Chapter 30: Zhang San Resurrects

  At this time, the green smoke on the grave had already dissipated, and the little ants slowly began to refill the hole with mud.

  "Let's go!" said Zhang Shan Lao Dao, and with that, he continued walking forward.

  As I walked, I suddenly heard a woman's soft voice speaking, the sound was very weak, feeling somewhat listless and uncertain.

  Just then, Zhangshan Lao Dao suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at the woman with a serious expression.

  The woman stood sideways to us, wearing a pink cheongsam, her hair was black and shiny, like a black waterfall, from the top of her head straight down to her waist.

  At this time, the woman suddenly threw her head back and burst out laughing, that laughter felt like someone had told her a joke and made her laugh.

  After laughing, the woman's body suddenly tilted back by thirty degrees, as if leaning against someone. But behind the woman, there was clearly no one.

  Just then, I suddenly discovered that the old Taoist Bamboo Mountain who was just beside me had disappeared. Just as I found out that the old Taoist Bamboo Mountain had disappeared, that woman slowly took off her cheongsam and exposed half of her back, which was as white as flour.

  Suddenly, the woman raised her left hand, which was as white as a card, and it floated in mid-air, as if being pulled by someone. At this moment, a white mist rose from beside the woman, and the mist gradually thickened, until only a shadow of the woman's body remained.

  After a while, the sound of a woman's moans entered my ears, and with that moaning sound, the shadow began to twist and turn, feeling like someone was touching her.

  Just then, I suddenly felt a slight itch on my back, as if something was scratching me. I reached out to scratch it, but there was nothing there.

  As soon as I pulled my hand back, something else landed on my back. What exactly was on my back, I wasn't quite sure, but I could feel it slowly crawling.

  I strained with all my might and slapped myself on the back with a loud crack.

  "Oh no!" I cried out.

  This slap was quite severe, I reckon my own back is red from it. However, what's frustrating me is that I didn't manage to hit the thing crawling on my back.

  But I was certain that after this slap, the thing had stopped crawling on my back. Just as I thought it had been driven away by me, my calf suddenly felt a bit itchy.

  What a broken toy, it actually crawled up to my calf so quickly. This time, I learned from the lesson just now and didn't rush to slap it down heavily. Because I know that if I stretch out my hand to hit it like before, I will definitely not be able to hit that thing and can only hurt myself.

  Now, I want to take a look at that thing first and figure out what it is.

  I can feel that it's still on my calf. Now, I need to slowly crouch down without startling it so I can see what it looks like.

  But as soon as I bent down, I felt that thing jump up, and then it was no longer on my calf. However, soon I found it again, and it had actually run onto my thigh.

  On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, it was still extremely hot during the hottest period. So when I went out, I wore a pair of shorts and in rural areas, kids like me usually don't wear underwear. That thing probably ran into my shorts from the leg opening.

  Now, that thing is crawling towards the place where I pee, and I feel it's about to climb up. I'm afraid it will bite me, so my butt tightened unconsciously, got nervous, and unexpectedly peed in my pants.

  This time I peed an unusually large amount. My pee flowed out along the pant leg of my shorts, forming a line that streamed onto the floor.

  After I finished peeing, it seemed to have disappeared. However, by that time, my shorts were already soaked halfway through. I knew there was a small stream nearby, which I had passed with Zhang Shan Old Road earlier. Zhang Shan Old Road was still washing his hands there, so I had to take off my shorts and go wash them to get rid of the pee smell.

  As I bent down to take off my shorts, I found a stink bug on the ground, all wet. I picked it up and smelled it, only to find that not only did it smell bad, but it also had the smell of my urine on it. Could it be that this thing was crawling around on me just now?

  I didn't squeeze the firefly hard, but it twitched twice and then died. Before, I had urinated on fireflies, but they hadn't died. So, I thought this firefly in my hand was a bit strange. However, I'm just a simple little kid, so I didn't think much of it.

  Just then, I suddenly found that the woman's moan had stopped. I looked towards the woman, and she was gone too.

  Just now I shifted all my attention to the thing on me, so I couldn't keep staring at that woman. Now, the thing on me, probably this dead cicada, can no longer distract my attention, but that woman suddenly disappeared.

  That woman and this cicada, will they have any connection? Is all of this the doing of that wicked old woman?

  For such a complex problem, I'm just a kid and can't figure it out, but my intuition tells me that the disappearance of that cicada and that woman must be somehow connected.

  Of course, now for me, the most important thing is not to think about that woman and the fart bug, but to quickly go wash off the smell of urine on my shorts.

  So I took my shorts and ran towards the small pond. But after running for a long time, I still hadn't reached the small pond. If I remember correctly, it should be very close to me, but maybe I was running in the wrong direction.

  Just as I was about to continue running in a different direction, I suddenly found a pink old cheongsam on the ground. The style and color of this cheongsam were exactly the same as those worn by that woman just now, only more tattered.

  There is some mud on this cheongsam. It looks like it was dug up from underground. In other words, this cheongsam should be a burial object.

  "Master! Master!" I shouted loudly, but it seemed to have no effect. My throat was hoarse from shouting, yet the old Taoist of Bamboo Mountain still didn't appear.

  Since the old Taoist master of Bamboo Mountain is no longer taking care of me, I can only make my way down the mountain by myself. However, I've discovered that I'm lost. I don't know if it's because I was in a hurry and ran in the wrong direction earlier, or if the path beneath my feet has changed its orientation on its own. In any case, I no longer know how I ended up here.

  Although I couldn't find the road, I also can't just sit here and wait! So, I decided to try my luck, walking in one direction, at least I could get down the mountain.

  As I walked, a figure suddenly appeared in front of me. The person was wearing a yellowed white shirt and flashed before my eyes. Although the person only flashed before my eyes for a moment, I still recognized him - it was Zhang San.

  Zhang San is already dead and has been buried, his grave is in the small bamboo forest at the east end of Shima Village. Thinking of that woman just now, plus the fact that Songlin Mountain was originally full of ghosts, I can only take the one who flashed past my eyes as Zhang San's ghost.

  I used to think that ghosts were scary and terrifying, but now I don't think they're so frightening after seeing two of them in Songlin Mountain. At least the two ghosts I saw didn't come to harm me.

  Just as I was convinced that the ghost of Zhang San had just flashed by, I inadvertently discovered that the road where Zhang San had run past earlier actually left footprints.

  I have seen Zhang San's corpse, so I still roughly know how big his feet are. At least in my opinion, the size of the footprints on the ground is about the same as the size of Zhang San's feet.

  Zhu Shan Lao Dao once told me that all ghosts are light and airy, even when walking, they won't leave footprints. Anything that can leave footprints is absolutely a living thing.

  I believe what Lao Dao of Bamboo Mountain said. So, I'm a bit puzzled now. What I saw just now was clearly Zhang San, but Zhang San is already dead. If what I saw was his spirit, then there shouldn't be any footprints, should there?

  Unless Zhang San is still alive, what I saw just now was him himself!