Chapter 97: Joyful Wedding, Mourning Cry 28
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The moonlight, at an unknown time, was covered by dark clouds.
In the courtyard of the rural farmstay, there was only a faint light, faintly reflecting a row of skulls on the wall, as if the entire yard had been surrounded by these skulls. Behind the wall, the sound of fragmented collisions overlapped, it was unclear how much danger was still hidden.
After a moment of astonishment, Yan Shixun quickly calmed down. With a dark expression, he calmly surveyed those pale skulls.
Unlike the skull that silently lurked behind Yan Shixun before, reaching out for something, the skulls appearing on the wall just stared at Yan Shixun with eye sockets that were like dark holes, temporarily without any intention of climbing over the wall.
Both sides almost formed a standoff, with neither side making the first move.
Yan Shixun frowned, glancing at the skull closest to him. While being vigilant not to let his attention be drawn away by the newly appeared group of skulls, he also felt puzzled by the sudden aggression of this particular skull.
Since these things could silently appear behind him without being noticed and without fear of his powerful Daoist aura, why didn’t the newly appeared ones seem to have any intention of entering the rural farmstay at the moment?
Is it waiting for something, or is it unable to come in?
Yan Shixun deliberately slowed down his own aura, preparing to adapt to the situation and first understand the purpose of these entities.
Everyone from the production team was present, so he couldn’t afford to make a wrong move.
Moreover—
Yang Tu’s abnormal reaction to the body buried under the flowers, along with his fearful cry of “Yang Duo is here to take lives,” caught his attention.
However, Yang Tu’s reaction was particularly intense.
After that skeleton appeared, Yang Tu was already severely startled, stumbling towards the old room where Yang Yun resided. As the skeletons surrounded the courtyard, Yang Tu’s visible panic escalated.
“Auntie, Auntie, please look carefully. I am not my Second Uncle! I wasn’t even born when you passed away, and I had no involvement in what happened back then. You’ve got the wrong person.”
Yang Tu’s voice, tinged with a sob, shouted in a panic at the skeletons outside. Despite the urgency in his expression, he didn’t dare to slow down his pace. He stumbled several times over the courtyard’s bricks and stones, yet continued to sprint in the direction of Yang Yun’s room.
Damn it!
Yan Shixun gritted his teeth fiercely, his gaze towards Yang Tu’s back becoming ominously sharp.
Because he never gave up his attention on the skeleton in the courtyard, he almost immediately noticed that at the same moment Yang Tu started running, the previously sluggish skeleton suddenly changed direction and charged towards Yang Tu.
And the direction Yang Tu was heading towards happened to be where the rooms of the production team members were located.
Yan Shixun no longer waited. He casually picked up the iron plow standing beside the nearby door, filled his hands with strength, and directly threw it at the skeleton chasing behind Yang Tu.
A sharp whistling sound filled the air.
Yang Tu instinctively turned around, his fearful eyes widening as he looked back.
Then he saw the remaining arm of the skeleton reaching towards him. But just as the sharp bone was about to touch his back, it was accurately struck in the skull by the flying iron tool from behind.
Instantly, with a “clang!” sound, the seemingly simple skull, the most basic part of the human body, was shattered by the impact of the iron tool. Bone fragments exploded like fireworks, scattering all over the ground.
The shattered bones scattered across the ground did not stop their movement; instead, they wriggled on the floor. All the bone joints continued to advance towards Yang Tu.
Yang Tu was petrified by this sight. Instinctively, he kept retreating, but his brain, numbed by a series of shocks, could no longer accurately control his limbs.
His legs were almost tied in knots, causing him to trip over himself and fall to the ground. The force of the impact with the ground was so great that it almost displaced his internal organs, causing him to vomit his stomach out of his mouth.
However, this fall brought Yang Tu even closer to the bones scattered on the ground. Like ants smelling meat, those bones suddenly rushed towards Yang Tu in a frenzied manner.
