Chapter 4: The Blood-Stained Clothes on Mount Hou

  I hastily picked up the phone, and on the other end was my grandfather's aged voice: "Ah Hai, these past few days I've had a twitching eyelid, so I asked Mi about it and found out that something bad is going to happen to you. Do you still remember that mobile phone I gave you? Remember to carry it with you at all times, it can temporarily keep you safe. Tomorrow I'll have Xiao Ying come find you."

  As soon as I heard Grandpa mention Xiaoying, I hastily said: "Grandpa, I know, don't let her come. I'm about to go to the temple with friends and I'm in a hurry, see you later."

  My grandfather is in a mountain village thousands of miles away, and distant water cannot put out the fire nearby. It seems I still have to continue looking for a Taoist or Buddhist monk.

  An hour later, I and He Dong arrived at Dabeisi Temple. Unfortunately, the temple had been converted into a senior activity center, and the monks had long since moved out.

  We then hurriedly looked for other temples and Taoist monasteries. After searching several places, we didn't see any monks or Taoist priests.

  It seems that the saying "not burning incense in normal times, but holding Buddha's feet in urgent situations" is indeed somewhat reasonable.

  After running around for a whole morning, I finally found a Taoist temple with a priest. However, the little Daoist boy who greeted us opened his mouth wide and said that to see the real person in charge, we had to burn a 50,000-yuan incense stick to show our sincerity.

  He Dong and I were furious: Since Lire's salary card disappeared, we basically had no money on us. Where could we come up with 50,000 yuan? We loudly argued with Dao Tong.

  They argued for half a day, and the real person finally came out. As soon as he saw us, he shook his head: "Both of you are doomed to die, my skills can't save you either. You'd better leave quickly, lest you bring disaster to our temple."

  Having said that, he swung his large sleeves and turned into the Taoist temple.

  I and He Dongqi were furious, facing the Taoist temple's broken door and scolding loudly. The little Taoist boy pushed and pulled us out.

  This little Taoist priest seemed to be only fourteen or fifteen years old, but his strength was surprisingly great. He and He Dong basically had no power to resist, and we were pushed to the door of the Taoist temple, and the big gate closed.

  Then we ran through a dozen or so temples in one breath, and the monks and Taoist priests who saw us shook their heads and sighed, saying that they were not good enough and unable to help.

  Both He Dong and I felt a chill in our hearts at the same time.

  Luo Ming, who is hiding behind us and making trouble, can't be so fierce?

  But I still have hope, after all, there is still that mobile phone at home, and there is still my grandfather.

  He Dong's face turned a deathly pale.

  He suddenly said, "Su Hai, I should have died long ago. I did something that was against the will of heaven and reason. To take revenge on Luo Ming for assigning me to be a janitor, I seduced his 15-year-old daughter, took her to bed, and even flirted with his wife. I am not human."

  He Dong's face was filled with despair and desperation at this point.

  I was shocked and said: "He Dong, Luo Ming and his daughter may not be human. Don't feel guilty. And don't give up on survival, the heavens will not cut off a person's path."

  He Dong's eyes showed a hollow expression, his face was expressionless as he nodded at me: "Su Hai, thank you, I think I'll head back first."

  ……

  After confirming that both of our phones were working properly and agreeing to contact each other if anything came up, I also returned to my place.

  I was woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night.

  Open it and take a look, it turned out to be Luo Hong. However, her number had already changed to crimson.

  I had an immediate bad premonition.

  On the phone was a strange girl's voice, claiming to be Luo Hong's sister Luo Qi. She sobbed and asked me what my relationship with Luo Hong was. Because my number was one of the last few numbers she dialed before her death.

  Luoyang indeed had an accident.

  According to Luo Qi's description, Luo Hong's death was similar to Yang Ying's. Before dying, she got up in the middle of the night and hummed "The Songstress of the Sky's Edge". Both of them locked themselves in their rooms, using a knife to cut their bodies all over, cutting themselves into slender shapes, resulting in excessive blood loss and death, with a smile on their faces. Before dying, they also got up in the middle of the night, pinched their throats and hummed "The Songstress of the Sky's Edge".

  Moreover, Luo Hong's right upper cheek was cut off, leaving a large piece of flesh and blood.

  What's more important is that Luo Qi described a crucial point: when she burst into Luo Hong's room, she saw a faint shadowy figure floating out.

  I feel like all the pores on my body have exploded, and there's a block of thousand-year-old ice stuck in my heart, making my whole body shiver with cold.

  Luo Hong's death was both within and beyond my expectations.

  Her number turned pale red and she didn't listen to my advice, so her death was expected. But I didn't expect her to die so soon, just a little over a day after her number turned red.

  I hastily flipped through my phone's contact list and suddenly found that He Dong's number had also turned pale red.

  That is to say, the next one will likely be He Dong's turn.

