Your grandson is out again

Su Yang said, grabbing Ren Lingxi's delicate, boneless hand and leading her towards the main room inside the courtyard.

The eerie background music (BGM) around them never stopped. The sound was like the spatial audio from Bluetooth headphones—no matter how you turned, it kept swirling in your ears.

Although the background sounds weren't loud, listening to them still gave people a chilling, hair-raising feeling.

Combined with the desolate backdrop of a rural village from the 70s or 80s deep at night, it was genuinely a bit frightening.

However, Su Yang knew full well this was just a set. He had always been quite brave, and now with his exceptional physical fitness, he wasn't afraid even if one or two real things were mixed in.

This was exactly the feeling of "great skill breeds boldness."

The two walked quickly to the dilapidated wooden door of the courtyard. The door was slightly ajar. Su Yang tilted his head to peer through the crack.

Inside was equally pitch black; nothing could be seen clearly.

Even with his currently extraordinary eyesight, he still couldn't make out anything distinctly.

He instinctively reached out and knocked on the door. "Is anyone in there?"

"Su Yang, d-don't scare me. Isn't this supposed to be an uninhabited village? How could there be anyone inside?"

"Just in case there are other NPCs. Never mind, let's go in and take a look first."

As he spoke, Su Yang pushed the door open and entered.

Ren Lingxi took a flashlight from her crossbody bag and said, "Su Yang, I have a flashlight."

"What? You have a flashlight? Why didn't you take it out earlier?"

"I... forgot~"

"Alright then. But why don't I have one?"

"Probably only us girls have a flashlight in our bags."

"Hmm, probably. Here, give it to me."

"Okay~" Ren Lingxi handed the flashlight to Su Yang.

Su Yang took the silver old-fashioned flashlight, flipped the switch, and immediately a beam of yellow light shot out.

However, the light was rather dim, making it difficult to illuminate the surroundings.

Su Yang swept the beam left and right across the room. It was just an ordinary old-fashioned main room.

In the middle of the room was a square wooden table with a long bench on each of its four sides. Against the dust-covered wall behind the table stood an altar.

On the altar were a plate of apples and two sticks of incense that had already burned out.

"Let's go." The two stepped inside the room.

The moment they entered, a faint, dim yellow light flickered from a dark room on the right, like a candle flame swaying in the wind.

"Who's there?" Su Yang quickly turned to look towards the room on the right.

Ren Lingxi stayed pressed close to Su Yang the entire time, not daring to breathe heavily.

"Darn it, didn't that NPC earlier say this house wasn't the Zhao family's?"

"Ahem!"

"Ahem~"

Just as they were whispering, an old man's cough suddenly came from the room on the right.

Su Yang and Ren Lingxi were instantly startled.

"Ahhh! Who's there?" Ren Lingxi shouted, hiding behind Su Yang.

Su Yang pointed the flashlight beam towards the right-hand room. Suddenly, a hunched figure slowly walked out from behind the wall.

"What the hell??!"

"Who are you!!"

"How come you two young friends have come uninvited?" The hunched figure walked out, leaning on a cane.

Su Yang shone the light on the person, thinking to himself: 'Damn, must be another NPC. Geez, you scared me.'

"Sir, sorry to disturb you so late. We're visiting the village and got lost."

"Are you here looking for someone, or...?" The old man kept his head slightly bowed, only the upper half of his face above the nose visible.

Su Yang nodded. "Yes, may I ask if you know where the Zhao family is?"

"The Zhao family?"

"Oh, yes, I know. The Zhao family is one of the six major families in our village. If you go out through my backyard and follow the path straight ahead, you'll see the Zhao house."

"Okay, sir. How do we get to the backyard?"

"Go out through the door behind the room on the left, and you'll be in the backyard."

"Alright, then we won't disturb you further. It's so late, you should rest soon~"

As he spoke, Su Yang prepared to take Ren Lingxi and leave this place.

But just as he took a step, the BGM swirling in their ears suddenly grew louder, and a white light flashed within the room.

At the doorway of the room on the left side of the main hall, a 'person' suddenly appeared—shirtless, lying on the ground in a strange posture.

"Ahhh!" Seeing this, Ren Lingxi was frightened into screaming again and immediately leaped onto Su Yang.

