The wooden cabin was silent. Chen Ge lingered at the door for more than ten seconds, until he faintly heard the stifled voice of Xu Yin from the voice recorder.
"It hurts..."
The old man probably wasn't asleep yet. At the sound of Xu Yin's voice, the cabin rustled with the sound of someone turning over and pulling at blankets.
The old man had heard the commotion outside, but he didn't come out. Instead, he buried his head under the covers.
"He must be terrified right now."
The lock on the second cabin's door was also on the outside. Chen Ge grabbed the lock and applied slow pressure, testing whether the door could be pushed open.
However, the door panel moved inward less than a centimeter before being blocked by something. He crouched and peered through the crack. Inside the second cabin, living necessities were fully stocked: a wooden bed, wooden chairs, a wooden table, and a wardrobe without doors, its interior filled with a pile of clothes washed to a faded white.
"Looks like he's been living here for a long time." Chen Ge couldn't understand. This old man was clearly scared to death, yet he insisted on residing in a house where a murder had taken place. What was even more bizarre was that he would actually go into the peach grove in the middle of the night to turn over the soil.
It wasn't yet time to confront the old man. Chen Ge quietly backed away and headed toward the third cabin.
The rain-soaked night was devoid of both stars and moon, making the darkness even more absolute than usual.
Chen Ge didn't turn on a light. Using the Eye of the Obscured, he advanced cautiously and soon arrived at the door of the third cabin.
The third cabin was the largest of the three. A rusty lock hung on the door. Chen Ge pushed gently and was surprised to find the lock was merely a decorative prop.
*Creak...*
The door swung open. This third cabin had locks installed on both the inside and outside, which was different from the other rooms.
With this comparison, Chen Ge found the situation even stranger.
In a normal rural old house, even if there wasn't a lock installed inside, there would at least be a bolt, so the door could be locked from within or without. But the first and second wooden cabins weren't like that—the insides of their doors were bare, with nothing at all.
"It felt less like a home and more like a pen for livestock, with the lock on the outside to prevent the animals from pushing open the bolt and escaping."
Stepping into the third cabin, he saw it was divided into inner and outer sections. The inner room held a large bed, while the outer had a wooden table and a very rudimentary cooking stove.
"Jiang Ling's parents probably died in this room."
Walking through the scene of the crime, Chen Ge didn't feel any particular discomfort—perhaps because he was already accustomed to it.
He rummaged through chests and cabinets. On the wall of the inner room, he found many hemp ropes hanging, and under the bedboard, he discovered a complete set of carpentry tools.
"The dust is thick. The toolbox hasn't been opened in a very long time; it's very likely a possession of the deceased." Chen Ge placed the box back, looking at the series of cabins. "Was Jiang Ling's father a carpenter during his lifetime? Did he build all these cabins himself? Were the locks on the first two doors deliberately designed that way?"
Finding nothing else of note, Chen Ge walked toward the last cabin.
This structure was located at the deepest part of the peach grove, completely separate from the other three cabins, standing alone over a dozen meters away.
Chen Ge walked along the muddy path, circumventing a few crooked peach trees, and stopped outside the fourth cabin.
The wooden door had two locks. One was covered in rust, while the other looked brand new.
"The new lock must have been installed by the old man. What unspeakable secret is hidden in this house?"
He circled the cabin once. The fourth cabin had not a single window; it was completely sealed. Peering through the crack in the door, Chen Ge saw many nails driven into the cabin walls, with several hemp ropes suspended from them. Spider webs blanketed the corners of the room.
And right in the center stood something resembling an ancient torture device—several wooden planks fitted together, forming a contraption that could perfectly pin a person in place, leaving them utterly immobilized.
"It hurts..."
The voice from the voice recorder was Xu Yin's, but it sounded slightly different from his initial, subdued tone. It seemed like he was warning Chen Ge—the cabin was dangerous. Don't get close.