Just like last night, Qi Jiu held a will-o'-the-wisp bamboo lantern and walked on the streets swallowed by darkness and deathly silence.

But tonight was much smoother than last night. In less than ten minutes, Qi Jin led Qin Rang to the entrance of the "Yu Zhi Tang" hot spring resort.

"You guys are here, you've had a hard journey." The old hot spring lady wearing a neng noodle was already waiting here.

Qi Jiu: "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

The old woman smiled kindly: "No, no, you are very punctual."

Through the mask, the old woman looked at the new Qin Rang and asked, "Are you really brothers?"

Qi Jiu lied and said frankly: "Yes."

The old woman murmured: "It's strange. You two give people completely different impressions. You don't look like brothers at all..."

Qin Rang immediately tensed his shoulders with nervousness. Qi Jiu smiled and changed the subject: "My brother's massage skills are better than mine, so I specially asked him to come over to provide you with services tonight."

"That's great, I should give my old bones a good massage." The old woman who was forced to change the subject quickly forgot her doubts and said with a giggle.

Tonight is not a hot spring opening day, so there are no guests in the entire "Yu no Yu". The strong smell of sulfur is dispersed in the humid white mist. You can see the yellow oil lamp swaying in the mist in the distance, and the wooden clogs make a "gurgling" sound when stepping on the stone pavement.

The sound of the whole "Yu no Yu" was so quiet that it seemed like it was isolated from the world.

But when the white fog was at its deepest and thickest, in the absolute silence, Qi Jiu could faintly hear the faint noise.

Like the laughter and singing of men and women immersed in ecstasy, the lively and weird sounds came with the fog, and were blown away by the wind in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

Qin Rang shivered hard as he stepped on the stone stack. He came over and lowered his voice and said, "Did you hear anything weird..."

Before Qi Jiu had time to answer, the old woman wearing a nengmian immediately turned around and said, "Shh!"

She pressed her index finger on the lips painted on the mask, signaling Qin Rang to be silent.

Qin Rang was immediately frightened into silence. Thick white mist came over him. He didn't dare to look around anymore for fear of seeing something dirty, so he lowered his head to look at his clogs and toes.

The two of them followed the old woman and followed her into the hot spring lounge provided for guests.

The old woman said that because there are too few guests, the lounge is almost in a semi-abandoned state and has become her personal living room.

"Remember, it is forbidden to make loud noises in the hot springs, especially when the white mist fills the air." The old woman explained in a serious tone.

Qin Rang couldn't help but ask: "I seemed to hear strange noises over the hot spring pool just now, so..."

The old woman giggled: "This is normal. After all, there are always people coming and going in the hot spring pool, so it will always be a bit noisy."

When she said this, Qin Rang felt even more horrified. He trembled and said, "But...it's obviously not an open day...there's no one here..."

The old woman said with emotion: "There is no one now, but it used to be very lively here. People's emotions have already soaked this place. Even if there is no one now, you can occasionally hear the noise of the past in the thick fog."

While Qin Rang was giving the old woman a massage, Qi Qiu pretended to be chatting and asked the old woman: "I heard from a customer that the shrine next to the hot spring is very efficacious."

"Yes, young people who came to hot springs for vacation in the past liked to go to the shrine to pray for fortunes, but..." the old woman paused and continued, "We locals rarely go there."

Qi Jiu and Qin Rang immediately looked at each other: "Why is this?"

As an elderly NPC, Qi Jiu believes that there is no one in the dungeon who knows the information about the shrine better than her.

The old woman recalled the past and said: "A long time ago, when I was very young, there were some strange stories about this shrine. It was said that there was a poor woman trapped in the shrine. She had a white face and red lips, and was dressed in scarlet clothes.

The bun is made of black lacquered paulownia wood, and the bun is raised high, making it look extremely beautiful."

Qi Jiu asked quickly: "Is this trapped woman holding a pipe?"

The old woman thought for a while and shook her head: "I've never heard of that."

"It is said that on moonless nights, through the gate of the shrine, you can vaguely hear women's laughter, crying... and even moans during love, so the elders nearby do not let children in at night.

They were playing outside the shrine gate."

Qi Jiu: "Huh? But isn't that shrine for marriage?"

"Yes, but who knows whether the ghost stories are true or not?" The old woman continued, "There are even more bizarre stories. On a snowy night in winter, if a hot spring guest who returns late passes by the shrine and hears

If you don’t leave quickly after the woman’s voice, you even get under the window and continue to eavesdrop on what’s going on inside. You will see that the window paper of the shrine turns into a moist red color, as if it was stained with blood, pat pat pat,

The blood seeping from the window paper will drip on the clothes of those who return home late."

The old hot spring woman used an old voice to describe the ancient strange stories of the shrine. Qin Rang, who was giving her a massage, was so frightened that his hands froze.

He secretly glanced at Qi Qiu through the mask, but the guy remained calm.

