The road up the mountain was not easy to walk on. It was winding all the way. The two of them didn't know how many turns they had to make before they reached the halfway point of the mountain.
“Huff…”
"Sister Ye, let's take a break! I really can't walk anymore." Hai Lan bent down and supported her knees, saying breathlessly.
Ye Xin handed her a pot of water and pulled her to find a big rock to sit on. "Who was it that just boasted to me that climbing a mountain wasn't tiring at all? Now you know how painful it is!"
"I was bragging. I admit defeat."
Hailan gulped down the water in her water bag, hung the empty bag on her body, and slumped down on a large rock without any image. She put her hands under her head and stared blankly at the sea not far away.
"Sister Ye, what do you think is at the end of the ocean?"
Ye Xin followed Hai Lan's gaze and looked from halfway up the mountain. Haijia Village was surrounded by the endless sea, which made people feel very depressed.
"It's either the mountain or the land. I'm not sure."
Hailan turned her head, her eyes slightly surprised, "Sister Ye doesn't know either?"
"Well, I'm ashamed to say this. Actually, I haven't been to many places. This is only the second time I've seen the sea."
A blush appeared on Ye Xin's pretty face. She was admired so much just an hour ago, but now her true colors were suddenly revealed. She was really embarrassed.
Hailan didn't notice Ye Xin's abnormality and comforted her with a sympathetic look, "Sister Ye, me too. I've never left the village since I was a child."
Ye Xin was surprised. Now it was her turn to comfort Hai Lan with a look of great sympathy. "So you've never even been to the beach? Or picked up shells?"
It would have been fine if she hadn't said anything, but once she did, Hai Lan couldn't stop complaining, "Sister Ye, I don't know why, but ever since I was old enough to understand, the village has strictly forbidden us from going to the beach. They say there are monsters over there, and they won't let us children go there."
"Well, I was still young then, and my mother warned me not to play in the water. I understand. But now I'm an adult, and my father still won't let me go."
"I don't know where they heard this rumor. For so many years, our village has been peaceful and tranquil, with no signs of any monsters. I even suspect someone deliberately came to scare us."
Hailan was indignant. No one would believe that someone who grew up by the sea had never been to the sea even once.
Ye Xin's eyes flickered slightly, as if she had heard some useful news. "When I came in yesterday, I noticed something unusual at the entrance of the village. There were several empty houses there. Did they leave?"
Hailan heard the sound of the village entrance and her face turned pale. "W- ...
"Village entrance! What's wrong?" Ye Xin stared at Hai Lan without blinking, watching her face become increasingly uglier. She suddenly held Hai Lan's cold hand and asked with concern, "Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"
Hai Lan came back to her senses and nervously grabbed Ye Xin, "Sister Ye, could you please tell me what's happening at the village entrance?"
"It's not inconvenient at all. Yesterday around dusk..." So Ye Xin told her in detail how he came in from the village entrance.
After hearing this, Hailan got up anxiously and said, "Sister Ye, this news is very important to me. I may have to go home and tell my father immediately."
Ye Xin was completely confused. Tell her father? Didn't Village Chief Hai already know about it yesterday?
"No way! The village chief asked me about it yesterday, and I told him the truth, but he didn't react much at the time!"
Hailan was stunned. "How is that possible? My father repeatedly warned me not to go to the village entrance. If he knew about it, there's no way he wouldn't react at all."
Ye Xin told Hai Lan what he had guessed. "I have no reason to lie to you. If you don't believe me, you can go back and ask the village chief. I think the village chief may know the situation at the village entrance, so he is so calm."
But is this really the case? Ye Xin just smiled and said nothing.
Since she didn't mention Hai Dalang's matter last night and won't say it now, she just doesn't know what happened in this village that made all these children so scared after hearing it.
Combining what Hai Lan said, Ye Xin spoke boldly. Since Hai Lan said that she had never left the village since she was a child, Hai Xiaoyu and the others probably had never left the village either.
The children are afraid when they hear the village entrance. Maybe the villagers did or said something that made these children turn pale.
But based on the village chief's reaction last night, does it mean that he knows the situation at the village entrance? Even the deserted appearance of the village entrance may have been done by the villagers?
Ye Xin made another bold guess that one day between these two generations, something terrible happened in Haijia Village, so terrible that the surviving villagers completely abandoned the village.
If that were the case, then it would be understandable that the children were frightened when they heard the village entrance.
Because children of this age are in the stage of having fun, if they are not stopped, they might run away at any time.
Ye Xin realized that she was close to the truth. She was very curious and asked Hai Lan again, "Xiao Lan, can you tell me why you were so scared when you heard the village entrance?"
Hai Lan was struggling over whether to go back and ask his father, so he couldn't hear what Ye Xin said for a while.
"Xiaolan, did you hear that?" Seeing that no one responded, Ye Xin raised her voice slightly.
Hailan shuddered and looked at Ye Xin in confusion, "Ah? Sister Ye, what did you say?"
Seeing that Hai Lan was fine, Ye Xin repeated what he had just said.
"Oh! Sister Ye, what are you talking about? My father told me that there was a sea monster outside the entrance of our village. He saw with his own eyes a child being eaten by the sea monster outside, right at the village gate."
"I didn't believe it at the time and kept crying and making a fuss, insisting to go out. My father was fed up with my nagging and took me to look at the village entrance from a distance. I actually thought I saw a human skull then."
"My dad told me that after I went back from the hospital, I developed a fever and was unconscious for the entire day."
Although Hailan said it lightly, her slightly trembling body betrayed her expression.
Ye Xin noticed that something was wrong with Hai Lan, so she hugged her gently and used hypnosis to soothe her consciousness. "I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories for you again. I shouldn't have asked you this question."
Hai Lan calmed down for a while and then said nothing. She smiled at Ye Xin and said, "Sister Ye, please don't say that. This is what I want to say."
"Okay, as long as you're okay, I won't ask any more questions."
"It's still early, should we continue or go back?"
Ye Xin looked at the top of the mountain and couldn't help but tease Hai Lan's small body again.
Hailan wanted to say that she would just go back, but when she saw Ye Xin's expression, she suddenly became excited again. "Of course I have to continue. Otherwise, I don't know when I'll be here next time."
"Okay, let's go!" Ye Xin jumped off the big rock and walked towards the top of the mountain with ease.
Hai Lan's face fell, she pounded her aching calf, and resigned herself to following Ye Xin.
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