K - The Next One Is You

Chapter 3

Lin Qiu finally returned, his eyes were bloodshot, his face was exhausted, and he looked much more haggard overnight.

When Bai Yue first saw him, she rushed over as if she had seen a long-lost lover. She hugged him and cried bitterly, her shoulders heaving with each sob. Lin Qiu held her tightly and gently stroked her shoulders.

After a while, Bai Yue finally stopped crying. She stared at Lin Qiu's haggard and melancholy face, her heart filled with pity.

"Lin Qiu, where did you go last night? You didn't even call back. You have no idea how worried I was." As she spoke, Bai Yue's tears flowed uncontrollably again, her face full of grievance.

Lin Qiu wiped away her tears and put his arm around her as they sat on the sofa.

"Bai Yue, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I made you worry so much. I'm back safe and sound now."

"Where did you go? Why didn't you come back all night?"

"I..." Lin Qiu lowered his head, his expression unusually complicated, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes. He frowned and remained silent.

After a while, he suddenly asked Bai Yue, "Did anything happen last night?"

Upon hearing Lin Qiu's question, Bai Yue suddenly remembered the terrifying scene from last night! This morning, seeing Lin Qiu return safely, she was both overjoyed and heartbroken, and forgot all about what had happened last night.

Lin Qiu was startled to see Bai Yue's eyes suddenly fill with fear, and her body in his arms begin to tremble slightly. He hurriedly asked, "Bai Yue, what happened last night? Did you see it again? Did you see the Blue Skull?"

Bai Yue shook her head, her voice trembling slightly: "It's not the Blue Skull, it's... it's a terrifying eye!"

Bai Yue trembled as she recalled the terrifying scene from last night...

Last night, when Bai Yue pressed her eye against the peephole, she was horrified and immediately froze! Through the peephole, she saw an eye—a murky, strange, and eerie eye—that was also pressed against the peephole, staring at her menacingly!

At this point, Bai Yue couldn't suppress her fear and burst into tears again. Lin Qiu's heart trembled, his face already filled with fear. He forced himself to remain calm and kept comforting Bai Yue.

It took a long time for Bai Yue to calm down.

"And then what happened?" Although Lin Qiu couldn't bear to upset her any further, he had no choice but to ask.

"Later, I asked him who he was and why he was knocking on the door in the middle of the night?" Bai Yue seemed to have calmed down a bit, her voice less tense. "However, the person outside didn't speak. After a while, I heard footsteps, as if that person had gone downstairs..."

Lin Qiu was in turmoil, his mind a complete blank. He didn't know who had come knocking on his door in the middle of the night, or what their purpose was. He knew that even more terrifying things were yet to come, and he had no idea what would happen next…

He glanced at the clock on the wall; it was exactly eight o'clock, time to go to work. Just then, the phone suddenly rang sharply. Hearing the shrill, piercing ring, Lin Qiu had a bad feeling. He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the receiver. The sound of Lin Wangchou's wife, Zhang Yuling, crying came through the receiver…

A moment later, Lin Qiu's face turned deathly pale, his hand holding the phone froze in mid-air, and he stood motionless. "Lin Qiu, what's wrong? Whose call was that?" Bai Yue panicked when she saw Lin Qiu's strange appearance.

After a long silence, Lin Qiu slowly uttered a sentence: "Lin Wangchou has disappeared!"

Chapter Seven: Hidden Secrets

Today is the seventh day.

Lin Wangchou's whereabouts remain unknown, with no news whatsoever, leaving even the police at a loss.

According to his wife, Zhang Yuling, seven nights ago, that terrifying woman cried outside their house again, and it seemed she was calling out Lin Wangchou's name. Later, Lin Wangchou got up. Strangely, instead of immediately grabbing a flashlight and rushing out as usual, he slowly changed his clothes, put on his shoes, and dressed himself neatly. He even felt for a comb in the dark and combed his hair. Only after doing all this did he slowly walk out, his expression like that of a sleepwalker. His strange behavior terrified Zhang Yuling.

He never came back after he went out; he mysteriously disappeared.

