Chapter Eleven: The Forbidden Land of the Living

  After listening to the village chief's words, except for Wu Zihan, we were all stunned. Thinking back, it seemed that since bringing Hongtian out of the giant eye black hole, we have always encountered inexplicable things. In the hospital, we met a big-mouthed ghost zombie and other deep-sea creatures, fell into a peaceful interval of over a decade ago, and even encountered a ghost blocking the wall while taking a bus. However, thinking again, since I entered Xiyu, all sorts of strange things have been happening one after another, and I've basically become numb to them. It's just that I vaguely feel that this Zheba village chief doesn't seem like an ordinary person.

  Xiao Lao smiled slightly and asked: "Village head, what do you mean by this?"

  Zheba Village Chief squinted his eyes and stared at Hongtian, saying very seriously: "This girl has the smell of a dead person on her."

  "What's the smell of a dead person? What kind of smell is that?" Yang Cangcang asked straightforwardly, without thinking too much. Zheba Village Chief glanced at Yang Cangcang and didn't say anything, directly leading us into the house.

  The furnishings in the house were simple, with three rooms connected to each other. The middle one was considered the living room, with a yellowed and slightly deformed wooden table, on which a candle was lit, its flame flickering from time to time. There were also some simple household items. The village chief turned his face sideways towards us, expressionless, saying: "You can stay in the innermost house, if you need anything, just call me." He had just opened the door to his bedroom and was about to enter when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking at us with a low voice, saying: "Remind everyone that it's best not to move around at night, go to bed early, understand?" After finishing speaking, he blew out the candle and walked into his bedroom.

  I nodded vaguely, muttering to myself: what does it mean to cover the house tomorrow? Are they afraid that we will disturb the village's rest and won't have the energy to cover the house tomorrow? As I was pondering this, I followed everyone into the inner room. The moment I opened the door, I was startled - inside the room were ten single wooden beds, each with a pillow on it, covered with quilts. Although the room was simple, it looked clean and tidy, just like a small inn. It seemed that there was no electricity in the house, but on the windowsill, a short candle flickered softly, casting a yellow glow.

  Everyone exchanged a glance and walked in, Fuma put Hongtian on the bed, Wu Zihan hurried over to cover her with a quilt, Yang Cangcang rolled his eyes and pouted, saying: "What did that old man mean? What's this 'smell of death'?"

  We were all confused, this Hongtian was a mystery, Wu Zihan didn't say anything when asked, Fu Ma walked around the house and said in a low voice: "There's something wrong with this village, Zheba Village Chief said that few people come to the village, but it doesn't look rich, how can there be a special room for guests?"

  "I'm also puzzled, I was startled when I came in, what puzzles me most is the last two sentences he said, don't take a walk casually, tomorrow we still have to build a house, what does it mean?" I interjected.

  Yang Cangcang yawned, "Ahh, who cares? Let's talk about it tomorrow, I'm dead tired." She walked to the bed against the wall, fluffed up the pillow into a comfortable shape, and fell onto it. I glanced at my watch, it was already 10:40, and gradually felt my eyelids getting heavier too. Xiao Lao finally blew out the candle.

  As I was about to fall asleep, I faintly smelled a fragrance that was pungent and made my chest feel stuffy, as if I couldn't breathe. Wu Zihan next to me kept sneezing non-stop. In a daze, I thought to myself, "Is this kid catching a cold? I have medicine in my bag."

  This night I slept very tired, dazed and confused, non-stop dreaming. At first, I dreamed of myself returning to my previous life, fragments of me with my parents together, very realistic, I felt like I cried in the dream. People all say that men have tears but don't easily shed them, it's just that they haven't touched the deepest emotions in their heart yet. Later on, I was non-stop walking, walked a long long way, although my body clearly felt very tired, there was a voice telling me not to stop, must keep walking. Gradually, the voice by my ear got louder and louder, from one person it became many people, some crying some laughing, in short, a chaotic mess of dreams for the whole night.

  As soon as I opened my eyes in the morning, I was shocked by the scene in front of me and bumped my head on the bed board. The four of them stood at the side of my bed staring at me with wide eyes, "What... what's going on with you guys?" I asked blinking my eyes.

  Yang Cangcang pinched her waist, with a look of interrogating a suspect: "You're awake? What were you doing last night, like someone who's had too much to drink, crying and laughing at the same time, then constantly walking towards the outside of the house. No matter how we called out to you, you wouldn't wake up. We thought something was controlling you."

  "What?!" I exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible? I'm the most honest sleeper, could it be sleepwalking? Right, I also heard Zihan sneeze last night and there was a...".

  "What's with the fragrance?" Wu Zihan asked.

  I nodded, and others looked at each other in dismay. "Did you smell it?" Xiao Lao asked Fu Ma.

  Fu Ma shook his head inexplicably: "Except for you two, no one else has smelled it."

  "Actually... I think I smell something too." Yang Cangcang said uncertainly, "It's just that there seems to be a faint scent."

  Suddenly, our bedroom door rang, and Zheba village chief asked outside: "Are you awake? Everyone come out to have breakfast."

