A shadow was cast on the thin window paper!

The faint light clearly outlined a figure on the paper. It was a thin, very thin, hunched figure, and most importantly, motionless.

Judging by its posture, the person was standing right outside the window. Fatty had just woken up and had no idea when the figure appeared, or how long it had been standing there.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Accompanied by a hoarse cough, the figure outside also stirred. The figure bent even lower. Hearing this familiar cough, Fatty immediately realized it sounded very similar to the one he heard not long ago. This person... this person seemed to be the woman's A-ye (Grandpa).

But whatever it was, anything appearing outside the window at this hour couldn't be good.

Fatty retreated slowly and silently, trying to distance himself from this strangely behaving A-ye. But the next second, he bumped into a soft body, and a hand covered his mouth.

"Don't panic, it's me."

Hearing the long-awaited voice, Fatty's tense body immediately relaxed. Jiang Cheng's voice came from behind, very low, "That guy outside has been here for a while. We guess he has something to say to us, otherwise he wouldn't be so blatant."

Fatty struggled slightly, then pointed to Li Bai's sleeping place. Jiang Cheng understood and said, "Don't worry about Li Bai. She and Shao Tong went out together, through the window. After the guy outside appeared, he kept circling the yard, as if he was bewitched by something."

Fatty gently patted Jiang Cheng's hand. Seeing that Fatty's emotions had stabilized, Jiang Cheng slowly let go. Fatty immediately asked in a low voice, "What do we do now?"

"Wait. If the guy outside leaves again, then we'll follow." Jiang Cheng replied without hesitation.

"Go out..."

Looking at the stiff figure on the window, Fatty couldn't help but shiver. "Do we really have to go out? Don't forget, that woman warned us not to leave at night, unless we hear the sound of gongs."

Jiang Cheng's voice became meaningful. He slowly took a breath. "Do you think that woman is normal?"

Fatty was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"We've confirmed that the guy outside is human, but that woman is hard to say." Jiang Cheng whispered in Fatty's ear, "Shao Tong just sent back a message that they're in the next room, the room where the woman and A-ye live. That room is empty. The woman... isn't there."

Hearing this, Fatty's mind became even more confused. He had just woken up suddenly and hadn't expected so much to happen in such a short time. At this moment, the figure on the window suddenly moved, walking forward little by little, away from their room.

"Do we follow him now?" Fatty asked softly.

Jiang Cheng pushed Fatty to the window, his voice full of caution. "Don't rush, let's observe first. The woman is not trustworthy, and Shao Tong's message may not be either."

With the doctor by his side, Fatty felt more secure. He nodded repeatedly, then followed the doctor's instructions and looked out through the crack in the window. A full moon hung in the sky, and the bright moonlight shone down, illuminating a withered figure with its back to them, walking away with stiff steps.

"Let's go too."

Jiang Cheng pushed Fatty, then gently opened the door and walked out one after the other with Fatty. At this moment, the courtyard door had been opened, and the figure was staggering towards the outside of the village.

No, not outside the village, it should be towards the village entrance, Fatty could vaguely tell.

"Are only the two of us following?" Looking at the silent surroundings, Fatty couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.

Jiang Cheng didn't follow immediately, but went to the courtyard door to observe, and then told Fatty to wake up the people in the other room so they could act together.

But Fatty squatted under the window and tried many times, but the people inside seemed to be sound asleep and didn't respond at all. Moreover, the candles and flames in the room had all been extinguished.

Not daring to make too much noise, Fatty had no choice but to return and follow the strangely moving A-ye with Jiang Cheng.

They walked and stopped along the way. The surrounding houses were completely different from what they had seen before, as if they were becoming more and more dilapidated. And the most important thing was that all the lights were off, and the entire fishing village was deathly silent.

Finally, just as Fatty's spirit was about to reach its limit, A-ye stopped. At this time, they had just walked out of the village entrance and arrived at an open space outside the village. The open space was surrounded by shrubs, some of which were growing very well.

A-ye just stood there, motionless, its back revealing an indescribable feeling.

Fatty squatted behind a tree, the scene before him making him even more puzzled. He had a feeling that the doctor was right, that A-ye knew they were following, and he did have something to say.

But if he had something to say, why didn't he just say it? Was he trying to scare them to death in the middle of the night?

Fatty's head was aching. He vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but at this moment, a hand pushed him from behind. "Let's go, let's get closer and take a look."

Although he was scared, he had the doctor with him, and the doctor's mind was beyond his. He mustered his courage and quietly approached A-ye from behind the bushes.

As the distance closed and the angle changed, Fatty finally saw clearly, for the first time, A-ye's face!

It was a bluish-grey face, with wide-open eyes and a ferocious expression. It was definitely... definitely not a living person!

And A-ye was looking down, staring at something not far from its feet, near the dense shrubs. Fatty couldn't see what kind of ghostly thing was hidden in the shrubs.

Now he had only one thought: run!

The doctor's judgment was wrong. This was a ghost!

He and the doctor had been tricked...

Fatty turned around, grabbed the doctor's hand, and ran. He was very fast, and the place was not far from the room where they lived. He believed there was still a chance.

But no matter how he ran, the village entrance was right in front of him, but he couldn't reach it.

Fatty felt that the doctor was slowing down, so he planned to pull his arm and carry him on his back, but the moment he looked down, his blood ran cold.

The hand he was holding had large bones and was covered with patches of spots. This wasn't the doctor's hand, but an old man's hand!

The next second, a bluish-grey face appeared in front of Fatty. Fatty opened his mouth wide, his mind blank. A-ye twisted his wrist and tightly grabbed his wrist, and behind them was the shrubbery from earlier. They had never left.

A-ye reached out and grabbed Fatty's chest. With a tearing sound, his clothes were torn open, and a black wooden牌 (pinyin: pái, plaque) fell into A-ye's hand. Then, A-ye pushed Fatty violently, grabbed the wooden牌, and jumped into the bushes. The whole person disappeared.