The Bones of the Ancient God

Chapter 8: The Haunted Warehouse

That morning, Ashvale Village was not only covered in fog, but also in gossip hotter than freshly fried snacks. News about the three kidnappers found tied to pine trees spread faster than a W******p group of neighborhood mothers.

At Mrs. Martha's breakfast stall, the line broke up not because the food was sold out, but because people were busy gossiping. At the neighborhood watch post, the men who usually only talked about songbirds now wore serious expressions.

“I swear, Mr. Arthur! I saw it myself when I was going to the fields,” one of the villagers exclaimed while demonstrating the movement of a broken arm. “His spine was like a cracker being crushed. Crushed inside, but the skin on the outside was smooth! There wasn't a single bruise! Strange, right?”

“Really? Maybe he was beaten with a blunt object wrapped in cloth?” another curious villager chimed in.

“No, Sir! The crazier one was the other guy,” the villager's voice lowered, his hand instinctively covering his own lower abdomen. “His... future was shattered, Sir. Destroyed! They said when he was found, he was babbling like a madman because of the pain.”

The villagers who heard it immediately winced together. “Oh God... that's brutal. That couldn't have been the work of a human. It must have been the work of a supernatural creature!”

Kaelan walked casually through the crowd, his mouth busy chewing gum. His uniform was neat, his bag casually hanging from one shoulder. His face was completely expressionless, as if all the commotion were nothing but passing wind. Yet inside, he was smiling with satisfaction.

'Good,' Kaelan thought. 'That means the bamboo ropes I made were strong. And if the villagers think those injuries were caused by a ghost, then no one will suspect an elementary school kid.'

When he arrived at the school gate, Brad was already waiting. The chubby boy looked extremely restless, pacing around without purpose. But as soon as he saw Kaelan, his eyes immediately lit up. He ran toward him, panting heavily from excitement.

“Boss! Hey, Boss! Crazy! Did you hear? The whole village is going crazy!” Brad exclaimed while looking around, then put his arm around Kaelan and whispered excitedly.

“This morning, three kidnappers were found by the river, their thing was smashed, Boss! Really smashed like a dropped egg! Then one of them had a crushed back! That's brutal!”

Kaelan only raised one eyebrow, pretending to be slightly shocked so that his acting looked convincing. “Oh yeah? Who said that?”

“Mr. Arthur said it! The river was packed with people this morning!” Brad shuddered in fear but his eyes were excited. “The old people said it must have been Si Jampang from the neighboring village, the guy who supposedly has an invulnerable body! Or maybe the River Guardian got angry because people were stepping all over its territory!”

Kaelan held back his laughter inside. 'The River Guardian? The villagers really have wild imaginations.’

“Whatever, Brad. Ghost or magical thug, just let them be,” Kaelan replied casually while fixing his collar. “As long as that ghost doesn't ask for our pocket money, we're safe.”

“Geez, Boss, you're so calm! It's scary, you know! I'm lucky to be friends with Boss, because if I became enemies with the River Guardian, my future would be ruined,” Brad grinned while holding his pants, still paranoid after hearing the "broken egg" story earlier.

“Come on, let's go inside. We'll be late and Miss Bella will scold us again, that's trouble,” Kaelan invited as he walked through the gate. But after taking a few steps, he stopped and turned toward Brad.

“Hey, Brad. Don't run off right after school, okay? Come with me.”

Brad stared in confusion. “Huh? Where are we going again, Boss? Fixing someone's motorcycle again?”

“No,” Kaelan smiled faintly, the type of mysterious smile that made Brad extremely curious. “We're going after bigger money. There's some idle treasure that needs to be rescued.”

“Treasure? Come on, Boss... we're probably collecting scrap metal again, right? Our cash fund is already pretty big, Boss.”

“This is a different level, Brad. Just do as I say. If we succeed, you can eat burgers until you're full tomorrow.”

Kaelan stopped walking right at the classroom doorway. He did not enter immediately, but instead turned toward the village border that looked dark because of the dense trees, even though it was already morning.

His eyes narrowed, staring at a distant point hidden behind a large banyan tree.

