“There…” Pang Xiaofeng’s face was pale, unsure if it was unwillingness or pure fright.

“Yes, masters, please stay inside first. Someone will come to find you a quarter of an hour before the third watch, and then tell you what to do.” As if worried that these people would go back on their word, the man said quickly, “Don’t worry, it’s very easy.”

Everyone thought he was full of crap.

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Hao turned his head and said bluntly, “Where is the mourning hall set up? That person will come to find us a quarter of an hour before the third watch, but you said we have to keep watch in the mourning hall at the third watch. Calculating it this way, there’s only a quarter of an hour in between. That person has to tell us what to do, and then we still have to rush to the mourning hall. Is there really enough time?”

The man plastered a smile on his face. “Master, you’re overthinking it. There’s enough time, definitely enough time, because the mourning hall is in the same courtyard you’re staying in!”

Hearing this, everyone was shocked. An audacious idea instantly surfaced in their minds: Could it be that there was no need to keep watch at all, and even the floating corpse was fabricated? The villagers’ real purpose was to trick them into staying in this eerie courtyard in the middle of the night, waiting for that person to come.

The so-called person who would come to tell them what to do might not be a person at all, but a vengeful ghost who kills anyone it sees!

The vengeful ghost was coming to claim the villagers’ lives!

As for the mourning hall… it was more like a mourning hall prepared for them.

Jiang Cheng’s face remained calm, but he quickly pieced these things together in his mind. However, he felt it was unlikely. If that were the case, the villagers wouldn’t need to fabricate the story about keeping watch, especially after foreshadowing so many supernatural events. This would only fill them with vigilance towards this place.

Putting himself in their shoes, Jiang Cheng would choose to say nothing after the meeting, directly settling them here to rest, so they would be killed by the ghost without even realizing it.

“The mourning hall is in the courtyard, where is it?” Lei Mingyu pressed.

The man seemed to be a little slow to realize, and said with a smile, “Look at my mouth, I didn’t say it accurately. It is indeed in the courtyard, but there is still some distance from the rooms where you masters are staying. It’s not too far, you can walk there. The things that person needs to explain aren’t much, probably just a few words, so please rest assured, masters, there’s definitely enough time.”

Du Moyu looked around the courtyard and asked softly, “Who is the person coming to find us? Have we met them before?”

“Never met him.” The man said very positively, “That person is the night watchman for the village. He knows some tricks of the trade, but of course, he definitely doesn’t know as much as you masters, but it’s still good for you to listen.”

“Night watchman?”

“What night watchman, he’s just a clapper.” The man curled his lips when he heard this, looking strange, “But he only beats the clapper. He never speaks when walking at night during the night watch. Oh, right, his appearance is a little…” At this point, the man revealed a strange expression on his face, as if he had thought of some kind of scene. The man lowered his voice, “His appearance is a little tragic. Masters, don’t… don’t be startled when you suddenly see him.”

The man licked his lips and said mysteriously, “I’m telling you this in secret, masters, please don’t spread it around. I heard the elders say in private that that person’s ugly face isn’t natural. It’s… it’s because he encountered a ghost during a night watch and said something wrong, and the ghost clawed at him.”

Being a night watchman is also a very particular profession, just like the people who salvage corpses from the river, the executioners at the execution ground, and the corpse drivers who are responsible for sending the bodies of those who died in a foreign land back to their hometown. They are all professions that carry misfortune.

It is said that these professions used to have a master teaching only one apprentice. The master’s standards for choosing apprentices were extremely strict, and those with strange and ugly appearances and unfortunate lives were generally given priority.

It was best if the whole family had suffered misfortune, leaving only him alive.

It is said that such people have extremely hard fates. After entering the profession, they can see the underworld judges who come to collect souls.

If they were timid, they would probably be scared to death directly.

After noticing the changes in Jiang Cheng’s expression, the man felt that he might have said too much, and explained, “Actually, we rarely see him. He usually doesn’t come out during the day, and he doesn’t live in the village, so we rarely see him. He only comes out at night.”

“He doesn’t live in the village, then where does he live?” Lei Mingyu stared at the man, looking like he would get to the bottom of things.

“This… this I’m not really sure about.” The man was a little embarrassed. The night wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the temperature was dropping a lot. He slowly rubbed his arms and added, “But some people say that the night watchman lives in the mountains, but no one has seen him in the mountains, so… so I’m not sure.”

“Then we can ask him in person tonight.” Yu Chengmu was skilled and daring, and said to the man.

The man’s face slowly became strange, and his tone was no longer as respectful as before. He stared at Yu Chengmu and said, “Master, I think you’d better not do that.”

“The night watchman has a very bad temper, he’s a very strange person. The people in our village can’t say they like him, and no one is willing to offend him.” The man’s voice was muffled, “Alright, I won’t see you off. You should rest early.”

“He’s coming soon.” The man said meaningfully.

Yu Chengmu turned around and walked towards the courtyard with the support of the young man. Someone took the lead, and everyone followed. When they got closer, they realized that this courtyard was even more dilapidated than they had imagined, as if it had been around for a hundred years.

The two large red lanterns hanging on the door reflected on their faces, making them look blood red, as if everyone’s face was bleeding. An ominous premonition welled up in their hearts.

“Hey.” Zhang Junyu crossed his arms and gestured for everyone to look back.

Turning around, everyone saw that the man was still standing in the same spot, looking at them motionless, as if his whole body had been frozen.

“Let’s go in.”

Surprisingly, the youngest, Zhou Qing, didn’t hesitate much. He walked to the door and knocked three times. These three knocks seemed unintentional, but from the fat man’s perspective, he could clearly see that one knock was on the upper part of the door, one was in the middle, and the last one was on the right side.

But… the fat man’s eyes widened. The door was clearly not locked, it was ajar, with a gap of about two fingers in the middle.

Moreover, judging from the man’s words, there was no one inside.

If there’s no one, why knock on the door?

Who could hear it?

The fat man didn’t understand, he just felt it was strange.

After doing all this, Zhou Qing took three steps back. After waiting for a few seconds, he stepped forward again and pushed the door open, not with one hand, but with both hands, one hand holding one side of the door, and then slowly pushing it open to both sides.

Yu Chengmu put his hand back on Zhou Qing’s arm, then raised his leg and stepped into the door.