The Girl from Chapter 7

  Uncle Er said it was uncertain, I knew things were not simple, and my heart was a little nervous.

  It seems that everyone's worries and concerns have been alleviated, as Second Uncle immediately added: "Everyone can rest assured, with me, Nie Wenshan, around, nothing will dare to act out of line."

  When Second Uncle spoke with such confidence, the fellow villagers' worries were somewhat alleviated.

  Then, Second Uncle asked the old village chief to send someone to fetch a few coils of hemp rope from the foot of the mountain and surround the cave with it like a warning line. My little sister and I went home to fetch Second Uncle's peach wood sword and a large handful of talismans, and brought them to Dog Head Slope. Second Uncle asked everyone else to leave Dog Head Slope, leaving only the old village chief, my little sister, and me to help.

  We hung up the red talisman papers along the hemp rope, and soon the rope was filled with talismans, gently swaying in the wind, exuding a hint of mysterious majesty. I saw my second uncle walk alone to the front of the upper cave, holding a peach wood sword, treading on the seven stars, waving it around, muttering incantations.

  After a while, Second Uncle suddenly shouted, thrusting the peach wood sword through a blood-stained talisman and inserting it into the mud in front of the cave, as if using the sword to suppress and seal something.

  Bent over and panting heavily for a moment, Second Uncle came down, and when he arrived in front of us, I saw his face was red and purple, exhausted to the point of near collapse.

  "Dad, are you okay?" Little sister grasped Second Uncle's hand and asked anxiously. As soon as she finished asking, she suddenly let out a startled cry, released Second Uncle's hand, and exclaimed: "Your hands are so cold!"

  I was startled and hastily grasped Second Uncle's hand, finding it as cold as a block of ice. I couldn't help but ask: "Second Uncle, are you okay?"

  "It's nothing," Second Uncle shook his head and said, "Let's go, we're going back."

  My sister and I were worried about Second Uncle, but seeing he didn't want to say more, we also couldn't ask again.

  Then I, along with Xiao Mei, Old Village Chief and Second Uncle headed down towards Dog Head Slope.

  As I walked down the slope, my heart was filled with intense unease, feeling as if the black cave above me was a giant eye staring at me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Finally, I couldn't help but turn around and look up at the black cave on Dog Head Slope. The moment I looked, I was so frightened that I lost my voice and fell to the ground with a thud.

  "Brother, what's wrong?" Little sister was startled and quickly helped me up, asking.

  I pointed tremblingly at the black hole above and stuttered: "You see, you see..."

  "What's that?" The little sister looked up at the black hole above and turned to me with a puzzled expression, muttering.

  My second uncle and the old village chief also looked at each other, then turned around with a puzzled expression towards me.

  I blinked and looked up at the black hole again, only to find that nothing was there, I was shocked and stunned.

  "Xiao Yu, what did you see?" Er Shu stared at me and asked.

  "I... I think I just saw a figure, wearing white clothes..." I said uncertainly. Just now, I indeed saw a person in white standing in front of the dark cave, but I don't know why they vanished into thin air when I blinked, and I suspect that I might have seen things.

  "Brother, there's nothing up there, are you seeing things?" Little sister said.

  I was speechless, and Second Uncle and Old Village Chief looked at me with surprise and uncertainty, but they also had nothing to say.

  He patted me lightly on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, let's go."

  At that time I really wished I was seeing things.

  On this day, all the villagers in Yunlongba were discussing the black cave on Dog Head Slope. Some villagers who had not gone to see it before also went to Dog Head Slope in the afternoon, but because the old village chief had sternly warned everyone not to approach the cave, these people only dared to stand at the foot of the slope and watch from a distance.

  The second daughter heard us describe that cave as terrifying and didn't dare go take a look.

  The news of Dog's Head Slope spread quickly to the neighboring village, and for the next two or three days, I saw people from nearby villages coming to our village, saying they wanted to take a look at Dog's Head Slope. The old village chief warned them seriously, telling them not to get close to the black cave, lest they bring disaster upon themselves. Most people saw the talismans fluttering below the black cave from afar and knew it was ominous, so they didn't go up. But on the third day, there were a few men from Lion's Tooth Ridge who, relying on their own bravery, ignored the old village chief's advice and insisted on entering the black cave to take a look.

  Those men had just gone in for a short while when they suddenly shouted and cried out loudly, rushing down the mountain.

  At that time, I was also present and saw those tall and strong men running down the mountain, almost scared silly, which was quite interesting. It's not that I'm gloating over their misfortune, but because my second uncle had an experience in Shiziba, it made me have no good feelings towards anyone in Shiziba. Moreover, those men were asking for trouble themselves.

  Later, I heard that those men also became useless after they returned. One was paralyzed, one became an idiot, and the other two became vegetables, barely alive. With these four men as examples, people from nearby villages no longer dared to come and see the black cave of Dog's Head Slope. I heard Erniang say that outsiders all call the black cave of Dog's Head Slope "Ghost Cave", spreading it in a mysterious and terrifying way.

  Ghost Cave, I think this name is pretty good. To be honest, I'm also very curious about this ghost cave in my heart. However, I also know that it's formidable and won't take a peek at will.

  I thought the matter of the ghost cave was over like this.

  But in just two days, another tragedy occurred.

