462: Chapter 462 The Evil Forbidden Land, the Three-Eyed Statue

Within a hundred meters of this small building, there were no other buildings whatsoever.

Resembling an abandoned stone tower, it stood alone in the center of a wasteland overgrown with weeds.

It looked quite old, with large patches of gray wall peelings exposing the dark red bricks underneath.

The corners of the walls and the eaves were covered in dark green vines, almost swallowing the entire building.

All the windows were welded shut with thick, rusty iron bars, seemingly trying to completely block off the exits.

Curtains were even deliberately used to obscure the scene inside, making it look airtight.

The first floor didn't even have a single window, leaving only a locked, rusted iron door.

Hanging on the door was a large lock that had long been corroded beyond recognition.

The entire building seemed to have been forgotten here, exuding a mystery and deathly silence that clashed completely with the luxury of the Chen Family Manor.

"According to the sensing from my tracking last night, this should be the place."

Fang Cheng's gaze swept across the surroundings and finally landed on the locked iron door.

"Leave it to me!"

Pan Wendi rubbed his hands, his face full of eager excitement.

"Be careful."

Fang Cheng instructed in a serious tone: "If you encounter any situation, shout out, or use your ability directly, and run out first before talking."

Pan Wendi grinned and made an OK gesture at him.

He turned and walked to the wall of the small building, reached out his palm to press against the rough wall surface, seemingly feeling the texture of the stone wall.

Then he took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and gathered his strength.

Then, under Bailing's puzzled gaze, he suddenly sprinted forward and crashed directly into the seemingly exceptionally thick wall!

"Hey…"

Bailing let out an instinctive exclamation, but the expected sound of collision did not ring out.

Pan Wendi's body emitted a faint glow, and his whole person, like a blot of ink dropped into a calm lake, silently merged into the wall.

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

This was the Pan Family's Bloodline ability—Wall-Passing Technique.

Fang Cheng had already witnessed it when he was on Yongan Island, so he was not surprised by this.

This ability was different from Cheng Jiashu's spatial teleportation.

Cheng Jiashu needed to see the target within his field of vision to activate his ability, but Pan Wendi did not need to go through such trouble.

However, his ability also had a limitation: it could only perform short-distance Transmigration and could not achieve long-distance spatial jumps.

According to Pan Wendi's own words, when he activated his ability, he could instantly decompose himself into atomic components to penetrate obstacles.

After passing through, his body would re-condense into shape, which was equivalent to a certain degree of etherealization.

It was Bailing's first time seeing such a peculiar ability, so her face was naturally filled with novelty and astonishment, and her mouth stayed open for a long time.

The two held their breath and waited quietly outside.

One minute, two minutes... ten minutes...

Just as Bailing was getting a bit impatient and wanted to ask,

a faint, short exclamation came from inside the small building.

It was Pan Wendi's voice.

His throat sounded as if it had been choked off, filled with shock and disbelief, which then abruptly stopped.

"Not good!"

Bailing's expression changed.

Before she could make her next move, Fang Cheng beside her had already moved.

He retreated his right foot half a step, his body sank slightly, and the muscles in his right arm instantly bulged.

His whole body was like a fully drawn powerful bow, obviously prepared to force his way in with the most direct violence.

Just as Fang Cheng finished gathering his strength and his gaze locked onto the thick, rusty iron door,

with a soft pop sound, the muddy ground underfoot suddenly arched upward.

Afterwards, a dirt-covered head emerged from the ground, just like a radish just pulled out of the soil.

Bailing was startled, but after seeing clearly who it was, she hurriedly stepped forward to support him.

"Brother Wendi, are you okay?!"

Pan Wendi's entire body then crawled out.

His limbs sprawled out, he lay on the ground, panting heavily with his face full of lingering fear.

"Wendi, what happened just now? What on earth is inside?"

Fang Cheng also withdrew his fist, stepped forward, and asked in a deep voice.

"Damn it, that scared the hell out of me…"

Pan Wendi stood up supporting his knees, patted the dirt off his body, his face still pale:

"Fang Cheng, this place is ominous, too fucking ominous!"

He cursed and swore, but not wanting to show cowardice in front of the two, he still forcibly straightened his waist and cleared his tightened throat.

Then, he began to recount the situation inside:

"As soon as I passed through the wall, it was pitch black inside, and a rotten smell mixed with mildew choked me into coughing nonstop."

"Fortunately, I brought a flashlight in advance and quickly turned it on to shine... Oh my god! The first floor lobby was densely packed with coffins!"

"One next to the other, stacked there like cargo. I took a rough glance, and there were at least a hundred of them!"

Hearing this, Bailing couldn't help but gasp, feeling a creepy sensation at the back of her neck.

She quickly glanced at the pitch-black window behind her, and her steps moved closer to Fang Cheng, almost pressing against his arm.