Lin Qiu was sitting on a bus heading to the suburbs, on his way to Lin Wangchou's house in Wenhao Village. Lin Wangchou's mysterious disappearance had dealt him a heavy blow. Terror was like an invisible giant net, slowly tightening, and he, Lin Wangchou, and perhaps many others were fish caught in this terrifying net, none of them able to escape.

Lin Wangchou has disappeared. No one knows where he went; perhaps he is already dead. The next person to disappear could be Lin Qiu.

Thinking of this, Lin Qiu felt a chill run down his spine, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He simply didn't have the courage to think any further. When the bus passed the same stop as before, he subconsciously glanced out the window. He had a strange feeling, as if the mysterious woman in blue had always been lurking in the shadows, coldly watching him. He even suspected she wasn't human but a ghost, an omnipresent phantom!

There was no one under the bus stop sign, yet Lin Qiu still felt that she was hiding somewhere dark nearby, coldly watching him. He suddenly glanced nervously behind his seat; sitting behind him was a middle-aged woman, clearly a farmer from the suburbs.

The bus finally arrived at its final stop. Lin Qiu got off the bus and walked straight towards Wenhao Village.

The weather in the suburbs seemed much colder than in the city; the sky was overcast and there wasn't a ray of sunshine.

Lin Qiu hurried along the road leading to Wenhao Village. The road was very gloomy, lined with dense trees on both sides, the ground covered with fallen leaves. The bad weather made the whole road seem even more eerie. Lin Qiu felt a little flustered; he sensed someone following him. He stopped and turned around abruptly, only to see the middle-aged woman from the car. The woman also stopped, a flicker of panic in her eyes. She gave Lin Qiu an awkward smile, revealing a set of uneven teeth.

Lin Qiu ignored her and quickened his pace, the fallen leaves on the ground rustling under his feet.

Soon, he arrived at Lin Wangchou's house.

Ever since that woman started crying outside their house at night, and the appearance of that terrifying blue skull, and recently, Lin Wangchou's mysterious disappearance, a series of terrifying events have turned the family into a deathly place. The whole house is filled with a sinister atmosphere, and the villagers dare not approach their house. Whenever they pass by, they avoid it as if they have encountered a plague.

Lin Wangchou's father, Lin Yongfu, remained silent, silently smoking, his face clouded with worry, looking deeply troubled. Lin Wangchou's wife, Zhang Yuling, also remained silent, her eyes red and swollen, her face haggard. She and Lin Wangchou had only been married for less than six months, and now her husband had mysteriously disappeared, his fate unknown; she didn't know how they would live from now on.

"Uncle, did Wang Chou call home today?"

After a long silence, Lin Qiu finally broke the oppressive silence.

Lin Yongfu slowly shook his head, his cloudy old eyes gazing indifferently out the window. Lin Qiu seemed to read a numbness and indifference in that weathered face, a trait born of past suffering and catastrophe.

Suddenly, Lin Yongfu asked Lin Qiu curiously, "Did your father say anything to you before he passed away?"

Lin Qiu was taken aback by Lin Yongfu's question. He thought for a moment and shook his head. "My father left some verbal instructions on his deathbed, but they were nothing special. He just told me to be a good person and take good care of my mother."

As Lin Qiu spoke, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. Less than six months after his father's death, his mother had also passed away. He remembered that his parents, while alive, seemed never to have a single happy day; they were always melancholic. His father, in particular, frequently suffered from nightmares, as if he had endured a torment of spiritual anguish his entire life, a pain he couldn't escape even on the day of his death.

Lin Yongfu fell silent again, chain-smoking, his expression becoming incredibly complex—a mixture of pain, fear, worry, despair, and indifference, making him difficult to fathom. From Lin Yongfu's eyes, Lin Qiu sensed an unspeakable torment within him, as if some terrible secret lay buried deep within his heart…

It was getting late, and Lin Qiu got up to say goodbye to Lin Yongfu: "Uncle, I have to go back now. Please take good care of yourself! If you have any news about Wang Chou, please call me immediately."

Lin Yongfu silently escorted Lin Qiu to the door. Just as Lin Qiu was about to step out, Lin Yongfu suddenly uttered a sentence, his voice filled with desolation and sorrow...

