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Missing Persons
When the plane landed in Changze City, it was already dark.
Jiang Chuxu was carrying a light backpack, and Xiao Hei was held in her arms. Liu Lanzhen followed beside her with a wrinkled face.
"Sister Jiang, do you really not need me to go into the mountains with you? That place is very weird!" Liu Lanzhen tried to persuade her for the umpteenth time.
Jiang Chuxu opened the car door and got into the car arranged by the special department, then put Xiao Hei on his lap.
She said, "With so many people, there are many unexpected situations. Find a place to stay and I'll tell you when there's news."
Liu Lanzhen also got on the car, but she only went to the foot of the mountain.
She sat beside him and lowered her voice, "Sister Jiang, there's something fishy about Dingtai Mountain. Those legends are rarely mentioned, but most people in the Xuanmen sect know that the place is haunted. The origin of this story can be traced back to the construction of that road halfway up the mountain over twenty years ago."
The most widely circulated version of the story about the strangeness of Dingtai Mountain originated from the story of Lao Zhang, the foreman who built the road at that time. He was a brave and careful old man, and the story of Dingtai Mountain was also his personal experience.
One night when the stairs were halfway up the mountain, Lao Zhang and several other workers were awakened by a piercing chill.
Then, a whimpering sound that was definitely not a human voice drifted into the shed, followed by the sound of a suona, which made people's scalps tingle.
Several people in the shed were pushing and shoving each other, and finally Lao Zhang mustered up the courage to pry open a crack in the door.
Under the pale moonlight, the woods in the distance looked like a huge cemetery, and they saw a scene that they would never forget!
Not far away, there was a group of people, all wearing bright red clothes, and lined up in a strange formation, as if they were sending off a bride.
The people carrying sedan chairs, playing music, and holding lanterns... in short, all the "people" had their faces painted pale, with extremely heavy red blush, like painted paper figures, without a trace of life.
But some of them look very much like humans, except that their movements are stiff.
The most creepy thing was the huge red sedan chair. It was a circle larger than ordinary sedan chairs and a little weirder, but no one could tell what was weird about it.
A gust of cold wind lifted a corner of the sedan chair curtain, and they caught a glimpse of a figure sitting inside covered with a thick red veil. They could also see the hands of the person in the sedan chair resting on their knees. The skin on those hands was dark blue, and the nails were long and curved.
A huge fear instantly enveloped everyone. They covered their mouths tightly and retreated to the deepest part of the shed. They frantically covered their heads with all the quilts they could find and huddled together.
Their hearts were beating fast and their ears were perked up as they clearly captured the hair-raising sound outside the shed.
There were broken gongs, broken drums and shrill suonas, coming from far away and almost sticking to the work shed, and then going away down the mountain with a suffocating sense of oppression.
When there was complete silence outside and even the sound of the wind had disappeared for a long time, they dared to walk out tremblingly, supporting each other.
When the cold night wind blew, everyone realized that the cold sweat on their backs had already soaked through their clothes.
A group of people looked left and right, and then Lao Zhang found something wrong.
"Where's Xiao Liuzi?"
Xiao Liuzi was sleeping next to Lao Zhang's bunk. He was gone not long ago, but he worked very hard. But now he is gone!
Lao Zhang carefully counted the number of people and even went into every corner of the shed to search, but he couldn't find him anywhere. They thought that Xiao Liuzi might have gone out when they didn't notice.
So they searched and shouted inch by inch around the shed with flashlights, but they didn't find any human figures. Instead, they suddenly found something on the ground less than three steps away from the shed door.
It was a square and neatly folded piece of red paper, lying there quietly, but no one had seen it just now.
The red color looked very scary in the moonlight.
No one dared to touch it with their hands. Finally, Old Zhang trembled and used a branch to pick up the red paper.
The paper was spread out, and there were ink marks on it, but the strokes were stiff. It was an invitation!
And below the words "respectfully invite", Xiao Liuzi's name was written prominently!
Lao Zhang's legs went weak and he collapsed on the cold ground. The other people were also shocked and turned pale.
They quickly told their leader about the matter, and the project was not stopped immediately at first.
