Chapter 68: The Perilous Road (Part 2)

  It's pitch black all around, I don't know if you've ever experienced that kind of darkness. It's really the kind of darkness where you can't see your fingers when you stretch out your hand. The road is a bumpy dirt path, and except for our car, there's nothing else. There aren't any streetlights around us, and on both sides are wild grasses as tall as our waists. In the distance, we can't see the edge of anything.

  "It can't be that these young people are playing a prank, I'm puzzled, earlier when they were having a picnic together, they were so high-spirited, and now they're all pulling their bellies?" I said with some disbelief.

  The driver stood at the door of the car, staring with wide eyes and a dull expression, his face covered in cold sweat. I reckon he was thinking that someone had gotten lost and how he would explain it. Xiao Old Four looked around cautiously and said in a low voice: "That person called Da Chao also got off, this matter is a bit strange. Did you notice the few people who got off just now?"

  I shook my head and looked at Fu Ma, who thought for a moment before saying: "That big supermarket seems to have seven of them."

  Wu Zihan gently leaned Hongtian, who was asleep, against the seat and scanned us around, saying: "Didn't you notice the sound in the bushes just now?"

  "Is it just the sound of horseshoes all along?" Yang Cangcang asked.

  "En—" Wu Zihan nodded, "That voice is indeed Da Chao's. How come seven people have been talking to him all the time, he seems to be stalling for time. This place is not suitable for staying for a long time, it's best to let the driver drive away from here as soon as possible." Wu Zihan said lightly, as if it had nothing to do with him.

  "What about those people before?" I blinked and asked.

  "They've already had a narrow escape, if things go on like this, I'm afraid everyone in the car will be in danger of losing their lives." Wu Zihan said seriously.

  We were chatting, and the driver and a few passengers in front had already gotten off to look for someone. Some of them brought flashlights, while others used their phones to search around in the bushes, but no one was found. The driver clearly looked panicked, and the atmosphere on the bus started to feel eerie. Previously, everyone was chatting and laughing, not taking it seriously. A few people searched around below and returned with their heads hung low, looking dejected. The bus driver's face had turned pale, and some of the younger children on board were getting scared, crying nonstop and shouting "Why aren't we leaving yet?" Especially a woman holding a child, whose infant was probably only a few months old, had been crying incessantly since the bus stopped, her voice growing louder. We could hear it clearly from upstairs. The woman tried to comfort the child, but nothing seemed to work, and she looked anxious, furrowing her brow.

  "Is the child hungry?" a middle-aged woman next to her kindly reminded.

  "No way, I just fed him a little while ago and he hasn't peed yet. He's probably sleepy, but he won't sleep no matter what. Look at his two small eyes staring widely, his voice is all hoarse from crying, but he still won't stop." The baby's mother said with a mix of amusement and helplessness.

  Xiao Lao listened for a while, then suddenly whispered to us: "Don't you think this baby's cry is particularly strange, the sound is also very muffled, as if someone is pinching his neck and forcing him to make a sound..."

  I shuddered all over and said, "Don't scare me."

  An old man sitting in the back seat looked out and said, "The child must have seen something he shouldn't see. Babies have the best eyesight and can see things we can't."

  Everyone in the car was shrouded in an eerie atmosphere after hearing this, and the passengers downstairs were also impatient, shouting to leave. The bus driver had no choice, leaving wasn't an option, nor was not leaving, they couldn't just abandon those seven young men.

  At this time, the substitute driver in the back of the car said: "I'll take a few male passengers to get off and search around again. If we really can't find it, we'll call the police and wait for them to arrive before leaving." The bus driver nodded, there was no other way at present.

  The conductor shouted in the car, "Male comrades on the bus, who will go down with me to find that young man?" The people on the bus were also anxious to get off, and about a dozen or so followed the conductor down.

  I looked at Old Xiao and asked: "Shall we go down?" Old Xiao shook his head, indicating to wait a bit longer.

  The people under the car searched and shouted loudly, but none of the seven young men responded. They used their mobile phones to search in the bushes back and forth, without even seeing a shadow of a person. The substitute driver stood in the middle of the bushes facing the car and said: "I'm really puzzled, just a moment ago they were here, where could they have gone?"

  Xiao Lao's face showed a worried expression, he opened the window and shouted out: "You guys, don't go too far, this grass is too tall, in a moment you won't be able to see each other, don't get lost..."

  A middle-aged man wearing a large gold chain and speaking in a Cantonese accent on the second floor said with some impatience, "How did this happen? Can't you just call the police directly?" He dragged out his words, took out a golden phone full of diamonds, and deliberately flashed it in front of others. He muttered, "This small broken place actually has a full signal." As he dialed the police number, the other end seemed to have picked up. Just as he was about to speak, a woman's ethereal laughter came from the other end of the phone - not a normal laugh, but a cold one, sharp and piercing. I stood next to the man, and it sent shivers down my spine. The man was startled, throwing his phone to the ground. Seeing everyone staring at him, he somewhat embarrassingly bent down to pick up the phone, muttering, "Is this some kind of mistake?"

