Chapter 265: Nails And Hammer
Ding lang——
The doorbell jingled, and a man covered in grime hunched his shoulders as he entered the shop with “Wonderful House” written above the door. He cautiously glanced around the surroundings and said softly, “Sorry to disturb, is anyone here?”
After arriving in this forest, he had explored for a period of time and found this strange small shop hidden in the forest. He temporarily couldn’t find another place to stay, and he was afraid of accidentally running into the same kind of trouble as before, so he decided to go in and take a look for now.
“Welcome to this shop.” Just as Fang Mu entered the door, a man in red clothes appeared at some point and stood by his side. His voice was neither high nor low, yet it was deafening.
Fang Mu trembled all over, following the red-clothed man’s toes, thighs, torso… all the way up to that slightly pale face with a gentle smile.
“You… hello.” Fang Mu gave a dry laugh and nodded, his nervous heart relaxing slightly.
Although it was a bit strange, everything since entering the mountains had been dreamlike, bizarre and unpredictable, with all events developing in leaps, but… at least he had finally met someone he could talk and communicate with.
Of course, Fang Mu didn’t think that anyone who could open a shop here would be an ordinary person.
“Hello, I’m Wei Jiang, the shop assistant here.” The red-clothed man nodded, smiling as he led Fang Mu toward the counter. “Please follow me.”
“Um… may I ask what exactly this place is?” Fang Mu followed closely behind the red-clothed man, eyeing the goods on the shelves that had no placement pattern, and asked curiously. When he saw a golden statue of a toad on the shelf, he couldn’t help but curiously want to touch it.
“I don’t recommend you touch it directly.” Just as Fang Mu was about to touch the wooden box, Wei Jiang grabbed his wrist and said seriously, “A bit dangerous.”
The other party didn’t explain the reason for the danger, but through the other’s eyes that didn’t seem to be lying, Fang Mu only felt a bit cold. The other’s hand was cold, the language was cold, and the hidden reason behind it was even colder.
“Sorry, I just felt it looked a bit familiar.” Fang Mu weakly withdrew his hand and continued following Wei Jiang, not forgetting to glance back at the golden toad statue a few more times.
This golden toad statue looked so similar to those toads he had seen in the cave earlier, only the color was different… and the expression perhaps a bit softer?
Arriving at the counter, Fang Mu saw a youth reclining leisurely on a chaise lounge. From his appearance, he seemed younger than himself.
But when the youth’s gaze slowly swept toward him, Fang Mu felt pressure from the other’s eyes. The youth’s pupils hid the turbidity of an elder, which made him subconsciously think: Could this person just look young?
From the demeanor the youth displayed, Fang Mu had already guessed that the person before him was the owner of the forest cabin. The woman in white clothes playing with a cat at the shrine in the corner, the man in black clothes cleaning the shelves, and the red-clothed Wei Jiang now standing by the youth’s side were all the youth’s employees… More accurately, they were like subordinates. That kind of respect and obedience didn’t seem like a simple boss and employee relationship.
Fang Mu also showed a respectful appearance and greeted the shop owner solemnly and politely.
“This is our boss.” Wei Jiang introduced, “You can make any requests to our boss.”
“It wasn’t easy getting here, was it.” Lin Ling looked at the other’s disheveled appearance and didn’t rush to ask about his needs, instead chuckling softly, “Our restroom is equipped with a bathroom. If you need it, you can borrow it to rinse off.”
“Sorry, my current appearance is really rude.” Fang Mu felt a bit embarrassed and blushed slightly. Besides mud, water, and sweat on his body, there was also the smell of those strange toads. Now that he had relaxed, he turned pale again as he remembered that he seemed to have accidentally sat on and stepped on quite a few toads to death. There might even be morsels of meat and fluids from them on his hiking shoes and clothes.
Wei Jiang pointed out the direction of the restroom for him and explained how to use the bathroom. Fang Mu thanked him while keeping his head down and quickly entered the restroom.
Twenty minutes later, Fang Mu emerged from the bathroom, restored to a neat and tidy appearance. He was wearing a cheap light blue polo shirt and khaki trousers. He thanked Lin Ling and Wei Jiang again, “Thank you for your help, thank you for your clothes.”
He didn’t know if it was a psychological effect, but after bathing and changing clothes, he felt his energy and spirit had improved a lot, more vigorous than after sleeping a full day after exhaustion. Recalling the terrifying encounter in the cave before, it no longer seemed so scary, and… the shower gel used by this shop had a very special scent, like a mix of certain plants, with a Chinese medicine fragrance that was reassuring just from the smell.
“You’re welcome.” Lin Ling said with a beaming smile.
“I’ll pay for these clothes.” Fang Mu said seriously, then a bit embarrassedly took out a mobile phone card he had removed from his broken mobile phone, “I wonder if you can lend me a phone so I can log into my payment app and transfer money to you.”
“No need to pay for the clothes.” Lin Ling shook his head, revealing a somewhat playful expression, “As long as you don’t mind that they’re clothes from someone’s burial.”
Hearing this, Fang Mu’s facial expression indeed stiffened, and then he gave a dry laugh: “Cl… clothes for corpse burial aren’t specially made burial clothes? Boss, you sure know how to joke.”
Wei Jiang explained beside him: “It’s like this. Normally, yes as you said, but if the deceased’s corpse can’t be found or doesn’t exist, etc., the deceased’s relatives and friends will generally consider setting up a clothing mound, using the deceased’s favorite or most commonly used clothes, jewelry, daily life items, etc., as corpse substitutes for burial.”
Fang Mu fell silent. He actually didn’t want to know such clear details.
“You seem to have encountered some troubling trouble. We have many ‘very useful’ props here that might be able to help you.” Lin Ling stood up and walked to one of the shelves, taking down a scarecrow wrapped in countless yellow talismans, and said with a smile.
Fang Mu pursed his lips, looked up at the sky, feeling that if he didn’t pay a price and buy something today, he probably wouldn’t be able to leave this shop.
He thought for a moment, then laid out his situation to Lin Ling and the others, “I’ve encountered some trouble…”
After explaining his situation, Fang Mu took a deep breath and said in a tone carrying a hint of begging for mercy, “I wonder if you have any method here that can help me escape my current predicament.”
“Future’s past diary, slumbering ancient unknown deity, ancient civilization… Hmm, not fresh, but still interesting.” Lin Ling nodded, evaluated Fang Mu’s story, then turned to the third shelf from the left, took down a pair of nail hammers, and smiled, “Take this.”
“…What is this?” Fang Mu looked at the pair of nail hammers, feeling a surge of unease for some reason.
“As you see, just nails and a hammer.”
One more update, posting tonight
