Xishuangbanna Valley of Horrors

Introduction

"Tick-tock—tick-tock—"

Water droplets splashed on my face, and after what seemed like an eternity, I awoke from my unconscious state.

My head throbbed with pain. After a while, I regained consciousness and realized I had fallen into that deep pit—or rather, that dungeon pit. The walls were covered in green moss and were soaking wet. I struggled to sit up, and in the dim light, I could glimpse a pale crescent moon overhead. I knew in my heart how far away it was. I hadn't expected to fall in; it was foolish, but undeniably true.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

Standing at the edge of this pit before, I had already estimated its approximate depth. Like the countless crimes committed by those hardened prisoners, it was unfathomable. Below, there was only despair, absolutely no hope. And now, that despair enveloped me tightly. Of course, this wasn't the only reason I couldn't breathe; she was also a factor.

Why did she do this to me?

I tried desperately to recall everything that happened before I fainted, and something felt off. Thinking back to the events before I fell, I was utterly baffled, and a burning hatred welled up inside me. Whatever her reasons, I would make her pay!

I gently moved my arms and legs; it hurt, but I could still move them, thankfully! This gave me a sliver of relief; it seemed my arms and legs weren't broken or fractured, if I could still get out…

After struggling to my feet, I grabbed the wall and began to assess my situation. Now, at the bottom of the pit, I could see clearly that the deep dungeon I had fallen into was at least five meters below the ground. Its shape was quite irregular, almost circular. It had just rained and was flooded, making escape a pipe dream.

That's true. Such a stupid question should have been solved by the rulers of that time thousands of years ago... If you could just crawl out, there would be no need to build these dungeons, which are practically useless.

I gave a wry smile.

The feeling of leaning against the wall was strange; there seemed to be something unusual about it. However, because it was dark and had rained, the surroundings were not only damp but also extremely gloomy. Without thinking much of it, I brought my face closer to take a better look. Upon closer inspection, my breathing instantly became unusually heavy and rapid. There were clearly scratch marks on the wall!

Section 2: Introduction (2)

Clearly, it was man-made.

Realizing it was caused by human fingernails, the wall before me instantly became clear. Countless shocking scratches, seemingly imbued with heavy resentment, were deeply embedded in the wall. Touching them sent a chilling, desperate fear coursing through my body. I suddenly understood that she was right; these pits were indeed prison-like facilities used to hold criminals long, long ago. It wasn't hard to imagine how profound the despair etched on the walls of these pits must have been.

Touching the marks of struggle, looking at them, I felt dizzy. The densely packed scratches in the cramped space were already suffocating me, and then my sense of smell returned, bringing with it a cacophony of strange, pungent odors that nearly made me gasp for air. My thoughts began to race, and my consciousness started to blur…

Wait...wait! What is this?!

Despite my immense discomfort, I still caught a glimpse of something oozing from the damp walls of the pit, from the deep dents. What was that red liquid? No! It couldn't possibly be blood! I frantically tried to wipe it away, but my foot slipped, and I lost my balance, falling to the ground. At the same time, I seemed to hear some faint noises coming from the cave above me.

Is that... footsteps? It doesn't sound like it. Ignoring the pain, I quickly looked up.

"Hehehehehehe..."

What came into view was a very beautiful face. She, or rather "it," was lying by the entrance of the cave, facing down, quietly watching me... Everything about it was right, except for its eyes.

It...it didn't have eyeballs! A terrifying black hole stared at its pale face! And I, unable to control my fear any longer, screamed hysterically.

"Help! Help me!"

Chapter One: Embarking on a Ghostly Journey

Ye Min picked up the necklace and started shaking it from side to side, saying to me in a threatening tone, "It can make you faint, and then you'll open your heart to me."

Is that so?

Seeing her extremely arrogant gaze, I curled my lip and stared at the coin swinging back and forth in front of me. I refused to believe it. But who knew that after staring at it swinging back and forth a few times, my vision went black, and I collapsed onto the table with a "thump".

1 new employee

2 Unknown destination

Ghost Stories in Carriage 3

Section 3: Embarking on a Ghostly Journey (1)

Chapter One: Embarking on a Ghostly Journey

1 new employee

My name is Yang Feng. I live in Jingcheng and work for a design company.

Our company has been quite lively lately because we just hired two recent graduates from prestigious universities. Their arrival is a huge boost for a small company like ours, and coupled with the company's consistently high performance over the past few months, everyone is in high spirits. In a moment of joy, the boss slammed his hand on the table and said, "Alright! You're all on vacation for two weeks. Go and have some fun!"

It was Ye Min who made this request. Everyone had been working day and night, putting in extra hours to boost sales, and they were all exhausted. Even Lin Pang had lost weight. How could they not be happy to hear this news? They immediately started discussing all sorts of trivial matters, such as where to go, how to get there, and so on.

I'm not particularly interested in travel, so I didn't join the discussion, but I was quite happy about it. After all, it's a good thing to have time to rest after working hard for several months. Ye Min had been looking forward to a vacation for a long time, and now her wish had finally come true. I thought to myself, as long as they come to a conclusion, I'll just follow the group. With the idea of "one generation plants the trees, another enjoys the shade," I sat down at my desk and started working on some documents I hadn't finished that morning.

