Chapter 106

Although it is not known how that group of people determined their location, it seems that for some reason they cannot directly expose this matter and they need to pretend.

But if they hit you head-on, there's no telling what would happen.

While the servants were away, the two men tiptoed out of the house and randomly ran into another room to hide.

Johnny finally dared to speak out loud, using hand gestures to speak incoherently: "That person is abnormal. I just saw someone sprain her ankle. It was completely dislocated, but she was still able to walk! They were still smiling at me. They knew I was under the bed."

Lu Jiamu glanced at him, but for fear of scaring him, he did not tell him that he had seen a human skeleton specimen in the mezzanine.

Johnny asked in a low voice again: "She's been taken away, what should we do? Should we go and save her? Or should we look for someone else first?"

As soon as Johnny finished asking, the two of them looked out the window and saw a group of maids downstairs carrying a large wardrobe and panting out of the castle. They didn't know where they were going.

Lu Jiamu thought for a moment and said, "Let's go see if there's anyone on the first floor. If there's no one, we'll go out first. If there is, we'll go upstairs."

After agreeing, they took action immediately. Lu Jiamu walked in front and Johnny followed behind. The two of them walked to the stairs together and looked down.

The first floor was empty. I didn't know if they had all gone to move the cabinet or if all the remaining people had gone upstairs.

Seeing this, the two immediately ran out of the castle and found a corner along the castle wall that was not easily discovered to hide.

As soon as they hid, they saw that the group of maids who had carried the wardrobe had returned empty-handed.

Johnny's eyes lit up when he saw this. He thought that since these people had thrown the wardrobe away as waste, now was a good time for them to go look for the wardrobe.

However, Lu Jiamu noticed that the soles of the shoes of the middle-aged woman in the lead were soaked, and the skirts of several other maids were also wet.

After he finished reading, he whispered, "They must have gone to the water just now."

As soon as these words came out, Johnny had a bad feeling in his heart.

The two immediately ran to the artificial lake behind the old house. Under the clear water, there was indeed an old wardrobe at the bottom of the lake. At this moment, it looked like a heavy coffin.

They had just taken out the wardrobe in which the dark-haired girl had been hidden and thrown it into the lake.

Lu Jiamu walked two steps to the lakeside, but he didn't intend to jump in to save her immediately. He just said calmly: "If she is still in there, there is no hope for her."

The wardrobe had been sunk for some time, and if there was someone inside, they would have suffocated to death.

Moreover, the lake is so deep and filled with strange-looking carnivorous fish. Even if Lu Jiamu could avoid their attacks and successfully dive to the bottom of the lake, it would be difficult for him to bring up a complete body.

What's more, his hand was burned before and has not healed yet. If he touches water carelessly, it may cause infection. Blindly rescuing him now is completely useless and will not benefit anyone.

Johnny naturally knew that the other party was right, but when he looked at the wardrobe under the clear water, he still felt a little suffocated.

He couldn't lose his temper with Lu Jiamu, so he could only say angrily: "They did it on purpose."

Lu Jiamu pointed and said, "It's possible that the person is not in there, but was caught in advance. Look at the cabinet door."

Johnny bravely approached the lake, and just as he took a closer look, a shadow jumped out of the water.

Johnny was prepared. When he saw the shadow coming, he immediately stepped back and was not bitten by the strange fish.

Under Lu Jiamu's guidance, he also noticed that the door of the cabinet in the water was not stuck by the broom.

This means that if the black-haired girl had not been knocked unconscious by the cabinet falling to the ground at the beginning, she would have had a chance to get out. But it is unknown whether the servants would knock her unconscious again and stuff her back after discovering her.

Although the black-haired girl had definitely been caught and her life or death was unknown, Johnny still hoped that she was not in the closet, because that meant that the two of them had just turned a blind eye and killed her.

He touched his nose and asked, "Do you think there's a high probability that there's no one inside?"

Lu Jiamu didn't know, and he had no intention of verifying it. It was obviously not worth taking a big risk just to prove something that could not be changed.

