This town reminded Xiao Lou of Liuxi Village in Spade 4.
Nestled in a remote mountain forest, this place is rarely visited by outsiders. On the surface, it appears to be a secluded paradise, but in reality, it harbors many secrets. All the villagers in Liuxi Village were blinded by Old Lady Qin's poison; what exactly happened in Qingshan Town? And what about Mass Grave on the cliffs near the town?
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and whispered a suggestion: "It's late at night now, and we don't know if there are any Hunters in this town. For safety's sake, it's best not to move as a group. Sending just a few people to scout will be enough."
Yu Hanjiang thought about it and agreed; there was no need for all 12 people to go into the town together, as some teammates weren't good at reconnaissance. Lu Jiuchuan was the one who initiated Peach Blossom Spring, so he could stay in place and bring his teammates back at any time.
Chu Huaying, Senior Gui, Shao Qingge, Ye Qi, and Liu Qiao can all stay. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue's chameleon card blends perfectly with the cobblestones in the rain, making it very convenient for reconnaissance. Old Mo has the best sense of direction of all; if the town's roads are complex, he can quickly identify the path and act as a guide.
Thinking of this, Yu Hanjiang called out, "Long, Qu, and Lao Mo, the three of you will come with me and Xiao Lou into the town to investigate. The rest of you will stay in Peach Blossom Spring." He looked at Lu Jiuchuan and said, "Brother, I've connected with you via Telepathic Connection. If we encounter any danger, I will notify you immediately, and you can take us back to Peach Blossom Spring directly."
Lu Jiuchuan readily agreed: "Alright. The rest of us will take a look around the outskirts of the town. Everyone be careful."
Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, and Lao Mo donned Invisibility Cloaks, while Long Sen and Qu Wanyue quickly blended into the environment using Chameleon cards. The group of five entered the territory of Qingfeng Town and walked along the wide stone-paved road.
After walking for a while, the downpour gradually stopped.
The dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and soft moonlight pierced through the clouds, shrouding the town like a light veil.
This town is quite large.
In the center of the town lies a lake, its clear waters reflecting the moonlight. A ring of weeping willows lines the lake, and in the middle stands a pavilion with a plaque that reads " Drunken Moon Pavilion." The scenery is truly beautiful, perfect for moon gazing.
The bluestone path surrounding the entire lake was spotless after being washed by the torrential rain.
Standing by the lake, Xiao Lou gazed into the distance. By the moonlight, he could vaguely make out rows of buildings arranged in a neat and orderly fashion. The buildings had a very unified style, with white walls, blue bricks, and green tiles, reminiscent of the charming scenery of a Jiangnan town.
Seeing that no one was around, Xiao Lou lowered his voice and said, "Along the way, we've seen all kinds of modern transportation, like bicycles and electric bikes. It seems that this is indeed an ancient setting."
Long Sen whispered, " Could all those zombies in Mass Grave be residents of the town?"
Xiao Lou said, "Let's go inside and take a look. This town is strangely quiet. Let's go left first."
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately followed Xiao Lou.
The group arrived at the main road on the left side of the town and continued to explore.
The gate of a house ahead was tightly closed, with two stone lions at the entrance. It looked very grand and must be a wealthy family's home.
Xiao Lou said, " Long Sen, Teacher Qu, you two go inside and take a look."
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue used the card that made their legs grow longer to climb over the wall, then quickly crawled along the ground to the window. Long Sen pretended to be in a strong wind and pushed open the door, and Qu Wanyue followed closely behind and slid in along the ground.
A moment later, the two quickly returned to Xiao Lou's side and said, "There's no one in the house."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Let's investigate further."
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue continued to go to the neighbor's house in this way, and after a few seconds, they said again, "Still no one."
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "Could it be an empty city?"
Xiao Lou said, "Let's try investigating along another route. We can't draw any conclusions yet."
The group returned the way they came and arrived at the lake.
Old Mo suddenly said, "The roads inside this town are interconnected and have many bends. I just observed carefully, and the willow trees around the lake in the very center are almost identical. The pavilion in the center of the lake has the words 'Drunken Moon Hall' engraved on all four sides. In other words, it is difficult for us to determine our direction based on the landmarks inside the town."
Xiao Lou looked up at the sky and frowned slightly: "There was a downpour just now, and now there's only the moon in the sky. We can't see any stars, so we can't use the North Star or Big Dipper to find our way."
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "Is it a circular maze?"
Old Mo nodded: "It's very likely a maze. We need to continue our investigation."
Xiao Lou said, "It seems we'll have to use markers to find our way. Luckily, it's late at night and quiet, so we shouldn't be spotted if we use arrows. We only have 30 minutes in the Invisibility Cloak, so everyone hurry up."
Mo Xuemin said, "The road we just went on is tentatively to the west. I'll mark it with a left-pointing arrow on the map. If the direction is wrong after sunrise tomorrow, I can simply rotate the map by a certain angle."
Xiao Lou said, "Okay, let's go to the opposite place next."
The group crossed the pavilion in the middle of the lake and continued their investigation in another direction.
As they entered a small alley, they suddenly heard a baby crying loudly. The baby's wailing startled everyone in the quiet night. Long Sen took a deep breath and said, "This is too creepy!"
Qu Wanyue said, "Do you think it's better for a town to be populated or empty?"
"
Long Sen: "..."
Between the two options, is the former better? At least there are people to help find clues.
With that in mind, Long Sen volunteered: "I'll go take a look."
Xiao Lou said, "Let's go together."
He worried that if it was a trap, the Longqu Couple might not be able to solve it.
