Psych Hunter (Haunted House Notebook) : Book 1

Chapter 36 - The Address Book is Here?

When I looked at Qin Yi Heng, a thought flickered in my mind. Did he bring me here because he knows that this is the ancestral hall of Wan Jin Rong? Had he brought me here to find Wan Jin Rong's address book? If my guess is correct, then why would Qin Yi Heng conceal such fact? Could it be that the address book contain some hidden meaning that he should decipher? But if my guess is incorrect, this is not a profitable business, why would he bring me along?

I have a lot of doubts in my mind. After pondering it for a while, I asked Qin Yi Heng, "How could all this come to be?"

Even before I finished asking the question, he said, "I know that you have many questions right now, but I cannot explain it to you now." He then said, "I just noticed earlier that there is still a room inside, we should first go there before discussing all this."

After saying this, he entered to the room located in the inner parts of the hall. The hall we are in right now is at the center of the entire hall, and judging from its size, it should already form a large part of the whole hall. I hold a flashlight to look, and there was indeed a door beside the wall. In any case, there are places we have yet to explore.

Qin Yi Heng was very careful when he opened the door. I also paid attention to my footing. We both looked around the room and saw that the room is pretty small. There was nothing in the room, there was only walls and three small round windows inside it. Qin Yi Heng glanced around, but he didn't seem to notice anything. I started investigating on the farthest part of the room and looked at the windows. From a closer look, I realized that the windows are a little strange. The windows are located below my waist, and if one wanted to look outside; they would have to crouch first. Just from looking at it, I can see that there were no glasses in the window, but I don't know if they just forgot to put the glasses or if it's merely for aesthetic purposes. I then squatted down to look out from the window, but I was only able to see tree trunks in the forest.

I stood up and wondered. Given how the windows are positioned so low, rainwater might flood through the room through it. I then inspected it again. Could this window be used for urinating? But, is it really so troublesome to make a toilet? The more I think about it, the more curious I became. Qin Yi Heng was still looking at the wall with his flashlight. After thinking about it for a while, I knelt again to look out the window.

The window is big enough for my head to poke out through it. It's still pitch black outside. When I turned by head, I saw someone lying under the wall, looking up and staring at my eyes. Shocked, I immediately pulled my head out, only to hit something and I was dizzy for a while. Fortunately, Qin Yi Heng heard my shout and dragged me with my clothes. Collapsed on the ground, I tried to tell him that there was someone outside. But I was unable to speak as I was too nervous, so I tried to let him know with my hand movements.

Qin Yi Heng was unable to understand me, so he asked me to pierce my finger. After doing that, I regained my voice. I immediately told him, "There's someone outside!"

Qin Yi Heng was completely surprised, so he shook me while asking me, "Did you see the person clearly?"

I was too afraid at that time, so I wasn't able to see that person clearly. Shaking my head, I asked Qin Yi Heng, "What is that person planning to do here in the middle of the night? Is this the person that has illegally trespassed this ancestral hall? Could it be he entered this place first, and had escaped once he heard us? But, that person didn't harm me. Could it be that he didn't intend to harm us or was he simply too surprised by my appearance? In any case, it's a big problem for him to appear now."

Qin Yi Heng shook his head and made a hand gesture to silence me, and whispered to me, "Turn off the flashlight, otherwise it would be too easy for the person outside to attack us."

I obeyed his instructions, and the room was plunged into darkness again. Qin Yi Heng pulled the corner of my clothes, motioning me to follow him. I simply tagged along by holding his backpack, and we both returned to the ancestral hall.

We walked to the corner and Qin Yi Heng said, "We can't turn on our flashlight yet. Those three windows earlier must have been the vents for feng shui to fend off evil spirits of calamity, age and robbery. As for that person, we should be careful no matter who it is. I saw a lot of numbers written in the wall in that room, and as the handwriting was new, it was probably left by that person. I'm not sure what they're calculating but I'll need to see the other side houses. But, seeing the current situation, I can't take you there. You should wait here. I will come back to you after inspecting those rooms."

He left after speaking. Soon, I can no longer feel his presence. Leaning against the corner, I suddenly started to feel very scared. After all, there are many spiritual objects in this room and with Qin Yi Heng away, the atmosphere is indeed a little scary. I tried to calm myself down and tried to resist my urge to smoke a cigarette.

After some time, I was able to hear a sound of metal being dragged on the ground. I strained my ears to hear that sound better, but I wasn't able to hear anything. I felt very terrified by it. Fortunately, the voice disappeared after a while, and Qin Yi Heng patted me on the back.

Although I can't see him clearly, I can feel he is motioning me to follow him so I did so carefully. This house has no windows at all and it is completely dark, so I stretched out my hand to grab the strap in his backpack. However, just as I stretched my hand out, I almost freeze because I wasn't able to touch the backpack, but was instead touching the person's back directly- this person is not Qin Yi Heng!

I was very panicked and immediately moved back. Without even considering that I might make some noise, I immediately took my flashlight to defend myself. The flashlight I brought was 30 cm long and was quite heavy. Although it is not a good weapon, it might still work. I stepped back and tried to distance myself from that person. I lighted up the flashlight to show that person's appearance, and said, "Fuck, I really need to see who you are if I want to hit you."

However, after taking a good look, I was stunned. This person is Qin Yi Heng. But, where did his bag disappear to?

Seeing that I had turned on the flashlight, Qin Yi Heng became nervous and told me to turn off the flashlight with a gesture, and said, "I just found a room and wanted to bring you to take a look." His voice was soft, but I was unable to respond as I was still dazed. Seeing how I'm still dazed, he turned off the flashlight in my hand and grabbed my arm to motion me to follow him.

We then walked out of the ancestral hall and went straight to the courtyard. The moonlight is not very bright, but it's still better than the darkness in the hall. Qin Yi Heng led me to the left side of the yard and I saw a small iron door covered with iron chains that are locked with a metal lock. Could this be the sound I heard earlier? I am impressed, I had no idea Qin Yi Heng was able to pick locks. He immediately turned back and said, "Follow me along."

I immediately followed him. There was a corridor when we opened the door, and we walked until another door appeared in front of us.

Could there be a room there? Qin Yi Heng flipped through his pocket and immediately pushed something to my hand and told me to stuff it in my mouth, and he reminded me again to pierce myself with the board if something went wrong. I opened my hand and saw it was that feces ball from before. The smell is very unbearable, but I have to endure the nausea and stuff it to my mouth for my own good.

I had thought the room would be very dark. But, I noticed that Qin Yi Heng had lighted three candles inside. The visibility in the room was alright, but when we came in, the candles immediately flickered. I put down my bag and I noticed that the room is not large, and it was much smaller than the hall we were in before. Roughly speaking, it is only 30 sqm. There is also a very old millstone at its center. There were long pipes made of bamboo cut off to divert the flow of water, and the walls inside were covered with rain-proof cloth/