The other side of the old manor.
Fan Xing and the other ghost tamers gathered together; with him included, there were six people in total.
Itâs a pity that Zhou Deng wasnât sociable; otherwise, their teamâs strength would be even greater.
âDo you hear that? Sounds coming from the next roomâit seems like someone is listening to a radioâŠâ one person whispered.
From the neighboring room came the crackling sound of static, produced by an old-fashioned radio. The device seemed to be constantly retuning to recover a signal, though very unstable. Occasionally, a voice emerged, fragmented and intermittent.
âThe current time is 11:40 PM, twenty minutes until the next day. Should we take a look next door? If weâre lucky, we might obtain a supernatural item.â Fan Xingâs eyes gleamed with temptation.
After all, it was just in the adjacent room, very close.
The timing was ample, entirely sufficient for an attempt.
âHow will the item be divided if we get it?â someone asked.
Fan Xing replied, âThat depends on who survives until the end.â
The others thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement: âAlright, letâs do it. With this many of us, even a vengeful spirit could be suppressed. Sitting here idly is a waste of time.â
âThen letâs actâdonât waste any more time,â Fan Xing immediately urged.
In an instant, everyone in the room stepped out.
Outside, silence reigned. From the neighboring room came the crackling sounds, and the poorly soundproofed wooden door combined with the hollowed-out windows let those noises spill out clearly.
Fan Xing promptly extended his hand to push open the door to the second room.
The once-empty room of yesterday had, at some point, inexplicably gained a dusty, old radio sitting atop a table. The radio continued producing crackling sounds, its signal unstable and tuning incapable of locking onto any station.
âNo sign of a ghostâŠâ Fan Xingâs eyes flickered as he glanced at the others.
The others nodded.
Grouped together, they stepped into the room.
However, as soon as these people entered, the previously erratic radio suddenly connected. The crackling sound ceased abruptly, replaced by an ordinary voice emanating from the device: âHello? Anyone there? HelloâŠâ
The radio seemed to malfunction, as though intercepting a phone signal.
âHello? Can anyone hear me? Hello.â
The six people in the room stared silently at the radio, shrouded in complete stillness.
It seemed none of them dared respond to the voice.
âHello, hello, can you hear me?â The voice inside the radio repeated its query.
Still, no one answered.
These ghost tamers were anything but foolish; they knew better than to respond to such a sinister voice.
For five minutes straight, the voice persisted in its relentless inquiries. When no one replied, it eventually faded away.
âCrack⊠hiss! Hiss!â
The signal broke again.
At this point, the group exhaled faintly in relief. One person remarked, âThis doesnât seem like anything impressiveâletâs take it and leave this room as soon as possible.â
Fan Xing nodded decisively. Just as he was about to reach for the eerie radioâŠ
Suddenly.
The crackling of the radioâs signal became clear again, and the same voice emerged once more, now tinged with eerie laughter: âAh⊠ahahaha, someoneâs here. I heard you⊠hiss!â
After uttering these words, the radio again lost its signal.
âThis isnât good.â
Fan Xingâs eyes tightened suddenly, his nerves on edge.
He glanced at the ghost tamer who had spoken earlier.
That individualâs face turned ashen: âDonât look at me. I got careless just now; I didnât expect this thing to play tricks.â
Fan Xing picked up the radio, only to discover it was already in a thoroughly dilapidated state, completely incapable of functioning. Dirt filled its internal structure, suggesting it had been unearthed from somewhere.
âThis isnât a supernatural itemâitâs a medium for transmitting a curse.â
Fan Xing tried fiddling with the radio, but it offered no reaction. If it were truly a supernatural item, it would undoubtedly activate.
Greed had backfired.
Not only did they fail to obtain anything, but they had also attracted a ghostly curse.
âLeave this place.â
Fan Xingâs face darkened as he discarded the radio, retreating hastily.
The others scrambled to flee as well.
But it seemed they were already too late.
As they exited the door, they were struck by the sight of pitch-black darkness engulfing the hallway outside.
The encroaching darkness had reached the very threshold of the room.
Nearby, an old, black Taishi Chair stood in the corridor, appearing to hold the darkness at bay. Yet what sent chills down everyoneâs spines was the sight of a pair of hands draped over the chairâs backrestâhands rigid and icy, with blackened nails and fingers covered in bruises, marked with blotches of sickly green and black.
