The next day, Lu Ban arrived at a villa area which was a 30-minute drive from Jiangcheng University.
Although this is called a villa area, there are actually not many wealthy people living here. Most of the villas are rented out or used to grow grass. At the end of the year, college students from Jiangcheng University often come here to rent villas for the day and play all night long.
Of course, even so, the price of the villas here is very expensive, which Lu Ban cannot afford now.
"...If you want to play video games, the game room here has various consoles and several computers. It's no problem to play games. There's a billiard room in the basement, and the kitchen is also available. There's no one in the villas around here, so you can stay up all night without worrying about disturbing others..."
The daily rental agent introduced the condition of the villa to Lu Ban.
"Can I use the swimming pool here?"
Lu Ban glanced at the swimming pool which had no water in it.
"...Of course, if you need it, we can arrange for cleaning. Just pay an extra cleaning fee."
The agent was stunned. He didn't expect Lu Ban to have such a refined taste.
Swimming pools are difficult to maintain, and generally no one comes to swim in a villa for daily rental, so he never thought that Lu Ban would have such a request.
"Okay, then I'll just pay for two days and have it cleaned before noon tomorrow."
Lu Ban is very generous. The daily rent of a house is only more than 3,000 yuan, which is very cheap compared to his own life.
The next day at noon, he came to the villa with some things for the night, but saw that the lights were on in the building next door and there were figures floating inside, as if some college students were having a party.
"The military training hasn't ended yet, and it's not even October yet. Are college students so relaxed nowadays?"
Lu Ban felt very confused.
He turned around and prepared to go back to his villa, but when he turned around, he saw two pale-faced girls who were startled.
"ah!"
In the bright afternoon sun, the two people hugged each other, as if Lu Ban was a demon who killed people without blinking an eye.
"Are you from Jiangcheng University?"
Lu Ban asked, interrupting their impending screams.
“Right, that’s right…”
The girl who answered was timid and quite cautious.
"My extracurricular life is quite rich. It's okay. I also rented a daily room next to you."
Lu Ban pointed to the villa that had no lights on and looked particularly eerie.
"Are you alone?"
Another girl asked out of curiosity without restraint.
“People always need to give themselves some time off.”
Without explaining any further, Lu Ban said goodbye to the two of them, took out the key he got from the agent, and opened the door of the villa.
He walked into the living room and turned on the lights. The villa was tidy and clean. It was broad daylight, but it seemed a little deserted and strange. The huge space looked empty, but in fact, it seemed to be filled with many things.
"not bad."
He made some simple food. His own kitchen only had a stove, but the villa also had an oven and a grill. Lu Ban put a whole rack of lamb into the oven and set the timer, then changed into his swimming trunks and went to the swimming pool in the backyard.
The swimming pool has been cleaned and the water is clear. Although there is still a lingering smell of disinfectant, it is not a big problem.
Lu Ban walked into the pool.
After swimming for a while relying on the swimming skills brought by [Underwater Breathing], Lu Ban came to the center of the swimming pool. When he was about to dive in, he noticed that the window on the second floor of the villa next door was open, and he seemed to be able to see the swimming pool from there.
"If they were seen, the kids would be scared. Fortunately, no one is around right now. Let's finish this quickly."
He immediately exchanged it for [Knowledge of a Madman].
This time, what appeared in Lu Ban's palm was a ball of jelly-like substance.
From this dark green, translucent jelly, you can vaguely see the shape of a head that does not belong to a human. It looks like a marine creature with cartilage all over its body, and a bit like a jellyfish.
"I hope it's from Kazushima."
Lu Ban crushed the head with a puff of his fist.
The dark green gel suddenly turned into flowing water and flowed into Lu Ban's body through his nostrils, mouth, and ears.
"...No problem, we don't have any problem. The shrine has confirmed that the poetry festival will be held as scheduled..."
"…Please rest assured, we are a professional team and will not put anyone who visits us in danger…"
"…The pollution spreading around Utajima has been brought under control. Please don't worry…"
"...I see it, I see it, the light of my life, the fire of my desire, my soul, my sin, please forgive me..."
"...The fog is poisonous. It's not a deadly poison, but a poison that drives people crazy. They are all crazy, crazy, those people are crazy..."
"…We have reason to believe that his departure was just an accident. Now our top priority is to ensure that the poetry festival is held…"
Lu Ban's blood spread in the clear water of the pond. Under the sunlight, the blood appeared a deep black color.
But green grass quickly grew out of Lu Ban's body. They used blood as nutrients and greedily absorbed the sunlight. Lu Ban was like a ball of seaweed, drifting in the swimming pool.
Ten minutes later, Lu Ban, who had sunk to the bottom of the water, emerged from the water.
“Huff, huff, huff—”
He breathed in the fresh air and felt like he had survived a disaster.
"Sure enough, the recovery ability is better under the sun. I was right."
Swimming to the edge of the pool somewhat tiredly, Lu Ban sat on the edge and looked at the pool that was dyed red.
"This time it is indeed a message from Kazushima."
"The wasteland is indeed a hunting mission, and those monsters have an IQ similar to that of humans and know how to set traps. If there is no heavy firepower to clean the ground, it will probably be difficult to deal with them."
"And the island seems to be more suspenseful. Well, the poisonous fog can drive people crazy. This should be the [Sigh of the Uncertain Mist]. It can make people hallucinate and look like they are crazy."
"And it looks like the fog has already spread to the location where the poetry festival is being held, but the person in charge of the poetry festival does not intend to stop the festival and is still going to hold it? This is a bit irresponsible. No wonder something went wrong..."
"Besides the fog, there must be some mysterious thing bewitching people, polluting people with high inspiration like artists. Perhaps this is the reason why artists are disappearing."
"It seems that many people have assured that there is no problem with Uta Island, but an accident still happened. Is it a real accident, or are those people's assurances themselves unreliable?"
"It feels like what happened on Uta Island was more of a man-made disaster than a natural disaster... Come to think of it, I wonder if there are ghosts or something like that on Kazushima Island."
While Lu Ban was thinking, he glanced at the window of the villa next door, hoping that what he had just seen had not been seen.
It's so embarrassing.
But when he looked towards the open window, Lu Ban was shocked to find that there was a young man standing there. He was wearing a blood-stained coat, his face was pale and bloodless, and his eyes were dark without whites.
He stared at Lu Ban.