Chapter 182: Rumors
After chatting with Xu Meijing for about half an hour, the two finally said goodnight and ended their awkward conversation.
Yang Haoran had originally wanted to find other topics to extend their chat with Xu Meijing, even if it meant more awkward conversation; he still thought it would be quite good.
However, time was no longer on his side, and he had no choice but to end it.
Time was like that: sometimes you felt it passed quickly, yet sometimes you'd find it had already vanished before you even sensed its presence.
Quietly lighting a cigarette for himself, Yang Haoran smoked it carefully, slowly, and deeply. Because after tonight, there was a high possibility he would never taste this flavor again.
When the cigarette burned down to its end, he checked the time. It was already eleven o'clock. His expression shifted slightly, and he circulated the Spirit Power within his body to dispel his intoxication, immediately transitioning from a dizzy state back to full sobriety. Then, without further hesitation, he hurried towards the Ghost Building.
Without him tonight, the show wouldn't be as exciting. Of course, he couldn't be absent, let alone late.
Arriving at the Ghost Building, his gaze fell upon the rusted iron gate, and Yang Haoran couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.
This place was the starting point of his journey into the wondrous side of this world, and now, it was about to become his end.
His gaze shifted from the iron gate to the Ghost Building. Under the cold, clear moonlight, the Ghost Building appeared grim and terrifying, like a ferocious demonic face with its mouth agape, waiting for the ignorant to step inside.
Compared to before, Yang Haoran, now facing the Ghost Building once more, no longer felt that pure dread of supernatural entities. Instead, it was a cautious apprehension towards a formidable power.
When he first entered the Ghost Building, his entire heart was filled with terror. The numerous spirits within the Ghost Building seemed equally frightening to him; he had no concept of who was strong or weak.
However, after becoming a Night Watcher, he gained a deeper understanding and a more profound realization of the Ghost Building.
The Ghost Building was terrifying not because of the ordinary spirits, but because of that formidable entity presiding within it. It was precisely because of this presence that the Ghost Building had endured to this day.
The Ghost Building consisted of three floors and a courtyard, a private residence. Although it now looked dilapidated, it was not hard to see that this building must have been incredibly valuable in the past. Any family that could afford to live there must have been wealthy.
In Lecheng, there were many legends circulating about the Ghost Building.
Some said that the Ghost Building once belonged to Rich Merchant Zhong. After divorcing his wife, he lived in the Ghost Building with his daughter and a group of servants.
Later, the rich merchant found a new love, securing a stepmother for his daughter. This stepmother also moved into the Ghost Building. From then on, an extra person resided in the household—someone the rich merchant adored, but his daughter utterly detested.
Because of this, their reconstituted family was far from happy. Although the household was extremely wealthy and never lacked money, family harmony did not improve on that account.
The daughter and stepmother initially argued, but as the resentment in their hearts grew heavier, their arguments escalated into physical fights.
Since both were women and neither had short nails, their fights mostly involved scratching, primarily aiming for each other's faces. Naturally, this left obvious marks on both their countenances.
With their faces bruised and scratched, it was inevitable that outsiders would gossip. Especially their respective friends, who added fuel to the fire and offered all sorts of twisted advice, causing the conflict between the two to deepen. Eventually, the situation escalated from mere fights to attempts on each other's lives.
As for the rich merchant, being busy with business, he was often not at home. He knew something of the family's situation, but his knowledge was superficial; he couldn't see or ascertain many of the details.
He tried to mediate, but to little effect. Finally, out of helplessness, he could only temporarily set aside his business affairs and rush back to Lecheng.
However, when he returned home, he found his daughter had vanished without a trace. His wife, crying, told him that his daughter, having disagreed with her, had angrily run away from home.
The rich merchant was very anxious about this, mobilizing many contacts to search for his daughter, but to no avail. His daughter had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
Later, the Ghost Building became haunted. The rich merchant's wife died inside the Ghost Building, her expression filled with terror before her death, as if she had experienced something incredibly frightful in her final moments. Yet, there were no wounds on her body.
