Chapter 00163: Staying for a Night
# Staying for a Night
Chapter 163
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 163: Staying for a Night
Deep mountains, a ruined temple, a torrential rain—this was the perfect scene for a ghost encounter.
When the three of them saw a dark figure reflected on the window, their hearts all jumped in alarm.
But soon, they saw someone push the door open.
The other party also showed a look of surprise upon seeing Yang Yiyi and the others inside.
“I did not expect someone to be here already. Please forgive me for intruding so rashly, young ladies.”
This person appeared to be a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, wearing a coir raincoat that was still dripping water.
He looked as if he was just passing by.
But the three of them keenly noticed that he had a long-handled saber tucked into his waist, its scabbard propping up a corner of his raincoat.
“I am Wang Zhen, a captain from the Xingyuan Escort Agency. I was passing through when night fell and the rain became heavy. I ask that you young ladies accommodate us.”
Yang Yiyi discreetly tucked the Jade Tablet into her clothes, afraid someone might see it, while Zheng Yinping cupped her fist and said:
“Captain Wang, you are too kind. There is plenty of empty space in the temple. Please make yourselves at home.”
“Many thanks.”
With a call from this Captain Wang, four or five men immediately came in, carrying a large wooden chest.
It seemed they were caught in a downpour during an escort mission and had stopped at the Daoist temple to take shelter.
These men settled in another corner of the temple's main hall, a great distance away from the girls.
When one of them wiped the water off his body, another would surely be watching their surroundings.
It was clear that even though they saw that Yang Yiyi and the others were three girls, they did not let their guard down in the slightest.
“They're escort guards. This is the first time I've seen an escort agency on a mission.”
Yang Yiyi seemed very excited.
She said in a low voice:
“My brother-in-law is an escort guard. When I was little, I really hoped he would take me with him.”
Zheng Yinping was not as optimistic as Yang Yiyi.
She replied in an equally low voice:
“Be careful. The cargo this group is transporting is no simple matter.”
“Don't they usually transport silver coins for banks?”
“A chest of money wouldn't be this light.”
Li Chengxi interjected:
“And look, there are seals on the chest, and several locks. This is a secret escort.”
Escort agencies were actually quite similar to logistics companies, but the difference was that the goods they transported were usually of higher value and required fending off the prying eyes of bandits and the like, equivalent to an armed cash transport.
And escorts were divided into open escorts and secret escorts.
The goods transported in an open escort were all legal, and the number of guards responsible for the escort was generally large.
They would walk while flying the flag of their escort agency.
If they encountered bandits on the road, they usually wouldn't fight.
On one hand, the escort agencies had some connections with the heroes of the greenwood; they could pass just by giving some benefits.
On the other hand, swords have no eyes in a fight, and neither side was willing to suffer losses.
Therefore, the risk of an open escort was quite low.
But a secret escort was different.
For goods transported in a secret escort, neither the guards nor the agency knew what it was.
It would typically be sealed and well-locked, only to be inspected and opened by the recipient upon arrival.
Due to this characteristic, the cargo could be anything from rare treasures to contraband.
The goods transported in a secret escort were more valuable and also more dangerous.
They usually wouldn't be done with great fanfare; instead, a few escort guards would travel light.
The escorted item was just one large chest.
A normal open escort would never transport so little, as it would be a financial loss, nor would there be only a few lightly equipped guards.
Only a secret escort would be so cautious and prudent.
If you encountered an open escort on the road, you could even travel with them for a stretch, but if you encountered a secret escort, it was best to stay far away to avoid getting caught up in a robbery.
On Li Chengxi's side, she used the mouse to click on the chest placed among the escort guards.
She could only see the item properties of the chest, not what was inside.
But the properties listed information such as ‘Mother-Son Mandarin Duck Lock’ and ‘Contains Flying Needle Mechanism’.
A single glance told her the transported item was definitely not simple.
“When we rest later, let's stay far away from them. When it's time to leave, let them go first. We shouldn't travel together”
Zheng Yinping and Li Yingluo both nodded in agreement.
The advice Li Chengxi gave was very pertinent.
Yang Yiyi was obedient, but she would still glance over at the escort guards sitting together from time to time, looking quite wistful.
***
Taking shelter from the rain and encountering an escort agency on a mission… the girls themselves were being pursued, so they really shouldn't stir up more trouble.
But unfortunately, the heavy rain showed no signs of stopping.
It had started at noon and hadn't let up for two hours.
The sky, instead, grew darker and darker, as if brewing an even bigger storm.
Being with a group of escort guards on a secret mission felt very unsafe.
Zheng Yinping wandered around the side doors of the main hall and found that there were several side rooms behind the hall that could be lived in.
So the girls didn't stay in the main hall with the escort guards but moved to one of the more decent rooms, putting some distance between them for both parties' peace of mind.
The beds were definitely unusable.
Li Chengxi took out a folding bed and a summer quilt from her Sumeru Realm.
