"Hurry up and get out of there!"
"I just think it's weird. Think about it, if this house has been here since the last century, what exactly was it used for back then? I originally thought people lived here, but a place where people live wouldn't be without even a single window, right?"
As Du Kang spoke, he shone the flashlight toward the ceiling again. "Look, there's even a lightbulb here."
"Maybe it was a warehouse or something?" Zhang Shutong replied, shining his phone light on the interior wall of the house.
There were no marks left on the wall either.
The interior of this red-brick house was extremely crude. There was no wall paint; it was merely slathered with mud mixed with straw, and that was the end of it. Zhang Shutong scraped it with his finger, but it wasn't powder; under the pervasive moisture, it had truly turned into a patch of slushy mud.
It was no wonder the standing water inside the room was murky mud water, making it impossible to tell the depth, which had caused Du Kang to suffer a loss.
"Let's go, let's go," Ruoping urged Du Kang again. "We said we were going to eat in a bit. Your shoes are completely soaked, so how are you going to go? Are you going home to change your shoes first?"
"That's right!" Only when she said this did Du Kang remember that they still had to eat later. This house carried some weirdness. Although he was curious, failing to find anything even after paying such a heavy "price" made him feel all the more depressed for a moment.
"If I had known, I shouldn't have come in. Why did we bother researching it..." As he spoke, he awkwardly took a step forward again, the mud water inside the room churning with his movements. Du Kang stood on the doorframe, which was the only place above the water surface. As he took off his shoes, he asked, "Then are we going back?"
"Let's go back." Qingyi was still staring intently at the wooden door, trying hard to find some evidence of an abnormality, but what could be found in a completely empty old house? He said disappointedly, "I was overthinking it."
It seemed this adventure had ended in failure, a case of setting out with high spirits and returning in low spirits.
But it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Zhang Shutong thought to himself. It wasn't as if a clay figure had to pop out for you guys to get a surprise; at that point, it wouldn't be a surprise but a scare.
He also chimed in, saying they should head back.
Glancing at the time, twenty minutes had already passed since they left the hospital. The rain was gradually easing, but reality was just that dramatic sometimes—when the rain was heavy they couldn't ride their bikes, and when the rain eased, Du Kang's shoes were soaked.
Knocking his shoes against the frame, Du Kang asked, "How about we go eat at my family's restaurant? My dad and the others might not have left yet. We can whip up a couple of dishes, and go to the commercial street another day?"
"This doorframe isn't sturdy," Zhang Shutong reminded him. "Be careful not to step on it and make it collapse."
"Oh, right, I'm almost done." Sensing that he had let everyone down, Du Kang quickly tied his shoelaces. "So what do you guys say? I can actually push through it."
"Push through your large head, push through. I told you going to eat properly would have been so nice, but you just had to come to this kind of place for an adventure..." Ruoping had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She helplessly cast a vote in favor. "Let's not trouble your uncle either. Let's just make do with some instant noodles, what do you guys think?"
"Sure." Qingyi cast a vote in favor.
"I don't care either way," Zhang Shutong said casually. "You guys know, I'm conserving energy..."
"Whimper..."
"Try conserving energy one more time?" Ruoping gritted her silver teeth.
"Eating instant noodles, in favor."
"No, no, no, it's not to the point where we only eat instant noodles. Let me think about what else there is to eat. Hmm, there's leftover braised beef from the day before yesterday. My dad threw it in the freezer, I'll go rummage around for it when I get back..."
"Does your house have pickled cabbage beef noodles? I want to eat that," Qingyi asked.
"There should be."
"Then add a poached egg, that's perfect."
"What a turn of events, no problem. What about Ruoping?"
"I ate a lot at noon, so I'm not hungry. By the way, can your movements be a bit snappier?"
"Right away, right away..."
"Whimper..."
"Speaking of lunch, I just remembered. And you, Zhang Shutong, how do you have the nerve to conserve energy? Why didn't you conserve energy when facing the sea cucumbers at noon?"
