Chapter 52

In the front courtyard, a sharp whistle sounded again.

An Jing shouted loudly, "Teacher Zhou, he... he ran to the front courtyard. Quick, quick, intercept him from another direction."

Xu Mo and the others were all startled. Zhou Huaizhong shouted, "Let's go." He then ran forward along the right corridor, and Xu Mo and the others hurriedly followed behind him.

However, after the sharp whistle sounded once, it immediately faded away, heading in the direction of the outer hall of the temple.

Guang Ming called out, "He's trying to escape from the temple."

Zhou Huaizhong sneered and said confidently, "He won't get away."

An Jing exclaimed, "He's following the whistle. Wherever the whistle sounds, he goes."

Xu Mo was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, "From what An Jing said, it seems like the whistle is guiding him. That's strange. Could it be that he doesn't know the way? And who is blowing the whistle? If they are accomplices, why don't they just walk together instead of using the whistle to guide him?"

There was no time to think about these questions. Seeing that Zhou Huaizhong and the others were chasing aimlessly, they didn't dare to fall behind and followed closely behind them.

They pursued relentlessly and soon gathered at the side gate behind the outer hall. The two groups looked at each other, and before Zhou Huaizhong could ask, An Jing urged anxiously, "He's gone out, gone out. Quick, quick, chase after him."

Without waiting for her to finish, Zhou Huaizhong took the lead and ran out. Through the side gate of the outer hall, they entered the hall, but it was empty, and there was no one to be found.

The whistle had already stopped, indicating that the two people had left the temple after exiting the hall.

Zhou Huaizhong, unwilling to give up, led the way out of the temple. In the dim night, the darkness and the dense weeds and shrubs outside the temple obscured their view. Even though they knew the direction the two people had fled, they couldn't continue the chase.

"Damn it," Zhou Huaizhong cursed, angrily punching a pillar of the outer hall. An Jing and the three Guang brothers all looked dejected.

Xu Mo looked at An Jing and suddenly asked, "You said that person came out of the iron house?"

"Yes," An Jing answered subconsciously, but looked at Xu Mo in confusion.

Xu Mo continued, "So, the door of the iron house is still open, right?"

"Ah!"

Reminded by Xu Mo, everyone exclaimed in surprise and delight. Zhou Huaizhong punched his left hand with his right and shouted, "Xu Mo is right. Let's go check it out immediately, don't let them close it again."

He led the way, and the six of them went through the side gate of the outer hall directly to the iron house.

Sure enough, the door of the iron house was still open.

Several iron houses were connected, with the interiors welded together to form a 'Z'-shaped space. The six of them entered through the door. The outer rooms were all empty, more like corridors than rooms.

The room at the end was the largest, about fifty to sixty square meters. In the center was a cement platform of about twenty square meters, taking up almost half of the room. The flashlight illuminated the cement platform, revealing that it had been built not long ago.

On the platform was a blood-red coffin.

Seeing the coffin, Xu Mo's eyes narrowed sharply. This coffin was clearly the one mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

The others also stared at the coffin, speechless for a long time. After a while, Zhou Huaizhong muttered, "Strange! Was that guy just now crawling out of this coffin?"

There was nothing else in the iron house except for the platform and the coffin, which was why he thought so.

Luo Ci asked, "What... what was he doing here? Guarding the coffin?"

Zhou Huaizhong didn't answer and walked straight to the coffin.

Xu Mo, recalling the hint from the Book of Revelation, warned, "Be careful," but instinctively took a step back.

Zhou Huaizhong climbed onto the platform in a few steps, walked to the side of the coffin, and called out, "Xiao Ming, Xiao Liang, you two come over. Let's three lift the lid and see what's inside."

Luo Ci was a bit timid, worried about what might be inside the coffin, and called out, "Uncle," intending to stop him but didn't say it.

Zhou Huaizhong understood her concern but ignored it, calling out to Guang Ming and Guang Liang to lift the coffin lid together and place it on the side of the platform.

They all looked inside the coffin, and Xu Mo also tiptoed to peek from a distance.

But the coffin was empty.

Everyone exclaimed in surprise again. If the coffin was empty, why did they put it here?

