Chapter 34: Exploring the Old House

For Gao Tian now, crushing a gangster was as easy as squashing an ant. After casually absorbing the man's subordinates and resources, tonight's real business was only just beginning.

Ghosts were far more terrifying than the mob.

Several thugs grabbed shovels from the back of the SUV. Panting, they dug a deep pit in the dirt and dumped the faceless Zhao Qiang inside. They started filling the hole, assuming they were burying Zhao Qiang's old classmate. None of them suspected that the "Zhao Qiang" standing right beside them, supervising the work, was an impostor.

After about twenty minutes of busywork, they finally cleaned up the scene. The thugs tossed the iron shovels into the back of the SUV and prepared to leave. Gao Tian called out coldly:

"What are you running for? What's the rush? In a hurry to reincarnate?

"Did you forget what we came here for? Aren't we going to strip that old house belonging to Xu Yuan? You even brought the heavy-duty bolt cutters."

Skinny Monkey stared at "Zhao Qiang" in surprise:

"We already dealt with the guy. Why are we still checking out that old house?

"Boss, didn't you say we could leave after the hit? The guy who wanted to see the house is already resting in the dirt. Are we doing this to put on a show for the ghosts?"

Gao Tian raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face:

"If I say we're checking it out, we're checking it out. Cut the bullshit."

This was exactly how the real Zhao Qiang spoke to his men. He was volatile and impulsive, always acting on a whim, and his thugs were long used to his explosive temper.

Skinny Monkey muttered under his breath, not daring to fight back. He was terrified of becoming the buried guy's new roommate. Staring at the dilapidated three-story house in the distance, Gao Tian smiled:

"My old classmate was looking for a very special place.

"Word has it that a massively corrupt official hid his wealth in this house. There's a huge jar of gold bars buried inside, and the owner died in an accident, so he's never coming back. Why else do you think I dragged him out in the middle of the night and drove all the way out here? If I just wanted him dead, there's plenty of wasteland closer to home."

These thugs didn't know anything anyway, and with his Memory Ghost abilities, he could spin whatever lies he wanted. He just needed an excuse to drive them forward.

Under "Zhao Qiang's" tyrannical authority, few dared to resist. Moreover, at the mention of gold bars, a greedy light flashed in every thug's eyes.

One of the men immediately grabbed the heavy-duty bolt cutters from the SUV. The group marched up to the dilapidated White House. With a sharp crunch, the cutters snapped the completely rusted iron chain on the front gate, letting it drop to the ground.

Creak...

Freed from the chain, the courtyard's double iron gates swung slightly inward in the breeze. Their completely rusted hinges let out an agonizing groan.

Looking in from the outside, the White House's courtyard was pitch-black and choked with overgrown weeds. It was impossible to make out any details. After all, this was Xu Yuan's old home. The man had been a ghost hunter in life and a ghost in death; even a forum post he made seven years ago carried supernatural power. No one could say for sure what kind of unholy things were hiding inside this abandoned house.

Although Gao Tian hadn't used his Ghost Card yet—meaning it could still resurrect him five or six times—good steel had to be used on the blade's edge. He had no intention of wasting his Supernatural Item in a place like this.

It was better to use Zhao Qiang's thugs as bait, tossing them in to see if they would trigger the Killing Rule of some Fierce Ghost inside.

"Skinny Monkey, San Hu, you two do a lap around the courtyard first and see if there's any activity. If it's clear, we'll have the rest of the boys move in."

San Hu was rather simple-minded. He let out a goofy chuckle, thinking the boss was showing him favor by sending him first. Entirely oblivious to the fact that he was nothing more than cannon fodder in Gao Tian's eyes, he heedlessly pushed through the iron gates with Skinny Monkey following right behind him.

Gao Tian waited outside for about five minutes before the iron gates shook again, letting out another loud creak. San Hu and Skinny Monkey walked back out:

"Boss, we took a lap around the yard. Aside from a massive patch of weeds and some old furniture that's been rotting out there for who knows how many years, we didn't find a thing.

"But behind that window on the second floor, I swear I saw a shadow move. It scared the crap out of me. Could someone actually be living in this abandoned White House? I almost drew my gun."

San Hu honestly recounted everything he had seen in the courtyard. When he mentioned the shadow on the second floor, Skinny Monkey kicked him hard in the ass from behind:

"You lazy bastard, what shadow? I already told you that you were just seeing things.

"No one has lived in this house for decades. The power and water have been cut the whole time, so how could anyone be up on the second floor? You can't even find a supermarket within ten kilometers of here, and you think someone is living in it?

"I think you're just eager to go home and made up some bullshit excuse."

San Hu said he saw a shadow moving on the second floor?

The White House had three floors in total, with each floor featuring several dusty windows that offered a vague view inside. Above the third floor was a small attic meant for storage; it had no windows and would be a terrible hiding spot.