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Qiu felt a chill in his heart, as if he had been suddenly thrown into an ice cave, and he was stunned.

Chapter Two

Chapter One Terrible Night

Lin Qiu walked with his head down, lost in thought. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt, the more suspicious it seemed. "This day has finally come." Lin Yongfu's words, spoken suddenly as he was leaving, kept echoing in his mind. He suddenly felt that Lin Yongfu was a mystery, a very difficult mystery to solve. He was even certain that deep within Lin Yongfu's heart lay some kind of unspeakable, terrifying secret, a secret that was very likely connected to the series of terrifying events that had recently occurred.

As they neared the bus stop by the highway, a sudden unease washed over Lin Qiu. He had a vague premonition that something terrible would happen tonight. He stopped, hesitated for a moment, and then turned back towards Wenhao Village.

Lin Qiu returned to Wenhao Village. He did not disturb Lin Yongfu, but instead found a place to hide.

After dark, he quietly arrived at Lin Yongfu's house and lay in ambush in a clump of weeds near the house, waiting for the terrifying figure to appear.

The western part of Wenhao Village is sparsely populated, and Lin Yongfu's house sits alone at the village's westernmost edge. The house faces south, with a vast vegetable garden to the south, a small grove of trees to the north, and a road leading to the cemetery to the west. Not far west of Wenhao Village lies a large, barren mountain, which has been a burial ground for the surrounding villages since ancient times. Wenhao Village's original name, Fentou Village (Gravesite Village), originated from this mountain. Looking around, the entire hillside is covered with dark graves. Except for the Qingming Festival when people flock to the mountain to sweep the tombs, no one goes up the mountain at other times; even the bravest person would never dare to go alone. Villagers say that the mountain is haunted by vengeful spirits day and night, especially at night, when faint, eerie cries and screams are often heard emanating from it, sending chills down one's spine. Because of this, few people are willing to live in the western part of the village, which is closest to the cemetery; most people have settled in the eastern part of the village.

Time ticked by, minute by minute. The village of Wenhao, shrouded in night, was utterly silent, especially the western part of the village, which was deathly still, devoid of any human activity. As the night deepened, a hazy moon appeared in the previously overcast sky, and in its dim light, some nearby objects could be vaguely discerned.

The lights are now off in Lin Yongfu's house. Behind it stand two tall, lush banyan trees, casting eerie shadows over the entire building. A chilling atmosphere hangs in the air, making it unsettling to look away. Only Lin Yongfu and his daughter-in-law, Zhang Yuling, remain in the house. His wife passed away years ago, and his son, Lin Wangchou, is still missing, his fate unknown.

Looking at the once harmonious but now broken and lifeless family before him, Lin Qiu felt a strange sadness welling up in his heart. His feelings were complicated. He didn't know what sins they had committed in their past lives to suffer such a terrible disaster. If this was a premeditated disaster, then the fate of Lin Wangchou's family was the fate he was about to face. He knew very well that he had no chance of escaping it.

It was almost eleven o'clock, and the temperature dropped several degrees in the middle of the night. Lin Qiu, who was hiding in the dark grass, felt his body trembling slightly. He snapped out of his reverie and stared intently at Lin Yongfu's house.

Just then, the cries of night birds echoed from the grove of trees north of the house. These shrill cries were exceptionally jarring and chilling in the quiet, eerie midnight. Lin Qiu felt goosebumps rise all over his body, and a terrifying shadow instantly fell over his heart.

About half an hour later, a few low barks came from not far away. After a while, the dog seemed to have seen something terrifying and suddenly started barking wildly, its voice sounding unusually shrill and agitated.

Lin Qiu felt a chill run down his spine, and his heart tightened instantly. He felt a vague sense of fear, knowing that the terrible moment was about to arrive. He gripped a fist-sized wooden stick that he had prepared in advance, and his eyes darted around nervously.

Just then, a piercing scream suddenly erupted from Lin Yongfu's house—it was Zhang Yuling, Lin Wangchou's wife, crying for help! Lin Qiu's heart skipped a beat, and he leaped up, rushing towards Lin Yongfu's front door. However, the door was firmly locked from the inside, and he couldn't get in. Zhang Yuling's cries for help grew increasingly shrill, as if she had encountered something extremely terrifying.

