The Mysterious Ao Duo

When he opened the door, the breeze blew the wind chimes at the door. The wind chimes made a crisp and pleasant sound, making one’s heart turn cold.

There were no customers in the shop, only a young woman with brownish-black skin. The woman looked to be in her thirties. Her hair was tangled into a ball and fixed with a pair of chopsticks.

She was wearing traditional Indonesian clothes and writing something with her head lowered. When she heard the wind chime, she looked up.

Seeing that it was Doramy, the woman quickly stood up with a gentle smile on her face. She welcomed him warmly. “Ramy, you’re here.”

This woman was Michelle.

Doramy greeted the other party before introducing Yun Buyao and the rest to Michelle. “They’re my friends from afar and are looking for Ao Duo. Didn’t I tell you yesterday?”

Michelle’s gaze followed Doramy’s words and landed on Yun Buyao and the rest. It was not difficult to tell that they had typical Asian faces. As Ao Duo’s guide, Michelle had seen many foreigners, so she did not show any additional expression and only nodded gently.

“I know. I can take you there,” Michelle said.

“Thank you.” Doramy thanked her on their behalf. Then, he took out a thick bundle of Indonesian currency from his pocket and handed it to Michelle. “This is for you, Michelle. It’s a little sincerity from my friends.”

This was the rule. Everyone who needed Michelle to lead the way had to give her some money. There was no fixed amount, but usually, those who came to look for Ao Duo were people with some wealth, so they would give Michelle a lot of money.

After all, to see Ao Duo, they had to go through her.

Michelle didn’t refuse just because she was familiar with Doramy. She reached out to take it and nodded at them. “Follow me.”

Everyone followed Michelle out of the back door of the wind chimes shop and entered an abnormally narrow path. There were stalls on both sides of the path, and the space for people to walk was even smaller.

They initially thought they would walk very far again, but they did not expect that after turning a few corners and leaving the busy city, Michelle stopped in front of a stone, brick house.

A stone staircase extended down from the ground. Michelle stopped and looked at them before walking down first.

Yun Buyao was the last in line. She couldn’t help but look up at the house. It was ancient, and there was dust on the two floors of glass. It looked like no one had lived in it for a long time.

After following the stone steps to the ground, Michelle pushed open the wooden door on the right and walked in. It was slightly dark inside, and only half of the window near the roof let in light.

Moreover, this house was extremely simple and did not look like a place where people would stay.

They could not help but feel suspicious. Did this Ao Duo live here?

“Ramy, I’ll take your friends in. You can only wait here.” At this moment, Michelle suddenly turned around and said to Doramy.

Doramy was stunned for a moment before asking, “Why? Can’t I go in?”

Michelle nodded and said calmly, “Your friends want to see Ao Duo, not you. So Ao Duo won’t see you either!”

“But…”

Doramy wanted to say something, but Yun Buyao interrupted him. “It’s okay. Just wait here.”

Although the person who led the way was his friend, Michelle, when he arrived at this dark and old place, Doramy could not help but worry. The place where Ao Duo lived was so dilapidated.

However, since Yun Buyao spoke, Doramy could only nod.

Michelle looked at Doramy and turned around to continue walking in. At the end of the dim room, there was a secret door made of stone bricks. She opened the secret door and saw a long and damp secret passage.

“Please follow me,” said Michelle, and she led the way in.

When Yun Buyao and the rest saw this secret passage, they subconsciously looked at each other. However, at this moment, they could only believe in Michelle.

Si Yue was the first to follow, and Yun Buyao followed closely behind. When Chi Yang walked into the secret passage, the secret door closed without a trace.

Doramy could see it clearly from afar. When he was alone in the room, he frowned and looked around.

He had lived in this city for so many years, but he had never heard of Ao Duo living in such a place. Or did he go to a different place every time people wanted to see her?

Doramy did not know.

There was a moldy smell in the dark, and it did not feel like it was used all year round. There were flickering candles on both sides to light the way. The group walked underground for a while before finally arriving at a spacious dark room.

White candles filled the room. In the middle was an altar-shaped decoration with a huge bull’s head hanging above. This had the atmosphere of South East Asian witchcraft.

However, there was no one in the dark room, so Yun Buyao couldn’t help but ask, “Michelle, where is Ao Duo?”

“Please rest on the cushion and wait for a moment. Ao Duo will be here soon.” Michelle’s expression was the same as usual, but there were no flaws.

However, after saying this, Michelle turned around and left. Obviously, she had completed her mission, and what happened next had nothing to do with her.

After Michelle left, Yun Buyao couldn’t help but say, “This place is gloomy. It feels a little strange. Not only here, but the entire city makes my hair stand on end.”

This was Yun Buyao’s true feelings. Unless she had no choice, she might never come to Indonesia again.

Chi Yang inspected this dark room and slowly said, “This looks like a place where sorcerers do things. Although I’ve never seen it with my own eyes, the furnishings here shouldn’t be fake.”

They walked all the way and were indeed tired. Since they still had to wait, they might as well sit down and wait.

The three sat down on the soft cushion in front of the altar. There were three metal cups on the wooden table in front of them. The liquid inside was colorless and transparent, like water.

However, although they were a little thirsty, for safety reasons, no one touched the cups of water, let alone drink. From the beginning to the end, this Ao Duo’s mysteriousness made people vaguely feel uneasy, so it was better to be careful.

Time passed second by second, but Ao Duo did not appear.

At this moment, Yun Buyao’s eyes suddenly caught an extremely weak luster. The luster flashed past her eyes as if it was slashing at Si Yue’s position!

Almost subconsciously, Yun Buyao pulled Si Yue’s body and whispered, “Si Yue, be careful!”