Someone?!

Jiang Yao was shocked, and hurriedly leaned over and hid behind a bush next to him, and when he poked his head out to look at the window again, there was no figure.

…… Delusion?

Jiang Yao's brain was running rapidly, but staying in the courtyard at this time obviously only increased the risk of being discovered by the guards left behind, so Jiang Yao also put aside his doubts for the time being, and quietly approached a broken window in the main building with his waist bent over, and dodged in.

The lobby on the first floor of the main building is quite empty, and the hazy moonlight spills in from the window, and you can only vaguely see a huge floor-to-ceiling wall clock placed in the corner of the wall.

This kind of unfinished building doesn't look like it can be inhabited, but what ......is the figure of the window just now? Jiang Yao looked around and thought to himself.

It is said that the site was originally an orphanage, but a fire a few years ago not only consumed dozens of lives, but also wiped out the orphanage. Later, the land was taken by a real estate developer, intending to build a new high-end villa, but the strange thing is that the villa had a series of accidents during the construction process, and it was not built for three years. Gradually, the rumors of the "haunted mansion" intensified, and the development had to be stopped halfway, and the "collective suicide of nine people" that happened here a while ago cast a shadow on this "West Villa" again.

Jiang Yao didn't know why Xiao Yuan came to such a place, but judging from the clues left in Xiao Yuan's house and the testimony of nearby witnesses, the last place he went to before his disappearance was indeed this "West District Villa". Although after the "nine-person collective suicide incident" occurred a week ago, this place was also searched by the police for a time, and no trace of Xiao Yuan was found, but Jiang Yao always felt that in this villa, it must be implied that Xiao Yuan was missing*.

Jiang Yao decided not to think about it anymore, he turned on the miniature flashlight, and while paying attention to the surrounding movements, he cautiously probed around the first floor. There wasn't much of interest in the empty hall, the only thing that caught some attention was the huge floor-to-ceiling wall clock in the corner.

This is a retro Western-style wall clock, more than a person tall, at first glance it looks like a huge upright coffin, clinging to the cement wall behind it, the crimson wood grain shell is carved with exquisite floral patterns, and the ivory white plate is regularly arranged with twelve Roman numerals, which looks simple but not lacking in exquisiteness, but the dust on the surface of the wall clock also shows that this thing has been abandoned for a long time, and I don't know why the developer put this thing here.

Jiang Yao looked left and right around the wall clock, but he didn't find anything special, just as he was about to continue to go to the second floor to check, suddenly a slight crisp sound came from the soles of Jiang Yao's feet.

"Click-"

Jiang Yao was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly looked at what he had just stepped on.

It was a thumb-sized fragment of light brown wood carving, stylistically resembling a severed wing. Jiang Yao looked at this piece of wood, and always felt a little familiar, he squatted down to pick up the piece of wood and looked at it carefully.

The workmanship of the wood carving is very rough, it can be said that it is the kind of manual homework of elementary school students, the broken part of the wings is pitted, it looks like it has been broken by violence, and the middle of the wings is crookedly engraved with a few words:

"For Brother Xiao Yuan......

Xiao Yuan!?

Jiang Yao's spirit was suddenly shocked, yes, he remembered, Xiao Yuan did seem to be wearing a unique wood carving ornament around his neck, Jiang Yao remembered that the style of the ornament seemed to be a cuckoo, and this broken wing was obviously part of the cuckoo ornament.

Jiang Yao still remembered that Xiao Yuan cherished this ornament very much, and never saw him leave, and now the fragment of the ornament appeared here, which means that Xiao Yuan has indeed been here, and ...... Something really happened!

The unexpected discovery made Jiang Yao's heart sink to the bottom all of a sudden, but the misfortune was not alone, at this time he suddenly heard a man's voice cut through the silent hall and came from the top of the stairs not far away:

"Who's there?!"

Not good!

Jiang Yao was shocked, he immediately stuffed the wood chips in his pocket, turned off the flashlight with his backhand, and quickly dodged behind a construction waste heap next to him, and listened with bated breath.

"Squeak...... Squeak ......"

The sound of footsteps brought by the wooden stairs came from far and near, faintly from the stairs on the second floor, and with the footsteps was a faint glow of flashlight.

Tsk, I made a mistake, and the security guards didn't even finish withdrawing?

Jiang Yao was a little annoyed, he looked through the gap in the construction waste heap, and saw a man in a security uniform holding a flashlight, stepping down the stairs from the second floor, and slowly walking in his direction.

This is a rough man in his thirties, with a short shaved head, a face full of meat, and at first glance it is the kind of goods that are not easy to mess with, but at this time, the seemingly unscrupulous security guard seems to be a little panicked, constantly shining around with a flashlight, and also aiming at the mobile phone in his hand from time to time, as if he is afraid of something.

"Ding ——!"

A sudden text message prompt broke the silence around him, and he saw the security man pause, and quickly picked up his mobile phone with a trembling look.

The glow of the mobile phone screen reflected the man's pale face, and the expression on his face was particularly distorted and terrifying, and Jiang Yao didn't know what the other party's situation was, and he was thinking about how to deal with it, but he saw that the security guard had put away his mobile phone and continued to move forward, but the direction of his footsteps was not the gate, but the huge floor clock in the corner.

The moonlight faded under the dark clouds, and the whole hall was gradually enveloped in darkness, and just as the security guard walked up to the wall clock, the dim flashlight suddenly went out.

