Chen Yan curled his lips: "We’ve reached the courtyard gate, if there are any cultivators in the building, they would have sensed us by now. It’s impossible to hide our tracks anyway, so why not shout? Maybe we can lure them out and confront them openly."
Chu Keqing swallowed hard: "What you said is not wrong, but senior... why did you call my name out?"
"You are a sect leader, I’m just a loose cultivator."
Saying that, Chen Yan shouted "Cloud Sect Leader Chu Keqing visiting the mountain" twice more. But the courtyard and building remained silent, with no response.
"First courtesy, then force. Now we won’t be polite." Chen Yan took a deep breath and kicked the large door in front of him!
With a loud bang, the door frame and panel were kicked open—Chen Yan’s body had been nourished by primordial qi for a long time, making him much stronger than ordinary people. With just one kick, the large door on the first floor shattered into pieces.
Chu Keqing was dumbfounded, watching Chen Yan take a step into the hallway inside. She hurriedly followed.
This senior... is he investigating? Or looting?
Inside the door was a dark corridor.
Chen Yan waved his flashlight around, seeing that the dust was thick and many tiles on the walls had fallen off.
He could see light switches on the walls and pressed one with a hopeful heart—unsurprisingly, there was no reaction.
The ceiling above had old hanging fluorescent lights, but all the tubes were broken, and many of the light fixtures had fallen down.
The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust from long neglect, giving a strange slippery feeling when stepped on.
The air was not too stuffy, likely because many windows were broken, allowing for some ventilation. However, the smell was unpleasant, with a mix of rot, mold, and a faint stench of urine from who-knows-where, perhaps indicating that stray dogs or cats had made it their den.
After entering, they found a hallway with rooms on either side—about half of the doors were broken.
Chen Yan and Chu Keqing slowly walked through the corridor, peering into an open room with their phone’s flashlight, seeing broken and damaged furniture... only the metal bed frames and shattered wooden cabinets remained.
As they slowly passed through the corridor, they found each room on this floor had the same layout and furnishings.
Though the furniture was tattered, it was evident that it had once been uniform.
"This place seems to be an abandoned hospital?" Chu Keqing whispered.
"Not like a hospital." Chen Yan shook his head: "It’s probably an old apartment or an abandoned nursing home. That’s why each room’s layout and leftover furniture is the same."
"Do we... need to search each room carefully?" Chu Keqing asked softly.
Chen Yan glanced at her: "In horror movies, does the villain ever place the key item on the first floor? It’s either in the deepest basement or the top floor of the tower."
After a pause, he smiled: "Let’s go straight to the third floor!"
The stairwell was slightly cleaner than the first-floor corridor, without much clutter, but the air was even more stagnant.
Chen Yan and Chu Keqing headed upstairs, ignoring the second-floor hallway and heading straight to the third floor.
Chu Keqing stayed close behind Chen Yan, keeping her flashlight pointed behind them—her face slightly pale, clearly nervous.
But as they reached the third floor, Chen Yan suddenly stopped, chuckling coldly: "Huh?"
Chu Keqing: "What’s wrong?"
Chen Yan raised his flashlight, illuminating the wall on the third floor.
On the wall was a circular frame with a large "2" inside.
Chu Keqing’s expression changed: "Why is it still the second floor?"
Chen Yan deliberated for a moment, then said coldly: "Hmph, a ghost wall? A spell to confuse people... No wonder I couldn’t read the life force and primordial qi from the outside, someone set up a deceptive array here."
An array? Chu Keqing took a deep breath. Arrays were beyond her capabilities.
"So... the enemy wants to force us onto the second floor?" Chu Keqing asked.
"Yes." Chen Yan sneered, then donned a strange smile: "Alright, you want to play this game with me?"
He walked boldly into the second-floor corridor, spotting a collapsed wooden ladder on the floor. Chen Yan kicked it apart and picked a stick about the length of his arm, swinging it a few times in the air.
Hmm, it felt just right.
"Alright, you want to play hide-and-seek? Let’s see if I can find you!"
Chen Yan sneered loudly, striding into the corridor with the stick, laughing oddly: "Hey, inside! As you wished, I’m here to find you! You’d better hide well!"
Chen Yan kicked open a door beside him, peeked inside, then shook his head with a sneer and smashed the stick against the corridor wall.
He walked down the corridor step by step, tapping the walls with the stick, making a noisy racket.
Chu Keqing’s expression was complex, following behind Chen Yan, feeling a bit dazed.
Was it just her, or did this senior seem a bit... excited?
A few minutes later, Chen Yan reached the end of the corridor, his face showing a trace of anger. He yelled: "Are you toying with me? Setting up a ghost wall array to lure me to the second floor, but there’s nothing here? At least show me a hungry ghost or a hanged ghost or something? Even ghosts play empty fort strategies?"