Chapter 107

“Ahhhh!”

Along with Lu Kai in the film, the audience of StarCraft also shouted out.

Although the audience who watched the film were mentally prepared and knew that Director Huan would occasionally use unexpected "new types of scares" from time to time, some people were still frightened the moment they saw the shadow.

On the screen, Lu Kai reflexively let out a wail and then closed his mouth.

Wan Chuhang looked around warily: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Professor Gao and several others gathered around and helped Lu Kai up from the ground.

Lu Kai took a deep breath, slowed down his violently beating heart, and finally calmed down. He smiled wryly and shook his head.

Tong Jiajia stamped her foot in anger and lowered her voice: "Lu Kai, have you seen something unclean again?"

Professor Gao: "Ahem."

Shen Haoran helped explain: "She meant that someone else played a prank and was seen by Lu Kai."

Wu Dajun saw that these people were in trouble again, and his eyelids jumped. He led everyone directly to the place where Lu Kai had seen the shadow just now, pulling the cloth strip on the tree, and said in a vicious voice:

"This is what scared you. Why are you making such a fuss? Isn't it said outside that people shouldn't believe in feudal superstitions? You're supposed to be intellectuals, and that's all?"

"It's just some strips of cloth hanging from a tree, fluttering in the wind. As for the ghosts you saw today, and the hair that flew by, those were just illusions caused by the cloth swaying in the wind. Don't scare yourself."

Facing Wu Dajun's ridicule, several people looked embarrassed.

…

The night in the small mountain village was completely silent. Apart from the chirping of insects, no other sounds of living creatures could be heard. The camera quickly flashed through several rooms. The conditions of everyone in each room were different. Professor Gao should be the bravest one and he fell asleep quickly.

Shen Haoran was somewhat attached to his bed, and Wujia Village did not give him a very good impression, so he still felt uncomfortable until now. Even though he was lying on a bed that was said to be brand new, he tossed and turned and had some insomnia.

In the other room, Wan Chuhang was lying on the bed doing his daily physical exercise before going to bed: sit-ups.

In the last room, Tong Jiajia, who was frightened during the day, saw the cloth strips hanging on the tree with her own eyes under the leadership of Wu Dajun, even with the comfort of her companions. She was sure that Lu Kai might have seen it wrong, but she still couldn't help but have wild thoughts after closing her eyes.

The moon was at its zenith, and everyone finally fell into a light sleep.

However--

“Tick-tick.”

At some point, the sound of dripping water could be heard in the courtyard.

[Is there a leak in the pipe somewhere? The sound of Mahakala combined with this is so horrible.]

The first person to be awakened by the sound of dripping water was the male protagonist, who had been sleeping restlessly to begin with and had discovered that more and more strange things were happening around him since he arrived in Wujia Village.

He opened his eyes in a daze, and the next moment Shen Haoran closed them again tightly.

The window that had been closed before was opened at some point. In the cold moonlight, a figure with a pale face, empty eyes, and tears of blood flowing from his eye sockets was clinging to the window frame and looking at Shen Haoran inside the window.

[Fuck! It’s happening again!]

[Wtf?! Woohoo, can you give me some tips and preparation next time?]

Shen Haoran was indeed a tough guy. Even though he was covered in cold sweat, he dared to open his eyes again the next second. The figure by the window was still there, but...

Shen Haoran silently recited the Eight Honors and Eight Shames, prosperity, democracy and harmony, the blessings of Amitabha Buddha and the Three Pure Ones in his heart, and got down carefully, holding a pair of scissors in his hand, and walked towards the window step by step.

As Shen Haoran approached, he and the audience saw something standing by the window - not a human, nor a ghost, but a paper man.

Even the savvy Shen Haoran didn't forget to dabble in his folklore knowledge. "Dumb and daft, um, no eyes. These paper figurines usually don't have eyes. According to folklore, this is to prevent them from observing the real world through the paper figurine's eyes."

As expected or unexpectedly, Shen Haoran saw a sloppy beggar sleeping soundly against a paper man under the window.

The corners of his lips twitched, and Shen Haoran raised his hand and poked the old beggar.

Looking directly into the old beggar's dazed eyes, Shen Haoran lowered his voice and asked, "Where did you steal this?"

The sloppy beggar blinked and then gave a silly smile, obviously his brain was not working very well.

Shen Haoran said helplessly, "Why don't you take this thing away? If the teacher and classmates see it when they wake up, they will probably be scared again. Don't bother scaring us. We will definitely leave after a few days."

