The Reverberations of the National Highway and the Backlash of the Gu
The night wind on the national highway blew over with moisture, carrying with it a musty smell from the direction of Qingwu Town. Lin Shen paused in his steps, and suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck - it was not the coldness of the night wind, but the chill of being stared at, like an ice needle sticking to his skin, drilling into his bone marrow along his spine.
He turned sharply. The woods beside the highway were pitch black, with only moonlight filtering through the branches, casting mottled shadows on the ground. But he clearly saw a flash of red deep in the woods. It wasn't the dark red of the ghost mother's wedding dress, but a brighter red, like the red of freshly congealed blood—was it Hua Liang's pink skirt? No, Hua Liang's skirt, stained with the dust from the ancestral hall, should have been a dull pink, but that red was blindingly bright.
"What's wrong?" Su Wan noticed his abnormality and swept the flashlight towards the woods. Countless tiny dust particles were floating in the beam, but she didn't see anything.
"Nothing." Lin Shen clenched the engineer shovel tightly, his knuckles turning white. "Maybe I saw it wrong." But he knew in his heart that it was not an illusion - the evil creature in Qingwu Town had no intention of letting them go.
Meng Yao cradled the shattered camera, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the cracks. Suddenly, she let out a low, "Ah!" Everyone gathered around, only to see black beads of water slowly seeping out from the cracks in the camera screen. The beads gathered in the center of the screen, slowly solidifying into a face—Zhao Lei's face! Zhao Lei's eyes were wide open, bloodshot. The corners of his mouth had been torn from something, extending all the way to his ears, revealing his blackened gums. Several red strings were wrapped around his neck, and at the other end, a pale hand was faintly visible.
“Help… Help me…” Zhao Lei’s voice came from the camera, as if through a layer of water, blurry and strange. “The line… The line is pulling me… It’s so cold…”
Chen Mo snatched the camera and slammed it to the ground, cracking it even wider. Black water droplets splashed onto the ground, evaporating instantly, leaving only a few wisps of black smoke. "Leave him alone! He's dead! It's the Flower Fairy who's causing all this trouble!" Chen Mo's voice trembled. He didn't dare look at the camera on the ground. Zhao Lei's face reminded him of the scene in the ancestral hall where he was wrapped in red thread.
But the voice did not disappear. Instead, it came out from the woods, exactly the same as Zhao Lei's voice: "Why didn't you save me... You could have helped me..." The voice was getting closer and closer, like someone walking on the gravel of the national highway, "click, click", every step stepped on people's hearts.
Li Ye raised the flashlight and shone the beam in the direction of the sound - a blurry figure was walking out of the woods. It was Zhao Lei's figure, but his face had changed. It looked half like Zhao Lei and half like Hua Liang. He wore a pink skirt over Zhao Lei's outdoor clothes. Black ashes were hanging on the hem of his skirt. These were the ashes from the red thread that Li Ye had cut before.
"It's Hua Liang's 'symbiosis'!" Chen Ba's voice tightened as he pulled out the last small packet of ghost-repelling powder from his arms. "She attached her soul to Zhao Lei's body. Now they are one and the same!"
The figure walked to the middle of the national highway and stopped. Half of his face was smiling and the other half was crying. His voice turned into a mixture of Hua Liang and Zhao Lei: "You can't run away... I will turn all of you into my marriage sacrifices... Let you stay with me forever..." He stretched out his hand, with several red threads wrapped around his fingers. The other end of the thread floated in the air, like a living snake, and coiled towards the crowd.
Lin Shen swung his shovel, severing a red line. It fell to the ground and instantly transformed into a small snake, spitting out its tongue and crawling toward his feet. "Run!" Lin Shen yelled, grabbing Su Wan and running toward the front of the highway. Everyone else followed suit, the red line behind them getting closer and closer, the "click, click" sound of footsteps growing closer and closer, as if it would close in at any moment.
After running for about ten minutes, an abandoned gas station appeared in front of me. Half of the gas station sign had fallen off, leaving only the two words "Come on". It was covered with vines, and the leaves of the vines were black, exactly the same as the vines in the alleys of Qingwu Town.
"Go in and hide!" Li Ye pointed at the convenience store in the gas station. The door of the convenience store was ajar, and it was pitch black inside. The shadows of the shelves could be vaguely seen.
Everyone rushed into the convenience store. Lin Shen slammed the iron door shut, propping it up with a shovel. From outside came the sound of banging doors, along with the mixed laughter of Hua Liang and Zhao Lei: "You can't hide... There's good stuff hidden behind the convenience store shelves..."
The convenience store's windows were boarded shut, with only a few rays of moonlight filtering through the cracks, illuminating the dust and trash on the floor. Su Wan flicked on her flashlight, sweeping the beam across the shelves, where expired snacks and drinks lay, their packaging dusty. Some were already damaged, the snacks inside reduced to a black powder.
