This is not a tile-roofed house, but a low-slung bungalow four meters high, without rafters above and definitely no tiled roof.
I walked towards the wall where the white-haired old man had left.
The wall is tightly sealed, and it's impossible to see where the mechanism is located.
Lying flat on the ground, I had no other actions, just waiting passively for time to pass.
Old Gong can appear when the sky turns dark. As a yang spirit with the ability of a yin-yang master, he is more familiar with life and death, as well as mechanisms and puzzles.
The experience in Gao Tiandao's observatory was the epitome of La Gong's skills.
If someone were to open the door and see me lying here, they would undoubtedly believe that I have already succumbed to the poison and am beyond help. By then, I would also be able to leave.
However, the best scenario would be for them not to appear at all. If La Gong could allow me to leave unnoticed, I could still move around in the Luo family for a while and find out where my father is!
His situation must be quite dire!
And my mother... Although in Luo Zhizhong's words, my mother has provided the Luo family with quite a bit of information, he has never mentioned how my mother is doing.
Of course, if she were not alive, Luo Zhizhong would not have asked me whether I wanted to see her.
Time passed slowly, and with prolonged study of the Dao, I have maintained a certain level of calm in the face of any event. However, at this moment, I am unable to settle my mind for a long time.
The light grew darker and heavier, and the visibility inside the room became lower and lower.
Finally, the sky turned dark.
Old Gong silently appeared next to me, and as soon as he popped up, his lips made a slight "hiss" sound, signaling me not to make any noise.
I nodded slightly.
After such a long time, no one has entered the house, and no one has even looked through the small window at me. The white-haired old man said that within a day, it's probably the time limit when they will come.
Old Gong's head rolled to the door, his forehead almost resting on the crack, and his eyes darted around.
After that, he rolled back to the wall, his mouth trembling as he muttered and analyzed something.
It only took a few minutes, and La Gong suddenly leaped up, touching something on the wall at a specific position.
The wall showed no change at all, and he landed silently.
Then La Gong climbed onto my shoulders, and I gradually felt my body losing control—it was La Gong who had possessed me.
I walked to the wall, my hand touching it again, followed by my feet moving on the ground, stepping on it.
Around one to two minutes, my hand remained in a certain place while my foot stepped on a specific spot. The seamless wall, under my hand pressure and body tilting forward, twisted in an unusual way. From a distance, it looked like the wall had changed, but up close, I realized that it was not made of bricks but some kind of metal.
This is exactly what I had guessed—it's a trapdoor!
I had passed through the "wall" and found myself still in a long corridor. The moonlight poured down, bringing an icy chill. My heartbeat quickened, but Old Gong didn't leave my body. I lifted one hand, my fingers twitching, and mumbled something under my breath as Old Gong walked forward.
At the same time, he found a compass on me.
I could clearly feel my hand starting to ache, and a faint white smoke was emitted.
The compass, which I had previously obtained from Jia Jin, was still with me after dealing with Chang Xin and the old immortals.
Old Gong must have a reason for doing this right now!
As we walked further and further away, the surrounding area became increasingly quiet. Sometimes, La Gong would suddenly stop, moving his feet two steps forward. Although I saw people passing by on the other long corridor from here, those people would seem to ignore me and pass by as if they couldn't see me. Sometimes, La Gong would change to a different long corridor and pass through the gap between the two.
In itself, the path here is difficult to remember, and I have completely forgotten where we have passed.
The compass grew increasingly hot, and more and more white smoke came out. Only then did La Gong control my hand to put the compass back in place.
When he stopped again, at the end of this long corridor was a small courtyard with bamboo plants and some other kinds of trees.
The gate of the courtyard was hung with a lock and tightly shut.
Suddenly, I regained control of my body, as La Gong appeared on my shoulder.
"Hu..." He gasped, his eyes spinning very rapidly.
"This... Where is this?" I was extremely alert to any sound or movement around me, but even though there were many long corridors and the internal layout of Luo family was complex, the view was also expansive, allowing me to notice that there were no people around.
"Not surprisingly, Master, you can see your mother-in-law now." La Gong smiled, licking his tongue.
My heart skipped a beat, but it was almost choked out of my throat.
Old Gong... How did he manage to find my mom's place?
No, it should be a place of confinement...
That's clear from the lock on the gate. She doesn't seem to have freedom.
I didn't try to unlock it. Instead, I glanced at the courtyard wall.
The wall was over two meters tall, which posed no difficulty for me. With a leap, I reached the top of the wall, then lightly exerted my breath and landed on the ground.
The courtyard is very quiet, with only two rooms.
The ground has many friction marks, and the bricks and stones are all scattered.
La Gong squinted and nodded towards a door, then I hurried towards that door.
I didn't directly push open the door and enter. Instead, I peered into the room through the crack between the door and the frame.
The room was dimly lit, and I could see a bed inside.
On the bed, there was a person lying.
There was a black thing extending from the person, forming a shadow pile under the bed.
The shadow extended out into a thin line, reaching the center of the room, near my vision.
When I saw what it was clearly, I hesitated for a moment, and then a heavy emotion surged up, like a hand squeezing tightly around my heart!
There were two thick iron chains, worn out over the years, and the surface looked very smooth.
I realized where the marks on the bricks and stones in the courtyard came from.
What kind of "criminal" would be confined and still require iron chains to be locked up?
My heart felt uncomfortable, and the sourness rose up. As my vision became accustomed to the darkness, I could see a person lying on the bed. Their face was thin and pale, and they appeared very weak. Their clothes were even thinner, and there were no blankets or bedding.
The temperature in this place is low, even I bought a full set of coats when I first came here.
My hand pushed against the door, and I stepped into the room with a single step.
To my surprise, the person on the bed didn't get up. Instead, they turned over and faced away from me.
It's as if she's accustomed to being woken up in the middle of the night by any sudden noise, anticipating someone might enter at any moment!
More moonlight filtered in, revealing that her hair on top of her head was exceptionally sparse. At around forty years old, she should still be considered young, yet her hair volume was less than that of an elderly person.
"Ahem..." La Gong sighed first, and the sound suddenly stopped.
I slapped the ground with a bang and fell to my knees heavily.
Perhaps my noise was too loud, and the person finally turned around.
Just as a ray of moonlight hit her face, her yellow and dry skin looked like some parts of it were hanging down because of her sudden weight loss.
But I could still recognize her from her eyebrows and eyes, that's my mom!