Pan Wendi swallowed his saliva and continued:

"I mustered up my courage and walked upstairs. After touring the second and third floors completely, they were all coffins. Only the fourth floor was empty, with nothing placed there."

"Anyway, apart from coffins, there seemed to be nothing else in this building, and in front of every coffin, a wooden spirit tablet stood, covered with a layer of dust."

"Damn it, this is not a residential building at all; it's simply a giant morgue of the Chen Family!"

"Are there names written on the spirit tablets?"

Fang Cheng's gaze flickered slightly, and he immediately asked.

"They are written, all surnamed Chen, like Chen Derong and Chen Guangyao. At a glance, they are the Old Ancestor of their Chen Family."

Pan Wendi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his hands still trembling slightly:

"I originally planned to finish checking the situation inside and return the same way to report to you, but when I turned around, I found a staircase leading to the basement hidden in the corner of the first floor."

"That stairway entrance was pitch black, and at the very bottom was an iron door covered in talismans, rusted to the point of peeling, and red light was oozing out from the crack of the door, indescribably eerie."

"At that time, I thought to myself that you guys were still waiting outside for news, and I hadn't investigated anything, so I couldn't just go back like that. Thus, hardening my heart, I directly passed through it."

"Goodness, guess what? That basement was simply not a place for humans to stay. Not to mention the darkness, it was as cold as an ice cellar, easily reaching a dozen degrees below zero."

"I only felt a chilly breeze on my neck, and quickly used the flashlight to shine around, discovering a dark cyan stone altar right in the middle, just like the lotus platform where the Buddha sits in a temple."

"A pile of remains was scattered around, not knowing whether they were animal bones or human bones, exposed in a stark white."

"The walls were not clean either, covered in crooked ghost talismans, red and black mixed together, looking both dirty and spine-chilling."

"As for that altar, it was even weirder, enshrining a statue of unknown origin."

Speaking up to this point, Pan Wendi's voice couldn't help but go slightly out of tune:

"That thing looked extremely sinister, about half a person high, growing horns, with three eyes, and its entire body was blood red, as if it had been soaked in human blood."

"Embedded in the third eye on its forehead was a glowing ruby, and the red light I saw earlier was emitted by it."

"Also, a large black-lacquered coffin was placed in front of the statue, with the coffin lid half-lifted... Inside lay a corpse, looking to be in its fifties or sixties, an old man."

"A corpse?!"

Bailing instinctively gripped the corner of her clothes tightly and asked:

"Are you sure it's a corpse? It couldn't... be a living person, right?"

"Definitely not."

Pan Wendi immediately retorted:

"I can feel that there is not a trace of living aura on him. That corpse is wearing burial clothes, as if it just died not long ago, and the skin on its face is still a waxen yellow, without much decay..."

After listening, Fang Cheng fell into deep thought.

According to old societal traditions, some large families indeed set up private mourning halls to temporarily house the deceased here, waiting for an auspicious day to hold the burial.

But filling an entire building with coffins was simply too exaggerated in scale.

At the very least, it must be the bones of the Chen Family spanning over a hundred years and several generations gathered here.

What was even stranger was the three-eyed statue in the basement, as well as the corpse of the recently deceased old man.

He remembered that the intelligence from Naihe Bridge stated very clearly that all the victims of the Chen Family recently were young and middle-aged adults, and none of them were over fifty years old.

This old man's corpse obviously didn't match.

At this thought, Fang Cheng's gaze sank, and he became even more certain in his heart.

This Family definitely harbored unspeakable secrets.

Perhaps his uncle and the professor came to Tiannan Province for this important secret.

"Wendi, go in one more time."

Fang Cheng suddenly spoke, looking at Pan Wendi with bright eyes.

"Ah?!"

Pan Wendi's face collapsed instantly, as bitter as if he had eaten coptis:

"Still... still need to go in? I haven't recovered from the stench inside yet."

Fang Cheng did not pick up on his complaint, only adding details in a deep voice:

"I need you to find out two things clearly."

"First, carefully check those spirit tablets and see if there are the three names 'Chen Shaoze', 'Chen Qiwen', and 'Chen Tailai'. Second, check if there are corpses inside those coffins."

"Big boss, your requirement is too excessive! You want to open the coffins too?"

Pan Wendi rubbed his hands, shrinking his neck with a troubled look:

"What if there is something... unclean in the coffin?"

"Brother Wendi, come on! We will keep watch for you outside, and we fully support you!"

Bailing leaned over at this moment, waving her small fist to cheer him up, unable to hide the amusement of watching the fun in her eyes.

Pan Wendi looked at the schadenfreude behind Bailing's "encouragement", and then glanced at Fang Cheng's expectant gaze.

