Chapter 85: The Lights in the Ancestral Hall

The lamp must be stolen, but where to steal it becomes a problem.

They had once secretly taken a lamp from the mistress's house, which meant they could take it out, but with the mistress guarding it, there was definitely a certain risk. If they were caught stealing the lamp by the mistress, they would probably be slaughtered on the spot like a piglet.

In addition to the hostess's place, there were also oil lamps in the ancestral hall they had visited before, and the ones placed inside should also be human oil lamps made by the hostess using corpses.

In fact, Lin Qiushi felt very uncomfortable when he thought of the ancestral hall. If their guess was correct, the ancestral hall filled with oil lamps was likely to suppress something very cruel.

Just when Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming were struggling over where to get the lantern, they saw several members of the team stealthily leaving the yard.

Gu Longming spotted Yan Shihe among the group. He stood up and asked, "Yan Shihe is here too. Where are they going?!"

Lin Qiushi asked, "Are they out?"

Gu Longming nodded and looked at Lin Qiushi: "Should we follow them secretly? I have a feeling they are up to something."

Lin Qiushi thought for a moment and said, "Let's go."

So the two of them followed him out quietly.

There were four people in the group, one of whom was Yan Shihe. He stood in the middle of the group, whispering something to the others. Lin Qiushi vaguely overheard their conversation, but because they were so far away, he could only vaguely make out a few words: oil lamp, opportunity, and ancestral hall.

Although it was just a few words, it was enough to provide crucial information. Lin Qiushi knew where they wanted to go. These people clearly had the same idea as them: to steal the oil lamps from the ancestral hall! And since Yan Shihe was in the crowd, it was very likely that he was the one who instigated it.

Lin Qiushi frowned and said to Gu Longming, "They're going to steal the lamp."

Gu Longming was shocked: "What? Stealing the lantern? The ancestral hall?"

Lin Qiushi nodded.

Gu Longming said: "This..." He couldn't say it was a bad thing, because if these people could safely bring the lamp out of the ancestral hall, then they wouldn't have to take the risk of going to the hostess's residence.

Lin Qiushi said, "Let's follow and see first."

Fearing they might be discovered by the people ahead, Lin Qiushi and the others didn't dare to follow too closely. After walking down a few small paths, the magnificent ancestral hall built in the small town appeared before their eyes.

Yan Shihe and the people he brought with him walked directly into the ancestral hall.

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming, on the other hand, stayed close to the door, hiding in a corner and secretly peeking inside.

Lin Qiushi saw Yan Shihe through the crack in the door and heard his voice.

Yan Shihe was talking. He said, "Here are some oil lamps. Don't you need them? Hurry up and take them."

"Will it be okay if we really take it?" One of the men hesitated, looking around the ancestral hall filled with tablets. "It looks like there's something being enshrined here."

"Is it useful to worry about this now? Without the lamp, you will all die tonight." Yan Shihe said, "Why are you following me if you are so scared? If you don't want to take it, I will take it first." After he finished speaking, he reached out and took down an oil lamp. After extinguishing the burning wick on it, he put it directly into the pocket he was holding.

There was a moment of silence in the crowd, and everyone was a little surprised at Yan Shihe's decisiveness.

After a long wait of several minutes, nothing happened in the ancestral hall. Yan Shihe seemed very impatient. He said, "You guys keep dawdling. I'm leaving first." He left as soon as he said that and turned to walk towards the door.

When the others saw that nothing unexpected happened after Yan Shihe took the oil lamp, they also reached out and took the oil lamp closest to them.

After receiving the oil lamp, everyone smiled.

Lin Qiushi, who was standing outside the door, noticed an unusual sight. After these people took down the oil lamps and extinguished them, some dark red spots appeared on the dark ceiling of the ancestral hall.

Lin Qiushi initially thought the bright spots were light sources, but after careful observation, he discovered they were actually blood-red eyes. These eyes stared silently at the joyful figure holding an oil lamp below the ancestral hall, blinking slowly.

"What's dripping?" Something suddenly dripped onto someone's body. He was startled and wiped it with his finger. He found it was a drop of sticky liquid. Although it was transparent, it gave off a disgusting smell. It felt like something's... saliva.

The man was frightened by his own association. For a moment, he didn't dare to look up to see what was above his head. His steps towards the door involuntarily quickened a lot.

Yan Shihe, who was the first to get the oil lamp, had already stepped out of the gate of the ancestral hall.

