Chapter 128 The Sound of Suona Brings Joy and Sorrow. Xue Chao casually replied, "It's haunted..."
[The "Rationality" check result was 73/60, which failed.]
[1D6=3, Sanity -3]
Zhuo Yi opened his eyes and saw an embroidery in front of him, in deep and light gold, which seemed to be a human face, silently watching him with a slightly eerie smile.
"Old Zhuo."
Zhuo Yi regained consciousness and sat up, but he sat up too suddenly and felt dizzy again. After a while, the scent of cosmetics dissipated, as if it were just his imagination.
He looked at the ceiling again, but there was nothing there.
The peacemaker's makeshift bed was still there, but the door was open, and the chill lingered on his teammate's body; he had just returned.
Zhuo Yi figured out the situation: he had passed the inspiration test, so he fell asleep and dreamed; his teammates hadn't passed and had gone to explore the ancestral hall at night.
But he glanced at the hourglass; it was only late at night, and the exploration was already over? A complete failure?
"This is the first time I've known that our guild is so loving. You even came back to see me, Lao He, I'm so touched..."
The peacemaker uncle, known as "Old He," smiled and picked up his coat from the chair: "It's too cold outside, so I came back to get my coat. I'm not like you and Old Lu, who would think you were showing off your muscles."
"Yes, I am. He has a fiery temper."
The peacemaker sat down and asked, "What's the situation on your end?"
"How did you know there was something going on?" Zhuo Yi noticed the extra mahjong tiles on the peacemaker's compass, the ones he had thrown in his dream. "So that's how it is. But 'you'?"
"I was with Lao Lü, and Lao Xu couldn't be woken up either. Didn't you run into him?"
Zhuo Yi got out of bed and walked out with him: "No, this nightmare was custom-made. What's going on between you and Lao Lü?"
"The ancestral hall is still the same, but when we went there, the walls were already repaired."
Zhuo Yi keenly discerned that he said "the wall is healed" rather than "the wall has been patched up": "Did the wall grow back on its own?"
The peacemaker nodded, and as the last person entered the courtyard, the other two were also there: "Old Xu has woken up too."
He was awake, but his face was very sour. If morning grumpiness could turn into murderous intent, nothing would grow around him. Zhuo Yi raised an eyebrow: "You also encountered a female ghost whispering behind your back?"
The short man's face darkened further: "I didn't even get off the cart! Transporting a dead body, we changed routes and tools seven or eight times, like rats in a sewer, a bunch of idiots!"
Zhuo Yi: "He's not dead, he's either drugged or knocked unconscious."
After exchanging information, the peacemaker asked, "Are there ancestral halls in dreams too?"
"Yes, it's sealed off, but since they're holding a wedding, it's decorated very 'festively.' The courtyard of the ancestral hall there can block out sound—you can only enter the real ancestral hall in your dreams?"
No sooner had Zhuo Yi finished speaking than a muffled "thump" came from the courtyard.
The four of them fell silent for a moment, then another "thump" was heard, quite rhythmically.
The group acted decisively, pried open the door and entered the courtyard. The black tiles and bricks were covered with white snow. Sun Er was still wearing the same clothes as that morning, his back to them, and was repeatedly banging on the vermilion gate of the ancestral hall.
Peacemaker: "Sleepwalking?"
The short man scoffed, "Possessed by a ghost, huh?"
As they drew closer, Lü Lianshan suddenly spoke: "It's a door."
Zhuo Yi narrowed his eyes: "Indeed."
The sound of Sun Er banging on the ancestral hall didn't feel like it was hitting a thick wall like a house; it had a slight echo, like he was banging on a door, and the door was trembling slightly. It wasn't a solid sound.
He muttered something as he banged on the door, his words muffled by the sound of the banging.
Just as the short man grabbed him, a firelight appeared from the other side of the door. The village chief led the way, and a group of divine servants stood behind him, each holding a torch.
But their faces were blurred in the firelight; the illuminated parts were bright white, while the shadows swallowed their features, and they "looked" at them without joy or sorrow.
