Chapter 7: The Devil's Village and Mansion (Part 2)

  The two of us tidied up a bit, holding the spring knives in our hands, and walked to the door together. I was listening to her singing with a secretly pleased heart, thinking that if she had the ability, she would continue singing like this, as long as we could get another half minute, we could catch her.

  Just as I touched the doorknob, the singing stopped, especially since it was still at a high pitch. It was clearly an abrupt halt. I was taken aback and stood still with Pan for a while, expecting the singing to resume, but disappointingly, there was no more movement outside the house.

  I discussed with Panzi again, and I thought that even if we couldn't find the source of the sound, we should still go out for a walk.

  Panzi agreed with this idea, and when we went out the door, both of us deliberately tiptoed.

  The scene outside hasn't changed much, still as quiet as death. We stood at the door and looked around, except for a tile house opposite us, other tile houses are a bit far from here, I analyzed that the possibility of the singing voice coming from the opposite tile house is relatively high.

  I made a gesture to Panzi, and we both ran towards the opposite tile-roofed house with our waists bent.

  Although they are all tile houses, the one opposite is much better than ours. Even the glass on the windows has been wiped clean by someone and reflects a faint light under the moonlight.

  Such a good house, I guess the person living inside must have a high status in the village. I thought about it and decided to use thirst as an excuse to knock on her door and try to get a glimpse of what's going on.

  I didn't knock too hard at first, just a few rhythmic knocks. If the owner of this house was singing earlier, she must not be asleep and should definitely hear the knocking sound.

  But after a few knocks, there was no reaction from inside the house. I found it strange and increased my strength, even punching the door with my fist at last.

  Pan Zi had been waiting beside me all along. Seeing that I still hadn't reacted, he became anxious and pointed at the window saying "Wait a minute, let me take a look out of the window."

  Although it's not very polite to stick one's head against the window, there's no other way now. Panzi quietly came to the window and stuck his face against the glass, but the room was too dark and he couldn't see anything inside.

  He took out the flashlight he had brought with him and shone it inside.

  I wasn't by the window and didn't know what was going on inside, but after Panzi observed for a while, he described to me, "There's no one living in here, but the room has clearly been cleaned. Isn't that strange?"

  My curiosity was piqued by Panzi's words, and I tried to pull the door handle again, only to find that the door was still locked.

  When I was serving my sentence in prison, I learned some unconventional skills from other inmates, especially the art of picking locks. My back waist specifically carried a small tool clip, which contained iron wires and hard card-like objects.

  I looked around cautiously again to make sure no one was peeking, then squatted down to examine the lock on the door. It's just an ordinary A-level lock, not difficult to pry open.

  I took out the card and inserted it into the door gap, waiting for the lock to slide up and down to confirm its accurate position. Then, I pushed against the bolt and opened it.

  I rubbed against Panzi's shoe sole, and Panzi led the way with a flashlight. We slipped in one after another.

  Have to say, this house is not only very clean, but also has a fragrance floating around. The two of us didn't need to discuss it and tacitly started searching separately.

  I found an old-fashioned record player in the corner, which is now a bit of an antique, especially with its big horn-shaped head, no matter how you look at it, it's awkward.

  I suddenly had a question, wondering if this village didn't have electricity? What's the point of buying a record player? Or did this village used to have electricity?

  I was at a loss for a moment, and then Panzi also made a discovery, beckoning me to come over and take a look.

  He was opening a drawer, inside which lay a black and white photo of three women standing, one of whom was a young girl with braids, the other two were middle-aged women, one of whom was surprisingly fat, her waist as big as a bucket.

  I was originally puzzled why Panzi called me, thinking that this photo is almost as old as the two of us combined, how could I possibly recognize who's who in it. But after taking a closer look, I found that the little girl had a mole between her eyes, and she turned out to be Liu Hui from when we were young.

  To be honest, this isn't a particularly earth-shattering discovery, it just goes to show that Liu Hui is acquainted with the owner of this house, and they have a close relationship. But if you connect the dots, I always feel like Liu Hui must know about the ghostly laughter, and he's also clear about where that singing voice came from.

  I and Panzi searched for a while, but there were no other discoveries. I thought about it and decided to start with Liu Hui this time. Tomorrow when I see her, I'll ask more questions and there will definitely be progress.

  We carefully left, both of us with clean hands and feet. The house was the same when we came in as it was when we went out. When I got back to my place, for a while, I didn't have any other thoughts, just thinking about going to sleep quickly and recovering my spirits before doing anything else.