Neither of them wanted to go back to the old house immediately, but they did not dare to enter the sea of ​​red flowers or the wild grass outside.

The text prompts them to come in and steal something, but they haven't even seen the shadow of the ruby. If they try to leave now, they will definitely encounter something unexpected, such as getting lost in the weeds and being unable to get out.

Lu Jiamu turned around and observed Johnny carefully. It had been several hours since he had just come in and drank a lot of water, but he had not shown any adverse reactions.

Seeing that he was safe and sound, Lu Jiamu took out the bottle of water he had filled earlier and started drinking.

After drinking, he walked around again, found a big branch, waved it twice to get the feel, then returned to the lake, found a higher place to stand, turned around and looked at Johnny: "Come here."

When Coleman was away, Johnny was very afraid of this area of ​​water and the ugly fish in it. Seeing Lu Jiamu standing by the lake and calling him, he was alarmed: "What are you doing?"

Lu Jiamu pointed to where he was standing and said, "Come here."

Johnny swallowed and took a step back in fear: "What is it?"

Lu Jiamu pulled the corner of his mouth, revealing a sincere smile that was particularly comforting: "You must be hungry, do you want to have dinner? I'll treat you to dinner."

The ugly fish in this lake have some ability to recognize people and have a good memory. After the first few attempts to bite Lu Jiamu who was standing by the water, they bit the air. Now when they see Lu Jiamu again, they are no longer attracted to him.

Johnny realized: "You...just want to eat that?"

Such an ugly fish? When he said it was edible after grilling, Johnny thought he was just saying it casually.

"Change the taste." Lu Jiamu replied, "Besides, what else can I eat if not this?"

This is what it means to use yourself as live bait.

Johnny felt that he was now as terrifying as the servants in the castle.

Lu Jiamu advised him: "Deep-sea fish also look ugly, but people still eat them."

Johnny replied: "I have never been to the beach, and deep-sea fish is not sold where I live."

Johnny hesitated for a moment between being obedient and offending him now, and then facing the unknown danger outside alone. Finally, he turned around and ran: "And I'm not hungry!"

But Lu Jiamu had already seen from the expression on his face that he was planning to run, and he immediately chased after him as soon as he saw him move.

Johnny immediately fought back, but was still subdued in a few moves.

Lu Jiamu dragged him back to the artificial lake: "Just stand here obediently."

In the past four days, they mainly ran all the way, and every time they needed to fight, it was Coleman who went up. Johnny didn't observe Lu Jiamu's ability carefully, so he thought that when the two of them were alone, without other helpers, even if they couldn't fight, they could still succeed by escaping. Moreover, the opponent was injured, which could increase his chances of escaping successfully.

I didn't expect reality to be so cruel.

But at least Lu Jiamu just dragged him back and didn't kill him immediately, and it didn't seem like he had any intention of throwing him into the lake.

Johnny stood obediently at the position designated by Lu Jiamu.

Lu Jiamu took the branch he had picked up and jumped to where he had been standing before.

Because they were too close to the lake, Johnny's shadow was reflected on the water. The shadows swimming slowly in the lake paused for a moment, and then swam towards this side quickly.

They swam back and forth on the shore for only a few moments before they were convinced that the terrible woman who had disturbed them before was not there, and that the tempting piece of meat was very close to the water surface, causing the water to suddenly explode.

They swung their tails, jumped out of the water with great force, and pounced on Johnny.

Johnny was so scared when he saw the ugly fish opening its bloody mouth full of fangs in front of him, ready to bite off his head. His legs went weak.

Lu Jiamu was quick-witted and swung a thick branch the moment the strange fish rushed out of the water, and hit the strange fish's belly at a precise angle.

The strange fish was hit by this blow, and the angle of its leap was instantly affected. It was knocked to the shore and began to struggle on the ground.

Johnny was stunned.

The ugly fish came out of the water very quickly. Johnny thought that if he was used as bait, he would inevitably be bitten a few times and exchange his body with fish for their dinner. But he didn't expect that even at such a fast speed, he would be hit by Lu Jiamu's club.

