Chapter 1003: Chapter 1001: Deadly
"Mr. Yi, did you notice there’s a road here just now?"
"No."
After checking the vehicle’s condition, Yi Chen also glanced over, and he was certain he hadn’t seen this road before.
"Perhaps our attention was drawn to the sudden appearance of Old Deng, and we didn’t notice... According to the map, this road is a shortcut to our destination, saving us at least an hour’s drive."
Sitting back at the driver’s seat, drenched, Mr. Yi asked, "What about the person we hit?"
William wiped his snot on the side of the seat, looking indifferent as he spoke, "If we can’t find them, then we can’t find them. Probably ended up in the woods; in this desolate place, they won’t be discovered, and the animals in the woods are already hungry."
"Let’s go, hurry up! As long as we find that VHS tape, we won’t have to worry about life for the next ten years."
"Hehe! By then, I’ll buy a realistic wife pillow and spend a hundred on a 648."
The camera then kept focused on the windshield, capturing the same ’suddenly appeared’ shortcut.
Yet, this shortcut didn’t encounter anything strange.
Half an hour later, they finally arrived at their destination, and the lens showed an old wooden house nestled in the forest, still grand in appearance, almost giving off a villa-like feeling.
Late at night, almost every window emitted faint lighting, or perhaps it was the glow of TV screens.
"Just like the client said, this is the place!
A person with a VHS collecting obsession lives here; tapes rare in the market and even nonexistent can be found here.
We just need to find the most unique one, marked with bright red blood.
Hey! Lene, get up and get to work!"
No umbrella in the car,
Even though the car was close to the wooden house, the heavy rain completely drenched everyone, and the camera captured close-ups of everyone’s faces, all showing some anticipation.
However, the wooden house’s door was locked tight, chained from the inside, and couldn’t be opened by conventional lock-picking methods.
Windows on the first floor were boarded up tightly, leaving no way to sneak inside.
The camera then shifted to Mr. Yi, who appeared the most skilled among the team, starting to climb the house. From the outside, the second floor had visible light, indicating those windows weren’t boarded up.
Sure enough, he quickly found an entrance.
Once inside through the window, Yi Chen signaled with gestures for them to wait downstairs until he came down to open the door.
Being quite hefty, William couldn’t climb, so he quickly made an OK gesture in front of the camera and waited with Lene downstairs.
Meanwhile, the lens continually focused on Lene’s drenched body.
Nonetheless, Lene wasn’t embarrassed; she purposefully moved with the camera, while William couldn’t help but touch his exposed belly.
"Lene dear~ what do you plan to do with the money when you get it?"
"I want to buy a small apartment so I’m not wandering outside anymore!"
"How about you come live at my place! I’ll give you the entire bedroom, no need to pay rent. The bedroom’s locked, so don’t worry, I won’t sneak in at night, nor will I hide under your bed beforehand, hehe~"
"Okay~"
Upon hearing her agreement, William quickly wiped his mouth with his hand, failing to stop the drool.
However, as time passed little by little, there was still no sign of the first floor door opening.
"Why hasn’t Mr. Yi come yet? He’s quite a quick-tempered guy, shouldn’t be slow..." William was about to shout but was quickly muffled by Lene’s hand.
"We can’t shout loudly; the owner might hear us."
"Oh yeah! Looks like we’ll have to find another entrance ourselves."
The handheld camera pointed at the outer corridor as the two walked along the edge, avoiding getting soaked by the rain, and unexpectedly discovered a hidden entrance leading to the basement.
The camera zoomed in,
though locked, the entrance wasn’t completely sealed like the front door.
William used some skill he learned somewhere to open the lock, allowing both to enter the wooden house’s basement smoothly.
Cough, cough!
As soon as they entered, they were choked by the thick dust, causing violent coughing.
Lene followed him in and covered his mouth once more, while Yi Chen took the chance to linger on the fragrance of her hand, shifting his focus away from the coughing.
The basement wasn’t pitch black but illuminated by a large number of TV screens.
In just one basement, several old TVs flickered with static, additionally, a large pile of VHS tapes stacked all around.
Judging by the dust thickness, though it seemed it hadn’t been visited for a long time, it was still powered.
"What we’re looking for shouldn’t be here. According to the client’s description, that tape should be very precious and wouldn’t be left in an unkempt place like this.
Let’s go up and take a look, find Mr. Yi first; he’s the only driver! My body can’t handle driving for six hours straight."
