The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 19 Discovery... Camphor Wood Box

While waiting, the floor tiles finally slid off.

It revealed a square opening, like a bottomless eye.

The beam of the flashlight shone into the cave, but it could only barely illuminate a distance of about one meter below the entrance.

The rough cement walls lead down to an indistinguishable ink-like color.

The barrage of comments scrolling wildly in the live stream momentarily thinned out.

"A...a secret room?" The lynx's voice trembled.

Li Kai was the first to react. He practically lunged to the edge of the cave entrance, turned his flashlight to its brightest setting, and shone it as deep as possible.

The beam of light cut through the darkness, revealing a vertical passage about fifty centimeters on each side. The inner walls had rough chisel marks, indicating that it was carved out by human hands.

"It's not a ventilation duct," Shadow crouched on the other side. "It's too neat, square, like a storage space specifically designed to store something."

"There's something there!" The meticulous scholar's voice suddenly rose, pointing deep into the cave entrance, "Down...down there seems to be a plane! It's not a straight line to the bottom!"

Li Kai carefully moved the flashlight beam downwards.

Indeed, at a depth of about 1.5 meters, the passage appears to reach a horizontal plane.

The light created a blurry reflection there.

"We need someone to go down." Li Kai raised his head and glanced at everyone.

No one answered.

Entering an unknown space hidden beneath the floor tiles of a haunted house for at least thirteen years? Just thinking about it sends chills down your spine.

"I'm going down," the shadow said calmly.

He unbuttoned his jacket, revealing a close-fitting black tactical vest underneath, with some small tools hanging on it.

He took the powerful flashlight from Li Kai and then took out a miniature headlamp from his pocket and put it on.

"Wait," Lin Qian suddenly spoke, taking a flat metal box from her small bag and opening it. Inside were several small black cubes. "A signal amplifier. Even though there's no cell phone signal, this can connect to short-range walkie-talkies. If you notice anything unusual down there, or need help, press this."

She handed Shadow a button-sized wireless alarm. "It will vibrate, and we can receive the signal up here."

Shadow took the alarm and nodded.

He first lay down on the ground, stuck his head into the hole, and carefully examined the inner walls and bottom with a flashlight. Then he stood up and stretched his arms and legs.

"I need two people to hold my ankles and slowly lower me down. If I feel something is wrong, I'll start to wobble, and you guys pull me up immediately." Shadow looked at Lynx and Li Kai.

The two had no objections. The live stream chat exploded again:

"Are we really going down?!"

"Could there be a corpse down there?!"

"Perhaps it's the murder weapon we hid back then? Or evidence?"

"My palms were sweating so badly from nervousness!"

"When are the police finally arriving?!"

Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of spectators, the shadow bent down, placed its hands on the edge of the hole, and slowly slid into the narrow square passage.

Lynx and Li Kai each grabbed his left and right ankles and slowly lowered him down.

Finally, the shadow's voice came from deep within the cave entrance, "We've reached the bottom. It's a small platform, about one square meter. There's something in front of us..."

"What is it?" Li Kai asked anxiously.

The shadow was silent for a few seconds, seemingly observing carefully, before answering, "A box. Wooden. An old camphor wood box."

Camphor wood chest!

This word made everyone's heart tighten.

Camphor wood chests are typically used to store clothing because camphor wood has insect-repellent and moth-repellent properties.

In this place, in a secret room hidden beneath the floor tiles, a camphor wood chest appears...

"Open it." Li Kai's voice was slightly distorted.

"Wait," the shadow's voice remained calm. "The box is locked, an old-fashioned brass padlock. But the lock is rusted shut, and the latch is badly corroded. I need tools."

"I have one!" Lynx remembered the multi-tool pliers in his backpack, immediately took them out, and carefully handed them over.

The sound of metal scraping came from the passage, followed by a soft "click".

"The lock is open," said the shadow. "I'm going to open the box."

Everyone upstairs held their breath.

In the live stream, the number of comments suddenly decreased significantly, and everyone held their breath and waited.

The awkward "creak" of a box being opened came from the passageway.

Then came a deathly silence that lasted for ten seconds.

"What's down there?" Li Kai couldn't help but ask, his voice already a little hoarse.

The shadow didn't answer immediately. A few seconds later, his voice came through, sounding very serious: "...You'd all better come down and take a look. But only one person can come down at a time; the space is too small."

"What's inside?" Lynx asked anxiously.

The shadow seemed to be making a decision, then said, "I'll hand you something first. Take it."

As soon as the words were spoken, a hand wearing a black tactical glove emerged from the hole, holding something contained in a transparent evidence bag.

This is exactly the same as the evidence bag containing the notes that was found in the bathroom before.

Li Kai carefully took the evidence bag.

Under the flashlight beam, the contents of the bag were clearly visible.

a photo.

The color photograph has begun to fade, and the edges are somewhat curled.

The photo shows a young girl, who looks to be in her early twenties, with a simple ponytail, wearing a white dress, standing in the sunlight, smiling brightly.

Everyone recognized the girl's face.

It's Li Wan.

Li Wan, who died in this room thirteen years ago.

But in the photo, she is so vibrant and radiant, completely unrelated to words like death, bloodshed, and violence.

"This is..." Li Kai's fingers trembled as he stroked the surface of the evidence bag, tears welling up in his eyes instantly.

This is a photo of his sister when she was young; he didn't even know the photo existed.

"There's more in the box," came the shadowy voice. "Lots. Photos, letters, and some...personal belongings."

"Pull him up!" Li Kai shouted to Lynx, "I want to go down!"

"Wait," the shadow stopped her, "Only one person at a time. And there are some... other things down there."

"What is it?" Lin Qian asked.

The shadow paused for a moment, then said, "Some tools. Similar to those on the ground... but more complete."

A chill ran through the air. More complete tools? What does that mean?

Li Kai couldn't wait any longer. He and Lynx worked together to pull Shadow up first, and then he eagerly prepared to go down himself. His movements were somewhat clumsy due to his excitement, and he only managed to enter the passage smoothly with the help of Lynx and Shadow.

A sob could be heard coming from below, choked with emotion.

Then came the sound of things being constantly turned over.

About three minutes later, Li Kai's voice came through, trembling violently: "Pull me up... pass the things up... be careful..."

This time, instead of one evidence bag, they handed over three.