Chapter 128 Descendant of the Xie Family, You've Finally Arrived

"Your contact information in Hong Kong has been sent to your phone. They are a retired couple of criminal police officers surnamed Chen, and they are reliable. They will take you to the vicinity of the tenement building and provide necessary support."

Zhou Wei concluded by saying, "Be careful and keep in touch."

After hanging up the phone, we arrived at the airport.

At 9:30 p.m., the airport was brightly lit.

Xie Xun and Fu Qinghuai exchanged boarding passes. During the security check, the magical artifacts and the bag of belongings in Xie Xun's bag naturally attracted attention.

But he was prepared and produced the "Folklore Research Sample Carrying Certificate" that Zhou Wei had coordinated, and passed through smoothly.

Inside the inner pocket of his canvas bag, a small snake, coiled up, cautiously peeked out, its cool scales brushing against Xie Xun's fingers before retracting.

Airport security wouldn't be able to detect it at all.

When Fu Qinghuai went through the security gate, the machine did not respond.

He completely concealed his physical form, making him undetectable by ordinary equipment.

In the waiting hall, Xie Xun seized the last bit of time to fold several special triangular symbols using the tracing paper, and made a few simple "probes" from the bamboo fragments.

"This thing will react when it gets close to the lantern itself."

He slipped a triangular talisman into Fu Qinghuai's pocket. "Your senses are stronger, take this."

Fu Qinghuai took it and scratched his palm with her fingertips: "So concerned about me?"

Xie Xun withdrew his hand, and Xiao Lü had already silently wrapped around his wrist, resting her head on the web of his hand, cautiously observing her surroundings.

An announcement came over the loudspeaker to announce boarding.

The two stood up and walked towards the boarding gate. Xiao Lü quickly slipped into Xie Xun's sleeve and hid it tightly.

The plane soared into the night sky, with twinkling stars and the dazzling lights of the city below visible through the windows.

Xie Xun closed his eyes to conserve his energy.

Fu Qinghuai leaned on his shoulder, his eyes closed, but his fingers gently hooked around Xie Xun's little finger.

Xie Xun's sleeve twitched slightly, and Xiao Lü peeked out, glanced at the night outside the window, then at Fu Qinghuai who was resting with his eyes closed, and finally gently rubbed against Xie Xun's wrist before curling up on him and staying still.

Two hours later, the plane landed at Hong Kong International Airport.

A humid sea breeze swept over me, carrying a bustling atmosphere completely different from that of Hangzhou.

As we exited the gate, a sprightly old man in a simple shirt was holding up a sign that read "Welcome Mr. Xie".

"Uncle Chen?" Xie Xun stepped forward.

"It's me, it's me,"

The old man smiled and nodded, his sharp gaze sweeping over the two of them. He paused for a moment at Xie Xun's sleeve, but didn't ask any further questions. He lowered his voice and said, "The car is outside. Come with me."

In the car, Uncle Chen quickly explained the situation while driving.

"The Liu Clan Ancestral Hall is not the one you investigated back then. There is also one that is involved in the underworld. It is located in an old tenement building in Kowloon City. That building is over sixty years old and has very few residents, mostly elderly people."

As he spoke, he glanced at Xie Xun in the rearview mirror. "That Liu Wenbai lives on the top floor, the same floor where the ancestral hall is located. Since the day before yesterday, no one in the entire building has dared to stay at night. Everyone says they hear children crying and women laughing, and there's also a green light."

Where are the police?

"I reported it to the police, but after the inspection they said they found nothing, so the matter was dropped."

Uncle Chen shook his head. "That area is chaotic and full of conflicting forces. The police don't want to get involved. My wife and I were stationed there before we retired, so we have some connections, but we can only help you on the outskirts."

The car drove into an old neighborhood, where the streetlights were dim and the streets were piled with clutter.

Uncle Chen stopped in front of a somewhat gloomy old tenement building.

"This is it. The seventh floor, the entire floor is the Liu family ancestral hall. This is the key to the back door, Liu Wenbai gave it to me before, saying that he could help look after it if anything happens."

He handed over a rusty key and then took out two old-fashioned walkie-talkies. "The channel is tuned. Call me if you need anything. My wife and I are waiting for you at the tea restaurant at the street corner."

Xie Xun took the keys and walkie-talkie: "Thank you."

“Be careful,” Uncle Chen said seriously, “this building…is eerie.”

Xie Xun and Fu Qinghuai got out of the car and looked up at Tanglou.

From a window on the seventh floor, there was a deep, almost viscous darkness.

Little Green slowly crawled out of Xie Xun's clothes, raised its head slightly, and silently flicked its tongue towards the seventh floor.

Xie Xun withdrew his gaze and looked at the old Tang Dynasty building in front of him.

The walls were peeling and cracked, revealing blackened cement underneath. Most of the windows were broken and haphazardly covered with planks or newspapers. At the entrance was a heavy iron gate, rusty but with a surprisingly new lock.

It seems that Liu Wenbo was very careful about security during his lifetime.

