45: Chapter 45: The Mystery of the Old House (19)

Hu Tao found this stretch of the path torturous, praying in his heart for an exit to appear quickly.

He was terrified that he wouldn't make it out of this secret passage.

It was only now that Hu Tao truly realized that the Big Boss was actually more terrifying than any Vicious Ghost.

He hadn't felt this kind of hair-raising sensation even when encountering a Vicious Ghost.

Perhaps heaven had heard his prayers, for he suddenly saw a glimmer of light ahead.

It was a door; he pushed it outward, and it opened.

Hu Tao came out first, standing at the cave entrance for a while, but when he didn't see the Big Boss emerge, he grew anxious.

"Big Boss?"

"Don't move!" These two simple words were filled with brutality, and Hu Tao swallowed hard.

What on earth had happened in the cave to make the Big Boss so angry?

Not daring to ask or move, Hu Tao had no choice but to focus his attention on his surroundings.

This place turned out to be a forest.

He looked up at the sky; it wasn't the pitch-black of night, but a hazy, gray sky that allowed him to vaguely make out the surrounding environment.

Had they reached the outside of the Ancient Mansion, or were they still inside it?

This left him somewhat confused.

After a while, he heard the click-clack of small leather shoes—it was the Big Boss's footsteps.

Qian Ye emerged. The axe in her hand had been put away, and she was now holding her little red umbrella. She wore a black lace dress with red trim and a matching hat, looking elegant and noble.

At this moment, she exuded an air of delight, as if she weren't the same person who had been filled with gloomy brutality just a moment ago.

Hu Tao: "..."

Truly, a woman's heart is as deep as the sea; even with the Big Boss, it was impossible to fathom—simply impossible!

Once out of the cave entrance, Qian Ye immediately opened her hong ling umbrella and spun around in place, her entire being radiating excitement.

Hu Tao, standing to the side, looked at her new outfit and shook his head with a wry smile; he thought he understood why she had been in a bad mood.

The Big Boss was formidable, but she seemed like a child at heart.

The flower pot had already returned to her arms, radiating a sense of delight.

Holding her little red umbrella, Qian Ye looked slightly downward. This area was higher than the one below, and not far away was a withered forest filled with dead trees.

The two of them went straight to the withered forest. Qian Ye gazed at the faint red light emanating from within, her eyes narrowing slightly.

The withered forest before them looked as if it had been formed by a raging fire; the entire woods were charred black.

There wasn't a breath of wind in the air, and the hazy, gray weather made it feel gloomy and somewhat oppressive.

Qian Ye and Hu Tao walked inside one after the other. The sound of them stepping on dry branches was exceptionally clear in the silent environment.

"Crunch, crunch..." "Crunch, crunch..."

There were many dry branches on the ground, creating a scene of disarray.

"Snap... snap..." "Crunch, crunch..." "Snap... snap..."

Qian Ye's ears twitched, and she stopped quietly.

Hu Tao also sensed that something was wrong. He scanned his surroundings vigilantly but didn't notice anything unusual.

As they continued to walk, the two different sets of sounds appeared again.

Qian Ye looked down at her shoes, her eyes filled with irritation; her little leather shoes were dirty again.

At this moment, the "snap, snap" sounds became more and more distinct, right beneath their feet.

Her good mood hadn't lasted long before she was annoyed by these damned things.

"Swish, swish, swish..." "Snap, snap..."

Something was breaking through the soil.

One by one, charred skeletal claws burst from the ground, and gradually, their entire bodies were revealed. They were charred black skeletons, a full two meters tall.

In the sockets of their skulls, two flickers of eerie red ghost fire burned.

They locked onto the two of them and charged over with long strides.

The already irritated Qian Ye heard the commotion. Seeing the skeletons charging right up to her, her eyes turned cold. "You've come at just the right time."

Hu Tao only felt a sudden whoosh, and his hands felt heavy as the flower pot was thrust back into them. She had dashed past him.