In the end, he gritted his teeth and hardened his heart:

"Fine! Since you, brother, have spoken, I will brave mountains of blades and seas of fire!"

After saying that, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and turned to crash fiercely into the building wall.

In the blink of an eye, he plunged into it, leaving only a brief flashing ripple of light on the wall surface.

This time, the waiting time lasted for nearly five minutes.

Just as Bailing's fingers gripped the corners of her clothes tightly with some worry,

Pan Wendi's figure suddenly pierced out from the iron door, his steps staggering, almost falling.

"How is it?"

Fang Cheng was quick-witted and reached out to support him.

"Found it!"

Pan Wendi panted slightly, his face even uglier than before:

"The spirit tablets of those three people, including Chen Shaoze, are all on the fourth floor. I checked them one by one, and there is no mistake."

"But... those three coffins are all empty!"

Empty?

Fang Cheng's gaze condensed, and his brows furrowed.

Just at this moment, his ears twitched slightly, capturing the faint footsteps coming from afar.

Almost as a instinctive reaction, Fang Cheng suddenly raised his hand, grabbed Pan Wendi and Bailing who were about to speak, and shouted in a low voice:

"Someone is coming, hide!"

The three reacted extremely quickly, swiftly dodging and crouching down into a dense patch of bushes nearby, holding their breath.

A moment later, the footsteps went from far to near, becoming clearer and clearer.

Only to see a figure pass through the woods, walking quickly from the hinterland of the manor.

That person was tall and thin, wearing a well-pressed black Tang suit, with hair combed meticulously without a single stray hair.

It was precisely the Chen Family's butler, Li Tiansheng.

He walked straight to the small building, first stopping his footsteps to scan the surroundings vigilantly.

After confirming no one was around, he took out a bunch of keys from his pocket, skillfully picked out a copper key among them, and inserted it into the rusty old lock on the iron door.

"Screech—"

The old iron door was slowly pulled open with a gap, the sound of rust friction being particularly grating in the silence.

Li Tiansheng did not go in immediately, but instead turned his body sideways, leaning his head slightly forward, peering carefully into the pitch-black doorway for a moment, as if confirming the situation inside.

After a brief pause, he slipped inside, and casually pulled the iron door gently shut, leaving only a nearly invisible thin gap.

Behind the bushes, Fang Cheng, Pan Wendi, and Bailing quietly exchanged a look, both seeing the solemnity in each other's eyes.

Time passed minute by minute.

The small building remained completely quiet, without hearing any sound, as if it had swallowed Li Tiansheng whole.

After about ten minutes or so, that iron door once again let out a soft "creak" sound.

Li Tiansheng walked out from inside, his expression seeming much calmer than before he went in, with a faint trace of relief lingering at the corners of his mouth.

He didn't stay long, quickly locking the door again.

He looked around vigilantly once more, then hurried back the way he came, quickly disappearing into the woods.

"Isn't this Butler Li helping us prepare meals in the kitchen? Why did he run over here?"

Pan Wendi lowered his voice with a puzzled expression.

"Could it be... the murderer is him?"

Bailing also guessed in a low voice.

Fang Cheng did not speak, only quietly watching Li Tiansheng's departing back, thoughtful.

When the footsteps completely faded away, the three of them walked out from behind the bushes.

"What should we do next? How about I go in again to see what Butler Li just did?"

Pan Wendi squeezed his fists, revealing once again a bit of eager expression:

"If all else fails, let's just burn this damn place down with a fire and be done with it once and for all!"

After going in and out several times, he had naturally lost much of his fear towards this "sinister" corpse-storage building.

"Not for now."

Fang Cheng slowly shook his head.

His purpose in coming to Tiannan Province was to find out the truth behind the Chen Family case, thereby finding the reason for his uncle and the others' disappearance.

As for whether he could catch the murderer and bring them to justice, it was not the primary task.

From the situation investigated so far, the secrets hidden by the Chen Family were far deeper than a black magic murder case, and might even involve the survival of the entire Family.

Under the circumstances of not knowing the specific details, rashly intervening was not a wise move.

"Let's go back to the hospital first, rendezvous with Lin Chuqiao, and then discuss countermeasures."

Fang Cheng thought for a moment and quickly made up his mind:

"If there are no other changes tonight, tomorrow I will bring Second Young Master Chen Xuan here to interrogate him face-to-face about this small building, as well as the secrets of the basement statue and corpse."

The exact moment his voice fell, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

Just now for the convenience of operation, Fang Cheng had set his phone to silent mode.

Taking it out to look at this moment, what bounced on the screen was precisely Lin Chuqiao's name.

His gaze suddenly condensed, and he immediately pressed the answer button.

From the earpiece, Lin Chuqiao's hurried and solemn voice immediately came over.

"Fang Cheng, something happened to someone in the Chen Family again!"