“No, no…” Yang Tu shook his head incessantly, his eyes blurred by the tears streaming down his face from fear. He continuously used his hands to push himself backward, desperately trying to move away from those bones.
However, in the grip of extreme terror, adrenaline surged, causing his muscles to stiffen. The desire to escape was hindered by rigid muscles, slowing him down and stripping him of control over his own movements.
Yang Tu wanted to flee, but his trembling and stiff muscles rendered him helpless. He could only watch in horror as those bones approached him, the pale finger bones seemingly about to grasp his ankles.
“Ka, cha—!”
A crisp sound of fracture echoed.
Black Martin boots mercilessly stepped into the scattered bones, accurately hitting the skull that had flown to the side. Then, with a powerful force, the boots crushed the once hard skull into almost powder-like fragments.
No way to piece it back together.
The shattered bones around stopped their movements, falling to the ground, motionless.
As if it had always been just an ordinary pile of broken bones, and everything that just happened was nothing more than a human illusion.
Yang Tu stared blankly at the finger bone that had fallen to the ground near his ankle. His body was drenched in a feverish cold sweat, his neck stiffly lifted in jerks, following the line of the Martin boots as he looked up.
Yan Shixun was looking down at him from a high vantage point.
From Yang Tu’s perspective, the young man who had been careless and jovial with him in the past two days, appearing lazy but with a decent temperament, now seemed towering and majestic. His eyes gleamed with a profound light, inducing fear. The entire person resembled a unsheathed blade, with all the previously hidden sharpness suddenly bursting forth in this moment.
It was like a dormant lion or tiger slowly opening its eyes.
Yang Tu was so frightened by his own imagination that he shuddered all over, feeling like he couldn’t even breathe under Yan Shixun’s gaze.
“Why are you running?” Yan Shixun glanced at the scattered bones on the ground, raised an eyebrow, and looked back at Yang Tu. “Where do you think you’re going? Didn’t I tell you to stand still?”
He chuckled, casually restraining the overly imposing aura, slowly withdrawing his leg from the bones he had crushed under his boot. “You know, you’re really breaking my heart. I almost feel like crying from all these blows. Do I really look so unreliable?”
“B-B-Brother…..Yan.” Yang Tu’s pupils contracted into dots. He hadn’t fully recovered from the recent fright. His voice trembled as he called out Yan Shixun’s name several times, finally managing to utter it shakily. He didn’t know what he wanted to say.
Yan Shixun’s icy gaze swept over the pale skeletons on the wall.
Because he had shattered this particular skeleton, the bones, seemingly its companions, started to stir. They continuously reached out their hand bones towards the bricks and tiles on the wall, as if trying to climb over the wall, yet hesitating for some reason.
The continuous “koloong, koloong” sounds echoed under the night sky, the fragmented noise of bones hitting against the walls, cold and desolate.
Indeed, was there something in the courtyard that made them hesitant to enter?
Yan Shixun calmly withdrew his gaze, showing no hint of doubt on his face.
Bending slightly, he extended his long arm and grabbed Yang Tu’s wrist, lifting him directly from the ground.
“When people are scared, their first instinct is to run to a place they think they can seek help or find solace,” Yan Shixun glanced down at Yang Tu with a half-smile, softly asking, “So, where were you trying to run just now?”
“I…” Yang Tu, who had just relaxed, had a slight change in expression, his eyes darting around.
“Don’t try to deceive me, Yang Tu,” Yan Shixun smiled without any warmth. “Think carefully before giving me your answer.”
Yan Shixun’s palm firmly gripped Yang Tu’s wrist, making it impossible for him to break free.
Yang Tu tried to resist, but Yan Shixun exerted force and twisted his wrist, causing him to feel pain in his flesh and bones.
“No, no, Brother Yan, I didn’t mean to deceive you.”
