In the dark village, Si Ye sat in the driver's seat of the car.
He kept trying to contact Headquarters on his phone; the situation here was clearly not right.
But unfortunately, some kind of signal interference had occurred in this village.
"Let's go out and take a look."
After finishing what he was eating, Si Ye picked up his phone, shouldered his backpack with some food, and walked toward the village.
Turning on the flashlight he had bought earlier, the situation didn't seem as bad as imagined.
The light from the flashlight was not greatly affected; at least illuminating the area within ten meters was completely fine.
This indicated that the Abandoned House was not currently enveloped by a Ghost Domain.
A Ghost Domain is a field formed by the supernatural influence emanating from a Fierce Ghost.
Within a Ghost Domain, the owner is practically omnipotent.
Of course, this is provided they don't encounter beings capable of ignoring the Ghost Domain.
Si Ye did not possess a Ghost Domain; if he encountered a Fierce Ghost that did, dealing with the situation here would become very troublesome for him.
Although he had obtained temporary usage rights to a Ghost Domain by Pickpocketing from Yang Jian.
That was merely the usage right for one Ghost Eye, and it only lasted for ten minutes.
Moving forward while thinking, Si Ye quickly determined his first target.
He planned to first enter those few dilapidated Old Houses to check them out.
The Mountain God Temple behind the Desolate Village was used to suppress the grave site, although he didn't know if there was anything unusual at the grave site.
But just thinking about the Grave made people instinctively uncomfortable, so Si Ye naturally didn't want to go there.
After all, in the Mysterious Revival World, there was a powerful figure; Luo Qian, whose controlled Fierce Ghost was related to Grave Soil.
Luo Qian's existence caused Si Ye to instinctively associate any object related to Grave Soil or Graves with that person.
This made him wary of Fierce Ghosts whose existence was tied to graves.
Especially since he confirmed this place was a creation from the Republic of China era.
As for that well, it would be difficult to investigate anything useful from the well opening, and Si Ye didn't want to go down to investigate.
He didn't have the ability to see in the dark, even though he had the ability to borrow a Ghost Eye.
But he couldn't possibly use that card just to see in the dark right now.
Passing through the mud houses on the outskirts of the village, Si Ye soon arrived near the three wooden Abandoned Houses from before.
The doors of the houses on the left and right sides faced the middle house, arranged from left to right.
In front of these few Abandoned Houses hung two Lanterns, emitting light.
Si Ye remembered that during the daytime, the Lanterns on these Abandoned Houses should not have been lit.
"Has some kind of change occurred due to the arrival of night?"
Si Ye stopped, observing whether there were any other changes in the surrounding situation.
The Abandoned House on the right had two Red Lanterns hanging, while the ones in the middle and on the left had White Lanterns.
However, the middle Abandoned House only had one Lantern in front of its door, while the one on the left had two Lanterns hanging.
"From left to right: White, White, White, Red, Red. What does this represent?" Si Ye pondered.
"Could it be that the middle Lantern is missing one? Or does it have some other meaning?"
Si Ye looked at the middle wooden house; although there was only one White Lantern, it was hung directly in the center of the main door, not looking like it was missing.
It looked more like someone had deliberately hung the Lantern that way.
"Hoo~"
Just then, a gust of Yin Wind blew past, causing the Lanterns in front of the doors to spin slightly, revealing the other side of the Lanterns to Si Ye.
The two White Lanterns in front of the first wooden house each had the character 'Dian' (commemoration/funeral) written on them.
The two Red Lanterns in front of the third wooden house had the character 'Xi' (joy/wedding) written on them.
The single White Lantern in front of the middle wooden house had no characters written on it.
"'Dian'! This should represent commemoration, meaning it's a Lantern used for the deceased."
"'Xi'! This represents happy occasions, a Lantern used when there is a joyous event."
"A happy occasion and a funeral colliding..."
Si Ye's expression turned solemn. There has always been the folk saying of Red and White clashing, or the Red and White Double Fiend.
Although it was just a folk tale, seeing this scene in such a ghostly place couldn't help but lead to associations.
"Whether it's 'Dian' or 'Xi', both give a very uneasy feeling. It seems safer to go to the one with the single Lantern."
"That won't work either. This room is in the middle, looking like the balance point between the two rooms. If I enter and break the balance, things could very likely become troublesome."
After some thought, Si Ye still decided to enter the first Abandoned House.
Giving up on the middle Abandoned House, which seemed to be the balance point, Si Ye only had the left and right ones to choose from.
The first Abandoned House on the left had 'Dian' written on it, and the third one had 'Xi'.
In a place like this, compared to 'Dian' representing a funeral, 'Xi' representing a happy occasion felt even more bizarre to him.
Si Ye walked toward the first Abandoned House.
As he approached the Abandoned House, some strange changes seemed to occur around him.
Gusts of Yin Wind blew up, causing the Lanterns hanging in front of the Abandoned Houses to sway back and forth continuously.
Besides the sound of the wind and the "tap-tap-tap!" sound of Si Ye stepping on the bluestones, there was no other sound here.
"Creeeeak~"
Si Ye reached the door, applied gentle force with his hand, and the door pushed open with a harsh scraping sound.
The room seemed normal inside, without the expected attack upon opening the door.
This seemed to be just a very ordinary Abandoned House that had been deserted for a long time.
However, the few things at the entrance indicated that this village was not that simple.
Si Ye paused at the entrance; the light from his flashlight seemed unable to penetrate deep into the Abandoned House.
This forced him to rely on the white light emitted by the Lantern at the entrance to see vague outlines inside the room.
Inside the room, there seemed to be a long table, but he couldn't see clearly, and Si Ye wasn't sure if it was actually a long table.
He could only see a rectangular object, somewhat resembling a table, and somewhat resembling a Coffin.
Other than that, Si Ye saw no other furnishings inside.
Hesitating for a moment, Si Ye walked into the wooden house along the pushed-open main door.
He came here to resolve that inexplicable attraction; if he stopped here, he wouldn't be able to solve it.
Si Ye stepped into the dimly lit room.
The Abandoned House seemed to have some kind of special isolating effect, preventing the outside light from shining into the room.
As he walked in, the light from the flashlight in his hand became effective again, allowing him to clearly see everything in the room.
A black Coffin faced the main door, placed in the center of the room.
Following the line of sight past the Coffin, at the far end of the Coffin, there was an Offering Table.
An unlit stick of incense was stuck in the table.