Chapter 3 Blood Orchid of the Breath of Earth ① - An Uninvited Guest: A True Materialist Fan...
Lan Shuyin, holding an action camera, walked through the dilapidated and gloomy ancestral hall.
The rotting wood emitted a faint creaking sound, its strain amplified infinitely in the deathly silent, gloomy space.
She adjusted the focus, preparing to take a close-up shot of the solitary Qing Dynasty armchair in the center of the ancestral hall, when she suddenly felt a chill on her back, a kind of icy coldness quietly spreading.
It wasn't a change in temperature; it seemed to be a purely intuitive, chilling feeling of being watched, as if something was pressed against her back, silently spying on her.
She twisted and turned abruptly, her clenched fist whistling through the air as she swung it backward with tremendous force—
Of course, it only struck the hollow and cold air.
"What's there to be afraid of?" she whispered to herself, trying to dispel the inexplicable unease in her heart. "Can a broken chair be more terrifying than the Siamese Ghost Cave?"
Even so, a fine layer of goosebumps still uncontrollably covered my arms.
The ancestral hall was dimly lit, and the stagnant air was filled with the smell of old dust and damp decay, making every breath heavy and oppressive.
Everywhere you look, the beams and pillars are dilapidated and covered with cobwebs, but strangely enough, the grand master's chair in the very center is spotless and exceptionally clean.
This inappropriate purity seemed particularly eerie in this gloomy and dilapidated place.
According to folklore, this armchair is said to be "suitable for ghosts to sit on, but not for humans," and anyone who comes into contact with it will suffer misfortune.
Lan Shuyin couldn't help but let her mind wander, and a feeling of regret welled up in her heart.
If she hadn't been blinded by greed... she gritted her teeth, thinking, "I should have never come!"
Lan Shuyin steadied her slightly trembling arms, hastily recorded a few videos and took a few snapshots, then quickly withdrew from the suffocating ancestral hall.
The icy air rushed into her lungs, and just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she suddenly stopped in her tracks—
The four people who were lying haphazardly in the open space outside the ancestral hall were gone.
As if silently swallowed up by this strange land, only a desolate and messy expanse of footprints remained.
rustling—
Just then, a clear rubbing sound suddenly came from the thick wormwood bushes that were taller than a person next to them.
The beams of light from the two headlamps swayed erratically.
Immediately afterwards, two men wearing windbreakers and carrying huge hiking backpacks emerged somewhat disheveled, pushing aside the withered grass stalks.
Their eyes met unexpectedly in the eerie night.
Clearly not expecting that there were other people here, the two froze, their faces showing undisguised astonishment and wariness.
Lan Shuyin was also startled. She subconsciously took a half step back, her center of gravity slightly lowered, and her right hand quietly pressed on the pocket at her waist.
In the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere, two strong and healthy young men suddenly appeared. Her first reaction was not to feel fortunate, but to avoid them.
She was about to pretend to be passing by and leave, figuring she could just throw a punch if the other guy dared to follow, when unexpectedly, the slightly younger guy's eyes widened suddenly after his initial surprise. "Wait! You...you're 'Yinyin's Iron Fist'? That adventure blogger?!"
The wariness on his face vanished instantly in an overwhelming sense of surprise. He excitedly grabbed his companion's arm, his voice rising with excitement, the previous tension completely gone. "Zigui, look! It's my idol! It really is her! I used to watch her videos every day! I definitely wouldn't mistake her!"
His almost leaping, unpretentious fervor startled Lan Shuyin slightly, causing her fingers on the tactical pen to relax a little, but the vigilance deep in her eyes did not completely dissipate.
She quickly sized him up—the gleam in the boy's eyes and his flustered excitement seemed so real, not feigned.
She kept two steps away, nodded slightly, and spoke in a steady voice with a barely perceptible scrutiny, "Hello. You... are you here to explore too?"
“Yeah, yeah!” Wu Yang, the male fan, eagerly answered, his excitement overflowing. The beam of his headlamp swayed up and down with his movements. “Everyone online says this village is eerie, we’re here to dispel feudal superstitions in person! But this place is a bit eerie, we almost got lost just now…”
His companion, Chen Zigui, appeared much calmer. Although he was also surprised by the chance encounter, his gaze remained impassive as he observed Lan Shuyin and the marks on the ground, nodding as a greeting.
The three of them found a relatively flat open space in front of the ancestral hall and started a fire.
Through Wu Yang's rambling narration, Lan Shuyin roughly pieced together their origins.
Wu Yang and Chen Zigui are both senior students who met through hiking. Wu Yang was originally a loyal fan of Lan Shuyin. Influenced by her videos, she pulled Chen Zigui, who has a more composed personality, to try their hand at being adventure bloggers and record their hiking experiences.
In his words, "Although our accounts have been barely getting any traffic, we can't resist the fact that we really like them!"
This trip to Qigu Village was due to a high-paying commission.
“A sugar daddy messaged us privately.” Wu Yang added a dry branch to the fire, sparks crackling as he said, “He offered us 10,000 yuan to come to Qigu Village, find that famous armchair, and sleep in that house for one night.”
Wu Yang spoke exaggeratedly, with the roguishness unique to young people, "Ten thousand yuan! Sister Yin! Last year, I worked hard for two months as an intern and only earned four thousand! That's enough for us to live a carefree life for half a year! Besides, do you think we, as new-era materialists, would be fooled by these rural legends? Isn't this the same as the popular haunted house tester job? We have to take this job!"