His dynamic vision, reaction speed, and even skills must be amazing to accomplish such a precise strike.

Five more strange fish jumped out of the water, but they were all knocked away by Lu Jiamu's club. The other shadows probably noticed this change and stopped jumping out recklessly, but swam around the shore.

Seeing that the fish would not jump out on their own again and that six strange fish were enough to eat, Lu Jiamu signaled Johnny to move on his own.

He also left the shore, turned the branch in his hand, and ruthlessly knocked to death all the ugly fish that were still floundering on the ground: "You should actually trust me more."

In order not to scare the other fish in the water and make them afraid to appear again, Lu Jiamu did not deal with the dead fish in front of them. Instead, he filled the water with some lake water and took Johnny away.

The two men found a deserted corner outside the castle. Johnny used a scalpel to cut open the fish's belly and take out the internal organs, while Lu Jiamu tentatively crossed the sea of ​​bright red flowers to pull out the weeds.

Perhaps because his action was just to grill the fish and he did not actually enter the area of ​​the weeds, he did not attract any crazy behind-the-scenes manipulation of the text prompts, and nothing unexpected happened along the way.

When Lu Jiamu came back from pulling weeds, Johnny had already processed a few strange fish and skewered one on a stick. The two of them lit a fire and started grilling the fish.

Although Johnny felt that the fish looked really ugly and its eating habits were unclear, and it might even eat people, but after it was roasted it tasted surprisingly good, completely different from the strange tentacles he had eaten for several days before.

Johnny thought: This might be the difference between river fish and seafood.

Moreover, the psychological feelings they bring to people are completely different.

When Johnny ate tentacles before, he knew they were monsters. But when he ate these fish, all he thought about was that they were ugly.

After eating three fish in one go, it was already completely dark. The sound of bells rang throughout the manor.

Lu Jiamu immediately put out the fire, asked Johnny for his coat to wrap up the uneaten fish, dug two pits not far away, one for burying the fish bones and the other for the remaining fish, then stood up and looked around carefully.

Along with the sound of bells, the lights in the entire castle lit up, and it suddenly became magnificent. The red flowers planted in a circle around the castle were even more gorgeous against the light.

Nothing strange happened in the manor, but after a while, six people walked out from the weeds and came to the main gate of the castle.

A couple in elaborate and gorgeous clothes walked out of the castle and stood at the door with several servants to greet the visitors. This couple should be the owner and mistress of the castle.

Johnny was now very afraid of those strange people in the castle and didn't want to go in. Lu Jiamu didn't force him and quietly approached the main gate.

Among the six people who had just arrived, the two young men walking in front were wearing black suits. Their clothes were simple and looked relatively cheap.

Following behind them was an adult couple, a little boy and a little girl, and they looked like a family.

The two young men in formal attire walked up to the owner of the castle, and one of them greeted him politely, "I'm really sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. The way here was not easy."

Another one also said: "It's so late to bother you."

"The manor has been neglected, and the grass has grown a little tall." The hostess, who was wearing a complicated long dress, lifted the hem of her skirt gently and bowed to them in a very old-fashioned manner. "It's okay. My husband and I are always focused on business during the day and have no time to entertain guests. We can only let you come at night. It's really hard for you to come so far. We will definitely entertain you well later."

The two young men who came forward to greet each other had a subtle expression of embarrassment on their faces. It was unclear whether they were embarrassed by the hostess's classical style or by the word "business" she mentioned.

The manor is in such a dilapidated state that anyone with a discerning eye can tell that the family has fallen into such a state of destitution that how can they still have any business?

But the two young men still pretended to bow as well: "Excuse me for disturbing you."

The two children at the back were probably very bored along the way, and now that they had finally gotten out of the wasteland, they started playing with each other. The woman who seemed to be their mother called them softly several times but they didn't stop.

The hostess of the manor stared at the two children with dull eyes.

The new woman thought that the children were too noisy and made the hostess unhappy, so she smiled awkwardly: "I'm so sorry, I made them both feel uncomfortable all the way here."