  My hands trembled as I dialed He Dong's number, but my ten fingers refused to obey.

  After finally getting through to He Dong's phone, just as he was about to speak, He Dong preempted him, his voice unusually calm: "Su Hai, I'm drinking at the back mountain of Lire Park. Come over. Maybe it'll be our last little gathering."

  Then he hung up the phone.

  I was stunned for a long time, with a thousand thoughts in my mind.

  Should I report it? But will the police believe me?

  Escaping to my maternal grandfather's house? However, the monks and Taoist priests from over a dozen temples in Guangfu City all said that their moral integrity was not enough and they couldn't help me. If I go back, will it implicate my maternal grandfather's family?

  I thought about it and now the most sensible thing to do is to find He Dong, look at him, and keep his life safe. Otherwise, the next one will be me or Jiang Longyao.

  Although going to Lire's nearby park in the back mountain is also very risky, and unexpected things may happen, I thought about it and decided to go anyway.

  I put the Nokia phone that my grandfather gave me in my pocket, then found a flashlight and two surgical knives hidden at my waist as a defense, and then took a taxi to the park nearby.

  At this time, the park had already closed its gates, I climbed over the wall and made my way to the top of the hill, finally finding He Dong.

  At this time, the moonlight on the mountain top was dim, but it could generally see the scenery within a radius of one meter around.

  He Dong's expression was unusually calm, with several bottles of old white dry wine placed beside him. As soon as he saw me, he gave a miserable smile and handed me a bottle, then persuaded me to drink.

  As the saying goes, "wine can give courage to a coward", anyway, I was feeling nervous at that time, so I had a few sips. My head immediately felt dizzy, but my whole body also started burning up, with hot blood boiling over. I felt great and didn't care about anything else anymore, so I downed a few more mouthfuls.

  He didn't know how many bottles of old white wine he had drunk, and finally fell to the ground with a thud, fast asleep.

  It wasn't until midnight that I woke up. Actually, I was woken up by the cold.

  The temperature tonight is very strange, it's obviously a midsummer night and the cicadas are still calling, normally it shouldn't be cold at all, but I felt a chill to my bones, from the soles of my feet straight up to my chest.

  That is to say, this cold air is likely to be generated from underground. In the high places of tall trees, the cold air cannot erode, so the temperature does not change much, and it is normal for cicadas to chirp.

  It was fortunate that the white wine I had drunk earlier took effect and the chill gradually dissipated. At the time, I didn't think much about it because He Dong had gone missing.

  I found his phone in He Dong's bedroom.

  I opened my phone and saw that He Dong's number was still light red, I slightly breathed a sigh of relief. It proved that He Dong was temporarily fine.

  It's already late at night, the park gate is locked, and He Dong shouldn't have left me behind, thrown away his phone, and gone home alone.

  There is only one possibility: he is still on the mountain.

  "He Dong! He Dong!"

  I scrambled up and shouted out his name.

  Dark clouds are swirling in the sky, the moon is about to come out but hasn't yet, relying on the faint moonlight, I'm searching for him step by step on the mountain.

  I shouted for a long time, but He Dong didn't respond to me. The mountain was silent except for my loud shout, even the sound of cicadas disappeared.

  At this time, I had sobered up more than half of my intoxication, and a sudden surge of fear rose in my heart.

  "Far and wide, searching for a kindred spirit..."

  At this moment, the melody of "The Wandering Songstress" suddenly floated over from the other side of the mountain.

  The voice was eerily strange, like a man intentionally pinching his throat to mimic a sharp, feminine tone, sending shivers down my spine in this desolate wilderness. I broke out into a cold sweat, and the wine's effects were completely gone.

  Listening carefully, it was indeed He Dong's voice, although he deliberately squeezed his throat, I still recognized it as him.

  I followed the sound and finally found He Dong in a secluded mountain nest.

  The scene before my eyes is etched in my memory forever.

  Only on both sides were two big trees, with a pair of large red lanterns hanging from the branches, illuminating the surroundings in a bloody red hue.

  On the branches of two pagoda trees hung quilts and sick clothes, all stained with blood, dripping with bloody water.

  He Dong, a big man, actually wore a bright red dress, with rouge and lipstick on his pale face, and a pair of high heels, with the toes pointed high, almost walking on tiptoes.

  And behind him, there seemed to be a faint black shadow clinging to his entire body!

  He Dong sang "The Wandering Songstress" in a nasal voice, his affected tones eerily haunting in the empty night air.

  He pulled out a blood-stained garment from the large basin beside him and hung it on the bamboo pole. At this time, his face was full of delicate and gentle expressions, and when he hung up the blood-stained garment, he even curled up his fingers like a orchid, with a gentle and soft demeanor of a woman.

  I got goosebumps all over my body, my legs went weak and I almost couldn't stand.