  That day, my little sister and I picked some peppers from the field and walked back to the village entrance. We saw a few young men and women with backpacks standing at the entrance of the village, looking around quietly and discussing something in low voices. Their clothes were very different from those of our villagers, bright and clean, so I thought they might be from the city. Our place is known for its beautiful scenery, and it's not uncommon for some city people to come to the nearby mountains to play during the summer. However, since the incident at Dog Head Slope Ghost Cave had just occurred, I couldn't help but suspect that these few were here to explore the cave, and my heart sank slightly.

  As my little sister and I walked a bit closer, those young men and women noticed us. A girl wearing white hot pants, green T-shirt, and a baseball cap, with a slender figure and a pure face, smiled and walked in front of us.

  "This handsome guy and little sister, hello! My name is Zhao Yun'er. I and my friends came from the city to play here on purpose." The girl said with a bright smile.

  She deliberately pointed out that she was from the city, and seemed to be quite proud of it. I let out a slight snort of disdain and said indifferently, "Is there something you want?"

  Zhao Yun'er didn't answer, but instead took out a few pieces of chocolate from her bag and handed them to us. She smiled awkwardly and said, "I don't have anything on me, just these few pieces of chocolate. I hope you two won't mind."

  I didn't accept her chocolate, and smiled lightly saying: "No need to bribe us, just say what you want." Thinking to myself, if we really wanted a bribe, a few pieces of chocolate wouldn't be enough. Do these city people think that we rural folks have never had chocolate before? It's as if they think we've never had it, but also don't think they can buy us off with just a few pieces of chocolate. We're willing to give directions, simply because we're kind at heart.

  I hinted for little sister to take the chocolate.

  Zhao Yuner was amused by my words and burst out laughing, her smile as beautiful as a flower. "Handsome boy, you're really funny."

  "Cut the crap, say what you want to say quickly, we don't have much time." I said impatiently.

  Zhao Yun'er shook her head slightly in helplessness, put away her smile and said: "It's like this, we want to go take a look at Dog Head Slope in your village, can you...?"

  My face changed slightly, and I interrupted her words: "What are you doing going to Dog Head Slope?"

  "It's just going out to have fun." Zhao Yu'er said with a wave of her hand.

  I took a light breath and said, "You can't go." I didn't want to see such a beautiful woman become a fool or a vegetable, the four men at Shiziba had already left a bloody lesson.

  "Why?" Zhao Yuer furrowed her delicate eyebrows, looking at me in confusion.

  "You must have heard about the Dog Head Slope Ghost Cave before you came here." I might as well get straight to the point.

  The three men and one woman behind us had been listening to our conversation, and when they heard me mention the Ghost Cave, they couldn't help but exclaim: "The Ghost Cave is real!"

  Zhao Yuner's face also changed, but she quickly smiled and said: "The few of us have indeed heard about the ghost cave and came to worship. Can you give us directions?"

  "You've heard of Ghost Cave, yet you still want to go and get yourself killed?" I looked at her in confusion.

  Zhao Yuner smiled and shook her head. A young man behind her, wearing a pirate king patterned T-shirt, seemed to think my words were funny and laughed: "Dude, it's the 21st century now, are you going to tell us that the haunted house really has ghosts?"

  Are there really ghosts in this world? Honestly, I'm not too sure. Growing up, I've encountered many strange things, but I've never seen a ghost face-to-face. However, I think that ghosts are something you'd rather believe exist than don't exist. After hearing what the young man said, I worry that they're thorough materialists who look down on supernatural things and will bring disaster upon themselves.

  I let out a soft sigh and glanced at the people behind me, saying: "Whether there are really ghosts in the haunted cave or not, I don't know. All I know is that last time four men didn't listen to advice and entered the haunted cave. As a result, one was frightened into paralysis, one was frightened silly, and the other two were frightened into becoming vegetables."

  Listen to me speak seriously, several people's faces changed. Zhao Yu'er looked at Xiaomei and asked: "Xiaomei, is this true?"

  Little sister nodded definitely.

  I originally thought they should have been scared into listening to advice, but unexpectedly those few people just stunned for a moment, and then cheered endlessly.

  "Wipe, it's true!"

  "Too scary, too exciting!"

  "I like this kind of place, I'm going!"

  Watching them cheering and jumping around, my little sister and I were stunned.

  Zhao Yuner looked at me and my little sister seriously and said, "We are specially here to see the ghost cave, would you please show us the way? We can give you a reward."

  Others insisted on sending themselves to death, and I really couldn't stop them. With a sigh in my heart, I said: "I can give you directions for free, but alas, I still solemnly advise you not to take the risk of going to the Ghost Cave. Something has happened there before, and my second uncle has sealed it with talismans. If you go there, it's really very dangerous."

  "Thank you for reminding me." Zhao Yuer's face broke into a sweet smile as she said, "But we really want to go take a look, so just indulge us, okay?" As she spoke, her watery eyes revealed a hint of pleading, making her appear even more endearing.

  I was speechless and exchanged a glance with my little sister, slightly shaking my head and sighed: "Okay."

  "Thank you." Zhao Yuner said with delight.

  I hastily added a sentence: "You guys go to my house first, I'll let Second Uncle give each of you an amulet, hoping it can keep you safe."

  Zhao Yuner exclaimed with delight: "Then thank you so much, hehe, you're really a great person!"

  I didn't say anything more and took Little Sister and a few of them back home.

  Back home, I told Erniang and Ershu about what happened. Erniang was shocked and hurriedly said she wanted to go out and persuade those kids. She went to the courtyard to persuade Zhao Yun'er and the others, while I stayed in the house with Ershu. I said, "Ershu, those young people don't know how terrible the ghost cave is, you go and persuade them."