Chapter 12: The Narrow Ghostly Boat

  The woman took two deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, but her pale face and trembling voice couldn't hide her fear: "I... last night, around eleven o'clock, I was almost asleep, the child cried twice, I woke up, after a while I thought of going out for convenience, as a result... then I heard someone talking."

  The woman shivered as she spoke, apparently really frightened. Seeing this, Xiao Lao took out a small, deep purple bottle from his bag, pulled out the stopper, and poured out a pill that looked like saccharin into his hand. He handed it to the woman, saying: "Put this pill under your tongue." The woman hesitated for a moment, but still did as she was told.

  She composed herself and continued: "Although it was very dark at night, I should be able to confirm that it was the driver by listening to his voice. At first, I thought he was talking to someone else, but later found out that wasn't quite right. There was only one person around him. Listening carefully, he kept muttering to himself: 'Old horse, I've come to accompany you, old horse, I've come to accompany you...'"

  It's unclear whether it was due to the effect of Xiao Lao's medicine, but the woman's complexion improved slightly and her voice wasn't shaking as much as before. Xiao Lao asked: "So did you see which way the driver went?"

  "I was very scared at the time, thinking of hurrying to call for help. The driver seemed to have noticed me and suddenly turned his head to look at me, as if smiling at me, but it was a cold smile. Although the moonlight was weak at the time, I felt myself floating lightly, smelling a strong floral scent that was so pungent it seemed like I couldn't breathe."

  "Was it just the driver at that time?" Wu Zihan asked with concern.

  The woman tilted her head and thought for a moment, saying: "There should be no one else."

  "What happened next? How was it?" I asked hastily, being deeply absorbed in listening.

  The woman's voice suddenly became hoarse, "Later I felt like I was walking all the time, I don't know how far I walked, I...I saw a group of people eating and singing on the bus, laughing and chatting, many people. When I got closer, I saw the driver, and also...the substitute driver and those people who disappeared earlier were all inside, and...also that big super..."

  "I knew that supermarket was no good." Fu Ma said angrily.

  "The big super was sitting on the chair, I saw everyone showing great respect to him, I was just about to ask what's going on, when suddenly I heard a baby crying, I saw those people covering their ears, with ferocious expressions, looking at me with malice... then... I woke up, and found myself lying outside the door, by that time the driver had disappeared, my child inside kept wailing loudly." The woman finished speaking and let out a sigh of relief, as if she had just put down a huge burden.

  We all fell silent, Xiao Lao furrowed his brow at first, then smiled slightly and sighed: "The bond between mother and child is deep indeed. The nature of infants is the most genuine and pure in this world, unlike us. It was he who awakened you, otherwise you would have become one of them too, and two people would have disappeared." The woman suddenly came to a realization, and I saw that her eyes were shining with tears.

  Yang Cangcang pouted and said: "Xiao Dage, that's his daughter."

  Xiao Lao suddenly felt that his image as a superior being was destroyed, and he said with a straight face: "These are not the key points, the key point is that before we figure out what's going on, don't go out at night casually." The woman nodded, after which our group returned to Zheba's small hut. Zheba wasn't home, he was outside helping villagers build houses.

  "This village head is really inexplicable, going around to tell everyone that they can't go back, the driver disappeared and no one dares to go out casually, there's no signal on the phone, does he still have the heart to build a house? Is this how he wants to keep everyone here? Could it be a pyramid scheme?"

  "It's probably not his intention to let us stay, I felt that the fragrance of flowers came from the forest behind the village last night, let's go and explore tonight." Wu Zihan said expressionlessly, "But we have to bring her along." He looked at Hongtian who was sleeping on the bed. Everyone did not refute, after all, they couldn't just leave her here alone.

  At this time, it was around 9 o'clock in the morning. We were chatting in the room when someone came to ask Xiao Lao what they should do. Xiao Lao sat on the bed, pinched a lotus finger, and pretended to be quite elegant, except for his thinning hair. He had become like a god in everyone's heart. Yang Cangcang was constantly undermining Xiao Lao's authority beside him. Since arriving at this place, Jiu Chong had been very well-behaved, sleeping in my clothes without eating or drinking, as if he were hibernating. However, he and I shared a spiritual connection; whenever I needed him, he would immediately wake up.

  At noon, Zheba came back and cooked a lunch. None of us dared to eat it. Yang Can had some food in her bag, so we ate a bit. They didn't rest well last night because I disturbed them, so they slept for a while again, and the whole afternoon passed by. It gets dark early here, basically after 4 pm, the sun has already started setting.

  Wu Zihan called us for the first time, Xiao Lao packed up his things, and before Zheba returned, we headed towards the woods behind the village. At this time, the sun had not completely set, and Hongtian was still carrying his horse on his back.

  I looked at Fuma and sighed: "Brother Ma, can't this wound be cured?"

  Fu Ma smiled calmly: "Ah, never mind, as long as you don't mind me holding you back."

