Chapter 140.1 The Horror Club
The distance between the front and back of the house was quite far, indicating that Master Lin was an extreme lover of wealth. The stone path on the lawn was adorned with patterns of copper coins on every stone.
When nearing the end of the path, he looked back and realized that the dense arrangement of copper coins formed the shape of an animal.
“A golden leopard…”
Wen Shi remembered the golden leopard sent to Pei Hongxin through a contact. Perhaps that item, known for attracting wealth, had originated from this place.
The two worlds seemed to have a subtle connection, especially the burned orphanage, which pointed to something too strongly.
On the way, not a single servant could be seen.
The ancestral hall was built very traditionally, with a red roof and white walls. In the center, a golden plaque read: “Lin Family Ancestral Hall.” The only thing out of place was the black door. When Wen Shi pushed it open, he once again caught a faint scent of ink.
There was no trace of light inside. Even though he had just opened the door, the darkness seemed impenetrable. It felt like something was lurking in the darkness, waiting for its prey to walk into the trap.
Just like in the study, Pei Hongxin never dared to step over the threshold. Unfortunately, this time, Wen Shi didn’t indulge him. He grabbed the collar of the child and lifted him up from behind. Given the vast difference in their strength, Pei Hongxin struggled, kicking his skinny legs. In the next moment, he was tossed inside.
“Your turn~”
Wen Shi was essentially using him as a scout.
Every time Pei Hongxin tried to rush out, he would be ruthlessly thrown back in. After a couple of attempts, he finally gave up. Wen Shi stood at the entrance, turned on his phone’s flashlight, and the focused beam of light penetrated halfway inside.
He asked Pei Hongxin to describe the interior.
Dodging this kind of situation wouldn’t benefit anyone. By the dim light, Pei Hongxin observed and said in a low voice, “There’s a memorial tablet right in front…”
He suddenly took a step forward and continued, “On the side of the table, there are incense and a matchbox.”
There was a faint sound of friction.
Knowing that he would be pressured to light the incense, Pei Hongxin took the initiative to strike a match and then gave the answer, “The incense won’t light.”
There was no tradition allowing the younger generation to light incense alone, so even though Master Lin didn’t explicitly state it, Wen Shi knew he had to do it.
He looked at the blurry, slender figure and coldly stepped into the ancestral hall.
While Wen Shi was lighting incense, Pei Hongxin silently moved to the side. In fact, there was another crucial piece of information he didn’t mention. The moment he entered earlier, he heard a leopard’s roar.
Among the numerous memorial tablets, there was an inconspicuous blank one, partly overlapping with the one below it. It was almost impossible to notice without careful inspection.
According to Pei Hongxin’s hypothesis, they had to figure out how to lure the leopard onto the memorial tablet before lighting the incense. The specifics were unclear, but the leopard would definitely prioritize attacking the one lighting the incense.
As if completely unaware, the young man elegantly struck a match with his slender fingertips. This captivating scene was accompanied by the distant yet soul-stirring roar of a leopard.
Roar—
The fierce beast lunged from the darkness, the foul stench from its gaping maw rushing towards them.
Pei Hongxin retreated quickly, but Wen Shi remained motionless, calmly lighting two sticks of incense in a row.
He gently blew out the matches, and just as the golden leopard’s sharp fangs were about to bite through his neck, in the nick of time, Wen Shi met the monster head-on with a punch.
“Shell Breaker.”
Lighting incense was just a simple task, so the difficulty shouldn’t be too high. He decided to start by taking on the monster himself. If things got tough, he could always rely on the Wandering Corpse’s skill. However, this skill had a one-day cooldown, so Wen Shi didn’t want to use it unless absolutely necessary.
This was the first time he had used A’Sang’s skill, which, when activated, randomly smashed the head of a higher-level demon.
With a crisp sound like “duang,” Wen Shi clearly felt that the area where his fist connected with the monster’s tough skull had caved in, while his own fragile fist remained intact.
The murky brain matter spilled all over the place, eventually turning into black fluid that seeped into the gaps between the floor tiles.
After smashing the head of the golden leopard, the visibility in the ancestral hall improved significantly. Without looking back, Wen Shi coldly said, “Come in and light the incense.”
The hot, rancid smell in the air still lingered, serving as a constant reminder of the gruesome scene Pei Hongxin had just witnessed. His face, which didn’t have much flesh to begin with, twitched involuntarily. Reluctantly, he stepped over the threshold and stood beside Wen Shi once again.
Violence always possessed the most straightforward deterrent power.
With his eyes closed, Wen Shi stood in front of the memorial tablet as if he were a devout worshipper.
He knew what was going through Pei Hongxin’s mind–a mixture of fear and disdain for attack skills. In summary, it had the effect of making the opponent inadvertently lower their guard amidst the shock.
Picking up the incense from the table, Pei Hongxin, listening to his overly agitated heartbeat, hurried through the ritual.
After finishing the incense ritual, Wen Shi wiped the monster’s blood from his hands with the inside of his coat. He said, “Remember your place. You’re nothing more than a counterfeit, and once exposed, I might lose a few points of NPC favorability, but there won’t be a place for you in this household anymore.”
He might as well have said he was treating him like a dog.
After wiping away the last traces of blood, Wen Shi tidied up Pei Hongxin’s clothes, just as the other had done for him back in the orphanage. “Stand in your place.”
Returning to the mansion, the number of people in the living room had decreased by half. Servants were busy inspecting the windows, and outside, the wind had started to blow. The weather forecast warned of heavy rain tonight.
The butler was efficiently coordinating the tasks, even calling the servants by name. He had fully immersed himself in his role.
Without exchanging any particular greetings, Wen Shi continued his stride upstairs, ready to complete the first side quest.
After knocking twice, this time, he received a prompt “Come in.”
The moment he pushed open the door, Wen Shi’s expression subtly changed. The smell inside was hard to describe, somewhat like a refrigerator with spoiled and unfresh ingredients. Cold air mixed with a peculiar refrigerator odor hit him.
Master Lin, dressed entirely in black embroidered with golden plum blossoms, had the complexion of someone in poor health. He appeared weak and frail.
Master Lin was flipping through a photo album. Sometimes the elderly tended to reminisce. He had been ruthless when he abandoned Wen Shi back then, but now, there was a hint of nostalgia. “Your mother passed away early. Fortunately, she didn’t have to experience the pain of aging.”
Pointing at a photo, Master Lin said, “Look at her, she will forever remain in this beautiful moment.”
Wen Shi quietly accompanied him down memory lane. When they looked at the photos, both Wen Shi and Pei Hongxin’s eyes widened in surprise.
The woman in the photo had distinctive almond-shaped eyes. Master Lin himself had single eyelids. However, either Wen Shi or the child held by the woman in the photo had double eyelids.
Wen Shi silently pondered the probability of two single-eyelid parents having a child with double eyelids. In the end, he concluded that it must be a genetic mutation.
Just as Wen Shi was regaining his composure, Master Lin sighed. “I remember when your mother gave birth to you prematurely. It was such a hardship.”
He conveniently left out the fact that he was involved with someone else at that time.
Having just reminded Pei Hongxin to establish his position in this family, Wen Shi fell into silence.
There were no such things as double coincidences in this world.
“……”
So, we’re not even biologically related.
Why then did they come to someone else’s house?
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