The camera lens pointed up the basement stairs, yet William’s fat body made the stairs creak, creating a discomfort in this environment, feeling as if the house’s master might hear.
Creak! Pushing open the door leading to the first-floor hall.
The camera picture came to the first floor of the cabin, an empty foyer hallway with neither the cabin’s master nor Yi Chen anywhere to be seen.
"Ugh! It stinks!"
The entire first floor was filled with a pungent smell, even stronger than that of William, this fat fellow.
Following the camera quietly moving on the first floor, the source of the odor was soon discovered; the entire kitchen was full of moldy leftovers, and the sink was even piled high with dead mice.
The refrigerator was oozing black liquid.
The camera moved closer,
William reached his fat hand out to open the fridge door, and instantly, the camera picture revealed densely packed human heads inside the fridge, each displaying a bizarre smile, with black blood continuously flowing from their necks.
But in the next second, the picture switched back to normal, only showing milk bottles that had gone bad long ago seeping from the carton bottoms.
"William!"
Lene’s exclamation pulled the camera view over, seeing where Lene pointed, revealing half an elderly man’s body passing through the foyer passage.
The camera picture also immediately showed interference stripes.
"Quickly find Mr. Yi, and once we find our target, let’s get out of here. Hiss~ This place is indeed as creepy as the rumors say."
"Alright~" Lene was already trembling with fear.
Having walked through each room on the first floor without finding Yi Chen, the only option was to go to the Second Floor.
Very ’smoothly,’ the first door William opened upon going up the stairs yielded a find.
The room was messily stacked with a large number of VHS tapes, among these mountainous tapes sat a high-quality color TV.
It was playing a documentary about the Church,
The long-searched Yi Chen was sitting on the floor, attentively watching the TV screen,
The content had just reached the end, where the Church members were digging out eyes for some kind of sacrifice.
"Mr. Yi, why are you watching tapes here? Quickly..."
The camera at this moment captured William’s right hand, reaching over to pull Yi Chen’s shoulder.
However, just as his slightly trembling hand was about to touch, the latter’s body fell, eyes hollow, eye balls clutched in hands stained with bright red blood, having long since died.
Standing at the door, Lene was so frightened by this scene she screamed, completely discarding the thought of searching for tapes, and ran madly back to the basement, ready to flee the cabin.
William, being a fat fellow, ran slowly and couldn’t catch up at all.
Running while fantasizing about living with Lene, drooling happily and loudly persuading, "Lene, stop running! Now with one less person for splitting the money, we can get more, right? Quickly find the tapes and we can leave."
By the time William, wheezing heavily, chased down to the basement, he unexpectedly found the previously panic-stricken, screaming Lene now calmly sitting in front of a TV watching an exorcism-themed documentary.
Even before William could approach, Lene’s head turned 180°.
The once adorable face became extremely grotesque, mouth filled with yellow teeth spewing demonic profanity, "You filthy, ugly fat pig, get far away from me! Or I’ll bite your pus-oozing toothpick in half and cram it into your rectum!"
Terrified, William exited the basement, turning the camera to his own fat face.
"As long as I find the tapes, I can take all of the money alone, then I can buy three wives to keep at home—wouldn’t that be blissful... I must be strong! The tapes might be on the Second Floor, I must go.
As long as I don’t watch the tapes here, I’ll be fine!"
William returned to the Second Floor, ignoring Yi Chen’s corpse, systematically checking each tape in the dim light provided by the TV.
Unexpectedly, he actually found it. A tape marked with "V/H/S" in bright red marker was taken into his hands.
Just as he prepared to leave, his thought process was disrupted by some interference, causing a change in his thoughts.
"I need to verify if it can be played, or else everything is wasted!"
William inserted the tape into the player, putting the camera he was holding to the ground, the lens just capturing him and the open door.
Then,
An elderly man appeared at the door seen by the camera,
The very one previously hit by the car, also the cabin’s master,
He walked over slowly and easily sliced off William’s entire head with the dinner knife, holding it like a popcorn bucket.
Then, he noticed the camera on the floor, picking it up to place it on the side of the chair, with the lens precisely aimed at the TV playing the tape.
Having resolved everything, the house master started watching TV while eating ’popcorn.’
The television image was on a plane,
The girl, young man, and fat fellow sat in the thirteenth row, each eagerly anticipating this ’deadly’ journey.
The camera lens gradually zoomed in, merging with the TV screen’s picture.