The lady of the manor looked at the two children and slowly raised her lips: "Children of this age are very lively, fresh and tender. They are very good."

The woman felt that she was a little strange, her smile froze for a moment, and she waved to the two children to come over quickly. The two children seemed to sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and this time they came over obediently.

The woman looked at the brightly colored flowers planted all around and praised them, "These flowers you planted are really beautiful. I have never seen them before and I don't know what kind they are. You must have taken good care of them, right?"

"They are imported varieties, very rare, but not rare flowers. It's normal that you haven't seen them before." The manor hostess still had that slightly weird smile on her face. "As long as there is fertilizer, these flowers will grow well and have strong vitality. You don't need to take special care of them."

The woman nodded. The man next to her looked around and said, "But the weeds in this manor have grown so tall. It's creepy on the way here. Why don't you tidy it up?"

The lady of the manor smiled and replied, "Indeed. But that is also why we are selling it at such a low price. You can't buy such a large manor at this price anywhere else."

The two young men in formal suits walking in front were also laughing: "Yes, this price is really rare. If you don't act quickly, someone else might get it first. After you move in, you can take good care of it, and it will still be very beautiful."

Lu Jiamu hid in the corner, watched them, and listened to their conversation.

The previous text prompt said something like "new outsider visitor", and Lu Jiamu thought it was something else, but it turned out to be the agent coming to show the house.

The hostess of the manor greeted them with unnatural enthusiasm: "Please come in, my guests who have come from afar. Let me show you around."

Several people entered the castle together.

Lu Jiamu did not follow immediately, but turned around and went back to find Johnny.

Johnny was hiding in the corner, and when he saw him coming back he asked, "What are they doing here?"

Lu Jiamu replied: "They are here to buy a house."

"Buy a house?" Johnny was a little uneasy. "If they reach a deal, will this family move out immediately? We haven't found their big baby yet."

Lu Jiamu asked back: "Do you think they will move away if they get the money?"

"Not likely. I bet whoever lives in this manor will be unlucky." Johnny shook his head immediately. "Then what should we do next? The three of them are still in the castle and haven't come out yet, and there's also that girl. Should we go look for them?"

Compared to Lu Jiamu, Kou Man can give people a sense of security. But the castle is also scary.

"Let's wait here for a while."

The manor was large and desolate, but because of that, the two of them could hide in a corner without being discovered.

Half an hour later, the two young men in formal attire who had entered earlier walked out of the castle gate while smiling and greeting the servants in the manor.

As soon as they walked out of the door, the friendly smiles on the two men's faces disappeared immediately.

One of them took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, gave one to his companion, and then lit it.

Two people strolled towards the corner where Lu Jiamu and Johnny were huddled, but because it was too dark, they didn't notice that there were two people hiding there.

One of them shuddered and spoke first, whispering, "This shabby house, I feel creepy if I stay in here for one more second."

"Yeah, it's like a haunted house. It feels like the whole house is full of dirt. This broken manor can only be used to deceive outsiders who don't know the situation." The other one took a puff of cigarette, looked back, and saw that there was no one, so he complained, "Don't you think it's strange? Why do they have so many servants?"

The young man nodded, his face solemn. "It's strange. I've heard that their house has been abandoned for many years, and they never hired servants. And seeing how poor they are, can they afford so many servants?"

"Maybe they were hired today to keep up appearances." Another person laughed, "Anyway, it's good that we've found the scapegoat. We won't be responsible for what happens next."

"They seemed quite satisfied just now."

"Oh, this is a shabby place. I wouldn't live there even if you gave me money."

The two young men were smoking and chatting, while Lu Jiamu and Johnny hid in the dark and listened quietly.

It turns out that these two intermediaries also did the work for money.

People within a few kilometers knew that the manor had been abandoned for many years and was very strange. There were also rumors, whether true or not, that people often disappeared near the castle or after entering the castle, and that strange and creepy noises were often heard in the manor.

The two young men knew this, of course. But just last month, the Vincent family sent them a letter, inviting them to come and see the house, announcing that they had decided to sell the manor, and that they would receive a generous share of the proceeds as a reward.

