Chapter 1050: Chapter 49: Opening the Door

"Tanaka, Hikita, Ohara..."

Li Ang and Wang Congshan went from house to house, discovering that most of the houses were locked up tight, but inside, lights were blazing.

"Not a single sound."

Wang Congshan mused aloud, standing at a doorway of one residence pondering.

Many of these houses used frosted glass, making it quite difficult to see the interior through the windows, leaving them unsure if anyone was home.

Ding-dong—

Li Ang pressed several doorbells in succession, waiting for a response that never came, then frowned and said, "What’s going on with everyone in the village? Have they collectively vanished?

Or did they know we were coming and fled overnight with their treasures?"

Wang Congshan quipped, "Why not say they’re having a supernatural dissection conference, and everyone’s there to watch the surgeries?"

"Makes sense."

Li Ang nodded seriously, before casting about with an agile gaze, he planted his Heart Monkey Staff on the ground, leant on the front door of a house with one hand and vaulted over the gate into the courtyard, all in complete silence and with remarkable dexterity.

Wang Congshan was startled, lowering her voice, "Hey, what are you doing!"

"Paying a visit to the owner here."

Li Ang naturally responded, "As guests from afar, it seems perfectly normal for me to kindly visit the owner here."

"You shouldn’t say that while waving a stick or picking up bricks from the ground."

Wang Congshan replied helplessly, tucking her gun into her pocket, and swung over the gate.

"Remember to hide the weapons."

Li Ang reminded, approaching the front door, and crammed the brick he’d picked up haphazardly into his pocket,

Holding the Heart Monkey in his right hand, he positioned himself out of view of the Cat’s Eye,

Tidied his appearance, and knocked on the door, "Hello, is anyone there?"

Silence, no response.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

Li Ang asked again, and upon receiving no reply, he immediately switched tactics, "Hello, anyone here?"

Wang Congshan sighed, "Telling them in English won’t make them understand you."

Li Ang contemplated for a moment, then shouted into the house, "きさま,ドアを開けてください."

Wang Congshan’s eye twitched, "Using pidgin Japanese won’t help either."

"Ugh, troublesome."

Li Ang curled his lips, then knocked again, "Hello, we’re NHK’s door-to-door fee collectors, you haven’t paid your subscription fee from last month~"

"Saying that definitely won’t get anyone to open up."

Wang Congshan couldn’t help but rub her temples,

NHK, full name Japan Broadcasting Corporation, aims to provide public television services to Japanese citizens, carrying no commercial ads, and is independent from Japan’s government. Due to its unique public nature, it has a rather bizarre mandatory fee collection policy, requiring any household theoretically able to receive TV broadcasts in Japan to pay subscription fees to NHK, whether or not they own a TV.

Also giving rise to the absurd role of NHK door-to-door fee collectors, who, much like salesmen, use every means possible, even being ridiculously persistent, to collect fees from residents.

"Even with all that, there’s no response, it really seems like there’s nobody here."

Li Ang pondered aloud, inspecting the doorway.

This wooden door seemed thin, but when knocked earlier, it felt extremely solid, like stone,

Even if Heart Monkey Staff were used to break it down, it’s unlikely to shatter.

He surveyed the surroundings, noticing some flowers planted in the front garden, and stepped forward to break off a piece of wire used to support the flower growth,

Bending it, he returned to the door, once again applying his unlocking skills.

Wang Congshan stood by calmly watching as Li Ang fiddled with the lock,

As childhood friends, she had witnessed how Li Ang used to train his lock-picking skills by intentionally drinking diluted croton oil before class, then used a lock to bind his wrists,

Forcing himself to unlock it within a time limit to salvage his schooling life—if he sought thrills, he was committed wholeheartedly.

"Hmm..."

Squatting, Li Ang tinkered for a while before standing up contemplatively.

Wang Congshan raised an eyebrow, "Huh? What’s wrong, couldn’t open it?"

"Yeah."

Li Ang nodded, "The entire door seems welded to the space itself, its lock cylinder inside unmoving.

It seems like they’re completely blocking us from exploring these unplanned houses."

"Isn’t that the classic scenario in horror games, doors and windows tightly meshed with the space itself."

Wang Congshan sighed and joked, "Next, are we going to be finding keys, fixing generators, unlocking password locks?"

"Times have changed, young lady. The trend in horror games now is to add a two-meter-tall white-dressed vampire noblewoman who loves to chase people around, hehehe."

Li Ang casually countered her joke, packed away the wire, and shook out his somewhat numb legs, "Hmm... these houses being inaccessible is somewhat beneficial, it helps us eliminate distractions and save time."

"Yeah."

Wang Congshan glanced around and said, "There doesn’t seem to be a village map posted in the community notice board.

But from the mission description, ’enter the Hiratsuka Family Residence,’ it’s a family estate, definitely not small. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

We might be able to head directly up the slope, where the houses have larger grounds."

She turned, not finding Li Ang’s figure,

Her heart abruptly skipped a beat, instinctively raising her gun defensively in a standard tactical motion.

However, in the next instant, she spotted Li Ang—he had somehow climbed to the rooftop and was observing the whole village from above.

"What are you doing?"

Wang Congshan breathed a sigh of relief, still keeping her gun raised.

"Analyzing the terrain."

Li Ang stood on the eaves, holding the Heart Monkey Staff in his right hand, using his left hand to shield his eyes like the iconic monkey statue, scanning the surroundings.

After a moment of observation, he confirmed that there was an ancient residence larger than the others on the slope and jumped down from the roof.

Having identified their target location, they felt less hurried,

For this assignment, the primary setting was definitely the so-called Hiratsuka Family Residence, but the system didn’t transport them directly to the Hiratsuka Residence’s entrance or inside,

Instead, offering such a broad scene.

Proving that other locations within the village likely concealed key clues needed to complete the mission, or perhaps critical items like a key to open the Hiratsuka Residence.

The pair walked down the street, finding nearly all the doors shut, with several parked cars visible by the roadside, displaying bewildering car badges never seen before.

This script world was set in Japan Islands, but it differed slightly from reality – the real Japan Islands have no place called Gumma County.

The duo continued together, chatting and bantering, easing the eerie atmosphere, until they came across the first house with its door wide open, displaying the Fujimura door sign.