her the sense of safety she missed, but at the same time, her plan would fall apart.
She knew what was more important.
Pushing the door shut firmly, Jiang Qingluan turned around again and walked into the darkness, this time moving much slower, every step taken with care.
"Creak."
"Creak."
...
Until she stopped moving; at that instant, Jiang Qingluan’s tense expression finally shifted. She heard something.
She took a step forward.
"Creak."
Then stepped back to where she was.
"Creak."
"Creak——"
Indeed... There was an issue!!
She looked down at the floor beneath her feet, the wood planks were filthy but showed no sign of problems. However, what was odd was that each time she stepped on it, there were two creaking sounds.
And the second sound was definitely not right. Listening carefully, she realized the noise wasn’t coming from under her feet but from somewhere around her.
The tail-end of the sound was longer, not something a floorboard crack would make. It sounded more like an old door being opened, or the scrape of a dirty shoe sole on a table surface, or possibly a rope for hanging, suspending a body, gently swaying on the beam above.
These three scenes were forcefully crammed into Jiang Qingluan’s mind, and as she looked around, she uncovered a chilling truth.
Not far to her left, behind a chair, stood a mahogany wardrobe; the door wasn’t locked, revealing a slit like it could swing open at any moment.
To her right, a black square table was placed, with conspicuous scrape marks on the corner as if someone had stepped on it to hang themselves.
Besides, when she lifted her head and held the lantern high, the sight before her made her momentarily dazed. Right overhead, perfectly aligned, was a horizontal beam cloaked in darkness, with no clarity on whether it hid something or not.
It was but a brief hesitation; the light within the lantern grew fainter, and the surrounding darkness crept a step closer to Jiang Qingluan.
There was no more time; a decision had to be made. This place was fraught with danger, and choosing one of three options had too low of a probability for success.
Jiang Qingluan recalled Xiang Fengchen’s warning before she left to be wary of what was above her head, but that was only a reminder. She dared not bet on it, could not place her sole hope on a mere word from Xiang Fengchen, who was not a deity and couldn’t foresee all possibilities.
She had to resolve the anomalies within this room; otherwise, the responsibility would fall to Yang Xiao, and it was anyone’s guess what kind of chaos that could ensue, possibly leading to total annihilation. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Taking stock of her resources, she was left with a chance to use a handful of ash. Yet, on second thought, she realized she had two opportunities, the second being her own life. freēwēbnovel.com
It was no use keeping this body; once the candle burned out, she was done for.
Her Yi Sect shared its origins with the Japan Ghost Sect, both holding their own interpretations of spirits and gods. After a brief contemplation, she concocted a mad plan in her mind.
She sat down there and then, setting the lantern on the ground. Biting her finger harshly, she began drawing on the floor. She sketched three differently-sized frames, representing the left, center, and right rooms—the layout of the attic floor. She marked an ’X’ in the left room, a ’?’ in the central hall, and in the right room, where she currently was, she added an emphatic exclamation point.
This room had a problem; as long as Yang Xiao was no fool, he would see it.
Moreover, she marked three positions within the right room’s frame and wrote next to them:
Wardrobe.
Beam.
Square table.
Worrying that Yang Xiao would waste time, she bit her finger again, marking the floorboards that would make a sound twice when stepped on with her blood.
Then, she drew an arrow and marked "step" once.
With this instructions akin to a nanny’s guide, she was confident Yang Xiao would encounter no trouble. Now, it was time for what she had to do.
She left behind her remaining half packet of ashes, neatly folded and gently placed on the ground; she no longer needed them.
Staring intently at the blood-colored pattern on the ground, ensuring it was correct, Jiang Qingluan lifted her hand and wrote two characters behind the wardrobe:
Try.
Indeed, she was ready to use her body as a bargaining chip to verify if a Ghost hid here. If there was one, she would vanish. But to the subsequent visitor, Yang Xiao, this was an open-book test. Using the ashes she left behind, he would easily pass.
On the other hand, if opening the wardrobe door led to no issues, that would mean the wardrobe wasn’t problematic, and she could save her life to continue testing - a no-lose situation.
Time was running out; the candle was almost spent, perhaps 2 or 3 minutes left at most. She secured the remaining incense on her person and picked up the lantern, resolutely approaching the wardrobe. She took a deep breath and with a sudden grip, flung the door open.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
When she opened her eyes, Jiang Qingluan realized she was unharmed, still in the room, with no assaults, and the wardrobe inside was empty.
She quickly retreated to her previous spot, marking "safe" behind the wardrobe; she then added "try" after the words "square table."
This time, her target was the square table.
Approaching the table, she tried to touch the corner with the friction marks, but nothing unusual happened.
The candlelight was about to extinguish, flickering with Jiang Qingluan’s every move. With one hand on the table corner, she leapt onto the thick, dark-painted square table with an extremely agile and elegant motion, causing the tabletop to shake violently.
And just a second before the light went out, without a chance to straighten her body and while still looking down, Jiang Qingluan saw a terrifying sight - in front of her palm pressing on the table was a pair of tightly bound, deformed small feet.
The toes were touching, facing directly at her.