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming were afraid of being discovered and did not dare to get too close. They hid in the grove next to the ancestral hall and saw the people inside coming out one after another.

One, two, three... The moment the third person stepped out of the ancestral hall, the door of the ancestral hall slammed shut.

The three people standing at the door were stunned when they saw the door suddenly close. The next moment, one of the girls turned around and started banging on the door, crying, "Xiao Jian, Xiao Jian—" It seemed that her teammate was trapped inside the ancestral hall.

There were shrill screams coming from inside the ancestral hall.

The scream should belong to the man called Xiaojian. No one knows what he encountered in there, but thick blood overflowed from the crack of the ancestral hall door, and the blood flowed out through the narrow gap and onto the ground, which looked particularly terrifying.

Lin Qiushi heard the sounds from within the ancestral hall. Although he didn't want to hear them, they still made their way into his ears. He heard Xiaojian's wails, the sound of flesh being torn apart, and the crisp, gurgling laughter of a child.

After a few minutes, everything returned to calm, and the door, which had remained motionless no matter how the people outside knocked, slowly opened again.

The woman who was banging on the door outside rushed in without caring about her own safety. However, there was nothing left in the ancestral hall except a pool of blood on the ground. The people who should have been inside had disappeared, as if they had never existed.

The woman lowered her head and picked up something from the floor tremblingly. It was a fingernail. She finally understood what had happened and burst into tears in pain.

Yan Shihe did not enter the ancestral hall again, but just stood at the door and watched from afar. Facing the death of others, his expression was not moved at all. He even raised his wrist to look at his watch, as if he felt that this was a waste of time.

"I'm going to smash this place, I'm going to smash all of you!" The woman who lost her companion was on the verge of emotional collapse. She grabbed a tablet and was about to smash it on the ground, but her raised hand was grabbed tightly by a pair of old hands that stretched out from behind her.

The woman turned around and saw the gatekeeper's old face with wrinkles all over it.

"You..." Before the woman could say anything, the gatekeeper grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the ancestral hall. The gatekeeper looked short, but he was very strong. He dragged the woman, who was only about 1.7 meters tall, out of the ancestral hall.

The woman struggled and cried, but the people walking with her had only indifference in their eyes. This was the world inside the door, a cruel world where one could lose their life at any time.

The woman who was thrown out of the ancestral hall gave up and knelt on the ground crying, almost fainting. She pointed at Yan Shihe and cursed, "You know, you must know, you just want to kill us!!!"

Yan Shihe's expression remained unchanged despite the woman's accusations. He said, "Everyone has their lights, right? I'm leaving now."

The others who received the oil lamps showed gratitude to him and said, "Brother Yan, let's go together."

No one paid any attention to the woman who was emotionally broken by the loss of her teammates.

Gu Longming spat at the scene and said, "It's obvious that Yan Shihe is not a good person."

Lin Qiushi agreed, "Indeed."

It seems that the lights in the ancestral hall can indeed be taken, but there is a limit on the quantity. When a certain number is taken and the quantitative change leads to a qualitative change, the things in the ancestral hall will come out.

Gu Longming licked his lips and said, "Linlin, what should we do?"

Lin Qiushi said, "I suddenly had an idea. If everything goes well, we shouldn't have to go to the hostess's courtyard."

Gu Longming asked: "What idea?"

Lin Qiushi said nothing, but turned around and said, "Let's go."

The two men followed the path back to the courtyard. As they passed the street, they saw several townspeople carrying live pigs toward the river again. This time, there were only two pigs, and more people were playing music. This seemed like a signal, reminding them that the River God Festival was approaching.

Lin Qiushi finally stopped outside Yan Shihe's room, and then took out a hairpin from his pocket.

Gu Longming stared with his eyes wide open: "Linlin, what are you going to do..."

Lin Qiushi whispered, "Unlock it." He bent down and quickly inserted the hairpin into the keyhole. After a few seconds, the big lock in front of him opened.

Gu Longming admired and said, "Awesome."

Lin Qiushi always felt that this scene was a little familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he found that this was just a replica of Ruan Nanzhu, except that now he played the role of Ruan Nanzhu.

"What are we doing here? Looking for the oil lamp?" Gu Longming looked around. "But maybe he hid the oil lamp..."

Lin Qiushi said, "I've seen them, and at least they don't have it with them." The oil lamp was made of bronze and wasn't lightweight, weighing at least three or four pounds. Furthermore, Lin Qiushi noticed that Yan Shihe didn't have a backpack, while his friend Xiao Qian only had a shoulder bag that was barely big enough to hold the lamp. This meant they definitely didn't have the lamp with them; it was either in the room or hidden somewhere else.

