Chapter 1 An Unexpected Scream

A scream rang out unexpectedly from the mountainside.

Lu Xiaoyao stared at the scene illuminated by the blue-green firelight, feeling like she was about to faint.

The sanity-blasting sight before her caused the fear in Lu Xiaoyao's heart to gush out like a spring, and her livestream was immediately shut down due to the excessive horror elements.

Livestream audience: […]

Mingmei watching the livestream: …

Hanging from the branches of the trees lining the mountain road were bloody, faceless corpses.

The corpses were soaked in the rain that had just fallen and their own blood, which dripped continuously from them.

*Pat.*

The sound of the water droplets on the ground was clear, but to Lu Xiaoyao, it felt like they were exploding on her scalp.

With each *pat*, another layer of goosebumps rose on her skin.

At that moment, there was no wind, no rain, and the silent mountain forest was filled only with the sound of water droplets and her own frightened, heavy breathing.

*Pat.*

Another drop of blood fell directly in front of Lu Xiaoyao's eyes, her gaze following it down until it burst at her toes.

Compelled by some unknown force, Lu Xiaoyao looked up.

She saw a corpse hanging upside down directly above her head, so close she could almost touch it!

The proximity allowed Lu Xiaoyao to see the corpse clearly even without holding a torch.

It was covered in blood, not from any major wounds, but because its entire skin had been peeled off.

The pink and red flesh was rotting and swollen from the rain, and the bulging eyeballs were staring fixedly at her.

"Ahhhhh!"

Lu Xiaoyao broke down again at the sight, grabbing Julian and moving towards Mu Chen. Suddenly, she felt a pain in her ankle. Looking down, she saw a skeletal hand reaching out from a crack in the stone steps and grabbing her ankle!

"Ahhhhh!"

Lu Xiaoyao screamed again, raising her other foot to kick the hand.

At the same time, Julian noticed something was wrong. He looked down as Lu Xiaoyao had and saw the same thing. He immediately raised his foot and stomped on the wrist bones, crushing them.

He steadied Lu Xiaoyao and pulled her back.

"Hurry, let's get down the mountain."

Seeing this, Mu Chen had no intention of getting entangled with the supernatural creatures. However, it was clear from their targeting of Lu Xiaoyao that the road ahead would not be easy.

Taking advantage of the rain stopping, the three of them ran down the mountain as quickly as possible. Mu Chen kept reminding them not to look left or right, but to focus on the road ahead.

However, even if they didn't look at the corpses hanging in the trees on either side of the road, the shadows cast by the torch still allowed Lu Xiaoyao to see reflections that didn't belong to them, following closely behind them, baring their fangs and claws in a terrifying manner.

"What on earth are these things?" Lu Xiaoyao asked, her teeth chattering. "Why are there so many of them on this mountain?"

"Corpses, can't you tell?" Mu Chen glanced back at Lu Xiaoyao and saw her suddenly ducking down as if she had eyes in the back of her head, dodging a bloody hand that suddenly reached down from above. He continued to hurry down the road.

The scene made him thoughtful.

These things seemed to be targeting Lu Xiaoyao all the time.

"Corpses... where did the corpses come from?" Lu Xiaoyao gasped, nearly choking when she ducked down.

Julian seemed to have thought of something and said incredulously, "Could that madman have been right?"

"Madman... ah, you mean the one from yesterday..."

Lu Xiaoyao remembered the news Julian and the others had gathered in the village yesterday.

"We'll have to go back down the mountain and find out more."

Mu Chen, holding the torch, suddenly stopped. His face was obscured by the firelight, but when Lu Xiaoyao and Julian caught up, they followed his gaze and saw that the stone path ahead had disappeared.

But they hadn't reached the bottom of the mountain yet!

…

"How much longer? Is your village really that far?"

Sitting in the passenger seat, Wang Wenfei rolled down the car window and looked at the rice paddies in the setting sun. The gentle evening breeze and the rustling of the rice were incredibly relaxing.

"Soon, just keep going to the end of this road." Wang Wenfei turned to look at Meruita driving and popped a preserved plum into her mouth. "Thanks for driving me home."

"Hmph~ I told you, I wanted to come here for a vacation. Isn't it enough that you provide room and board without paying for my gas?"

"You're making a profit then~" Wang Wenfei glanced at her. "My family built a small Western-style house a few years ago. You can stay at my place. There aren't any restaurants or hotels in the village."

As she finished speaking, Wang Wenfei paused, wondering why what she had just said felt a little strange.

The strangeness quickly disappeared as the outline of the village became clearer in front of them.

"Dad—"

Before she even drove into the village, Wang Wenfei saw her father among the figures working in the fields outside the village and hurriedly called out!

"Oh! My daughter is back!" Wang Laosan in the field happily clapped the mud off his hands. Wang Wenfei leaned out of the window and said, "Dad, I brought my classmate back to play. We'll go into the village first. You can come home later!"

"Okay! You go back first, your mom is cooking at home."

Under Wang Wenfei's direction, Meruita drove into the village. A group of old people sat under the big tree at the village entrance, and the children running around slowed Meruita's driving.

She could hear the sound of stir-frying from other houses, and the faint aroma of food in the air. The peaceful and leisurely rural life gradually relaxed Meruita's spirits.

"This is a really good place, with mountains and rivers, room and board..."

After saying that, the two got out of the car and entered Wang Wenfei's house, where they saw a middle-aged woman with a slightly shrewish face.

"Oh! My daughter is back!"

Cuihua, holding a plate of roasted chicken, smiled brightly at the two of them, a smile that revealed a hint of lewdness, making them feel a little uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm back. This is my classmate. She wanted to come here to play during the holidays this year."

"Oh, we have a guest. You should have told me sooner, I'll go make some more food and add some dishes." Cuihua put the roasted chicken on the table, wiped her hands on the apron in front of her, and urged Wang Wenfei to take the guest inside to put down her luggage. Then, she went out to prepare more dishes, moving so fast that Meruita didn't have time to say no.

"It's okay, my mom is just like that. The more you tell her, the more she won't like it. I'll take you upstairs to rest. The Mountain God Festival is coming soon. The village is very lively at night these days. I'll take you out for a walk after dinner."

"Okay."

The two of them spoke in agreement, but the strange feeling in their hearts grew stronger and stronger.

What exactly was wrong?