  The little fellow who looked silly next to him also saw this scene and said, "Maybe it's a wrong number, I'll call my uncle, he's a policeman around here." As he dialed the phone number, after the beep, the woman's laughter still came through. The little fellow was so scared that his face turned pale. No matter who made the call in the car, when they dialed that number, it was always the woman's laughter on the other end. Several timid girls in the car almost cried. Everyone was puzzled by this situation. Suddenly someone reminded them, "What about those people looking for someone under the car?"

  Let's take a look down, the dozen or so people who were still rummaging in the bushes before are now nowhere to be seen, the bushes are calm and quiet, there is no one. The bus driver was stunned, with a cold sweat on his face, shouting at the door: "Old... Old Huang——"

  Lao Huang might be the surname of that substitute driver. The grass thicket was silent, and everyone was frightened, almost to the point of panic. Xiao Lao saw the situation and quickly went down to tell the driver: "Brother, let's hurry up and leave, this place is too eerie, I'm afraid if we stay any longer, we'll be in danger too. Let's get out first and then find someone to rescue them." Everyone agreed, the driver calmed down, took a deep breath, and with trembling hands shifted gears, glanced at the grassland where everyone had disappeared, and slowly started the car.

  The driver drove nervously, occasionally taking deep breaths. Xiao Lao stood behind the driver, observing the situation. Except for Wu Zihuan, we all got down to one floor. The car was filled with an atmosphere of fear. Everyone was silent and tense, staring forward. The driver drove for a while, and in front of him was still a stretch of dirt road, with grass on both sides. After walking for half a day, the scenery around us didn't change, and this dirt road seemed to have no end.

  Xiao Lao concentrated his spirit and stared forward, muttering to himself: "It seems like I've encountered a ghost blocking the wall, why does it seem like I'm always turning in place?"

  Although Xiao Lao's voice was very small, it was heard by the driver next to him. Seeing that Xiao Lao was calm and composed before, he guessed that he had some skills. The driver grasped at a straw, saying: "Old master, you're a Feng Shui expert? Think of a solution quickly!"

  Xiao Lao didn't have time to explain further, saying: "Younger brother, calm down and drive the car, don't worry, nothing will happen." After stabilizing the driver's emotions, he went up to the second floor and whispered to us: "Our car must have encountered a ghost wall, we need to break through it, otherwise we'll be circling around this place forever. The gas in the car will run out, making it even harder to get out. I need to write a talisman to break this ghost wall, but..."

  Wu Zihan nodded: "I'll drive the talisman paper."

  "But you haven't recovered yet..." Yang Cang said.

  Wu Zihan smiled slightly, so faintly that it was almost imperceptible, and said, "I still have this bit of strength."

  Xiao Lao took out yellow paper, cinnabar and a brush from his bag, hid behind the car and started painting. These things were given by that high-ranking person he mentioned, to be sent to his disciples with or without fate. I was puzzled for a long time, even if Xiao Lao sent them, who would teach his disciples? The high-ranking person is indeed unpredictable.

  Xiao Laogui finished drawing the talisman, and it looked like it had some meaning to it. He handed it over to Wu Ziheng, who tied a few hand seals at a speed that we couldn't see clearly, muttered a few incantations under his breath, and then handed the talisman back to Xiao Lao. I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I felt like the cinnabar on the talisman looked even more vividly red than before.

  The surrounding passengers were attracted by our series of actions and curiously looked at what we would do next. Xiao Lao hastily got off to the first floor, stuck the yellow talisman on the windshield, and confidently said to the driver: "Brother, you can drive with peace of mind, we will definitely get out."

  The driver looked far away with a suspicious expression and echoed: "There is a noble man here, great."

  The car had only driven a short distance when suddenly there was a loud "crash" sound, as if a large piece of tempered glass had shattered. The driver was startled and quickly slowed down, looking around but not seeing any glass anywhere. Just then, Xiao Lao chuckled and said, "It's nothing, just the ghost hitting the wall and shattering. This charm is working."

  As we walked further ahead, the scenery around us began to change. Large tracts of farmland appeared, and with them, houses. The road also transformed into an asphalt highway. The surroundings didn't seem as pitch-black as before, with a few streetlights scattered about. The driver and all the passengers couldn't help but look at Xiao Lao with newfound respect. Everyone finally let out a sigh of relief. Someone suggested calling the police to report the missing people, who were their relatives. But when they took out their phones, they found there was no signal.

  Suddenly, the car stopped in the middle of the road. Everyone looked at the driver in confusion, and the driver was even more confused, looking at me with a surprised expression: "The car seems to be broken..." The passengers complained loudly, and some even scolded loudly.

  The woman holding the baby pointed to the side and said: "There seems to be a village in front, but why isn't there any light at all?"