  But we had just lain down for a short while when Panzi sat up again and stared at me intently.

  I was startled by him, especially with that look in his eyes, which made me anxious, so I asked him what's wrong.

  Panzi was a bit stunned. After I asked him for a while, he suddenly came back to his senses and said to me, "How did I think of peeing?"

  I'm speechless about this guy. He sweated so much earlier and didn't drink much water at night, how did he still get up to pee in the middle of the night?

  I looked around and didn't see a chamber pot in the room, so I told him, "Why don't you just go outside and find an empty spot to take care of it?"

  Panzi smiled awkwardly and asked me to accompany him on a trip. This village is strange, he's afraid of going out alone in case of danger.

  This reason makes me unable to refuse, and I really don't want Panzi to have an accident. After the two of us went out, we circled around to the back of the tile house, where it was a wilderness of weeds.

  I took the opportunity to remind Panzi to stop staring at people, it's too scary, but after hearing my words, Panzi looked confused and even asked me who stared at people.

  I don't know if he was just pretending, so I just casually mentioned it and didn't investigate further. Just then, when Pan Zijun had just finished washing his hands, a faint laugh came from afar.

  This laughter is the kind of "heh heh", which is not quite the same as the previous "hee hee" ghostly laughter. If it weren't for our sensitivity, this laughter would be easily overlooked.

  Pan Zizheng was pulling the "chicken coop door" when he was startled by the laughter, and his movements became disordered. He pulled it quickly, but I didn't see clearly what he bumped into. Anyway, he let out a painful hum.

  Then he came over with a fiery temper, but also a bit fearful, and said to me in a slightly changed tone of voice, "This ghost is too damn abnormal, not only did it follow us all the way, but when we got to the village, it even changed its tune!"

  I didn't think like Panzi, I savored the source of the laughter just now, and it seemed to be coming from the tile-roofed house across from us.

  I said, "Anyway, you've finished peeing, let's go take a look at the other side."

  Panzi's face looked a bit off-color and he asked me, "Didn't we just come back from there? And there's no one in the house either."

  I couldn't think of an answer and my mind was filled with such doubts.

  We tiptoed and walked in that direction, but before we reached the place, we heard a faint voice coming from behind the tile-roofed house.

  This suggests that there is someone behind the tile house, and we both signal to each other to be quiet, and then stick to the wall and sneak around to the back. When I peek over the wall, I see a well behind the tile house, and a fat old lady who doesn't know when she came, sitting with her back to us, plumply sitting beside the well.

  At a glance, I could tell that this plump old lady was the plump middle-aged woman in the photo. I didn't expect time to fly by so quickly, and now she's an old person.

  She didn't notice that we were sneaking a peek at her, clutching a piece of paper in her hand, reading and muttering to herself while staring at the well.

  I and Pan Zi didn't move, quietly listening to what she had to say.

  She said to Jingbian, "Aunt Zhang, your son asked me to ask you, do you still need money? Do you want him to give you some more?"

  Then she deliberately stuck her head over the edge of the well and hummed a few times, then looked at the paper and asked another question.

  Her action scared both Panzi and me, I thought to myself that she was obviously talking to a dead person. Especially in that well, could it be that there really is a ghost hiding inside?

  Pan Zigen couldn't help but cover his mouth, almost letting out a cry.

  Or perhaps it was Panzi covering her mouth and making a small noise, that the fat old lady suddenly stopped, suspiciously turning her head to look in our direction.

  We both quickly withdrew our necks, afraid of being discovered by her. At this moment, I was a little nervous and deliberately perked up my ears to listen, fearing that the old lady would walk in our direction.

  But I was worried about what didn't happen, and before long, she started muttering again.

  I really couldn't take it anymore, and I was even starting to hallucinate, feeling like there was an icy hand touching my spine. I gave Panzi a signal with my eyes, and we both slowly backed away, quietly returning to our own room.

  After Pan Zi went back, he started smoking one after another. Although he didn't say anything, it could be felt that he was under great pressure.

  I also think this task is too tricky, on the first night we arrived in Weichang Village, we encountered so many strange things, especially a bunch of unsolvable mysteries.

  I have a feeling that the three people in the black and white photo, Liu Wei and the fat old lady, have already appeared, and the other woman, we will meet her sooner or later, and she will also meet us in an unexpected way.

  I lay in bed, thinking and thinking, and finally fell asleep in a daze. The second half of the night didn't have any more strange occurrences, but that doesn't mean we'll be safe tomorrow!