Une relation tragique

Chapitre 21

After Qiqi left, Lin Feng tidied the bed while thinking: This old man is no ordinary person either. He's like a ghost. In such a quiet night, he walked to the door without making a sound.

He took a talisman out of his bag and stuck it behind the door. Then he lay down on the bed, thinking about his own things. As he thought, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he didn't know when he fell asleep.

The old man at the hotel entrance was still sitting behind the registration desk, but this time he wasn't dozing off. He was just staring out the door with his cloudy eyes. A short while later, a cold wind suddenly blew in, making the registration forms on the desk rattle loudly.

The old man stared blankly at a faint figure, smiled, and then went back to dozing off at his registration desk.

Volume 2, Chapter 20: Ghost Manor (4)

After walking around the village for half an afternoon, Lin Feng was exhausted. So much so that even though he was usually quite alert, he didn't sense the strong evil aura approaching his room and was still sleeping soundly.

Lin Feng turned over. The faint eerie energy seeping through the crack in the door made him feel a little cold in his sleep, so he unconsciously pulled the blanket tighter. Suddenly, the talisman on the door went off with a "whoosh." The thing lingering outside seemed to have been caught off guard by the guards inside and was injured in the process. It let out a low, unpleasant roar and then fell silent.

Lin Feng sat up abruptly; he seemed to have heard a shout. Looking down, he saw the talisman on the door was burned down to a single corner. "This shop is definitely strange," Lin Feng thought to himself. Looking through the door next door, Qiqi peeked out and said, "Are you alright? Something tried to attack us!"

Lin Feng shook his head to indicate that he was fine. Qi Qi said, "Be careful, go to sleep quickly!"

Lin Feng closed the door and then took out a talisman and stuck it on the door. He lay in bed but couldn't fall asleep. Gradually, the sky began to lighten; dawn was approaching. Lin Feng checked his phone; it was already past 6 a.m., and there was still no signal. Finally, dawn broke, and after Qi Qi finished getting ready, Lin Feng and Qi Qi went to the registration desk together.

A young man had taken over, and Lin Feng asked, "Where's the old man from last night?"

The young man looked bewildered and asked, "What grandpa?"

Lin Feng said, "It's that old man who registered us last night!"

The young man said in surprise, "We've never had an old man here before. Last night it was a girl!"

Lin Feng felt a chill run down his spine and said, "Then who registered us last night?"

The young man flipped through the registration form and asked, "Is it Lin Feng?"

Lin Feng said, "Yes!"

The young man said, "Is that the girl? Your names are on this. She hasn't left yet; she'll come out in a bit. I'll ask her for you!"

Just then, a young girl came out from behind and asked, "What's wrong?"

The young man pointed at Lin Feng and Qi Qi and said, "Were they the ones you registered last night?"

The girl looked them over with her bright, dark eyes for a moment, then shook her head and said, "No!"

The young man looked down in confusion and asked, "Who is that?"

The girl said, "Anyway, it wasn't me. There was no one around last night, so I closed the door and went to sleep early."

Lin Feng and Qi Qi exchanged a glance, thinking they should put this question aside for now. Then they asked, "When we came here last night, we found that everyone in your village seemed to have taken a nap. We called several houses but no one answered. It's really strange."

The girl, who was offering incense to a statue of Laozi, trembled upon hearing this and dropped the incense. She asked in a trembling voice, "What time did you arrive?"

Lin Feng said, "I arrived around 9 o'clock, and there was no one there from one end of the village to the other!"

The young man looked terrified and asked, "You didn't encounter anything, did you?"

Lin Feng said, "What happened? The strangest thing is that there's not a single person in this village. I really can't figure it out. Everyone's asleep so early!"

The girl said, "Whatever you've come here for, I hope you'll be back before 9 p.m.

Lin Feng asked curiously, "Why?"

The girl shook her head and didn't say anything: "Anyway, just be back before 9 o'clock."

Seeing that they couldn't get any information from the two men, Lin Feng and Qi Qi thanked them and left the hotel.

The desolation of last night had been swept away; the red walls and green tiles under the sunlight exuded vibrant life. People on the streets wore genuine smiles, greeting their relatives and friends.

Lin Feng and Qi Qi racked their brains but still couldn't figure out what was going on. Last night it was so lifeless, but this morning it was full of life. The contrast was just too great.

The people around them ignored the two strangers; almost no one gave them a second glance. Looking at the lively and friendly crowd, Lin Feng always felt there was something strange about their bright smiles.

Suddenly, a woman behind Lin Feng said, "Oh dear, Sister Wang, I heard your son died yesterday! Hahaha!"