  Xiao Lao suddenly remembered something and said, "This wound of Da Yan's may not be incurable after all. In my travels many years ago, I heard of a medicine called 'Jin Bu Huan' which was said to be a panacea for injuries. What it looks like and where it can be found, however, this old man really doesn't know."

  Yang Cangcang followed behind us a few people, saying loudly: "What's the difference between saying and not saying?"

  The forest was pitch black, I took out my flashlight and shone it around, feeling that this forest didn't feel quite right. Normally, a naturally grown forest would have trees of different sizes, species, and distances, but this forest only had one type of tree, which appeared to be poplar trees under the light of the flashlight, with uniform size and distance, as if someone had intentionally planted them here, and it seemed that no one had taken care of them for many years. The trees grew in a twisted and irregular manner, was there someone living here? Or did the villagers plant them? But why didn't they take care of them anymore? Was there something in this forest that they were afraid to approach?

  I'm thinking, following everyone to keep moving forward, this forest isn't too big, behind it is a mountain, the whole village is located at the foot of the mountain, the mountain is very high, with clouds and mist swirling around it, the terrain is steep and precipitous, all black rocks, almost no vegetation has grown, this mountain gives people a sense of oppressive inaccessibility.

  Xiao Lao looked at us and asked: "Do we need to climb a mountain?"

  Just then, a black shadow flashed past us from behind. Fu Ma shouted loudly, "Who?" The voice echoed in the mountains, but no one replied. A shrill and eerie laugh came from our right side. Fu Ma was about to chase after it with Hong Tian on his back, but Wu Zihan stopped him, saying, "It's not a living person, I'm afraid it's intentionally luring us over." Fu Ma hesitated for a moment, but still didn't give chase.

  Yang Cangcang looked around, her night-vision eyes shining with a green light, and said: "That dark place over there looks like a cave. Let's go take a look?" As soon as the word 'cave' was mentioned, I felt an inexplicable sense of crisis, fearing that it would be deep and narrow, and who knows what dangers lay in wait for us.

  The direction Yang Cangcang pointed to was the opposite direction of where the black shadow escaped. We headed towards the middle of the mountain, tonight is very dark, the moon is covered by clouds, except for Cangcang, we could only rely on the weak light from our flashlights to walk, stumbling and staggering. Actually, the cave wasn't that far away, but we walked for a long time.

  We stood at the entrance of a small cave, which was so narrow that only one person could enter by bending their body. To be on the safe side, I called out to Jiuzhong, who was sleeping soundly and woke up with great reluctance, flying around me and chirping nonstop. I didn't bother to pay attention to him. With a flashlight in hand, I shone it back and forth, discovering that the cave had obvious signs of artificial excavation. This should be a hole dug by someone on purpose, but why was it dug here? As we walked further into the cave, it became wider and could almost accommodate two people after a few minutes.

  "What's this cave for? It seems to be man-made." I turned to ask Old Xiao.

  Xiao Lao Er didn't say a word, came over and snatched the flashlight from my hand, lifted his head and shone it around inside. At first, I thought he had found something, so I followed suit to take a look. Except for the unevenly carved stone wall, there was nothing else. Xiao Lao kept looking up at the top of the cave with his mouth agape.

  "What's the reason, Old Xiao?" Yang Cangcang looked up and asked curiously.

  Xiao Lao's eyes widened, staring at us blinking, seemingly surprised to say: "Do you know what this cave is for?" We shook our heads, waiting for him to continue. He swallowed a mouthful of water and said, "This hole is full of gold, it's a gold mine, you guys take a closer look at the rocks inside, the ones that shine with golden light are all gold."

  My eyes grew wide, and I thought to myself, "Wow, if this is extracted and sold, how much money would it be worth?" I could become the CEO, marry a beautiful rich woman, and as I thought about it, my mouth began to water...

  Fu Ma frowned and asked: "This gold mine is obviously man-made, but it hasn't been excavated yet. Where are the people?"

  Wu Zihan let out a loud sneeze and woke me up, his gaze suddenly turned to the depths of the cave, "It's here, that flower's scent." This time, except for Wu Zihan, we were all stunned, no one else had smelled it, including me.

  Wu Zihan hastily walked inside, and we followed behind him, but our hearts were all filled with doubts. What was the difference that made us unable to smell the fragrance of the flowers? Especially me, sometimes I could smell it, and sometimes I couldn't.

  Wu Zihan's footsteps were extremely fast, I was following closely behind him, after about ten minutes, my legs were sore. The cave was filled with a reddish glow, like a sea of fire. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a large area of plants. Wu Zihan was panting more and more, gasping for air as he said: "It's... here..."

  Xiao Lao approached the sea of flames with a curious expression, shining his flashlight. Suddenly, he sat down on the ground with a thud, sweat dripping down his face. "This... this is a Ghostly Ember Array!"