The memories of all humanity are awakening, except for mine.

suddenly……

The door to the room opened silently, and a cold wind carrying dust rushed in, making one shiver.

Tang Songming and Zhong Huahua exchanged a glance, a barely perceptible hint of tension flashing in each other's eyes.

They stepped into the room, and the sight before them sent chills down their spines.

In the center of the room stood an old wedding bed, on which lay a bride dressed in a magnificent wedding gown, but her face was pale and her eyes were closed, clearly lifeless.

She clutched a letter tightly in her hand, seemingly still yearning to reveal the truth to others before her death.

Zhong Huahua tiptoed over and took the envelope from the bride's stiff hand.

The envelope had no address or recipient's name, only a line of crooked handwriting: "Please find the truth for me, so that my soul may rest in peace."

Tang Songming said in a deep voice, "It seems that we not only need to find a way out, but also need to find out the truth for this bride."

They stepped aside, and Tang Songming lit a lantern. The dim light barely dispelled some of the darkness, but it also made every corner of the room seem even more sinister.

Zhong Huahua slowly opened the letter, which briefly described a story of betrayal and conspiracy. The bride claimed that she was poisoned to death, and the murderer was in the old house.

“We should start by investigating the bride’s memories and see if we can find any clues,” Tang Songming suggested.

They began to examine the room carefully, trying to find clues in every detail.

Several portraits hung on the wall, all of them group photos of the bride with different people. One of them was particularly eye-catching: the bride was standing side by side with a gloomy-faced man, whose eyes seemed to hide a secret.

“This person doesn’t seem simple,” Zhong Huahua said softly, her fingers lightly tracing the edge of the portrait.

"Indeed, we have to start with him."

Tang Songming nodded, his gaze falling on the dressing table beside him, where some jewelry was scattered, as well as a mirror. The mirror reflected the two figures, and... the blurry image of the bride.

The two turned around abruptly, only to find the bride still on the bed, motionless.

Is it an illusion? Or is there some supernatural force at work in this old house?

“Let’s split up. You check the bedroom for personal belongings, and I’ll go to the study to see if I can find any more information about this man,” Tang Songming decided.

Just as they were about to part, a gust of wind blew by, causing the gauze curtains by the bed to flutter, and faint sobbing could be heard, seemingly indistinct yet enough to unsettle one's mind.

"Is the bride...crying?" Zhong Huahua's voice trembled, but the bride on the bed remained silent.

Tang Songming stepped forward, grasped Zhong Huahua's hand tightly, and said firmly, "Don't be afraid. We are here to help her. No matter how terrifying it is, we must face it."

They gazed at the bride again, and the faint sobs in the air gradually coalesced into one sentence: "Help me..."

Zhong Huahua was startled and almost dropped the lantern in her hand.

Tang Songming quickly steadied her, secretly pondering to himself that the bride's soul was clearly tormented by resentment and unable to find peace. They had to find the truth as soon as possible, otherwise...

“Let’s go, let’s start by investigating that man.” Tang Songming said, pulling Zhong Huahua toward the study. Behind them, the bride seemed to be watching them with unseen eyes, full of pleading and expectation.

Inside the study, the sound of turning pages of ancient books mingled with the beating of a heart, each page turned as if revealing a corner of the ancient house's long-sealed secrets.

Tang Songming found several diaries with messy handwriting, recording the entangled emotions between the bride and the gloomy man, as well as the man's desire for power.

"It mentions a basement, which seems to be a place where men conduct secret activities," Tang Songming said in a low voice, his eyes flashing with determination.

They walked through a hidden corridor, at the end of which was an iron door, behind which the oppressive air seemed to freeze.

Pushing open the iron gate, under the dim light, some chemicals and utensils came into view, clearly indicating that unknown experiments had been conducted here.

“Looks like we’ve found the place.” Zhong Huahua’s voice echoed in the empty basement.

As they explored further, a row of ancient bottles and jars caught their attention, one of which was labeled "poison".

Tang Songming picked up the bottle of medicine, examined it carefully, and gradually came to an answer in his mind.

“The truth is right here, and we must take it back and tell the bride,” Tang Songming said.

