This isn't just about going there and becoming a teacher; it's about recruiting students yourself. To put it bluntly, it means starting from scratch in a small village, outsmarting the resourceful working people, and even competing with local teachers for resources—it's a really tough job.
But how could the inexperienced college students know this? They all found it novel and interesting, and since they were really free during the summer vacation, they signed contracts with the boss in a classroom at another university and drew lots to decide which village each group would go to.
The day after the exam, Lu Mingran and two classmates took a bus. This was Lu Mingran's first time traveling far from home. She remembered that the bus ride was very long. First, they arrived at the bus station in a small county town. Then, the boss sent someone to pick them up in a dilapidated minivan. They drove around the mountains and finally drove into a small village.
There are no bus stops in that village. To get in and out, you rely on those tiny minibuses that pick up passengers, and you have to wave them down. These vehicles only travel between villages. If you want to go further, you have to wait for the regular buses. There's no other way but to stand by the roadside and wait, still by waving them down.
On her first day there, everything in the village made Lu Mingran quite uneasy.
He stood on the main road of the village, looking into the distance at the small hills hidden in the mist. As he walked, he saw a notice posted on a telephone pole about an upcoming event at a certain Taoist temple, inviting villagers to attend.
In addition, there was a missing person notice, with the character "事" mistakenly typed as "示". The gist of the notice was that a baby girl was abandoned twenty years ago, and now that she has grown up, she wants to find her biological parents in these villages.
This village isn't considered poor, but what Lu Mingran saw was the reality of rural life: most of the young and middle-aged people had left, leaving mostly the elderly and children in the village.
Lu Mingran was quite adaptable, or rather, his strong desire for independence overcame his fear of this unfamiliar environment. After working for a few days, he became familiar with the boy and two girls in his group.
One evening, everyone was chatting together when suddenly a girl said to them:
"Hey, did you guys know? The whole group from Shangzhang Village has evacuated!"
At that time, Lu Mingran was eating steamed buns and pickled vegetables, listening quietly.
The girl continued, "I heard that she made a scene all night on her first night there, insisting on leaving, which made the landlord and the owner look quite uncomfortable."
They had heard about the girls' emotional outbursts. The boss made them stay in local people's houses, sleep on earthen beds, use very dirty toilets, and couldn't even take a shower. No wonder some girls were unwilling. You see, not long after, one of the boys' mothers came looking for him, chasing after the boss and calling him a "human trafficker."
But that wasn't the reason those girls were making a fuss.
The girl who brought this up was named Ahua. Ahua kept everyone in suspense, deliberately asking them one by one where they were from. After asking around, Lu Mingran realized that although everyone was from the same province, their hometowns were actually quite far apart.
"Do you have that kind of custom where you live?"
Ahua stared at them and asked:
"In your hometown, do the elderly keep prepared coffins at home?"
"Not put in the woodshed, but in the main hall, the kind you can see as soon as you enter?"
It is said that the girls followed the boss inside with their suitcases, and as soon as the door opened, they saw a dark coffin placed in the main room.
She was so scared that she cried on the spot.
In his dream, Lu Mingran wanted to answer, but he couldn't say anything. He stared blankly at them laughing and joking, then his gaze shifted to his mother who was cooking.
To soothe his crying baby, his mother told him a story.
It is said that in my mother's hometown, some elderly people would keep a prepared coffin at home. One summer evening, people in the courtyard came out to cool off, chat, and drink tea.
Then, for some reason, a little old man came in; I couldn't see his face. He didn't speak to anyone and went straight to the room where Old Liu lived in the west wing.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Someone called out to the old man, but he ignored them.
The mother was certain that the house was right next to a mountain, and there was no way out. Besides, there were always people in the yard. But when Old Liu returned at midnight, he rushed into the house but saw no one.
Moreover, his room was not used for living; it had only one purpose.
Place the coffin he had prepared for himself.
A pitch-black coffin.
——————
"Well!"
Lu Mingran struggled to wake up.
Thankfully, he wasn't in a coffin, but still in the car. The system told him that the next world was just around the corner.
"So fast?"
Don't you want to be resurrected sooner?
Having said that, the system began to read out his task without any emotion:
"A ghost story is a ghost story; don't let him try to find connections between each one!"
Chapter 16 Want to know the formation? No way (2)
Many strange tales circulate among the people. For example, a girl hiding under the bed, afraid of being killed, was found by her girlfriend, who then hopped over headfirst. Another story tells of a girl telling her brother that she dreamt of someone holding her head, and her brother then took his own head off, held it in his arms, and asked, "Is that true?"
Many ghost stories begin with such eerie and terrifying tales, which frighten many readers so much that they want to throw their phones or computers away.
What if someone suddenly told you that these ghost stories are actually connected and that they are all part of a scheme orchestrated by a villain?
Generally speaking, it might genuinely evoke a sense of dread upon closer examination, but for readers seeking realistic thrills, the story becomes rather dull.
It is the unknown, the things that could happen at any moment, that truly send chills down your spine.
This novel is like that. You say there's a conspiracy behind it all, that someone is specifically doing those horrific things to target the male protagonist, and that's one thing, but then the male protagonist rises up in rebellion, constantly cultivates, and ascends to become an immortal—what the hell is that?
"Holy crap, did I just stumble upon the Night Talk section?"