Lin Qiu was frantic and tried to ram the door, but the iron door was exceptionally sturdy and impossible to break open. He shouted for Lin Yongfu, but received no response. He quickly turned to the east side of the yard and suddenly saw a pile of stones at the corner of the wall. He quickly stacked the stones, stepped on them, and barely managed to climb over the wall.

The cries for help continued from Lin Wangchou's room on the second floor, but they were noticeably weaker, each pitiful and mournful sound filled with the despair of someone on the verge of death. The upstairs was pitch black. Lin Qiu realized Zhang Yuling might be in critical condition. Without thinking, he quickly climbed to the second floor and found Lin Wangchou's door ajar. He flung it open, frantically searched for the light switch on the wall, and the light in the room instantly switched on. Instantly, Lin Qiu was stunned by the horrifying scene before him…

Section Two: Ghostly Shadows in the Graveyard

The moment Lin Qiu burst through Lin Wangchou's door and turned on the lights, he was immediately terrified by the horrifying sight before him!

Zhang Yuling was struggling desperately on the bed, her legs flailing back and forth, her face as black as a pig's liver, her mouth wide open with her tongue sticking out, she was almost on the verge of death! Lin Yongfu's face was unusually ferocious and terrifying, he was like a madman, using a hemp rope the size of a thumb to strangle Zhang Yuling's neck.

Lin Qiu was stunned for a moment before he suddenly realized what was happening. He rushed over, pushed Lin Yongfu aside, and quickly loosened the rope around Zhang Yuling's neck. Zhang Yuling finally caught her breath and coughed violently. After a while, she burst into tears.

Lin Yongfu stood there, motionless, like a wooden statue. His aged, expressionless face was devoid of emotion, and his cloudy, lifeless eyes stared blankly at the rope on the floor that had almost killed his daughter-in-law. After a long while, he suddenly sat down on the ground, clenched his fists, and began to beat his head violently, crying as he did so. His aged, hoarse voice was filled with boundless desolation and despair.

Lin Qiu helped Zhang Yuling sit up on the edge of the bed, pulled the quilt over her, and poured her a glass of warm water. After some comforting, Zhang Yuling finally stopped crying. She gulped down the glass of water in one go, feeling a little calmer, but her body was still trembling slightly, clearly not yet recovered from the fear she had just experienced.

Lin Qiu poured her another glass of water, then sat down on the edge of the bed and asked her softly, "What exactly happened just now? Why did Uncle Lin want to kill you?"

Zhang Yuling remained silent for a while, then slowly said, "I don't know why he wanted to kill me. Ever since Wang Chou disappeared, I've been in a bad mood, and today was no exception. After dinner, I went to my room to sleep early. I've been having nightmares these past few days. I had just lain down when I had another terrible nightmare. After being awakened by the nightmare, I couldn't fall back asleep and just lay in bed thinking wildly." Zhang Yuling's hand holding the water glass trembled slightly. She slowly took a sip of water and continued, "After what seemed like a long time, just as I was drifting off to sleep, I suddenly heard someone open the door. I remember my door was locked from the inside, so I thought it was Wang Chou who had suddenly returned. However, before I could even open my mouth to ask, I was suddenly pushed down onto the bed. I screamed for help, and then my neck was tightly strangled..." At this point, Zhang Yuling couldn't help but cry again.

Lin Qiu frowned deeply, utterly bewildered as to why Lin Yongfu would kill his own daughter-in-law. Suddenly, a question flashed through his mind: Could Lin Wangchou have also been killed by his father? This question was fleeting; he couldn't believe Lin Yongfu would kill his only son.

At this moment, Lin Yongfu had stopped crying and was sitting on the ground in a daze, staring blankly out the window, motionless.

Lin Qiu went over and helped him up to sit on the sofa, whereupon he sat down beside him. After a moment of silence, he softly asked Lin Yongfu, "Uncle, what's wrong with you tonight? Why did you do this?" Lin Yongfu remained staring blankly out the window, ignoring Lin Qiu's question.

