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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Nineteen: The Owner of the Haunted House
To be honest, seeing the sighs and regrets of this villager, I could almost imagine how the family of the owner of the Villa ended up. However, even so, I still wanted to hear the answer from the villager's mouth.
The villager sighed again, then looked at the Villa not far behind me, his gaze somewhat distant, as if recalling some terrifying event. He slowly said, "That family... later disappeared..."
What? Disappeared? Both Wang Qingshan and I were somewhat shocked because in our minds, we thought they must have either died or been injured, but we never expected the answer to be that they disappeared.
I was very curious. A family of three, all alive, how could they possibly disappear? So I asked the villager how that could be possible. Did no one see them after they moved in?
The villager stared blankly at us and then slowly replied, "Once they moved into this Villa, no one saw them come out."
I frowned and finally understood what he meant. Just think about it—a family of three living in such a haunted house and never being seen coming out. It’s hard to believe that a family wouldn’t go out at all. Don’t they need to buy rice and vegetables? Don’t they need to buy clothes and other necessities? It can be said that anyone living in this world has to interact with society; it’s impossible to be completely isolated from the outside world.
I was astonished and continued to ask, "You never saw them again?"
The villager nodded. Yes, at first no one paid attention, but as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, no one had seen them come out—ten days, half a month, six months, a year—they seemed to be locked inside that house and never came out.
At this point, the villager frowned again and said, "However... over the years, some villagers claimed to have seen that family. They said they saw them looking out from the windows of their house, which scared that villager quite a bit."
"Then how do you know they disappeared? Didn’t anyone go in to check?" asked Wang Qingshan from beside me.
The villager replied, "At that time, the haunted house was causing such a stir; who would dare to go in? Moreover, this matter had nothing to do with the villagers, so no one ever suggested going in to look for that family. After all, so much time had passed; even if someone went in to check, it would surely be too late if something happened to them. So everyone just stopped mentioning this haunted house. However, a few years ago when the Old Village Chief retired, he took one or two villagers into that house. But reportedly after going in, they didn’t see anyone; instead, they heard someone calling the Village Chief's name. The Village Chief was so frightened that he ran straight out of the Villa. After that, they locked up the Villa and no one has gone in since."
Hearing this made me wonder what would happen if I told Wang Qingshan that he had entered this Villa a few days ago and even had a meal inside. I couldn't help but think about how this villager would react—would he not believe it or would he turn pale with fear?
Looking at Wang Qingshan beside me, his face had turned pale, clearly affected by the villagers' frightening tales about this house. It was no surprise, considering he had recently been inside for a meal and a visit.
The villagers had shared so much information, yet they had not mentioned any names. So, I asked if there had ever been a family with the surname Duan living in this house.
"With the surname Duan?" The villager thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No, I knew all those tenants back then, and there was no one with that surname."
I nodded and then thought of something else to ask. Since there were no tenants with the surname Duan, what about the owner of the Villa? What was their surname?
The villager shook his head again, saying he had never dealt with the Villa's owner because they were an outsider businessman who did not belong to their social class. Therefore, no one in the village had any interaction with them. All he knew was that they were an outsider businessman, and everyone just referred to them as "the boss," nothing more.
However, the villager added that since we seemed very interested in the Villa, he would warn us that it was quite eerie, and it would be best to curb our curiosity to avoid trouble.
I smiled helplessly and told him that we had indeed come specifically to this house because we were looking for someone with the surname Duan who used to live in this Villa.
Upon hearing this, the villager realized I wasn't joking and said that there were no tenants with that surname unless the owner of the house had it. However, if we really needed something, he suggested we find the Old Village Chief; he should know the owner's name since he had helped rent out the Villa before, and the key to the house was also with him.
Knowing that this villager had shared almost everything he knew, we thanked him and followed his directions to the Old Village Chief's home. I had a strong feeling that Duan Yang might very well be the owner of the Villa. Even if Duan Yang wasn't the owner, we still needed to go to the Old Village Chief's house to get the key to enter the Villa.
According to the villager, Old Village Chief's house was over a mile away from here. We followed another small mountain path until we arrived after about ten minutes of walking.
The Old Village Chief lived in a mud-brick house with a large tile roof. As we approached, an elderly man in his sixties came out to greet us with a puzzled expression, asking whom we were looking for and if we needed anything.
We nodded and asked if he was indeed the Old Village Chief.
The old man confirmed that he used to be the Village Chief but mentioned that he no longer held that position. However, he was quite curious about why we were looking for him.
I didn't beat around the bush with him and directly told him that we had indeed come specifically to find him because we heard that he had the key to the Village's large Villa. We had encountered a troublesome matter and needed to enter the Villa to take a look, so we wanted to borrow the key from him.
Upon hearing this, the Old Village Chief's expression changed immediately. He asked us in a panic what kind of trouble we had gotten into that required us to enter that Old House. Did we really not know about the dangers of that Old House?
I sighed, knowing that if I didn't reveal the truth, the Old Village Chief would likely not lend us the key easily. So I glanced at Wang Qingshan, who understood, and then he recounted everything about his Daughter to the Village Chief.
After listening to Wang Qingshan, the Old Village Chief turned pale, unable to believe what he had just heard.
He steadied himself and said that the Villa had been uninhabited for many years, so how could there still be someone inside? Moreover, both the outside Iron Gate and the Main Entrance of the Villa were locked by him, and outsiders did not have keys. How could Wang Qingshan have entered?
I replied that we were just curious about this matter, which was why we came to borrow the key to take a look inside.
The Old Village Chief nodded and then said that he knew the person you mentioned, Duan Yang. He was the Son of the owner of the Villa. However, after they moved into the Villa, they never came out again. Later, I also entered the Villa, but I did not see them; of course, I did not search for them in detail. But even if I found them, they must have long since turned into a pile of bones.
Upon hearing this, Wang Qingshan and I exchanged glances. We finally learned about this Duan Yang. It seemed my previous guess was correct; this Duan Family was indeed the owner of the Villa.
The Old Village Chief said that they were merchants from Shanghai. According to rumors, several generations ago they were people from our area, but during the years of Early Liberation, they died off, and their ancestors moved away. Later, when the Duan Family became wealthy, they thought about returning to their old hometown to build a house. Thus, they specifically came to our mountain to build such a large Villa. However, they never expected that this expensive house would turn out to be a haunted place that took lives.
At this point, the Old Village Chief sighed. He then said that if we really wanted to enter the Villa, he could give us the key. However, he had to warn us beforehand that it was truly sinister there; it could be said that it was fraught with danger. We needed to think carefully.
I nodded and said we understood this well. Then I took the key from the Old Village Chief and left his home...
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