Chapter 270 40: Advice

"Let's forget about it tonight. It's still quite cold outside. Isn't it said that the seafood fried rice in this restaurant is good? Let's have this." Terry was somewhat reluctant to go out in the wind.

Anna came to her senses and thought so. She would probably have to stay here for a few days anyway, so there was no need to rush for this night.

The two took turns taking a shower and changing clothes, and it was almost seven o'clock. This was because they were afraid that the pub would not provide dinner if it was too late, so they finished it as soon as possible.

However, when Terry, who was walking in front, opened the door, his body seemed to be frozen in place, so Anna, who was still browsing on her phone, didn't notice it for a moment and bumped into him on the back. She couldn't help but stick her head out and ask, "Terry, what are you doing?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Anna's breathing stagnated. At the door of their room, old man John just stood in the corridor with an expressionless face, looking at them quietly.

No one knew how long he had been standing here, maybe he had just arrived, or maybe he had been here since they came up.

Thinking of the latter possibility, the two felt creepy, their hair stood on end, and goose bumps appeared. Their mood, which had finally calmed down a little, became tense again.

"Uncle John, do you have something to talk to us about?" Seeing that old man John hadn't said anything, Terry finally couldn't help but speak first.

John still had that dead fish face and dead fish eyes, like a fish disguised as a human, and said slowly: "Let me remind you that the fish feast starts at 7 o'clock. If you want to participate, it's still in time to rush to the beach now."

"Well, we are too tired today and don't want to go out. Uncle John, do you have anything to eat?" For an invitation like this, even if they originally planned to go, they now have to think carefully about it.

Old man John looked at them with a look of surprise and nodded: "Only fried rice."

"Then please prepare two for us, thank you." Terry quickly agreed.

John didn't say anything else. He turned around, walked down the stairs, and disappeared from their sight with a creaking sound.

Anna hadn't said anything until the other person left. She seemed to have held her breath and let it out, gasping for breath: "I didn't realize it before, why do people here smell so fishy? This old man is not a fisherman or a hauler."

"Maybe because he's also a chef?" Terry explained, then took Anna's hand, walked out, locked the door, and walked down the stairs.

The tavern was empty at this time, with only the sound of chopping and a strange slippery movement coming from the kitchen.

Did everyone go to the fish banquet? If there were such banquets every day, wouldn't everyone get tired of it?
Both of them subconsciously felt that there was something indescribable weirdness somewhere, but it was difficult to express it in words. They could only keep it in their hearts, and even their breathing was not smooth.

After finding a place to sit down, Terry looked out the window. There were no street lights, and many houses had not turned on the lights. Only the attic of the house opposite had a light on. Behind the window, there seemed to be a figure moving, as if waving.

"You sit here first, I'll go to the door. Don't close the door, I'll just take a few looks." After Terry said this, he walked to the door and opened it. A slight cold breeze blew in, which made him feel refreshed.

A stronger fishy smell came from all directions, but after a few breaths, I got used to it.

He could even hear the wind bringing some of the bustling noise from the coast over here. Just by listening vaguely, he could imagine the festive scene of a bonfire party on the beach.

Coming back to his senses from the sounds, he did not forget his purpose and looked up at the attic of the house opposite.

In the light, a figure covered the clean glass with a piece of cardboard, and there was only one word on it: RUN!!!

Terry opened his mouth slightly and stared blankly for a while.

The shadow seemed to be sure that Terry had seen it, but was also afraid of being discovered. After doing this for more than ten seconds, he pulled the curtains again and even turned off the lights. Everything seemed like Terry's hallucination.

Terry lowered his head, retreated back to the tavern, returned to Anna, and told her what he had just seen.

"Could it be the mental illness mentioned in the travel guide?" Anna opened the guide that Terry had shown her before, pointing to the mention of mental illness.

"Maybe." Terry took out his cell phone anxiously. He had always forgotten to call home and now he decided to report that he was safe first.

Perhaps subconsciously, he felt that if he really encountered any danger here, his family would at least know his whereabouts.

As soon as I finished the call, old man John came out with a tray of food.

"Seafood fried rice. Add whatever fish you have. Beer is included." Old man John put the food on their table.