Lin Feng and Qi Qi turned around together. A woman in her forties was talking to another woman in her forties. When she said, "Your son is dead," her smile was incredibly bright.

Lin Feng looked at the woman in surprise, thinking that this woman was definitely the type who would ask for trouble. Someone else's son had died and she wasn't comforting him but was laughing so happily. He guessed that the woman called Sister Wang was about to rush up and slap her smiling face a few times.

Lin Feng quickly pulled Qi Qi aside, afraid that the impending battle between the two would also affect them.

To their surprise, Sister Wang's reaction nearly made them faint. They heard her laugh and say, "Yes, finally dead, hehe!" Her face was beaming with joy, as if she had won the lottery, her whole face radiating happiness.

The woman quickly replied, "Congratulations!"

Sister Wang said, "Hehe, what's the big deal? Your son will probably be here soon!"

Lin Feng and Qi Qi were speechless.

They couldn't tell if the two women were being sarcastic. Normally, if a son died, the family would have cried themselves to death. These two women were actually "congratulating" each other, and seeing their genuine smiles, both felt a chill run down their spines.

Lin Feng and Qi Qi stared at each other, completely bewildered. Just as Lin Feng was about to ask, Qi Qi pulled him back and gently shook her head. Lin Feng suppressed his intense curiosity and didn't ask, thinking he'd ask the two people at the inn when they got back that night. This village was strange in every way, utterly perplexing.

Lin Feng took out Zhang Xiang's photo and said to Sister Wang, "Ma'am, have you seen this person before?"

Sister Wang glanced at the photo, her expression turning blank as she said, "Never seen this before!"

Volume 2, Chapter 21: Ghost Manor (5)

Lin Feng put away the photos, puzzled, and noticed that everyone around them was looking at them with very strange eyes. There was wariness, indifference, and hostility in their eyes, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Lin Feng said awkwardly, "Thank you, but I'm sorry to bother you!"

Sister Wang didn't answer him and turned back to chat with the other woman. Lin Feng and Qi Qi had no choice but to take the photo to ask other people. As soon as they turned around, everyone surrounded Sister Wang, offering their congratulations. Lin Feng and Qi Qi shook their heads, thinking that perhaps this was someone else's custom. However, this custom was too strange, and the smiles of those people all seemed very sincere, which was really puzzling.

Lin Feng showed the photo to several more people, but they all shook their heads, saying they'd never seen it before, and their eyes held a strong sense of hostility. This made Lin Feng hesitant to ask any more questions. They also noticed that the villagers were very xenophobic; when buying things, they charged locals the normal price, but charged exorbitant prices to outsiders.

Lin Feng glanced at the increasingly blazing sun and cursed angrily, "What a damn place!" Indeed, this place was extremely frustrating for them.

After discussing it, the two decided to go back to the hostel to ask the young man.

Back at the inn, the young man was engrossed in a book. Seeing the two return, he greeted them warmly with a smile. Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief; perhaps this young man was the only somewhat normal person in the village.

Lin Feng took out the photo and asked, "Have you seen this person before?"

The young man took the photo, looked at it carefully, and said, "I've seen it before. They even stayed at my place for one night!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Feng was overjoyed and asked, "Do you know where he went?"

The young man shook his head and said, "I don't know. I didn't see him check out the next morning. When I went to the room, I saw that he had taken all his belongings. I guess he left in the middle of the night and didn't even get his deposit back."

Lin Feng said "Oh" and "Thank you!" He frowned, thinking that Zhang Xiang must have left in a hurry because something had happened.

The young man put down his book and asked, "What do you people do? And what does this person do?"

Kiki smiled and said, "We're police officers, and that guy is a fugitive!"

The young man said "Oh," with a look of sudden realization, "I see. I guess he won't survive!"

Lin Feng exclaimed, "What?"

The young man, looking embarrassed, said, "I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything."

Lin Feng realized the young man must know something and pressed, "Dude, can you tell us? Please help us out, we promise we won't tell anyone!"

The young man looked at Lin Feng, then at Qiqi, unable to make up his mind for a long time. Qiqi smiled charmingly and said, "Tell us what you want, we won't cause you any trouble!"

The young man breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Alright, you don't seem like bad people, but you must keep this a secret for me and not let the villagers know that I told them!"

Lin Feng and Qi Qi nodded quickly. The young man said, "I don't know the specifics, but the people in this village gather somewhere outside the village after nine o'clock. When my dad was alive, I thought about going to see him, but he absolutely forbade me to go."

Lin Feng said, "Then why don't you go to participate tonight?"

The young man shook his head and said, "My sister and I went to school outside, and they treated us like outsiders. Nobody ever interacted with us."

