The village chief was helpless but dared not offend Jiang Cheng, so he winked, signaling the dark-skinned man holding his umbrella to hold it for Jiang Cheng. Only then, under the shade, did Jiang Cheng show a satisfied expression.

"Miss Yu!" Jiang Cheng warmly invited Yu Man under the umbrella, and the two walked side by side.

Perhaps it was because of their similar professions, they seemed to have endless topics to talk about. Jiang Cheng often leaned close to the latter's ear and whispered something, causing the latter's pretty face to flush red, and she covered her mouth, giggling.

Then the two turned their heads together, their gazes playfully sizing up Chen Xiaomeng, followed by a knowing exchange of glances.

Chen Xiaomeng was annoyed by Jiang Cheng's face, so she simply turned her head and pretended not to see him.

The mountain road was more difficult than expected. Although it was said to be a few hours' journey, the group stopped and walked, and it was almost dark before they saw a village in the distance.

The village chief leaned on his crutch, standing beside a pile of fallen rocks, gazing at the village with a myriad of emotions in his eyes.

Everyone stopped.

The mountain village under the sunset had a unique charm. The afterglow shone down, as if plated with a layer of sacred gauze, with distinct layers between the white houses and black tiles.

Smoke rose from the roofs from time to time, like a nimble serpent, flying into the depths of the mountains.

It was like a Chinese painting unfolding on rice paper.

Even in the midst of a mission, Pei Qian, a painter by trade, praised the scenery of Xiaoshijian Village. One could feel that his words were completely from the heart.

Wading through a clear stream that barely reached their ankles, they came to a patch of bluestone. Looking ahead, a winding bluestone path snaked into the village.

The village was not large, with about a hundred households.

After the village chief dismissed the villagers who had followed, only Jiang Cheng and the others remained, along with the dark-skinned man holding the umbrella.

The group first arrived at a courtyard. It was said to be a courtyard, but it was actually just a few low tile-roofed houses, surrounded by a circle of fences to form the shape of a courtyard.

As dusk approached, the village chief went in first, seemingly to arrange accommodation for everyone for the night.

Everyone did not enter rashly, but waited outside the courtyard. Jiang Cheng curiously looked up and down, left and right, and finally his gaze settled on the large bamboo baskets placed in the courtyard.

The bamboo baskets were placed next to the fence, filled with large sweet potatoes.

The sweet potatoes were very fresh, with moist soil still clinging to them, as if they had just been dug out of the ground.

After waiting for a while, they suddenly heard a burst of arguing mixed with dialect. After a moment, the village chief came out with a gloomy face.

The door of the house in the courtyard was half open, and a woman's face appeared behind the door.

Zhou Rong saw that the woman was holding a wooden stick with a blackened end in her hand, and her expression was very indifferent.

Seeing Jiang Cheng and his group, the village chief's expression became even more awkward. He opened his mouth, paused, but had to explain, "The man of this house is not here, it's not very convenient, we... we'll go to the next house and see."

As a result, the next house was the same, but the excuse was different.

In the end, the village chief had no choice but to take them to a more remote courtyard. This time it was a real courtyard, built much better than the two houses they had seen before.

It was just a bit dilapidated. When the wooden door was pushed open, the old door axis made a harsh noise.

There were three rooms in the courtyard. A relatively grand main room stood alone on the west side, with the door tightly closed, and an old-fashioned black copper lock hanging on it.

The village chief took them into one of the two small rooms on the east side.

This place was relatively clean. Entering the door was a small hall of about twenty square meters, with a stove made of some unknown material in the middle.

Looking into the stove, there was coal ash that had long been extinguished.

The village chief seemed very familiar with this place. He went to a bamboo basket next to the wall and found some charcoal, and then the dark-skinned man came in from outside, holding a bundle of firewood that he didn't know where he had gotten from.

With the cooperation of the two, the stove fire crackled in no time.

Everyone sat around the stove, reaching out to warm themselves by the fire. Gradually, the warmth dispelled the cold, and the fatigue of the journey was also relieved a lot.

The man who had followed was very quiet, and his eyes were very wooden. After the stove fire stabilized, he carried the firewood and charcoal to the small room next door, and lit the stove in that room as well.

The village chief said apologetically, "You will have to make do with it for tonight," he pointed to the left and right of the room they were in, "These two sides are sleeping rooms, and there are kangs (heated platforms), you can have 4 people in this room, two people on this side, and then two people on the other side, and then the other room can also accommodate four people."

"No need to bother," Pei Qian said, sitting there with a lot of presence, looking at the village chief and saying, "We can all stay in this room."

The village chief seemed to not have expected him to say that, so he paused for a few seconds, then smiled awkwardly, "It doesn't matter, it's all up to you experts..."

Speaking of this, the village chief seemed to suddenly think of something, so he changed his mouth shape and changed his words, "It's all up to you experts... your intentions."

Jiang Cheng glanced at him, humming and hawing, but ultimately said nothing.

The village chief licked his lips, as if he had narrowly escaped a disaster.

"Now you can talk about what you've encountered," Yu Man said, sitting there warming herself by the fire, her fingers slender and graceful. The firelight made her face even more alluring, and she smiled playfully, "You wouldn't have invited us from so far away just to go sightseeing, would you?"

Everyone tacitly did not reveal the story told by the shop owner. In the nightmare, there was no one to be trusted, whether it was an NPC or a teammate.

Hearing Yu Man's words, the village chief's throat couldn't help but roll. After seeing that the dark-skinned man had already returned, he stood up, closed the door, and then found a wooden stick to insert, serving as a door bolt.

After doing all this, the village chief sat down again. At this time, everyone noticed that his face had changed. It was a complex emotion mixed with fear, helplessness, regret, and more.

He raised his head and asked in a very strange tone, "Do you... believe in ghosts?"

Everyone was helpless, wishing they could immediately skip this boring opening of a third-rate horror novel. What everyone wanted to hear was the story!

A true accident that had happened!

But they didn't dare to push the plot too quickly, fearing they would miss something, so Zhou Rong could only nod perfunctorily, "Yes, there are gods three feet above our heads."

"But I'm talking about... ghosts! Not gods," the village chief swallowed hard, and described in a low voice, "It's the kind of terrifying, murderous vengeful ghost."

As he said this, whether it was because the temperature suddenly dropped, or what, everyone felt a chill.

The chill came suddenly, and was inexplicably eerie. Even the charcoal fire in the stove was affected. Under everyone's gaze, it dimmed a lot.