"Dude, you're writing a ghost story, not a cultivation novel! What's the male lead doing going to Zhongnan Mountain at the end? What's he doing leading those foreigners in meditation and cultivation?! Aaaaaah!"
"I want to ask, in the end, the male lead was renamed the Heavenly Evil Emperor? Isn't that a bit too silly?"
"Upstairs, if a disheveled man tells you his name is the Heavenly Evil Emperor, please send him to a mental hospital immediately."
...
The system read a few of the readers' complaints to Lu Mingran as a form of amusement. As Lu Mingran listened, she looked out the car window and noticed that the car was gradually entering the thick fog, and the sky was changing color.
Perhaps because he had just had that dream, Lu Mingran was still somewhat depressed. The system was a little worried about him, so after reading the readers' complaints, it took the initiative to talk to him about the next world.
"The male lead's name is Wei Jiangyan. Let me make this clear beforehand, this guy isn't like Su Yun. If you act like a scoundrel again, he'll throw you out."
Wei Jiangyan? Lu Mingran pondered the name, thinking to himself, "Brother, you should be the male lead in a romance novel."
squeak--
The bus slowly pulled up in front of an old, six-story residential building. The ground was wet, as if it had just rained. On the third-floor balcony stood a withered potted plant.
"We've arrived." The person announcing the stop was actually the driver, and his voice was very hoarse.
Lu Mingran didn't linger. He nodded and walked out the back door. As soon as he got off, he felt the bus behind him vanish into thin air.
As for this building—
It was already night, and the real-world values were visible. Lu Mingran clutched the box the system had provided, wondering whether he should go inside.
Seventy percent.
The red number displayed on the building is seventy percent.
It's a bit cheaper than that hotel, but 70% is still quite high! Apparently, the male lead has been living here since graduation. He refused the new dormitory the company offered him, saying he had grown attached to this place and couldn't bear to leave.
What is it about this place that you're reluctant to leave behind? With such a high level of realism, it means this is a place where real paranormal events occurred in the real world. Have you been sleeping peacefully all these years? Or are you truly the Heavenly Evil Emperor?
Seeing that Lu Mingran was hesitant to go in, the system coughed twice and comforted him:
"Actually, it's nothing. If you're really scared, you can ask the male lead to let you move in with him!"
...
Lu Mingran: "System, you can continue to play dead, just like in the last world."
————————————————————————
Before entering Unit 3 of the building, Lu Mingran, imitating Su Yun, hung the jade that Mr. Hu had sent around her neck.
When the cool ancient jade was placed against her chest, the extremely low temperature transmitted to her skin made Lu Mingran shiver, but at the same time, she felt inexplicably at ease.
It's okay, everything will be alright this time too.
He silently repeated this to himself as he took his first step.
In this old-fashioned residential building, the lights are all voice-activated. Before anyone goes in, the stairwell is pitch black.
Lu Mingran was considering whether to say something dramatic like "God said, 'Let there be light,'" and then clap her hands, when she heard a series of hurried footsteps.
To be precise, it was the sound of someone hurriedly stepping down in slippers, the slippers making a pattering sound, and before that, there was the duller sound of someone barefoot.
It looks like two people are going downstairs. Judging from the noise, it sounds like the one behind is chasing the one in front.
Before long, the two kinds of footsteps reached the first floor.
Before Lu Mingran could even see who was running towards her, she heard a loud crash, the hallway lights turned on, and then some liquid splashed onto her clothes and hands.
Sticky, and red—blood.
Lu Mingran rubbed her fingers together, noticing a shard of porcelain bowl spinning on the ground.
His gaze then moved upwards, and he saw a young man wearing a white vest and yellow shorts lying on the steps. Next to him stood another young man, who was also dressed simply, but was much more handsome than the one lying down, with bright, dark eyes.
What seemed out of place with his good looks was the white bowl he was holding, with a very rustic pink "longevity" character and red flowers painted on it. Lu Mingran had only ever seen this kind of bowl at her grandmother's house.
As for the bowl, it contained the liquid that had just splashed onto Lu Mingran.
With a burst of energy, this person splashed all the blood onto the person on the ground.
After the mission was accomplished, the other party finally turned around and saw Lu Mingran standing there, covered in blood.
——————————————————————
The story begins last night.
Wei Jiangyan had a reunion with her college classmates whom she hadn't seen in a long time. Everyone drank to their hearts' content, especially Xiao Lei. After finishing his drink, he hugged a vase in the shop and started jumping around, singing "Cotton Fluffing". That night, Wei Jiangyan kept hearing "Cotton fluffing, cotton fluffing, the cotton fluffing is done and the girl is getting married" on repeat.
In the end, Xiao Lei neither fluffed cotton nor got married. Instead, he clung to Wei Jiangyan's leg and refused to let go, insisting on going home with him. When Xiao Lei's girlfriend came to pick him up, she was furious.
After his girlfriend checked Xiao Lei's phone, her face turned even greener.
"I don't want him anymore, whoever wants him can have him."
Xiao Lei hugged Wei Jiangyan's leg even tighter.
Left with no other option, Wei Jiangyan had to take him back to her home.
However, Wei Jiangyan forgot that his place was somewhat eerie. He was a long-time resident and used to it, but Xiao Lei was different. Even when drunk, Xiao Lei knew to point at the stairwell and make terrified noises.
Jiang Yan, the Dark Guard, recalled the strange tales related to the stairwell, then covered Xiao Lei's eyes, dragged him back to his room, and made him fall asleep.