Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Haunted Village

[Translation By Divinity]

It had been seven days.

Lu Shiran’s whereabouts remained a mystery; there was no trace or news of him. The police were baffled.

He hadn’t been seen since that night when he sleepwalked out of the house.

Lu Cheng sat on the bus heading towards the suburbs. This was his third trip to Jingou Village.

Lu Shiran’s mysterious disappearance weighed heavily on him. Terror, like an invisible net, was slowly closing in. He and Lu Shiran, perhaps many others, were trapped like fish in this net of fear, with no hope of escape.

Lu Shiran was gone, lured out like a sleepwalker by the woman’s cries outside his house, vanishing without a trace.

No one knew where he was. Perhaps he was already dead.

The next to disappear could be Lu Cheng himself.

The thought sent a shiver down his spine, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He couldn’t bear to dwell on it any further.

As the bus passed the same bus stop as before, he subconsciously glanced out the window, overcome by a strange feeling.

It was as if that mysterious woman in the red dress was always lurking somewhere, watching him with her cold gaze.

He even began to suspect she wasn’t human at all, but a ghost, an omnipresent specter!

The bus stop was empty, but Lu Cheng couldn’t shake the feeling that those terrifying eyes were staring at him, transcending time and space.

He suddenly looked back at the seat behind him nervously. A middle-aged woman, clearly a local farmer, was sitting there.

The bus finally reached its final stop. Lu Cheng got off and walked briskly towards Jingou Village.

The weather in the suburbs was noticeably colder than in the city. The sky remained overcast, devoid of any sunlight.

The cold wind blew, carrying the scent of decaying leaves, sending shivers down his spine.

Lu Cheng hurried along the road leading to Jingou Village. The road was lined with dense trees, their leaves withered and scattered across the ground like a carpet.

The gloomy weather made the entire road appear even darker and more sinister.

The surrounding silence was broken only by the occasional bird calls and the rustling of leaves, as if countless eyes were watching him from the shadows.

A sense of panic washed over Lu Cheng. He felt like someone was following him.

He stopped abruptly and turned around. It was the middle-aged woman from the bus.

The woman also stopped, a flicker of panic in her eyes. She gave Lu Cheng an awkward smile, revealing uneven teeth.

“Are you also going to Jingou Village?” Lu Cheng asked tentatively, trying to keep his voice steady.

The middle-aged woman nodded, her expression a bit unnatural. “Yes, my home is there.”

Lu Cheng felt a slight sense of relief, but an inexplicable chill still lingered.

He continued walking, the middle-aged woman trailing closely behind. The shadows of the trees swayed in the wind, like twisted arms reaching out to pull them into the deepening darkness.

Ignoring her, Lu Cheng quickened his pace, the fallen leaves crunching under his feet. The closer he got to Jingou Village, the stronger his unease grew.

The events of that night replayed in his mind: the weeping woman, Lu Shiran’s strange behavior, and his mysterious disappearance. Everything felt like an unsolvable puzzle, the shadow of dread hanging over them growing heavier with each passing moment.

Finally, the outline of Jingou Village emerged in the distance. The village remained shrouded in a gloomy haze, seemingly forgotten by time.

The series of horrifying events – the woman’s nightly cries outside their house, the terrifying blood-soaked mask, and Lu Shiran’s vanishing – had shattered the family, leaving them in a state of despair.

The entire house seemed to exude an eerie, ghostly presence. Every night, the wind howled as if countless spirits were whispering their secrets. Every corner of the house seemed to harbor dark mysteries, and the very air felt heavy with an icy chill.

Since news of the haunting spread, the villagers avoided the house like the plague.

As darkness fell each night, neighbors would tightly shut their doors and windows, praying for a peaceful night.

The once-bustling alleys were now deathly silent, broken only by the occasional bark of a dog, shattering the suffocating quiet.

Lu Shiran’s father, Lu Yuanshan, remained silent, smoking his pipe with a complex expression on his face. His cloudy eyes were filled with melancholy and pain.

Each puff of smoke seemed to speak of the endless sorrow and despair in his heart.

Every night, he sat alone by the window, gazing at the once-peaceful fields, now filled with an ominous foreboding.

Chen Ye, her eyes red and swollen, her face haggard, also remained silent.

She and Lu Shiran had been married for less than half a year.

Now, her husband had mysteriously disappeared, his whereabouts unknown, his fate uncertain. The weight of the unknown future pressed down on her.

Every night, she dreamed of Lu Shiran’s pale face, silently pleading for her help.

Her heart was filled with endless fear and despair, each day a torment.

“Uncle, has Shiran called home today?”

After a long silence, Lu Cheng finally broke the oppressive quiet.

Lu Yuanshan slowly shook his head, his cloudy eyes gazing blankly out the window.

Outside, the sky was growing darker, the encroaching darkness like an invisible hand slowly swallowing the entire village.

From that weathered face, Lu Cheng seemed to read a sense of numbness, indifference, and despair born from enduring immense pain and suffering.

After a long pause, Lu Yuanshan suddenly asked Lu Cheng, “Xiao Cheng, before your father passed away, did he leave you any special will?”