After searching the house, the two finally found what they were looking for under the bed. Yan Shihe's oil lamp was indeed hidden in a hidden place under the bed.

After Gu Longming turned the lamp out, he couldn't help but curse.

The reason for the swearing was simple, because there was not just one oil lamp under the riverbed of Master Yan, but five or six oil lamps neatly placed underneath. It seemed that they were the oil lamps that the others had lost.

"This Yan Shihe is such a fucking piece of shit." Gu Longming cursed, "It's a shame he could do such a thing!"

He stole other people's oil lamps and then created the illusion that the lamps were destroyed. In fact, he took all the things into his pocket. He also encouraged others to steal lamps from the ancestral hall and eventually lost his life.

Seeing these lights, Lin Qiushi felt even more uncomfortable with Yan Shihe. He always felt that Yan Shihe seemed to know something from the moment he entered the door.

Lin Qiushi had seen such a situation once before, in the world of the Girl in the Rain, by the human traitor who killed people with a picture frame.

Could it be that Yan Shihe also... Lin Qiushi frowned tightly when he thought of this.

"Hey? There seems to be something else under his bed..." Gu Longming found that he had taken out something from behind the oil lamp. "Family...family tree?"

Lin Qiushi took it and looked at it, and found that it was the family tree that Yan Shihe had mentioned to them.

He turned to the first page and found that there was a photo in the family tree. Although the photo was black and white, he could still recognize that the person in it was the hostess of the yard.

After flipping through a few pages, Lin Qiushi was stunned. This family tree looked more like a record than a family tree. It was almost entirely filled with photos of the hostess and her children. Her face was expressionless, and she always held a child in her arms. Some of the children were crying, some were laughing, but it was obvious that they were not the same person.

And surprisingly, none of these children were named differently: they were all Yu Caizhe. There wasn't even a single mention of the male host, as if from beginning to end, there were only the hostess and the children.

Gu Longming also vaguely understood something. He looked at Lin Qiushi and said, "These children aren't hers at all, right?!"

Lin Qiushi said, "Maybe."

Yu Caizhe is just a code name and does not refer to a specific child. Any child adopted by the hostess will be named Yu Caizhe.

Lin Qiushi glanced at the timeline of the family tree and said, "Let's go, take this with you."

Gu Longming: "Then our coming in would be exposed."

Lin Qiushi smiled faintly, "Didn't you say you were a ghost catcher outside? You must be quite skilled at deceiving and cheating people."

Gu Longming defended himself: "Only occasionally, occasionally. Most of the time I am still an upright and good citizen."

Lin Qiushi: "Not an upright high school girl anymore?"

Gu Longming said shyly: "If you need me to turn into a high school girl to make you happy..."

Lin Qiushi: “…” Why is it suddenly so disgusting?

"We're going to steal the lamp anyway, so let it be exposed. Besides, he's probably the one who replaced our lamp." Lin Qiushi put the family tree into his bag unceremoniously. "Let's bring a few extra lamps as backup."

"Okay." Gu Longming put all the things into his bag. He didn't like Yan Shihe in the first place, so he was naturally very happy to be able to trick Yan Shihe.

After the two packed their things, they left Yan Shihe's room. They first hid the lamps they brought with them in a corner close to their room, and then carried a lamp with them to prevent accidents. Of course, they also did not forget to put the family tree in their bag.

Yan Shihe soon discovered that the house had been robbed. His face was black during lunch, and his eyes wandered among the crowd, finally landing on Lin Qiushi's face as he was eating slowly.

Lin Qiushi's expression remained unchanged. Facing Yan Shihe's gaze, he simply raised his eyes and asked, "What's the matter?"

Yan Shihe smiled: "Have you found any new clues?"

"New clues?" Lin Qiushi asked. "Even if I find them, do you have any clues you can exchange with me?"

Yan Shihe: "That depends on what you found out."

Lin Qiushi said nothing, but just looked at Yan Shihe quietly.

"Okay, if you're willing, we can make another deal." Yan Shihe said. Although he was talking about making a deal, there was a hint of inquiry in his eyes. He obviously wanted to see how Lin Qiushi would react to his words.

But Lin Qiushi's reaction disappointed Yan Shihe. He wiped his mouth, as if pondering something, and finally said, "I have nothing to exchange with you." His words were brief and his attitude was firm.