They retraced their steps and returned to the bride. Tang Songming held up the bottle of poison and said in a deep voice, "It was this man who took advantage of your trust in him."

The bride's figure seemed to tremble slightly, the temperature in the room dropped sharply, and a surge of power appeared.

Then, a soft light emanated from the bride's body, and her face gradually became peaceful, as if she had been liberated.

"Thank you... Now I can rest in peace." The bride's voice echoed in the room, then turned into specks of light and disappeared into the air.

The eerie atmosphere in the room vanished, replaced by an inexplicable tranquility.

"Next, it's time to unveil the final layer of this haunted ancient house."

The two talked as they headed towards the next door.

Perhaps, that is the end.

Just as Tang Songming and Zhong Huahua were about to leave the room to continue exploring the remaining secrets of this haunted ancient house, Tang Songming's gaze involuntarily fell back onto the mysterious bronze candlestick.

An intuition told him that the bronze candlestick was inextricably linked to their unraveling of the mystery of the entire ancient house.

"Hua Hua, do you remember the bronze candlestick we first discovered? I have a feeling that there is some secret hidden there that we haven't discovered yet."

Zhong Huahua was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "You mean, it's not just a simple mechanism?"

"Yes, the bronze candlestick is designed with too much detail. It may be a complex cipher device, the key to unlocking a specific area of ​​the old house."

As Tang Songming spoke, he walked closer to the candlestick again and carefully examined every pattern on it.

This time, he noticed a series of seemingly randomly distributed grooves engraved on the base of the candlestick. The arrangement of these grooves was complex and varied, like some kind of ancient code.

"Look at these grooves, could they be for us to put specific items in, like a key?"

Zhong Huahua also came over, her fingers gently gliding over the grooves, trying to figure out the pattern.

After a moment of thought, Tang Songming suddenly remembered the scattered jewelry he had found in the bride's room earlier, whose shape and size seemed to fit the groove quite well.

“I remember there were several pieces of jewelry in the bride’s room, each with a different shape. Perhaps they are the key to activating this device.”

The two hurriedly returned to the bride's room, collected all the jewelry, and tested them one by one.

After several failed attempts, the candlestick finally emitted a slight mechanical turning sound when a ring engraved with strange symbols was accurately placed into a groove.

Then, a small platform slowly rose from the center of the candlestick, on which lay a simple, antique-looking key.

"Found it!" Zhong Huahua shouted excitedly.

Tang Songming took the key and pondered, "This key looks very old; the patterns on it seem to correspond to a specific door in the old house. We need to find that door." Following the key's guidance, the two navigated the intricate corridors of the old house, finally stopping before a door shrouded in heavy curtains. Tang Songming carefully inserted the key into the lock, gave it a gentle turn, and the door creaked open.

Behind the door was a dimly lit secret room, with all sorts of old maps and manuscripts hanging on the walls, and an old wooden box placed in the center.

Tang Songming and Zhong Huahua exchanged a glance, their excitement beyond words. This was clearly the key to unlocking all the secrets of the ancient house.

They approached the old wooden box step by step, each step landing on the thick carpet, yet it felt as if they were stepping into the echoes of time.

Tang Songming took a deep breath and slowly inserted the key into the lock of the wooden box. The friction between the metal made a subtle but crisp sound, like an ancient whisper, echoing in the enclosed space.

With a soft "click," the latch opened.

Tang Songming gently lifted the lid of the wooden box, and a wave of long-forgotten memories seemed to rush out with the breeze escaping from inside.

"The person who created this secret room is incredibly clever..."

Zhong Huahua couldn't help but sigh.

Inside the wooden box, there were no gold or silver treasures, nor any strange antiques, only a yellowed diary, lying quietly in the thin layer of dust accumulated over the years.

Tang Songming carefully took out the diary. The cover had the words "The truth belongs only to the brave" written in strong, powerful handwriting.

He gently opened the diary, and on the first page was a line of bold text: "Welcome to the final trial in the Ghostly Ancient House. Your wisdom and courage have proven everything."

"It seems this is the answer we've been looking for." Tang Songming looked up at Zhong Huahua, their eyes sparkling with excitement and anticipation.

Just as they were immersed in their discovery, the room suddenly trembled slightly. Then, the wall next to them slid open silently to reveal a stone staircase hidden behind it, which extended downwards into the unknown depths.

