Chapter 116 Dry Well
Chen He shifted his gaze away from Xue Minglan and gently patted the Guyu behind him, who was shaking like sieved chaff.
"fine."
Her voice was not loud, but it had a soothing power.
Guyu's face turned pale and she nodded vigorously, but she still didn't dare to look at Xue Minglan.
Chen He reached out and took the hexagonal palace lantern from Xue Minglan's hand, which was still tightly holding the lantern.
Her fingertips accidentally touched the bloody white cloth on his wrist.
Warm, with a hint of stickiness.
Xue Minglan's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
His eyes were still fixed on her.
"Come with me."
Chen He, holding a lantern, took the lead and walked towards the deeper darkness in the courtyard.
Xue Minglan pursed his lips and followed without saying a word.
Guyu hesitated for a moment, then quickly followed Shen He in small steps, tightly grasping the corner of his lady's clothes, as if this was the only way to gain a bit of courage.
The courtyard is not big, but it is overgrown with weeds. The moonlight shines through the sparse branches, making it look even more desolate and eerie.
The air was filled with the smell of rotten grass and trees, mixed with faint whimpers, which made people's scalps tingle.
Chen He carried the lantern but walked steadily to the center of the yard.
There, a dry well stood alone.
The well mouth was tightly covered by a huge stone slab, which was covered with thick moss and unknown dark green weeds, almost blending in with the surrounding wasteland.
If you don't look for it deliberately, you will almost overlook it in this dim light.
Chen He stopped by the well and raised the hexagonal lantern in his hand. The dim light illuminated the moss-covered stone slab.
She turned around and looked at Xue Minglan who was following closely behind her, and gestured at the stone slab with her eyes.
Xue Minglan's gaze fell on the stone slab, and his brows furrowed even tighter in an instant.
He is not a fool. Chen He brought him here and pointed to this sealed dry well. His meaning is self-evident.
But what's underneath?
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the blood and energy surging in his chest, and took a step forward.
The pair of hands wrapped in white cloth, with blue veins exposed, pressed against the edge of the cold and rough stone slab.
"Be careful." Shen He reminded softly.
Xue Minglan did not respond, but just groaned and exerted force with his arms!
At this moment, he was filled with anger and pain that was almost tearing him apart, and he urgently needed an outlet to vent.
“Crack—”
A teeth-grinding sound of breaking was heard!
Then——
“Bang!!”
To everyone's surprise, the stone slab was not very solid. Perhaps it was because of the long years and it had already been eroded by wind and rain and was rotten.
After being pushed by Xue Minglan, it broke directly in the middle!
Half of it fell into the bottomless well with a "thud", making a dull echo.
The other half fell heavily on the stone platform beside the well, shattering into several pieces of stone of different sizes!
In the quiet night, the sudden loud noise was particularly harsh.
Guyu was so scared that she let out a short scream of "Ah", covered her mouth tightly, and her eyes widened.
The wellhead suddenly opened!
A smell that was stronger, colder and more damp than before, mixed with the fishy smell of earth, suddenly rushed towards me from the bottom of the well!
The light from the lantern trembled as it reached in, but it was as if being swallowed by an invisible giant beast. It could only illuminate a small circle of slippery moss near the wellhead. Further down, there was thick darkness that was bottomless.
It was pitch black, as if it could swallow up all the light, and nothing could be seen.
Xue Minglan's brows were twisted into a knot. He stared at the bottomless wellhead. A fierce look flashed in his blood-red eyes, and his voice became even hoarse and low because of suppression.
"Ah He, are you sure?"
Could it be that underneath this is his mother and sister's...
The thought just flashed through his mind, and it made him feel so heartbroken that he could hardly breathe.
"uncertain."
Chen He's answer was crisp and clear, yet it carried a strange sense of certainty.
She met Xue Minglan's inquiring gaze that seemed to be spitting fire, her expression frighteningly calm.
"But during the day, I carefully examined every inch of land and every brick and stone in Jingsi Garden."
Her voice was not loud, but it reached the ears of Xue Minglan and Guyu clearly.
"This well is the strangest one."
"Why would such a heavy and thick stone slab be used to seal up a long-abandoned dry well?"
"And," she shone the lantern light on the broken edge of the stone slab and the tiny scrapes on the rim of the well, "look here. Even though they've tried their best to cover it up, there are clear, fresh signs of recent movement beneath the moss on the edge of the stone slab."
"If you don't have something to hide, why go to so much trouble?"
Xue Minglan's eyes suddenly froze!
He didn't ask any more questions, took out a small bamboo tube from his arms, opened the lid, and took out a fire starter.
“Sizzle—”
He scratched the fire starter on his sleeve, and a blue flame jumped out.
Carefully, he slowly brought the faint light of fire toward the dark wellhead.
Just as the flame at the front of the tinder was about to touch the edge of the wellhead—
"call--"
A faint but clearly discernible breeze suddenly poured out from the bottom of the deep well!
The small flame was blown by the sudden airflow, shaking violently, flickering, and almost went out on the spot!
Xue Minglan suddenly raised his head and looked at Shen He!
There was a sudden glint of brilliance and understanding in the eyes of both of them!
“There’s wind!”
Xue Minglan's voice was extremely low, but it could not hide the uncontrollable vibration and a barely perceptible tremor in it!
“This is not a dead well!”
There must be something fishy going on at the bottom of this well! Maybe even... a different world!
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