Chapter 62

“Kacha——”

Takeya Lan used her key to open the door. The house was a bit messy and looked like it had not been cleaned up for several days.

She placed her suitcase against the sofa, took out her cup from the cupboard, and wanted to get a glass of water from the water dispenser. She pressed the switch of the faucet on the water dispenser, and the faucet spit out a thin stream of water, which just covered the bottom of the cup.

Takeuchi reached out and shook the bucket on the water dispenser—it was empty.

Her brows furrowed, and she took out her cell phone to call her mother. No one answered the first call, and the second call was quickly hung up. It was not until the third call that she was connected.

She suppressed her irritability and anxiety and said in a calm tone, "Mom, I'm home. Why aren't you and Dad at home?"

"You're home? Why are you home so suddenly? Please wait for us at home. We have something to do now. Bye."

There seemed to be a lot of noise in the background on the other end of the phone, and her mother seemed extremely absent-minded. She responded with a few quick words before hanging up.

Hearing the busy tone coming from the other end of the phone, Wu Yulan felt more uneasy. She called again, but this time the call didn't go through no matter what she did.

For a moment, she almost called 110 to report the incident, but she quickly restrained herself. This kind of thing... the police may not be able to solve it.

After waiting at home for more than an hour with an anxious mood, Wu Yulan finally heard the sound of the door being unlocked - her parents were back.

Two middle-aged men pushed open the door and walked in. Although they both looked tired, they had bright smiles on their faces that they couldn't suppress.

"Why didn't you say hello before you came back?" Mother Wu complained softly, but there was not much blame in her tone. "There have been a lot of things to do recently. The house was a mess when you came back this time. I didn't have time to clean it up."

"Dad, Mom———" Wu Yulan's eyes fell on the small black bag that her father was holding carefully in his arms, "What did you do?"

"Hush." ​​His mother put her finger to her lips and nervously closed the door. She pulled Wu Yulan to the edge of the sofa and said, "Keep your voice down!"

“I’m telling you, your dad’s arm can be saved!” Mother Wu was delighted. “We went to buy the tickets this morning! You don’t know how fierce the competition is there. If it weren’t for my quick eyes and hands, your dad probably wouldn’t have been able to get a ticket in the third round and would have to wait until the fourth round!”

"I know you're afraid we'll be cheated." Wu's father also came over. After losing his arm, he smiled brightly for the first time. "Lanlan, don't worry. Your mother and I know what's best for you."

Takeuchi: “…”

It's really hard to convince me when you guys are so devoted to this.

Father Wu sat beside her and took out a tightly wrapped rectangular box from the small black bag in his arms. He opened the box and found a silver-gray invitation inside. The lower half of the front was painted with exquisite silver patterns, extending all the way to the top. There was a circular blank in the middle, and two lines of words on the other side:

【Hundreds of rare treasures, nothing is missing;

It encompasses everything. 】

【Those with invitations are welcome to come to the auction house. 】

Father Wu held the silver-gray invitation card in his hands as if it were some precious treasure. When Wu Yulan took it and wanted to take a look at it, Father Wu kept telling her to be gentle and not to damage it.

As soon as she received the silver-gray invitation, Wu Yulan felt an inexplicable chill, which was very similar to the feeling she had when she wore the bracelet before. This strange feeling and the last two lines of words on the invitation left a very bad impression on her.

"This doesn't look like a good thing—"

Takeharu was about to tear it off, but her father quickly held her hand down: "No!!!"

Wu's mother also shouted in surprise: "Lanlan, what are you doing? This ticket is 50,000 yuan!"

Takeuchi: “???”

Her eyes went dark: "How much?!"

Father Wu snatched the invitation from her hand and said, "This thing is very expensive, and it has a special identification method. Please don't damage it. If you damage it, there will be no place to repair it!"

“Lanlan, you too.” Mother Wu patted her gently, “Your father had a hard time getting this invitation, you must not let his joy go to waste!”

"Your father didn't make it in the first and second rounds. We spent a lot of money and stuffed a lot of stuff to get the inside information for your father in the third round. Today, we finally got it."

Wu Yulan took a deep breath and tried hard to suppress the anger that suddenly surged in his head.

She had agreed with the owner of the teahouse before that she would not show anything too strange, lest the people who were keeping an eye on their family would notice something was wrong. But when the moment really came, it was hard not to be angry when she saw her loved ones spending all her savings for her old age, heading towards a dead end that could very well lead to death, and still feeling complacent about it.

"Listen to me—" Wu Yulan took the silver-gray invitation from her father's hand, "If the master you are talking about really has a magic medicine that can regenerate severed limbs, then he must be a rare genius. He can gain both fame and fortune by cooperating with the country. Why does he have to hide in our small place Wutong Town and hold a hidden auction?"

“You don’t understand.” Mother Wu said, “The master is a great man, not seeking fame or wealth. He just wants to sincerely help people with physical disabilities like your father.”

Takeuchi: "...are you really willing to charge 50,000 per invitation?"

"You have to pay registration fees to go to the hospital," Wu's mother said confidently, "You have to be sincere if you want to see a doctor."

"Yes." Wu's father also agreed, "The master didn't just give us the medicine and leave it at that. We still need to take the medicine regularly and have regular checkups. It's just like buying home appliances. There are after-sales service, so there's nothing to worry about if there are problems."

