Chapter 124: [Harboring a Ghostly Secret] Inside the Temple
A person stood under the temple’s lantern.
It was a player.
Wang Yan.
He stood there motionless, the red light from above shining on him, making it difficult to see his appearance clearly from top to bottom.
Bai Cha and the other two had become vigilant.
The three of them slowly approached the temple.
Wang Jiangtao called out.
“Hey! Wang Yan!”
The voice wasn’t very loud, but it was enough for the person standing at the temple door to hear.
The person remained motionless.
Bai Cha had already stopped, narrowing her eyes to observe.
It seemed… was their body moving?
Not the kind of physical reaction to hearing someone, but the flesh on their body was moving.
“Retreat!” Zhang Feng also noticed and said in a low voice.
The three of them stepped back simultaneously.
And Wang Yan, standing under the lantern, had the remaining flesh on his body wriggling, before suddenly bursting open.
But there was no splatter of blood or flying flesh; only clusters of black shadows flew out, quickly crawling towards them on the ground.
“Damn it, it’s all snakes!”
Wang Jiangtao cursed.
Looking at Wang Yan’s state, it was unclear if it was related to him being bitten before, so they absolutely couldn’t be bitten by these snakes again!
While cursing, he took out an item, a lighter.
After flicking out the flame, he blew hard at the lighter.
A huge jet of fire immediately shot out, engulfing several black snakes.
The dodder flower in Bai Cha’s hand accurately pierced the black snakes’ bodies, rapidly absorbing and growing before burrowing into new black snakes.
Zhang Feng used a boomerang. His movements were skilled and precise, as if he had specifically trained.
There were about thirty to forty of these snakes, all with the combat power of ordinary snakes. The three of them quickly dealt with them.
Wang Jiangtao spat. The only bad thing about that fire was the smell.
After all, it wasn’t a proper flame.
The three of them now looked towards the temple entrance.
The temple door had opened at some point.
It was pitch black inside.
“Everyone be careful.”
Zhang Feng frowned.
The main problem was that these snakes could hide in the shadows and wait for an opportunity to strike, which was quite troublesome, especially the small snakes.
Looking again, Wang Yan’s body had been completely eaten away by the snakes. It was unclear how the snakes had gotten inside him.
But just when the snakes burst out of his body, several small snakes had clearly crawled out of his ears and mouth.
Bai Cha looked up at the lantern above.
The lantern with the “double happiness” character burned quietly.
She withdrew her gaze and looked inside the temple.
Standing at the entrance, she found that it wasn’t that dark inside. There were two candle lamps on the offering table.
What was enshrined inside wasn’t a Buddha statue.
At least, not the Buddha statue she had expected.
It was a statue of a deity wearing a turban and a dark blue robe. The carving skills were really not good, and most of the paint had peeled off.
Below it was a plaque placed on the offering table, which read “Water God.”
Since this place was near mountains and water, it was normal to enshrine the Water God.
The three of them carefully walked inside.
Out of caution, Wang Jiangtao specifically found a few large stones from the weeds on both sides and blocked the door.
After all, according to horror movie rules, once you entered a certain door, the door behind you might close.
It was unclear if it would actually work, but the door indeed didn’t close.
However, wind whistled inside, making the door creak and shake, and the candlelight flickered, making the shadow of the deity projected on the wall flicker erratically.
Like some kind of clawing, menacing presence.
The offering table was wiped very clean, as if someone maintained it regularly. Some melon seeds and peanuts were also placed on it.
Similar to what Ji Xiaolan had brought.
“Doesn’t look like there’s anything in here…” Wang Jiangtao muttered softly.
“Maybe we should close the door?” Bai Cha said abruptly.
“Don’t!”
Wang Jiangtao would rather not find any clues than risk the back door closing and them being trapped in this temple.
Bai Cha just said it casually. She walked to the offering table and touched it. The peanuts and melon seeds were all damp.
A layer of red cloth covered the offering table, and the cloth was also damp.
Lifting the red cloth, she saw that a lot of mold had grown on the wooden table underneath.
Wang Jiangtao and Zhang Feng were also looking around the temple.
It was just a small earthen temple.
It didn’t seem strange at all.
Bai Cha’s hand had already reached under the table.
A cold, sticky sensation quickly slid across the back of her hand, as if something had touched her.
Bai Cha paused slightly.
Zhang Feng noticed her pause and asked, “Did you find anything?”
“Yeah… it felt like a snake slithered across the back of my hand.”
Wang Jiangtao’s pupils dilated.
How could you say something like that so calmly?
Bai Cha had even crouched down and picked up a candle from the table.
Actually, even though she said it was a snake, Bai Cha felt it might not be.
She shone the candlelight under the table; it was empty.
But at the bottom of the table, Bai Cha tilted her head slightly to look at the tabletop.
There were many scratch marks on it.
Some of the scratch marks even had blood on them.
Including the area near the wall.
Bai Cha slowly pulled the tablecloth.
There were also two iron hooks on the wall.
These couldn’t possibly be used for offering to the gods, right?
The other two also saw this scene and were both thoughtful.
“Let’s go.”
Bai Cha got up.
“Looks like there’s nothing here. What was up with Wang Yan? Was it because he was bitten?”
Walking out of the temple, Wang Jiangtao couldn’t help but look back.
The door had closed at some point.
The stones he had used to block the door were still at the entrance.
But it had happened silently, without a sound.
“Maybe he went to the water’s edge.”
There was still a long distance between here and the lake. After all, being too close would also risk falling in.
“Let’s go back and see if Gao Wei is alright,” Zhang Feng said.
“Hey, but what do you think was going on underneath? Could it be that Ji Xiaolan was locked in there?”
“It’s not impossible, but… if we guessed right, shouldn’t the plot have reached 25% by now?”
Wang Jiangtao was silent.
That was true.
If it really was as they guessed, then the plot should have started to become clear by now, and the progress should be at least 25%.
“There probably won’t be any more clues tonight, let’s go back first,” Bai Cha said softly.
She still didn’t know how Xu Shengsheng was doing.
Returning to the courtyard, Bai Cha saw Jin Qiao and another male player talking. They immediately stopped when they saw the three of them.
Jin Qiao coldly glanced at Bai Cha, her eyes filled with disdain.
Just as she thought, this kind of woman just liked to cling to men, pretending to be weak and pitiful. Her sister was the same, acting all innocent and ignorant.
“Where did you guys go?”
Bai Cha ignored her accusatory tone and went straight into her room.
Wang Jiangtao also shrugged, said “no comment,” and went into another room with Zhang Feng.
Jin Qiao stomped her foot angrily and sneered, “Probably went somewhere to fool around, so shameless!”
The male player next to her was a bit speechless.
“Do you watch livestreams often?” the male player asked.
“What’s it to you?” Jin Qiao glared at him.
The male player shrugged.
He just thought her way of speaking was like those bullet comments.
Inside Bai Cha’s room, it was dark.
Bai Cha, who had just come in and closed the door, moved her fingertips slightly.
Wow, it’s freezing! The water in the cup in the room has frozen.