When he looked again, he saw the Big Boss wielding her umbrella, brutally beating the entity before her.

"How dare you try to scare people!"

"Who told you to be charred black all over! I just changed these shoes!"

"And my clothes, I just changed them too!"

"My mood had just improved!"

"And now you show up!"

She beat those ghosts until they were scrambling in all directions. Once Qian Ye was provoked, how could she possibly let them go?

Hu Tao actually felt sorry for those ghosts.

A moment later, Hu Tao watched in bewilderment as Qian Ye took out a small reclining chair and began ordering the entities that she had beaten into submission on the ground.

"You, you, you, and you."

"Lift this properly for me!"

She pointed at four large entities, commanded them to take the four corners of the reclining chair, and then laid down leisurely.

Hu Tao was amazed by this scene. Why would they listen to her?

He cast a curious gaze at the entities. The two-meter-tall skeletons were now hunched over, carrying the reclining chair, on which lay a delicate-looking young girl.

Suddenly, Hu Tao's eyes fixed on something; he saw a red light flickering in and out at the necks of those skeletons.

This light was very familiar to him now; he occasionally saw it on the Big Boss.

For a moment, he was extremely curious about what kind of skill this was. It was simply too impressive.

"The left side higher, it's crooked."

Hu Tao watched with envy. This was clearly a survival game, yet the Big Boss had turned it into a leisure mode.

There was nothing more to say; he had nothing but envy.

The further they went inside, the brighter the red light became.

Qian Ye directed the skeletons to turn left and right along the way. With them clearing the path, they didn't encounter any other entities in the withered forest.

"Big Boss, look!"

Hu Tao pointed ahead; what they discovered in front of them was a massive stone door.

What surprised him was that the red patterns on this stone door seemed to be the same as the ones on the main gate.

If they were the same, it meant that these red patterns were also filled with blood.

It reminded him of the blood pool found in the kitchen, as well as their conversation—did "sending to the back mountain" mean sending that blood here?

But what was the connection between that blood and these red patterns?

Could it be that these patterns were devouring that blood?

Hu Tao suddenly paused.

He suddenly recalled Zheng Wei's corpse found in the blood pool. If the blood pool consisted entirely of female blood, then it was highly possible.

The red patterns he had discovered on the main gate earlier were capable of actively absorbing blood.

Qian Ye was set down. She waved her hand, and in the next instant, those skeletons disintegrated into powder on the spot.

Hu Tao, standing to the side, was shocked by the sight.

It seemed he had still underestimated her ruthlessness.

He hadn't expected that the deepest part of this withered forest would be a place of sealing.

Qian Ye reached out and touched the stone wall; it carried a faint, flickering suction force.

It was similar to the suction force on the main gate, just not as strong.

It turned out that the red patterns all radiated from the stone door. The closer one got to the stone door, the deeper the red patterns became, and as they spread outward, the depth of the patterns varied.

"What exactly are these red patterns?"

Hu Tao looked at them over and over but couldn't figure out what they were.

"It's a seal!"

Qian Ye kindly reminded him.

Once she said that, Hu Tao followed the lines and saw that it really was a traditional Chinese character for "Seal" ( seal up).

"..."

Why did it feel like they had suddenly switched channels?

Wasn't this an Eerie Game with a modern setting?

How did a seal appear here!

"Could it be that a thousand-year-old skeleton is sealed inside?"

It was no wonder Hu Tao thought this way; after all, most of the entities that had appeared in this dungeon were skeleton ghosts.

"It could also be a peerless beauty!"

Qian Ye grinned, her eyes shimmering with a vibrant light.

Holding her hong ling umbrella, she approached the stone door and only then noticed a scene carved onto it.

A pair of newlyweds, from meeting to understanding each other, falling in love, and finally stepping into the wedding hall.

In the final scene, the man held a knife, thrusting it straight into the woman's chest; the imagery ended there.