Jiang Yao's eyes widened, hoping to distinguish the other party's figure in the dark, but when the moon poked his head out of the dark clouds again, the security guard who was standing in front of the wall clock had disappeared without a trace.

What about people??!

Jiang Yao hurriedly got up and came to the wall clock to check, but he saw that the wooden clock box that was originally closed was quietly opened at this time, and what appeared in front of him was a narrow dark passage that was one person wide, and gusts of yin wind blew from the bottom of the stairs that circled down in the dark passage, obviously there was something else inside.

This wall clock turned out to be a secret door? So, ...... was the security guard who entered here before?

Jiang Yao subconsciously pinched the broken piece of wood left by Xiao Yuan in his pocket, and after a little thought, he decided to go in and have a look, but just as he took a step, his body suddenly stagnated.

Jiang Yao turned his head and looked around at the empty first-floor hall with some hesitation.

The misty moonlight once again drilled through the clouds and mist, dispelling the darkness in the room, and the place seemed to be empty, but a feeling of being watched by someone always lingered in Jiang Yao's heart, lingering.

What's going on? That's how it feels again......

Jiang Yao observed for a while, but still didn't find any movement, which made Jiang Yao wonder if he was a little suspicious, but to be on the safe side, he still quietly stretched out his hand and stroked the purple crystal on the necklace around his neck.

A faint purple light began to slowly light up from the center of the amethyst, and at the same time, a slight numbness suddenly flowed down the neck to the whole body. Jiang Yao tried to rub his fingers, and a "crackling" firelight flashed, and Jiang Yao knew that this "electric light stone" had been activated, and his whole body was shrouded in a low-voltage current at this time.

Although the low-voltage current generated by this "electric light stone" is ineffective for the wearer of the stone, it is enough for those who come into contact with the wearer to drink a pot, so it can be said to be an excellent self-defense weapon.

But the magic of this "electric light stone" is more than that.

Jiang Yao took a light breath, then put his hands together, and with a slight squeeze of his palms, he saw a human-shaped charm made of electric light float out of his fingertips, and began to explore down the spiral staircase according to his will.

[The electric light stone can separate a part of your spiritual power and use it as your doppelganger to explore the way forward, but each activation will also cause great consumption to the electric light stone itself, and it is not allowed to be used unless it is absolutely necessary. 】

Jiang Yao remembered the look of thousands of instructions when the "Demon Old Woman" handed over the electric light stone to him, and was forced by the other party's "intimidation", he could only honestly follow the instructions over the years, of course, the so-called "Demon Old Woman" was just Jiang Yao's inner complaint, if it was really in front of others, he still had to honestly call someone "Master".

But now is obviously not the time to worry so much.

After completing the necessary self-defense preparations, Jiang Yao no longer rubbed down, and then decisively stepped into the secret door with his feet and disappeared.

The hall on the first floor became empty again, but this empty state did not last long, and not long after Jiang Yao entered the secret door, a black shadow quietly appeared in front of the wall clock.

"Heh......"

The black shadow looked at Jiang Yao's departing figure, smiled silently, and then quickly passed through the secret door and followed.

-----------------

"Snap...... Snap ......"

The sound of soft footsteps echoed in the narrow space, the misty darkness eroded the light of the flashlight, and the humanoid charm in front of him still advanced, and there was only this bottomless narrow passage as far as the eye could see, except for the monotonous and repetitive spiral staircase.

Jiang Yao glanced at the phone screen, but there was no signal. Since stepping into that strange secret door, the air around him seems to have suddenly taken on weight, suppressing his chest and holding his ankles, as if in the darkness ahead, there is a danger that is about to move, quietly waiting for the arrival of his prey.

"Hoo ......"

Jiang Yao stopped, shook his somewhat chaotic head, and took a deep breath.

To be honest, Jiang Yao has realized that his state has become a little wrong, since his family was broken up due to "that accident" ten years ago, he was entrusted to the "demon old woman" who claimed to be his distant relative for adoption, although he is usually used to "strengthen his body" The name of all kinds of harsh training, but because of this, he has also developed a vigorous ability, even in the face of trouble, not necessarily panicked, but this time the situation is a little weird, he has always been calm in the face of things, this time there will be a trace of anxiety in the depths of his heart, which has never been the case before.

But now is not the time to back down, a clue that was finally found......

Jiang Yao thought of the missing Xiao Yuan, suppressed the anxiety in his heart, and took a firm step again. The repetitive monotonous picture was like a lullaby, gradually eroding Jiang Yao's nerves, and he didn't even notice that a petite figure was like a ghost at this time, quietly following him.

The figure got closer and closer, and all Jiang Yao's attention was focused on the front, completely unaware that the petite figure behind him had stretched out his hand with a cruel smile, but at the moment when the other party was about to contact Jiang Yao, the figure suddenly looked back at the back vigilantly, and then quickly withdrew his hand and disappeared into the shadows.

"Huh?"

Jiang Yao stopped as if he felt something, and looked back at the dark back.

Nothing.

Jiang Yao was a little uneasy, but this was not the time to hesitate, because he soon found that the humanoid charm suddenly stopped, and saw a faint burst of dim light at the corner of the stairs below, and the long spiral escalator seemed to have finally come to an end.

Jiang Yao immediately dispelled the charm, turned off the miniature flashlight, leaned sideways against the corner of the wall, and cautiously looked towards the light.

Sure enough, it was still the security guard, but at this time, the security guard was standing with his back to Jiang Yao, standing in the open space not far away, motionless.