Chapter 003 A Different Song Zi

  The dark and desolate wilderness, the quiet and gloomy atmosphere, the rustling wind whispers a chilling howl, from time to time, the sound of wind blowing through the leaves can be heard. As it approaches midnight, suddenly a black shadow flashes by, I quickly turn my head to look, under the pitch-black moonlight, the trees sway gently, but nothing is seen. The feeling of being surrounded by an eerie stillness is terrifying, as if the darkness is about to devour everything!

  I stood alone, vigilantly staring ahead, that black shadow seemed to come from over there... I took a closer look and suddenly realized it was the same place where the crow had flown by earlier!

  I'm sure Su Dai and the others wouldn't just leave me behind, disappear suddenly without a sound, would they? Is there some kind of mechanism around here? As I turned my thoughts over in my mind, a crisp voice suddenly came from behind me, giving me a fright. I quickly turned to look back, and saw that the wind had blown open the tent flap, which was swaying gently. It seemed as if a ghost hiding under the clothes was beckoning to me.

  I stood still, not even daring to take a breath, cold sweat dripping down my back, getting colder and colder. I kept feeling like there was something behind me, but I didn't dare turn around. Isn't it said that every person has two lanterns on their shoulders, one on the left and one on the right? When you turn your head to look to the left, the lantern on your left shoulder will be blown out; when you turn your head to look to the right, the lantern on your right shoulder will also be blown out. And when both lanterns on your shoulders are extinguished, the lonely spirits and ghosts of the night will immediately swarm around you. Without the protection of the lanterns on your shoulders, you'll never be able to find your way home again...

  I'm not a suspicious person, and I don't believe in the existence of ghosts in this world. However, not believing doesn't mean I'm not afraid, especially in this desolate wilderness where my companion mysteriously disappeared. I couldn't help but wonder if there really are ghosts lurking behind me, waiting for me to turn around so they can pounce on me... The more I think about it, the more terrified and uneasy I become...

  Close your eyes, I'm trying hard to convince myself that none of this is real, where did these broken ghosts come from, scaring myself, calm down!

  After a while, I slowly opened my eyes. The tent was still in front of me, the firewood crackling beside me, and that broken flashlight that always seemed to fail at critical moments had been tossed aside. Everything looked normal, but it also gave off an abnormal smell.

  "Song Ah? Su Dai? Wu Xiao Shou? Stop teasing me, come out quickly, I've seen you all!" I shouted a few times, but the surroundings remained silent.

  "Ka Cha" was another crisp sound, and I reflexively turned around to look, only to see a black shadow flashing by quickly and disappearing into the cave not far away. I thought to myself that anyway, there are no ghosts in this world, at most it's just people scaring each other to death. And I remembered that it was after the crow flew out that the three of them disappeared, could the problem be with that?

  I hesitated for a moment, then lifted my feet and walked in that direction. Every step felt like I was walking on thin ice at the edge of a cliff. I pulled up my collar, wrapping myself tightly to prevent the cold wind from seeping in.

  Looking at the dark entrance, I feel like it's the entrance to hell, emitting eerie and hiding a dead silence everywhere. But it seems to have a huge attraction, attracting me to look inside.

  The blast of cold air from the entrance sent a shiver down my spine, and at the same time, a foul odor wafted through the air like withered willows. My heart was racing wildly, I suppressed the urge to vomit. If I hadn't misseen it just now, that black shadow had run in here. Holding my breath, I hesitated whether to go in immediately.

  Suddenly I remembered that I didn't bring a flashlight! Forget it, going back to get it now would only scare myself more. Damn it! At worst, I'll just die, and 18 years later, I'll still be a man! After making up my mind, I walked in with big strides, thinking that if anything jumped out, I'd punch it to death!

  The moment I crossed the entrance, I felt a chill spreading outwards, to put it in layman's terms, the yin energy was too heavy!

  It wasn't absolute darkness inside the cave, so I could see a little bit, but only a little. After adapting to the light, I cautiously moved forward a few steps, but it was too cold and smelly inside, without any visual support, everything felt out of control. Just outside, I didn't feel brave at all, but now, in the darkness, I felt like I had entered another world.

  Feng Zhi, didn't you just want to take revenge and destroy that thing? Why are you now scared like a turtle hiding in its shell?! I kept scolding myself for being useless in my heart, but this method of provoking oneself is not very effective at this moment. Perhaps it's because the psychological suggestion is too strong, I'm afraid that something will suddenly pounce on me from the front, and then I'll see a bloody face, or there's something unclean standing quietly behind me...

  The more I think about it, the more scared I become, and the more I feel like there's really a ghost standing behind me! What happened to that black shadow that ran in?! I don't dare look back or take deep breaths. After standing still for a while, when nothing pounced from behind, I finally made a move. But as soon as I did, I felt like I stepped on something hard. Suddenly, there was a "crack" sound, and my tense nerves finally collapsed! Looking down, in the faint moonlight that shone in at an angle, I suddenly saw a bone - a gloomy white skeleton!

