Happy Little Farmer
Chapter 496

Chapter 496: Chapter 496

Xiang Xue Ting fainted, and Yang Fan stood still, not daring to make any rash moves.

After repeated confirmation, he realized that this was not an Illusion Realm, nor had he suddenly fallen into madness.

This was indeed a Mysterious world occurring right before his eyes.

This scene abruptly reminded him of "Taoyuan Record"; the setting was almost ninety-nine percent similar.

The only dissimilarity was probably that the expressions of the people walking around here were numb, their demeanor dull, and they seemed filled with malice.

Yang Fan observed for a while and then abandoned the idea of delving deeper to see what was really happening.

This place was better left unexplored due to excessive curiosity.

He lifted Xiang Xue Ting and turned back towards the alley, the staircase was supposed to be right behind him, but now it was blocked by a wall. Yang Fan could only try his luck to see if walking deeper might reveal a way out.

The alley was not long, with two households on each side, all ancient quadrangle courtyards, with black wooden doors and mottled couplets next to them. They looked quite old, the paper torn and yellowed as if they had grown into the wood.

Walking to the end, Yang Fan was again blocked by another wall.

Yang Fan set Xiang Xue Ting aside, moved some miscellaneous items nearby, and stepped on them to look over the wall.

Outside was a grey, murky world, where he could only vaguely see an area resembling a desolate marsh with some white figures moving through it, beyond that, he could see nothing else.

At this moment, Yang Fan’s heart completely sank.

They seemed unable to leave...

He remembered clearly, the staircase was only about two or three meters away from where they had initially stood, but he had now walked twenty to thirty meters and still had seen nothing, and the world beyond the wall clearly looked worse.

Those floating white figures were obviously ghostly.

Go out?

Yang Fan was in a dilemma for a moment.

The direction of the staircase was definitely here. If he did not leave from here, where else could he go?

Crouching on the spot, he decided to wake Xiang Xue Ting first.

There was clearly a great mystery to this place.

If something terrible happened, he wouldn’t be able to run while carrying Xiang Xue Ting.

Pinching the philtrum of Xiang Xue Ting for a while, she finally opened her eyes, covered by long eyelashes.

She looked at Yang Fan, seemingly remembering the previous incident, and suddenly screamed out loud.

Yang Fan was startled and quickly covered her mouth, "Ancestor, don’t scream!"

"Mmm..."

Xiang Xue Ting widened her eyes, making muffled sounds under Yang Fan’s hand, her emotions seeming still a bit agitated, and her hands forcefully trying to pry open Yang Fan’s palms.

Yang Fan was already irritable, and seeing him like this, his expression suddenly became more fierce.

"Shut up, if you want to die, don’t drag me down!" he hissed in anger.

Perhaps frightened by Yang Fan’s demeanor, Xiang Xue Ting finally quieted down.

"I’m letting go now, you are not to shout or make any loud noises, do you hear me? If you understand, nod your head," Yang Fan said sternly.

With a hint of fear in her expression, Xiang Xue Ting looked at Yang Fan and nodded.

Only then did Yang Fan let go of her hand and spoke solemnly, "Don’t talk for now, just listen to me. There’s something off about this place, everything inside and out could be Mysterious, basically ghosts. Don’t make any excessive movements or sounds, and don’t freak out over small things. If you alert them, you might as well wait for death!"

"With your mental strength, I don’t know how you ever became a leader, but let me make it clear today, any rash action from you could get both of us killed. If you have other ideas, then go your own way, I won’t care."

Looking somewhat wronged, Xiang Xue Ting weakly said to Yang Fan, "I didn’t mean to... It was your hand, it smelled so bad, like the stench of a corpse, I just couldn’t hold it in."

Yang Fan paused, brought his hand close to his nose and sniffed, then immediately furrowed his brows and cursed softly, "Damn, what’s going on? I just moved some stuff..."

He abruptly turned to the random items he had used for footing, some planks, a pot.

Upon closer inspection, Yang Fan suddenly grew uneasy and cursed quietly, "Is there no decency left? Who the hell scatters coffin planks around? Are these things supposed to be piled up in the corner like this?"

Xiangu Xue Ting quickly covered her mouth, letting out a series of low retches.

Yang Fan apologized, "Sorry, I didn’t know it was like this."

"It’s okay, I understand," Xiang Xue Ting waved her hand and after a slight pause asked softly, "Where are we now? I thought we were in the parking lot."

"We are in the parking lot, but we can’t get out," Yang Fan said helplessly, "It seems like we inadvertently entered a ghost’s world, maybe something like a ghost. I just tried to find the way, the direction of the staircase can no longer be found. I plan to try other directions to see if I can find a way out."

"What I’m about to say next, you must remember clearly, if we get to the streets outside and you see abnormal people, don’t freak out."

Stunned, Xiang Xue Ting looked at Yang Fan, her face full of terror as she nervously swallowed, "Are there... are there many?"

"Extremely many, the outside is like a bustling market," Yang Fan said gravely.

"I don’t know the other rules of this place, but startling them would definitely be a bad idea," he added.

Xiang Xue Ting obediently nodded, "Don’t worry, I... I’ll try to contain myself."

Yang Fan nodded in response, "Where are the other doors of the parking lot situated? Let’s start by looking there."

"Are we standing where the staircase used to be?" Xiang Xue Ting asked, seeing Yang Fan nod, she continued, "The real exit of the parking lot is to our right hand side, west, seems like northwest direction. Walk about a hundred meters to the right, then turn left."

Yang Fan nodded gravely, "What time did we come down here approximately? Did you notice?"

"It seemed around eleven forty," Xiang Xue Ting thought for a moment and replied.

Yang Fan looked at Xiang Xue Ting seriously and said gravely, "I don’t understand this place at all, now we can only try and gamble, maybe things will be alright once it’s light. It seems safe to hide here for the moment, do you think we should try to find a way or hide here?"

This question stumped Xiang Xue Ting, who said with a woeful face, "This... how should I know, you’re confused yourself, why ask me? If it’s still safe here, maybe we should wait until it’s nearly dawn before we try to find a way?"

"Then let’s wait, it’s safer that way," Yang Fan thought for a moment and said solemnly.