Chapter 79: Joyful Wedding, Mourning Cry 10 Part 1
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Yan Shixun had been walking alongside Ye Li in a casual manner, occasionally exchanging a few words. However, as he was about to reach the small house of the village head, his ears suddenly twitched, picking up on some faint noises.
“Click,” “click”…
They were very similar to the sounds he had heard before.
Yan Shixun’s previously relaxed expression instantly turned serious. He left Ye Li behind and walked swiftly to the outside of the villagehead’s house. With a quick push against the wall, his lithe figure agilely vaulted over the wall and landed gracefully on the ground.
The night was shrouded in thick clouds, the sky pitch black.
It was quiet everywhere in the village. The dim yellow lights barely illuminated the surroundings.
In the faint light, Yan Shixun could just make out what seemed to be white undulating on the exterior walls of the small building, as if the entire structure had come to life, its white facade becoming soft and uneven.
However, when he focused his gaze, everything appeared to be just an illusion.
The wall was just a wall, and there was nothing white moving on it.
Yan Shixun furrowed his brow, but then he suddenly realized that all the faint noises he had heard just moments ago had vanished as soon as he entered the courtyard.
The darkness had returned to a deathly silence, not even the chirping of insects in the autumn could be heard.
Yan Shixun stood in the center of the small courtyard, lost in contemplation over this strange feeling.
What’s going on… It shouldn’t be just an illusion.
“What’s wrong, not going to sleep?” Ye Li walked over to Yan Shixun, his long legs carrying him gracefully. He lowered his gaze and asked, “Is there something else on your mind? Do you… need my help?”
Speak up, Yan Shixun, ask for my assistance.
This way, we can establish a karmic connection.
Yan Shixun didn’t pay much attention to what Ye Li was thinking. He just furrowed his brows, surveyed the surroundings, and, once he was certain there was nothing amiss, hesitated before shaking his head. “Nothing.”
“Then go to sleep.”
He temporarily shelved his doubts and was the first to climb the stairs.
After a long time, when all sounds had faded, and the entire village was in deep slumber, those faint, rustling noises resurfaced.
“Click, click…”
Outside every yard, outside every house, on the village roads, in the woods, in the darkness.
From outside the windows, the eerie shadows of skeletons passed by.
……
Early the next morning, when the guests were summoned, they all looked haggard, without exception.
“Oh, I feel so old. I thought going to bed early would make me more energetic, but I ended up having nightmares all night,” the variety show celebrity said, rubbing his waist with a bitter smile as he came downstairs.
But when he saw everyone else with dark circles under their eyes, he couldn’t help but be surprised. “You guys… didn’t sleep well either?”
“Don’t even mention it,” Lu Xingxing sighed deeply, burying his face in his hands. “I had nightmares all night.”
First, he dreamt of his master scolding him, then he dreamt of a skeletal head. After that, surprisingly, his grandmaster appeared, angrily berating him, saying he couldn’t compare to Yan Shixun. He was so verbally beaten in his dream that he almost felt like shutting himself off. Then, the scene shifted, and he dreamt that the skeletons were surrounding him.
The dreams of that night had been incredibly vivid. If it weren’t for his youth and good sleep quality, he might have been too frightened to fall asleep again.
However, even so, Lu Xingxing now looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept all night.
The other guests were in a similar state.
Song Ci and Zhao Zhen hadn’t slept soundly all night due to things moving and disappearing in their room. Bai Shuang, on the other hand, couldn’t forget the strange noises that would occur every time she closed her eyes while showering at night. She was so scared that she had hardly closed her eyes all night. Whenever she felt drowsy, she would immediately wake herself up, fearing that a sound would startle her.
“Good morning.” A tall figure descended the stairs gracefully, looking relaxed and in good spirits.
As everyone turned to look, they saw Yan Shixun with the appearance of someone who had rested well, his eyes bright and sharp, still exuding the same powerful aura as before, without any change.
Moreover, compared to everyone else, Yan Shixun appeared even more outstanding.
It was as if everyone else had taken a trip to the underworld yesterday, while Yan Shixun was the only one left in the mortal world.
The looks everyone directed at Yan Shixun were filled with envy.
“Did you sleep well last night, Brother Yan?”