Anna didn’t know if it was her illusion, but she suddenly felt that the old man had become much more human.

Of course, it was still very strange. For example, after he delivered the food, he just stood there with his eyes unfocused, and it was unclear what he was looking at or thinking about.

Terry awkwardly took out a bill from his wallet as a tip. As for the meal, they would only have this one meal today, so they shouldn't need to pay anything extra.

Old man John didn't take the money: "A piece of advice to tourists, don't go out and don't go to the beach between 12 o'clock and sunrise."

After saying that, he ignored the two of them, picked up the plate and went back to the wine cabinet, wiping the wine glasses silently.

Terry and Anna looked at each other and took each other's advice to heart. Anyway, at the time the other party mentioned, who would dare to go out if they were not familiar with the place? Even in the city, they had to try to avoid hanging out outside in the early morning. They were not the couple in the movies who were courting death, so they would be curious about anything that was not allowed.

The seafood fried rice didn't look very good, but they didn't expect anything good to come from a place like this. As long as it wasn't poisonous, it would be fine. To be on the safe side, Terry asked Anna not to eat it until he had finished his meal.

"It's really delicious, much better than the restaurant we went to last time." After taking a bite, Terry's eyes lit up. Unlike the fishy smell everywhere, this seafood fried rice seemed to have no fish in it, but shrimp and crab meat. It was also well processed and had no fishy smell at all.

He originally thought that the specialty here was fish feast, and fried rice would definitely have fish or something like that.

The beer is just average and low in alcohol, but it's free after all, so nothing much to complain about.

After Terry finished eating for a while and saw that nothing was wrong, he let Anna, who had been craving for a long time, start eating.

"Terry, is this a piece of cloth?" Anna spat out a piece of rag disguised as an octopus leg with some disgust, and suddenly lost her appetite.

"Wait, there seems to be some words?"

Terry slowly spread out the piece of cloth and saw the words "Don't eat fish" written on it.

After reading it, Terry looked silently at old man John who was still wiping the wine glass meticulously, and then looked at Anna.

According to common sense, this piece of cloth could only have been secretly added by old man John, but he had recommended a fish feast to me before, so why did he tell me not to eat fish? Isn't this a contradiction?

That is, maybe there was someone else in the pub who secretly added this banner without John's knowledge? But who could do it so secretly? After thinking about it, the most likely person is old man John.

Anna was indeed hungry, and she felt relieved when she found out that the strip of cloth was not dropped in accidentally. She slowly finished the rest of the fried rice and sat there for a while. It was almost eight o'clock, but no one had come to the tavern yet, probably because the fish banquet had not yet ended.

They came to the wine cabinet, trying to get some information from John indirectly.

"Play?" Old man John slowly raised his head and looked at them. "It's a remote place, there's nothing to play with." "Then do I need to prepare anything in advance for the fish feast?"

“You don’t need to prepare anything, just bring your mouth and stomach.” Old man John smiled silently, and his wrinkled face looked like a rag covered with dried mud.

“Is fried rice the only thing you eat here?”

"We also have sashimi, which is only sold to people who have participated in the fish banquet. If you want to eat it, try the fish head in the fish banquet first. It will be a delicacy you have never tasted in your life." The old man looked dimly.

Terry really wanted to ask directly whether John had given him the piece of cloth, but if not, wouldn't he be alerting the enemy by doing so? If so, it meant that John might be under surveillance and he would not admit it even if he asked.

In desperation, he had to ask another question: "Are we the only two outsiders living here now?"

"No." Old man John's answer cheered Terry up. "A few days ago, a teacher came with a few students. They were going to the abandoned gold mining town to do excavation research, but their time was different from yours."

"What about them?"

"At the beach." John looked towards the stairs, "But there's a girl in Room 203 who's not feeling well and is staying here today."

Naturally, they were having a fish feast at the seaside, and this news made Terry think.

If you want to know if there is any problem with the fish banquet, can't you just look at their performance?

Although he still felt deep down that it was just a fish, what was the risk? Besides, many tourists had come here before, and they left safely, right? If there really was a murder here, how could the officials who came here to investigate just sit back and watch?

Generally speaking, you scare yourself.

It's all because those horror movies are too deeply rooted in people's minds.