"What could be behind the shelf?" Meng Yao's voice trembled as she followed Su Wan closely. The flashlight swept across the innermost shelf and suddenly stopped - behind the shelf, a man in costume was leaning against it, with his phoenix crown tilted to one side. The oil paint on his face had dried and cracked, revealing the pale skin underneath. A pair of black holes without eyeballs were facing them. It was the ghost actor!
The ghost actress's body was translucent, allowing the shadows of the shelves to be seen through her. The hem of her costume was stained with dirt and grass, with a few strands of black hair hanging from it, as if she had just crawled out of a grave. She slowly raised her hand, the nail polish peeling off her fingertips, revealing the pale white nails underneath. She pointed in Meng Yao's direction, "You...you just dropped my costume...you have to compensate me..."
Meng Yao backed away in shock, bumping into the shelf behind her. The snack cans on the shelf crashed down and hit the ground, scattering black powder and emitting a foul smell. "I... I didn't mean to..."
The ghost actor suddenly chuckled, her laughter was sharp, like nails scratching on glass: "It's useless even if you didn't mean it... You have to compensate me with a new costume... made of your skin..." As she spoke, her body suddenly floated up and pounced towards Meng Yao. The smell of mold and corpse on her body instantly filled the entire convenience store.
"Be careful!" Chen Ba suddenly threw out a handful of ghost-repelling powder. The powder landed on the ghost actor, and white smoke came out with a "sizzle". The ghost actor's body became more transparent. She let out a shrill scream, took a few steps back, and her eyes became even colder: "You all have to compensate me... compensate for my costume... compensate for my stage..."
Suddenly, a creaking sound came from the roof of the convenience store, as if something was moving on it. Then, several tiles fell, hitting the ground and shattering into pieces. Everyone looked up and saw a small figure lying on the wooden planks of the roof. Its hair was wet, and its body was translucent. It was none other than Shui Xie Tong!
Shui Xietong's eyes were completely black, devoid of white. He was lying on the roof, staring intently at Meng Yao below, a strange smile playing on his lips. "Sister... you just pushed me into the well... I'm so cold... can you come down and keep me company?"
"Isn't he dead?" Su Wan's voice trembled. She clearly saw Shui Xietong's body lying beside the old well. How could he appear here?
"It's the Evil Witch God!" Chen Ba's face turned pale. "Although the Evil Witch God has been suppressed by the Soul-Suppressing Gu, he can still control the remaining souls of these evil creatures! What we are facing now are their remaining souls!"
Shui Xietong jumped down from the roof and landed on the ground without making any sound. He stretched out his hand, and the floor of the convenience store suddenly became wet. Black water seeped out from the cracks in the ground and crawled towards Meng Yao's feet. "Sister... Come down and play with me..."
Meng Yao was so frightened that she stepped back repeatedly, but accidentally stepped into the black water. The black water seemed to have life, climbing up her trouser legs and wrapping around her legs, making her unable to move. "Help! Help me!"
Li Ye immediately rushed over, wielding his shovel and smashing it into the black water. But the shovel passed through the black water without hitting anything. The black water tightened around him, and Meng Yao's face grew paler and paler, her lips turning purple, as if she were about to suffocate.
"Use the silver hairpin!" Chen Ba shouted, took out a silver hairpin from his arms and threw it to Li Ye.
Li Ye took the silver hairpin and thrust it towards the black water. The moment the hairpin touched the black water, a puff of white smoke emerged with a "sizzle". The black water, like melted wax, quickly receded, revealing Meng Yao's trouser legs - which were already stained with black stains and emitted a fishy smell.
Meng Yao slumped to the ground, gasping for air and sweat pouring down her face. Shui Xietong watched the black water recede, his expression darkening. "You're such a nuisance! I'm going to drag you all into the water!" He spread his arms, and more black water suddenly emerged from the convenience store floor and crawled towards the group.
At this moment, the iron door of the convenience store suddenly opened with a clang. The symbiotic body of Hua Liang and Zhao Lei stood at the door, wrapping the red thread in their hands towards everyone, "None of you can escape!"
Everyone was trapped in the middle, with the black water of Shui Xietong in front of them, the red line of Hua Liang behind them, the ghost actor on the left, and the shelves full of expired snacks on the right. There was nowhere to escape.
"What should we do?" Su Wan's voice trembled, the flashlight flickering back and forth between the evil creatures. "Are we going to die here?"
Lin Shen gripped his engineer shovel tightly, his eyes determined. "No! We've already escaped Qingwu Town. We can't die here!" He looked at Chen Ba, "Chen Ba, do you have any other ideas?"
Chen Ba frowned and pulled out a black pottery jar from his arms. A buzzing sound came from the jar: "This is my last jar of 'Evil Devouring Gu'. It can temporarily repel these residual souls, but it requires one person...one person to smear the Gu blood on their body to attract the Gu worms to attack the evil creatures..."