Feeling the pain, Yang Tu snapped out of the daze caused by the earlier fright and hastily said, “It’s just that this matter involves the affairs of the Yang Clan, so it’s not suitable to tell outsiders. My grandfather doesn’t want others to know about these things.”
“Hmm?” Yan Shixun asked with a low chuckle, “So, do you think it would be better to be killed by those skeletons?”
“Forget to mention it to you,” Yan Shixun said casually, as if casually mentioning something, “I also know a bit about exorcism and ghost suppression. Wasn’t it Master Li Yan who your grandfather invited to create the Ghost-Dispelling Well back then? We’re not only colleagues but also friends. The things you fear, I happen to have a way to resolve.”
In fact, he didn’t know the person who had created the Ghost-Dispelling Well for the Yang Clan’s village head.
After informing the official authorities about the incidents in Jia Village and Family Tomb Village, Yan Shixun also took the opportunity to ask them to help him investigate the possible masters the Yang Clan might have invited in the past.
Given that the official special department was regularly dealing with anomalous events and had opportunities to interact with genuinely powerful individuals in the field, they had a wide network of contacts. Even many hermit masters who had long since withdrawn to the mountains and forests had been in contact and collaborated with the official special department. If one wanted to find someone in this circle, the official special department would undoubtedly be the fastest and most extensive resource.
As expected, the official in charge quickly provided Yan Shixun with the identity and information of the master the Yang Clan had possibly invited in the past. They also shared the master’s contact information, in case Yan Shixun had any further needs.
However, Yang Tu was unaware of the underlying stories. In his eyes, Yan Shixun, who could casually talk about events from several years ago, was undoubtedly a friend of the master from back then.
So, everything Yan Shixun said must be true.
Yang Tu froze.
After hesitating for a moment and cautiously glancing at the pale skeletons constantly stirring on the wall, he shivered and whispered, “Yang Yun, I want to go to Yang Yun’s place.”
With a determined bite of his teeth, Yang Tu clarified the situation to Yan Shixun.
So, the Ghost-Dispelling Well in the backyard of the village head’s house was built because Yang Duo’s ghost frequently haunted the village head’s residence, disrupting the normal life of the village head’s family. It was a last resort to construct the well and seek help.
Every year during the lunar seventh month, when the ghostly aura was at its peak, not only the village head’s family but almost all members of the Yang family could feel a gaze that seemed to shadow them, as if Yang Duo was lurking in the darkness, staring at them with a cold gaze.
This situation occurred every year, without exception, even when Yang Tu returned to the village head’s house. Until today.
As soon as Yang Tu stepped through the gate of the rural farmstay, he was surprised to find that the eerie feeling had disappeared, as if Yang Duo hadn’t followed them to the rural farmstay at all.
With curiosity in his heart, Yang Tu shared this matter with Yang Yun and received a mysterious smile from him.
“Yang Yun told me that as long as it’s inside the rural farmstay, Yang Duo won’t come in. He found a way to peacefully coexist with Yang Duo.”
Given that Yang Tu was already considerably shorter than the slender Yan Shixun, being lifted by him made him appear even smaller, like a pitiable victim being bullied by a bully.
“Although he didn’t tell me what the method is, he said something strange, ‘Don’t get trapped in her world, and I can protect you.’ That’s why I wanted to find Yang Yun just now.”
Yan Shixun frowned, silently repeating the words Yang Yun had said in his mind.
What does “her world” mean?
However, Yang Tu’s words confirmed his speculation; those skeletons indeed dared not enter the rural farmstay.
But why could only that particular skeleton suddenly appear behind him? What made Yang Yun and the rural farmstay have such a deterrent effect on these skeletons? What was the method Yang Yun mentioned for peaceful coexistence?
He had observed Yang Yun during the day, and Yang Yun seemed to have no special abilities.
“Brother Yan,” Yang Tu sniffed and pitifully looked up at Yan Shixun, “My hand hurts.”
Yan Shixun blinked, snapping out of his thoughts, and chuckled, “Should I release you and let you continue running?”