"Why is the firepower aimed at me? Spare my life."
"Du Kang, you still haven't tied your shoelaces?"
"It accidentally turned into a dead knot. Forget it, forget it, I'll just make do with walking..."
"Whimper..."
"This house really isn't necessarily sturdy. Don't be careless, it's been at least a decade or two."
"Speaking of which, I suddenly realized it would be better to just ask my dad," Du Kang straightened his back from the threshold. "Our restaurant had just opened around that time. He might know about past events even better than the hospital people."
The three of them nodded, and then fell silent. Darkness enveloped them, with only the rushing sound of water by their ears.
Zhang Shutong broke the silence, saying that he really was being wise after the event. Asking dad or asking mom didn't really matter; what mattered was...
"I've wanted to ask since just now." He knitted his brows. "What exactly is 'whimpering'?"
"Whimper..."
"Behind us!" Qingyi said suddenly.
Du Kang immediately turned around and shone the light inside the room. The few of them held their breath at the same time, looking along the beam of the flashlight, but within their field of vision was only flowing mud water.
"Wh-What's wrong again?" Ruoping's face turned pale once more. "Don't play pranks, you guys. How come I didn't hear any whimpering..."
"There really is something," Qingyi said solemnly. "At first I thought it was the sound of the wind blowing, but it doesn't quite sound like it. Moreover, it's coming from inside the room. It should be... the south side. Du Kang, shine the light toward the south."
Du Kang shifted the flashlight. This time, Zhang Shutong came to his side, looking over along with him. The inside of the room was pitch black, and the beam of the flashlight shifted positions little by little, incomparably cautious, until—
"Wait, go back a bit," Zhang Shutong signaled. "A little further back. Yes, just a tiny bit..."
Ultimately, the light beam stopped in the corner of the old house.
"Is there something there?" Du Kang hurriedly asked. "How come I didn't see anything? Isn't it still black?"
"The 'black' is the biggest problem." Zhang Shutong stared at the corner. "Haven't you noticed that no matter what, that spot can't be lit up?"
There was a mass of shadow in the corner of the room.
Zhang Shutong wasn't sure if the sound was coming from the shadow, or if everyone's nerves were tense and it was a false alarm. For a moment, no one rashly stepped forward, all gathering at the doorway and staring intently at the corner.
"To be honest," Du Kang said uncertainly, "now that you guys mention it, the sound doesn't sound like some supernatural event to me anymore, but rather..."
"Rather what?"
But before Du Kang could finish his sentence, the shadow in the corner suddenly came alive. It quickly darted to another corner. Du Kang hurriedly shifted the flashlight, but he was still a beat too slow. By the time he shone the light over again, the shadow was motionless once more.
Du Kang suddenly chuckled. "Did you guys see that?"
"I saw it." Qingyi nodded with a strange expression.
Zhang Shutong also said helplessly to Ruoping, "Open your eyes, it's fine. Look—"
As he spoke, he extended his finger. The flashlight formed a circle of light on the mud wall, and situated in the center of that light circle...
Was a small dog.
A small dog that was pitch black all over.
There was no telling whether the fur on its body had been dyed black by the mud water, or if it was originally black. This night scenery had become its best camouflage. Just now, this small dog had curled up in the corner of the room, and even though Du Kang had walked a circle inside, he had completely failed to notice it.
"Holy crap, no wonder it sounded like a dog whimpering to me," Du Kang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "This little thing really knows how to hide."
"It's really a dog?" Ruoping moved her hand away from her eyes and sneaked a quick glance.
The small dog curled into a ball, shivering violently. Currently being illuminated by the flashlight, it didn't even dare to let out a single whimper anymore.
"It really is a dog." Qingyi shook his head and laughed. "Now everything can be explained. It's probably a stray dog with nowhere to hide when it rained. Then, not long ago when the Boston ivy fell down, it stumbled inside through the door by mistake to shelter from the rain, which led to the abnormality we saw."
