Chapter 29: Hugging Thighs

  Qingning turned me over to face him and asked: "What did you see?"

  "A small child, a child who looked like he had been dead for some time." I looked away as I replied, his face with seven orifices bleeding was really too much to look at.

  "What else?" he asked.

  "Also, you've been bleeding from the seven orifices, are you alright?" After I finished speaking, Qing Ning climbed up from my body and sat beside me, saying: "What you saw was mostly an illusion, but not entirely an illusion."

  Illusion? I sat up in confusion, feeling a sense of unease in my heart. Looking at his face that was still bleeding, I asked: "Did you see anything?"

  Qing Ning shook her head, her voice still calm: "I think we're lost."

  "Lost!?" I looked at him in disbelief and immediately asked in surprise, "Didn't you make sufficient preparations before calling me over?"

  Qing Ning looked at me honestly and replied: "No, coming here doesn't require any preparation at all."

  "But... which grave are we going to? Can you find it?" I found my tongue almost tied up, although I had investigated the Black Bamboo Gorge Soul-Searching Path before coming here and knew it was very dangerous and easy to get lost. But what I didn't expect was that Qing Ning brought me in without any preparation!

  Just as Qingning was about to speak, several gunshots suddenly came from the forest, startling the birds and insects. The originally quiet night suddenly became noisy, and the forest seemed to come alive. I immediately got up from the ground and looked in the direction of the gunshots, asking: "It seems not far from us? Should we go take a look?"

  Qingning's eternally unchanged elegant face suddenly had a hint of emotion, and she coldly laughed, saying: "They've indeed also come."

  "Them?" I looked at Qingning in confusion, did he know who fired the shot?

  "Let's go." Without waiting for me to ask again, Qingling has already walked in the direction of the other side of the gunshot. Although I was curious about the origin of those people, I followed behind Qingling and walked slowly, thinking about their identity on one hand, and wondering what they had encountered that made them fire a gun in the middle of the night to scare people.

  Just as I was thinking, I suddenly felt a cold thing embracing my thigh, the chill almost seeping into my bones. I was stunned and stood frozen in place. I didn't dare to look at what it was, but my eyes involuntarily moved down inch by inch. In that one glance, I couldn't move an inch further. The thing clinging to my thigh was actually that little boy, the pale-faced, purple-complexioned ghost child who had been staring at me from the beginning!

  "Kua kua kua……” I hadn't recovered from this blow when the sound of a child's laughter came into my ears, that laughter seemed to be very far away, yet also seemed to be right next to me, making the emptiness even more chilling. Suddenly, I felt a weight on my back, and I suddenly had a very bad premonition, as if it was going to confirm my guess. At this time, two pale purple arms slowly stretched out from both sides of my neck. Looking at those slightly chubby little arms, my head went "boom", I felt all the hairs on my body stand up, my spine became even colder, I wanted to run away, but my legs seemed to be frozen in place, unable to move an inch.

  "Green lemon... lemon... hurry up and save me..." The cold sweat dripped from my forehead down to my chin, every second felt like an eternity, but the green lemon didn't appear, what appeared instead was a scene that made me even more desperate!

  I almost incredulously widened my eyes, and suddenly many white shadows appeared around me. Some of them hid behind the trees, while others stood beside the trees staring at me. The "heh heh" laughter was still in my ears, but I seemed to have become deaf. I didn't dare believe this was reality - I must be dreaming! Or maybe it's just an illusion... hasn't something like this happened before?

  Although the forest was very dark, due to the moonlight filtering through the trees, I couldn't help but notice those venomous gazes, cold and chilling. Were they all people who died unjustly here? Did they want me to accompany them in death? I pinched my thigh hard, the pain brought tears to my eyes, but the eerie white ghostly shadows around me didn't disappear, and even seemed to be closing in on me.

  I finally got scared and fell to the ground, holding my legs, the little kid didn't know where he ran to. The unprecedented fear had already swallowed my sanity, my legs were so weak that I could only stare blankly as they surrounded me, getting closer and closer, until all I could see was countless pairs of black hands with a foul stench of rotting flesh reaching out towards me... this was the coldest and most desperate feeling I'd ever experienced.

  "Good grief, useless!"

  Suddenly, a man's snickering sound came from inside my head. The tone with a hint of sarcasm was absolutely an unfamiliar voice I had ever heard. I was startled and before I could listen again, I saw a pair of slender and white arms. This hand was different from the other rotting hands, although it had some calluses, but it was white and tender, obviously a human hand! I seemed to have grabbed that hand like a lifesaver, and at the same time, that hand suddenly exerted force, and I was pulled up. It wasn't until I broke out of the encirclement that I saw that the one who pulled me out was Qing Ning!

  I suddenly felt a huge sense of hope, and my legs began to move more nimbly. I thanked him in surprise, but he just kept pulling me along, not saying a word. I wasn't bothered by his taciturnity, as I was already used to it; as long as we could get away from those ghostly things, that was all the thanks I needed!

  After running for a while, I was panting heavily, but Qingning still pulled me forward, the force almost dragging me to the ground. "Qingning, stop, just rest for a bit, I really... can't run anymore!" I said breathlessly, but Qingning didn't even glance at me. Suddenly, I felt that something was off about him, very off! It was then that I noticed his hand holding mine was cold, extremely cold...

  The surrounding trees had become increasingly sparse, and I also felt the coldness coming from ahead. Without the shelter of the trees, the moonlight easily spilled onto the ground. Amidst the withered branches, rotten leaves, white bones, and black mud, I suddenly saw that Qing Ning didn't have a shadow! He actually didn't have a shadow!

  I glanced back and only saw a black shadow, the icy sensation made my nerves suddenly wake up. I was about to shake off his hand when I suddenly saw something in front of me. Fortunately, my night vision ability is relatively strong, and after running a few more steps forward, my back crawled with coolness. I almost used all my strength to instantly shake off Qingning's hand, then turned around and ran to the left without looking back! There are dangers both front and back, now can only go left and try luck.

  I'm now 100% sure that the green lemon is not a real green lemon, because the place he pulled me to run, which is about ten meters away, actually has a black hole! I don't know how deep the hole is or what's inside it, but one thing I can be certain of is that if you fall in, you'll definitely die without a doubt!

  I don't know how long I ran, but suddenly a faint light appeared in the distance. Could it be that there's someone there? My heart leapt with joy and I immediately sprinted towards it.