Chapter 1898: The Endless Courtyard
Those five people had vanished from sight. Xu Huo, worried that the area outside the courtyard might also be affected, took the initiative to increase his distance. Ensuring a safe distance, he then circled around the house for half a turn.
From the outside, this cluster of buildings looked utterly ordinary—just square courtyards, one adjoining the next, the overall shape also square. The interior layout of the rooms was simple. Although not old or dusty, it didn't look like a place where people regularly lived, nor did it match the architectural style of Zone 011. Even if Super Players used this as a resting spot, they likely wouldn't have specifically built such houses here.
So, was this house a prop, or a special location situated in some kind of temporal-spatial gap?
After waiting outside for a while without spotting any trace of those five people, Xu Huo felt there was no need to stay any longer, so he turned around to head back.
But unexpectedly, as he passed the pavilion he had seen earlier, a subtle force suddenly flowed away from him. He instinctively stopped in his tracks, only to find upon looking back that the courtyard he had just seen had vanished. The spot where the courtyard had stood was now a dense forest.
Xu Huo didn't turn back to investigate. Instead, he quickened his pace toward the flower wall. The passage that had opened in the flower wall hadn't completely disappeared yet. After passing through it, however, he saw that what should have been a dense forest had turned into a grassy field. A pavilion appeared on a nearby slope, and below the slope lay the same residential compound as before.
His direction hadn't been wrong, but the location of the compound had shifted to in front of him.
Suddenly, wind blew through the mountain forest. White mist, emerging from nowhere, gradually covered the entire woods. As the mist thickened, making even the entire compound appear indistinct, two lamps lit up on the outer wall of that courtyard.
No one was seen, but the lamps naturally appeared and ignited.
"It seems I won't be allowed to leave so easily," Xu Huo said, stepping forward toward the compound.
A large gate had appeared on the previously completely sealed courtyard wall. The style of the gate and the wall lamps looked quite old, likely "vintage" decorative items no matter which district they were from.
As he approached, the tightly shut gate opened on its own. The aged wooden door let out a heavy, hoarse "creak" as it moved, a bit grating to the ears.
No one was behind the door. As Xu Huo crossed the threshold, lights came on in many places. Directly facing the gate was an open small garden, surrounded by walls on three sides. In the center was a small pond, though it was now dry. The wildflowers and weeds beside it, however, were growing quite well.
On the wall directly opposite, there were doorways on both sides. Xu Huo released a combat robot and had it split up with him.
Passing through one of the doorways, Xu Huo turned back and found that beyond the doorway was no longer the pond and gate he had just seen. Instead, it was a space with four rooms and four doors, identical to those square courtyards.
And in front of him were also four rooms and four doors. Apart from the doorway passage he had entered through, this courtyard had no other walkways. Unless he went back the way he came, he had no choice but to pick one of the four doors to go through.
Xu Huo hesitated for a moment at the doorway, then lightly exerted force with his feet and leaped onto the courtyard wall. Unsurprisingly, the space was sealed. He tried using Space Ray to break the barrier in front of him, but after testing for a while without finding a clue, he gave up.
Returning to the ground, he took two steps toward the center of the courtyard. This time, unlike those noble scions earlier, he didn't encounter any obstacles. So he chose the room on the right, opened the door, and walked in.
Earlier, when he looked from the outside, the room layouts all seemed similar. Now that he was inside, he felt even more that there was little difference between the rooms. The only distinction was the different placement of the tables and chairs.
Xu Huo reached out and touched the raw wood-colored table and chairs. The texture was a bit rough. It wasn't due to poor craftsmanship, but rather because the wood used for these pieces seemed freshly polished and sanded but not varnished—a very natural state.
A table, two chairs placed facing each other, a tea set on the table, and standing shelves in all four corners holding flower pots. But the flowers were long gone, leaving only some dried soil inside.
The walls were clean and bare, not even a decorative item.
Xu Huo stayed in the room for a while before turning back to the door. He intended to try going back the way he came, but unexpectedly, although the door was open, the path was blocked.
He slapped the invisible barrier, then had no choice but to turn and head for the door opposite the room.
Beyond the second door was a perfectly symmetrical room, a one-to-one copy. Exiting through the opposite door of this room, he found himself in another square courtyard. Counting the door behind him, there were still four rooms and four doors, with no other passages in sight.
Xu Huo used his Spiritual Power to feel around the surroundings and chose the door on the left. Passing through this door and the two rooms behind it should lead him to a small courtyard with a passage.
However, when he quickly passed through three doors and exited, he found that the doorway he had "seen" was gone.
Frowning slightly, he turned back into the room. After testing and confirming that the courtyard he had just passed through wasn't sealed, he entered through another door.
The room opposite this door was still a sealed small courtyard, with no passage directly leading to other courtyards.
But since the courtyard wasn't sealed after he opened the door, Xu Huo simply went back and opened the remaining door as well. All the rooms were similar to the first one—tables, chairs, utensils—almost identical.
Xu Huo checked the time, then reached out and took a flower pot from the room before entering the next courtyard.
In the next courtyard, he opened all three doors as well but didn't take anything from them. When he tried to go back and was blocked again, he noted the time, then took a teacup from this room.
After doing this three times, the rooms he entered finally showed some changes. The furniture had evolved from tables and chairs to beds and cabinets. These pieces were noticeably more refined than the previous ones. The decorations inside the rooms also gradually increased—besides teapots and teacups, there were vases for flower arrangements and small baskets for odds and ends.
Xu Huo picked up a small basket and inadvertently noticed a horizontal line carved with a knife on the bottom.
"A mark?"
He put the basket back in its place, then checked the other furniture. After finding no traces of human activity, he went to inspect the other three rooms.
The layout of those three rooms was the same—all had changed from tea rooms to bedrooms. However, no similar "marks" were found in the other rooms.
This time, he didn't leave in a hurry. Instead, he waited in the room for a while before opening the opposite door. After opening the door, he turned back and, finding that the courtyard he had passed through was sealed, took the teapot from the room.
Continuing forward, he finally saw some different traces in a room. A smashed bed and an overturned table indicated that someone had been here recently.