But several similar disappearances occurred again, and the same invitation was found on the ground. Since then, the project has been stopped, and not many people dared to set foot on that half of the mountain road again.
However, every year there are always hikers who are skeptical or seeking excitement and break into Dingtai Mountain and spend the night, so there are records of people going missing in Dingtai Mountain every year. Even if the mountain is closed, they will try their best to get up the mountain.
After listening to this, Jiang Chuxu just said "hmm". The car happened to stop at the foot of the mountain. Liu Lanzhen still wanted to go up with them, but Jiang Chuxu still refused.
"Just stay here and relax. I don't know what's going on up there. If I have to come looking for you later, it will be too much trouble."
According to Liu Lanzhen, before the special department was established, people from Xuanmen had already gone up there, but there was no progress, and one person from Xuanmen even disappeared.
After the special department was established, it also received several similar missions. Although those people did not disappear, they stayed with a psychologist for at least half a year after coming down the mountain and seemed to be half crazy.
When I asked the colleagues who had accepted the task, they didn't say anything. They just told us not to go up the mountain, especially not to spend the night there.
After that, no missions related to Dingtai Mountain were released. After all, generally they would only be delivered one by one, which was too uneconomical.
This time, Liu Lanzhen's friend Bai Shuyu reported it before he knew that he might go to Dingtai Mountain. According to Liu Lanzhen, Bai Shuyu also told Liu Lanzhen about it before going up the mountain.
Bai Shuyu said at the time that her fairy guaranteed that she could get down from the mountain. She trusted her fairy very much, so she went up without hesitation.
But no one knows what happened in the middle. Bai Shuyu called Liu Lanzhen, and the audio in the task details is the recording of Bai Shuyu calling Liu Lanzhen.
Liu Lanzhen also knew that she could handle some less dangerous tasks, but if she went in for a mission like Dingtai Mountain, she would simply be a drag, so she didn't say anything more.
Liu Lanzhen wanted to say something, but Jiang Chuxu had already gotten off the car with the equipment bag prepared by the special department on his back. He started the live broadcast with the equipment prepared by the department and finally picked up Xiao Hei.
As soon as the audience rushed into the live broadcast, they saw basically a pitch-black scene. Jiang Chuxu fiddled around for a while before finding the night vision function. Although it was black and white after turning it on, at least they could see the picture clearly.
【The anchor has started broadcasting! 】
[The background is so dark! Is it in the mountains?]
【Finally, I've waited for you! What are you catching tonight?】
【The cat looks so serious! 】
【The more skilled, the bolder】
[The anchor actually went to Dingtai Mountain alone? ]
Jiang Chuxu couldn't see the barrage of comments, so he just shook the camera from time to time to ensure that he could capture the stone steps and the trees on both sides.
The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the sounds of Jiang Chuxu's footsteps and Xiao Hei's occasional snoring. The live broadcast room also fell silent, and the audience seemed to be holding their breath.
Jiang Chuxu didn't walk fast, so almost an hour and a half had passed when he reached the abandoned pavilion halfway up the mountain.
This place is the location mentioned in the mission information, and it is also the place where the legendary "ghost marriage team" passed by. At exactly midnight, Jiang Chuxu stepped into the pavilion.
The pavilion was in a dilapidated state, and there was a thick layer of dust on the stone bench. It didn't look like anyone had sat on it, so the "woman" in the photo must be a ghost.
Jiang Chuxu scanned the area with his flashlight and found nothing unusual, so he found a slightly cleaner place to sit down and aimed the camera at the dark forest outside the pavilion.
Time passed minute by minute, and the early morning mountain breeze whistled through the pavilion, like a woman crying.
About ten minutes later, a shadow slowly "floated" over from the darkness at the entrance of the pavilion.
She was a young woman, wearing a floral shirt that was popular decades ago and had two pigtails. Her face was pale and her eyes were empty. She stared straight ahead and ignored Jiang Chuxu and Xiao Hei who were sitting in the pavilion.
She floated to the stone bench opposite Jiang Chuxu and stopped, then sat down stiffly at an extremely slow pace.
She just sat there blankly, without any expression or movement, but her face was always looking towards the stone steps, as if there was something there.
