As the leader of the Jiangnan Antique Association, he bore a significant responsibility this time.
Yet, there was no progress in the treasure hunt, and his disciple had already died. As the leader, how could he not be anxious?
If Xue Tao's death was not resolved, the Antique Association would likely not be satisfied.
Seeing Elder Lei's anxious expression, Ye Fan gave a wry smile, "I didn't find anything in that old house, and I was attacked by a strange cat. You see the scratches on my face; they were left by that strange cat."
Pointing to the still-fading scratches on his face, Ye Fan was full of helplessness.
It wasn't that he didn't want to believe Elder Lei, but rather that he didn't want to say too much before things were clarified.
After all, this matter involved too much, and this East Village was full of strangeness. Any slight negligence could not only lead to the abandonment of the mission but also endanger their very lives.
Seeing Ye Fan's reluctance to say more, Elder Lei, despite his extreme anxiety, could do nothing.
"Brother Ye, I entrust this matter to you."
If it were about appraisal, perhaps he could still show his skills, but for this matter, given his physical condition, he was unable to investigate it thoroughly. Therefore, he could only entrust it to Ye Fan.
Nodding heavily, "Don't worry, Elder Lei. I will give you a satisfactory explanation for this matter."
This was not only a promise to Elder Lei but also a requirement of his own conscience.
As a tomb keeper, he could not wrongly accuse an innocent person, nor could he let any evildoer go unpunished.
Moreover, this time, it was someone who had come with him who had died.
Ye Fan's nature was always to avoid trouble, but this did not mean he was afraid of it. On the contrary, if someone truly provoked him, he would go all out to fight to the end.
...
This night was destined to be sleepless.
Having just arrived, the death of a companion caused panic.
It wasn't until the early morning that Ye Fan finally fell asleep, but he did not sleep soundly.
In a daze, he seemed to hear footsteps outside. He wanted to get up, but he felt groggy and his head hurt too much to move.
Then, as the footsteps gradually faded away, Ye Fan finally fell into a deep sleep...
The next morning, Ye Fan was awakened by a commotion.
He sat up abruptly, his head pounding as if being torn apart.
"What happened?"
Pushing open the door, he saw Ji Nanshan walking quickly towards him. Ye Fan raised his hand to greet him and asked in a deep voice.
"Xue Zhonglong is dead."
"What?"
The hand Ye Fan had raised froze in mid-air, his face full of shock.
"How could Xue Zhonglong be dead? Wasn't he fine yesterday?"
Although Xue Zhonglong had been knocked unconscious by him yesterday, he had woken up by night and was in good condition.
Apart from having some reservations about Ye Fan, there was nothing else amiss.
How could he be dead after just one night?
Elder Ji's face was ashen, "I don't know what happened. Everyone is gathered around. The second young lady asked me to call you over to take a look."
Ji Nanshan recounted truthfully.
"Let's go, let's go over."
Ye Fan frowned deeply. He had only been here for two days, and two people had already died. What was going on?
Just as he took a step to go and see, Ji Nanshan grabbed his sleeve.
"Brother Ye, I have something I want to say to you."
Ji Nanshan's face was filled with nervousness, and even his eyes held surprise.
This made Ye Fan puzzled. Ji Nanshan had always been calm; why was he acting like this now?
"What do you want to say?"
"We should leave here as soon as possible. I have a feeling something is wrong here."
Ji Nanshan looked around, then lowered his voice and said in a tone only they could hear.
Ye Fan frowned, "Elder Ji, please be more specific. What's wrong with this place?"
Ye Fan had already noticed that something was amiss with the village, he just hadn't said it out loud.
Now that Ji Nanshan had also noticed something, he was very curious to know what Ji Nanshan had discovered.
Seeing Ye Fan staring intently at him, Ji Nanshan sighed and continued in a low voice, "Last night, I went to find Xue Zhonglong. But when I knocked on his door, I heard someone talking in his room. However, Xue Zhonglong said he was already asleep. I was worried and stayed outside for a while. It wasn't until his room lights went out that I returned to my own room. But in the middle of the night, I heard movement from his room again. I wanted to check, but it was as if I was being lucid dreaming, I couldn't get up at all, and then I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up this morning, I learned of Xue Zhonglong's death. This is too strange."
He also experienced that inability to get up?
Ye Fan recalled what had happened to him last night, and it was exactly as Elder Ji described.
Was this just a coincidence? Or did someone tamper with it?
After a brief thought, he still couldn't make sense of it, but this was a new clue, which could serve as a breakthrough.
"Perhaps after the incident of Xue Tao's death yesterday, Elder Ji is a bit tired. This matter cannot be concluded yet. Let's go and see Xue Zhonglong's body first."
If clues could be found on Xue Zhonglong's body, then the subsequent investigation would be much easier.
Although Xue Tao's body had yielded no clues yesterday, that was precisely what was suspicious.
If it wasn't man-made, how could the body have been handled so perfectly?
Moreover, Ye Fan firmly believed that as long as someone was acting against their group in secret, they would leave traces. No matter how clever a person was, there would be oversight.
He was waiting for that oversight to appear!
Seeing Ye Fan say this, Elder Ji, though impatient in his heart, could only nod and then follow Ye Fan to the main entrance.
Still at the entrance, Xue Zhonglong's body lay beneath the hanging corpse, his feet naturally apart, hands crossed over his chest, his face full of wounds, his eyes wide open, identical to Xue Tao's state of death.
"Could he have been scared to death again?"
Shen Tianyin frowned and whispered.
What exactly had they seen to be scared to death alive?
"It's him, it must be Old Man Wei who has returned. He is fulfilling his promise to kill everyone in the village. Next, the next one might be one of us. I can't stay in this village any longer. I want to leave, I want to escape from here."
Hu Liu shouted in alarm, his words filled with terror, and even his face showed fear.
Xu Sanhu, however, suddenly raised his hand and slapped him hard.
"You are from East Village, where do you want to go if you want to leave? Are you going to defect to the other two villages? You spineless coward, even if Old Man Wei has returned, so what? He's a dead man, are we afraid of him?"
Xu Sanhu was angry, his eyes fixed on Hu Liu, wishing he could swallow him alive. His look of disappointment moved Shen Tianyin, Elder Lei, and the others.