Xu Yuan's parents were dead, his teacher was dead, and he himself had died in Shanghai City. If there was still a living creature inside the White House right now, who could it possibly be?

Could a local drifter have secretly scaled the courtyard wall and claimed this abandoned house as a temporary shelter?

That didn't make sense either. There were plenty of empty houses nearby with their doors wide open. Why would a drifter ignore those and deliberately pick the one closed up tight, forcing himself to scale the wall and pry open the door?

If it wasn't a vagrant, could it be a human-shaped object on the second floor? A hanging coat knocked over by the wind, perhaps?

The house had sat empty for years. Anything precarious enough to fall would have done so ages ago. Why would it conveniently topple over the exact moment San Hu stepped inside?

There might truly be some unholy entity guarding the house. That certainly fit Xu Yuan's usual style.

However, Gao Tian had come prepared. First, he had brought San Hu, Skinny Monkey, and the rest of the thugs to serve as cannon fodder—it'd be a waste not to use them. Second, in a worst-case scenario, he could instantly activate the Black Card to escape. Even if he triggered some fatal Killing Rule and died inside the White House, the Ghost Card would immediately resurrect him.

Gao Tian had plenty of backup plans. No matter what was hiding inside the White House, it was a risk worth taking.

He immediately ordered the thugs:

"Move out. Go in pairs. Pry open the front door on the first floor, and then we search floor by floor. That huge jar of gold bars isn't growing legs and running out of the White House.

"Whoever finds the jar of gold first gets an extra bar. And even if you don't find it, as long as you follow my orders tonight, every single one of you gets at least half a bar."

At the promise of a big payday, the thugs' enthusiasm immediately surged. Though the White House looked increasingly gloomy and ominous in the dead of night, their fear was no match for their greed.

Zhao Qiang had brought seven men in total. San Hu and Skinny Monkey took the lead, stepping up to the first-floor entrance. Using the same bolt cutters, they easily snapped the heavy deadbolt. As they shoved the door open, a foul, stagnant stench of long-abandoned rot blasted their faces. Coughing, the men flicked on their flashlights and ventured deeper into the darkness.

It was obvious no one had lived here for a very long time. The furniture in the first-floor rooms was blanketed in thick layers of dust, and cobwebs choked the corners of the ceiling. A dark blur darted past in the distance—some scurrying rat or gecko.

The seven gang enforcers aggressively ransacked every corner of the first floor, overturning cabinets and smashing things at will. They made a massive racket downstairs, tossing the place upside down in a frenzy. Predictably, they didn't find the fictional jar of gold bars, nor did they turn up anything else of value.

There were only a few stacks of thirty-year-old newspapers and a few boxes of old clothes. None of this was what Gao Tian was looking for.

However, in a way, his true goal had already been achieved. Seven burly men were tearing the first floor of the White House apart, making a deafening racket. If there was any Killing Rule down here, they would have triggered it by now.

As long as everyone was still fine, it meant the first floor was relatively safe.

"Damn it, will you stop laughing?"

A thug named Gray Wolf suddenly flew into a rage, inexplicably turning and punching San Hu.

Baffled by the unprovoked attack, San Hu stumbled, then flew into a towering rage. He lunged straight at Gray Wolf. The two men locked into a vicious brawl, trading heavy blows and filthy curses. The rest of the crew quickly rushed over, grabbing the two red-eyed madmen and pulling them apart.

Pinned to the side, San Hu panted heavily and cursed, "Is this motherfucker crazy? I didn't make a single fucking sound, and suddenly he tells me to stop laughing! Go laugh at your dead mother, you bastard!"

Half of Gray Wolf's shirt had been ripped off in the scuffle, exposing his bulging muscles. Restrained by the others, he roared back at San Hu, "You were the only one next to me! If you weren't the one laughing, who was? This damn place is already creepy enough, and you're in here fucking giggling? If you love laughing so much, I'll send your ass to the crematorium, you old fuck!"

Suddenly, as if struck by a strange, tacit realization, every man in the room fell dead silent.

Gray Wolf slowly raised his head. To his horror, he realized that while San Hu was gasping for breath across from him, that faint, eerie giggle had never actually stopped. It was still echoing intermittently through the darkness.

He realized he had made an incredibly stupid mistake. San Hu had been standing next to him, yes, but that didn't mean San Hu was the one making that strange sound. After all, how could a hulking, crude gangster let out the delicate giggle of a young woman?

The thugs slowly turned around. The giggling was coming from the second floor.

Was there actually someone upstairs?

Outside, having witnessed all of this, Gao Tian knew that Xu Yuan had indeed left a trap for him in his old home.

Just as he had hidden a trap in his old forum post—the trap that killed Cao Hua when he recovered the files.

"Take the safeties off your guns.

"Gray Wolf, Crocodile, you two head up to the second floor and take a look.

"The rest of you stay on the first floor and hold your ground."