So the two men paid a personal visit.

Although this shabby manor seemed weird and dilapidated, the reward promised by the manor owner was very generous, and the selling price was very low. The whole thing seemed like pie in the sky.

So even though they felt something was wrong everywhere, they still took the order because of the money.

But there is no market for this manor in the vicinity. Rich people look down on it, poor people cannot afford it, its status is awkward, and its reputation is very bad.

The two young men had to find ways to trick outsiders into coming to see the house, and they also made up all kinds of stories about the manor to justify selling it at a low price.

In a nutshell, they are two black middlemen.

Last week, they finally found a family from another place who wanted to move and yearned for a large estate but did not have much spare money. They strongly recommended this estate to them and claimed that the owner of the estate was about to go bankrupt, so the price was unprecedentedly low and that if they missed it, there would be no other chance.

As Johnny listened, he began to get angry, feeling that they were truly lacking in virtue.

After complaining about the castle, the two young men began to imagine how they would spend the generous share of the money, and the topic began to go off track.

After chatting for a while, the main door of the castle opened again.

The woman holding the two children leaned out and looked around, calling out, "Mr. David, Mr. John?"

The two young men put out their cigarettes, straightened their suits, put big smiles on their faces again, and walked towards the door: "Madam, how is it? Very good, right?"

The woman smiled. “It is indeed very nice. Moreover, the two owners of the manor are very generous and invite us to stay here for one night.”

The mistress of the manor behind her withdrew her gaze from the child and smiled unnaturally at the two agents: "It's too late now, and this place is too remote. I'm afraid it will be dangerous if I let you leave like this. Do you want to stay here for one night? We will prepare the best dinner for you."

The two young agents had just complained that the manor looked like a haunted house, so how could they be willing to stay here for a whole night? He immediately refused: "Thank you, but we won't bother you any more, ma'am. We can go back by ourselves."

The other one rubbed his hands and started a conversation meaningfully: "Then that..."

Apparently the woman was very satisfied with the visit. When she heard the agent say this, she immediately said in a good-tempered manner, "I have already talked to my wife. If nothing unexpected happens, we will sign the contract soon."

The agent who had just spoken smiled even more happily, "I'm glad you're satisfied. Such manors are indeed very rare. Have you finalized all the details?"

The woman looked back at the mistress of the manor, who nodded: "As long as you sign the contract and move in, our whole family will move out immediately."

As she spoke, she glanced at the two agents and said, "I will also pay you the promised compensation immediately."

A few people had a brief discussion and the matter was roughly settled.

The two young men said goodbye with a smile on their faces: "Then we won't bother you any more."

The hostess asked, "Shall I ask someone to take you there?"

They instinctively felt that the servants in this manor were also strange, and immediately refused: "No, no."

The hostess didn't try to persuade him to stay. She just nodded and asked someone to close the door.

Perhaps thinking about the benefits he was about to get, one of the young men laughed: "Ha!"

Another said, "Let's go."

Holding flashlights, they walked slowly into the sea of ​​bright red flowers planted around the manor.

There was obviously no wind, but all the petals were swaying left and right, emitting more floral fragrance.

Under the night sky, all the flowers seemed even more beautiful and charming, as if scarlet liquid could be squeezed out of every flower.

The agent sighed, "I didn't notice it before, but I just noticed it now. This flower is growing really well. I wonder if there is any secret to growing it."

As the two agents were walking, one of them suddenly asked in a low voice: "Do you feel...that something is not right?"

Johnny, who was hiding in the corner beside the castle, scratched his head and said, "I always feel like something is wrong."

Lu Jiamu stared at the backs of the two people who walked into the sea of ​​flowers, and nodded when he heard it: "Indeed. The flowers have suddenly grown taller."

"ah?"

Johnny was stunned for a moment, then sat up straight.

If you think about it, when they came in, the flowers didn't seem to be as high as their thighs. But when the two agents came in, the flowers were almost as high as their waists.

If these two people weren't so much shorter than them, it would be the flowers that had suddenly grown so much taller at some point in time.