Chapter 95 Midnight Tales of Ruoshui Village
The village is scattered in a mountain gully, right next to the Ruoshui River, which flows out of the mountain pass and meanders like a snake.
Such low-lying areas, close to water sources, are prone to developing miasma.
In addition, the sky was dark and the visibility was getting lower and lower after entering the mountain road, so we became more cautious with our speed. The two brass-like high beams would be silently swallowed up when they shone into the fog.
Walking in the dark, the drowsy atmosphere felt like an epidemic that could easily spread in a confined space.
Xia Zhu, who had been staring intently out the window, suddenly closed her eyes. Then, the car jolted violently, and her head slammed uncontrollably against the glass.
With a loud bang, the sound startled several people in the back row who were half asleep.
"What's wrong? Why did it stall?" Feng Feng's body twitched, and Miao Miao, who was lying on her lap, grumbled twice in dissatisfaction.
"The visibility is too low, we dare not drive forward, let's stop here for now," Feng Mian said, unlocking the car door.
Xia Zhu stretched awkwardly, hearing the bones in her body creaking, cleverly coinciding with the sound of others unbuckling their seatbelts.
She rubbed her temples and opened the car door on her side.
The cool air instantly broke through the drowsiness and the warm film of carbon dioxide that enveloped her. She shivered involuntarily, then fully bundled herself up again, zipping the zipper up to her chin.
The outside world was indeed as Feng Mian had described, with thick, almost dripping fog. Even someone like Xia Zhu, whose skin wasn't fair, would have her hand disappear into ink when she stretched it out.
A layer of white fog immediately formed on her glasses, as if water vapor had condensed.
"Huh? What's this?"
Feng Feng's voice came from inside the car. Xia Zhu groped her way over by the taillights, and Ying Huo followed silently behind her. She found it strange; no matter how much Feng Feng mocked her along the way, Ying Huo remained silent, as if he had taken a poison to make him mute. He even slept in the car and urinated with her when they got out, which was very eerie.
Xia Zhu recalled the day she had to choose between entering a dream or capturing the plague demon. It seemed that he had tampered with the dice. Considering his unusual behavior over the past few days, she was eager to glean some secrets about Ying Huo.
The phone's flashlight could barely illuminate a half-meter radius in front of him. Seeing several people gathered around a stone tablet, Xia Zhu curiously approached and squatted down with Feng Feng.
The mountain was shrouded in fog and dew, and the stone tablet was covered with a thick layer of moss, like a soft cushion.
"Ruoshui Village." Feng Feng read out the blurry and indistinct inscription on the stone tablet, word by word.
They happened to stop at the village entrance by sheer coincidence, so smoothly that it made one suspicious.
A winding, pale path was carved out behind the stone tablet, extending into the black fog.
"Let's go, let's go into the village first." Feng Mian opened the trunk, and everyone stepped forward to take out what they needed. He squatted down to tie Miao Miao's leash, and then walked in front to clear the way for everyone, just in case Ji Wuchou was only half a step behind him.
Fortunately, they bought a lot of equipment for going out. Professional lighting equipment is much better than mobile phones. Xia Zhu, who was walking in the middle of the group, could barely see Miao Miao wagging her tail at the front.
After walking for a while, they suddenly heard several howls. Xia Zhu and the others quickly went forward and saw the puppy barking wildly at the darkness ahead.
Who's there?
Ji Wuchou shifted halfway to the side, blocking Feng Mian's view, the powerful beam of his flashlight piercing the fog like a sharp sword.
"Ouch!"
It was a man's voice.
"Stop shaking! Stop shaking! It's hurting my eyes!" The person who spoke raised his hand to shield his eyes, and a halo enveloped him. Xia Zhu could see that he was an old man in his sixties, with a stubble beard and a listless appearance.
In the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere, a figure suddenly appeared on a mountain path.