Lin Feng nodded, and the young man continued, "I once saw them go out at night, around 9 o'clock. The whole village was heading out of the village, and the expressions on their faces were terrifying, like zombies, with staring eyes, as if they were being manipulated by something!"

Lin Feng glanced at Qi Qi, recalling what she had said the night before about the terrifying yin energy in the village, and thought that this was probably the culprit. Lin Feng then asked, "Then why aren't you affected?"

The young man tilted his head and said, "I don't know, but an old Taoist priest once came here and said that the only people who would survive in this village in the future are my sister and me."

Lin Feng then recounted the strange things he and Qi Qi had seen on the street and asked him, "Is it a custom here that everyone congratulates each other when someone in the family dies?"

The young man shook his head and said, "This is what I can't stand the most. When my father died, the whole village came to my house to congratulate him, as if my family had won the lottery. I was furious that time and kicked them all out. I think it was because of that that they started treating my sister and me like outsiders."

Lin Feng shook his head. How could everything have turned out like this? The whole village seemed to be possessed, but they didn't seem to have any problems during the day. Yet, everything about them defied common sense.

Qiqi said to the young man, "Thank you, sorry to bother you!"

The young man said, "It's nothing, just don't tell the villagers that I said it!"

Lin Feng said, "No, we won't cause you any trouble since you're so kind to help us!"

The two then went back to their room.

Once inside the room, Qiqi said, "How about we sneak out tonight and see what's so strange about this place?" She then gave a mischievous look.

Lin Feng said, "Of course, what else can we do? Damn it, I still doubt whether this village even exists in this world."

Qiqi said, "Don't think too much. If we want to be able to properly follow those people and uncover the mystery tonight, our task now is to get some rest." After saying that, she tossed her hair, went out the door, and went back to her room.

Lin Feng was also lying on the bed staring blankly at the ceiling. He absolutely couldn't fall asleep at this time; his mind was a complete mess, full of questions.

Looking out at the blazing sun, Lin Feng couldn't help but curse inwardly. It was already past September, and it was still so hot. Everything that had happened since arriving in this village had given him a huge headache, so his bad mood was understandable.

Volume 2, Chapter 22: Ghost Manor (6)

Lin Feng tossed and turned in bed all afternoon without falling asleep. Around 7 p.m., he went out and bought some food. When he brought it to Qi Qi, she opened the door groggily, clearly having slept all afternoon. Lin Feng was truly impressed by Qi Qi; she could fall asleep so easily.

Back in his room, Lin Feng ate while constantly glancing at the sky outside the window. As darkness fell, a sense of unease crept into his heart; he wondered what he would face next.

After waiting patiently until dark, Qiqi, having finished getting ready, came to Lin Feng's room. The two turned off the lights and peered out through the gap in the curtains. The streets were deserted; everyone seemed to have gone home. Visibility outside was still quite good; they could generally see their surroundings clearly.

The two stared for a while when suddenly three long, resonant "clang, clang, clang" sounds came from outside, like a large gong being struck. Lin Feng checked his phone; the time was 9:05.

The gates of several houses near the inn were all open, the sound making one's teeth ache. The people who came out of the gates were silent, walking on the dirt road without raising any dust, making not a sound, like ghosts.

Watching those people walk away unhurriedly into the distance, until they could only be vaguely seen as small black dots, the two pushed open the window, climbed out, and quickly followed.

The two walked briskly and quickly caught up with the group. More and more people joined the procession, and the number grew larger and larger. As they neared the edge of the village, no one joined anymore; there were probably no more people left. Lin Feng roughly estimated there were nearly two hundred people there. Although he couldn't see their expressions, he could tell from their backs that everyone was walking forward in a blank, unhurried manner.

The two followed these people out of the village and walked for about two miles. After passing through a dense forest, the people stopped at the entrance of a cave.

Lin Feng and Qi Qi hid in the woods and looked out. Looking at the cave entrance, Lin Feng had a strange feeling; it seemed as if the cave was alive. He could sense a strange rhythm, orderly and rhythmic, like a heartbeat. The plumes of white steam billowing from the depths of the cave had a terrible stench, filling the air with a foul, fishy smell. It was like the stench of countless rotting corpses, making one want to vomit.

Qiqi whispered to Lin Feng, "There's something strange about this cave!"

Lin Feng nodded and said, "I know, it seems to be a living being!"

Qiqi then said, "Look, those people are all standing there without moving. Let's go around to the other side and take a look." She pointed to the right side of the woods, from where they could see the expressions on the people's faces.

The two quietly circled around to the right side of the woods. Although the distance wasn't too far, it was completely dark, and Lin Feng couldn't see the expressions on the people's faces clearly. But the sight of over two hundred people standing there motionless in the darkness was truly eerie.