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墨書 Inktalez
I thought to myself, "Two fake Death Apostles have already appeared before; this one might be fake too. But even if it's fake, I need to investigate. There are so many things that can't be explained, and it involves dozens of lives. If we don't resolve this quickly, who knows what other troubles might arise."
Li Zhisheng seemed worried about the mark on his hand. Both of us were preoccupied with our own thoughts, looking quite anxious. I opened my mouth and said, "Let's take the stairs..." Hearing this, Li Zhisheng guessed my concerns and nodded in agreement.
After descending, we took a taxi straight to a place called the Villa in the city. Years ago, this area was built as an independent district funded by some wealthy individuals. Unlike traditional villa areas, although each house had its own garden, most were shared by two or three people rather than being single-family homes.
The houses were not tall, averaging three to four stories, with only a few being one or two stories. The architectural styles varied greatly—some were Chinese, others Western; some were classical while others were modern—entirely based on the preferences of the residents.
Li Zhisheng and I stood at the entrance of the district. "What now? How do we find him?" Li Zhisheng asked. I checked my phone; it was just past twelve. I had intended to call the Death Apostle but suddenly remembered that when I had called before, it was that strange Death Apostle who answered.
So, I dialed Meng Zhuang's number. After a moment of waiting, the same voice from yesterday came through: "Number five, second floor..." Before I could respond, the caller hung up.
It seemed he already knew we had arrived. "We need to find the person living on the second floor of number five..." With that, I led Li Zhisheng inside. However, as soon as we entered, a security guard in uniform stopped me. "Who are you looking for?!"
I thought for a moment and replied, "We're looking for someone on the second floor of building five." The guard responded sharply, "Building five only has one floor! And the owner isn't even here right now; you've got the wrong place!" He was about to chase us away.
I was taken aback and quickly defended myself: "I just spoke with the owner of building five on the phone! He is here and told us to come find him. If you don't believe me, I can have him talk to you."
With that, I pulled out Meng Zhuang's number again and pressed dial while switching to speakerphone. "I'll let him talk to you..." Before I could finish my sentence, a system prompt came through: "Sorry, the user you are trying to reach is powered off..."
At this point, not only was the guard skeptical, but Li Zhisheng also looked at me with doubt. "Alright, alright, stop pretending. The last salespeople did this too. If you don't leave now, I'll call someone over..." The guard reached for his walkie-talkie.
I quickly grabbed his hand. "Wait! Let's talk this over..." I pulled out my wallet and counted out some cash to slip into his hand while smiling awkwardly. "I know you're a diligent security guard, but everyone has tough times; please help us out."
The guard glanced at me and then down at the money in his hand before looking back up at me as if he thought it wasn't enough.
Seeing this, I hurriedly pulled out two more bills and handed them over. "Just do me this favor... I'll be out soon..."
The guard looked at the six hundred yuan in his hand with a slight smile creeping onto his face but quickly caught himself and cleared his throat to regain his serious demeanor.
He stuffed the money into his pocket and glanced around cautiously. "You two hurry up! Don't do anything shady; if I catch you at it, you'll both regret it." He shot me a fierce glare.
"Yes, yes! We definitely won't! We're law-abiding citizens..." I hurriedly agreed while leading Li Zhisheng inside.
As we passed through the security booth, I glanced back reluctantly at Li Zhisheng and muttered under my breath, "Damn it! If it weren't for being in such a hurry, would I bother with him?!"
Li Zhisheng sighed beside me and said, "That's just how it goes sometimes. Keep your voice down; he might hear you and come after us again. Let's find that building five."
We began to circle around the area. The entire section was arranged in a rather peculiar manner; the numbers were not in sequential order but seemed to be random, as if each person had hung up the number they liked on their door. The highest number reached Nine Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine.
Li Zhisheng looked at the door number Nine Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine and chuckled, "This person must dream of being an emperor..." I curiously asked, "What do you mean by that?"
He explained, "In ancient times, nine was considered the most prestigious number. It's the largest single-digit number, so it sometimes indirectly refers to the emperor. You see, in books, when the emperor goes out incognito, he often takes a name like Jiu Ye."