The sloppy beggar didn't know whether he understood or not. He yawned and suddenly said to Shen Haoran, "I'm hungry."

"Um, wait a minute." Shen Haoran returned to the house, rummaged through his backpack for a long time, took out a piece of compressed biscuit and handed it to the beggar.

The sloppy beggar wolfed down his meal, patted his butt and left. Looking at the paper man left there, Shen Haoran rubbed the goose bumps on his arms again. Although he didn't believe it, he still felt fear when he should be afraid. For the mental health of other friends, Shen Haoran still gritted his teeth and put the paper man by the window into the woodshed.

Back in the room, Shen Haoran lay back on the bed. In a daze, half asleep and half awake, he began to dream again.

Strings of red lanterns swayed gently in the wind, and the windows and walls were covered with mandarin ducks and double happiness patterns.

The red candles on the table flickered, and the festive red light reflected the intricately carved patterns on the window frames, as if even the air was filled with joy and anticipation.

The bridal chamber was hung with silk and decorations symbolizing happiness. On the bed, the bride, wearing a gorgeous wedding dress and a red veil on her head, sat upright on the edge of the bed, holding a round fan embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water in her hand, sitting facing the door with a look of shyness and expectation.

With a creak, the door was pushed open from the outside.

A man, also wearing a bright red groom's robe, walked in, smelling slightly of alcohol.

Standing in the middle of the room, Shen Haoran lowered his head. It turned out that it was he himself wearing the groom's robe. It was strange. Why was he here?

I was dreaming again.

As she realized this, a gust of wind blew open the window, and the candlelight dimmed. In the flickering light, the bride sitting on the bed suddenly spoke, and her delicate voice came from under the red veil:

"Husband, it's time to lift the veil."

Her body walked uncontrollably towards the bed, her arms raised, but before Shen Haoran could take off the veil, the increasingly strong wind outside the window suddenly blew and took off the veil.

As the bright red veil embroidered with gold edges slowly fell off.

The bride, wearing a phoenix crown and bridal bridal gown, with a rosy face and autumn-watery eyes, looks up at the camera, smiles gently, with bright eyes and white teeth.

"Husband, Xiao Cui has been waiting for you for a long time."

【My dear, you are so beautiful.】

[Is this the heroine on the cover? Oh my god, she's 100 times more beautiful in motion than in a still photo.]

[Xiao Cui, the person the village chief wants to marry is Xiao Cui. Otherwise, why don't you come and grab me? Although I am a girl, I am also a Yin person born in a Yin year and a Yin month.]

「I think I’m in love… Ughhhhhhhhh——」

The next second, the red candle turned white, and the window and the wall were stained with large blood beads.

Xiao Cui's neck suddenly tilted stiffly 180 degrees towards her shoulders. The corners of her lips still had that gentle smile, but her beautiful eyes turned into strange, bloodshot eyeballs, as if they were about to burst from their eye sockets at any time. As her two eyeballs stiffly rotated 360 degrees, a line of blood and tears flowed out of her eye sockets.

Then the screen suddenly showed the ghost bride’s earrings, nostrils, corners of the lips... bleeding from all seven orifices, which almost made the StarCraft viewers who had just been shouting about falling in love and getting married almost collapse. Try to imagine the psychological trauma they suffered.

She also asked:

"Husband, is Xiao Cui beautiful?"

Whether it was beautiful or not, Shen Haoran didn't know, but at this moment he was shouting "Oh my god——"

In extreme shock and panic, Shen Haoran woke up from his dream gasping.

[Kneel down, this bride... What the hell is wrong? ]

[Director Huan didn't seem to mention that it was a satisfactory resolution?]

[Humans and ghosts truly have different paths. It's okay if they don't end, even the heavens and the people will weep.]

[Brother, Brother Huan, don't be scared, that's enough. I, I, I'm a little afraid to watch any further.]

The male protagonist is worthy of being the male protagonist, he has a big heart. After calming down, he dares to recall the details of his previous dream.

The more I thought about it, the more something seemed wrong, especially after the bride's red veil was lifted.

“Is this a ghost marriage?”

His final paper last semester was about ghost marriage, a topic he was very familiar with.

Many places have quite feudal customs.

"If a bride dies before her wedding, she could easily become a wandering ghost and harm the villagers. Therefore, some places arrange ghost marriages for deceased young people to appease their resentment. It's a shabby custom of the time, but it's still common in some smaller places. Could it be that I heard the familiar word 'wedding' today, and my brain started to make random associations?"

