Chapter 6, The Haunted House in Ghost Village

As I walked along the uneven dirt road in the village, I couldn't tell if it was just my intuition playing tricks on me, but I had the persistent feeling that someone was lurking in the shadows, watching us. I glanced around several times, hoping to confirm my suspicion, yet I found nothing.

I watched her leave, and when it was just Panzi and me, I went ahead to open the door of the tile-roofed house. The moment I opened the door, I was hit by a strong musty smell, indicating that this house had not been inhabited for a long time

I am not as delicate as she described; it is just that having just arrived in Suiyuan Village, everything feels so strange that it is inevitable to be a bit cautious. Now, after what she said, I feel that I have been overly sensitive. In the end, I also followed Panzi's example and drank the soup

I suddenly sat up, gasping for breath. At that moment, my forehead felt as if it had been washed with sweat. What surprised me even more was that the singing was not a dream, but something that truly existed, faintly coming from outside the door

During the recording, Pan Zi walked to the door, squatted in front of it, and seemed to have taken two pieces of paper to stick on the door

I chose the bed that was closer to the wall, set down my travel bag, and took out a towel, preparing to thoroughly wipe down the bed.

Next, she took us to the edge of the village, where she stopped in front of another tile-roofed house

Once the musty smell had dissipated somewhat, I took Panzi inside. As luck would have it, there were exactly two wooden beds in the room, one for me and one for Panzi.

Pan Zi did not want to speak, so he placed his hand on the round wooden table, rhythmically tapping "da da da" and "da da da". I ignored him and took the opportunity to chat with the woman for a few moments.

I want to tell Panzi not to bother with this, but then I thought, he has gone to great lengths to bring these two door gods from afar, so it would be a pity not to put them up. Therefore, I decided to let it be.

Pan Zi was also a bit startled, looking around nervously with his eyes, particularly tense

Not long after, the three of us descended the slope and arrived at the village. From a distance, the village appeared to be shrouded in darkness, but once I found myself within it, I sensed that something was even more amiss.

I wondered what this man was up to again. After recording the audio, I went over to take a look. These two pieces of paper were actually just two door god paintings. He had pasted these door gods at the entrance, presumably to ward off any mischievous spirits.

I glanced at the clock; it was 2:00 AM. At this late hour, it is already strange for someone to be singing, especially since this singing was foretold by that mysterious disc.

Panzi said that when I called him just now, he heard it very clearly, but he simply couldn't move at all. This situation is quite similar to what I just experienced.

Liu Hui did not intend to take us inside. She also instructed us on two matters: first, that we must not wander around the village at night; second, she specifically pointed to the back mountain and told us that under no circumstances should we go there.

After all this time together, I suppose I know her, and I can't possibly not even know her name

She told me that her name is Liu Hui and that we can call her Xiao Hui. In the meantime, as she was speaking, she ladled out two bowls of soup from the pot and brought them over to us

I picked up the bowl and found it still warm, but as I stared into it, I felt confused. The soup looked strange, yellowish, and mixed with some black specks, thick like paste.

Next, the two of us focused our attention on the singing, which had not ceased during this time, and the woman singing truly did not seem to mind the fatigue. After discussing it with Panzi, although Liu Hui had specifically warned us not to wander around at night, we decided to disregard that advice and venture out to investigate.

There is nothing on this bed; I do not mind sleeping in my clothes tonight. I think to myself that tomorrow I will go to the village to ask around and see which family has extra bedding, and I will just buy two sets.

By the faint moonlight, I saw that he was also sweating profusely, especially his lips had dried up, so I gave him a strong push.

After finishing wiping the bed, I took out my phone to check. There was no signal in the village, and there was no power supply. To conserve battery, I had no choice but to turn it off. Then I took out a voice recorder. This type of voice recorder was specially made for our informants by the police department. It is password-protected, meaning I can use it to record audio, but to listen to the recordings, it can only be done on a special device at the police station. Moreover, once the voice recorder is turned on, it automatically records the date and time of that day.

Panzi woke up this time, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he wore a look of sheer terror, suddenly sitting up. If I hadn't been quick-witted and dodged swiftly, he would have surely bumped his head against mine.

While cleaning the bed board, I discovered a scratch on the edge of the board. The scratch is neither deep nor shallow, and upon measuring, it seems to have been made by a fingernail. This left me quite puzzled, wondering what kind of person had slept on this bed before. How could someone have the habit of scratching the bed board? Moreover, I also tried using my fingernail and found that the bed board itself is quite hard; unless one applies considerable force, it is truly difficult to make such a mark.