After hearing this, I gave Li Zhisheng a thumbs up. "Hmm, you really know your stuff..." Before I could finish my sentence, Li Zhisheng raised a hand to stop me. I paused and followed his gaze to see a golden doorplate hanging beside a door, prominently displaying the number "5."
"Is this it?" Li Zhisheng asked. I took a couple of steps back and realized this was a classical Chinese building. The main beams and windows were made of wood, intricately carved with dragons and phoenixes that were bordered in black—its purpose was unclear...
"Tsk tsk tsk, this family must be wealthy. They used top-quality Golden Silk Nanmu for the beams and a Pure Gold doorplate. The craftsmanship on that woodwork is definitely from a master... This is the kind of standard you'd find in palace construction..." Li Zhisheng marveled beside me.
However, I was too preoccupied to pay attention to those details. I stared at the building before me and muttered to myself, "It really is only one floor; am I being played again?"
"I doubt it..." Li Zhisheng replied upon hearing my words. I quickly asked, "What did you discover?"
He pointed at the hollow windows. "Look, this building has only one floor; you can see from outside that there’s no furniture at all. Even if no one lives here, would someone who can afford such a nice house not furnish it? Even if they moved out, there are no signs that furniture ever existed here. Would a wealthy person leave such an empty house like this?"
Li Zhisheng bombarded me with several questions. After thinking it over, I found his reasoning sound and recalled what was said about the second floor on the phone: "Hmm, that's true. Even if I bought a house, I wouldn't just leave it empty unless there was another purpose. The phone mentioned a second floor earlier, but this house only has one; could there be a basement?"
"Whether there is or not, we won't know until we take a look," Li Zhisheng said as he reached out and pushed open the two large wooden doors with a creak.
He had a keen interest in antiques and was particularly excited by these vintage items. As soon as he opened the door, he eagerly stepped inside, and I quickly followed him.
Upon entering the room, an unusual fragrance wafted towards us. Li Zhisheng paused for a moment after catching the scent and exclaimed, "Ghost Oil! I knew I wasn't mistaken," before starting to search around.
"What did you find?!" I asked anxiously as I trailed behind him. But Li Zhisheng seemed uninterested in answering me; he was absorbed in exploring every corner of the room while muttering to himself, "It should be here... where could it have gone..."
No matter how much I pressed him for answers, he had no intention of sharing what he was doing; all I could do was patiently follow him.
When we turned into an alcove, he suddenly shouted, "Found it!" He bent down and picked up something resembling an ancient oil lamp from the ground. "This is it! Whether we can find the Death Apostle depends on this. Quick! Lend me your lighter."
He stretched out his hand urgently asking for my lighter. As I rummaged through my pockets while mumbling to myself about how anxious he was being over this search...
In my search, I accidentally dropped my phone on the ground; it lit up upon impact. Glancing at the screen revealed that it was already one-thirty AM. Now feeling slightly panicked myself, I hurriedly picked up my phone and retrieved my lighter from my clothing pocket to hand it over to Li Zhisheng.
Without hesitation, he took out the wick from the oil lamp and ignited it with my lighter. Instantly, a wave of Jasmine fragrance mixed with a hint of something metallic filled the air.
Li Zhisheng held the oil lamp, moving it back and forth against the walls of the room. As the light swept across a snow-white wall, I noticed a square red area appearing where the light hit. The square was about the size of a palm.
"What is this?!" I asked, pointing at the red spot. "I'm not sure what this is, but let's try it..." Li Zhisheng placed his hand on the red area and pressed down hard. The square immediately sank in.
"Clank—clank..." Suddenly, a series of metallic gears began to turn in the room, accompanied by a grinding sound.
A sense of dread washed over me. "There's a trap!" I thought, turning to pull Li Zhisheng toward the exit. He yanked me back, extinguished the oil lamp in his hand, and set it down on the floor. "Don't panic; this shouldn't be a trap..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a hole opened up in the center of the floor beneath us, just wide enough for a person to pass through.
I looked down and saw a staircase leading into darkness below. "Is this what you've been searching for?" I glanced back at Li Zhisheng.
He nodded. "This kind of mechanism was used by some powerful Taoists and Sorcerers in ancient times. They would often set up such mechanisms in their homes to conduct secretive activities underground..."
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