He pointed to a row of houses not far ahead, “Zhang Wubing and the others live over there. When you were running towards Yang Yun, did you ever think that you were essentially leading that thing towards them?”
Yang Tu, who had just been scared and hadn’t realized this, now recognized his mistake and shrugged apologetically, “I’m sorry.”
Since the skeletons couldn’t enter the rural farmstay, they currently posed no threat to the crew. The immediate priority was to warn the crew about the danger outside and advise them not to leave their rooms.
Yan Shixun was ready to give up sleep for the night and guard the crew until morning.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Zhang Wubing.
However, after clicking send, a bright red exclamation mark appeared on the screen.
No signal?
Yan Shixun furrowed his brow, realizing that the signal bars at the top of his phone had turned gray, indicating no signal whatsoever. He tried other methods, whether it was making a call, sending a message, or using a personal account, but all attempts showed no signal. However, the phone interface remained on the previous page, and he could freely view both loaded images and message records.
It was as if the phone’s time had been frozen at a certain moment.
Yan Shixun glanced at the phone’s time; it had just passed midnight.
He casually threw the phone into his pocket and then, holding onto Yang Tu, headed towards the direction of the crew’s rooms, intending to personally instruct Zhang Wubing.
As Yan Shixun walked, he calmly said to the still squirming Yang Tu in his hands, “You live alone, right? Since you’re so afraid, forget it. Stay in the same room with me for now. It’ll save me from running over to rescue you if anything else happens.”
Yang Tu instinctively wanted to refuse.
“Yang Duo seems to hold a lot of resentment towards your Second Uncle, and being his nephew, you must be familiar to Yang Duo as well.”
Yan Shixun directly cut off Yang Tu’s words, “Yang Duo is from Family Tomb Village Village, and people from Family Tomb Village Village died with their remains buried here. Since you know that Yang Duo, as a ghost, has come back to find you, you should have heard that ghosts are particularly fierce in the places where they died and where their bones are buried.”
“Brat, you dare to be so casual even after entering Yang Duo’s headquarters. Are you looking to die?” Yan Shixun said half-seriously, half-jokingly. “Although carrying a corpse is quite heavy, it looks like you weigh several dozen kilograms. But, considering the delicious meal the village head made yesterday, I’ll reluctantly carry you back. I hope the village head and your Second Uncle don’t cry too miserably.”
Yang Tu stiffened for a moment, then lowered his head in dejection, no longer struggling, allowing Yan Shixun to drag him away.
A faint smile appeared in Yan Shixun’s eyes as he nodded in satisfaction.
However, as they approached the rooms, Yan Shixun suddenly felt that something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
Although the deep mountain night lacked the street noises and neighborly sounds still present in the city, making it exceptionally quiet, the current silence felt extremely abnormal.
With Yan Shixun’s keen hearing, he couldn’t hear any faint sounds coming from the rooms. Even the sounds of insects in the courtyard, the wind rustling the plants, and the leaves shaking seemed to have disappeared.
It’s worth noting that the variety show celebrity usually snore when he sleep. If he was sleeping in his room, Yan Shixun should have been able to hear his snores.
The rooms in the rural farmstay face south, with large French windows allowing sunlight to fill the rooms during the day. However, some guests and staff weren’t as attentive. Before searching for Yang Tu, Yan Shixun glanced around and noticed that many people hadn’t drawn the curtains.
Therefore, Yan Shixun did not rashly approach and knock on the door. Instead, he dragged Yang Tu from the side path to the front yard of the rural farmstay, directly facing the French window.
“Creak, creak…”
The heavy rubber sole of Martin’s boot landed on the wooden boards in front of the French window, emitting a slightly grating sound.
Yan Shixun tried to step lightly, frowning as he looked toward the side of the French window, where his silhouette was reflected on the glass.
Then, he suddenly froze in place.
