Chapter 316

Chapter 316

Qin Weiyi carefully considered the point Qin Nan and Lin Junruo had raised.

Then he nodded. “It’s very possible.”

“Whatever the cause, one thing is certain: the ghosts can only move within that area. But the bloody handprints… what are they supposed to mean?” Mu Xin asked.

That was what puzzled her most.

The bloody handprints could not have appeared for no reason merely to tell them that ghosts might be present.

“Fang Kang,” Jian Fan suddenly said.

“Hm?” Qin Nan looked confused.

Jian Fan stared at the bloody handprints ahead. “Don’t they look as though someone reached the gate while fleeing, only to be dragged back in the end?”

The others looked again. He was right.

“You mean Fang Kang met with trouble here?” Qin Weiyi raised an eyebrow, then replayed the events in his mind and roughly reconstructed what had happened. “That day, Fang Kang continued searching for clues, so he must have kept moving forward until he reached the Xie Residence. He entered the residence and that area, but accidentally touched the tables or chairs and drew the ghosts’ attention. He sensed the danger and tried to escape, but before he could leave, the ghosts dragged him back. Those bloody handprints weren’t left by the ghosts. Fang Kang left them himself.”

“We can add one more point,” Qin Nan said. “After we entered, the gate closed but could still be reopened. Maybe it only becomes impossible to open after someone triggers the hidden condition, like Fang Kang did?”

These were only theories. No one could say whether they were correct.

Nor could they sacrifice a companion to test them.

So they could only speculate aloud. It was not especially useful.

They could confirm one thing, however.

Touching the tables or chairs in that area would directly trigger the Death Setting.

“In any case, caution comes first,” Qin Weiyi concluded.

They absolutely could not touch that furniture. To be safe, they had no intention of entering the area again this time.

After all, there were only voices inside. There probably were no clues, or at least none worth risking their lives for at present.

Once they had confirmed that, the group set off for their next destination.

Miss Xie’s bridal chamber.

They already knew the way well. After leaving the main hall, they headed straight for the chamber.

In daylight, the courtyard showed no sign that a wedding had taken place.

The bridal chamber had none of the red silk or Double Happiness characters either. It looked like an ordinary room, and inside…

The moment Jian Fan entered, he headed directly for the bed.

It was still the same bed.

Yet compared with how it looked at night, it felt less sinister. Now that the idea had taken root, it still resembled a coffin, but somehow–it was not quite as frightening.

And…

Qin Nan looked up at the carvings on the bed.

“They’re gone,” he said.

Jian Fan was looking up as well.

At night, they had clearly seen Fang Kang’s name and many others carved into the bed. Now all the names had vanished. Even the spirit-tablet-shaped carvings were gone, replaced by common, far more ordinary designs.

“It appears we have to come at night to see them,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Weiyi remembered something too. “Come to think of it, we didn’t find the wooden carving or the bells here yesterday either.”
In other words, although it was the same room, the two versions were effectively different places.

“Looks like we can only find clues at night.” Yellow Hair sighed.

That was hardly good news.

If they could do nothing during the day, were they supposed to wait for darkness?

Night brought clues, but also constant pursuit by ghosts.

And judging by how the ghosts had appeared yesterday, they could materialize directly wherever the group was. To stay alive, they would probably need to use a Security Lock every night.

They had decided to spend some Points to lower the difficulty, but the situation still left everyone discouraged.

Without Points, would they not have died long ago?

“What do we do next?” Qin Nan asked Jian Fan again.

Jian Fan was considering the same question.

The current situation was not unexpected. As for what came next…

Even searching ordinary homes now would probably reveal no red clothes. Perhaps they appeared only at night, which would explain why the group had failed to find them during the day.

“Let’s find somewhere to rest,” Jian Fan said.

It was a reluctant decision.

With no clues to find, wandering around would only waste their strength.

Although they did not feel physically tired in this world or need sleep to recover, they had been thinking constantly, which took a severe mental toll. They truly needed a proper rest, if only to empty their minds for a while.

“Then where should we go? Stay in the Xie Residence, or…?” Qin Nan asked.

That question was easy to answer.

“Somewhere else,” Jian Fan replied.

The group left the Xie Residence again.

Jian Fan chose a home near the residence.

Its layout was similar to Brother Zhao’s house.

After they entered, Jian Fan first explored the entire courtyard and formed a rough map in his mind, so he could search for clues there once night fell.

Only after finishing did he sit down in the courtyard with the others.

“Daytime is safe, but there aren’t any clues. Nighttime has clues, but it’s dangerous. This place really knows how to torment people,” Yellow Hair lamented.

No one could disagree.

The corner of Qin Weiyi’s mouth lifted in a rueful smile.

Then something occurred to him.

He took the bells, still wrapped in the scrap of cloth, from his pocket.

“Why don’t we study these bells?” Qin Weiyi suggested as he placed them on the small table in the courtyard.

The moment he let go, the cloth fell open, revealing the bells inside.

Yellow Hair was the first to crowd forward. Leaning over the table, he studied them. “No matter how I look at this thing, it still seems like an ordinary set of bells. At most, I’d call it a bell wind chime. Other than that, I really can’t see anything.”

Lin Junruo came over as well.

She fixed her gaze on the bells and examined them carefully, then suddenly froze.

Mu Xin and Yang Zhen happened to approach at that moment.

Lin Junruo immediately turned to Mu Xin. “Mu Xin, look. Are there fewer bells than before?”

She did not sound entirely certain.

After all, Qin Weiyi had carried the bells the whole time, and bells made noise. If one had fallen off, they certainly would have heard it. Yet when she counted them just now, it really did seem that–there were fewer bells.