"I'll do it!" Chen Mo suddenly stood up. His chest was still aching. The backlash from the Heart Guarding Gu was getting stronger and stronger. He knew he couldn't hold on for much longer. "I'll apply the Gu blood!"
Chen Ba looked at Chen Mo, nodded, and opened the lid of the pottery jar. Several black insects crawled out. The insects had red patterns on their bodies and spewed red silk from their mouths. "This Gu blood is extremely poisonous. It will hurt if you apply it to your body. Just bear with it."
Chen Ba pierced the insect's body with a silver hairpin, and red blood flowed out, dripping into a small bowl. Chen Mo reached out, took the bowl, and without hesitation, smeared the blood on his face and arms.
As soon as the Gu blood was applied to his skin, Chen Mo let out a scream of pain. The Gu blood seemed to have life, drilling into his skin. His skin instantly turned red, then quickly turned black, and his blood vessels bulged, as if there were insects crawling inside.
"Ah! It hurts!" Chen Mo curled up on the ground, his body shaking violently.
Seeing the poisonous blood on Chen Mo's body, several evil creatures showed expressions of fear. The Ghost Actor took a few steps back, the black water of the Water Evil Child stopped spreading, and the red thread in the hands of the symbiotic body of Hua Liang and Zhao Lei also dropped.
“Evil Devouring Gu… You actually have the Evil Devouring Gu…” Hua Liang’s voice became trembling, “Let’s go!”
After saying that, the three evil creatures turned around at the same time, ran out of the convenience store, and soon disappeared into the night.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the ground. Chen Mo's body was still shaking, his skin had turned black, and his breath was weak.
"Chen Mo! How are you?" Lin Shen squatted down and wanted to help Chen Mo up.
Chen Mo smiled weakly and shook his head: "I... I can't hold on any longer... The Heart Guarding Gu is biting me back... The poison of the Evil Devouring Gu has also taken effect..." He looked at everyone, "You... You must survive... Don't be like me..."
Chen Mo's voice became smaller and smaller, his eyes slowly closed, and his body became stiff.
Su Wan and Meng Yao couldn't help crying. Li Ye turned his head away, not daring to look at Chen Mo's body. Lin Shen clenched the engineer shovel in his hand, with a complicated look in his eyes - of the seven-person team, only he, Su Wan, Li Ye, and Meng Yao were left.
Chen Ba leaned against the shelf, breathing heavily. She looked at Chen Mo's body, her eyes filled with guilt: "I killed him... If I hadn't asked him to use the evil-devouring insect... he wouldn't have died..."
"I don't blame you." Lin Shen shook his head. "It was his own choice. He wanted to save us."
Everyone was silent. Li Ye and Lin Shen carried Chen Mo's body to the corner of the convenience store and covered it with a few wooden boards. Su Wan wiped her tears, turned on the flashlight, and illuminated the exit of the convenience store: "Let's...let's keep going. It's not safe here."
Everyone packed up their things, walked out of the convenience store, and headed along the national highway. The night wind on the highway grew colder, carrying with it an evil aura wafting from the direction of Qingwu Town, making people feel nervous.
After walking for about an hour, a small town appeared in front of us. There were a few lights on in the town, like hope in the darkness.
"Let's go to the small town and find a place to stay." Meng Yao's voice was tired, she was almost unable to hold on.
Everyone nodded and walked towards the town. The town was very quiet, with only the occasional barking of dogs. They found a small inn. The owner was an old lady. Seeing that they were covered in mud and pale, she didn't ask any questions and just gave them two rooms.
After entering the room, Su Wan and Meng Yao fell on the bed and quickly fell asleep. Lin Shen and Li Ye sat on chairs, looking out the window at the night scene, no one spoke.
"Tell me, can we really survive?" Li Ye suddenly spoke, his voice full of fatigue.
Lin Shen looked out the window, was silent for a while, and said, "I don't know, but we must survive for the sake of our dead companions."
Li Ye nodded and said nothing more.
As the night deepened, the lights in the town gradually dimmed, leaving only the hotel's streetlights still on, emitting a faint glow. Lin Shen leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, but he couldn't fall asleep. He had a constant feeling that the evil creatures of Qingwu Town would come looking for them again, and this nightmare was far from over.
At this moment, Lin Shen suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He opened his eyes abruptly, covered his chest, and his face turned pale - the backlash of the Heart Guarding Gu was getting stronger and stronger. He knew that he could not hold on for much longer.
Lin Shen looked at Li Ye who was sleeping beside him, then looked at Su Wan and Meng Yao in the next room, and secretly made up his mind: Even if he died, he would protect them and keep them alive.
As the night deepened, the town became eerily quiet, with only the occasional sound of the wind, like the whispers of evil creatures in Qingwu Town, telling of endless horror.
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