Chapter 19: A Strange Night

Let’s talk about it after tonight? This sentence sounded very heavy. My mind was absent-minded as I carried the water into the house with Ruoyue. I couldn’t guess what horrible things would happen in the night in the town. Would the zombies come out to move? Or would the ghosts walk at night? Would the soldiers of the underworld pass through? No, no, no. The last one is almost impossible. In an era without famine or war, without a large number of ghosts, how could there be a saying that the soldiers of the underworld would pass through?

I can’t think of what will happen tonight. After all these years, I’m not afraid of anything. Even if Li Fengxian stood in front of me, I would be numb. I guess the old village chief could scare me, but that’s about it. I would calm down quickly.

It was because I couldn’t imagine what would happen in the village at night that this speculation could make my numb heart feel a little bit of fear. I was savoring this taste, it was really not easy!

In a trance, I was interrupted by my brother Chengxin’s howl: “Chengyi, tell me the truth. Is it because you can’t stand the fact that I’m more handsome than you and more popular with the girls than you, that you want to burn me to a disabled person and get your revenge?”

“Ah?” I didn’t come back to my senses.

Chengxin’s refined and white face had already distorted, pointing at me and saying, “You still dare to say that?”

I suddenly realized what I was doing, and realized that I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I had forgotten to stop heating the water in the basin where we were washing our feet. Poor Chengxin wanted to take advantage of the situation and wash his feet first, but his feet in the basin were scalded by the water I heated in a trance, and they were as red as pig’s trotters that had been shaved.

When I came to my senses, Ruoyue had already rushed over and snatched the pot from my hands. She then laughed non-stop. I looked at Chengxin, who was grinning at me, and said in a bad mood, “I’m sorry. Just think of it as a way to vent my anger.”

“I knew it.” Chengxin looked at me with a glare, and Yueh laughed even more uncontrollably.

But just as the atmosphere was about to relax, our half-closed door was suddenly pushed open, and the old man, with a flushed face, appeared before us again, startling all three of us. How could this old man walk without making a sound and like to appear suddenly?

What was funny was his expression. He was clearly in his own house, but he appeared before us as if he were embarrassed.

“You really should leave.” The old man was not giving up. He looked at the three of us, who were just staring at him in silence, and said, “I came out to the yard to boil water and heard… you three laughing happily in the house. You have such a good life, I don’t want to ruin it for you. You really… should leave.”

“Do you think we are definitely ruined?” Chengxin brother put on his glasses and his trademark smile appeared on his lips again. His gentle, slow, and comfortable tone was not to be refuted, of course, his actions were a bit funny, carefully wiping his feet that were burned like pig’s feet.

“Young people are always competitive. Haven’t there been people here before? If they can’t solve it, they’ll die. They haven’t even figured out the cause, and it’s just been left unresolved… This town is already a dead town. The people who live here have already lost all hope. Those who can leave have already left. The only ones who are pitied are the children.” The old man’s expression suddenly became sad, but the sadness was only fleeting, and it was replaced by a numb indifference.

“Things will always be resolved.” Cheng Xin Ge massaged his pig’s feet, but his smile was even more gentle, as if giving people infinite confidence.

“Forget it, I really can’t persuade you. Then I’ll just remind you, if something happens at night, don’t resist. It’s better not to know than to know! If something doesn’t work, don’t be curious, don’t get involved, and you can still keep your life. I’ve said all I can say… really, if you can’t solve it, if you just want to come and see, see it and leave, many people who come here are still smart.” After saying this, the old man turned and walked out of our house.

The three of us were left in silence.

After a long time, Chengxin said, “Do you think that there are really no strangers in this town who have discovered any problems? A town cannot be isolated from the world.”

This is also the question I just asked, but I didn’t want to. Ruoyue pouted and said, “That’s normal. People have always yearned for prosperity. A town like this is usually not populated. Except for government agencies, most towns are populated by indigenous people. There are very few completely unrelated strangers. Even if the scenery is beautiful, if it is remote, it will be like this before it is developed. You are really ignorant. In China, there are many small towns and villages that are quite closed.

Ru Yue’s words made me feel like I had grasped something, but for a while I couldn’t quite react. I frowned and thought for a long time, but I couldn’t think of anything, so I had to give up. It seems that I can only talk about everything after tonight.

The old man’s room had been cleaned, but there was still a lingering musty smell. Since there was nothing to make the bed, the floor under the body was also very hard.

Due to the geographical location, we don’t burn the kang. On this late autumn night… I slept with Chengxin and covered myself with a damp thin quilt. The northwest wind was blowing outside the window, and the two men were so vigorous that they had to curl up and huddle together to keep warm.

For various reasons, I couldn’t sleep at all, but Chengxin didn’t know why he fell asleep in such a situation. The sound of his snoring kept ringing in my ears.

The whole night was quiet, and nothing unusual happened. I kept my eyes open until Chengxin brother sneezed in my ear, and then I remembered to take a few clothes from our luggage and put them on my body while smoking a cigarette.

I gave the thick quilt to Yue, but the old man’s quilt always felt a bit damp. I stood at the window smoking, always feeling a bit worried about this and that… and then I realized that it was actually warmer standing than lying down.

The wind outside the window was getting stronger and stronger. At first, I didn’t feel anything unusual when I got up to smoke, but when the cigarette was halfway through, I felt that the wind was unusually loud… and this kind of wind always made me think of something bad, just like that time in the middle of the night in the deserted village, when the wind was blowing like this, howling like a ghost.

I squinted, my heart was still calm, watching the yellow sand flying in this small town. Gradually, I didn’t know where the fog came from, and it turned out to be foggy.

It is normal for fog to appear in the late autumn night, but I am a Taoist priest, and I am a Taoist priest with strong and sensitive spiritual awareness. I can see at a glance that this is not an ordinary night fog. This gray mist is clearly the gathering of evil spirits, and then it spreads throughout the entire town.

The problem is a bit serious… I threw away the cigarette butt in my hand and couldn’t help but light another one. If the town gathers such a strong aura every night, how do the people here survive? Because in this spreading aura, I clearly felt the ghostly aura, which means that there are ghosts in this aura.

Could it really be a night parade of a hundred ghosts?

Chengxin brother mumbled and turned over. I looked up at the fog… It spread quickly. The sky that was originally at the other end soon spread to our courtyard… I suddenly felt that the strangeness of this town was more than just the gathering of ghosts and ghosts. There should be something else. If you want to know completely, you should pretend to be unprepared.

Thinking this way, I put out the cigarette in my hand, threw the cloth bag containing the magic weapon into the quilt, and curled up in the quilt. I whispered in Chengxin’s ear, “Chengxin, no matter what happens later, pretend to be stupid.”

After that, I closed my eyes. Although this affected my vision, it did not affect my spiritual perception. Closing my eyes made me perceive things more clearly.

After all this, the fog finally spread to our courtyard… because I felt the entire courtyard suddenly grow cold, and footsteps sounded in the courtyard.