"According to regulations, the lights are turned off after the shrine is closed at night, but there are always guests who come home late. After the shrine is closed, they see the lights inside. They describe it this way: through the window paper, the shrine is bright and bright, like

It’s like there’s firelight flickering,” the old woman sighed, “but how come there’s firelight in the shrine at night?”

Qi Jiu: "Has there ever been a fire at the shrine before?"

The old woman thought for a while and shook her head: "I don't remember it, why do you ask?"

Qi Jiu frowned slightly. Didn't the fire in the dream happen in the real shrine?

"I thought the rule of turning off lights and flames was because there were some historical accidents at the shrine, so I had to be extra careful." Qi Qiu answered accurately.

"That's not clear. It seems that the shrine has had such rules since I was born. It's as old as those weird stories." The old woman described it.

"Is that so..." Qi Jiu hesitated for a moment and suddenly asked, "By the way, do you know Miss Ikuko?"

The old woman thought about it carefully for a while: "I don't know, the name is familiar, but..."

After thinking for a moment, the old lady finally gave up, shook her head and said, "I can't remember. There are probably many guests named Miss Ikuko."

The massage went smoothly, and soon Qin Rang had skillfully completed the service for the hot spring old lady.

The two insisted that they did not charge the old woman any fees. The old woman sat up and said, "Why are you so embarrassed? It's not easy for you young people to earn some living expenses."

"By the way, are you going back to the hotel directly later?" the old woman asked the two young people.

Qi Jiu answered while packing up the massage equipment: "To tell you the truth, my brother and I plan to visit the shrine next door when we return."

He didn't intend to hide his itinerary from the old lady, after all, he was likely to get some valuable information from her.

"Are you going there later?" The old woman was slightly startled.

Qi Jiu smiled: "Yes, it is not easy to get out of the hotel after all."

"Excuse me, do you have any advice for us brothers?" Qi Jiu asked without missing any opportunity to ask for clues.

The old woman looked at Qi Qiu deeply and warned her earnestly: "Remember, if the ema in the shrine turns black, please try not to use it. It is said that it is an ema contaminated with the resentment of evil spirits, and it is written by

The wish will be sent to the resentful spirit."

Ema is a pentagonal offering used by people when going to a shrine to pray. Most of them are wooden boards with unique patterns painted on them.

"Also, remember to bow before entering the torii, and don't bring open flames into the shrine at night. Although I don't know why, it has always been popular in our area, so it is better to be cautious."

Hearing this, Qi Jiu was slightly stunned: "I understand, thank you for letting me know."

It's just a very important clue. Since there are black ema, it proves that there is something dirty in the shrine.

"By the way, since you don't want to charge me for massage services, I'll give this to you," the old woman said, handing Qi Qiu a pendant the size of a finger and shaped like a bullet, and said, "What's inside the pendant?"

There is a spell to suppress evil spirits. Although the energy is limited, it may be able to help you in an emergency."

The old hot spring lady had a very good impression of the new young man and didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Thank you," Qi Qiu put away the mantra pendant and bowed to the old lady to express his gratitude. "If you need any help in the future, you can contact us at any time."

The old woman patted him on the shoulder: "What a good boy. Since you have made plans, go and come back early. Pay attention to safety."

*

The two said goodbye to the hot spring mother-in-law and went directly to the shrine.

The hot spring street that was originally shrouded in darkness and silence suddenly became filled with heavy fog. The thick white fog was like a giant white net, trapping travelers who accidentally broke in, causing them to lose their way forward and killing them.

Inner security.

It was obviously not particularly cold, but Qin Rang crossed his arms and shivered violently. He didn't know if he had listened to the hot spring mother-in-law talking about the ghost stories of the shrine all night. Now when he looked at the dilapidated shrine from a distance, he always felt that the shrine was dark.

In the window, there was a faint flickering firelight.

He even heard women's cries and laughter lingering along the thick fog, wrapping around him like spider silk.

"Qin Rang, pay attention to the pleasure value."

Qi Zu's calm voice pulled Qin Rang back. Qin Rang was in a daze for a moment before he realized that his pleasure level was slowly declining.

"Oh, I almost..."

"The fog on the street can easily distract people." Qi Qiu handed the pendant given by the old lady to Qin Rang's hand. He glanced at the will-o'-the-wisp bamboo lantern in his hand, and the green flame burned even brighter.

As the thick fog fills the air, the resentful spirits on the streets seem to become more active.

What a disturbing night.

The distance from "Ikunoyu" to the shrine is only about ten meters, but the two of them had the illusion that they had walked for a long time.

This dilapidated shrine is shrouded in fog, and not a single paper lantern is lit tonight.

Qi Ku discovered that, as if he was deliberately welcoming their visit, the lock on the shrine door had been loosened at some point.

Good thing, it saves a lock-picking prop.

Qi Qiu followed the instructions of the old lady at the hot spring and bowed before crossing the torii. Then he did not take the liberty to open the door and enter. Instead, he followed the example of the girl at the front desk and raised his hand to knock on the door three times and waited for a few seconds.
To be continued...