A Second Time

Reaching the end of the blog, Jiang Feng's finger stopped and glued itself onto the bottom screen of his phone. His confusion and eagerness to know more about insider information was apparent on his face as a thought surfaced within him.

'A mysterious cave in our ancestral cemetery…could it be the one that Jiang Yang was inviting us to go to?' Jiang Feng thought.

As soon as the theory kicked in, a few of Jiang Feng's suspicions towards his elders started to become clear.

'If the news really was true, then that means dad and the other elders were already aware of the cave's mysteriousness and danger. But if it was so, why would they still permit Jiang Yang's request? Or could it be the hidden lethality of the cave has really disappeared?' Jiang Feng speculated.

He was reminded of the fact that Jiang Yang said that he had gone in for a look and was able to come back safely and even share his discovery. This meant that there was a certain chance the incident from the past wouldn't repeat itself, or that Jiang Yang didn't enter that deep at all.

As he continued to make speculations and harbor suspicion about the mysteriousness of the cave, Jiang Feng's thoughts slowly aligned with the elders of his family, to see if the cave was finally safe for their people to enter.

…

Putting away his phone after scrolling for an hour or so, Jiang Feng stood up from his seat and walked towards the window, and stared outside. The morning rain had stopped long ago, allowing the rays of sunlight to enshroud the city in its warmth.

Looking down, most of the puddles had already evaporated leaving only a few small ones for people to trace the rain's appearance.

Turning to look at the clock hanging on the wall nearby, Jiang Feng realized that it was still a few hours before lunch was ready. Deciding that staying in his room would only cause boredom to pent up, Jiang Feng took up his phone again and left the room.

Walking in the long hallways and down the spiral stairs, Jiang Feng arrived at the first floor, where his room is on the third floor, and happened to see his dad putting on his shoes ready to leave for work.

"I guess the meeting's about to start?" Jiang Feng asked as he walked up to his dad and squatted down to search for his sneakers in the shoe rack placed next to the door.

"Yeah, half an hour later and I'll have to sit straight for more than 2 hours. Where are you going anyway? Do you need me to drop you off anywhere?" Jiang Feng's dad questioned as he turned around to look at his son.

"No need. I'm heading over to the nearby arcade for some fun and to see if I'll happen upon Jiang Yang or the others. Nothing good is going to come to me if I stay coop up, so might as well head out for fresh air." Jiang Feng replied.

"Is that so? Then take care of yourself, I'll leave for work now."

"Bye, dad."

After sending his dad off, Jiang Feng was also done readying himself. He followed in his father's footsteps. Since everything in a 100-kilometer radius was his Jiang Family's residence, Jiang Feng didn't have to worry about any cars hitting onto him and could stroll in the middle of the road.

…

After walking for about 5 minutes, Jiang Feng's legs stopped before an arcade store in the Jiang Family's Residence. Seeing that it wasn't as packed as he expected, Jiang Feng quickly walked in and went ahead to exchange some of his pocket money for game tokens.

Having about 50 of them in the token basket provided by the store, Jiang Feng proceeded to the closest claw machine filled with soft toys and plushies.

Since the chances of winning back something from games like this were low, the store manager announced that their game prices cost only 1 coin each during their opening. It was also the reason why it quickly became popular within the Jiang Family, successfully earning itself the title '1 Yuan Arcade'.

Back to the story, Jiang Feng inserted 10 tokens in one go, giving himself ten chances as he set his sights on a shark plushie about the size of a 7-year-old.

With skillful techniques equipped with him, it didn't take more than 3 tries to claw out the plushie and bring it back home with him. Since the thing was too big to be walking around in his arms, Jiang Feng went ahead and requested a small cart to place his items.

Walking back to the claw machine, Jiang Feng spent his remaining seven tries clawing out two more plushies, an octopus and a teddy bear. Moving on the row, Jiang Feng quickly spent the remaining tokens on all kinds of games as his cart was filled to the brim.

Since the cart wasn't allowed to leave the store nor were there any taxis in the family's residence, Jiang Feng had no choice but to pack all of his loot into bags and walk around with it.

…

Stopping on the side of the street as he sat down on the ground, Jiang Feng temporarily relieved himself from the burden of having to carry the bags. Looking around to view the busy street, Jiang Feng quickly spotted a fast-food restaurant amidst the crowd of people walking around.

Without a bit of hesitation, Jiang Feng stood back up and brought his stuff over to the place, immediately attracting everyone's attention just by his entrance, which was mostly due to the number of bags that he was holding with him.

Feeling a bit shy under everyone's stare, Jiang Feng hastened his steps as he moved to a table in a corner and placed his things on the ground.

After making sure that none of the bags were going to fall over and block the small walkway between his and others' tables, Jiang Feng proceeded to the counter and ordered himself some fries and a cup of soda.

"Have a delightful meal."

"Thanks."

Receiving his tray from the staff working at the counter, Jiang Feng slowly walked back to his table as he checked the receipt to see if anything was missing. His eyes shifted repeatedly between his meal and the receipt, unknowingly attracting the attention of those in the surroundings by how fast his head was turning.

"Jiang… Feng…"

"Hmm?"

Having his name called out, Jiang Feng stopped checking his meals and raised his head to look at the one who called him out. However, seeing that no one around him looked familiar or was expecting a conversation with him, Jiang Feng shrugged his shoulders, thinking that it was a misconception.

"What the…"

Lowering his head, Jiang Feng was stunned to find his tray was no longer in his hands. Before he could have any reaction, his eyes spotted an abnormal change in his surroundings as the wooden floor beneath his feet slowly turned into stone and the light in his vision slowly dimmed.

Stepping back subconsciously out of fear, Jiang Feng accidentally tripped on a small stone the size of a rubber as he fell backward. Being on the ground now, his attention was no longer on the ground beneath him, but on an ancient coffin placed at what seemed to be the end of this place.

The ancient coffin was made out of some type of black stone, with weird cravings carved onto it. By the amount of spiderwebs surrounding the thing, it wasn't hard to know that it was left untouched for a long time.

What scared Jiang Feng the most about the coffin, was the fact that its lid was pushed aside slightly, with a mysterious gas flowing out from it. The gas was snow-white in color, but amidst were some particles of red, giving off a bone-chilling paired with a bloody feeling to the person looking at it.

"Jiang Feng…"