Chapter 96 Is the Cemetery Haunted?
Osflow, the Smith Family's Old House
Five people in camouflage crept through the cemetery, carefully avoiding all the flashlight beams.
Oliver called out to Celeste behind him, "Hurry up, be careful. It's just a cemetery. I don't know what's gotten into Martin, calling so many people to guard it."
Celeste's father Declan Brown and mother Anouk Roberts, following at the back, poked Celeste's back irritably.
"What's going on? Why did Oliver come back with us? Wasn't it agreed that we'd go put the stuff there ourselves?"
They had planned to secretly bury the Brown family ancestors' ashes. If Elodie was already buried there, they could use that cemetery's good feng shui to bless the Brown family descendants.
Celeste felt helpless too!
She had no idea what had gotten into Oliver, suddenly insisting on going back to their hometown to rebury Elodie's ashes.
He said he hadn't shown up when Elodie was buried, didn't know how Catherine had handled Elodie's grave, and had to see it for himself to feel at ease.
Anouk's eyes darted around.
"Later we'll discuss with Oliver - the grave is so big anyway, maybe we can put the Brown family ancestors' ashes in there too?"
Declan nodded, pounding his lower back as he followed behind.
"Let's try that first. If Oliver doesn't agree, we'll think of something else."
Celeste felt uneasy.
Given how stingy Oliver was, if someone wanted to share his fortune, there was no way he'd agree!
The group crouched as they walked through the cemetery. Everywhere were guards arranged by Charles, holding military flashlights and patrolling all over the hills, worried someone might come cause trouble at the cemetery.
Seeing this setup, Oliver muttered, "What exactly does this Martin do? Making such a big fuss over just a cemetery. If we could get to know him and have him work with the Smith family, the Smith family's urgent problems would definitely be solved."
Oliver's wounds from being beaten by unknown people still ached faintly, and he felt uncomfortable all over.
If it weren't for thinking this cemetery location was good enough to bless the Smith family with great wealth, he wouldn't have insisted on coming to see it himself.
"Clara, have you contacted Lucas recently?"
Oliver had called Lucas over a dozen times wanting to discuss the marriage between the Johnson family and the Smith family, but the Johnson family hadn't answered.
Clara felt a bit guilty. She'd been reading scripts these past few days, preparing to join a film crew. Where would she find time to contact Lucas?
"No, Lucas said he's been going to the company these days and doesn't have time for me."
Oliver was somewhat dissatisfied.
"What's with Lucas? Ignoring such a beautiful and lovely fiancée. When we get back tomorrow, I'll personally take you to their house to ask when the wedding will be."
"Okay."
Thinking about marrying Lucas soon, Clara was quite excited too.
When they had their grand wedding, she'd definitely contact all the major media outlets, so Catherine, who could only work as a caregiver at the Windsor family now, could see how happy she was!
Lucas was the person she'd wanted to marry since childhood, and finally she could be with him.
The mountain path was hard to walk on. The cemetery had just been rained on, and everywhere was muddy. The family stopped talking and walked through the mud, their steps uneven.
Celeste hadn't been to this kind of place in years. She almost slipped, and was caught by Declan behind her, preventing a fall.
"What a terrible place. Is this really a great location?"
"What do you know? This grave's location is really good! Didn't you see how many people Martin called to guard it after buying it?"
That's true.
Only something good would make people care about it so much.
Otherwise, Martin spent so much money - it couldn't just be for the Smith family's old house, right?
That broken place - she wouldn't want to go there even if asked.
Oliver finally found the place Martin had mentioned on the phone and quickly took out the shovel he'd brought with him, wanting to dig up Elodie's ashes first.
Just as he put the shovel down, he heard a strange sound!
Oliver nearly jumped in place from fright!
This whole mountain was a cemetery - how could there be such a strange, eerie sound?
"What's that sound?"
Celeste and Clara were also scared, huddling together.
"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't dig up Elodie first - should we open the grave and look?"
As soon as they stopped, the sound around them got more intense.
Oliver was very scared!
"Could... could it be haunted?"
Declan slapped the back of his head. "What ghost? Where would there be ghosts in the middle of the night?"
His voice was also trembling. Hearing the sound coming from who knows where, the whole family huddled together.
"Let's dig open the grave first and look. Oliver, I brought some of your mother's ashes in advance, should be enough. Let's not dig anymore."
Declan had it all figured out - he'd just tell Oliver what he had on him was Elodie. He wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.
And the Brown family ancestors could successfully move in.
Oliver was overjoyed. "Dad, you're so thoughtful!"
Declan must have known in advance that he'd be scared, so he dug up some of Elodie's ashes!
The family started digging at the grave again.
The more they dug, the louder the banging on the coffin became.
Celeste was a bit scared. "Oliver, do you think this sound is coming from inside Mom's coffin?"
Elodie's coffin?
Oliver was so scared he almost threw his shovel!
"Don't talk nonsense! We must have heard wrong. Let's dig it open quickly and then go down the mountain and go home!"
This place - he never wanted to come here again in his life!
After finally digging open the grave and opening the coffin, Oliver was stunned!
"Steven Johnson? What are you doing in my mom's grave?"
Clara also covered her mouth. "Steven?"
Wasn't this Lucas's father?
Steven was suffocating, his face looked terrible, and he looked at Oliver weakly.
"How should I know? How did I end up here when I was perfectly fine!"
Clara asked in surprise, "Steven, what are you holding in your hands?"
Steven said weakly, "My mom's ashes. Don't ask questions now, help me up. I'm about to suffocate to death in here."
He'd just come out this afternoon to pay respects to his mother, but happened to notice his mother's grave had partially collapsed, so he simply had someone repair it and walked off holding his mother's urn.
He hadn't taken two steps before his vision went black and he passed out. When he opened his eyes again, he was in Elodie's grave!
He didn't know which heartless person had thrown him in the grave and nearly suffocated him to death!
He'd been knocking on the coffin for ages, and Oliver hadn't noticed his movement. It made him so angry.
But Oliver narrowed his eyes.
That Martin said he bought this land to use for his family elders, to bless their family with wealth for generations.
But now Steven and Steven's mother's ashes were lying in the grave. What did this mean?
"Well, well! Steven, you actually stole our family's cemetery plot and wanted to leave my mother with nowhere to be buried. What a vicious scheme!"
"If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll make you pay the price!"