Yan Shihe said, "Oh, so you stayed in the yard all morning?"

Lin Qiushi asked, "I went to see the sacrifice by the river. What exactly do you want to ask?"

Yan Shihe smiled, stood up and said, "It's okay, I just asked casually." He turned and left.

Four people have died now, plus the person who died in the ancestral hall this morning, making a total of five dead people. There are still seven living people left. So after discovering that the things were missing, Lin Qiushi became Yan Shihe's first target of suspicion. No, in fact, Yan Shihe had almost convicted Lin Qiushi and the others.

Fortunately, Lin Qiushi didn't care about this. After finishing lunch, he and Gu Longming got up and left.

Yan Shihe's gloomy eyes fell behind Lin Qiushi.

Seeing this, Xiao Qian asked, "Brother Yan, are these the lamps and family tree they took away?"

Yan Shihe said, "Who else could it be besides them?" He said in a cold voice, "Aren't the others in this sect all useless trash?" He was referring to the remaining three people, and he was a little annoyed. "If you hadn't refused to carry the family tree, there wouldn't have been so much trouble."

Xiao Qian defended herself, "I... I'm scared too..." She didn't want to carry the family tree covered with black and white photos of the hostess on her back.

"Now it's all gone." Yan Shihe sneered, "They stole it all."

"But we've already seen it. It doesn't matter if they take it away, right?" Xiao Qian muttered. "It's not an important prop anyway."

Yan Shihe gave Xiao Qian a cold look and said, "It's a miracle that you're still alive."

Xiao Qian was speechless.

After lunch, Lin Qiushi randomly found a servant in the courtyard and asked about the history of the courtyard.

The servant said that this courtyard has a history of more than a hundred years and has gone through three generations, the most recent generation being the mistress's generation.

Lin Qiushi asked again about the specific date of this world, and the servant replied with a number.

Gu Longming immediately realized something was wrong and said, "1867? That's impossible—"

He was about to say something when Lin Qiushi stopped him and said with a smile, "We understand. Thank you."

The servant who was asked the question just waved his hand casually, indicating that it was okay, and turned away.

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming locked gazes. He asked, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Gu Longming said: "I understand."

The date the family tree was created is the same as when the house was built, and a photo of the hostess is posted below that date. There is no timeline on the family tree, only the date when it was created. However, if you don't know the actual date, you might not think this tree is special.

Gu Longming said: "She has actually lived for over a hundred years..."

Lin Qiushi said, "It's certain she's not human anymore."

"Is this important?" Gu Longming was a little confused. "Is she a human being that we can't afford to offend?"

Lin Qiushi shook his head: "No, this is very important. Her different identity means that the way we treat her must be different." If it was a human, perhaps they could still fight her, but if it was a ghost, then there was absolutely no possibility for them to force the hostess.

Gu Longming scratched his head and seemed to understand.

"I have a feeling the clue to the key lies with her," Lin Qiushi said. "If we have a chance tomorrow, we'd better go check her room again."

Gu Longming nodded: "Okay."

Lin Qiushi said, "There's also a story about this house..." He glanced at the sky. "Let's go. Let's go around the town. The people there should know something."

So Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming left the yard and took a walk around the small town.

The small town was not big, and the thick fog surrounding it isolated it into an isolated island. They asked some residents in the city on the street, but their attitudes were very cautious and they did not want to talk much about the matter of the Yu family's yard.

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming both felt quite helpless.

Gu Longming said, "Why don't we go to a restaurant and sit down. I'm hungry and I don't know if the food in this world is good."

Seeing that there was no breakthrough, Lin Qiushi nodded and said okay.

The two walked into the restaurant, found a random table and sat down. Just as they were about to ask the waiter to take their order, they heard the sound of a wake-up stick hitting the table.

"It's said that it rained heavily that year for seven days and seven nights..." Lin Qiushi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a storyteller in old clothes. He stood in the middle of the tavern, holding a wake-up stick and speaking loudly, "The city was about to be flooded, but then a family came up with a way to control the flood. That method was to offer sacrifices to the river god to stop the incessant downpour—"

When Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming heard the words "Yu family", their eyes widened slightly. They didn't expect to hear the story about the Yu family compound in this way.

The author has something to say: The reason the ghost turns into blood when it enters other rooms is because there's no oil lamp in those rooms. Lin Qiushi and his friends' rooms have lights, so the ghost can't turn into blood. This isn't a bug, nor is it a cheat code. I just wanted to explain it to some people, as they're confused.