“Mr. Yan looks really refreshed.”
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying.
He had gone out in the middle of the night yesterday, and waited until sunrise to perform a divination under the strong sunlight. Only then had he peacefully gone to sleep. Even so, he hadn’t slept very soundly; he had kept one ear attentive to his surroundings.
It was these people who had slept through the night. Why were they suddenly envious of him?
It was almost as if he had slept through the night, and these people had stayed up all night.
“You guys are up so early.”
As he spoke, people from the village head’s house also started to wake up one after another. When Yang Tu came downstairs, he saw that everyone from the production crew was already awake. The guests were sitting downstairs, and the staff were busy packing up equipment and other items.
Yang Tu was somewhat surprised. “When I went to the city earlier, I saw many people waking up late. One of my friends even said he doesn’t get up until noon. Why did you all wake up so early? I thought I’d have time to make you breakfast. Oh no, I missed it. Grandpa is going to scold me now.”
An Nanyuan sighed, “Being awake is better than being asleep. Having your eyes open gives you a sense of security. I woke up. Besides, I feel more at ease with Brother Yan around.”
“After all, it’s work, and aren’t we going mountain climbing today? It’s better to wake up early, so we have enough time.”
The variety show celebrity shrugged, rolled up his sweatshirt sleeves, and walked towards Yang Tu, saying, “Do you need help with cooking? We can assist you. We have so many people here; it wouldn’t be fair to let you prepare breakfast alone.”
Yang Tu quickly waved his hand, “Oh, no need, no need, us brothers can handle it…”
“I’ll help too,” Bai Shuang chimed in with a smile, eager to try, “I’ve never used the village’s big pot before, and I’m curious to see how it’s done.”
Because the theme of this episode was originally about rural life and experiencing making breakfast and the tranquil rural mornings were not that different to agritainment, it would provide the viewers with a leisurely and enjoyable experience.
So, one by one, the guests started their split-screen live broadcasts. The main screen had already been adjusted by the crew to capture the beautiful morning sunlight penetrating through the mountain clouds.
As the guests who had finished their morning routines went to help in the kitchen or joined the village head’s wife in the fields to pick vegetables, the living room became empty again, leaving only Yan Shixun and Ye Li.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wubing kept yawning and had abandoned his “director’s authority,” huddled on the couch, looking insecure.
Yan Shixun raised his long leg and lightly kicked Zhang Wubing’s leg, asking with disdain, “What’s wrong with you? Zhang Dabing, the show has just started, and you’re already like this?”
“We still have to climb a mountain today. Can you handle it with your stamina?” Yan Shixun scanned Zhang Wubing up and down, suspiciously asking, “If you collapse halfway, don’t expect anyone to carry you down the mountain.”
Zhang Wubing, looking drowsy and disheartened, stretched out his arms upon hearing Yan Shixun’s criticism, skillfully hugged Yan Shixun’s thigh, and cried, “I had a nightmare, Brother Yan, wuwuwu!”
As he sobbed, he began to describe the things he had dreamed of.
Despite Zhang Wubing’s facade of a director when facing outsiders, he was still the sheltered little fool protected by his elders. Unlike Yan Shixun, who had developed good physical stamina from years of battling ghosts and evil spirits on the front lines.
After a long car ride and encountering unexpected situations today, Zhang Wubing’s energy and stamina were severely depleted. So, after briefing the crew on their work for the night, he had gone to his room to sleep early.
However, he hadn’t expected to have nightmares continuously since he fell asleep.
In his dream within a dream, he first saw himself opening the door of his room, but the scene outside was no longer the small building of the village head’s house where he had fallen asleep. Instead, it had turned into a muddy village road.
In the dream, the rain outside was pouring heavily, turning the already muddy dirt road into a quagmire where each step could sink past the ankles. The sky outside was dark and gloomy, creating a stifling atmosphere.
Zhang Wubing wanted to figure out where he was, but all he could see were low, old houses approaching. It didn’t look like the current surroundings; it seemed like an environment from a long time ago. And judging by the clothing styles of the people hastily passing by with umbrellas, he felt that these styles were older than his own age.
It was as if Zhang Wubing’s intense and probing gaze had drawn the attention of the passing by with umbrella. The person raised the umbrella higher, revealing the face that had been concealed by it before.