"My brain, stop it, in this hellish place, if you scare me to death you're doomed!"

During the inspection on the second day, Shen Haoran yawned continuously because he had woken up from his dreams several times last night. Although the other people did not sleep very well either, they slept much better than Shen Haoran.

Anyway, when they were strolling around the village, they found that the villagers had already started preparing for the upcoming wedding that the village chief had mentioned.

The lights are on and the decorations are colorful. Some people prepare red silk, and some people prepare red wedding gifts.

Not only the ancestral hall, but also the front doors of every house and the entire village were hung with red, making it very lively.

When he saw this hint of red and thought of his dream last night, Shen Haoran's eyes couldn't help but twitch.

Professor Gao's sleep was obviously affected, with a hint of dark circles under his eyes that he couldn't hide. However, he became a little excited when he saw this, and called out to a few students, "Let's go over and take a look. This is a rare opportunity to learn."

Just then, the village chief was directing the villagers to paste some paper-cuts on the courtyard wall. The professor moved closer under the villagers' vigilant gaze, pushed his glasses, and looked carefully. After confirming that the pattern on the paper-cut was something he had never seen before, he looked at it more carefully. However, the more he looked, the more he felt that the messy pattern, which looked like a child's graffiti, was inexplicably weird.

When he moved his nose, he even smelled a strong fishy odor.

"Professor Gao, are you taking the children on an inspection?" Just as Professor Gao was trying to recall where he had smelled this smell, the village chief's voice brought him back to his senses.

His train of thought was interrupted. Professor Gao said, "Yeah, sorry, I just saw something I haven't seen before, and I was a little mesmerized."

The village chief said with a smile, "Professor Gao, take a look at this banner. It's a very old tradition in our area. Many places now have simpler wedding ceremonies. This is Sanskrit written in cinnabar, praying for the Bodhisattva to bless the newlyweds with a happy marriage and a child."

"How about this? I'll take the professor and the others for a walk. If there's anything you don't understand, I'll explain the customs of our village to you."

Professor Gao said, "This is inconvenient..." He had just seen the village chief presiding over matters and was afraid of disturbing him.

"It's not inconvenient at all." The village chief laughed heartily. "Besides, if I follow you, the others can arrange the arrangements with peace of mind. We don't have to worry about you breaking the rules at any time."

"That's right."

The village chief led everyone forward and then arrived at the ancestral hall. The villagers inside were busy arranging red silk ribbons.

Shen Haoran also saw the fleeting figure of a sloppy beggar in the corner of the wall not far away, but this time the sloppy beggar did not play tricks on everyone. Instead, he quickly slipped away along the corner of the wall like a mouse seeing a cat.

What bothered Shen Haoran a little was that when the other party saw the village chief, he couldn't help revealing fear and tension on his face.

"Xiao Shen classmate, Xiao Shen classmate?"

"What are you looking at?"

Shen Haoran came back to his senses after hearing this: "Ah, I didn't see anything."

The village chief smiled and asked with concern, "Did you sleep well last night? I heard from Da Jun that some villagers seemed to have played a prank on you. Did you not get disturbed last night?"

The words were on the tip of Shen Haoran's tongue, but for some reason he suddenly changed his mind, scratching his head and vaguely responding, "It's okay, it's just that I moved to a new place and I'm a little reluctant to leave my bed."

"Haha, I'm glad you're alright." The village chief smiled again, looking very reasonable.

"If you encounter any problems again, you can always come to me. Since you are here, you are important guests. We cannot neglect you, especially since some villagers have some bad behavior. I apologize to you in advance on their behalf. I will have a good talk with them later and discipline them."

"Thank you, village chief." Everyone responded in unison.

"You're welcome. It's my job. Just make sure you all enjoy your stay."

That night, Shen Haoran dreamed again, still the familiar wedding room and the familiar ghost bride Xiao Cui.

Having a dream once is just wishful thinking, but having the same dream for two consecutive nights, even the details are the same, is very telling.

When he opened his eyes and looked at the mannequin standing by the window again, Shen Haoran felt numb.

I've been frightened many times. Since I'm not scared to death, why not just scare myself to death?

When I walked to the window, I saw that the sloppy beggar was still sleeping in the same place as before.

Shen Haoran didn't know what was wrong with his brain, but he suddenly lowered his voice and asked the slovenly beggar, "Do you know Xiao Cui?"

The sloppy beggar's pupils shrank, obviously reacting to Xiao Cui's name.

Shen Haoran sighed, not really surprised, and repeated to the beggar: "Do you know Xiao Cui?"