The five people quickly headed towards the direction from which the baby's cries came. A moment later, they saw a house with lights on, and a commotion came from inside. An old woman said, "Congratulations, young master, mother and child are safe!"
The baby cried loudly. The young man took the child from the swaddling clothes and said happily, "That's wonderful! That thunder and lightning just now really gave me a fright. I thought something might have happened to Madam..."
The mother-in-law smiled and said, "Madam is blessed with good fortune. This baby has a loud cry, was born at full term, and looks very energetic."
The young man asked, "How is Madam?"
The old woman said, "She was so tired that she fell asleep, and the maid is taking care of her in the room..."
Xiao Lou and his five friends hid under the willow tree by the wall, watching this scene and exchanging bewildered glances.
This family must be quite wealthy; a dozen or so maids and servants were bustling about in the courtyard. It turned out that the young mistress had given birth to a big, healthy baby boy that evening. The young man, now a father, beamed with joy as he carried the child into the house; the baby's cries were still quite loud. Xiao Lou and his group waited outside for a moment, and finding nothing amiss, quickly left.
Old Mo picked up a pen and paper and quickly wrote down the family's location, saying, "I've marked it on the map. I wonder if having a child born in this family is a clue related to the plot?"
Xiao Lou said, "It's not clear yet. Let's write it down and talk about it tomorrow."
They continued forward. Most of the houses in this area were occupied. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue secretly checked all the residents. 99% were asleep, while the remaining 1% had been awakened by the baby's crying. One couple was still discussing, "Did the young mistress of the Liu family give birth? Should we go and see?" "What's the point of looking at her so late? Let's go to sleep first and talk about it tomorrow."
At the Xue family's residence, Old Mo wrote the character "Liu" on the map.
The five of them navigated a winding road and found themselves back at the lake in the middle of the town. Old Mo said, "A circular structure?"
The thought of the leaf-shaped maze in the ancient tomb still gave everyone a headache.
After walking for half a day, we returned to the same path, which must have been a circular route. However, the exact structure of the maze is still unclear. Xiao Lou glanced at the two paths marked with arrows that we had just walked and said, "Keep investigating. Time is limited, so let's try to investigate as many maze areas as possible. We'll all come in together tomorrow, so we'll have a better understanding of the maze."
The group chose a path they hadn't taken before and continued forward.
After walking a short distance, we suddenly heard a loud firecracker going off in the alley to the side, followed by the sound of gongs and drums, and several people blowing suonas at the same time.
I have to say, it sounds much better than Ye Qi's performance.
The suona, truly deserving of its title as the king of instruments, possesses an extremely powerful invigorating effect. The sudden burst of suona sound sent a shiver down the spines of the five people. Xiao Lou turned around and saw—
A wedding procession, accompanied by gongs and drums, carried the bride in a sedan chair carried by eight men out of a house.
The bride must come from a good family; her dowry alone consisted of more than a dozen chests. Four maids accompanied her in the sedan chair, along with a matchmaker, a wedding attendant, and the wedding procession...
The wedding procession was truly magnificent. They passed right in front of Xiao Lou and his companions, but because all five of them were invisible, the procession did not notice them.
A maidservant smiled and said to the matchmaker, "The rain has finally stopped. If it hadn't, our young lady would have had to get married in the pouring rain. Luckily, heaven has eyes and the auspicious time hasn't been missed."
Another maid said, "The fortune teller said that it would be best for Miss to get into the sedan chair at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM). Isn't that right? Just as the hour of Yin arrived, the rain suddenly stopped. Miss and Young Master are definitely a match made in heaven."
The woman inside the bridal sedan chair whispered, "You two, stop joking around. If someone hears you, they'll laugh at you."
"Yes, Miss." The two maids who had been whispering immediately shut their mouths and followed the sedan chair forward.
The grand wedding procession marched out of the town with gongs and drums, waking many families in the surrounding area with the sound of firecrackers, and some people even came out to watch the excitement wearing capes.
Xiao Lou felt that something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
The five continued to explore the area, and after walking around, they returned to the central lake.
Just then, Lu Jiuchuan's voice rang in Yu Hanjiang's mind: " Hanjiang, have you finished investigating? 30 minutes are almost up, come back first, we'll talk about it at dawn. Don't take too many risks."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Brother, did you see a wedding procession leaving the town?"
Lu Jiuchuan asked in confusion, "The wedding procession? I didn't see it."
Yu Hanjiang was taken aback upon hearing this: "Didn't you see them? Didn't they leave the town?"
Lu Jiuchuan said, "We've been at the town gate the whole time, and there really hasn't been any wedding procession."
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
Upon noticing something amiss, Yu Hanjiang immediately informed Xiao Lou: "Ninth Brother and the others are guarding the entrance to the town, but they haven't seen the wedding procession leave. Did this young lady marry a local man, or is there another exit from this town?"
Xiao Lou was silent for a moment before saying, "One of those two maids who were chatting just now looks familiar to me."
Yu Hanjiang asked in confusion, "Familiar?"
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I don't remember their faces clearly, but I remember those red embroidered shoes...they were climbing under the tombstone just now."
Among the zombies that appeared, there was a female zombie wearing the same embroidered shoes. She was very close to me at the time, almost grabbing me, so I saw her very clearly.
This statement caused everyone present to gasp in shock.
In other words, the maid who was just chatting with her companion with a smile had crawled out from underground not long ago and almost grabbed Xiao Lou's ankle with her pale, gleaming hand.
She is dead.
Qu Wanyue's voice trembled: "This... could it be that the wedding procession just now was marrying... a ghost wife?"