Chapter 2: Mysterious Disappearance

  The night was thick and heavy, like the dark, icy blood flowing out of a rotting corpse, covering the sky and earth. The moon hung lonely in the forest sky, its light dim, like the resentful tears at the corner of a woman's eyes. The tall trees were blurred by the darkness, their outlines vague, looking like indistinct faces with flesh and blood. It had rained lightly during the day, but at night everything was damp and humid, the skin of the trees and earth beginning to fester, the air filled with a suffocating smell.

  The fire suddenly went out, which was already abnormal, let alone in this dark and desolate solitary mountain.

  "My god, it can't be this ominous!" Wu Ma You swallowed his saliva and his legs started to tremble. I saw one of his hands hastily reaching into his pocket, not knowing what he was digging for.

  "Die, you scrawny thing! From now on, can you shut that crow's mouth of yours that attracts trouble!" I heard that Su Dai used to be a soldier, so she didn't become like Wu Xiao Shou at this moment. Instead, in the first instance, she quickly took out the dagger hidden on her body.

  Looking at the three of them standing guard, I still sat in my original position, propping up my chin and smiling slowly: "Look at you guys being so tense, it's just that the fire went out." I don't believe there are ghosts in this world, so when encountering such a situation, after calming down, the first thing I thought of was today's light rain. The hay and air were already damp, plus the surrounding plants were undergoing aerobic respiration, releasing a large amount of carbon dioxide, so it was reasonable that the fire went out.

  "What did you say?" Su Dai asked me.

  "It's damp here with hay and air..." I expressed my thoughts, Su Dai just nodded and asked: "Who brought the flashlight?"

  "They're all inside the tent." Song Ah gradually relaxed, answering while taking out a lighter and saying: "This isn't a cemetery, maybe it's really an accident like Feng Zi said!" As he spoke, he lit the lighter.

  With a "whoosh", the lighter normally emitted flames, and Wuma You saw this and obviously let out a sigh of relief, saying: "See, I said it wouldn't be so abnormal..." But before he could finish speaking, another gentle breeze blew by, and the flame flickered twice before extinguishing again.

  "Twice, extinguished twice, could it really be the ghost blowing the lamp? It seems that this time we've indeed encountered something unclean!" Wu Xiaoshou's expression was terrified, like a frightened little dog, his whole body hair standing on end.

  "What ghost is blowing the lamp." I gave him a white eye, stood up and said lightly: "I'll go get the flashlight."

  After entering the tent, I randomly took out a flashlight from my bag and deliberately shone it on the three of them when I came out. The bright light suddenly hit their faces, and all three of them instinctively narrowed their eyes, covering their eyes with their hands. I couldn't help but laugh. It seems that modern technology is still more reliable after all. What ghost lantern? Bah! Those ghosts, spirits, or whatever are just biological energies similar to electromagnetic waves, or just illusions created by people's imagination.

  "See, I told you it's nothing..." But what I didn't want to admit was that as soon as I said this, the flashlight suddenly flickered and stopped working. I was taken aback, and in anger, I threw it to the ground, cursing: "Who bought this piece of junk? The quality is so poor!"

  Just then, my ear suddenly felt cool, a cold wind blew past my ear, and I involuntarily shivered. In confusion, Wu Xiaoshou walked over and pulled on my sleeve, staring into my eyes with urgency and saying: "Young brother, isn't your dad that kind of person who's always getting into trouble? It's time for you to take action, quickly get rid of those unclean things!" His expression was very tense, even his words had a slight tremble, looking like he was really afraid.

  It's just that I really don't know! Although my old man is quite skilled, he has never taught me any of the trade secrets. So I had no choice but to say to him helplessly: "They all say I don't understand these things anymore, otherwise why would we waste money finding a private tutor?"

  I know Dad didn't teach me these things so I could live a normal life, without worrying or being afraid, and not having to constantly deal with the aura of death. After all, grave robbing is a perilous and unpredictable business, and it's not a glorious thing to do in the first place. That's why Dad never took me inside the tomb. Besides, my dad has already retired from this line of work for over twenty years!

  Furthermore, I had absolutely no interest in the underworld before. My heart was focused on reading "sacred books". If it weren't for my old man being caught and a close relative suddenly passing away for no reason, I reckon I'd still be in university like an idiot knowing nothing. Now that my family is broken and people are gone, I've realized how stupid I am!

  "You don't understand!?" Hearing my response, Wu Xiaoshuai almost choked on his water, but he restrained himself from cursing and looked at me patiently, then continued to ask urgently: "So, little brother, what exactly can you do? Hurry up and show off your skills!"

  "Can't you understand human language?!" I almost yelled out, having said it twice already, how does this person's brain work?! After being yelled at by me, Wu Xiao Shou finally confirmed that I wasn't lying and stopped bothering me. And I was really too lazy to deal with this swindler anymore. Neither Song Ah nor I understood these things originally, and now this deadbeat is unreliable too. Who knows what strange thing will happen next.

  But good things don't come, bad things come in pairs. Almost in the next second, a chaotic and disturbing noise suddenly erupted around us. It was the cry of crows!

  I was startled, and just as I looked into the distance, the sound of flapping wings came from not far away. The night was dark, and the crows were even darker. Under the thin moonlight, dense black shadows kept circling and calling out above our heads. "Wa--wa--" The coarse and hoarse cries were heart-wrenching!

  Then, a large flock of crows flapped their wings and disappeared in the moonlight, hiding in the darkness, leaving only pieces of black feathers, drifting down like raindrops.

  I sniffed my nose, and I don't know if it's psychological, but after the crow flew away, I felt a chill in the air with a foul smell, which instantly reminded me of rotting corpses, crows often eat rotting corpses...

  Shaking off the disgusting feeling in my heart, I pointed to the lower left and said: "These crows flew out from there!"

  "Where?" Song Ah looked in the direction I was pointing, but seemed to see nothing. Looking at Wu Xiao again, he was also confused and whispered fearfully: "The front is dark and misty, not even a ghostly figure can be seen, where did the cave come from?"

  "Xiao Zi, did you see it wrong?" Su Dai also asked me with some uncertainty.

  I shook my head, still pointing forward. Although I made a judgment error just now, I knew that I had been different from other children since childhood. In the dark, as long as there was a little light, my vision could see farther and clearer than others. So I believed what I saw was absolutely right. I also knew they didn't lie, what they saw in front of them must be pitch black, but there really was an inconspicuous cave!

  Pfft——

  A faint sound arose, and someone had lit the fire again. The back of my body suddenly brightened with flames. At this time, Song Ah still looked in the direction I was pointing, without turning her head, saying: "Wu Xiao Shou, go get the flashlight."

  There was no sound behind, Song Ah urged again, but Wu Xiao Shou still didn't make a peep. I could already feel that Song Ah was somewhat displeased, thinking to himself that this person wouldn't flinch at the critical moment again. So he turned his head wanting to remind him of something, but unexpectedly, there wasn't anyone behind me! Looking towards the tent, it was clear that there were no human figures or any strange sounds. Under such a night sky, Wu Xiao Shou and Su Dai suddenly vanished!

  "Song Ah, those two..." I turned back with a puzzled and uneasy feeling, but unexpectedly - there was no one!

  It was just a matter of turning back and forth, but the three people suddenly disappeared! I almost suspected that it was my turn to produce some kind of special function, so they all vanished? What the hell is this, are we filming a horror movie?! Where did everyone go?!

  In the dark night, the coarse and hoarse "wa... wa..." cries came from time to time with the wind, making the desolate wilderness even more bleak and eerie, unpleasant because crows are usually considered an ominous bird.