The ancestral hall stood with its doors wide open directly in front of the dry well.

"That's it? Where's the enemy? Where's the lizard monster?" Wang Zikai stood under the courtyard, one foot on the edge of the well, disappointment written across his face.

Officer Huang glanced at Gao Yang, "Do you know how to use a gun?"

Gao Yang shook his head but then remembered, "I have a duplication ability."

"Alright." Officer Huang handed him a pistol.

Gao Yang accepted it, briefly gripping the officer’s hand.

A second later, he successfully duplicated Officer Huang’s level-three marksman ability. In his mind, a flood of knowledge on firearms, shooting techniques, and muscle memory surged forth.

With his right hand gripping the pistol, Gao Yang dismantled the magazine, checked the bullets, and reloaded with a seamless motion.

"Type 92. Fifteen rounds. Effective range: fifty meters. Use them wisely," Officer Huang instructed.

"Actually... My duplication ability only lasts for three seconds." Gao Yang smiled wryly.

"What? That's way too fast!" Officer Huang was shocked.

"Exactly! A man shouldn't be a quick shooter!" Wang Zikai burst into laughter from the side.

Gao Yang shot him a glare—what an idiot. He regretted saving him in the first place.

"Let's hope we don’t encounter any tricky enemies," Officer Huang muttered, glancing at Pang Jun. "Or any other unnatural threats."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Weapons in hand, Gao Yang and Qing Ling covered Officer Huang as he stepped into the ancestral hall.

Inside, it was rather ordinary. An embedded wall cabinet hung with thin white curtains, filled with ancestral tablets. Above the tablets hung a plaque that read: "Ancestral Virtue Eternal."

In front of the tablets was an altar, adorned with half-burnt candles, the remnants of incense, and several empty plates that once held offerings.

"Wenhua Gu... Wuwu Gu... Rongjie Gu... Changxue Gu..." Wang Zikai shone his flashlight on the tablets, reading the names aloud from bottom to top.

"Stop reading! Stop it right now!" Pang Jun bolted out of the hall.

"Look at you, such a coward," Wang Zikai sneered.

"Brother Kai! There was a massacre here! The whole village disappeared later! No one knows what happened! These are vengeful spirits! If you call out their names, they might come back!" Pang Jun shouted, both terrified and excited.

"Now that you mention it, I remember watching a movie like this before," Wang Zikai rubbed his chin. "Something about a vengeful ghost slaughtering an entire village... was it called *Village of the Dead* or *Curse of the Mountain*?"

"Enough!" Gao Yang stopped him. Any more, and even he would feel his scalp tingling.

From the moment they entered the hall, Gao Yang had felt uneasy, as if something was lurking in the shadows, watching them. Yet, when he activated his system, his luck value hadn’t doubled, indicating no immediate danger was present.

Gao Yang turned to Officer Huang, "What’s the plan?"

"What did the rabbit say? The test content?"

"Find the door that this key opens, and explore inside," Qing Ling repeated the rabbit’s instructions.

"We’ve already explored. What are we waiting for? Let’s leave..." Pang Jun hadn’t finished speaking when his face went pale. "What’s that sound?"

"Sss—sss—sss—"

Suddenly, everyone heard it—the eerie sound, like countless tiny snakes slithering rapidly in the darkness of the hall.

"God! It's a ghost!" Pang Jun clutched his head and fled.

"Stop!" Gao Yang shouted, but it was too late.

"Sss—sss—sss—"

Countless black strands of hair surged from the dry well in the center of the courtyard, spreading like wild underwater weeds under the pale moonlight. In an instant, they filled the entire courtyard and swiftly wrapped around Pang Jun, binding him into a black, cocoon-like mass.

"Help... me..." Pang Jun's eyes widened in horror, his hand stretching out desperately towards Gao Yang.

But it was already too late.