Unexpectedly, the slovenly beggar suddenly jumped up from the ground: "Ghost, ghost, run!"

With a scream, the slovenly beggar jumped over the wall and left like a flash.

A moment later, the light in the next room came on, obviously woken up by the beggar's voice. Professor Gao and his friends came out to watch, wearing their clothes.

Professor Gao: "What's that sound?"

Wan Chuhang also asked: "Haoran, you, you——"

However, his voice was stuck in his throat. He saw the paper-made figure of Shen Haoran with its back to him under the window. He took a deep breath and opened and closed his mouth, but no sound came out.

Professor Gao was obviously stunned after looking at the paper man. After a moment, he calmed down and took two trembling steps forward.

Looking at the things dropped by the sloppy beggar, Shen Haoran raised his hand to support his forehead.

A few minutes later, several people including Tong Jiajia and Lu Kai who were unable to sleep in the middle of the night gathered in Professor Gao's room again.

After hesitating for a moment, Shen Haoran told everyone about the same strange dream he had had for two consecutive nights, the discomfort he had felt since arriving in the village, and his special physical condition since childhood.

Even Professor Gao, who has always been firm in teaching his students, fell into a rare silence after hearing Shen Haoran's words. It was unknown what he was thinking.

Wan Chuhang once again boldly and carefully discovered the key to the problem: "Haoran, are you saying that the dream you had, he, he is connected to this place we are in?"

"I wasn't sure at first, but now that I think about it, the village chief's appearance does seem familiar. The layout of the village and the reaction of the slovenly beggar also seem to indicate something."

"My memory was a little fuzzy originally, but now the scenes I saw in my dream are becoming clearer and clearer."

After a pause, Shen Haoran's face turned pale: "The room we live in seems to be..."

"What is it?" Tong Jiajia was so anxious that she almost cried. She kept urging him, but Shen Haoran was so hesitant, which made people feel even more uneasy.

Licking his dry lips, Shen Haoran spoke slowly, "It seems, it seems to be the home of the ghost girl named Xiao Cui in the dream."

"ah--"

Tong Jiajia and Lu Kai who was holding her both let out a belated cry of surprise.

Professor Gao spoke with a rare awkwardness, "It's strange. Logically, a house that hasn't been lived in for a long time shouldn't be taken care of. Yet, when we first arrived, although there was dust in some corners, it was ready to move in. It looked like someone was coming in and out all the time."

"I asked the villagers before, but they just hesitated and said that the owner of this place is gone and told us to stay here without worry."

Lu Kai's voice trembled: "So, what we encountered before, it is possible that it is true."

"Don't scare yourself." In the end, Professor Gao could only say this dryly.

However, for these students, this comfort has no substantial effect. If only you had said a few more words as before.

Thinking of something, Tong Jiajia suddenly turned to look at Shen Haoran and asked uncertainly: "Then, do you remember which room Xiao Cui lived in?"

After all, Tong Jiajia was the only girl among the group. She was full of wild thoughts in her mind and even imagined that the face behind the red veil had become her own. Otherwise, why do people say that imagination can sometimes be so scary?

After recalling for a moment, Shen Haoran said, "No, it's not yours." Before Tong Jiajia could breathe a sigh of relief, she heard Shen Haoran stammer, "Okay, it seems to be where I live."

Somehow, they all ended up in Shen Haoran's room together. As for what to do, they hadn't actually thought about it beforehand.

Finally, Professor Gao suggested: "Let's help Shen Haoran check again."

It seemed like there was nothing else to do. Even if I had to leave, I would at least wait until dawn.

Hearing their professor's intention to leave, the frightened young people felt a little relieved and quickly checked the room. No matter what, Shen Haoran could not sleep in this room tonight. The worst that could happen was that he would have to squeeze in with Wan Chuhang for the night.

Even if no one lives there anymore, checking it out would not only reassure Shen Haoran, but also make them feel more comfortable.

Even at this moment, everyone was praying in their hearts that nothing would be found out.

The more I thought about it, the more things developed that conflicted with everyone's prayers.

The bold and careful Wan Chuhang made another contribution. He discovered that there was a secret door on the floor under the bed where Shen Haoran was lying. Everyone worked together to move the bed and pulled open the iron plate, and found a deep and bottomless secret passage that led to an unknown destination.

Whether to go down and take a look or not, this becomes another problem. However, while humans are afraid, they are often accompanied by a great curiosity that makes them eager to try.

After all, there is a secret passage, and I really can't feel at ease if I don't go down.