The audience in the live broadcast room can also see this ghost. Although this ghost is more normal than the ghosts seen in the live broadcast room before, it is the normality that makes it scary.
[This appearance is too quiet and even more frightening]
[Just sitting like this?]
[The anchor quickly accepted her]
Will this ghost know what happened?
Jiang Chuxu didn't move, but just picked up the necklace from her neck and gently placed it on her palm. Feeling the metal, she concentrated her mind and tried to connect with the ghost in front of her.
A feeling of fear mixed with despair instantly flooded into my mind, and various memory scenes flashed through my mind like fragments.
She was forced to bow with her head held down, and from under the rough red veil she could see the stiff and cold body of the "groom" next to her. There was the nauseating strong smell of incense, candles, paper money, and the stench of the corpse, as well as the suffocating feeling of having her throat tightly strangled and unable to breathe, and finally, there was darkness.
Jiang Chuxu looked at the ghost in front of him in confusion. This ghost was also related to the ghost marriage, and was forced to die in pain, but its consciousness seemed to be shattered, leaving only fragments of the moment of death. This ghost didn't even know who it was or where it came from.
However, this ghost had nothing to do with the ghost marriage team she was investigating. She withdrew her hand, and the cold feeling of despair faded away. This ghost was in a daze, and it was estimated that she could not get any more information from it.
Jiang Chuxu didn't hesitate and raised the necklace towards the sitting female ghost. A barely perceptible halo of light flashed by, and the female ghost's figure disappeared in an instant as if erased by an eraser.
[Is that all?]
So fast
[This is the first time the host has been so efficient]
Jiang Chuxu explained to the camera: "She was a poor person who died in a ghost marriage. Her consciousness has dispersed and there is nothing we can get from her. It is better for me to take her back and help her to be liberated."
She had previously said that she wanted to reach a long-term friendly agreement with the temple, but in the past few days she hadn't encountered any ghosts worthy of salvation. Either they were beaten apart, or they were able to reincarnate directly.
I just happened to come across one now, so I took it to the temple to ask if they would accept it.
Jiang Chuxu waited in the pavilion for more than half an hour. Apart from the sound of the wind, there was nothing unusual. Perhaps the ghost marriage team did not pass by, so there were no invitations or anything like that.
"Maybe I'm too late, or it's still early." Jiang Chuxu didn't plan to wait here anymore. She stood up, dusted off the dust on her body, and mentally planned to find the tree in the photo.
She took out the third photo taken by Bai Shuyu. The time of shooting was in the lower left corner of the photo, which showed it was 2:03 in the morning.
"The location of the photo is unknown, so we can only look for it." Jiang Chuxu held Xiao Hei in his arms and climbed up the mountain along a path that was made by someone unknown.
The mountain road became increasingly difficult to walk on, with fewer and fewer traces as we went higher. There were so many plants on the mountain that the road was barely visible, and the flashlight light was extremely dim even among the dense forest.
After walking for almost an hour, the surrounding scenery was similar, and Jiang Chuxu found that he seemed to have returned to the starting point.
She stopped and swept the flashlight beam across a dense bush. There was a rustling sound, and a male ghost with a swollen face and wearing a windbreaker emerged from it. He turned around in place with a dull look in his eyes and seemed to be mumbling something.
Jiang Chuxu walked over and put the phone screen in front of the male ghost: "Do you know this tree? Where is it?"
Male ghost: ...
His empty eyes rolled around, and he seemed a little confused. The expression on his face seemed to say, "This guy is sick." He subconsciously wanted to float away.
"Watch." Jiang Chuxu's voice was cold, with a sense of unquestionability.
The male ghost's body froze, and he instinctively felt the threat posed by Jiang Chuxu and Xiao Hei. He raised his rotten and swollen hand tremblingly and pointed to a darker direction deep in the forest.
"Thank you." Jiang Chuxu nodded, then took out the necklace and the male ghost disappeared.
The male ghost didn't even leave a word.
[It must be said, asking a local ghost for directions is really convenient.]
[Ghost: Who am I? Where am I? What's wrong with this living person?]
[Just put it away after use, hahahaha]
[So efficient...]
Relying on this simple and crude method, Jiang Chuxu asked two confused wild ghosts, one was an old ghost who was hanged in the valley, and the other was a young female ghost who seemed to have fallen to her death.