Xu Mo couldn't help but step forward to examine the coffin. The outer edge of the coffin where the lid fit had a metal strip about half a centimeter high. The lid pressed down on it when closed. The metal strip was embedded directly into the coffin, and it wasn't clear what it was for. Xu Mo bent down to look under the coffin, which was placed tightly against the cement floor, leaving no gaps.

He pushed the coffin hard on one side, but it didn't budge. He called the others to help, but it was the same. The coffin was extremely heavy, as if it were rooted to the ground.

He felt even more puzzled: The Book of Revelation specifically mentioned this coffin. If it wasn't dangerous, it must be hinting at something else. But what was it hinting at?

Zhou Huaizhong kicked the coffin hard and said angrily, "What the hell is this thing doing here? Did that guy who ran out just now actually sleep in it?"

Hearing this, Xu Mo's mind stirred. He asked An Jing, "What did that person look like when you saw him? Did you notice anything different about him compared to a normal person?"

An Jing was startled and said, "Now that you ask, I do remember something strange about him."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Zhou Huaizhong scolded unhappily.

Xu Mo ignored him and continued, "What was strange about him?"

An Jing thought for a moment and said, "After you left, Luo Ci and I stood at the door. She was a bit nervous, and I was talking to her in a low voice. Suddenly, we heard a series of whip sounds from inside the room. I was surprised, but before I could react, the whip sounds stopped. We looked at each other, not knowing what had happened. Soon after, the door opened, and a person walked out."

She paused and continued, "I shone the flashlight on his face and saw that he was a man, but I didn't have time to look at his features in detail. I immediately called out to Teacher Zhou and tried to intercept him. I was worried about killing or injuring him, so I didn't use the watermelon knife. Instead, I kicked him."

"At that moment, the whistle sounded from the front courtyard, and at the same time, I kicked him in the groin. I kicked him hard, and I knew that a normal person would scream in pain and fall down. But he seemed to feel nothing. After being kicked, he charged straight at me. I tried to step back, but my foot was stuck in his groin and couldn't be pulled out, so I couldn't retreat. He collided with me, and his strength was so great that he knocked me flying."

"I lay on the ground, afraid he would attack, and couldn't get up in time. I curled into a ball, ready to kick him if he came over. But he didn't stop and followed the sound of the whistle."

"I fell so hard that my bones felt like they were cracking. I couldn't get up easily. Luo Ci ran over to help me, and by the time I stood up, he had already run far away."

Hearing this, Xu Mo thought, "No wonder you saw him come out but couldn't keep up with him, allowing him to escape from your sight."

He thought for a moment and asked, "Did you see what he looked like at all? Did he move abnormally? Did he run or jump when he escaped?"

An Jing replied without hesitation, "Of course he ran. How could he jump so fast? But I didn't pay much attention to his appearance."

She looked at Xu Mo in surprise, clearly not understanding why he asked this, and then turned to Luo Ci, "Luo Ci, did you see what he looked like?"

Luo Ci nodded. Xu Mo was delighted and asked urgently, "What did he look like? I mean, did his face look the same as a normal person's?"

Luo Ci thought for a moment and said, "Pretty much the same, but his face had no expression. Oh, right... his eyes were a bit vacant, giving a sense of emptiness. He never looked at me or An Jing. I think he might be blind. Even though his eyes were open, he didn't seem to see us."

"Blind!" Xu Mo repeated softly, his expression becoming uncertain.

Of course, the person couldn't be blind. He asked this because he remembered the zombie he saw in the North Mountain and suspected that the person who escaped just now was the same kind of thing.

The scene fell silent, and no one spoke for a long time. After a while, Luo Ci asked, "What should we do?"

Zhou Huaizhong and the others were at a loss and looked at Xu Mo.

Xu Mo reminded them, "The three large rooms in the back courtyard are also locked from the inside..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but Zhou Huaizhong and the others understood. Zhou Huaizhong waved his hand and shouted, "Let's go, don't let them escape."

The group left the iron house and quickly headed to the back courtyard.

But before they had taken a few steps, the whistle sounded again from the front courtyard. At the same time, they heard three 'creaking' sounds from the back courtyard, the sound of wooden doors opening and turning.

The sound of the doors opening was not loud, but in the quiet night, it was heard clearly.

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