From then on, the Ghost Building became unsettled. Rumors of hauntings spread frequently. Servants either fled or died, and the rich merchant, to save his own life, also had to leave the Ghost Building.
Without living inhabitants, the Ghost Building became even more sinister and terrifying, truly living up to its name.
This was merely one of the legends about the Ghost Building. Another rumor claimed that the rich merchant had no daughter at all; the woman who seemed to be his daughter was actually his kept mistress, young but very tender.
Ignoring his wife's feelings, the rich merchant forcibly moved the woman into the Ghost Building. His reason was utterly melodramatic: he told his wife she was his goddaughter.
Indeed she was his "god-daughter"—only to him, the term "god-daughter" wasn't a noun, but a verb.
The rich merchant's wife was no fool; she knew what her husband was up to. She was furious and confronted him, but not only did it yield no results, she ended up losing her own life.
Some said the wife, unable to accept reality, ended her own life, consumed by resentment. Others claimed she was murdered, conspired against by her husband and his "goddaughter."
Regardless of how she died, after her death, the wife's resentment lingered. She transformed into a vengeful ghost, returning to claim lives. The rich merchant, his "goddaughter," and all the servants died within that building, which from then on became the Ghost Building.
There were also rumors that a family of three once lived in the Ghost Building, a harmonious and very happy household. However, fate is unpredictable; because their family was too wealthy, they became targets. In the end, villains brutally murdered the entire family of three.
After their deaths, their lingering souls, heavy with resentment, not only killed their murderers and exacted revenge but also dragged many innocent people into their plight. From then on, no one who entered the Ghost Building ever emerged alive; all perished within.
The Ghost Building was simply too famous in Lecheng. For this very reason, there were countless versions of rumors about it, but these three were the most widely spread, and believed by the most people.
Although there were many versions, the haunting of the Ghost Building was a widely accepted fact among many in Lecheng, making the place a forbidden zone in the eyes of many locals.
Of course, over the years, there were also many brave individuals who didn't believe the haunting rumors. Some even wanted to buy the Ghost Building and make it their private residence.
To buy the Ghost Building, one naturally had to inspect it first. Unfortunately, these audacious individuals who entered the Ghost Building for inspection either died due to various bizarre reasons, went mad, or vanished. Not a single one came to a good end.
As time passed, no one dared to covet the Ghost Building anymore, and for reasons unknown, the authorities never tore it down, allowing it to stand preserved until today.
Some said the authorities didn't dare demolish the Ghost Building because they were simply too afraid; no one wanted to be haunted by a vengeful ghost and lose their life.
Others said it wasn't that the authorities didn't want to demolish the Ghost Building, but that they simply couldn't. Whenever equipment approached the Ghost Building, various bizarre incidents would occur, and some workers even lost their lives as a result.
In Lecheng, there were simply too many terrifying rumors about the Ghost Building. Every version sounded utterly convincing, almost as if it were real. In all his years in Lecheng, Yang Haoran had heard no fewer than five versions.
But what couldn't be denied was that there were indeed ghosts in the Ghost Building, and their numbers were astonishing, practically a nest of spirits. And the Ghost Building had indeed always existed, never having been torn down—these were all facts.
Compared to ordinary people, Yang Haoran certainly knew more about the Ghost Building. After all, he had once entered it, stayed inside for a night, and emerged alive.
However, this so-called understanding was only relative to ordinary people. In truth, Yang Haoran didn't really know much about this Ghost Building; what he understood was merely some superficial details he had witnessed with his own eyes.
And today, he was about to step back into this Ghost Building. He would gain a deeper understanding of it, but for a person about to die, this seemed to hold little significance.
Casting aside these useless thoughts, Yang Haoran took a deep breath and walked towards the rusted iron gate. From his demeanor, it seemed he had no intention of waiting for Deng Feng.
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