Finally, around three o'clock in the morning, following the ghost's guidance, Jiang Chuxu found the tree in the photo.
It stands alone on a relatively open slope, with twisted and tangled branches and a hideous appearance, almost the same as in the photo.
The position where Jiang Chuxu was standing was exactly the angle of view when the photo was taken. The only difference was that there seemed to be many heads hanging on the tree trunk in the photo, but now she only saw a tree and nothing else.
She aimed the live camera at the tree, mainly for the other colleagues in the special department who were watching her live broadcast.
Jiang Chuxu looked down at the time. It was 3:15 in the morning. She confirmed the time of the photo again. Perhaps the key point was at this time.
She took out a lightweight single-person tent from her backpack and set it up swiftly on the relatively flat ground not far from the tree, with the tent flap open, facing the tree.
She took out the self-heating food, water, and cat food. It must be said that the special department was very well prepared and careful.
Jiang Chuxu did not forget to stare at the tree while eating, but the tree did not change at all. It was surrounded by yin energy, but there were no ghosts.
"Rest first."
Seeing that there was really no movement, she carried Xiao Hei into the tent.
A person and a cat sat by the door, their eyes still fixed on the tree. The flashlight was turned off, leaving only the faint light from the mobile phone screen illuminating her face and the shiny black eyes of the cat in her arms.
【Looks like I have to stay up late】
[It's more than just staying up late, it's all night long]
[Are you all just guessing all night? I guess the host won’t sleep if there is no ending.]
As the comment said, Jiang Chuxu kept his eyes open until dawn.
During the rest of the day, Jiang Chuxu was not idle either. She stayed near the tent and did not go far. She also randomly connected a few lines and handled some not-so-complicated matters, just to pass the time.
It was only noon when they finished dealing with those connections. In order to be more energetic at night, Jiang Chuxu held Xiao Hei in his arms and rested with his eyes closed for two hours in the tent when the sun was at its strongest.
In the evening, I ate some compressed biscuits, and the sky darkened again. The mountains and forests were once again shrouded in an invisible pressure.
Jiang Chuxu sat back at the entrance of the tent holding Xiao Hei, his eyes once again focused on the tree. As the night deepened, the number of people in the live broadcast room began to soar again, and the number of barrages also increased.
Time slipped towards midnight minute by minute, and slowly reached two o'clock.
The tree with twisted and tangled branches stood quietly in the dim moonlight. Its lush branches and leaves made a slight rustling sound in the night wind, and the shadows it cast looked like countless arms with bared fangs and claws.
The surroundings were so quiet that even the chirping of insects disappeared.
Jiang Chuxu's eyes were fixed on the location where the phantom of a human head was hanging in the photo. Suddenly, Xiao Hei's body in his arms tensed up suddenly, and a very low sound came from his throat.
Jiang Chuxu keenly noticed that the shadow in the middle of the tree trunk seemed to move very slightly!
Here we come!
She perked up and subconsciously held her breath.
The wriggling sensation was extremely weak at first, like an illusion, but just a few seconds later, something seemed to appear under the shadow and began to roll violently like a living thing.
The color also slowly changed from dark black to dark red, and a fist-sized bulge like a peeled meat ball squeezed out from the folds of the bark very slowly!
With a light "puff" sound, the bulge burst and a strange smell spread out, instantly overwhelming the original scent of grass and trees in the forest. It was so strong that it was almost nauseating.
Then, as if a switch was turned on, one dark red tumor after another rushed out and burst from the rolling shadow.
Every rupture of the flesh ball is accompanied by a phantom of a "human head". They have different shapes, some have hideous faces, some have painful expressions, and some are empty and confused, but without exception, they all exude a strong aura of resentment.
Their empty eyes were staring straight towards the tent.
Or rather, he looked at Jiang Chuxu.
At the same time, the sound of gongs and drums was heard.
The voice seemed to come from behind Jiang Chuxu.
They were right behind him. As long as Jiang Chuxu took a step back, he would definitely run into the ghost marriage team.
【Author’s words】
[Dog head holding a rose] It's a little short, I have to make up for it tomorrow
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