  The latest chapter of "Hundred Years Old Baby"

  Yang Cangcang exchanged a glance with us and said: "I'm already awake, let's go out."

  We tidied up and walked into the living room, where Zheba Village Chief stir-fried a few small dishes. His dark face turned to us with a faint smile: "Everyone sit down."

  We sat down hesitantly, and Old Xiao felt the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so he asked Zheba: "Village Chief, what's the name of our village?"

  The village chief of Zheba didn't answer immediately. After eating a few mouthfuls of food, he slowly said: "I'm afraid that if I say the name out loud, it will scare you all."

  Yang Cangcang rolled her eyes and muttered to herself: "Look down on who?"

  Zheba didn't get angry either, looked around at us and asked: "Isn't the girl in white going to eat?"

  We were thinking about how to answer, when several people outside the window rushed and shouted loudly for Village Chief Xiao Lao. Zheba hurriedly rushed out, and a few young men who had been sitting on the upper deck of the bus came running over, saying: "It's bad, the driver is gone."

  I took a sip of water and suddenly spat it out, those few young men started talking at the same time, Old Xiao listened with a confused expression, "Stop talking, I'm getting a headache from listening to you all, let one person speak." Old Xiao pointed at the young man wearing a black vest and said: "You, tell me what's going on."

  The young man in the black vest said anxiously, "Yesterday I stayed with a bus driver at an old couple's house. In the middle of the night, he wanted to go to the toilet, and I said I would accompany him. He said it was just around the corner and could be settled nearby. Later, I fell asleep, and when I got up in the morning, I didn't see him."

  "Have you searched all around? In the car?" Xiao Lao asked.

  "We looked, we got up and searched around but didn't see him, he's not even in the car." This village was originally small, with a few young men making such a fuss, almost everyone in the village knew about it. The crowd was anxious, without a driver who would drive the car out? Besides, where could he go as a big living person?"

  Xiao Lao turned around and asked Zheba: "Village chief, is there any place around here that he might go to, do you know?"

  Zheba saw the crowd gathering around, waved his hand and said: "Everyone go back home to eat first, I'll handle this matter. After eating, everyone will have the energy to build houses." After finishing speaking, he turned around and went back to his own house, leaving us staring at each other in dismay. A girl next to me whispered: "Isn't this village a black-hearted village? Are they going to detain us as laborers?"

  Everyone dispersed one after another. Xiao Lao frowned and asked Zheba, "Village Chief, what do you mean by 'raising the roof'? We just want to find a driver and set off today..."

  Before Xiao Lao could finish, Zheba let out a cold laugh, his face expressionless, with a glint of chill in his eyes. "There's no need to look for that driver, he should be dead by now," he said. "As for building the house, it's naturally for you people, because you won't be able to leave again." Seeing us all stunned, he let out a low hum and continued, "You were just asking what this village was called, right? This place is called 'Forbidden Land of the Living'." Zheba threw his head back and laughed loudly, like a madman.

  Yang Cangcang cried and laughed as she looked at Zheba, saying loudly: "Laugh your sister off! We've all passed through the Bagua Ghost Array of the ancient country of Daiyuguo, what's this place?"

  Zheba hummed softly and said, "I felt that you were different from ordinary people when you came in, especially this one." He pointed at Wu Zihan. "However, I still advise you not to struggle in vain. Maybe you can protect yourselves, but can you protect so many people?" After saying this, he immediately changed his face and smiled with a simple and honest expression: "Everyone eats more, it's not easy to grow vegetables here." While speaking, he gave us some food, and I suddenly felt a chill, thinking that he wouldn't poison us, would he? I glanced at Wu Zihan, but this kid was eating very calmly, as if nothing had happened earlier.

  After dinner, Old Xiao asked us to gather everyone for a meeting and informed them not to wander around at night. The task of finding the driver was left to us few. Everyone looked terrified, but what struck me as strange was that the villagers here seemed to be used to it.

  Xiao Lao discussed with us and said: "I want to take a look around, get familiar with the terrain, and see which way we can leave."

  Wu Zihan suddenly stopped Xiao Lao and said, "Let's go again at night. We are in the light, and the enemy is in the dark. There won't be any discovery now. I want to investigate the origin of this fragrance." Wu Zihan's words were generally not refuted by anyone, and everyone agreed with him, preparing to return to Zheba's hut for a day. At this time, the woman holding the baby suddenly called out to us.

  "Excuse me, I don't know how to address this teacher?" she asked politely.

  Xiao Lao scratched his head and said: "My surname is Xiao, I don't know what instructions you have?"

  The woman looked around cautiously and pulled us to a corner, lowering her voice: "I know you folks are quite capable. Mr. Xiao, I saw the driver last night."

  "Oh?" Xiao Lao Jiao showed interest and waited for her to continue speaking.

  The woman's body began to tremble, as if recalling something she didn't want to think about. "I think the driver has gone mad," she said. "I heard him muttering nonstop - 'Old Ma, I've come to accompany you.'"

  "Old Horse? Isn't that the substitute driver who disappeared?" Fu Ma asked in surprise.

  Xiao Lao patted the woman's shoulder and comforted her: "Don't be afraid, tell us in detail what you saw."