Under the illumination of the candles held by the crowd, the secret passage did not seem to have any mechanisms. However, the scattered paper figures, coins, and the strange and disturbing patterns drawn on the yellow talismans made everyone look even more uneasy.

There was no other reason, the pattern on the yellow talisman looked inexplicably familiar. Professor Gao and his team had seen it during the day, and the village chief explained that it was a unique local custom.

At the end was a vast underground space. Standing at the entrance, the few people could no longer move their feet.

The entire space was cold and damp, and what was particularly terrifying was the seal-like images drawn with dried dark red dye that covered the entire ground.

The pungent smell of decay stimulates the senses. The skeletons of canine-like animals piled in the corners of the space make it easy to guess that the red dye should be their blood.

And in the center of the layers of circular talismans, standing quietly was a deep black coffin.

Countless chains bound it tightly, extending to all directions, and were also covered with the yellow runes that everyone had seen before.

More mottled runes have now fallen to the ground.

Suddenly, a cold and damp wind blew in the dark passage without any ventilation. In the grooves of the wall, several faint blue candles lit up, illuminating the entire basement.

"Shala la la." The chains collided, making an unsettling sound.

A few minutes later, the five people ran back to the ground. The newly fastened floor seemed to isolate the strange scene they had just seen underground from the world, but everyone present knew that this was not a psychological comfort for them.

"Professor, do we have to wait until tomorrow morning?"

"No need to wait, I'll go get the good stuff and we'll leave right away."

Everyone dared to guarantee that they had packed their luggage as quickly as possible, but when the five of them rushed out of the courtyard, they found that the lights outside the courtyard were bright, and the village chief and all the villagers blocked their way.

The village chief asked with a smile, "Where is Professor Gao taking the students to investigate this late at night?"

The expressions of the five people changed instantly. The village chief's face, which had always been gentle before, now looked so cold in their eyes.

Professor Gao opened his mouth and said, "I, I received news that something unexpected happened at home, so the inspection ended early. I was going to take the students away. I'm sorry to bother you during this time."

"Professor Gao's desire to learn isn't deep enough!" The old village chief put his hands behind his back, still smiling. "What's the big deal about the family tragedy? We're about to have a wedding and a festival. Shouldn't Professor Gao stay with the students and cherish this precious learning opportunity?"

"No, no, I really have something to do. Sorry for disturbing you during this time. We'll come again when we have the chance." Professor Gao laughed and wanted to lead the students forward. But they had just taken a few steps when the hoe fell beside them. The village chief smiled and said, "Come and go as you please. Who do you think you are?"

"Just stay here quietly. When the festival is over, no one will bother you anymore."

Tong Jiajia almost blurted out a curse: "What on earth do you want to do? Are there any laws and regulations? If something happens to us here, our families will not let you go."

"Accident? You said it yourself, little classmate, it was an accident. You ignored our villagers' advice and insisted on going to the back mountain to collect folk songs. You slipped and fell off the cliff. How can you blame us for your own accident?"

Tong Jiajia realized she had said the wrong thing, but before she could remedy the situation, the smile on the village chief's face faded. The Wu Village chief's face became even more sinister, and he said in a cold voice, "It turns out that you guys were the ones who caused the noise just now. I wanted to keep you for a few more days, but you saw something in the basement."

The village chief waved his hand and the villagers rushed forward. Just in case, they had to arrest all these people.

To avoid any more accidents.

"Keep an eye on everyone."

Especially Shen Haoran, who was isolated from the others and detained in a room with guards outside the door in all directions.

Professor Gao and the other three were locked up in the woodshed, with their hands and feet bound. The people of Wujia Village didn't even plan to give them water or food. It was obvious that they no longer cared about their lives. They just wanted to complete the important sacrifice they mentioned and then come back to deal with them.

Several people tried to escape, but all failed.

After an unknown amount of time had passed in the long agony, Professor Gao and his three companions in the distant woodshed suddenly heard the sounds of colorful lights and joyful playing of musical instruments and singing outside.

As teachers and students of folklore, they naturally recognized it: it was a classic joyful music, usually played during happy events.

However, what should have been a cheerful song to welcome the new year sounded so ironic and sinister to their ears.

Moreover, they were more worried about their companions who had never appeared than their own safety.

Through conversations with the villagers who had been guarding them before, they also learned that Shen Haoran was chosen by the old village chief at first sight because of his horoscope and physique, and would replace their own people from Wujia Village to marry the ghost bride sealed in the basement in the yard where they used to live.

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