Eighteenth day (7) poisonous salt

  The old inn, with its wooden structure, was full of cracks that let in the light, but as soon as it entered, it was immediately absorbed by the dark wooden boards, which were like greedy vampires, constantly pulling and tugging at the surrounding light, keeping the inn in a state of oppressive gloom.

  The hotel lobby was lit up, and in this small mountain village, electricity was a precious resource that was very unstable. The light was always in an unstable state. When I walked into the hotel, the light was also flickering, as if every step I took was stepping on something's belly. It was breathing with my footsteps, and the light was its frequency.

  I walked quickly, I didn't dare to slow down, I always felt that something was following me, right on my spine, crouching on my back.

  I think the chill is because my clothes are soaked with rain and sweat, not some faceless red-clothed female ghost waiting for me to turn around.

  At this time, human reason and fantasy have long been combined, I dare not look back, but also do not believe, in this contradiction I walked to the stairs, looking up, nothing.

  What else can be done?

  I let out a sigh of relief and turned around to shout towards the door "Come in!"

  But in the instant I turned around, I saw a figure flashing in the kitchen.

  No, or perhaps it was a ghostly shadow, I couldn't tell what exactly it was, but there indeed was a dark, human-like thing that flashed in the kitchen.

  The hotel lobby is adjacent to where we eat and the kitchen. I didn't shout out that sentence, but instead turned my head towards the kitchen.

  There is nothing there.

  But I didn't dare shout and didn't dare move either.

  Since I was the first to enter, others naturally stood at the door waiting for my message. At this time, human nature is very ridiculous, and everyone is very weak. The most ordinary thing you do, such as walking into an empty hotel, will become a big deal that requires great courage.

  Everyone was standing at the door looking at me, but I was looking at the kitchen.

  I stood there hesitating, wondering whether I should walk over and take a look.

  But today so many things happened, the strange foreshadowing of these days began to erupt today, I have reached an unbearable limit, I really feel my back getting cooler and cooler.

  Should I go over there after all?

  Seeing me standing there motionless, the people outside didn't dare to come in anymore. I heard someone calling me, but my attention was all on the kitchen. I swear I saw something there.

  I stood there, unwilling to give up but too afraid to go forward. I'm not a person who lacks courage, but at this moment, I was really scared.

  Ai Ya was possessed by a ghost, what she did we saw clearly with our own eyes. At this moment Ai Ya is dead, where is that ghost?

  Siya told me before that there was one more person among us, and she thought it was Dapeng. So is someone really resurrected?

  Is there really someone else hiding in this inn?

  Or...

  I suddenly felt someone pulling on my arm, I shivered with a chill, and felt a warm soft small hand placed on my face. I turned around to see Xiao Ai's concerned eyes.

  Xiao Ai said, what's wrong?

  I was afraid of scaring Xiao Ai, so I shook my head and said, "It's nothing, I just felt a bit dizzy for a moment."

  Xiao Ai let out a sigh of relief and glanced at the kitchen, saying "Did you see something?"

  I said nothing.

  Xiao Ai asked suspiciously, really nothing? If you're especially afraid, you can tell me, it's okay.

  I smiled and said to Xia Ai, "Really, there's nothing. Let everyone come in." At this moment, men always pretend to be brave, no matter how frightened they are inside.

  I waved my hand and the people outside slowly poured in, they walked to my side, looked around up and down, and then said, nothing's wrong.

  I saw those four boys in the end, they formed a small circle and kept their distance from the people in front. I said, now it's nothing, but some things are not clear, this thing can't be passed, we can't confirm whether Ai Ya is the only killer or not.

  I highlighted that one sentence, Hou Mingyu said, didn't you just hear some people say that Ai Ya still has a helper?

  I'm saying, it's not what anyone said, think about it, can a girl like Aiyu really have the ability to hang Dapeng? And what's her motive, is it because Dapeng broke up your illicit affair?

  Hou Mingyu said, girls don't have the ability to do this, but look at Ai Ya, is she a girl? She...she...stood in front of me, muttering to herself, saying "I should kill you, I should kill you". You don't know how scary it was when she held that dagger. I was so afraid and didn't dare call for help, fearing that if you hadn't arrived, I would have died. All I could do was beg, using all the nice words I could think of, saying how much I loved her, promising to break up with others as soon as I got back, saying she's the only woman in my life. After saying all this, she still wasn't satisfied, and holding that dagger, she walked over and suddenly bit down on my ear.

  Hou Mingyu swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "I thought I was dead for sure at the time. Suddenly, everything went black. Then... when I came to, I saw that she had bled all over the floor. Can a little girl bite off someone's ear? Can she lose so much blood and still crawl to the stairs? Let me tell you, this village is very strange. After she arrived, she wasn't just any ordinary girl anymore. She was a female ghost. Can't a female ghost do these things?"

  Hou Mingyu became more and more agitated as he spoke, waving his hand and covering his ears, then said, "What can I do in the future? My ears are gone."

  Ma Tiancheng apparently didn't have a good impression of these college students either, he said coldly, "Don't even mention your ears, it's uncertain whether you'll be able to keep your life or not."

  Hou Mingyu said, don't scare me, I'll tell you, I'm not afraid of you. With so many people, can we still be afraid of a black shop owner like you?

  Ma Tiancheng waved his fist and said, "Haven't I beaten you guys enough? Damn it, I think you want to die."