Xia Zhu felt inexplicably excited, a tingling, itchy sensation spreading up her spine. When she saw the dilapidated, drafty, and filthy abandoned guesthouse before her, she couldn't help but exclaim inwardly, "This is it!"
Several people sat around a coal stove in the lobby on the first floor of the guesthouse. The fire gradually rose, quickly evaporating the moisture from Xia Zhu's clothes and hair. The air was filled with a watery smell and the unique aroma of burning honeycomb briquettes.
The old man I met on the way claimed to be the village secretary of Ruoshui Village. As for why he was wandering around the village late at night instead of sleeping at home, he explained that he had arranged to meet at a friend's house in the afternoon, had a few drinks, and chatted until late at night. He accidentally fell asleep and when he woke up, he was walking home in a daze. Because his head was still a little fuzzy and the fog was thick at night, he got lost in the village.
Xia Zhu moved closer to him and could indeed smell the alcohol.
He led the group to the village's only abandoned guesthouse, where they could sleep in a few empty rooms upstairs. This remote and desolate village had only a dozen or so households left, and no one ever came here normally. A few years ago, the county wanted to promote tourism along the Ruoshui River, so they built a guesthouse in the village. Although the project was later shelved for some reason, the guesthouse still had all the necessary facilities.
At least there's running water and electricity, so it shouldn't be a problem for them to stay for a couple of days.
The village secretary also mentioned that a few months ago, a woman with similar equipment and a mysterious demeanor stayed upstairs for one night.
The group exchanged glances, paid more than the actual room rate, and then began to inquire about the ghost story of Ruoshui.
"Oh, that's true. There is some truth to that, but in the mountains, every nook and cranny has its ghost stories and old monsters, so it's not that surprising."
As he spoke, he suddenly smacked his dry lips, reached into his pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and prepared to light one up.
"Tsk." Ying Huo, standing next to Xia Zhu, made a very dissatisfied and deliberate sound. The old man hesitated for a moment and put the cigarette back into his inner pocket.
“There is a river outside the village. In the past, during difficult times, people would jump into it because they couldn’t bear it anymore. Some were because they didn’t have enough to eat, some were because they were sick and couldn’t afford treatment, and some were because they accidentally fell in while traveling in the dark. Rivers with many dead people are prone to harboring water ghosts. People living in the village would inevitably encounter some unclean things over time.”
"I've heard from some older people that the water ghosts in that river can even speak human language! They trick people into jumping in to become their scapegoats!"
"But you don't need to worry too much. These things are a matter of belief; if you believe, they exist, if you don't, they don't." As he spoke, he darted his eyes around and glanced at the half-open door before mysteriously leaning closer and lowering his voice to say, "Gentlemen, let's not beat around the bush. Lately, we've had a lot of young comrades like you coming to our village. Is it... is it because you've discovered some hidden treasure?"
"Good stuff," Xia Zhu frowned and thought for a moment, guessing that this guy probably thought they were tomb raiders.
Feng Feng also realized what was happening. She imitated the old man, first looking around, then leaning forward and pointing a finger at the sky.
"Shh, don't ask too many questions. We're here on a mission for our superiors. Your level of awareness belies your position as village secretary. Looks like I'll have to talk to them about this when I get back..."
"Hey, hey, hey!" The village secretary panicked instantly. "Women shouldn't talk nonsense. The villagers are all ordinary people. I was just asking casually, just asking..."
"That's good. As a public servant, one should set a good example by leading by example!" Feng Feng said with a straight face, putting on a serious act.
The village secretary nodded repeatedly, stretched out his hands, which looked like old tree bark, and approached the coal stove. Then he rubbed his palms together, the rough skin making a rustling sound as it rubbed against each other.
"However, there is an unwritten rule in the village. I'm telling you all in advance: if any of you get into trouble here, don't blame me for not warning you."
The firelight reflected on his dark face. A cool breeze slipped in through the crack in the door, causing the flames to flicker. Miaomiao lay quietly at Fengmian's feet, her eyebrows twitching occasionally.