The three of them could take turns sleeping at night, ensuring at least two people were awake at all times to react quickly if anything happened.
However, it was still far from bedtime.
The three girls sat around a candle, chatting.
“Elder Sister Yang, you mentioned earlier that this Daoist temple has a legend?”
As they talked, the topic returned to the Daoist temple.
Just as Yang Yiyi was about to speak earlier, she had been interrupted by the escort guard named Wang Zhen.
Li Yingluo suddenly remembered this and quickly asked again.
Zheng Yinping's expression became a little unnatural:
“Let's not talk about such things. Telling ghost stories at midnight will attract ghosts to our door.”
“It's not midnight yet. Elder Sister Yang, hurry up and tell us. I'm so curious.”
Although Zheng Yinping said she didn't want to listen, she still perked up her ears.
“This story starts from seventy or eighty years ago…”
Yang Yiyi lowered her voice and said:
“Back then, this Daoist temple was quite famous. It's said that twenty or thirty Daoist priests lived here, and itinerant priests often stopped by. The villagers also said that the immortal in the temple was particularly efficacious, and many people from the surrounding villages came here to offer incense.”
“And then? Why was it abandoned.”
“Don't be impatient.”
Yang Yiyi continued:
“Later, it's said that the temple master found a wild child in the mountains and brought him back. The child had no parents and no known name, but he was kind-hearted and exceptionally gifted, much loved by the priests. Until one day, it's said the child died of an illness. The entire temple mourned; the temple master even fainted from crying several times, and his hair turned white overnight from grief. The strange things only started happening after that.”
As if on cue, lightning flashed outside.
Zheng Yinping shrank back, it was unclear if she was scared by the thunder or the story.
“First, two of the chickens raised in the temple went missing. The priests thought they were just snatched by a weasel from the mountain, so they repaired the chicken coop and didn't think much of it. But the chickens kept disappearing. Finally, someone found the chickens' corpses on the back mountain.”
Zheng Yinping asked a little nervously:
“Where on the back mountain were the corpses found?”
“Beneath a great pagoda tree. And not far from the great pagoda tree was the grave of the wild child the temple master had found. There were teeth marks left on the chickens' corpses, not from an animal, but more like human teeth marks.”
Li Yingluo said in surprise:
“Could it be a zombie harming people?”
It was said that zombies suck blood.
When they were still weak, they would suck the blood of livestock, and once they grew stronger, they would start eating people.
Li Chengxi felt a strong sense of deja vu listening to this story.
For a moment, she wondered if it involved some dark lord and a giant serpent.
Yang Yiyi shook her head and said again:
“Later on, even the two big yellow dogs raised in the temple went missing. They were only found almost a month later. Guess where?”
“Where?”
“In the temple's well. By the time they were fished out, they were already decomposed. Everyone in the temple had been drinking that well water for a month and hadn't noticed a thing.”
It was more disgusting than scary, but Zheng Yinping seemed to have gotten into the story, tightly gripping Li Yingluo's arm.
“During that time, the temple master's face grew paler by the day. Incense-bearers who came said his face was gaunt, like a dead man's, but strangely, none of the other priests in the temple noticed.”
Zheng Yinping said nervously:
“Th-then what happened?”
“Then one day, on a rainy day just like this one, a villager passing by the temple heard screams coming from inside. Mustering his courage to take a look, he saw the temple was filled with blood, like hell, and not a single living person could be seen.”
Just then, a bolt of lightning crackled across the sky.
Zheng Yinping let out a short scream and hurriedly hugged Li Yingluo, as if terrified.
“Afterward, an itinerant Daoist priest came here. After hearing about the incident, he entered the temple to investigate and said the temple master had used a malevolent art to try and resurrect the child. But something went wrong, and he resurrected him as a zombie. Everyone in the temple was eaten. After that, the temple was abandoned.”
“What about the zombie?”
“It's said he ran into the mountains. Possessing residual humanity, he would from time to time run back to the temple to reminisce with the resentful souls of the Daoist priests he bit to death, especially on rainy days. See those dark things on the walls of the main hall? That's all the priests' blood.”
“Stop talking! I don't want to hear it!”
Seeing Zheng Yinping so scared, Yang Yiyi laughed and said:
“I was just teasing you. That story was just a rumor spread by the villagers. The government posted a notice long ago, saying the Daoist priests in the temple were smuggling salt. It looked like a Daoist temple, but it was actually a warehouse for smuggled salt. Later, when the soldiers came to arrest them, the priests who resisted were killed, and those who didn't were taken away to be charged.”
“Is-is it really that simple?”
“It's just that simple. If it were really haunted, why would my parents and I have stayed here when we went to the city when I was a child?”
Zheng Yinping patted her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.
But at that very moment, a scream from outside the room pierced the curtain of rain, followed by a panicked shout:
“Ghost! There's a ghost!”
Oh ho, speak of the devil.
(End of this chapter)