Seeing that old man John looked uninterested, Terry did not continue asking questions, but took Anna back to the room.

"Don't we have some medicine? I'll go knock on 203's door and get to know that girl." After returning to the room, Anna rummaged through her backpack.

Terry also had this plan, and it would be better for Anna to do it.

Arriving at the door of Room 203, which was right next to them, Anna did not knock on the door immediately. Instead, she put her finger to her lips towards Terry, then slowly put her ear to the door.

Terry looked around, fearing that old man John would appear again without anyone noticing.

After listening for about ten seconds and hearing nothing, Anna knocked on the door lightly.

After a while, a sound was heard from behind the door.

"Nya, is that you?"

"Hello, we are new tourists. I heard you have been here for a few days. Can we chat?"

The person behind the door didn't say anything else, but opened the door directly, and a girl who looked unhappy appeared in front of the two.

She glanced at Anna and Terry behind her, smiled, and seemed to have no vigilance. She opened the door and said, "Come in first."

Anna didn't hesitate and walked in with the medicine: "I heard from the tavern owner that you are not feeling well. Is it diarrhea?"

"Ah, how did you know?" the woman was a little surprised.

"Because I travel a lot, sometimes I get stomach discomfort when I go to certain places. I usually take this medicine. You can try it."

Under Anna's enthusiastic and familiar offensive, the three of them quickly had a basic understanding of each other.

The woman's name was Perrin, a college student who was a little younger than them. She came here because her teacher heard that there was an unrecorded gold rush town here, so she brought her students here to record it and do a project at the same time.

Originally they had planned to resolve the issue within three days, but unfortunately, first the car broke down. Although they had someone who knew how to repair it, it delayed them for a day. Then in the evening they had a fish feast, drank and played too late, which delayed them another day. When they were finally about to set off, a sudden snowstorm came and they were trapped.

"I heard from them that the fish in the fish banquet was really delicious and was the most delicious food they had ever eaten in their lives. But I don't like eating fish, and I felt uncomfortable, so I never ate it." Perrin explained.

"So nothing happened to them, I just heard that they were all raw fish, so I was worried about parasites and stuff." Terry asked.

"No, everything is normal. On the contrary, I have been having a stomachache because I haven't eaten anything." Perrin smiled embarrassedly, "I am also afraid, so I don't plan to eat. It's just that I have to be alone every night, and it's not easy to chat with no one. Of course, after all, they all said it was delicious, so I also recommend you to try it. Our teacher has always been very picky. If he says something is delicious, it must be a delicacy that you can't eat normally."

“By the way, do they come back very late?” Anna didn’t ask whether she wanted to eat or not, but continued the conversation.

Perrin thought about it and nodded slowly: "It was okay at the beginning. They came back around nine or ten, but they started drinking downstairs after they came back. It got later and later. But it's okay. The noise they made when they drank downstairs was quite loud. If you are a light sleeper, you will be easily woken up."

Although they had almost gotten the information they wanted, Perrin seemed to feel much better after taking Anna's medicine and was more willing to talk. They didn't want to just say goodbye, so they started chatting about everything.

"Queensland? I haven't been there yet. We are in Melbourne."

"Uncle John is actually a nice guy, but he doesn't talk much."

"The house across the street? I rarely pay attention to it. Is someone peeking in?"

"We also know that the abandoned gold mining town might be dangerous, but the teacher said he asked the officials who searched it last time, and he also asked the sheriff here to accompany him, but he never had the chance to set out."

Before they knew it, they had been chatting for two or three hours. Anna glanced at Terry, who was drowsy, and found an opportunity to leave.

"I feel it's pretty good here. Nia who shares a room with me is usually very lazy, but now she goes out for a run before dawn, even though she usually goes to bed at one or two o'clock."

These words made Terry, who was almost asleep, feel something in his heart.

Considering John’s previous advice, it is not advisable to go out in this small town from early morning to dawn.

"It's not advisable to go out? Maybe they're afraid that outsiders like us might run into danger. But Nia and the others went out together, and they're all pretty familiar with the locals, so they shouldn't be in trouble. She even asked me to go out with them, but I can't run now."

Perrin expressed his opinion.

Terry didn't say anything and followed Anna back to his room.

(End of this chapter)