Chapter 85 The Woman in the Old House (Part 3)
The moment Yan Junze caught a glimpse of Ye Zhennan's soul, he immediately diverted his gaze and stopped staring at her.
He vividly remembered the Yin Yang Master Lin Yishan's advice, not to stare at this woman's face, especially her tongue.
It seemed that after death, Ye Zhennan was very dissatisfied with her own appearance, which is why staring at her had become taboo.
Although it was just a fleeting glance and he quickly shifted his gaze, Yan Junze still vaguely saw the woman's face, particularly the area around her lips, which was quite conspicuous.
A soft, limpy thing was dangling down from her lips to her chin, clearly her elongated tongue.
"How am I going to get down?" Yan Junze quickly pondered in his mind.
Now Ye Zhennan was blocking the doorway without moving, her stance was exceedingly abnormal, her shoulders uneven, emanating an inexplicable creepiness. Gradually, the room housing the coffin filled with an increasingly chilling atmosphere.
A man and a strangeness stood facing each other.
After a moment, Yan Junze finally spoke, "Can you... speak?"
Ye Zhennan lifted her head, tilting it, and let out a garbled sound from her mouth.
Yan Junze was startled, then he realized, it seemed to be a curse, something like "Fuck you."
He had politely asked her a question, so why would she start cursing right away?
But the next second, he figured it out, "Damn it, with a huge tongue stuffed in her mouth, she definitely couldn't speak properly."
His question had succeeded in angering Ye Zhennan; after she cursed, her tongue suddenly stretched out rapidly, coiling straight towards Yan Junze's neck.
Rewind!
Yan Junze once again found himself at the stair entrance on the first floor.
He had been maintaining the four-hour continuous rewind, and at this moment, he was back to the time right after he entered house number 39 and stood at the entrance to the staircase on the first floor.
So far, Ye Zhennan's soul had not appeared yet, but the task related to the "tongue" had not been triggered either.
Having foreknowledge of the contents on the piece of Xuan paper in the coffin, Yan Junze already had a plan.
He immediately climbed the stairs, heading for the third floor.
Along the way, being very cautious, he didn't see Ye Zhennan's figure.
According to the timeline of his previous attempt, he was still halfway down the stairs to the basement, soon to spot Ye Zhennan's white shoes standing not far away.
Therefore, at this moment, that woman should not be on the third floor. As long as he moved quickly and triggered the "tongue" task, he could immediately head to the basement to find the body.
He swiftly entered the room that housed only a single coffin; the lid was still pushed to one side. Yan Junze approached, about to reach inside to take out the Xuan paper.
But the next second, he froze in shock - he had never imagined that Ye Zhennan would be lying inside the coffin!
The woman had a pale face, messy hair, eyes slightly closed, and that tongue still stretched out of her mouth, resting on the corner of her lips. The Xuan paper was concealed beneath her body, only a corner visible.
Yan Junze could not determine whether the Ye Zhennan in the coffin was her soul or her body, but a person who had been dead for so long would have decayed by now, and certainly not appear as she did.
This was also the question lingering in Yan Junze's mind; since the "tongue" task required him to stuff Ye Zhennan's tongue back into her mouth, at the very least, that thing had to be flexible. If it had decayed, how could he still stuff it?
Moreover, the air in the room was damp, significantly increasing the likelihood of the body decomposing.
This question would persist until he actually saw Ye Zhennan's body.
Now it seemed that only Ye Zhennan's soul lay in the coffin.
Yan Junze took a deep breath and glanced at the Xuan paper that was partially covered by her body, revealing just a corner. It looked as if the paper was not fully pressed down, merely covered by the body.
With this in mind, he slowed his breathing and carefully reached his hand into the coffin, all the while keeping his gaze fixed on what appeared to be the sleeping Ye Zhennan.
In fact, the features of Ye Zhennan weren't ugly, at least she was above average, but that long tongue sticking out greatly detracted from her overall attractiveness.
The Yin Yang Master Lin Yishan wrote on the paper, "Do not make eye contact with Ye Zhennan's soul, and do not look at her tongue." This was under the assumption that Ye Zhennan had her eyes open, but now the woman's eyes were tightly closed, as if she weren't "awake" yet.
Looking at her at this time seemed to have no adverse effect.
Grabbing the corner of the Xuan paper, Yan Junze gently tugged it, and the paper moved, indeed it was loose!
He immediately applied more force, his fingers brushing against Ye Zhennan's white dress several times, but fortunately, he succeeded in slowly pulling out the Xuan paper bit by bit.
He sighed with relief and finally grasped the Xuan paper completely in his hand.
A task notification popped up, "Side Quest [Tongue] has been activated."
Yan Junze didn't hesitate, he immediately dropped the Xuan paper and turned to walk towards the door.
Just then, a click sounded from behind him, coming from the direction of the coffin.
Yan Junze turned his head and saw a pale hand resting on the edge of the coffin lid, and the next second, it seemed the person inside was about to sit up.
He sped up and rushed out of the room, heading for the staircase and swiftly descending. Several times he stepped on the wet moss and nearly fell.
It was a close call, but he finally reached the first floor.
Listening carefully, he could hear faint footsteps on the third-floor stairs; Ye Zhennan was also coming down.
Yan Junze didn't dare delay, using the light from his flashlight, he quickly went down to the basement.
Before Rewind, he had already figured out that Ye Zhennan's body was in the basement, where she had hung herself, which matched his previous speculations.
Only this time, he had been misled by Ye Zhennan's soul, leading him to go upstairs. However, it was also a stroke of luck, as otherwise, he wouldn't have triggered the side quest.
According to the [Tongue] quest, Ye Zhennan's spirit was instinctively protecting her own Ghost Domain territory and would inherently block any outsiders from disturbing her body.
So he could be sure that the entity upstairs would soon come down to the basement.
He had to move faster.
Bracing himself against the wall, Yan Junze hurried down, slipping twice on the wet stairs, but he finally made it to the basement.
Without the help of moonlight, it was very dark here, and Yan Junze had no choice but to switch on a second flashlight.
He first placed one flashlight on the ground, directing its light toward the direction of the basement stairs so that if Ye Zhennan came down, he would be able to spot her right away.
Then he quickly scanned the basement with the flashlight; the basement was cluttered, filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items.
However, at the furthest end of the basement, under one of the beams, hung an elongated object that was perfectly still in the absence of wind.
According to the Yin Yang Master, Ye Zhennan's corpse would move on its own. Anyone moving her down would soon find the body climbing back up to the beam, maintaining the posture of being hanged.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
That must be what he was seeing now.
After locating the target, Yan Junze quickly walked over.