Chapter 9: The Ghost Hits the Wall

  "Wait a minute—" I grabbed Yang Xiufeng, my face somewhat gloomy, looking around in all directions, feeling like something was off. My gaze finally fell on the ground, where a grass clump seemed to have an extra mineral water bottle. Although I didn't dare confirm if anyone else had come to Mount San, or if it belonged to someone else, but if there was also an instant noodle bag next to it, then I could basically be sure that this was what I ate earlier. Thinking about this made a chill run up from my feet, and my body stiffened. I swallowed hard, and my voice became somewhat shaky: "Little Feng, do you think we walked back the same way? Why do I feel like we never turned around?"

  Yang Xiufeng was stunned, she hadn't noticed anything about the water bottle and instant noodle bag, and didn't know why I suddenly asked these questions. But she also understood that there must be some problem, hesitated for a moment, and leaned in towards me: "No, indeed it never turned around."

  The answer is affirmative, but I didn't feel happy at all. Since we didn't turn around, it should be said that no matter how we walked, we wouldn't come back, but we did turn back. The mountain wind was still there and the leaves were rustling, but my heart kept sinking. There must be a ghost. I also remembered the stories I heard from old people when I was young. Was it an encounter with a "ghost hitting the wall"?

  Old people often tell some stories, sometimes when walking in the wilderness at night, they will encounter a "ghost hitting the wall", and it is impossible to distinguish the direction. They keep turning around in the same place and can't find their way out until dawn. It's said that there are ghosts playing tricks on people, except for tormenting them all night, they won't hurt anyone. However, some people get scared so badly that they fall seriously ill or even die of fright. Others say it feels like there is a wall blocking the way around, and no way out can be found. At this time, lighting a cigarette is good, as long as it can be lit, the "ghost hitting the wall" will disappear, and one can continue on their own way.

  I pulled out a cigarette from my pocket, only to find that my hands were shaking. I was scared too, but no one laughed at me because others were not much better off than I was. Yang Xiufeng just rushed into my arms with a panicked face. As a man, who could I hide in whose arms? While lost in thought, I fiddled with the lighter, but this damn lighter seemed to be against me today. No matter how hard I tried, there wasn't even a spark.

  The more I couldn't get a spark, the harder my hand shook. This damn lighter was broken, but I kept trying. Just then, I suddenly felt Yang Xiufeng's head buried in my chest, followed by a sharp cry that startled me so much that my hand trembled and the lighter fell into the grass underfoot. When I looked up, I saw something white approaching us from a distance, seemingly there yet not quite, but it looked like a wall.

  Is this the true face of ghost hitting wall? I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, instinctively wanting to hide, this thought once rose up and couldn't stop, didn't care about so many things, pulled Yang Xiufeng to turn around and run, all the way stumbling, clothes were scratched by branches but couldn't be bothered, just desperately running forward.

  Nor did we know how long, nor did we know how far we ran, anyway, up and down, we ran for a very long time, until we were exhausted, finally one of us stumbled and fell to the ground, subconsciously looking back, but this glance made my whole body icy cold in an instant. How could that white thing not only not go further away, but instead get closer to us? Just like a lump of dough, it was swaying and approaching us, and it seemed to be about to crush us.

  Struggling to retreat, I still haven't let go of Yang Xiufeng's hand. At this moment, I no longer have the strength to stand up, and can only move my body to make a final struggle, retreating two more steps. It seems like something was grasped in my hand. Looking at it, a chill ran from the soles of my feet all the way up, and I suddenly shivered violently. How could it be that the lighter I dropped earlier is now in my hand? We had clearly run out very far just now, how could we still be here without moving?

  I was desperate, that white thing had already reached the place where I could reach out and touch it, and there was no escape. All I could do was stare blankly as it rolled over me. At that moment, I thought for sure I was a goner. On instinct, I flipped my body over to shield Yang Xiufeng beneath me, using myself to protect her. It wasn't until then that I realized Yang Xiufeng had already fainted. How enviable! She could faint at the critical moment, while I was stuck staring blankly and enduring it all. I really wanted to find a rock to knock myself out with, so I wouldn't have to face this unstoppable fear.

  A white thing suddenly rolled over, but I didn't feel anything. I was just in a white world, with white things all around me, front and back, left and right, up and down. We were swallowed in. After a while, I raised my head in horror. Although I wasn't crushed to death, I couldn't shake off the fear in my heart. Was I inside this monster's belly?

  "Uh..." Just as I was still in a daze, Yang Xiufeng under me woke up, but for a moment she was still dizzy and stupidly asked: "Little Hai brother, are we dead?"

