Chapter 299

Chapter 299

Yang Zhen heard those voices as well.

She was a little surprised, but Qin Weiyi and Jian Fan had already given her some warning beforehand, so she accepted it all calmly.

After that, Qin Nan, Yellow Hair, Mu Xin, and the others all took turns experiencing it for themselves.

Lin Junruo went too.

She was frightened, but they were already in the Realm of Death. If she let fear stop her from exploring, she would never be able to escape this place.

Clenching her fists and silently cheering herself on, she stepped into the strange area without hesitation.

The cacophony of voices immediately flooded her ears.

Lin Junruo was so startled that she nearly turned and fled.

But she held her ground.

Despite her fear, she remained rooted to the spot. After listening for a while, she finally understood what Jian Fan and Qin Weiyi had been discussing. Only then did she cautiously retreat from the area.

The group stood at the entrance, gazing into the courtyard.

“I think it might be a mirage,” Qin Nan said.

Scientifically speaking, a mirage was a natural optical phenomenon. But in a world infested with ghosts, there was no point trying to explain things with science.

When Qin Nan and Qin Weiyi spoke of a mirage, they meant that something from the past had somehow been projected into the present time and space.

The only difference was that a mirage projected images, while this place projected sound.

“What we’re hearing now should be the scene from the Xie Family daughter’s wedding,” Qin Weiyi agreed with a nod.

“But if that’s the case, shouldn’t this place be safe?” Lin Junruo asked tentatively.

All they had done was hear voices that did not belong to this point in time. If Qin Nan and Qin Weiyi’s theory was correct, there should not be any danger here.

The moment Lin Junruo said that, Qin Weiyi shook his head.

“No. In that case, this can’t be a mirage,” Qin Weiyi said.

Lin Junruo’s words had indeed alerted him to a flaw in the theory. If this were merely a mirage, there would be nothing frightening about it.

Qin Weiyi considered it for a moment, then turned to Jian Fan. “What do you think?”

“Time-Space Overlap,” Jian Fan replied.

Qin Weiyi raised an eyebrow.

“An old trick of the Realm of Death,” Jian Fan added.

Following Jian Fan’s train of thought, Qin Weiyi pondered the matter. “Is this a Spatial Junction?”

“Perhaps,” Jian Fan said. He could not give a definitive answer, since it was only a theory.

Jian Fan believed this area might be where their space intersected with another. In their space, the courtyard was deserted and empty, but in the other space, the Xie Family wedding might currently be taking place. Yet this junction did not seem quite like the Time-Space Junction they had encountered during the Escape Room.

That time, they had passed through the Time-Space Junction and returned to the past, where they learned some of what had happened. This time, however, Jian Fan sensed a profound danger lurking in what lay before them.

If voices could cross over, then what about the ghosts? If those ghosts could also enter this space, or if they were no longer restricted by day and night, it would spell utter disaster for them.

Of course, this was only Jian Fan’s speculation.

Even so, there was undoubtedly something deeply wrong with this Time-Space Junction. With so few clues at hand, Jian Fan was not about to test it recklessly.

“Let’s look elsewhere,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Weiyi cast a regretful glance at the courtyard.

There had to be an important clue inside, but unfortunately, they had no way to uncover it right now.
No matter how important the clue was, it meant nothing if they didn’t live long enough to retrieve it.

Jian Fan surveyed their surroundings.

Beyond the main gate, there was the courtyard, with a small corridor on either side leading to other parts of the residence.

Jian Fan picked a direction without hesitation.

Following the corridor would also take them to the main hall where the wedding ceremony had been held.

There were doors on both sides of the main hall that led farther into the residence.

Before moving on, however, Jian Fan wanted to examine the hall first.

This was different from the courtyard.

The main hall was spotless. Not that the courtyard was dirty, but there wasn’t a single strip of red silk in here, or even one Double Happiness character. Nothing about the place suggested that a wedding was about to be held. Yet during yesterday’s ceremony, Double Happiness characters had been plastered everywhere, filling the hall with a festive air.

“Those ghosts were all busy chasing us. They shouldn’t have had time to tear down the decorations and clean up the residence,” Shi Chen said, puzzled.

Yellow Hair chuckled. “It only took the red lanterns a split second to turn white. Besides, weren’t there no red lanterns on the streets back then either? The ghosts and lanterns appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly. There’s nothing strange about this.”

“This place doesn’t feel like the courtyard,” Qin Nan said, more concerned with something else.

Jian Fan gave a faint hum of acknowledgment.

Qin Nan continued, “This place feels about the same as the road, and there’s nothing here that looks remotely festive. I have a theory. The courtyard is the only place that resembles a wedding venue and feels even slightly celebratory. In other words, wherever it looks festive, there’s something wrong?”

“I think that theory makes sense,” Qin Weiyi said. He then warned Lu Jing beside him, “If you see any red lanterns, Double Happiness characters, or anything like that, keep your distance.”

Lu Jing nodded at once.

Jian Fan did not join their conversation. Instead, he made a circuit of the main hall.

The entire room could be taken in at a glance.

A painting hung on the wall directly ahead. Beneath it stood two chairs with a table between them, clearly the seats reserved for the hosts. More chairs for receiving guests lined both sides of the hall. Beyond those chairs, there was some additional space. One side was completely empty, while the other held a round wooden table with matching chairs. Cabinets stood against both side walls, topped with porcelain ornaments in various colors.

Two windows stood open on the same side as the doors.

There was nothing particularly strange about the room. Anyone who had watched a period drama or visited an old town would recognize the layout as fairly typical.

Jian Fan swept his gaze around once more. Finding nothing for the moment, he said, “Let’s go.”

With that, Jian Fan headed deeper into the residence, and Qin Nan immediately followed.

The residence was enormous.

They had only seen the main hall and courtyard the previous night, so they knew very little about the rest of the property. Now, they began exploring it in earnest.

After leaving the main hall and rounding a corner, they came upon a man-made lake.

A winding nine-turn bridge stretched across the water. Flowers and plants grew thickly around the lake, which occupied the center of the garden. A bluestone path followed the shoreline, with ornamental rocks and trees scattered beside it. Beyond them stood the outer wall.

On the far side of the lake was a pavilion. Beside it, built directly over the water, stood a small waterside room meant for viewing lotus flowers.

That was everything they could make out at a glance.

Jian Fan headed straight for the bridge.