Just then, Lin Yongfu's eyes suddenly filled with fear, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying! He pointed tremblingly out the window and cried out in a terrified voice, "You, give me back my son, give me back my son, give me back my son now!"

Lin Qiu was startled and abruptly turned to look out the window. Suddenly, he saw a figure flash past. Without thinking, he immediately chased after it. In the darkness, he saw the person had already climbed over the wall, and he followed suit. In the dim moonlight, he saw a dark figure running swiftly westward. He dared not delay and gave chase.

The man seemed to be deliberately leading Lin Qiu somewhere. Although he ran very fast, he didn't intend to shake Lin Qiu off; rather, he deliberately wanted Lin Qiu to follow him. As they ran, Lin Qiu noticed that the path beneath his feet was becoming increasingly rugged, and the surroundings were becoming more and more desolate, overgrown with weeds everywhere. The man ahead seemed very familiar with this mountain path. He continued to run quickly ahead, stopping when Lin Qiu couldn't catch up. Once Lin Qiu was almost there, he started running again at full speed.

After running for a while, Lin Qiu suddenly sensed something was wrong. He abruptly stopped, looked around, and was terrified, his body breaking out in a cold sweat! He realized he had somehow found himself in a gloomy cemetery! Everywhere he looked, there were graves of all sizes! In the dim moonlight, these graves appeared exceptionally eerie and terrifying! The strange cries of unknown beasts occasionally echoed from the dark, mysterious mountain valleys, sounding like ghostly wails, sending chills down his spine!

Lin Qiu's legs were trembling slightly. He had realized that the place he was standing in was a desolate, ghostly burial ground that was terrifying to even think about!

Suddenly, he realized that the man in black had disappeared without a trace. Perhaps he wasn't human at all, but a ghost from this cemetery. Maybe he had already crawled into one of the graves!

Lin Qiu grew increasingly terrified. He didn't know which way to run; all around him were terrifying graves. He couldn't find his way back. In his terror, he screamed, "Who are you? Are you a human or a ghost? Why did you lead me to this place? Come out! Come out now!" His screams, made even more shrill by extreme fear, carried far and wide through the desolate wilderness, echoing through the valleys and forests like the wailing of ghosts. Even he was stunned by his own voice!

Lin Qiu stumbled and ran around in the cemetery, but the cemetery was like a maze, and no matter how he ran, he could never get out.

Suddenly, he noticed a figure not far ahead and hurriedly ran towards it.

As he ran, he suddenly stopped, his face turning deathly pale with fright, his legs trembling violently, almost causing him to faint. He finally saw the person's back clearly; in the dim moonlight, the person seemed to be wearing a blue dress—yes, a blue dress! It was a woman in blue, no, perhaps a female ghost in blue!

Before Lin Qiu could recover from his fear, the figure suddenly vanished into the darkness of the tomb complex like a ghost, disappearing without a trace.

Just then, a woman's cry suddenly came from the darkness not far away. The cry rose and fell, filled with desolation and resentment. This terrible cry was all too familiar to Lin Qiu! Lin Qiu's scalp tingled. He opened his eyes wide in fear and looked in the direction of the cry. It seemed that there was still a fire flickering in that place.

The familiar sound of a woman crying made Lin Qiu think of something. He subconsciously looked around. Now that things had come to this, he knew that being afraid was useless. So he mustered his courage and resolutely walked towards the source of the crying. He had to find out who was behind it all.

When he was only ten steps away from the spot, the woman suddenly stopped crying. Lin Qiu ran over quickly, but she had already disappeared from sight.

He discovered a grave, a rather peculiar one, seemingly newly erected, as if the deceased had only recently been buried; the soil on the grave was still fresh. Suddenly, he noticed a pile of recently burned joss paper in front of the tombstone, a few embers still flickering in the wind-blown ashes. It seemed this joss paper had been burned by the woman from before. Could this grave hold some of her relatives?

Lin Qiu shifted his gaze to the tombstone. In the dim moonlight, he finally made out the large characters on it. Almost simultaneously, his face turned deathly pale! The three strangely written, bright red characters were like three bloodstained blades stabbing straight at him, and he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness…

The name of the deceased, Lin Wangchou, was clearly engraved on the tombstone!

Another missing person case in the third section.