His voice was dry and hoarse, his vocal cords twitching, “In our village, you absolutely cannot take a bath after midnight.”
*
Xia Zhu lay down in her sleeping bag fully clothed.
After the village secretary left, they went up to the second floor and found a few empty rooms to rest for the night.
There weren't many rooms. Two larger rooms were used by Feng Feng and Ji Wuchou to share, and by Ji Yinxiu and Ying Ya to share. The remaining three people and the dog lived alone in three small, warehouse-like rooms upstairs.
Before going to bed, Xia Zhu checked all the doors and windows. Although the room smelled musty, she still chose to close the only window tightly. There was a small wooden bed in the room, and Xia Zhu put her sleeping bag on it, intending to make do like that for the night.
According to the village secretary, there shouldn't be many people in this village, so the unusual silence outside the window is understandable. But Xia Zhu couldn't help but recall that when she was at home, although the countryside didn't have people staying up late or vehicles coming and going like in the city, there would occasionally be the chirping of insects or the calls of some kind of animal at night.
Ruoshui Village was eerily quiet.
The dense fog covering the mountains and plains seemed to isolate everything.
She stared at the mold spots on the ceiling above her head, her vision slowly losing focus, only the black spot growing larger and larger in front of her, her mind becoming hazy.
She didn't know how much time had passed when Xia Zhu was awakened by the restlessness within her body. Her throat was dry, and even the simple act of swallowing was excruciatingly painful. It was as if some dry tinder had just been burned in her throat, and even her breath felt scorching hot.
She struggled to sit up in bed, subconsciously touching her forehead, only to realize that since gaining the power of physiognomy, she hadn't even caught a cold, so she shouldn't have a fever.
Perhaps it was because I sat in front of the fire for too long at night that all the water in my body evaporated.
So she groggily crawled out of her sleeping bag and rummaged through the backpack at the head of the bed. There were a few bottles of mineral water in the bag. She unscrewed the caps, tilted her head back, and gulped down a mouthful of ice-cold water, finally extinguishing the burning sensation in her throat.
After drinking some water, she felt much better and lay back down on the bed with her eyes half-closed.
Weariness quickly crept in, and Xia Zhu suddenly remembered what the village secretary had said before leaving.
"You can't take a shower after midnight."
She wasn't quite sure what caused this rule; she guessed it might be related to time or water.
However, she only took a sip of water, so it shouldn't be considered a violation.
Half-asleep, Xia Zhu opened her eyes and instinctively reached for the mold patch on the ceiling, only to find herself in complete darkness. She tried to turn to look at the window beside her; she remembered this room had no curtains, so moonlight should be streaming in. But as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she realized with horror that she was completely immobilized.
Not only her head, but her entire body seemed to be suppressed by some invisible behemoth. Her mind was still refusing to clear up, as if a hand was hiding in her mind, grabbing her will to rise and fall and trying to drag her into the deep water.
If you relax even slightly, you will sink into even deeper darkness.
Xia Zhu struggled frantically between lucidity and sleep, but increasingly felt her jaw loosening uncontrollably, and her eyelids feeling as heavy as lead.
Suddenly, she heard a strange sound coming from a corner of the room.
Like a drowning person grabbing onto a piece of driftwood, that slight movement instantly nailed her consciousness to a state of alertness.
Since she couldn't see anything, she could only strain her ears to make out the sounds.
One drop, two drops…
It's like someone soaking wet is standing in the shadows in the corner, watching everything inside the room.
The water on its body will pool on the ground.
Realizing this, Xia Zhu felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, as if being pricked with needles. She wanted to find her tongue and bite it hard, but no matter what she did, she couldn't feel any other part of her body.
wrong.
Xia Zhu paused, then focused his attention again; there was something else mixed in with the sound of water.
What is it?
It rang softly and melodiously, like the sound of a bell.
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