Chapter 343 - 148: Mysterious Cabin (Part 2)

Chapter 343: Chapter 148: Mysterious Cabin (Part 2)

He was about to get another look inside the house when the flash of lightning vanished.

The rapidly flashing light was harsh on the eyes. Zhang Shutong turned away and rubbed his aching eye sockets. His three best friends were still frozen by the window.

"Whoa, it actually opened..."

"I—I told you so! And you guys didn’t believe me!"

"Hold on. The point isn’t that it opened, you guys. The point is *why* it opened!" Du Kang said with a shudder.

"That door was already falling apart," Zhang Shutong recalled. "It’s not that strange, is it...?"

"But it opened inward," Qingyi said suddenly.

The other three looked at him, and Qingyi, as was his habit, began to analyze the situation.

"Let’s assume the door was already broken. If it opened outward, it would be blocked by the ivy. It wouldn’t be surprising if it opened on its own without the vines holding it, but it opened *inward*..."

Qingyi gestured with his palm.

"Did anyone hear anything else?"

"You don’t think someone snuck into the house during a lull in the thunder, do you?!" Ruoping shuddered.

"Who knows for sure? I just think that under normal circumstances, the door wouldn’t have opened. But it did. Which means—"

"That something fishy is going on?"

Du Kang slammed his fist on the windowsill.

"Why didn’t you just say that in the first place? I know all about this stuff. Now there’s only one question left, everyone...

"Do we go, or not?"

...

As Shakespeare said, to go or not to go: that is the question.

Whenever they had a disagreement like this, they usually settled it with a vote.

Du Kang immediately voted yes. Ruoping instantly voted no.

Don’t be fooled by the way she’d been staring at the old house. In reality, she just wanted to prove her point. As for what was actually going on over there, she couldn’t care less.

Qingyi also voted yes.

All eyes turned to Zhang Shutong.

"I don’t mind either way." Zhang Shutong truly didn’t. "I’ve been trying to conserve energy lately."

"Conserve energy? What’s that?" Ruoping was sometimes amazed at the boys’ talent for jumping from one topic to a completely unrelated one.

"It’s from a mystery anime, *Hyouka*. It just started airing this year," Qingyi explained. "It’s a life philosophy: ’If I don’t have to do it, I won’t. If I have to do it, I’ll get it done quickly.’"

Hearing this, Ruoping breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, good. Shutong, I’ll double your order of fries later. You can have whatever else you want, too..."

Before she could finish, to her utter disbelief, Zhang Shutong raised his hand with a smile.

"So my suggestion is we make it a quick in-and-out trip."

...

As they headed down the stairs, Ruoping was still complaining about his dramatic pause.

Zhang Shutong had his mischievous moments.

"But seriously," he said, "it’s raining so hard we’d get soaked riding to the shopping district. And it’s not like we have anything better to do."

"Can’t we just wait here in the hospital?"

"I’m about to puke from the smell of antiseptic in here," Zhang Shutong said, holding his hands out. "Besides, Qingyi isn’t necessarily right. Anything can go wrong with an old, dilapidated door. And with the four of us together, we’ll be fine."

Ruoping said nothing, only sighing.

’She’s conflicted,’ Zhang Shutong thought. If she truly didn’t want to go, she wouldn’t be acting like this. ’She’s probably both scared and curious and just needed a little push. Now that it’s happening, she’s having second thoughts.’

Of course, they couldn’t go exploring empty-handed.

But their "preparations" consisted of nothing more than borrowing a flashlight from the front desk in the lobby.

While borrowing the flashlight, they asked about the old house’s history, but the receptionist didn’t know much, only that it seemed to have been there even before the hospital was rebuilt.

"Wow, that’s really old then," Du Kang explained. "You wouldn’t know, Shutong, but this place used to be a hospital, too. When we were little, maybe four or five years old, they tore down the old building around 2000 and built this new one on top of it."

Zhang Shutong nodded. As someone from out of town, he was naturally less in the know than the locals. He asked for a plastic bag to wrap around his cast to keep it from getting wet in the rain.

They all sent messages to their families, letting them know they’d be home late.

With that, they walked out of the hospital’s main entrance. Though it was only early evening, the world outside was as dark as midnight.

A torrential sheet of rain fell, churning the twilight into a viscous gloom. The air was so heavy with moisture it felt difficult to breathe.

They formed a single-file line, the four of them sharing two umbrellas. The flashlight cut a narrow path of light ahead.

Every so often, a flash of lightning would streak across the sky, revealing the roiling dark clouds and illuminating the black surfaces of their umbrellas.

The four teenagers carefully avoided the puddles. To get to the back of the hospital, they had to cut through an alley—though "alley" was a generous term. It was more of a narrow gap between two buildings, just wide enough for one person to pass comfortably, but a tight squeeze for two.

The three boys, naturally, had to be gentlemen. Du Kang took the lead, with Zhang Shutong second. Qingyi brought up the rear, placing Ruoping safely between them.

They were packed in chest-to-back, and visibility was poor. Du Kang aimed the flashlight beam from straight ahead down at their feet.

Ruoping gave up and just closed her eyes, placing a hand on Zhang Shutong’s shoulder. With her head down, she followed his steps, muttering under her breath.

"Are we there yet? How are we still not there...?"

Zhang Shutong reassured her they were almost out.

He was mentally counting their steps. They had gone about twenty paces. After their initial trepidation wore off, they adjusted to the dark and began to walk faster. Another flash of lightning illuminated their surroundings. Just as Zhang Shutong was about to get a clear look at what was ahead, Du Kang abruptly stopped.

It was like a locomotive suddenly braking, causing the cars behind to crash into one another. Umbrellas tilted and the scene descended into chaos.

"Sorry, sorry! Shutong, is your arm okay?" Du Kang yelled hastily.

"I’m fine," Zhang Shutong said. He had been holding his phone, and his right hand had automatically shielded his casted left arm. "Are you okay?"