The other end of the hands disappeared into the darkness, making it impossible to discern what lay beyond.
Moreover, at this moment, the black Taishi Chair in the corridor was being pushed forward by those terrifying hands, scraping along the floor and producing a maddening creaking sound.
âNo wayâŠâ
Fan Xing and the others were paralyzed with fear at the sight, and not a single one dared approach the ominous chair or the hidden entity behind it; they turned tail in unison and ran.
The room was no longer safeâthey had to make their way to the great hall.
On the other side, Yang Jian also heard the sound of the black chair being maneuvered, though it wasnât so close to him yet. There was still some distance between them.
Fan Xing and his groupâs commotion, however, had already caught Yang Jianâs attention.
âThey left their room and entered the great hall?â Yang Jian furrowed his brow.
He checked the time again.
It was already 11:55 PM.
The second day had yet to begin.
âSomeone must have done something foolish; otherwise, these survival-driven cowards wouldnât have dared enter the great hall early,â Yang Jian muttered to himself.
He was used to it.
Where thereâs a group, there will always be idiots.
But that was fine.
Idiots were bound not to last longâonce they were dead, the rest could carry on.
âTime to head out. Iâve mostly confirmed that on the first day, vigilance was keyâthe anomaly originated in the room, meaning staying inside may very likely lead to death.â Yang Jian stretched, got up, and pushed the door open.
He glanced into the depths of the corridor.
It was dim.
The Taishi Chair sat far off at the sixth roomâs location, still at a safe distance for now.
Though compared to before, it was significantly closer.
When Yang Jian turned his eyes toward the opposite corridor, his face darkened.
On the corridor where the others had been staying, darkness had completely engulfed it. At the doorway of the first room, there appeared another black Taishi Chair, once again bearing those grotesque hands.
A ghost had manifested, and the manor was perilously close to being fully invaded.
âItâs only the first dayâhow can this be happening before the second?â Yang Jian wasnât focused on who had screwed up.
Instead, he found himself involuntarily shivering at the realization.
If the ghost was appearing now and this close, how would the following days unfold?
Could they really survive until the seventh day?
âCreakâŠâ
At the same time, from the depths of his corridor came the sound of a wooden door opening. The noise was faint, seemingly originating behind the black Taishi Chair.
âItâs not only on their sideâthings on this side are no better. This manor is riddled with leaks and decay. I thought we could hold on until the seventh day, but now it seems the manor might completely succumb within three days.â
Pulling his gaze back, Yang Jian decided to stop overthinking. Resolutely heading toward the great hall, he prepared to regroup with the others.
It was time to devise strategies for surviving the looming dangers in the manor.
The group gathered once more in the great hall, though Zhou Deng was absent.
They glanced at the clock.
Midnight sharp.
The second day had begun.
This night was known as the night vigil.
Traditionally, it involved keeping watch over the deceasedâs body through the night.
âYang Jian.â
Upon seeing him arrive, many people greeted him instantly.
Yang Jianâs cold gaze swept over them: âWhat happened on your side?â
Fan Xingâs face shifted slightly. Without hiding the truth, he recounted the incident with the radio.
âGreed? I can understand thatâIâm greedy too. But if youâre both greedy and stupid, you might as well just die early rather than drag us all down,â Yang Jian retorted icily.
âNowâs not the time for blame, is it? Shouldnât we focus on completing tonightâs task?â Fan Xing dared not argue with Yang Jian and shifted the topic instead.
Yang Jian said, âTonight appears to be a night vigil. If Iâm correct, the manor is now completely unsafe except for the area near the coffin in the back hall.â
âThen letâs hurry to the coffin and stay there!â
âIf Iâm wrong, and tonight isnât a vigil but mourning instead, tradition states the coffin should be moved to the great hall and its lid removed for people to view the corpseâthere might even be wailing rituals.â Yang Jian explained.
ââŠâ
The others fell silent.
But time wasnât on their side for hesitation or deliberation.
Darkness was seeping through the manor.
While there was still dim light before, now the entire place seemed consumed by pitch blackness. The only relatively visible spots were the great hall and the courtyard covered by the skywell.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
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