"Is this... the road leading outside?" Zhong Huahua asked, both puzzled and excited.

"We'll only know once we go down there." Tang Songming put away his diary, and the two of them, one after the other, embarked on an unknown journey.

The staircase leads to a spacious basement, which, unlike the previous gloomy atmosphere, exudes freshness and vitality.

Just as they were looking around, trying to figure out what was going on, the door not far ahead quietly opened, and the sight outside left them speechless.

What lay outside the door was not another maze or trap as they had imagined, but rather the back of the old house, a lush garden, bathed in sunlight and teeming with life.

In the center of the garden, Jiang Chuan, Wu Zhen, and Li Yi were sitting around a stone table, seemingly waiting for something.

"You've finally arrived!" Jiang Chuan stood up, smiling and waving at them. "We've been waiting for ages."

Wu Zhen raised an eyebrow and smiled, "I thought you were going to be trapped in that secret room for the rest of your lives."

Li Yi gently handed over two glasses of refreshing juice: "You've worked hard. Here, have a drink and rest for a bit."

Zhong Huahua and Tang Songming were clearly still not quite recovered from what they had just experienced.

"You've already come out?"

Wu Zhen took a big gulp of juice. After escaping through the secret room, the others sobered up.

"Don't even mention it, that was so brain-teasing. If it weren't for Jiang Chuan and Li Yi, I'm afraid I really wouldn't have made it out on my own."

"What astronomy stuff is this again? My poor brain!"

After Wu Zhen finished speaking, he kept covering his head, pretending to have a headache.

Zhong Huahua sighed, "To be honest, the previous ones were all fine, but the last one, especially the bride we just met, was just too realistic, even though we knew she was fake."

"After reading that story, I was really sad."

"A man who deeply loved her, in order to use her to climb the social ladder, couldn't help but poison her to death in the end!"

"How can there be such a vicious man in the world?"

Zhong Huahua said angrily that if that man were in front of her, she would have wanted to kill him on the spot.

"That's just a story, but the truth is, stories are all based on reality. If something like that hadn't happened in real life, who could have come up with such a disgusting plot?"

Several people nodded.

Overall, this Happy Valley is of very high quality!

Jiang Chuan nodded slightly, then looked at everyone and asked, "Shall we go to the haunted house next?"

Several people nodded.

After all, this haunted house was a project they had been looking forward to for a long time.

"But this time, we still split into two groups because the haunted house rules state that there can only be a maximum of two or three people per group."

"In that case, I'll stick with Li Yi. After all, I still need to protect my girlfriend!"

As he spoke, Jiang Chuan gave Li Yi a doting look, and the others were all filled with jealousy.

"Hey~ your girlfriend!"

The group laughed as they left the escape room and headed towards the haunted house.

In the dead of night, the sky seemed to be tinged with a mysterious purple-blue.

The haunted house, Ghost Manor, stands in the shadows, seemingly a self-contained little world, exuding an indescribable eerie atmosphere.

The exterior of this haunted house mimics an abandoned hospital in an old island nation. The wooden structure is covered with traces of time erosion, and the roof is covered with bluish-gray tiles, which give it a sense of vicissitude and beauty.

A towering black wooden fence surrounds it, with withered vines wrapped around it, like countless dry fingers trying to grab passing tourists.

The gate was tightly closed, and on either side stood a ferocious stone statue with empty eyes that seemed to see into people's hearts, giving people a chilling feeling of being watched.

The three large characters "Yuanling Manor" on the gate plaque are written in bright red paint, as if they have just been lifted from a pool of blood, exuding an ominous aura.

A gust of wind blew through, and a low, mournful sound came from under the door, mingling with the occasional cawing of crows in the distance, creating an eerie atmosphere...

"This...this is...this is the haunted house we're going into?"

Seeing this, Li Yi felt a little scared and unconsciously tightened her grip on Jiang Chuan's arm.

"Yes, Li Yi, you're not scared, are you?"

"Let me tell you, this is the biggest haunted house in Qing City. It's said that even if you know the layout well, it will take you an hour to walk out of it!"

"I am Wu Zhen," he said. (End of Chapter)