Chapter 10: The Perilous Road (Three)

  The people on the bus got off one after another and stood by the roadside, looking around. There was no car passing by in all directions. From time to time, someone anxiously looked at their mobile phone, but there was no signal here. The bus driver got off and started checking the body of the vehicle.

  "Surely it's not another haunted wall?" I asked Old Xiao in a low voice.

  Xiao Lao glanced at the baby in the woman's arms, and the baby was no longer crying or making a fuss, but was sleeping soundly with its eyes closed. "It shouldn't be, but this place is also very eerie, let's still be careful." Xiao Lao reminded.

  There were about a hundred people on the bus, and at first seven young men got off. Later, the substitute driver took more than a dozen passengers to look for someone, leaving only over seventy people behind. Xiao Lao looked around and said, "Everyone, don't go far away, we're not familiar with this place, it's best to stay together. First, let's count how many of us are left, if anyone is missing, it won't be good." Because of Xiao Lao's previous behavior, everyone admired him, so his words were persuasive. Yang Cangcang counted twice, including the baby in a woman's arms, and there were seventy-four people in total.

  The driver came over and told everyone, "This car is probably broken down due to engine failure. It's estimated that it won't be able to move for a while." Everyone was in an uproar, still discussing what to do next.

  Wu Zihan whispered to Xiao Lao: "It's best for everyone to stay together, we don't know what kind of danger is here, the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, I'm afraid it will be hard for us to protect ourselves."

  Fu Ma also chimed in: "This place is really too eerie, we absolutely can't act alone."

  Xiao Lao nodded and said to the crowd: "Everyone, please allow me to say a word. We all didn't want to encounter this today, so let's not blame the driver. No matter what, I suggest we stay together for safety, absolutely do not disperse, and take collective action."

  "There's a village ahead, we can go take a look, no need for everyone to sleep on the train." The middle-aged man with a Cantonese accent suggested.

  Everyone started discussing one by one, and most people still agreed to move forward. A few girls saw that there was no light in the village at all, and they were a bit scared. I took a look at my watch, it's 9:45 now. Most friends who have lived in rural areas know that villages like this, which are closed off from the outside world, basically don't have any entertainment activities at night, and usually go to bed very early. When I was young, my family was poor, and we had to spend money to treat my grandfather's illness, so we always lived in a village on the outskirts of the city. At night, it was also like this, so I didn't think it was a big deal.

  Ever since we got off the car, I always had a vague feeling that there was a pair of eyes watching us from somewhere. I told Wu Zihuan about this feeling, and he didn't say anything, just furrowed his brow and looked towards the small village.

  In the end, the minority yielded to the majority. The crowd prepared to go to that village to investigate. More than 70 people walked towards a pitch-black village in the middle of the night. This scene was quite eerie. The crowd walked off the main road and through the fields towards the village. Along the way, there were fields on both sides, with scattered street lamps illuminating the dimly lit road. The surroundings were silent, and only our footsteps and the chirping of insects in the fields could be heard. As we got closer to the small village, everyone almost held their breath.

  Suddenly, a scene emerged in my mind. We walked over and the entire village was empty, not a single person. As a result, many graves were found around, and suddenly, the graves cracked open and a group of... came out. Thinking about it, I couldn't help but shudder all over.

  Suddenly, a woman's shrill cry pierced the sky. Everyone turned around to look, and that woman's face was deathly pale, covering her eyes with her hand, stuttering: "I... I stepped on something, it seems to be a person... a head, covered in blood."

  This shrill cry interrupted my thoughts, and I was suddenly startled. Had it come true? Yang Cangcang had a big temper, and she walked three steps to the woman's side, took a closer look, and said with a mixture of tears and laughter: "If you weren't scared to death by others, you'd be scared to death by yourself. Take a look at what it is."

  The woman looked down again, and I also went over to take a look. It was clearly a dark red, worn-out, and useless ball that had been deflated beyond recognition. Yang Cangcang kicked it away with an inquiring tone, saying: "Is this a human head?"

  The woman seemed surprised, covering up her embarrassment while muttering to herself: "How could this be? I clearly saw it was..."

  We have walked to the edge of the village, which doesn't seem too big or too small. Roughly speaking, there are nearly a hundred households, with houses that are very neat and low, made of earth and tile, looking old and worn out under the dim light. Behind the village is a forest, with a relatively wide dirt road dividing the village in two. Everyone walks on the dirt road, intentionally lightening their footsteps, almost no one speaking. The houses in this village are quite primitive, still made of earth walls, windows almost all pasted with paper, and every household has no bright lights, a silence prevails.

  "This can't be a ghost village, right?" I whispered in Xiao Lao's ear.

  Xiao Lao shook his head and said: "The house is a bit old, but I don't feel any yin energy. Do you guys feel it?"

  Fu Ma Fu He Dao said: "Be careful, it's better."

