Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The most gruesome element of the rumors surrounding the haunted house’s reputation was the couple’s story. The police had not thought that they would have killed their own children. That sort of thing was too shocking!
Hence, at that time, the police did not investigate the case in that direction. They did not suspect that the parents were the murderers. With that preconceived notion, they believed whatever the two said.
The police believed that the couple had been in a state of shock following the deaths of their children, and had turned irrational out of grief. They assumed that the two children had fallen down because they were playing on the roof. Nobody doubted the words of the couple.
However, when the rumors began to spread, the public believed them. Hence, the cottage became known as a real haunted house.
The drug dealers and gangs thought that nobody would buy that house, but they were wrong. A big rancher bought the place because it was cheap.
The death of the rancher was actually unrelated to them. It was a coincidence. Perhaps the man had been drunk or too tired when he was driving. Hence, he accidentally rammed into a truck traveling in the opposite direction.
Although technically, the two tragedies were unrelated, it was inevitable that the public would make a connection between them. Hence, the rumors surrounding the ‘haunted house’ grew even more persistent.
Despite this, the drug dealers and gang members still felt unsettled. They were still concerned that someone would buy the house, tempted by its low price. Hence, they decided to take action before it happened. They gathered a sum of money to buy the place.
The person they approached was Logan, the Wolf King himself. According to Lu Guan’s knowledge, Logan had some shady dealings with the local gangs.
Initially, they had thought that the value of the haunted house was very low. With help from Logan, they would be able to buy the house at a low price. However, at that point, Li Du had appeared out of nowhere and snatched the house from them!
Li Du knew what happened next. The bunch of them had moved into the haunted house. The drug dealers sent Benedict to check out the situation. Benedict had a barbecue with the new neighbors and then returned with information.
The drug dealers heard that Li Du had many pets. Besides, Benedict had recognized the animals as the internationally famous social media stars.
He had returned and shared that piece of information. The drug dealers were worried that the pets would spot the problem. Sophie had previously been on a show during which she explained that the animals had an uncanny sense of smell and acute instincts. The criminals were aware of the capabilities of those animals.
Hence, at midnight, they used infrared binoculars to check out the movements of Li Du and his team. When they noticed that the men had fallen into a deep sleep, they followed the path of the cave and entered the cottage.
They did not enter the living room, but only removed a piece of tile. Then, they released some substances that were able to cause hallucinations.
According to their knowledge, the substance was lethal to animals and was capable of killing them.
In the end, things did not happen according to their expectations. The animals did not die, but their behavior changed drastically because of that. The police thought that they had gone rabid and would kill each other.
Li Du thought otherwise. He felt that those substances altered the thinking processes of the animals and caused them to lose their rationality. They became incapable of controlling their nature and their instincts acted up.
Ah Fei was = did not have much curiosity and hence was not attracted to the drug-infused corner. Hence, it did not breathe in too much of the substance. The rest of the animals had fallen into the trap.
In the course of the police interrogation, the whole truth finally came out.
The case had caused a commotion in the entire United States. Drugs, murder, and human tragedies were elements that could garner much attention.
Li Du was glad about that. He felt that the more people paid attention to that issue, the better it would be. That was because it would be able to debunk the rumor of the house being haunted.
At that point, people were already aware that the rumors of the haunted house were man-made lies. There were no ghosts in the house and humans caused all the deaths that occurred there.
Li Du had initially wanted to tell the police the things Benedict had said and about the ghosts of the children, but after all, all those were lies. Benedict was just trying to scare them.
As long as it was not a haunted house, the value of the cottage would be able to rise quickly. The house was now famous and was recognized as one of the best-developed properties in the area. It would be worth more than five million dollars.
Sophie recorded the adventures of the animals, too. She recorded a few episodes in the cottage and uploaded them onto the internet, lending the fame of the animals to promote the cottage and helping it to gain popularity.
In fact, the entire place had practically turned into an attraction on its own. After the incident, in late July and early August, many people came to the cottage specifically for a look at the famous location.
Of course, their main motivation was to look at Ah Meow and the rest. The popularity of the animals in the social media world shocked Li Du.
Very soon, Li Du understood that it was a huge piece of good news. He got Sophie to film the animals around the house, which was then used for advertising the house on the internet.
Li Du’s property agent was ecstatic. The advertisement was very effective. Besides, most of those who liked pets were younger people, which overlapped with the demographics of those who were interested in buying property in the area.
With the promotion done by the animals, Li Du managed to sell off almost all of the foreclosure properties that he had taken down in the previous two auctions. He did not have to go through the steps of finding tenants and leasing. Instead, he was able to recoup his investment directly.
Out of those two batches of houses, other than the manor and the haunted cottage, all were sold off. That helped Li Du to earn millions!
Later, the houses belonging to Carl, Dickens and the rest also gained attention. They managed to sell the houses too, thanks to the association with the rising star of the real estate business and made a tidy profit.
Li Du had never expected that the fame of the animals would be so helpful to him. That had helped his property business to thrive like a fish in the water.
There were two hard parts in the trade. One was being unable to assess the detailed conditions of the property. Two, one could not be sure when a house would be sold off.
Those two obstacles were not real problems for Li Du. The little bug would be able to confirm the condition of every house, and the fame of his animals would help him to sell the property.
In early August, the weather was warm. Li Du did not want to tire himself out and decided to take a rest.
He threw his manor open and the treasure hunters came over for a gathering. The bunch of them ate and drank their fill. The days passed by comfortably.
Li Du was blowing his own trumpet to Akkalou and Dickens when Brother Wolf waved to him at the door. “Boss, someone is here for you.”
“Who? What for?” Li Du asked.
Brother Wolf replied, “Someone wants to give you something and says you need to receive it yourself.”
Li Du waved his hand nonchalantly. “It’s for Ah Meow and the rest, right? Fans at the door again? You can receive it, it’s not for me anyway.”
As the animals got more exposure, some of the local fans would come over, requesting to view or to meet them. Some people would even come over to bring gifts.
Brother Wolf shook his head. “No, this time it’s for you.”
Li Du was confused. When he walked over, he realized that the delivery man was Chinese. After seeing him, the man brought out a small box and said, “Hi, Mr. Li. Mr. Tang Chaoyang has asked to me send his regards to you. This is his gift to you.”
Hearing that, Li Du finally remembered. He had forgotten completely about that!
