Folk Card Maker: Starting from Painted Skin.

Chapter 23 Curse Cult
The location of their joint training this time was not in any of the three schools, but next to Xi Lake.

Of course, this is not Xihu Lake, but a museum near Xihu Lake, which mainly explains the origin of Xihu Lake and the past and present of Lanruo Temple.

However, Xihu Lake is still closed. As soon as Zhang Jingtian got off the car, he saw various cards pasted next to Xihu Lake, forming an artificial barrier.

As expected, Teacher Ma returned to school. The five students stood next to the museum, and no one greeted them. The scene became awkward for a while.

Zhou Yang raised his head and looked at Zhang Jingtian: "Leader, where should we go now?"

Others echoed.

Zhang Jingtian thought about it and felt that the school sent them here for training, definitely not to go to great lengths to kill them.

So they definitely won’t go to Xihu.

Apart from the museum, there are only a few residential areas around here, so the only place they can go is the museum.

"Let's go in and have a look!"

Zhang Jingtian pointed to the museum in front of him.

Zhou Yang gave Zhang Jingtian face. After hearing the other party's decision, he did not refute it, but silently followed Zhang Jingtian's pace.

After they walked into the museum, they finally saw a group of people.

But they were not museum staff, but students like them.

The ten people sitting on the sofa stood up almost at the same time, and looked at each other with not very friendly eyes.

There was no need to introduce themselves, in fact, everyone had guessed each other's identities.

One person each from No. 1 Middle School and No. 7 Middle School stood up, obviously their respective team leaders.

The one from No. 7 Middle School was a tall and thin boy who looked like a bamboo pole. There was almost no flesh on his face, which was completely sunken.

To be honest, if Zhang Jingtian saw this person late at night, his first reaction would definitely be to think he was a ghost.

Is this the Silver Card Maker Xu Qiang mentioned? He looks so fragile.

The other party said, "Chen Haotian, from No. 7 Middle School. You should be from Experimental Middle School, right? Did your teacher also tell us what we should do next?"

Seeing that the other party was communicating normally, Zhang Jingtian also began to communicate seriously:

"No, he left us here and left without saying anything."

The girl from No. 1 Middle School had short hair. In fact, if she hadn’t spoken, Zhang Jingtian wouldn’t have realized that she was a woman.

"Our school didn't say anything and just threw us here. If someone didn't know, they would think we had done something wrong and were being exiled here!"

All fifteen students present laughed, and the atmosphere was quite good.

After all, they are all top students in their respective schools, and they firmly believe that the school would not harm them.

"Is there no one in this museum?"

Zhang Jingtian asked immediately.

"Well, not only is there no one," Chen Haotian said softly, "many doors in the museum are closed, as if they are deliberately preventing us from passing through."

The more Zhang Jingtian listened, the more strange it felt. He couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that the training has already begun, and we are here as the first test?"

The short-haired girl nodded. "I thought so too. I thought they would tell us the details once everyone arrived."

You guys are here, and we're still clueless!"

Everyone looked confused, not knowing what to do. Zhang Jingtian glanced at the furnishings in the room. The only thing in the room was a table.

He walked over to the table, which had only a newspaper on it.

But it was an old newspaper from many years ago, which said that the largest department store in Lanruo City had opened.

Then the entire page was filled with blessings from people in society, as well as advertisements for brands that had never been heard of.

"We've read this newspaper too. It was published thirty years ago."

At that time, the entire world had been invaded by the Scourge, but there were not as many card makers as there are now, and their strength was far less than it is now.

"Does anyone know about this department store?" Zhang Jingtian asked seriously.

In the crowd, a girl raised her hand.

"Less than a year after the department store opened, a fire broke out. The doors of the building could not be opened, and all the customers and staff inside were burned to death.

I heard that for a long time, anyone passing by this area could smell the aroma of barbecue.”

At this time, some students had already covered their mouths in disgust. It was estimated that they would not eat any barbecue.

Zhang Jingtian looked calm, which made Chen Haotian nod frequently.

Top students like them would gossip with each other and secretly compete with each other during the final exams every year.

They have always known that the most powerful person in Experimental Middle School is Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang also came this time, but he turned out not to be the team leader, but someone he had never seen before.

Chen Haotian was still quite curious about Zhang Jingtian's strength.

"Could the old site of the department store be the museum we're in?"

“That’s not it,” the girl shook her head. “It’s quite far from here, but many people died there, and that place later became a secret place.

I heard that anyone who enters that secret realm will be tortured by high temperatures at any time. Fortunately, this secret realm has been completely cleared."

Zhang Jingtian uttered an "oh" and whispered, "So, was the initial fire in this building an accident, or was it caused by the Scourge?"

This time it was Xu Qiang who spoke.

Because the girl mentioned this, he connected this matter with the infamous card maker traitor.

"No, it was caused by a card maker at the time. He personally sealed the building with spell cards and kept blocking rescue efforts, which led to the deaths of everyone in the building."

Zhang Jingtian was extremely shocked: "Why would he do this?"

"Because he's from the Cult of the Damned. The Cult of the Damned is a notorious anti-human organization, and the card makers within it are even more terrifying and twisted than the Scourge!"

"They believe that only extreme pain can create better stories. So they use the pursuit of inspiration as an excuse to create all kinds of horrific incidents.

The murderer of the department store said it bluntly: he just wanted to see thousands of people burn to death in the fire and then create an unparalleled venue card.

Hearing this, Zhang Jingtian found it unreasonable.

I didn’t expect that there are cults in the card making world.

“It’s just that the association and the authorities are worried that someone might copycat crimes or follow curse cults, so they rarely release information about them.

Plus, the Curse Cult hasn't been active much in recent years, so many people have forgotten about them."

(End of this chapter)