Chapter 58: House of Evil Spirits

The sky was gloomy and overcast.

Heavy, ink-black storm clouds pressed down menacingly from above.

A howling gale blew incessantly, making the leaves on the trees rustle violently. There were practically no pedestrians on the streets, and even the birds and sparrows had all hidden themselves away.

Boom!

A flash of blinding lightning pierced the sky.

The deafening crash startled Wu Xian, waking him up abruptly.

Wu Xian opened his eyes.

He found himself in a residential neighborhood, lying on a bench like a stray vagrant. This neighborhood looked somewhat familiar.

Perhaps Wu Xian had been here before, or perhaps he hadn't.

After all, residential neighborhoods in this world all looked pretty much the same.

At the other end of the bench sat a radio, left behind by someone unknown. The radio was playing a news broadcast—a warning issued by the Xianwei City Broadcasting Station to the general public.

"In recent days, home-invasion murder cases have occurred frequently. We ask the general public to remain highly vigilant and not to let strangers into your homes casually."

Wu Xian sat up and switched the radio off.

It seemed that these home-invasion murders had a rather significant impact within this Blessed Land.

He looked up at the sky and shivered.

"It's going to rain soon... There might even be hail."

Wu Xian had no idea how long he had been lying here.

However, he was dressed very lightly, so he was freezing. His body temperature had already dropped significantly, and if he were caught in the downpour, he might suffer from hypothermia and catch a severe cold.

This would have a fatal impact on his operations within the Blessed Land.

Wu Xian looked around and quickly spotted a nearby house with warm light shining from within. Through the windows, he could see someone bustling about inside.

He walked toward the nearest residence and pressed the doorbell.

The front door cracked open a fraction.

Warm light and heat spilled out through the gap, and a woman with her hair parted to one side looked at Wu Xian vigilantly.

"Who are you?"

Wu Xian rubbed his arms, shivering as he spoke, "I'm freezing. It's about to pour—could I come in and take shelter from the rain?"

Hearing Wu Xian's request, the woman hesitated.

Home-invasion murders had been rampant lately, and she didn't want to take the risk of letting a stranger like Wu Xian into her home.

Through the crack in the door, Wu Xian noticed a television inside broadcasting a press conference by the Investigation Bureau. Promptly, he pulled out his detective badge and showed it to her.

"You don't need to worry about me being a murderer."

"The hero detective on the news right now, the one who caught the serial killer—that's me!"

The woman was skeptical.

She went back inside to watch the news again, and after comparing details several times, she finally confirmed Wu Xian's identity.

"Come on in. I'm so sorry for doubting you just now; the times we live in are just not very safe."

The woman welcomed Wu Xian indoors and invited him to sit on the sofa. The chill in Wu Xian's body finally began to recede.

This was a detached, single-family Japanese-style house.

The floor plan wasn't particularly large, but the interior decoration was modest yet meticulous. The layout looked somewhat familiar to Wu Xian, but since this world was so monotonous, having a similar room layout was entirely normal.

In this cozy little home, four people were busy at work.

The female homeowner and an elderly woman were cooking in the kitchen, while an old man and a young girl were decorating the room, hanging colorful flags and lights everywhere.

In the exact center of the dining table sat a four-tier cream cake. It looked like they were preparing for a birthday party.

Wu Xian sat on the warm sofa.

His body temperature gradually returned to normal.

Right now, the biggest problem facing him was memory loss.

After some testing, Wu Xian confirmed that his memories from the real world remained intact.

However, his memories after entering the Blessed Land had already begun to blur. The details of the first mental judgment and certain events that occurred upon returning home were no longer entirely clear to him.

So, how could he preserve his memories?

As he pondered this, the female homeowner carried a stainless steel serving tray and placed it on the coffee table.

On the tray were a teapot, a teacup, and a small pastry.

She smiled gently at Wu Xian.

"I saw you outside earlier. You'd been lying out there for quite a while. You must be freezing and starving—how about a cup of tea to warm yourself up first?"

With that, she covered her mouth and walked away, as if suffering from a toothache.

Wu Xian certainly wanted something hot to drink.

Yet, when the woman had smiled just moments ago, Wu Xian clearly saw a split tear open at the corner of her mouth...

"Madam!" Wu Xian called out suddenly.

The woman hurriedly turned her head back. Because she turned too fast, only her head swiveled around, and a wisp of fresh blood burst from her neck. Her body then slowly rotated until it lined up seamlessly with her head.

"Detective, is there anything else you need?"

Wu Xian was already cursing inwardly in his mind.

Why did he just randomly pick a house, only to run into an evil spirit yet again?

Nonetheless, his tone remained very polite.

"I think it's time for me to leave. I shouldn't impose on you any longer."

"I'm sure you wouldn't want your husband to find out that you were entertaining a strange man at home."

Wu Xian felt that his excuse was brilliant.

With that, he picked up his coat and rose to leave. Although he still had eight remaining uses of the Flying Blade Curse, he did not want to get entangled in an inexplicable evil spirit crisis just yet.

"Mister, please feel free to stay! If my dad found out my mom kicked a hero detective out of the house in the middle of a torrential downpour, he'd be the one furious with her!"

Wu Xian turned his head.

He saw a bright, smiling young girl waving at him.

She had been hanging colorful flags on the stairwell. Hearing their conversation, she spoke up to persuade Wu Xian to stay. After finishing her sentence, she began walking upstairs, but Wu Xian saw it clearly—she hadn't taken steps at all while going upstairs; instead, she had glided across with an eerie, mechanical translation!

She was an evil spirit too!

This entire family consisted of evil spirits!

Yet, Wu Xian had no further reason to refuse. Violently defying the will of these two might very well trigger catastrophic consequences.

Wu Xian's posture on the sofa shifted from relaxed to rigid. The events unfolding before his eyes struck him as deeply bizarre, and he constantly felt a lingering sense of familiarity, making him extremely tense.

The intense tension made his mouth feel dry.

The female homeowner seemed to notice Wu Xian's awkwardness, so she said to him with understanding consideration:

"Please try some of our tea. It's all top-quality loose leaf, sent to my husband by one of his patients. That patient came from the Miaojiang region, and you simply can't buy tea like that around here."

"Miaojiang tea..."

Wu Xian's mouth twitched. Under the woman's watchful gaze, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and pour himself a cup.

The tea was a vibrant green, the brew crystal clear, and the aroma rich...

It was a fine cup of tea.

However, Wu Xian was curious about what shape the tea leaves were. He opened the teapot, lowered his head to look inside, and his expression froze once again.

Inside the teapot's infuser, there were actually a dozen or so green, multi-legged insects!

These bugs were still alive, writhing constantly in the boiling water. Upon realizing the lid had been opened, they began crawling around with flailing legs and claws. Wu Xian hastily slammed the lid back down.

How on earth...

Could anyone bring themselves to swallow something like this?

Wu Xian stared fixedly at that cup of tea, motionless for a long time. As his movements came to a halt, heavy footsteps echoed from behind him.