"Your father and I are not fools," said Wu's mother. "How could we believe such a miraculous thing as limb regeneration if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes?"

Takeuchi: “…”

She had never been good at speaking since she was a child, and her parents were obviously brainwashed. No matter how much she talked, it was useless. Takeuchi decided to eliminate the trouble from the root. She quickly tore the invitation in her palm.

"stop!!!"

"Lan Lan Farewell!!"

Her parents rushed over one after another to grab the invitation from her hand. No one knew what material the invitation was made of, but it was not damaged by the fight between the three of them. However, the invitation was turned upside down, and the sharp edge cut the back of Wu Yulan's index finger, and the blood that seeped out rubbed onto the invitation.

Under the gaze of the family of three, red cursive words slowly emerged on the circular blank space on the front of the invitation card:

【Thirteen】.

“It’s over.” Mother Wu muttered to herself, “The master said that the invitation card cannot be stained with blood. Once it is stained with blood, it will recognize the master…”

She and Wu's father were still discussing who would go to the auction to buy the medicine, so they did not let the invitation card claim the owner first. However, they did not expect that their daughter would be so resistant to this matter, and by mistake, the daughter became the owner of the invitation card.

Wu Yulan's scalp started to tingle when she saw the blank space on the invitation, and it was even more tingling when she heard her mother's words. An invitation needs to be signed with blood. Isn't it weird and scary? !

While she was panicking, she was secretly glad that the blood was hers. If she really had any problems, she would go to the store owner for help. She could just lend the money to the store owner and give him a reward.

Mother Wu and Father Wu looked at each other. Finally, Mother Wu said seriously, "Lanlan, go buy medicine for your father at the auction in three days. We have already withdrawn all the insurance and transferred all the savings over the years to a bank card."

"The total is 570,000. The master said that this price is definitely enough to buy a dose of medicine." Mother Wu took out a bank card from her small bag and put it in her hand, "Lanlan, you must buy the medicine for your father."

*

Three days later, under the old locust tree in the west of Wutong Town, Takeuchi was wearing long sleeves and long pants in the middle of summer, a mask on his face, sunglasses on his nose, gloves on his hands, a hooded sunscreen shirt on his body, and a baseball cap on his head. He was wrapped up tightly from head to toe, with not a trace of skin exposed.

She was carrying a black messenger bag with a silver-grey invitation inside, waiting anxiously. There were some people dressed similarly to her near the huge old locust tree, each of them was quite far away from each other, no one came close to chat, and no one spoke. In the gradually darkening night, everyone was like a silent wooden stake.

Takeuchi kept rubbing the strap of her cross-body bag with her hands, which was her usual action when she was nervous.

After the strange invitation was recognized, Takeuchi had no intention of coming. She was ready to give up attending the auction and treat the 50,000 yuan as a waste. However, her mother told her that she must go once the invitation was recognized, otherwise she would be considered insincere and bad things would happen.

Takeuchi: “…”

How is this the same as a cult?!

She wanted to cry but had no tears. On the day of the invitation, she ran to the commercial street to ask for help from the owner. However, the door of the teahouse was closed. She knocked on the door for a long time but no one came out. Takeyu Arashi suspected that the owner had gone to deal with something related to this matter, but unfortunately, she could not see him for three consecutive days.

When the deadline on the invitation arrived, Wu Yulan thought it over and decided to come according to the dress code requirements on the invitation that her father had told her. At least she would have some buffer room. If she didn't come... she was really afraid that those "bad things" would mean that she would die on the spot.

It was completely dark, and the last bit of light in the surrounding area had gone out. No one had a cell phone or flashlight to illuminate the area. Everyone was dressed in black, standing under the locust tree, waiting quietly.

"Welcome everyone—"

Darkness blurs one's senses. Wu Yulan didn't know how long he had been standing in the darkness before a hoarse voice appeared, unable to distinguish between a man or a woman, young or old, or the gender of the person.

"Come here," said the voice.

The moon hid in the clouds and it was very dark around. Wu Yulan could only hear the rustling of clothes around her. Everyone was walking towards the direction of the sound.

Wu Yulan hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and followed.

The owner of the voice seemed to be shrouded in an invisible mist. He guided the people waiting under the locust tree to form a long line and circle around the tree.

Wu Yulan was also following the team. As she was turning, she suddenly smelled a pungent fragrance. The smell made her whole body feel light and airy, as if her consciousness was about to fly away.

"stop."

The man who was leading them suddenly stopped.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the moonlight shone down. Wu Yulan saw that a slanted dry well had appeared at some point in the open space in front of the big locust tree. There was an extremely narrow staircase that extended from the dry well into the unknown depths of darkness.

"You know what you should and shouldn't see," the voice said. "Go, the chance to change your fate is right before your eyes."

Faced with such a bizarre scene, the people in the queue did not seem to find it strange at all. There was no whispering, no whispering, and no hesitation. One after another, they entered the dry well like dumplings.

Wu Yulan hesitated for only a moment before he was stared at by the man who was shrouded in black mist.

"Huh?" He uttered a single sound of confusion.

Wu Yulan didn't see how he walked up to her, she just felt him reaching out and patting her shoulder, and half of her body felt like it was frozen.

She suddenly walked towards the entrance of the dry well uncontrollably. In her bag was a silver-gray invitation with a blood-red "Thirteen" on it, which was glowing slightly.