Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Out of the other three villas, Li Du landed one more. Logan and an estate buyer took down the other two. The house-pickers had poor loot that day.
They blamed it on Li Du and felt that Li Du was there to hinder them. It was he who had brought the treasure hunters there and caused them to win nothing.
In such a scenario, they naturally harped on the fact that Li Du had spent two million to buy a haunted house, just to vent their anger. They talked about it non-stop, with a smattering of critique.
Li Du nodded at Lu Guan and Lu Guan understood his intentions. He went off to check out the state of affairs as the house.
The real estate agent, Snyder, was already waiting. He took over the three villas Li Du had won and prepared to go through the formalities. He said, “Boss, you can go back first, I will sort it out for you as soon as possible.”
Li Du stopped him and said, “No hurry. Regarding the villa on the hillside of Belair Pilates. This, one, do you know anything about it?”
Snyder has been involved in real estate transactions in Los Angeles for many years, and his source of information was much superior to Li Du’s, as Li Du was a newcomer.
As he expected, Snyder indeed had information regarding that villa.
Seeing the photo of the house, Snyder’s nostrils flared up slightly. He said, “You bought this house? How much did you pay?”
“What happened to this house?” Li Du persisted in asking.
Snyder threw his hands out and said, “This house is quite famous in Bellaire. It’s known as the Haunted House or the Murderous Mansion.”
“This house had been built around fifty years ago. In the first forty-odd years of its existence, everything was fine. However, around five years ago, something happened. At that time, the owner had been a lonely man. His wife and children had passed on due to an accident.”
“The old man had lived a quiet, sad life. However, one day, he was suddenly very happy. His surrounding neighbors asked him what happened and he said that his wife and children had returned. He said that they were now living together again.”
“From then on, the old man often went to purchase daily necessities, as though it was an entire family using those things, and not just himself. At that time, everyone thought that he was hallucinating. After all, he was a lonely man who lost his kin. As you know, such situations are understandable.”
Li Du nodded, signaling for him to continue talking.
“Around two weeks later, someone heard a gunshot in the house. The gunshot had rung out just as the sun rose. Then someone called the police. When the police entered the mansion, they found that the old man had shot himself.”
Snyder pointed to his chin and said, “The muzzle of the rifle was here. The bullet entered from here and blew up his skull.”
“That incident was classified as a suicide. There were many strange things in the storeroom of his house. There were photos of his deceased wife and children, their belongings and other items. The police felt that the old man had mental problems and killed himself in his hallucination.”
Li Du said, “They came to that conclusion simply because of those things? Isn’t that over-simplifying it?”
Snyder said, “Listen to me, boss. It was not that simple. According to the information I got from an internal source, the police even found some items related to witchcraft. There was a bloodied small coffin, some ashes from animals, the preserved carcass of black cats and crows, among others. They also found a sinister book that recorded the spells of resurrecting the dead…”
“That has happened the year before. Then the house was sold off at a low price. A couple bought the house and moved in there with four children.”
“Not too long ago, their four children started to say that they would see strange people loitering in the house at night. One of the children described the person he saw and the description matched the old man who committed suicide!”
“Those children had never seen the old man, nor did their parents. Logically, the children would have no way of knowing how the poor old wretch had looked unless they had really seen something.”
“The situation worsened. On the one-year anniversary of moving in, the couple was awakened. They realized that their children were not in their beds. In the end, they found their children loitering on the rooftop…”
Saying that, Snyder gulped and said, “Boss, what I’m going to tell you next is not exaggerated at all. It’s all facts.”
Li Du said, “I will not doubt you, go on.”
Snyder said, “According to what the couple said, the four children had been loitering on the rooftop with their eyes closed, as though they were sleepwalking. However, a strange smile hung on their lips.”
“Then, just after they appeared, the children looked as though they had been led by invisible people who were holding their hands and pulling them off the roof!”
“They just watched them jump off?” Li Du asked, shocked. “The parents, the two of them, were they sleepwalking as well?”
Snyder shook his head. “No, of course not, they were very awake. However, they felt as though they were controlled by some invisible force. They were conscious as they got to the roof, but they were unable to move. It was like a nightmare!”
“Fortunately, after the two children jumped off, there was suddenly thunder. The sound of the thunder shocked the husband so much that he was able to throw off the strange force that was restricting him. He dashed crazily forward and held onto the remaining two children. That saved their lives.”
Li Du stopped for a moment before he asked, “The first two children who jumped off, they passed away?”
Snyder said with a dark expression, “That’s right. Those two poor children died.”
“Later, the police interrogated the other two children but did not get any information. The two children who fortunately stayed alive seemed to have lost their memory. They could not remember what happened that night. A doctor’s examination found that there were traces of atypical activity in their brains. It was like they were drugged. However, the medical examination did not find any kind of drug in their body.”
“The couple was unable to bear with it and decided to sell the house and move away. From then on, the haunted house gained its fame, which caused its value to depreciate.”
“Finally, a rancher in Montana bought the building at a low price. He typically did not live there, and he treated the house as a place to stay on his winter vacation. In his hands, everything seemed to become normal. However, in the first half of this year, another accident took place, and the rancher died as well.”
“Three consecutive homeowners, three consecutive accidental deaths… this made the haunted house more and more famous. When the rancher passed away, the incident caused a lot of talking in the local area. Many people demanded that the house be demolished. Perhaps you weren’t here at that time and did not know about it.”
Li Du asked, “Then, how did the house end up here after that?”
Snyder said, “The house was bought by the rancher on a loan. After his death, the house was passed on to his son, but the son did not have enough money to pay the inheritance tax and gave up some of the inheritance, including the haunted house.”
Having heard that explanation, Li Du frowned. This house was really quite sinister. No wonder the starting bid had been so low. He had not thought much about it then. He did not expect this to be the reason.
Based on the stories, he had really gotten a wretched house. However, Li Du did not believe in ghosts or haunted houses. Instead, he believed that there was someone behind all of it. Hence, he decided to move in and discover himself what exactly happened.