Behind him, Yang Tu, not expecting Yan Shixun to stop suddenly, failed to brake in time and collided with Yan Shixun’s back. The impact against his sturdy back muscles made Yang Tu’s nose ache, and tears welled up from the pain.
“Brother Yan?” In the quiet environment, Yang Tu didn’t dare to speak too loudly. He could only cautiously inquire about Yan Shixun using hushed tones.
But Yan Shixun now had no energy to spare for Yang Tu.
—Behind the French window, there was no sign of anyone in the room.
Even the two beds were neatly made, and there was no excess luggage or belongings in the room, as if no one had ever stayed there.
However, Yan Shixun remembered very clearly that this room was supposed to be for the variety show celebrity and the male actor.
He quickly stepped towards the next room.
No one, no one, no one…
Still no one!
Standing in front of the French window of the last room, at this moment, Yan Shixun felt like his blood had almost stopped flowing, and a chill spread upward along his spine.
All the rooms were empty, not only without curtains drawn in any room, but also each room was neatly arranged, showing no traces of anyone having stayed.
Even the one that was supposed to be Ye Li, was like this.
Even on the low tables near the French windows in several rooms, Yan Shixun noticed a thick layer of dust accumulated on the glass tables, indicating that they hadn’t been cleaned for a long time.
What’s going on?
Yan Shixun furrowed his brow, attempting to send a message to Zhang Wubing for inquiry.
However, the phone’s interface remained frozen, unable to send messages, still showing no signal.
He immediately extended his arm and opened the French window.
“Swish!” A crisp sound rang out as the glass door swung wide open, allowing fresh air to flow in from the courtyard. However, a stale and dusty odor accompanied the breeze, causing Yan Shixun to quickly tilt his upper body backward to avoid the discomfort.
“Cough, cough, cough…” Yang Tu, who failed to evade, was directly hit by the dust and started coughing. He used his hands to fan away the dust in front of him, squinting to look inside the room, and then he was left dumbfounded.
“Eh? Where’s Brother Zhang? And Brother An? Why aren’t they here?” Yang Tu’s eyes widened, completely bewildered by the current situation.
Yan Shixun stepped into the room with long strides.
The once pristine bedding was now covered in a thick layer of dust, turning dark and yellow. As he extended his slender fingers and ran them across the glass table, the indentations left by his fingertip were about a centimeter deep.
This… Hasn’t anyone lived here or cleaned for half a year to a year?
Yan Shixun’s gaze darkened.
While Yang Tu still looked around in disbelief, Yan Shixun had already turned around and walked briskly toward the exit.
“Brother Yan, where are you going?” Yang Tu was bewildered.
“To Yang Yun’s room.”
Yan Shixun remembered very clearly that Yang Yun’s dwelling was different from all the others.
Despite the rural farmstay earning money, Yang Yun still lived in the dilapidated house where he had depended on his mother for over twenty years.
Yan Shixun curled his slender fingers and knocked on the creaky door of that old and crumbling house.
“Yang Yun, are you asleep? I’m Yan Shixun, I need to ask you something.” He softly called out Yang Yun’s name.
However, there was not a single sound from inside the house.
An ominous guess formed in Yan Shixun’s mind.
His palm exerted a slight force, and the door slid open with an unpleasant creaking sound, revealing a complete lack of a lock.
The room was not lit, and the already simple space was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything. However, on the Eight Immortals table directly in front of the door, several wine bottles were scattered haphazardly, along with a few plates.
It seemed as if, just before the door was pushed open, there had been people inside having a gathering and drinking. However, the contents of the plates were clearly rotten and dried into a black color, making it impossible to discern what vegetables they were before. The wine bottles, lying upside down, were also covered in a thick layer of dust.
Moreover, on the worn Eight Immortals table, there were traces of blood that had oxidized into a dark red color. The chairs that had fallen to the ground and the cement floor were covered in extensive, oxidized bloodstains.
However, there was no sign of Yang Yun.