Su Yang was also startled by the sudden appearance of this 'person.' He hurriedly held Ren Lingxi and took several steps back.

The white light flashed and was gone. The old man shouted towards the left doorway, "You little beast!! Get back!!"

"What was that?"

"Don't be afraid, young friends. That was my grandson just now~"

"Your... grandson?"

"Ah, sorry for frightening you. He probably came out because he was attracted by you. Please wait a moment while I offer some incense to my grandson before you leave."

The old man slowly walked to the front of the altar with his cane and began lighting incense.

Although Su Yang knew all this was fake, being in such an environment, he couldn't help but get immersed in it instinctively.

He pointed the flashlight towards where the grandson had been on the floor, but the guy had already disappeared.

The old man quickly lit the incense. He waved it a few times before inserting it into the incense burner on the altar, then bowed a few times.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, another white light flashed outside the house.

BOOM!!!

After the white light vanished, an extremely realistic clap of thunder followed.

'Whoa? That sound is pretty realistic.'

"It's going to rain again~ You two young friends might as well rest here for the night before leaving."

Su Yang shook his head and refused. "Uh... no, no. Staying here is a bit too creepy. What if your grandson suddenly appears before my eyes while I'm sleeping? I'm afraid I might not be able to help myself and actually strangle him..."

"So we won't stay. The Zhao family is still waiting for me to go drink with them."

"What a pity. Then you two young friends can leave through the room on the left."

"Okay, thank you, sir."

"You're welcome~"

After Su Yang finished speaking, he immediately pulled Ren Lingxi and headed towards the room on the left.

Ren Lingxi swallowed and whispered, "Su Yang, could that person still be hiding inside?"

"It's fine. Never mind for now, let's just get out first. The time we're wasting here..."

"Crap!"

"What's wrong?" Ren Lingxi looked up and asked.

"Darn it, 'before 12 o'clock, an old man'... dammit, this NPC was deliberately sent out to delay us. Let's go, quick!"

"Oh, oh, okay~"

Su Yang pulled Ren Lingxi and quickly walked into the room on the left. Once inside, he saw a wooden door.

The two hurried to the door. Su Yang reached out to pull it open, but the door seemed to be locked and wouldn't budge.

"Dammit."

Sssss.

Sssss.

Right at that moment, a series of extremely creepy, strange sounds came from behind them.

"Wah! What is that?!" Ren Lingxi hurriedly hid behind Su Yang again.

Su Yang raised the flashlight and shone it towards where the sound was coming from.

He saw that the shirtless little grandson who had scared them earlier had appeared again, and was crawling towards their feet in that strange posture.

"Ahhh! Su Yang, save me!" Ren Lingxi hugged Su Yang tightly and screamed.

Su Yang hurriedly turned his head and shouted towards the next room, "Old man, your grandson is out again! Hurry up and take him back!"

However, after his shout, there wasn't a single sound from next door.

"Dammit, little buddy, don't come any closer, or I'll make sure you're black and blue all over!"

Sssss, sssss.

The NPC paid no attention to what Su Yang said. Letting out a shrill, chilling low growl, it crawled towards the two of them on its own.

Seeing that talking was useless, Su Yang turned around and tried to open the door again. Actually, this door required finding a key inside the room to open, but Su Yang's strength was a bit too great.

This time, he mustered all his strength and gave a fierce pull. With a sharp crack, the wooden door was instantly ripped open by sheer force.

Once the door was open, he quickly ran out with Ren Lingxi.

Outside the door was a backyard. Around the yard was a circle of low walls, the ground overgrown with weeds. In the middle was a small wooden gate.

"Oooowwwwoooo~"

With a roar, the old man's grandson behind them quickly gave chase.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Without time to think, Su Yang scooped Ren Lingxi up in a princess carry and charged towards the small gate in the backyard.

Thud-thud-thud!!

Urgent footsteps accompanied by the snarling roars followed them into the yard.

Su Yang, already at the yard gate with Ren Lingxi in his arms, turned sideways and slammed the wooden gate open with his shoulder. But the moment he broke through, his foot met empty air.

WHOOSH!!

The two of them tumbled violently into a pipe-like chute and began plummeting downwards at high speed.

......