Unexpectedly, it was a face that had completely lost all its features.
It was eerily blank, like a well-kneaded ball of dough. Even though there were clearly no eyes or mouth, Zhang Wubing could somehow sense that the person was looking at him with a smile.
“Zhang Wubing, come out,” the person called to him.
Zhang Wubing took in a sharp breath, immediately taking two steps back in an attempt to retreat into the room and close the door.
Based on his many years of experience with encountering ghosts, he knew that as long as he wasn’t awake, he couldn’t be certain if the person was alive. No matter who called his name, he wouldn’t respond.
Moreover, now that he was well aware he was in a dream, he knew he couldn’t respond. What if the other person realized his identity and took him away?
However, when Zhang Wubing retreated to his room, he was horrified to find that the room no longer resembled the pristine white walls he had gone to sleep with. It had turned into a dilapidated house with leaks everywhere, crooked furniture, and empty walls, shrouded in darkness.
No matter how anxious he was, he couldn’t close the door with his hands.
Zhang Wubing stood at the doorway, drenched in sweat, but he could only watch helplessly as the faceless figure with the umbrella approached him. Despite desperately commanding his legs to move and run, they seemed rooted in place, unable to move. He could only watch as the person came closer and closer.
“Zhang Wubing, why aren’t you answering me?”
The person’s face, devoid of any features, seemed as if there were bones beneath the skin. The part that should have been the mouth stretched open wide all the way to the ears, causing the skin to sink inward.
“Zhang Wubing, why are you here alone? Everyone is over there. Aren’t you going?”
“Let’s go.”
“Our entire Yang family is over there.”
Zhang Wubing’s face contorted with fear, turning a pale, bluish color. Finally, he gathered the courage to shout, “I’m not going! Get out of here! Have you ever heard the name of my dad, Yan Shixun? He’ll be here in a moment to catch you!”
It was unclear whether Zhang Wubing’s sudden burst of intensity had stunned the person or if the mention of Yan Shixun’s name had an effect, but the individual who had initially reached out to grab Zhang Wubing’s hand suddenly froze in mid-air.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Wubing clenched his teeth and summoned all the strength in his body, finally slamming the door shut with a resounding “bang.”
As the door slammed shut, Zhang Wubing was abruptly awakened from his slumber. He gasped for air and sat up in bed, looking around the room in a panicked state. He realized that he was still in his own bed, in the same room, and the door was tightly closed; there was no faceless figure from his dream.
Zhang Wubing’s heart pounded erratically, trembling intensely for a while before he managed to regain some composure.
“Phew… it was just a dream,” Zhang Wubing reassured himself once he confirmed his safety, taking a deep breath and lying back down on his bed.
However, as he shifted, his perspective changed once again. In the instant he lay back down, he saw something that seemed to be near the window, as if it were watching him.
The moon outside the window, initially as round as a pearl, gradually turned blood-red under Zhang Wubing’s gaze. The crimson moonlight cast a sinister glow in the room, making it appear as though he was surrounded by a sea of blood and corpses.
Zhang Wubing shuddered involuntarily and swallowed hard before mustering the courage to look towards the shadow by the window.
To his astonishment, in the corner next to the window curtains, the most easily overlooked spot, there stood a woman drenched in blood.
Her long black hair hung loose around her shoulders and chest, her face pallid and lifeless, but her eyes were hollow, fixed intently on Zhang Wubing. Upon closer inspection, where her eyes should have been, there were only two black voids, staring intensely at him.
Furthermore, the woman’s bloodless lips were covered in wounds, as if they had been pierced by needles, with traces of coarse thread, as though someone had sewn her mouth shut.
Her ears had also been severed, and where her ears should have been, fresh blood was continuously dripping downward, wetting her hair and her blood-red attire. The blood then followed the hem of her dress, making a “drip…drip…” sound as it fell to the floor, the noise strikingly loud in the quiet room.
The woman with her mouth sewn shut couldn’t speak, she just stood quietly in the darkness, gazing at the person lying on the bed in front of her.
No one knew how long she had been standing there.
Zhang Wubing was momentarily stunned by the scene he had stumbled upon, and then he slowly, shakily followed the sound and lowered his gaze to the woman’s feet.