The unpleasant mixture of the smells of decay and rust, combined with the dust, created a nauseating odor that dragged one’s mood into a pit.
Yan Shixun’s pupils contracted.
He remembered very clearly that just a few hours ago, he had been to Yang Yun’s room, where Yang Yun had recounted the past with his mother. At that time, although the room was old and simple, everything was neat and clean. It clearly looked like someone was living there, and there were no such items on the table, let alone blood.
However, now it looked as though it had been left unattended and uninhabited for half a year.
The gathering was abruptly interrupted, with shattered bottles and unsightly wine stains littering the ground. Fresh blood was spilled across the floor and table, toppling chairs in its stumbling path. The hastily ended meeting left no continuation, and even the cups, plates, and leftovers on the table were left unattended. They remained there until they decayed and dried up, covered by a thick layer of dust, sealed behind the closed door.
No one noticed this place, and no one alive knew what had happened here.
Even Yang Yun, one of the involved parties, was nowhere to be found.
Yan Shixun was unsure about what was happening here. His thoughts were spinning rapidly, like a spinning wheel jammed with thread, tangling into a chaotic mess, unable to distinguish cause from effect.
A significant portion of the clues was missing, leaving Yan Shixun unable to make even an educated guess about what had transpired here.
“Brother Yan? Didn’t you tell me not to come and find Yang Yun? Why did you come over? His room has the lights off; he’s probably already asleep.”
Yang Tu, who was several steps behind and jogged to catch up with Yan Shixun, kept muttering, puzzled.
However, when he raised his head and, due to the dim light, had to squint and look into the room, he was suddenly shocked when he saw the things on the Eight Immortals table.
“Ah?” Yang Tu felt like his eyes must be going blind, or how else could he even have hallucinations: “What’s going on with Yang Yun’s room? It wasn’t like this before, right?”
Yan Shixun turned his head slowly, his deep gaze fixed on Yang Tu. “You don’t know either?”
Yang Tu, utterly puzzled, shook his head. “I have no idea. I haven’t been to Family Tomb Village for half a year. How could I know what happened to Yang Yun? I wanted to ask him tonight, but he insisted I leave, saying it was for my own good. But logically, Yang Yun is a very clean person, similar to his mother’s character. It shouldn’t be this messy.”
Yang Tu, choking on the smell in the room, quickly pinched his nose and complained, “What’s this smell? Why does it smell like the warehouse where we stored pork when I was a kid?”
Indeed, quite similar.
Yan Shixun paused for a moment, deciding not to mention the possibility to avoid causing too much distress to Yang Tu and preventing any further trouble.
Because fundamentally, they share the same scent.
—The stale odor of rot and dust produced by the prolonged accumulation of meat chunks and blood in a confined space.
He lifted his leg over the threshold of the house, deftly avoiding the dried and congealed blood on the floor, moving towards the dark depths of the shrouded room.
When he came to find Yang Yun during the day, Yan Shixun had noticed that the room was bare, with only a small Eight Immortals table for dining and a half-height rattan cabinet that swayed precariously against the wall due to its age.
Yan Shixun’s steps were light, even though his body was muscular, and his Martin boots had thick soles that should have produced noticeable sounds on the rough cement floor of the house. However, as he walked through the rough cement floor inside the house, almost no sound was made.
As his eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, the outlines of items in the house slowly became visible in his field of vision. He carefully and meticulously scanned the room, leaving no possibility unchecked.
In the darkness, all details became blurry, and shadows in corners and crevices resembled ghostly figures, hiding potential dangers in the unknown.
In the midst of utter silence, eyes fixed with an eerie stillness gazed at the newcomer.
Yan Shixun observed that on the wicker cabinet against the wall, there were offerings placed.
The wall was adorned with a white background and black characters of a funeral couplet. However, the incense in the censer was uneven, with candles leaning in odd directions. The plate, piled high with steamed buns, had long since dried up and shrunk, becoming unattractive. Fruits had rotted into a foul-smelling mess, with yellowish-white maggots wriggling around.
