Horror games? Whatever, I'll die.

The lake is not large, but it looks like a piece of clear blue jade embedded in the center of the lawn.

Although the lake water is clean and clear, the visibility is not high because the lake bottom is covered with aquatic plants.

Sheng Jingyu walked along the lake, kicking the pebbles on the shore out of boredom. "What's the point of investigating a place like this?"

Jiang Qingjian smiled mysteriously, "Maybe there's a corpse buried right under your feet?"

Sheng Jingyu's neck stiffened instinctively, but he quickly masked it with a fierce aura, "Whether there's a corpse or not, we'll find out by digging it up."

Jiang Qingjian stood to the side with his arms crossed, watching Sheng Jingyu dig the soil shovel by shovel with a leisurely air.

Sheng Jingyu was exceptionally strong; digging was no different from digging tofu pudding. He quickly dug a pit as high as a person.

Once he was sure there was nothing in the soil, Sheng Jingyu proudly raised his head. "There's nothing there at all. You guessed wrong."

Looking at Sheng Jingyu, who was covered in dust and dirt, Jiang Qingjian raised his chin and pointed to the northwest corner of the pit, "There, dig down ten centimeters."

That was exactly where Sheng Jingyu had just stepped.

Sheng Jingyu instinctively reached out with a shovel, and without even digging, the shovel touched something hard. After digging through the soil, he discovered a 30x20cm black lacquered wooden box inside.

Despite his resentment, Sheng Jingyu still asked, "How did you know there was something there?"

Jiang Qingjian blinked. "I just guessed."

Only a fool would believe you!

Sheng Jingyu threw the box into the ditch and ran off angrily, running along the lake shore into a small grove of trees not far away.

Having gotten rid of the laborers, Jiang Qingjian resigned himself to carrying the box up himself.

Because it had been buried underground for some years, the lock on the box had rusted and could be opened with a gentle pry.

Upon opening the lid, a stale smell wafted out.

Jiang Qingjian remained expressionless, put on gloves, and fiddled with the contents inside.

Apart from a small amount of humus, the entire body was completely skeletal, suggesting it had been buried underground for over three years, which matches the timeline of the case from five years ago.

Jiang Qingjian roughly pieced together the bones and recognized them as the skeleton of a cat, with multiple fractures in the lower leg, skull, and spine.

What role did this cat play back then?

"Something's up, come over here!"

Sheng Jingyu made an urgent call through his brain channel, along with a precise location.

Jiang Qingjian picked up the box and hurried over.

When he arrived, he saw Sheng Jingyu standing under a huge locust tree, holding a faded and tattered strip of cloth in his hand, as if it were hung on a branch for making a wish.

This is the season when locust flowers bloom. Clusters of creamy white blossoms hang from the branches, their fresh, sweet fragrance spreading far and wide.

Sheng Jingyu readily handed him the strip of cloth. "I saw it on a tree branch just now, but the writing was too blurry to read. I'm counting on you."

Jiang Qingjian examined it for a while and could only make out the words "forever" and "in". However, it was enough to deduce that it was a wishing note hung by a couple, with silly things like "forever together".

Turning to the back, where the name should be written, only half of it remained: "Yu Nian".

This couple is quite interesting. While others look for wishing trees like banyan or maple trees, they chose an old locust tree.

"Let's go somewhere else."

-----

The soil in the garden was dark black and fertile, with a damp, earthy smell.

The most eye-catching feature is the large swath of hydrangeas planted along the courtyard wall.

In the shadows at the base of the wall, clusters of blue-purple and pink flowers stretched out like a sea, their petals and leaves unfurling in the wind.

Fortunately, hydrangeas don't have much of a smell, otherwise Liang Zaibing would probably have sneezed several times.

In the center is a huge fountain, with a goddess statue looking sorrowful, her head bowed and eyes lowered, her precious vase gushing water from the pool, the splashing water refracting a small rainbow in the sunlight.

Bluestone slabs were laid in the middle of the lawn for pedestrians to walk on.

For no apparent reason, Liang Zaibing thought of the lawn at school, where someone had stuck a sign: "Step on one, fail one subject."

Once the slogan was posted, the withered, yellow lawn, which had been trampled to the point of near collapse, quickly recovered and became lush and green again, growing even more abundantly by the end of the semester.

Seeing him grinning foolishly, Ivan put down the shovel he was holding, turned to look at him, and asked, "Did you find something?"

Liang Zaibing suppressed her laughter and tried to put on a serious expression. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about something happy."

"Oh," Ivan responded casually, then picked up his shovel and continued wielding it, digging up the hydrangea in full bloom, which lay drooping listlessly on the lawn.

There aren't many places to explore in the garden. Anyone who's watched American TV shows would probably dig under the flower bed first. After all, as anyone who's been through murder knows, killing is easy, but disposing of the body is difficult. And under your own flower bed is obviously a convenient and hidden place to dispose of a body.

It also serves as a fertilizer, which is so green and environmentally friendly.

Liang Zaibing became serious and went to observe the fountain.

The bottom of the marble pool was filled with fallen leaves and unidentified debris, but Liang Zaibing suddenly saw a glimmer in it, like sunlight shining through glass.

Liang Zaibing broke off a long branch and brushed aside the fallen leaves, revealing a round jade piece half buried in the mud.

Not knowing if there were any nails or stones hidden in the water, Liang Zaibing, out of caution, did not go into the water. Instead, she spent 5 points to buy a pair of pliers for picking up fallen leaves and used them to grab them from the water.

But after entering the water, Liang Zaibing suddenly felt that the pool was inexplicably deep. The pliers were not submerged at all, but were still some distance from the bottom of the pool.

He remembered clearly that the branch had reached the bottom at the same depth.

But Liang Zaibing still seemed completely oblivious, leaning over the pool wall and peering down.

I dipped my hands into the pool water, and despite it being the height of summer, it was icy cold, the chill seeming to seep into my bones and freeze all my flesh.

His face drew closer and closer to the water's surface, the shaky, fragmented reflection in the water gradually shifting and changing, his distorted features appearing utterly unfamiliar.

Because that's not his face at all.

His skull was shattered and deformed, and his face was covered in blood, but his scarlet eyes stood out conspicuously.

A grayish-purple arm suddenly emerged from the water and viciously choked his neck.

Liang Zaibing seemed not to see it, and quickly grabbed the jade piece at the bottom of the pool with his hand. At this moment, the ghost's hand was already on his neck.

Liang Zaibing had already obtained the family photo and was ready to take it at any time.

But before he could activate the cursed object, he suddenly felt a tightness around his waist, as if someone was pulling him up faster than a vengeful ghost.

In the blink of an eye, Liang Zaibing was taken away from the fountain, and the ghostly figure in the water disappeared without a sound.

Liang Zaibing was somewhat bewildered as someone wrapped their arms around her waist and lifted her up, her feet more than half a meter off the ground.

Pressed against his back was a human chest, hot and throbbing, which is why he didn't resist immediately.

Ivan's voice came from beside me, his tone filled with relief, "Thank goodness you're alright."