"Chen Ge, should we retreat for now? When Captain Yan's backup arrives, we can enter the mountain together." Ol 'Wei looked at the phone that had no signal. The time showed that it was 12: 50 pm.
"It'll take at least an hour to drive from Jiujiang to Lin Guan Village. By the time they arrive, the sun will be up."
Chen Ge's group had been walking in the forest for two hours already, but there was no sign of a village. There were only mountains in the distance.
"But will the three of us really be enough?" Ol 'Wei's headache was that if there was a conflict, they would have to send someone to take care of Master Bai.
"It's not a big problem." Initially, Chen Ge was worried about Master Bai's health, but after walking for an hour, he realized his worry was unfounded.
Having grown up in the mountains, Master Bai was not only physically fit, but he was also very familiar with the environment.
"What are you two mumbling about?" Master Bai walked ahead with a branch. "There's a fork ahead. Going from the top of the mountain will take a long detour, and it'll take another two hours to get there. But if we go through the valley, it'll only take thirty minutes to reach Coffin Village. "
"Is the road in the middle of the valley difficult to traverse?" Chen Ge knew that since Master Bai purposely mentioned it, there had to be a reason.
"Yes." Master Bai's expression was serious. "The valley is haunted."
"That's fine. I thought you were going to say there's a wolf." Chen Ge patted his backpack, and the white cat poked its head out from the zipper with dissatisfaction.
"No, I've been curious. In your world, are wolves scarier than ghosts?" Master Bai leaned on the branch. He could not understand Chen Ge's train of thought.
"Ghosts are illusory, but wolves are real." Ol 'Wei did not believe in ghosts either.
Chen Ge rolled his eyes and did not argue. "Let's go through the valley."
"You have to think this through. Some things in this world are hard to explain." Master Bai asked for their opinion again.
"Sir, did something happen to you in the past?" Chen Ge saw the unnatural expression on Master Bai's face, and he did not want to enter the valley. "You're so familiar with this path, so you must have walked this path more than once. We're doing this to save the child, so I hope you won't hide anything."
"I've never hidden anything. I'm just afraid that you won't believe me if I tell you." For the first time, Master Bai told Chen Ge about his youth. "My father knew a thing or two about medicine. In the 40s and 50s, when the smallpox and measles were rampant, he practically visited all the nearby villages. It was then that he discovered Coffin Village."
"The village is isolated from the rest of the world, and there are not many people who can read. When they get sick, they have to rely on their own methods to survive. When my father arrived, the epidemic in the village was already very serious."
"In order to treat the people in that village, my father went there several times."
"When I was young, my father wanted me to study medicine so that I could make a living. Sometimes, he would bring me along when he went out to see patients."
"The first few times we walked through the valley, nothing happened, but one time, my father got into an argument with someone from Coffin Village. I don't know what started it."
"Normally, we would leave at 2 or 3 pm, but that day, when we left Coffin Village, it was already evening."
"At the time, the sky was still bright outside the village, so my father and I didn't think too much about it before we entered the valley."
"Halfway there, my father suddenly urged me to move faster."
"I thought that if I went home earlier, I would be able to have a warm meal, so I picked up my pace."
"But after a while, I heard my father urging me again, telling me to move faster."
"It was then that I realized something was wrong. I turned around to look, but my father's hand covered my eyes."
"He still urged me to move faster, so I sneaked a glance through the gap between his fingers."
"Then, I saw someone crawling on my father's back!"
"My father's face was pale, and he stood behind me to protect me. He kept urging me to move faster."
"Perhaps because my father had done too many good deeds, the thing crawling on his back didn't touch him in the end."
"But I remember that day very clearly. When we entered the valley, the sky was still bright, but when we exited, the sky was already dark.
"When we got home, my father fell seriously ill, and he never returned to Coffin Village again."
"Even now, I don't know why he argued with the patient at Coffin Village, and I don't know what the thing crawling on his back was."
Master Bai's heart ached when he told the story.
Chen Ge could understand why Master Bai would help Jiang Ling's sister out of guilt. He had seen ghosts when he was young, so he believed in them.
"Do you still plan to walk through the valley?" Master Bai was still traumatized by the valley.
"Going around it will waste too much time. Let's go through the valley." Chen Ge held the Pen Spirit in his hand. "You two walk in front, and I'll cover the back."
"Can you do it?" Ol 'Wei was supposed to cover the back. As he walked, he made various markings in the forest.
Master Bai wanted to persuade Chen Ge, but when the words reached his lips, he was suddenly reminded of what had happened that night. Chen Ge had chased after Jiang Ling's sister out of the room like he was trying to stop the Specter.
His lips twitched, and Master Bai suspected that Chen Ge had purposely walked in that direction because he heard that the valley was haunted.
"Why are you two looking at me? Don't worry, let's go. " Chen Ge did not panic at all. He was carrying his backpack, and there was a white cat inside. Even if the ghost crawled over, it would crawl onto the white cat first.
Gently patting the white cat's head, Chen Ge followed Master Bai and Ol 'Wei into the valley.
The wind blew past their ears like someone was crying. The grass reached their knees, and occasionally, something would run past them, rubbing against their calves. It was very uncomfortable.
The trees on both sides increased, and they grew weirder. Everything around them seemed to be changing.
"Quick, try to leave this place in twenty minutes." Master Bai's emotions were unstable like the scary memories from his youth were resurfacing, and he looked very nervous.
"Chen Ge, be careful behind us." Ol 'Wei walked in the middle. He trusted Chen Ge.
They walked for five minutes, and the narrow path was completely blocked by grass and tree branches. There were many half-buried coffins on both sides of the road.
The coffins seemed to have been purposely placed nearby, and some of them were not even closed.
"Don't be afraid." Master Bai's voice sounded like it was shaking. He forced himself to calm down. "This is the custom of Coffin Village. Those are all empty coffins, and they're placed on both sides of the road. It means to get rich."
"I'm not afraid, but I think you should move faster."
Chen Ge turned back to look, and there seemed to be a shadow following him.
He did not tell Ol 'Wei or Master Bai about this but rummaged through his backpack for something.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