The village was unusually silent, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a complete dead silence

Neither Panzi nor I could simply walk in like that; we both stood at the door, wanting to open it for a while to let some air in before proceeding. At that moment, Panzi was staring inside the room, softly murmuring to himself.

This long bench is quite uncomfortable to sit on; even the slightest movement causes it to creak, making me hesitant to sit down firmly for fear that it might collapse.

She pointed at the tiled house and told us, this is the place where the two of us will live in the future

I let him take a moment and asked him what was wrong

According to Liu Hui, this is what is referred to as the faculty dormitory. However, as I gazed at this house, my eyes nearly widened in disbelief. Not only is it very small and narrow, but the roof tiles are also broken. If it happens to rain on a cloudy day, I suspect that if it rains heavily outside, there will also be a light rain inside the house, or if a strong wind blows through, a part of it will surely be blown down.

Liu Hui did not stay long; she advised us to rest early and said she would come to pick us up tomorrow morning to visit the school. After that, she left on her own with her little, quick steps.

I looked at Panzi again, thinking that he must have been awakened by the singing, but to my surprise, he was lying in bed, sleeping like a dead pig

Finally, we were busy until midnight, and only then did Panzi and I find the time to lie down.

Pan Zi, like me, is also an informant for sentence reduction, and he is one of the outstanding individuals who has survived various missions. Although he is somewhat timid, his vigilance is certainly not weak.

I thought this must be a small dining hall in Suiyuan Village. The woman asked us to sit down first, and she prepared some food for us

These two rules leave me perplexed, especially the regulation prohibiting access to the back mountain. It immediately reminds me of that fault stone tablet, which states that the forbidden area is dangerous. Could it be that this forbidden area refers to the back mountain

Pan Zi concluded that we were experiencing sleep paralysis caused by a ghost, but deep down, I did not believe this. I recalled the strange crows we encountered last night and wondered if they truly had something filthy on their claws. Were we infected?

I asked him what he was mumbling about, and he replied, "Du Rui, have you noticed that the village is filled with locust trees? This type of tree has a very heavy yin energy. Moreover, look at this house; the windows are directly opposite the door, and even the bed is positioned directly facing the entrance. In terms of feng shui, this can be considered a haunted house, making it very easy to attract ghosts."

During the execution of tasks, I report to the voice recorder every day, recounting the progress of the investigation and the experiences of the day. Today, my recording time was relatively long because we encountered numerous unexpected events. I also maintained a certain level of discretion, subtly mentioning that we nearly lost our lives on the way to Suiyuan Village. This was intended to let Officer Li know how hard we were working, so that he might give us more credit in the future.

I do not understand the knowledge of Feng Shui. Listening to Panzi, I am unsure whether what he said is correct. However, this is my thought: whether this house is auspicious or not, no matter how unfavorable it may be, it is still a place where we can live. Otherwise, would we be sleeping on the streets?

I softly called out to Panzi a few times, but he did not respond. I first suppressed my curiosity about the singing and quietly got off the bed, making my way to Panzi's bedside

I kept staring at Panzi without drinking the soup, and Liu Hui remarked that this soup was made from potatoes. The environment around Suiyuan Village is harsh, and only crops like potatoes are easy to grow, so she urged me not to be picky and to be more accommodating

I felt extremely fatigued, thinking that once I closed my eyes, I would surely sleep soundly until dawn. However, in reality, I could not fall into a deep sleep at all. In a daze, I felt an unusual heat within my body, and I couldn't stop sweating profusely. This was not the worst part; what frustrated me the most was that I could hear singing in my ears, the same old songs that had appeared on that mysterious disc.

I wanted to open my eyes, but it took a great deal of effort. My body felt as if it were numb, and I struggled in silence. In the end, I couldn't tell what finally worked, but when I kicked my leg, I managed to free myself.

On this occasion, we also brought some medicine. Although I cannot be certain that it is appropriate for the symptoms, I still selected a few types of medicine and took them together with Panzi

The woman in white first led us to a tile-roofed house. This house was quite dilapidated, with windows lacking glass, covered instead with plastic sheets, and some areas had large cracks. Once we entered, aided by the faint candlelight, I saw that inside the house there was only a large round wooden table and several old long benches, along with a stove in one corner.

I recalled and truly could not think of what this was made from. I glanced at Panzi; he was really hungry and had already picked it up to take a sip.

Panzi was panting heavily, his hands flailing about as if he were trying to confirm that he was still alive