Lan Shuyin's heart suddenly stirred.
She came to Qigu Village for a generous reward.
Are all the rich and capricious investors these days flocking to these weird places to throw money around?
The thought had barely crossed her mind when she heard Wu Yang change the subject, leaning closer with undisguised curiosity and asking, "By the way, Sister Yin, it's been almost a year since you retired from the entertainment industry, right? To be honest, we longtime fans just can't understand it. You had such a high profile, and you even did a news interview, so why did you suddenly say you were quitting?"
The questions came directly, with the natural familiarity typical of young people.
Lan Shuyin met his probing gaze and slowly said, "It's nothing. It's just that a year ago, while exploring ruins in Siam, I stumbled upon something that science couldn't explain."
"Huh?" Wu Yang's curiosity was instantly piqued, and he leaned forward involuntarily, cautiously asking, "What is that? It's not... a ghost, is it?"
Lan Shuyin paused, then lowered her voice and said, "A woman wearing red high heels..." She spoke slowly, each word as clear as an ice bead falling to the ground, "She was standing at the end of the corridor with her back to me, humming an off-key nursery rhyme... When I zoomed in with my camera, she suddenly turned around!"
She paused at just the right moment, creating a suffocating pause, and seeing Wu Yang's suddenly tense face, she added in a calmer tone, "Her face... had no features. Only thick blood flowing down."
Just then, the campfire crackled and popped, and a gust of cold wind swept by, making the flames flicker and cast shifting shadows on the three people's faces.
Wu Yang's excitement froze, and he subconsciously hugged his arms and swallowed.
Even Chen Zigui, who had been silent all along, frowned and his gaze became serious.
Lan Shuyin took in their reactions, remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly scoffed, "You believe that already? A new-age materialist?"
The atmosphere suddenly relaxed.
The tense atmosphere that had been deliberately created shattered instantly. Wu Yang exaggeratedly clutched his chest, "Holy crap... Sister Yin, this story you made up is too scary! It gave me goosebumps!"
He recovered his composure, his tone tinged with resentment, "Sigh, if you don't want to talk about it, fine, but why make up ghost stories to scare a true fan like me..."
Lan Shuyin smiled but remained silent, while Chen Zigui, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, "Were there other people here just now?"
Surprised by his observation skills, Lan Shuyin glanced at him again and nodded, saying, "It was there originally. It was there before I entered the ancestral hall, but it disappeared when I came out. I guess it's gone."
No sooner had they finished speaking than a blinding beam of light from a flashlight suddenly shot out from the side, striking the three of them squarely in the face.
"What are you doing!" a rough shout rang out.
Two muscular forest rangers, dressed in worn forestry uniforms, strode out from the shadows, their faces cold and hard.
The leader, with dark skin and sharp, eagle-like eyes, swept his gaze over them and the remnants of the campfire nearby, and said sternly, "This is a closed-off forest protection zone, and no one is allowed to enter! Who gave you permission to come here in the middle of the night?!"
His companion stood silently to the side, carrying a heavy wooden stick, creating a silent oppressive atmosphere.
Wu Yang quickly explained, "Uncle, we are..."
"Enough with the nonsense!" the dark-faced man interrupted him rudely, his voice carrying an unquestionable authority. "Pack your things now and leave immediately! This is not a place for you to cause trouble!"
The other party's tone was firm, leaving no room for negotiation.
Lan Shuyin frowned. The timing of these two people's appearance was too coincidental, but it was not a wise move to confront them head-on at the moment.
She quickly considered her options and stood up first. "Let's go now."
She gave Wu Yang and Chen Zigui a wink, and the three of them quickly packed their backpacks and, accompanied closely by the two forest rangers, headed out of the village.
The night was deep, and the flashlight beam cast swaying, uneasy spots of light on the uneven dirt road.
Lan Shuyin remained vigilant throughout, keeping one hand on her waist at all times, ready to deal with any unexpected situations.
However, the two men did not do anything unusual until they reached the border of Qigu Village.
The stern-faced forest ranger stopped, pointed his flashlight at the dark mountain path ahead, and gave a final, stern warning, "Go home now! Don't ever come back! Otherwise, you'll face the consequences!"
After saying that, the two actually turned around and strode away along the way they came, as if their only task was to drive away the uninvited guests.
Watching their swift and decisive disappearance, Wu Yang scratched his head, muttering in confusion, "Strange... In this godforsaken wilderness, there are forest rangers patrolling the mountains at night?"
"I don't know." Chen Zigui pondered for a moment and suggested, "Something's not right here. Shall we go back and discuss this further?"
“No way.” Wu Yang’s reaction was unusually firm, completely different from his previous playful demeanor. He said solemnly, “We need to go back to the ancestral hall to spend the night, otherwise the ten thousand yuan will be wasted! This mountain is high and the road is long, and I don’t want to have gone through so much hardship for nothing.”
After saying that, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and the look of obsession with reward on his face instantly vanished, quickly switching back to enthusiastic fan mode. He turned to look at Lan Shuyin, revealing a smile that was somewhat ingratiating and expectant.
"Um... Sister Yin."
He rubbed his hands together shyly.
"Could...could we add each other on WeChat? I promise I won't bother you unnecessarily! I swear, I'm a true fan of yours!"
A note from the author:
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