  Yang Cangcang leaned over and whispered, "The house in the front has a faint light, it seems to be candlelight, do you want to go take a look?" Before getting on the car, Yang Cangcang bought an expensive pair of sunglasses, saying they were fashionable and good-looking. I argued with her for half a day about this, thinking that with that money, I could buy that cool hiking backpack instead. She put the sunglasses in the budget, claiming it was to protect her night vision eyes. From the moment she got off the car, she wore the sunglasses, and her night vision eyes emitted a faint green glow at night. We were used to it, but the other passengers were scared half to death. Everyone's attention was focused on the village, and no one cared whether she was wearing glasses or not. Indeed, when women encounter something they like, they become irrational animals.

  Wu Zihan carried Hongtian who was asleep on his back and kept looking around the village. Xiao Lao saw that he had found something unusual and asked, "What did you discover?"

  Wu Zihan paused for a moment and said: "Do you guys smell something strange?"

  He said that, I took a deep breath and let it out, then took another deep breath and said: "No, did you smell anything?" They all shook their heads in confusion and said no. Wu Zihan didn't say anything else.

  Fu Ma said to Wu Zihan: "Zihan, let me take care of Hongtian. If something happens, you can also take action. I'm now half a useless person." Wu Zihan hesitated for a moment, nodded, and Fu Ma carried the sleeping Hongtian on his back, with Wu Zihan's eyes fixed on him.

  The house at the front of the dirt road was relatively large, looking more majestic than its surroundings. It was a three-household building with glass windows, and the faint glow of candles could be seen from inside. Everyone stopped in their tracks, not daring to move forward, and looked at Old Xiao together. Old Xiao sighed: "Ah... those who are capable have to work harder..." But somehow, his tone didn't sound like he was complaining.

  Xiao Lao walked up to the door of the house, which was made of wood and covered in cracks. He knocked lightly twice, but before he could say anything, the wooden door creaked open by itself. Xiao Lao seemed to have expected this, cleared his throat, feigned calmness, and slowly pushed the door all the way open. The inside of the house flickered with dim candlelight, and everyone held their breath. Xiao Lao stuck his head in to take a look, but suddenly, a dark shadow appeared before his eyes: "Who are you?" This startled Xiao Lao, and everyone else took a few steps back as well.

  Upon closer inspection, it was an old man wearing a Hui ethnic minority hat and sporting a white beard, looking to be around the same age as Old Xiao. His dark skin was etched with wrinkles, and he held a tobacco pipe in his hand, staring straight at us. Old Xiao hesitated for a moment before hastily saying: "Old sir, hello! We're just passing through, our car broke down, we saw this village and came over. The whole village is dark, but your house has light, so we..."

  The old man took a puff of smoke, looked up and down at Xiao Lao, frowned and said "Passerby? The road ahead is blocked, how did you get here?" He walked out the door, saw so many people outside, his brow relaxed slightly, and he seemed to believe it a bit.

  Xiao Lao sighed: "I told you not to believe it, we encountered a ghost blocking the wall, and after coming out of the ghost blocking the wall, we arrived at this place. We don't know where here is now, and the car is also broken."

  "What's blocking the wall?" The old man repeated in a tone of extreme surprise, "Then how did you get out?"

  The old man looked suspicious, and Xiao Lao didn't say anything important. The bus driver spoke up: "Old sir, I'm the bus driver. What happened earlier was really strange. You might not believe it, but more than 70 people on the bus saw it. We lost over 20 people, so we were thinking of borrowing a place to stay in your village for the night. We'll leave early tomorrow morning, and money is no problem, okay?" The driver immediately turned to face everyone, and they all nodded in agreement. After all, in this desolate mountain wilderness, having a place to sleep was already a blessing.

  The old man took a puff of smoke, and his facial expression relaxed a lot: "Oh, I see. We rarely have outsiders coming to our small mountain village. I'm the village chief, and everyone in the village calls me Zheba. With so many people, you can't all stay here. How about this? I'll call up all the villagers, and each family can take in one or two of you." As it's often said that people from the mountains are simple and honest, it really is true. At this time, being able to accept so many of us has deeply moved me. I let out a sigh of relief, and finally, this isn't a deserted village after all.

  Under the leadership of Zheba Village, door-to-door knocking woke up the villagers who were all dazed and confused. They went out to see what was happening. The village wasn't very big, so soon the spacious dirt road was packed with people. Zheba Village explained the situation from beginning to end, and the villagers were also very simple and honest, and they all accepted it readily. It had been a long time since the village had been so lively. After the commotion died down, everyone found their respective families and returned home.

  The village chief looked at the few of us left and said, "You all come to my house, just enough to accommodate you." I was about to thank the village chief when I found him frowning and staring at Hongtian on the back of the horse. After a moment, he suddenly said, "The ghost wall you encountered is probably caused by this girl."