  "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to!" I hastily retreated a few steps and apologized sincerely. Just as I finished speaking, a blast of cold air suddenly came from behind me, sending shivers down my spine!

  I swallowed hard, and suddenly I stood still, not daring to move, because I saw a stretched-out human shadow beside me! An extra shadow, motionless, should be standing right behind me...

  I mechanically turned around, cold sweat dripping down, and saw that at the entrance of the cave, there really was someone standing!

  "Are you doing this on purpose?" The man said with a smile, his tone playful. He was tall and robust, but due to the backlight, his face wasn't entirely clear. But I immediately recognized him, my heart filled with joy, and all those ghostly thoughts disappeared! I excitedly ran up to him and asked: "Songzi, what are you doing here? Where's my dad?"

  Songzi is not very handsome, but his curved eyes are always filled with a smile, giving people a sense of closeness.

  He and Song Ah are biological brothers, and also my neighbors after I moved to Sichuan. Although I've only lived there for two years, I think I get along pretty well with the two of them. But unexpectedly, Song Zi voluntarily went to Heizhugou to participate in a fight with a group of people, I heard that they are quite generous and almost invited some skilled fighters with high pay, except for my dad who was threatened and taken away!

  These were just fleeting thoughts, and my mind returned to the present. Songzi didn't answer me, but instead pointed ahead. I squinted and looked over, perhaps my eyes had adapted to the darkness a bit, so I vaguely saw that inside the cave there was actually another small hole in the ground. The hole was only about half a meter high, with uneven edges, and I couldn't tell if it was man-made or naturally formed. Anyway, I felt a little uneasy at heart.

  "Follow me." Song Zi said, then he went ahead and walked towards the inside, without waiting for me, and crawled in with a bow.

  "Hey, why are you in such a hurry? Wait for me!" I said helplessly and immediately caught up.

  The air inside was still filled with a pungent smell, but after crawling for a while, my mind gradually calmed down. Perhaps it was because I hadn't seen him in a long time, but I felt that Songzi, who was silently crawling ahead of me, seemed somewhat unfamiliar. The old Songzi used to talk a lot, especially in front of me. As soon as he came back from vacation, he would pester me with non-stop chatter, and now he was taciturn, even his breathing seemed different from before. Could it be that such a short period of time could change a person so much?

  Trying not to think too much, he casually asked: "Oh right, Songzi, have you seen Song Ah?"

  Songzi did not turn his head back, but his voice came from the front slowly, somewhat flatly, "Who is he?"

  I thought Song Ah hadn't heard my question clearly, so I asked again: "Song Ah, you...you don't recognize him anymore?" Originally, I was going to say he's your brother directly, but changed it in an instant and almost bit my tongue...

  Unexpectedly, Song Zilian turned a deaf ear and said, "I don't know him." Immediately followed by another sentence, "Who is he?"

  That fork you, this one second, I really want to slap him into the wall, not even recognizing his own brother, is this guy a fake? Unsettled in my heart, but I didn't dare make another big noise. I think it's not suitable to tear our faces now, so I hurriedly replied: "Yes, he's one of my friends, and there are others, haven't you seen them?"

  "No." Song Zi replied calmly.

  "Where are we going?" I asked calmly.

  This time, Song Zi stopped and turned around to give me a "warm" smile, saying: "Let's go to a fun place." After finishing speaking, he hooked the corner of his mouth again, but this smile looked so sinister and stiff in my eyes!

  "Fun place?" I don't know why I could see his expression clearly, but anyway, that's what I saw. Now I'm 100% sure this guy is not Song Zi, what's his purpose and why did he trick me into coming here?

  "You'll know when you get there." Songzi smiled at me weirdly again and continued to crawl forward with his butt twisted.

  The deeper I crawled, the more wet and soft the feeling under my hands became, as if it wasn't mud, but some kind of excrement. The pungent smell around me was even stronger, as if confirming my guess, making me feel extremely nauseous...

  "What's wrong?" Perhaps feeling me stop, Songzi turned back and asked me.

  In the darkness, his expression was stiff and devoid of warmth, a pair of jet-black eyes also faintly emitted a green glow, which others couldn't see, but I saw it very clearly. This person not only wasn't Song Zi, but he might not even be human!

  Looking at his eerie, almost distorted face, I really wanted to turn around and run immediately, but reason ultimately overcame emotion. With a bitter expression, I said to him: "Nothing's wrong, just tired. After resting for a while, it'll be much better. How long do we have before we arrive?"

  "It's almost there." Song Zi smiled strangely, seemingly completely unaware of the extremely foul smell around him, and continued to crawl with an abnormal posture. I didn't stop either, nor did I have the courage to take off my shoes and really follow him. I could only carefully back away, and when I saw that a certain distance had been created between us, I immediately turned around and ran, not caring about the nausea, using all four limbs, feeling like a mole, with two claws digging and me crawling...