Li Ang carried the lantern and strolled around the tea garden without finding anything noteworthy. He and Wang Congshan walked along the tea garden path, stepping into the courtyard on the side of the mansion.
The Hiratsuka Family indeed lived up to their reputation as a wealthy household. The courtyard was filled with artificial hills, lush trees, and the ground was covered with white sand, with a pathway paved with bluestone.
Although the area wasn’t very large, its layout was rich and intricate. Every few steps, you’d see different sights like stone lanterns, streams, flowerbeds, walls, waterfalls, earth mounds, pavilions, and wooden bridges.
However, perhaps due to long neglect, the courtyard’s vegetation had withered, stream flow had reduced, and the ground was piled with brown-yellow dry leaves, presenting a desolate and eerie appearance.
Tap, tap.
Li Ang walked steadily on the bluestone path, jumping over the next bluestone slab every two steps, as he wielded the Heart Monkey Staff in his hand, sweeping the dry leaves on either side of the bluestones.
Wang Congshan could instantly tell that Li Ang was simply bored. Sure enough, he sighed and muttered, "So boring. Why won’t a ghost jump out so I can beat it up?"
"Stop jinxing it,"
Wang Congshan rolled her eyes and said, "If you really want to see ghosts, I could fulfill that desire, like poking you and saying you haven’t been around in days."
"And then I’d yell ’ghost’ and start dancing on the spot, right?"
Li Ang pursed his lips, continuing to use the Heart Monkey Staff like a rake, flipping dry leaves, searching for potential clues.
Pure combat-type script tasks are fine, but certain script tasks with a focus on reasoning and puzzle-solving require players to spend a lot of ti gathering clues and analyzing them,
especially in a vast area like Fate Carving Village. Just walking around takes considerable effort.
However, the two weren’t particularly worried. First, script tasks in large settings typically have generous ti limits.
Secondly, if there were any potential, extrely strict ti limit requirents, the system would provide hints in other ways,
such as through clocks, player health status, weather phenona, etc.
Currently, the night sky over Fate Carving Village obscures any changes, and the situation isn’t too urgent yet. Li Ang even had the leisure to sing his self-composed "The Bible" rap, to both ward off ghosts and boost his courage, completely indifferent to whether the ghosts on the Japan Islands could understand the English version of The Bible.
"The wall is ahead,"
Wang Congshan walked along the bluestone path, habitually filtering out Li Ang’s singing, softly saying, "Why does this place seem so familiar..."
Her gaze passed over the artificial hill blocking the path, resting on a withered tree behind it. Her steps suddenly halted.
That withered tree stood as tall as a three-story building, with two branches extending from its middle—one stretching towards the mansion’s second floor, and the other towards the outside of the wall. This scene exactly matched the sketch Ogashira Tetsuya carried.
Furthermore, strange sounds, like the sound of rain boots stepping in mud, were faintly coming from behind the artificial hill.
Li Ang’s song abruptly stopped. He gestured to Wang Congshan and carefully placed the Human Head Lantern under the artificial hill. The two squatted down, hugged the withered shrubs, evaded the artificial hill, and approached ahead.
Beyond the artificial hill, the view opened wide.
Just as expected, under the withered tree was indeed a water well, looking exactly like the drawing.
The well’s base was made of stone bricks, and the front of the base had red words engraved, "Returning Spring," which in Ogashira Tetsuya’s drawing was represented as a circular line.
Additionally, beside the water well, there was a figure—a humanoid creature covered entirely in black hair.
He, or rather it, was constantly walking around the water well.
Its pace was slow, the thick black hair swayed in the wind, yet its face remained obscured,
The circle of dark red soil beside the water well bore obvious footprints, showing long-term trampling.
Did that black-haired creature co to the courtyard after leaving the Rope Corridor?
But what’s the aning of walking around the water well?
Is this fellow a reincarnated water-loving crow, or does it believe itself to be a mule turning a mill?
Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged glances. Up to now, all the information from this script task remained rather chaotic and disconnected, none of the clues linked together yet,
Perhaps the key lies within this humanoid black-haired creature before them.
Just as the two were gesturing, preparing to cautiously approach,
clear water sounds erged from within the well.
The two hiding behind the shrubs instantly froze, peering forward through the withered shrubs.
They heard a splashing sound from the well, as if sothing heavy was rising from within it.
Imdiately afterwards, heavy groaning sounds akin to throat clearing and hand clapping against well bricks resonated from the well.
It sounded like... sothing was climbing out from the well.
The Ring? Sadako?
The two held their breath, observing quietly,
Only to see the black-haired creature also stop, standing motionless by the well.
As ti passed, the climbing sound from within the well grew clearer,
When a wet hand erged from below, slapping onto the well’s edge,
The black-haired creature instantly moved, rushing to the well’s side, and "pulled" sothing out.
It was sothing... extrely bizarre.
Its main body consisted of five enlarged to basketball-sized human heads, both male and female,
All heads were cramd together, faces pale, expressions dull,
With many pale arms extending from the gaps between the heads,
Overall, it resembled a spider with dozens of legs.
The spider ghost monster had just climbed out of the water well, only to be fiercely held by the black-haired creature,
It instinctively struggled, its dozens of arms trying to pound on the black-haired creature, hitting it like striking thick leather, producing a heavy thud, unable to even penetrate that layer of hair defense.
"Not it, not it, not it..."
The black-haired creature mumbled with a murky voice, grasping a human head with hairy arms, roughly detaching and discarding it,
Then it looked at the second head, mumbling again "not it," breaking it off and tossing it aside.
Blood splattered, the spider ghost monster let out screams powerful enough to damage human eardrums, yet it couldn’t possibly escape the black-haired creature’s grip, torn bit by bit into pieces, scattered around the water well.
"Not it... not it..."
The black-haired creature seed to express disappointnt, paused for a while, then resud pacing around the well.
...What’s happening here? Is this black-haired monster experiencing unrequited love, plucking rose petals, feeling lancholy?
Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged bewildered glances, unable to understand a thing,
And at this mont, noises were also coming from the main building of the mansion to the left of the courtyard.
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