"Take the stairs?" Fu Qinghuai asked.

The elevators in these old buildings are probably more dangerous than the stairs.

"Um."

Xie Xun used the key to open the small door on the side of the iron gate, and a strong musty smell mixed with incense ash and some indescribable sweet and fishy smell rushed out.

There were no lights in the stairwell, only the faint light from the distant streetlights shining through the broken windows.

The steps were covered in a thick layer of dust, but there were a few fresh, wet footprints that stretched upwards.

The footprints were small, like those of a child, but the strides were large, almost two steps at a time.

Fu Qinghuai was the first to step onto it.

Wherever he walked, the dust automatically parted to both sides, as if there was an invisible force field.

Xie Xun followed behind, holding a triangular talisman in his left hand and his right hand hanging by his side. The small snake in his sleeve was already tense, ready to strike at any moment.

When I climbed to the third floor, the temperature dropped significantly.

A thin layer of water droplets condensed on the walls, and the air was damp, cold, and sticky.

At the corner of the stairs, there were several old dolls, missing arms and legs, with eerie smiles drawn on their faces in red pen, and holes gouged out where their eyes should have been.

The sound started coming from the fourth floor.

It was very soft, like many people whispering at the same time.

I couldn't hear the words clearly, but I could sense the resentment, fear, and...hunger within them.

On the fifth floor, scratches began to appear on the walls of the staircase.

Fresh, dark red marks, as if someone had scratched them out with fingernails. The scratches formed crooked, illegible words:

"Hungry"

"cold"

Let me out.

On the sixth floor, the light bulb in the stairwell suddenly made two "buzzing" sounds and lit up.

It emitted a ghostly green light!

In an instant, the entire space was illuminated as if it were a ghostly realm.

Under the light, a drag mark of blood could be clearly seen on the floor, extending from under a door of one of the apartments all the way to the stairwell on the seventh floor.

The heavy wooden door on the seventh floor was ajar at that moment.

From the crack in the door, a rich green light flowed out as if it were alive, accompanied by a deep, buzzing sound that seemed to be countless people overlapping.

Fu Qinghuai stopped at the corner of the stairs on the sixth floor and raised his hand to stop Xie Xun.

Something's not right.

He narrowed his almond-shaped eyes slightly. "It's going too smoothly. From the moment we came in, it's been guiding us upwards."

Xie Xun also sensed it.

The terrifying scenes along the way were more like a meticulously arranged stage, just waiting for them to step into the center of the final stage.

"It's waiting for us to go in."

Xie Xun looked at the half-open door. "There's probably a trap set inside."

"Shall we go in?" Fu Qinghuai asked, his tone as casual as if he were asking "What should we eat tonight?"

Xie Xun took out the "probes" made of bamboo strips from his canvas bag.

As soon as the probe appeared, it began to vibrate violently, its tip pointing directly at the wooden door on the seventh floor, where frost even quickly formed on its surface.

"That's right."

Xie Xun put away the probe and touched the little green thing that was ready to go in his sleeve. "Since we're already here..."

He walked to the wooden door on the seventh floor, but instead of pushing it open directly, he stuck a triangular talisman on the crack in the door.

The talisman instantly burst into flames, but not normal flames; instead, they glowed a ghostly green!

Flames spread along the crack in the door, outlining a complete, eerie rune that sealed the entire door.

Those were the patterns on the leather fragments that Liu Wenbai had sent!

"Sure enough, the door itself was part of the trap."

Xie Xun took a half step back. "Forcing the door open will trigger this devouring rune array."

"Simple."

Fu Qinghuai stepped forward, extended his index finger, and a point of extreme black light condensed at the tip of his finger.

He gently tapped a node of the rune on the door panel.

A soft "pop" sound.

It was like popping a bubble.

The eerie green flames burning on the door were extinguished instantly, and the spreading rune lines broke apart inch by inch, turning into black ash and falling away.

The wooden door, freed from all its restraints, creaked open slowly on its own.

Behind the door was an extremely spacious space that had been completely transformed beyond recognition.

This place should have been the main hall of the ancestral hall, but at this moment, all the ancestral tablets have been overturned and smashed, scattered all over the ground.

Instead, the walls, ceilings, and even the floors were covered with dense runes drawn on them with something that looked like dried blood.

In the center of the hall, there were no statues of gods or offering tables.

There was only one enormous lantern, its skin almost completely blackened, hanging in mid-air.

Beneath the lantern, a person sits cross-legged.

She was dressed in a neat Tang suit, her hair was combed meticulously, and she had her back to them; she was slightly plump.

Upon hearing the door open, the person slowly turned their head, their movements stiff.

It's Liu Wenbai.

Or rather, it is Liu Wenbai's "corpse".

His face was a deathly bluish-gray, his eyes were wide open, and his pupils were dilated.

His mouth stretched upwards in an extremely unnatural arc, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.

At that moment, a voice carrying a sinister laugh emanated from his chest, echoing throughout the ancestral hall:

"Descendant of the Xie family...you've finally arrived..."

"I've been waiting for you... for so long..."