It had been a long time since anyone had tended to this makeshift altar.
Moreover, the most crucial point was—
Since there was a funeral couplet, and the phrases within hinted at mourning for a mother, considering Yang Yun’s experience, this should be the altar he used to offer tribute to his deceased mother.
However, given Yang Yun’s deep affection for his mother, who had been his sole companion for over twenty years, why would he allow his mother’s altar to become so dirty and neglected, with not even a trace of dusting, as if he had never returned?
Especially…
Where did the memorial photo that should have been hung in the center go?
Yan Shixun looked at the empty wall in the middle of the funeral couplet and furrowed his brow.
He originally intended to approach and investigate further, trying to find clues about Yang Yun’s whereabouts among the items left in the room and unravel what had happened in the house six months ago.
However, as he was about to lift his long legs, he suddenly heard the sound of a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument), faintly coming from a distance.
The suona’s tone was extremely high, like a sharp sword breaking through the silence of the night, piercing through the heavy and oppressive atmosphere of the village, heading straight for the soul.
It sounded like a reluctant cry and an angry questioning, piercing through people’s spine, interrogating the good and evil in one’s life.
Yan Shixun halted.
He turned his expressionless face and focused on discerning the source of this sound.
The suona’s pitch rose one after another, like the unrelenting anger and resentment. However, amid these high tones, there were also traces of joy accompanied by the beating of a drum.
It didn’t sound like mourning for someone’s departure but rather like musicians playing, celebrating the arrival of new life.
The suona played from birth to death, whether in celebration or mourning, both were tunes for sending someone off.
Whether it was accompanying someone to marriage or…
Accompanying someone to their final resting place.
Yan Shixun had traveled through many relatively traditional or backward areas and had witnessed wedding celebrations and funeral processions more than once. Although he couldn’t play the suona and wasn’t proficient in music, he could discern from the somewhat familiar tunes that this was not a funeral dirge.
It was a joyful celebration of a marriage.
“What’s that sound?” Yang Tu shivered, feeling the hairs on his body standing on end. A tingling sensation crawled from his back, stiffening his muscles.
“This… it sounds strangely eerie.” Originally frightened, Yang Tu, upon seeing the expressionless Yan Shixun, suddenly felt embarrassed, wondering if he had overreacted.
So, he forced out a smile uglier than crying, laughing awkwardly to ease the eerie atmosphere.
However, Yan Shixun recalled the anomalies he witnessed in the village earlier in the day.
And that radiant smile from the girl named Jiang Yanran.
Clearly, Jiang Yanran had taken him to witness the marriage preparations in Yang Duo’s house. He saw the village’s women celebrating and bidding farewell to Yang Duo. However, when Jiang Yanran pushed him out of Yang Duo’s courtyard, all he saw was overgrown weeds and abandoned village house.
Even the villagers claimed that there was no one left in Yang Duo’s family.
Now, with the wedding nuptial music of the suona, and considering the scene when Yang Duo left, was there any connection?
Moreover, Jiang Yanran had mentioned they were preparing for the departure of a bride.
However, considering the time, if it was indeed a “sunset ceremony, moonrise celebration,” the departure should have concluded several hours ago.
Yan Shixun had never seen a normal family marrying off their daughter in the middle of the night.
However, judging by the direction of the suona music, it was coming from within the village.
He remembered that the villagers had told him there hadn’t been any girls born in Family Tomb Village for a long time; it was an all-boys village.
—Since the eligible individuals are all males, then who is getting married today?
Turning around, Yan Shixun quickly walked out of Yang Yun’s dilapidated room and stood in the courtyard of the rural farmstay, trying to carefully discern the source of the sound.
However, he unexpectedly noticed something.
— After the suona music started, those pale skeletons that had climbed up the wall but hesitated to enter the rural farmstay yard, as if receiving some kind of command, eagerly extended their arm bones to grip the gaps in the brick wall. One after another, they crawled into the rural farmstay yard.