  I was originally going to watch the commotion for a while, but Xiao Ai was already shivering with fear by my side. I also felt the chill getting thicker and thicker. After all, until now, not only had we not eaten, but we had also been rained on for half a day, and our hearts were afraid. If we continued like this, it would be strange if we didn't get sick.

  I said, let's not quarrel for now. Everyone take a good rest, have something to eat, and then come down and talk things over thoroughly. I think no matter what you've done in the past, being able to live on now is most important. Whether it's human or ghost, in short there's some kind of thing taking revenge on you all, some matters are better spoken out loud, otherwise your students might all end up dead.

  Hou Mingyu and a few others exchanged glances, grunted in unison, and supported each other as they went upstairs.

  Several girls also went upstairs together, I said to Ma Tiancheng, Brother Ma, you've worked hard.

  Ma Tiancheng said coldly, "Am I still cooking for these sons of bitches?"

  I say, if it's really a ghost, the chances of us surviving together are higher. If it's human, who knows, they might just kill us all in the end. So... let's just get along and try to get out first.

  Ma Tiancheng grunted in response, still sulking. I told Xia Ai, "You go back to your room first, I'll come find you later."

  Xiao Ai nodded and walked up to the second floor. I whispered to Ma Tiancheng, "Is this inn empty of other people?"

  Ma Tiancheng was taken aback and then said, "What does it mean?"

  I said, just now I came in and saw a shadow flashing in this kitchen, I didn't dare come over to take a look.

  Ma Tiancheng glanced at the kitchen and said absent-mindedly, "No one's here. You can go rest too."

  I said, but I really saw it...

  Ma Tiancheng seemed a bit impatient, saying, "Really, there's no one else, I'm tired, and I still have to serve you dinner, hurry up and go upstairs, I'll take a rest too."

  I hummed in response, knowing I wouldn't get any answers, and turned to head into Xiaoyi's room.

  She had already changed into her pajamas and was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for me. Her hair was still a bit damp, and she was swinging her snow-white legs back and forth while looking at me with big eyes that seemed to be telling me something in a whisper. I felt my heart flutter and my face heat up. I didn't want to lose my composure in front of Xia Ai, so I looked up and saw the bag of salt on the table and said half-jokingly, "Let me draw a circle for you, just stay put."

  After I finished speaking, I let out a sneeze. Xiao Ai came over and felt my forehead, then scolded me, saying "You're still not recovered from your cold, are you? You've been getting rained on for so long outside, hurry up and go change into some dry clothes."

  I obediently returned to my room to change clothes, and rushed back to Xia'ai's room. Xia'ai had already poured me a cup of hot water, handed it over as I entered, and said, "Drink some light salt water, an ancestral secret recipe that can cure early-stage colds."

  I laughed and said, really?

  I took a small sip of salt water and swallowed it without thinking, only to find that the taste was off. I then drank a large mouthful, and spat it all out.

  This isn't saltwater, it doesn't even have a salty flavor, but rather a kind of bitter and indescribable special smell, with bitterness mixed with a sour stench, anyway it definitely won't be saltwater.

  Xiao Ai said, what's wrong?

  I said this isn't salt water, what did you put in it?

  Xiao Ai said, isn't it the salt you brought? It's right there.

  I walked over and poured out a bit of the powder, examining it carefully. This powder looked somewhat like salt, but it wasn't white crystalline, rather a brownish powdery substance. I picked up some more and put it in my mouth, the taste was very unpleasant and complex, absolutely not the iodized salt we normally eat.

  Is this place using sea salt for cooking or something? Anyway, it's very strange.

  I casually threw the salt into Xiaoyi's drawer and spilled water on the floor, then told Xiaoyi that this salt was expired.

  As soon as the words fell, the door was knocked and I opened the door to stretch out my head. I saw Ma Tiancheng standing outside the door, with Juyou following behind him.

  Ma Tiancheng smiled and said, "You're in this room, just right. Let me ask you, have you seen a bag of salt? We don't have enough salt for cooking, we can't go out, and the last bag of salt is gone."

  I smiled and said, no, just went out with you guys together, came in together, didn't go into the kitchen. Right, could it be that black shadow?

  Ma Tiancheng thought for a moment and said, "Did you really see a black shadow? Is it someone from our inn?"

  I said at that time everyone was outside and that guy was pulled out, definitely not someone from our hotel.

  Ma Tiancheng hummed in agreement, then dryly said, "Even ghosts can't take salt, right? I'll go ask someone else. You two... remember to come down and eat later, I won't come knock on the door."

  Ma Tiancheng apparently thought we were doing something shameful in the room, closed the door, and Xia Ai whispered, "Why didn't you return that bag of broken salt to him?"

  My voice trembled as I said, "I just took the salt from a bucket that was full of it. There's no way we'd run out of salt for cooking if one bag was missing." Besides, I thought to myself, salt is such a common thing, and there were so many bags, nobody would notice if one was missing. And definitely nobody would go check the kitchen right after experiencing something so terrifying just to see if a bag of salt was missing.

  Xiao Ai said, what do you mean?

  I said, just that instant I thought of it, maybe this strange-tasting salt isn't because it's expired, but because it simply isn't salt.

  Xiao Ai said, what is that?

  I gritted my teeth and said, "Drugs."