Lü Lianshan ignored it, braced his hand against the door, and pushed—but it wouldn't budge.
It wasn't just the lock; something was blocking the door, right next to them.
The peacemaker smiled and said, "We heard a banging on the door, so we came in to check. Does your second son have a sleepwalking problem?"
The village chief remained expressionless, instructing his servants to knock Sun Er unconscious before carrying him away. He nodded to them, saying, "...It's a family trait. I'm sorry to have frightened you. Now, let's go and not disturb the peace of the Red and White Lords."
A group of people, holding torches, followed quietly behind them like ghosts waiting on the other side of the underworld, escorting them back to the three-courtyard house.
The village chief came out last, locked the door again, and had someone nail the wooden planks back on.
Zhuo leaned against the door, shrugged, and said that even the wooden planks couldn't stop them.
"Get some rest."
Before leaving, the servants of God extinguished the lanterns in the three courtyards, and they came and went without a sound.
Are you going again tonight?
"I'm afraid there are no more clues. When we were discharged from the hospital, I saw the village chief checking the lock of the ancestral hall. He even tugged at the door, but it didn't budge and turned back into a wall."
"I'm going to sleep now, the nightmare has left me feeling exhausted."
The next morning, Zhuo Yi stretched and went out. The peacemaker had already left, and there was a fortune stick on the table that read "Neutral".
He held the divination stick, looking somewhat dissatisfied, as he left. A peacemaker was helping him carry the trays, coming from the direction of the ancestral hall. He glanced at the tightly locked door: "Is this for the mountain god?"
The peacemaker stuffed a piece of sugar cake into his own hand: "That person doesn't eat it, and has never eaten it before. I heard it's just a formality."
Zhuo Yi also took one: "Does this mean we won't encounter anything interesting today? Then I'll have to find my own fun."
Yesterday, they entered the village chief's house as a group, all feeling that something was amiss. So they acted as a team and spent the night exploring. They have their own ideas now, and they probably won't be able to get everyone together today.
"What kind of fun is this?" The peacemaker wanted to hear if there was anything of value in it.
"Let's go to the ancestral hall again tonight and try to kill ourselves, go crazy with the tests, and we'll eventually manage to lure out either the boss or the host..."
“Then we don’t need to wait until tonight.” The peacemaker pointed to the open door of the main house in the second courtyard. “The keeper of the secret is right there.”
Xue Chao sat casually at the table, calmly eating his breakfast. The short man wasn't there; Lü Lianshan sat opposite him.
Zhuo Yi leaned closer to Xue Chao like he was watching an animal, while Xue Chao continued drinking his porridge: "Has he always been like this?"
Lu Lianshan across from him gave a nonchalant "hmm".
"You two seem to be having a good chat." There were no more bowls and chopsticks on the table, so Zhuo Yi asked someone to fill two more. "I thought that when people like you get together, it'll be like an underground boxing match."
Actually, they didn't talk much. Xue Chao arrived at breakfast time this morning, sat down to eat, and Lü Lianshan arrived shortly after. Xue Chao greeted him, and Lü Lianshan responded. This was their second interaction.
"That sounds exhausting." Xue Chao gestured to them, then continued his silent struggle with his food, specifically trying to avoid slamming his face into the bowl while eating.
Zhuo Yi took a moment to observe and discovered that he drank porridge and ate vegetables at almost the same frequency, like a robot ruthlessly maintaining vital signs: "Did you hide away and go to mine coal in the middle of the night?"
Xue Chao: "I rode in a broken cart with your teammates all the way, and then we bravely went to a big house to encounter ghosts."
The player's and the Keeper's Inspiration checks are synchronized. The peacemaker remarked, "The Keepers really have it tough."
The servants set out bowls and chopsticks for the two newcomers, and placed another set in an empty space before silently leaving. Lü Lianshan glanced at the extra set of bowls and chopsticks.
Peacemaker: "Where's Lao Xu?"
Lü Lianshan: "They left long ago."