That blood, it had already submerged the woman’s pale and rigid ankles, with blood splatters swirling around, soaking her blood-red long dress. It was as if the red on the woman’s body wasn’t dye but fresh blood.
Zhang Wubing finally couldn’t hold back, swiftly shifting from the position he had just lain down in, curling himself into a small bundle, and scrambling to the farthest corner of the bed, wanting to distance himself as much as possible from the woman who was standing still not paying attention to him.
As Zhang Wubing was about to roll off the bed and make a run for the door, he lowered his head, and his entire body froze.
—Beneath the bed, there was already a surging sea of blood, continuously washing against the bed legs.
Zhang Wubing’s foot, which had been extended out, quickly retreated from the edge of the bed. The only temporarily safe place was on the bed itself. He huddled himself into a small ball, trying to minimize his presence.
However, things wouldn’t go as he wished.
No matter how Zhang Wubing frantically repeated “it’s fake, it’s all fake” in his mind or screamed for help, calling out Yan Shixun’s name in his mind, he was trapped on the bed, unable to move. At this moment, the woman who had originally been standing in the shadows slowly raised her hand. Her fingers, already decayed to the point where flesh had peeled back, revealing glimpses of white bone, pointed towards Zhang Wubing.
She seemed to want to say something.
However, her mouth was sewn shut, her eyes were gouged out, her ears were cut off, and she couldn’t do anything.
A stream of bloody tears slowly trickled down from the eye sockets that were devoid of eyeballs.
“Splash…”
The woman moved forward slowly, emerging from the shadows into the eerie red glow of the blood moonlight, making her appear even more terrifying.
As the woman approached step by step, getting closer and closer, Zhang Wubing’s fear finally erupted, overwhelming his last remaining nerves.
“Brother Yan, AHHHHHHHH!!! Help me—!”
The sea of blood churned and roared in the room, rapidly rising like a spiral. It quickly surpassed the height of the bed and surged higher, engulfing the terrified cries of Zhang Wubing.
Zhang Wubing felt blood rush into his mouth, choking him with its metallic, nauseating taste. The blood flowed into his nasal passages, esophagus, and down into his lungs and stomach.
Like drowning in water, Zhang Wubing struggled desperately in agony, but his entire body was submerged in thick, viscous, foul-smelling blood, rendering him completely immobile.
Finally, he lost consciousness, his body going limp and falling backward. His pupils dilated as he unconsciously glanced upward one last time.
He saw that the woman had been watching him all along. Her slender eyebrows were furrowed, and blood tears continuously flowed from her eye sockets, giving the impression that she was upset.
What are you so upset about? I’m the one who’s really suffering…
Zhang Wubing thought hazily as he descended into a chaotic darkness.
The red world suddenly shattered, and Zhang Wubing gasped for a long breath as he sat up abruptly on the bed.
First, he nervously touched his own nose and then licked his lips to confirm that there was no trace of that foul stench in his mouth and nose. Then, he quickly looked into the shadows by the window and anxiously scanned his room.
There was no woman, no sea of blood, nothing.
Zhang Wubing was somewhat stunned, and his actions of checking himself came to a halt. After a while, he finally realized—
“Was that just a dream… but it felt so incredibly real.”
Zhang Wubing let out a long sigh, feeling utterly exhausted. He bent over, burying his face in his hands, and sighed deeply for quite some time. Finally, he managed to pull himself out of the suffocating and blood-soaked nightmare he had just experienced in his dream.
He felt like a limp noodle, collapsing onto the bed. In his weakened state, his gaze lazily fell on the window from this angle.
As he continued to gaze, he suddenly sensed that something was amiss.
This curtain, as he remembered, should be the type you’d find in the market, with a pattern covered in large flowers that said “Blossom in Wealth and Prosperity.” But why did it now look like there was a skull imprinted on it?
Could it be some new trend? It couldn’t be.
The skull pattern on the curtain seemed to sway.
Zhang Wubing was frozen in place.
Very slowly, as if reluctant to face reality, he turned his head in the direction where the curtain cast its shadow.
Then he saw it: outside the window, there was an eerie, pale skull resting on the windowsill, silently staring at him.
“F*ck!” Zhang Wubing couldn’t help but curse, and then he abruptly fell into darkness.
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