Speaking of our company, I have a lot to complain about. It's not a big company, and the boss's surname is Ma, and his given name is Ma Lian—a really silly name. I seriously wonder what his father was thinking. "Lian" sounds like "face," so everyone secretly calls him Horse Face or Horse Face Boss. He used to be a traveling merchant, a kind of itinerant trader. After years of wandering around doing business, he grew extremely disgusted with it. In his own words, he still enjoyed traveling all over the country, but as the saying goes, "There are no roads to begin with, but as more people walk on them, they become roads." With roads everywhere, he had no new paths to take. To put it bluntly, this guy failed in business, but luckily he still had some money left, so we ended up with this little company.

To be honest, he dared to call himself a company after running a small wholesale business. If we hadn't been here supporting him, he would have gone bankrupt seven or eight times already.

So how did I, a student of excellent character and academic standing, end up here? Well, it's a long story, and there's no mother for me.

Section 4: Embarking on a Ghostly Journey (2)

A few years ago, I entered the provincial key high school with the best score in the city. Not only that, but during my freshman year, I shone brightest, standing out from the crowd. Apart from a few students who were green with envy, who in the entire grade didn't like me? My popularity back then was beyond description; everyone loved me, flowers bloomed for me, and cars would gravitate towards me. The principal was beaming from ear to ear. That crappy key high school hadn't produced a decent top student for two years, and the pressure from the Education Bureau was suffocating the old man. Clearly, I was his lifeline.

So, right after my freshman year, this guy immediately made me special. What was special? It meant a guaranteed job placement after graduation. Fine, these days even a monthly salary of 300 yuan is fiercely competitive, let alone the more than that back then. At that time, relying on the idea that I would be set for life, I became complacent and started to slack off in my studies. I was still among the top students in the whole school in my sophomore year, until I failed three courses in my junior year, and the others were barely passing like a dying bitch. I didn't think much of it myself. But it was different for the outside world. First, the gardeners who diligently cultivated the flowers of the motherland all gave me a black face when they saw me, and then the flowers around me followed suit. That wasn't the worst part. The most infuriating thing was that the principal actually suppressed my job placement and gave me six months to catch up to the top two in the whole school, otherwise the special treatment was pure nonsense. I've always considered myself proud, how could I stand this humiliation? In a fit of rage, he ordered the burning of books and the burying of scholars alive. Damn it, I'm not reading anymore!

When I got home, my grandfather gave me a good scolding several times, but no matter what he said, I absolutely refused to go back to school; I couldn't bring myself to do it. My grandfather understood my temperament; once he made up his mind about something, he'd stick to it even if it was completely wrong. He argued with me for weeks, almost severing our father-son relationship, but I remained unmoved. In the end, he gave up and told me to find something to do. And wouldn't you know it, that was it. Just then, this guy named Ma Lian returned from a failed business venture. I don't know if it was bad luck or some sin from my past life, but he somehow managed to get on some good terms with my grandfather, and after some back and forth, he said he was starting a company and needed people. My grandfather, without a word, pushed me into it.

This is like a lamb entering a tiger's den.

At first, I thought this was actually pretty good. After all, it's just an office job, not tiring and prestigious. Besides, given my father's relationship with him, whether he's giving me face or not, even if he's my boss, I still have the chance to turn the tables and outmaneuver him.

Section 5: Embarking on a Ghostly Journey (3)

When the company was first established, I was immediately dumbfounded: a small rented single room served as the so-called office, where they sold some groceries, fruits, and other goods, set up a few computers and printers for advertising, and they told me to hold on for a while and then hire some colleagues later. I was so angry that I almost couldn't get it out. If my father hadn't been so furious about me dropping out of school, I would have left long ago.

Well, what's done is done. After weighing the options, I figured I could just switch jobs when the company went bankrupt. Since I was the number one employee, I was practically a founding member of the company; and given the connections I had with them, I naturally ended up in the "second-in-command" position.

There is always a subtle relationship between the CEO and the vice president.

What happened next was an unexpected turn of events for the company. Whether it was a stroke of good luck or the presence of someone with talent like me, the small business not only flourished but also gained increasing recognition. We even started receiving appointments from customers, which was quite surprising. With business booming, how could two people handle it all? So, the company quickly hired two new colleagues.

The first one to arrive was a fat guy named Lin Yong, whom we called "Fat Lin." He was the kind of college graduate who could easily knock down a bunch of people with a single brick, around thirty years old, and timid and cowardly. Actually, he wasn't really fat; he was more of a stocky man. Maybe it's because I'm rather thin, but standing next to him, he seemed especially fat. He didn't seem to mind the nickname, so everyone got used to calling him Fat Lin. Originally, Horse Face had assigned him to contact clients, but then he felt it wasn't appropriate and pulled him back to doing sales.

So the task of socializing fell to Xiaomin.

Xiaomin's real name is Ye Min, and she's only in her early twenties—oh, but she seems to be a year older than me. She was a medical school graduate, but I heard she gave up medicine to become a career woman. Hmm… she's always very shy, speaking softly to everyone, and her cute short hair gave me a very good impression. She told us to just call her Xiaomin, and of course we didn't stand on ceremony—we're all in the same boat, why be polite? When she first joined the

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