With her thoughts in disarray, the car quickly finished navigating the winding mountain road and came to a steady halt in the courtyard of the ancient Zhao family manor on Fog Mountain.
As the two got out of the car, they happened to run into the other three returning from outside the estate. The two groups met at the courtyard corridor, their timing perfect.
The late afternoon mountain breeze was slightly chilly, rustling the leaves of the green plants in the courtyard. Twilight gradually enveloped the ancient manor, and the quiet of dusk slowly evolved into a sense of desolation.
Not many words were needed between the players; they shared a tacit understanding in certain matters.
Taking advantage of the window before dinner started when no servants were nearby, they gathered under the corridor to quickly exchange their respective findings from the day.
Although Wu Daoqing did not share this tacit understanding with the players, he was highly cooperative and gathered around with them.
This method of exchanging information felt very novel to him, and its high efficiency left a deep impression on him as well.
Zheng Gang took the lead without hesitation, laying out all the clues he had gathered from the library today.
He detailed everything from the century-old case under the Ji Dynasty where the royal merchant Li family embezzled disaster relief grain and was subsequently wiped out by the Zhao family's ancestor, to the unique branch-clutching bird totem on their stalker, the broken jade bearing the character “Li,” and finally, the core suspect they had locked onto—the one the Zhao family called Grandpa Yun.
At this moment, the players' minds synchronized: Grandpa Yun was definitely worth investigating.
After finishing his piece, Zheng Gang looked at the other three and gestured. “Those are the clues from my end. How did your investigation of the cemetery go? Did you find anything useful?”
The three exchanged looks, and finally, Mi Ke, who was the absolute core of this investigation, stepped forward to answer.
With a look of frustration, helplessness, and solemnity, she gave their conclusion directly.
“A total failure. We came up completely empty-handed.”
“We went to the cemetery where the recent generations of the Zhao family are buried as planned. The entire hillside cemetery is abnormally clean.”
Mi Ke's tone was grave, and her words were serious, without the slightest hint of joking.
“Ordinary old graves, even after years of wind and rain, will more or less retain some lingering yin energy, death energy, or remnant soul energy.”
“Ordinary people might not feel anything when getting close, but to a medium's perception, these residues cannot be hidden.”
“A medium who is sensitive in this area can even capture the spiritual resonance of the moment of death, even hundreds of years after a person has passed.”
“Coincidentally, I happen to be a medium who specializes in exactly that.”
Even though she uttered this last line as a sort of playful remark, Mi Ke's expression did not lighten at all.
“Yet the Zhao family's ancestral graveyard doesn't have a single trace of spiritual residue. It is completely empty and peaceful, like an ordinary forest where death has never occurred.”
Beside her, Ou Li added in a timely manner, “We were worried that our surface perception might be wrong, so we specifically chose the most recently dug grave and dug up the shallow soil layer to check.”
“The coffin was intact, and the bones were complete. It definitely wasn't an empty grave.”
“You... you dug up a grave? That... that's not very appropriate, is it?” Wu Daoqing whispered.
Zheng Gang patted his shoulder. “Don't sweat the small stuff. We didn't mean to offend the deceased. This necessary exception was purely to uncover the truth.”
“If we can resolve the Zhao family's curse because of this, they'll be too busy thanking us to care.”
Mi Ke subtly glanced at Wu Daoqing's reaction and smoothly took over from Ou Li, stopping her from speaking further.
“The result was that I still couldn't feel any response or perceive the slightest trace of spiritual residue.”
“Being too clean is the biggest problem in itself.”
“Natural dissipation and the weathering of time could never erase things so thoroughly. To leave absolutely no trace at all points to only one possibility.”
“The mastermind did this deliberately.”
“The other party was either wary that the lingering spirits of the Zhao ancestors would hold clues of the past, or these souls themselves possessed some special value.”
“Thus, they spared no effort to erase everything layer by layer, thoroughly purging all spiritual traces from the entire cemetery and eliminating any possibility of investigation or tracing.”
Since Wu Suowei and Ou Li had already heard this conclusion at the cemetery—and it was actually deduced by Wu Suowei himself alongside Mi Ke—they weren't surprised.
Thus, when she spoke, only Zheng Gang and Wu Daoqing were shocked.
The findings of Wu Suowei's group also exceeded Bai Ci's expectations; she had assumed they would at least get some minor scraps of information.
However, while this result yielded nothing directly, from another perspective, it actually revealed a great deal.
A method capable of thoroughly erasing the traces of several generations of souls without leaving a single loophole was definitely not something an ordinary evil spirit or ghost could achieve. The mastermind's strength and cunning were far more terrifying than they had anticipated.
Allowing Zheng Gang and Wu Daoqing enough time to digest the information, Wu Suowei finally spoke up after a long while to finalize their next direction.
“Since the cemetery lead is completely dead and the documentary evidence points to Grandpa Yun, our next core objective will be locked onto this old gentleman.”
“We'll find a reasonable excuse to approach him and test him to gauge his background and verify our suspicions. We'll know what's real and what's fake with a single test.”
Everyone nodded, offering no objections.
All clues currently converged on the same point; this mysterious Grandpa Yun was their only viable breakthrough.
The group briefly ironed out the details of their probe and stopped discussing the matter privately.
Just then, a servant arrived to summon them, announcing that dinner was ready. The group dispersed, adjusting their expressions to act as if nothing had happened, and made their way to the main building's dining hall together.
The evening dining hall was warmly lit, and the dishes were light and elegant, not much different from the day before.
The atmosphere during the meal was peaceful. After sitting down and chatting for a while, the Zhao family members, unable to suppress the anxiety in their hearts, took the initiative to ask about the day's progress.
Seeing this, Wu Suowei naturally took over the conversation, striking the perfect tone and demeanor.
“After some investigation today, we have a rough grasp of the root cause.”
“The bizarre phenomenon in your estate where no one lives past thirty-five is neither a natural divine punishment nor a curse brought by the family's feng shui. Rather, it is a matter of karmic entanglement—a backlash from a grudge left behind by your ancestors.”
The moment he said this, every member of the Zhao family at the table tensed up.
Zhao Cunqiong immediately frowned and spoke up, her face filled with confusion and disbelief. “That's impossible.”
Wu Suowei shook his head slightly, his tone calm.
“Miss Zhao, the grievances of the human heart never distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, nor do they care about reason or logic.”
“Many hatreds in this world are utterly absurd to begin with.”
“Some will harbor a lifelong grudge over a single offhand remark; others will remain bitter for a century over a temporary gain or loss. Even gold and silver notes have people who despise them, let alone a human being.”
“Just because your recent generations have been gentle and kind doesn't mean your ancestors were never embroiled in conflicts and disputes. The root of this curse goes back hundreds of years.”
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