Zhuo Yi paused: "There are still people who haven't gotten up? I thought I was the latest."
Lu Lianshan raised his chin towards the person opposite him: "When I arrived, he was the only one there."
Xue Chao: "When I arrived, everyone except the village chief was there. The village chief said he had a headache and wouldn't eat today."
Zhuo Yi moved her chopsticks towards the empty bowl and chopsticks: "Then who is this for?"
Xue Chao casually replied, "It's haunted, isn't it?"
Zhuo Yi nodded and continued eating: "That makes sense."
There was a small bowl of sugar syrup that had been made that morning on the table. The surface had already solidified, and it could be poured over pastries.
The remaining three didn't want to eat anything so greasy so early in the morning. Zhuo Yi had tried a piece on the way here and thought it was alright, so he poked a hole in it with his chopsticks, brought it over, and poured some more sauce on it before eating.
As a result, red syrup flowed out from the broken sugar shell, leaving a small dent in the pastry and releasing a bloody smell.
The group of people eating paused, and the peacemaker hissed, "Didn't his boss say that everything would be fine once the snow stopped?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Chao merely twitched the corner of his mouth, offering no comment.
Zhuo Yi put down the syrup with disgust and used his chopsticks to completely peel off the sugar shell, revealing a bowl of fresh blood beneath the snow-white shell: "Who killed someone so early in the morning? Others are still eating!"
Lü Lianshan: "Chicken blood." And it's blood from a live chicken, and it's fresh.
Zhuo Yi, upon hearing the expert's explanation, became even more disdainful: "Making such a big fuss over killing a chicken..."
Xue Chao was so sleepy that his head slowly drooped, and the chopsticks in his hand slipped and rolled into the tablecloth.
This plot sounds familiar... Zhuo Yi watched with amusement.
Xue Chao decided to let himself off the hook. After finishing breakfast, he straightened his clothes and prepared to leave. Zhuo Yi stopped him and asked very bluntly, "Aren't you going to try and get some information?"
"Didn't I conduct your tests?"
After a moment of reflection, Xue Chao understood the other party's thought process. These people didn't rely on checks much when gathering intelligence; they relied more on themselves. He, on the other hand, only sensed their presence when checking.
He waved his hand and took away the pastries drenched in chicken blood before leaving. The peacemaker thought he had pica and was very accepting of it, and reminded him, "Don't drink too much. It can't replace water and can easily cause dehydration."
"Go find the chicken in question; this family doesn't raise chickens."
Zhuo Yi shouted, "Then I want to get information out of you!" The keeper of secrets must have a lot of information.
Xue Chao didn't even turn his head, casually making up a story: "You'll have to convince them."
Then, the pull of the mahjong dice made him pause, and the pull was quite strong.
The goddess of dice thought he could give it a try; he wouldn't lose out.
The "Persuasion" test result was 23/35, successful.
"..."
How come they have such good luck with the dice when their persuasion scores are so low?
He turned around with an inscrutable expression; surely he couldn't convince himself otherwise?
Zhuo Yi, taking advantage of the situation, exclaimed, "Actually, my intimidation is even greater."
"We'll trade you information about the ancestral hall. This family doesn't actually respect the mountain god that much. They lock the ancestral hall door and the last courtyard because they don't want Him to come out."
Xue Chao nodded, acknowledging that the information was indeed useful: "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know where there's any fun to be had, I'm so bored."
"The store is open, let's look around."
Zhuo Yi then remembered the popularity value. Looking at the progress bar, he saw that not only was the shop open, but his superpowers were also almost usable. The popularity value was increasing at an unparalleled speed.
Based on his experience, he's definitely in the top ten of the real-time overall rankings.
Zhuo Yi was dissatisfied: "What kind of fun is this? Shopping?"
"It's not like you're the only one shopping." Xue Chao glanced at the mansion. "Go out and make more friends."
A story cannot be pieced together from a single puzzle piece.
He smiled and stepped out the door: "Maybe there'll be a pleasant surprise?"
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