Just now, Lü Qingqing was truly frightened.
She had been sleeping soundly, but she kept feeling something fluttering around her face. Annoyed, she swatted it away with her hand, but the sensation persisted.
Even more, Lü Qingqing felt a gust of hot air.
It was like breathing!
Suddenly, Lü Qingqing woke with a start.
But right in front of her, less than 10 centimeters from her eyes, a human head floated before her. Her long hair cascaded down as she stared face-to-face with it.
Its blood-red mouth, pale complexion, and sharp fangs seemed to be dripping saliva…
Especially its dead-fish eyes, as if fixated on her carotid artery.
Thus, Lü Qingqing instinctively let out a scream.
Perhaps her scream was too sharp, for the head actually drifted towards the main hall. Lü Qingqing, being an experienced female detective, had only screamed out of subconscious reflex from being startled awake. But now, seeing the head about to escape, she immediately reacted and got up to pursue it.
However, as she reached the doorway, she felt a force tugging at her feet, as if someone had grabbed her ankle. Lü Qingqing lost her balance and fell to the ground.
At this moment, Luo Wenwu and Ouyang, who were sleeping in the next room, also rushed out.
Perhaps they had rushed too hastily, for Luo Wenwu, who was at the forefront, also tripped and fell. It was Ouyang, who followed behind, who helped him up.
"What happened?" Hu Jia ran into the room, looking flustered.
"There's a ghost!" Lü Qingqing said.
"A ghost?" Ouyang and Luo Wenwu were also startled.
"It was just a head, like a ghost but I don't know if it was a ghost," Lü Qingqing chose a less subjective way of phrasing it.
Rigour was a trait every police officer possessed.
"Where is the ghost?" Hu Jia asked.
Lü Qingqing froze. Right, where was the ghost?
She only remembered falling, and the ghost seemed to have vanished from the room in the blink of an eye.
"Could it have run out of the house?" Lü Qingqing was also confused.
"No! I just came in from outside, and I didn't see anything." Hu Jia scanned the entire main hall. Not to mention a head, there wasn't even a person.
"Right, how did you come in from outside?" Ouyang asked.
"We'll talk about that later." Hu Jia looked at Lü Qingqing, "Did you hurt yourself when you fell? Are you injured?"
Lü Qingqing waved her hand, saying she was fine.
A head that appeared out of nowhere, floating in the air and then mysteriously vanishing?
"This is truly like a knife in the buttock – it's opened my eyes. Lived half my life and now I've encountered a ghost," Luo Wenwu rubbed his knee, muttering curses.
"Let's go, out to find Old Man Lu." Hu Jia certainly didn't believe in ghosts. After a few brief words about Old Man Lu practicing swordplay outside, the group rushed out of the courtyard.
However, where was the figure of Old Man Lu practicing swordplay on the open ground?
Everyone felt a sense of unease; the matter was too strange.
Hu Jia took the lead, running towards the open ground first. It was only after stepping onto it that everyone realized there were actually three diverging paths on the open ground.
Where did Old Man Lu go?
Unknown.
Where did the zombie run?
Unknown.
Since they knew nothing, they could only split up and search! Hu Jia gave a look, "Wenwu, you go left. Big Dog, you go to the middle. You and Qingqing, go right."
Lü Qingqing almost tripped. Who was Big Dog?
Ouyang?
She instinctively glanced at Ouyang Wen, but neither Ouyang Wen nor Luo Wenwu seemed to react to the nickname.
Never mind, she would ask later.
Watching the three figures separate, Lü Qingqing hurried to catch up with Hu Jia.
Just then, Hu Jia stopped.
His foot had touched something soft and very elastic. Hu Jia was all too familiar with this sensation.
It was a person!
And a woman at that!
If Hu Jia hadn't possessed strong psychological resilience, he might have involuntarily cried out. In the middle of the night, finding a person lying on the ground would unnerve anyone.
Because of Hu Jia's discovery, everyone gathered together. It was a short-haired woman. Judging by her attire, she was married. Clearly, she had fallen unconscious.
Lü Qingqing reached out and felt the woman's pulse. Fortunately, she was still breathing. She then promptly pinched the woman's philtrum, and after a long while, the woman slowly regained consciousness.
"Who are you?" The woman looked groggy, as if she hadn't fully come to her senses.
"We are guests at Old Man Lu's house. Are you from the village?" Hu Jia asked.
"The village?" The woman suddenly seemed to recall something and sat up abruptly. "Run, there's a ghost! And a zombie!"
Hu Jia frowned slightly. "Sister, where did that zombie go?"
"That way, going inward!" The woman pointed behind her. "You better leave quickly, that fellow is life-threatening." With that, the woman quickly left the path.
The group exchanged glances and ran in the direction the woman had indicated. Soon, they arrived at a stone-paved road. This struck them as odd. The roads within the village were all made of yellow mud, so why was there a stone path outside the village?
The night wind blew chilly, and everyone was slightly sweaty.
Yet, after walking for a long time, the surroundings were normal, showing no signs of anything unusual.
The quieter it was, the more frightening it became.
Lü Qingqing couldn't help but feel a shiver. "Could there really be a ghost?"
Hu Jia swept his gaze around. "It's probably someone trying to pull a trick."
Hu Jia's words provided some comfort to Lü Qingqing. Indeed, if there were truly ghosts, how could those who committed evil deeds live so prosperously?
"Huh? Look, is that a house ahead?" After walking another hundred meters or so, Ouyang noticed that at the end of the road was a grove of trees, and within its depths, a building vaguely stood tall.
"Everyone, be careful!" A building in an area far from the villagers' residences was bound to arouse suspicion.
As they got closer, they saw that the building was surrounded by a wall two stories high. Many broken glass shards were embedded on top of the wall, presumably to prevent people from climbing over.
Even though the building inside was one or two meters taller than the wall, the wall obscured their view, preventing them from seeing what was inside.
What kind of place was this?
Everyone tacitly decided not to knock. After all, they had no idea what the situation was and didn't want to alert anyone. Hu Jia and the others circled the wall, trying to find any anomalies.
Just then, a terrified scream came from within the wall, followed by shouts of "Ghost!" and "Zombie!"
Someone also shouted, "Don't climb onto the roof, it's dangerous..."
Hu Jia and the others exchanged glances and immediately turned to run back.
They all knew that the wall was an obstruction. If one wanted to see the roof of the tall building inside the wall, one would have to stand at a distance.
After running about ten meters away from the wall, the roof of the building inside became visible to them. Seeing it, they were all greatly startled.
In the darkness of the night, a figure on the rooftop was in great panic, waving its arms. And directly opposite him, another figure with stiff legs was hopping towards him.
As the gentle breeze blew, the long gown on the man was lifted.
The man was in a state of panic, retreating step by step, while the zombie hopped closer and closer.
Finally, the dark figure seemed unable to bear the immense psychological pressure and turned to jump off one side of the building.
"Save him!" Hu Jia's face changed.
The events unfolded too quickly. From when they saw the person and the zombie to when the person jumped from the tall building, it took less than fifteen seconds.
Fifteen seconds, everything happened so fast!