The moon, initially obscured by dark clouds, had reappeared at some point.
However, the moonlight was now like blood, no longer pure and bright.
The blood-red glow spilled onto the earth, winding like a river of blood, submerging the entire village.
The moonlit mountains surrounding the village stood tall and silent. The leaves on the trees glowed a crimson red, casting deep shadows on the earth. They swayed and danced, resembling ghostly figures howling in madness.
And the Moon Creek ran bloody red, its blood beating against the earth.
The suona music continued, but the originally ethereal sound that seemed to come from a distant place became louder and closer, as if gradually approaching from a distance.
The suona music was now mixed with the lively sounds of celebration—drums, cheers, the laughter of girls, the overlapping blessings of old women in the village, and the uproar of the villagers.
These sounds blended together, creating an atmosphere of joy and excitement.
It seemed like there was indeed a nighttime wedding, with a grand and lively scene. The entire village was involved, bringing life to the otherwise quiet Family Tomb Village in the middle of the night.
Yan Shixun recalled that during the day, Jiang Yanran had repeatedly told him not to go outside no matter what sounds he heard at night.
So, did Jiang Yanran know that there would be a nighttime wedding in the village? If so, why did she warn him about the time of the evening ceremony?
However, aside from the distant sounds, the most critical issue at the moment was—
In just a few short minutes, those skeletons that were previously blocked outside the courtyard wall had one after another tumbled over the wall.
They fell to the ground, swayed for a moment, then slowly stood up, moving slowly toward the only living person left in the courtyard.
Even the nearby soil emitted a slight sound.
The soil was peeled away, vibrant flowers trampled and stems broken. Stiff and pale corpses emerged from the burial ground, slowly climbing out. The decomposed bodies stood up again, staggering step by step, limping in the direction of Yan Shixun.
These corpses, with no rest even in death, bodies covered in dried and oxidized bloodstains, presented a terrifying sight. They stared with cloudy and lifeless eyeballs, fixedly focusing on Yan Shixun.
They lifted their stiff arms, reaching out with cold and pale palms toward Yan Shixun, as if demanding something.
Yan Shixun’s gaze swept across the courtyard, surrounded by the undead converging from all directions. His expressionless face showed no signs of fear, only a rapid thought process.
He didn’t know what those skeletons had feared before, causing them to halt, and he was equally uncertain why the sound of the suona had suddenly made them abandon their fear and rush into the courtyard madly.
However, the courtyard was no longer safe.
Yan Shixun quickly snapped back to reality, turning to pull Yang Tu, who was still dumbfounded in the house, to his feet and striding away.
“Brother Yan, what are we doing?”
Yang Tu, caught off guard by being pulled away, was still staring blankly, about to ask Yan Shixun. However, when he also walked into the courtyard and followed the sound of the scattered and clattering skeletal joints, he gasped at the sight.
Unable to hold back, he exclaimed, “Damn! So many!”
Yan Shixun didn’t have time to say anything more. His gaze quickly scanned the nearby rooms, still concerned about the crew members.
The crew members were not here.
Right before his eyes, the crew members had vanished without a trace, and even the rooms were covered in dust.
Continuing to stay here and trying to suppress and kill these dead bodies and skeletons would likely not guarantee the safety of the crew members.
It was a choice between staying in the rural farmstay yard or leaving to search for the truth and retrieve the crew members.
Yan Shixun made a quick decision. He decisively pulled Yang Tu, remaining vigilant toward the approaching dead bodies and skeletons, and hurried towards the gate of the courtyard.
Rather than sitting and waiting, it was better to take the initiative!
But because Yan Shixun turned around too quickly, he didn’t see that in the dark-shrouded house, there was a pair of eyes that had been watching him.
On the bed behind the mosquito net, there was a black-and-white memorial photo.
Those eyes suddenly blinked and slowly formed a smile.
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