Zhang Shutong thought to himself whether they could change "wild dog" to "stray dog."
Of course, this was a joke. In reality, he also let out a sigh of relief upon seeing this. Why the door would suddenly open inward—this question was easily resolved.
This dog had truly given the few of them quite a bit of trouble, reminding him of that Doberman from Gu Qiumian's family, which was likewise black all over.
"So we were played by a dog," Du Kang said this with his mouth, but not a shred of anger could be seen. Instead, he squatted down with great interest, blowing a whistle with his mouth to coax the small dog.
Zhang Shutong knew Du Kang simply liked small animals, and his favorite among them was dogs. Or rather, it was hard for a household running a restaurant on the island not to raise a few dogs; they were mainly easy to feed, and they could also catch mice.
"I think this dog looks pretty good." Du Kang sized up the small dog. "Although I can't tell what breed it is, it should be a mixed breed with a bit of hound in it. It's quite pretty."
"Is it?" Anxious to cover up the embarrassment of being frightened out of her wits, Ruoping casually picked up the conversation as if nothing had happened. Zhang Shutong flashed his phone light at her, and she hurriedly turned her face away.
"You don't understand. It's still small now; it'll look good once it grows up."
"You don't want to raise it, do you?"
"I really do want to raise it. We can't have made this trip for nothing." Du Kang rubbed his hands. "Anyway, bringing it back and feeding it some leftovers along the way will do. There's also a yard behind my family's restaurant."
Zhang Shutong was somewhat at a loss for words. He had only heard of people going fishing and picking some wild vegetables when they didn't want to return empty-handed; it was his first time running into someone going out for an adventure and swiping a dog back.
"As long as you've thought it through. Make it quick."
"Alright." Du Kang responded.
Having just finished knocking his shoes, he didn't really want to wade through the water into the room again. He called out to the small dog repeatedly trying to lure it out, but the small dog was presumably frightened out of its wits by the four humans, curling up there without moving an inch.
Seeing this, Du Kang was helpless. "Fine, fine, fine, I'll go in and pick you up, alright?" He entered the room once more, muttering as he walked, "What should we call it? I've actually always wanted to raise a black dog. How about Zorro? What do you guys think?"
"The Zorro from the movie?" Qingyi asked. "How old of a movie is that."
"Yeah, Zorro the swordsman, the one who fights for justice. How cool."
Zhang Shutong said, "If Zorro knew, he'd probably fight for justice on you first."
"This is called a tribute..."
As he spoke, Du Kang stumbled, suddenly pitching forward. If it hadn't been for his quick reactions, timely propping himself up with both hands, he would have nearly fallen face-first. But even so, his entire person was still lying in the water.
The three of them couldn't care about whether there was water in the room anymore, hurriedly going inside to pull him up. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, ptui, ptui, ptui!" Du Kang got a mouthful of mud water. "I tripped over something. My luck is a bit down today."
"You're still talking about raising a dog, when you yourself fell into a dog-eating-mud posture first." Seeing that his face was completely smudged, Ruoping couldn't help laughing. "How could you still fall when everything was fine?"
"It wasn't that everything was fine," Du Kang was likewise depressed. "Something really tripped me."
"Where would there be anything in the room?"
"I'm puzzled too. Haven't all the things in this room been cleared out..." Du Kang didn't mind the dirt either. Since his entire body was soaked through anyway, he simply plunged his hands into the water, determined to fish out the thing that tripped him to have a look.
Zhang Shutong felt this scene was intimately familiar; once upon a time, he had fished up a snake stick.
But Du Kang groped around for a long time without pulling his hands back. Instead, the more he groped, the larger his movements became, and the tighter his brows knitted.
"Holy crap!" He suddenly blurted out a curse. "Why is there another step on the ground?"