That was where the old building the villagers often gossiped about was located. People called it 'The Corpse Warehouse'. Rumor had it that the place contained evil energy, a haunted place that even the village thugs were afraid to approach.

Kaelan's right hand slowly rose, touching the back of his own neck.

Cold.

He pressed the skin on his neck somewhat firmly, searching for the remnants of the heat that had exploded at dawn when he fought the kidnappers. But there was nothing. The terrifying power that had once made him move like lightning was now sleeping soundly, as if it had never existed.

This ignorance tormented him. He needed an answer as to why his body could turn into a deadly weapon when cornered. And he had a theory: that power needed a trigger. He needed fear. He needed the pressure of the evil energy that supposedly surrounded the old warehouse to draw the "power" inside him out again.

That haunted warehouse was the perfect laboratory.

“Brad,” Kaelan called without turning around, his eyes still locked on the towering banyan tree. “You know the warehouse from the colonial era at the village border that is supposedly haunted, right?”

Brad immediately widened his eyes. “You mean the Corpse Warehouse? Of course I know! I'd be crazy if I didn't. That's the most horrifying place here! Why are you talking about that?”

Kaelan turned toward Brad, his serious face instantly changing into a relaxed and reassuring smile. He would not let Brad know about his crazy plan to test his life.

“We're going there this afternoon.”

“WHAT?!” Brad almost shouted, but Kaelan quickly covered his mouth. “Mmmph!”

“Don't make noise,” Kaelan hissed, then released his hand. “Listen, Brad. The more haunted a place is, the fewer people dare to enter. What does that mean? It means the valuable things inside are still intact. The scavengers haven't taken them.”

“B-but Boss, that's a ghost's nest!”

“Ghosts don't need money, Brad. But we do. Mama's kitchen roof is leaking, and the wood is already rotten. I need a lot of money to fix it before the rainy season,” Kaelan said, half truthful, half manipulative. “Do you want to become rich and eat good food, or do you want to be a poor coward? Besides, it's embarrassing with your big body and your reputation for being brave.”

Brad swallowed hard. His fear fought fiercely against his greed and his easily hungry stomach.

“B-burgers, with french fries?” Brad offered hesitantly.

“Two portions. Plus a milkshake,” Kaelan concluded.

“Deal! I'm coming!”

***

The school bell rang, breaking the students' concentration. Without wasting time, Kaelan gave Brad a nod of his chin. They did not go home, but instead followed a narrow path toward the quiet village border, an area unofficially marked by the villagers as forbidden territory.

Their destination was an old colonial building covered by banyan roots and weeds as high as a person's chest. The villagers called it 'The Corpse Warehouse'. It was supposedly an old warehouse for storing crops belonging to a landowner who had died by hanging himself decades ago.

Kaelan walked with overflowing curiosity. Since the incident at dawn when he fought the kidnappers, he had felt that something was strange about his body. He remembered how he had moved faster than his thoughts, and how his strength had suddenly exploded. However, now he felt normal again. There was no super strength, no sharp vision in the darkness.

He had deliberately come to this place to test a hypothesis. If his body reacted when there was danger, could this supposedly "dangerous" place trigger the same reaction? Kaelan made himself the test subject. He was confused, who was he really? Was he truly just an ordinary child who had been in an accident as his Mama had said?

As soon as they reached the rusty iron gate, Brad's face turned pale. His legs trembled violently.

“B-Boss, seriously? This is the Corpse Warehouse! Don't be crazy, Boss! Even Mr. Arthur doesn't dare pass by here on Friday nights! They said the Landowner was once a practitioner of black magic!” Brad took a step back. His courage immediately vanished.

Kaelan stared at the building. With his normal eyes at that moment, he only saw an old, decaying building, covered in moss, and miserable. There were no visible ghosts, no colorful aura. Only a pile of bricks eaten away by age.

“If you're scared, wait here. I just want to check for a moment,” Kaelan said casually. He pushed the iron gate.

KRIEEETT…

The sound of the rusty hinges was grating. Kaelan stepped inside.

“Wa-wait, Boss! Don't leave me!” Brad was finally forced to follow him inside, gripping the hem of Kaelan's school uniform tightly because he was afraid of being left alone.