“Alright. That was a terrible joke.” Qin Yuanfeng said. “You have my genes in you but… you butchered it for some reason.”
“Hey! That was pretty mean.”
“I know.” He chuckled. “I will be outside if you need me for anything.” Standing up from his seat, he gave Lily a knowing look before leaving the study. He knew Lily wanted some time alone to think things through.
Lily nodded and let out a sigh as she watched her brother leave the room. Then, she stood from her seat and walked towards the table in her grandma’s study. After a few minutes, Lily found what she was looking for in one of the drawers.
It was a flashlight.
The last time that they were here, Zhou Jingren had informed her that the wiring used in the secret room was broken and they could only do one of two things. One was to let Zhou Jingren fix it slowly as it needs a lot of time to change all the internal wiring, or two, they could hire an expert to do it. Now, since Lily did not want anyone else inside the room, she chose to have Zhou Jingren do it instead.
To visit this place, Lily needed to use another way for lighting. Zhou Jingren suggested that she buy a chargeable lamp to take with her. However, she did not have the time to do so. Moreover, her visit was unexpected. Excellent thing she was able to find a flashlight inside her grandmother’s study.
To open the secret room, Lily needed to move one of the small dog statues that were sitting on top of her grandmother’s table. Then she needed to pull a specific number of books from the bookshelves.
Zhou Jingren said that the method did not use any current technology. In fact, now that the lights inside the room were not working, there is nothing inside that secret room that would scream modern. No electricity or technology. It was extremely outdated, but surprisingly, it still worked.
The squeaking sound of the door reached Lily’s ears. She turned the flashlight on then grabbed her phone to also turn on it’s flashlight. It is always better to have more lights, right? After all, ghosts are afraid of lights. She chuckled at her own silly thoughts.
Just like the previous time that she was here, the door opened halfway, only giving enough passage for a small person like Lily. Even her husband who is about six foot two would have a hard time squeezing himself into the door. The smell of old paper and dirt immediately assaulted her senses. She furrowed her brows before she grabbed her handkerchief and used it as a mask to cover her nose.
After a few seconds of examining the wooden stairs that would lead her further down the room, Lily took her first step. Shuddering at the thought of ghosts. Before she could take her second step, she sent a text to Zhou Jingren to inform him that she was going downstairs. Beaming, Lily gave herself a pat in the back. If there were indeed some ghosts downstairs, Lily was sure that she had already covered all her bases, there was no way that her husband won’t be able to find her in case the ghost decided to trap her inside.
Aiyo, this is the most crucial step that those dumb blonds in horror movies forget to do! She chuckled and shook her head, helpless at the weirdness inside her.
“Alright,” she let out a sharp breath. “I can do this.” She then made sure to close them behind her. Then she took the second step, then the third, the familiar squeaking of the floor reminded her of how much she missed doing this. After a few more steps, she arrived in another door that would finally lead her to the room. A smile crept on her face. Despite being a hundred years old, the mahogany and steel door still stood majestically, unbothered by the passage of time.
Lily touched the door, memories from her childhood swarm inside her like a flood. There was no password or a retinal scan. Instead, there was a small puzzle on the door. Of course, it was a puzzle. After all, her grandmother absolutely loved puzzles.
It was a simple labyrinth puzzle that ran from the top to the bottom of the door. One needed to manipulate a compact metal ball to reach the circle at the bottom of the door to be able to open it. Before coming in here, Lily had actually forgotten the right way to finish this. However, now that she was in front of the puzzle, she could not help but think of all the times that her grandmother taught her how to open it secretly.
The key is actually not in the labyrinth puzzle. Nope. It was on the ball. While maneuvering the ball towards the bottom would open it, the time and effort needed to accomplish this are too big. One would need at least an hour or two to finish this.
Her grandmother, however, created a shortcut that only she and Lily could use. With this in mind, Lily smiled before she started tapping certain points of the labyrinth before finally tapping the one at the bottom.
*Sqeaauukkk*
The loud squeaking surprised Lily. Has it been that long? She thought as she waited for the door to open itself. Other than her and her grandmother, no other people in the Qin Family knew the existence of this room. In fact, her grandmother used to tell her how her husband did not have any idea that beneath this house was another house she prepared for a zombie apocalypse.
Of course, this joke always made the young Lily laugh. Really? Zombie apocalypse?
Lily chuckled before she used her phone and flashlight to illuminate the space behind her. Then slowly… her eyes widened, mouth agape as she stared at the room in front of her.
….
Author question: What do you think is inside?
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