  He collected his thoughts and forced a bitter smile: "Not yet, but it seems to have been swallowed into the monster's belly."

  As I gazed around at the scene, I had forgotten to get off Yang Xiufeng's body. But after Yang Xiufeng caught her breath, she became even more frightened. Not only did she not push me away, but instead wrapped her arms around my waist, buried her head in my chest and began to sob softly: "Little Hai Ge, I'm scared..."

  Are you scared? Actually, I'm also afraid, but with the girl by my side, I couldn't say it out loud. I forced a wry smile, at least for now we're not alone. But what should we do now? Yang Xiufeng is clearly not in a state to discuss this, and I don't have any ideas either. My mind is just thinking about all sorts of things, those childhood stories are swirling around in my head, maybe I'll find something useful.

  The sound of Yang Xiufeng's breathing became heavier, and when I came to my senses, I found that my face was against hers. I could even see the faint red on her face, her tightly closed eyes, and her trembling lips. It turned out that Yang Xiufeng was quite good-looking. For some reason, a lot of random thoughts suddenly emerged in my mind.

  I don't know how it happened, but I somehow leaned down and kissed Yang Xiufeng's mouth, her body trembled beneath me, her face turned even redder with shame, and her breathing became more labored.

  Fear made me somewhat uncontrollable, I couldn't say whether I liked it or not. I had an urge to vent, and without thinking, I suddenly lowered my head, our four lips merged together. In this eerie and bad atmosphere, I actually got excited. Growing up like this, I had never been intimate with a girl before, and I didn't know what would happen next. But now, I can say that I have no regrets. Maybe Yang Xiufeng thought the same way, but she didn't resist my intimacy. Before I knew it, my hand had slipped into Yang Xiufeng's pants.

  "Ahh!" escaped my lips, but it was Yang Xiufeng who had bitten me. This sudden cry of surprise woke us up from our previous frenzy. I lifted my head and looked at her in a daze, while Yang Xiufeng just closed her eyes, her face red like a small apple, making me want to take a big bite out of it. Of course, I couldn't actually do that, but this cry of surprise had already dispelled the confusion from earlier, leaving us feeling somewhat awkward instead.

  I came to, only to find that Yang Xiufeng had already wrapped her arms around my neck. This instinctive struggle of mine was also felt by Yang Xiufeng, whose body jerked violently before she finally let me go, but her hands didn't know where to place themselves.

  She got up from Yang Xiufeng's body, no longer as afraid as before, just sitting on one side panting heavily. Yang Xiufeng also sat up, but didn't dare to open her eyes. The passion of the moment had dissipated, making the atmosphere even more awkward, and they had nothing to say to each other. However, in front of this strange situation, she had eliminated fear from her heart.

  I was stunned for a while, and then I slowly came to my senses. I stood up with some difficulty, pretending to be nonchalant, and looked around. Everywhere was covered in white stuff, like six walls surrounding us. When I reached out to touch it, I felt like I couldn't get my hand out of the brick seams, one block at a time. No wonder they call it "ghost hitting the wall". It turned out that it really was just one wall.

  The range of feeling my way around wasn't very large, but there was no distinction between the four sides, it was just a wall after another, even the top was the same, just like a six-sided sealed box, strangely I didn't feel suffocated, only after turning around did I feel a bit flustered in my heart. I tried every side of the wall and they were all very solid, no matter how hard I pushed, it wouldn't budge.

  After studying for a long time, I finally gave up and sat down next to Yang Xiufeng, who let out a bitter laugh. But at this point, Yang Xiufeng was no longer as scared as before. Seeing my disappointment, she leaned in close to me and softly comforted me: "Little Hai, don't think too much about it. I heard from the old folks in the village that the ghostly wall can only trap people, but won't harm them. We just need to wait until dawn, and once there's light, this thing will disappear."

  She nodded, but still felt a bit annoyed in her heart. She suddenly threw the lighter and a stone in her hand, but didn't expect that the lighter would explode with a "bang" when it hit the stone, scaring both me and Yang Xiufeng, causing us to shudder involuntarily. But then something strange happened. With a loud explosion, the white ghostly wall around us seemed to be startled, suddenly moving away from us, shaking rapidly, and disappearing from our sight in the blink of an eye.

  For a moment, I couldn't react. What's going on? How could this be? I turned to look at Yang Xiufeng, and she also looked bewildered. As the ghostly figure disappeared, the insects' chirping, the mountain wind rustling through the leaves, and the stars twinkling in the sky, it seemed like nothing had happened, everything was back to normal. But then again, it didn't feel right. Because from where we were sitting, looking out into the woods, a faint light seemed to be seeping out from behind the trees. What was that?