Chapter 5 Nightmare Assault

　　The fat man was still gaping, his lips trembling with extreme fear. He couldn't say a word. He didn't understand why Grandpa Gui hadn't killed him, but had instead snatched the guiding牌 (pái, plaque).

　　Suddenly, a piercing sound came. The fat man immediately turned around. It was the sound of a gong, coming from inside the village!

　　The gong sounded again and again, the ground trembling along with it. The surrounding scenery began to crack little by little, and finally shattered like a mirror in the fat man's terrified eyes. The next second, a face appeared before him.

　　"You're awake!"

　　Seeing the doctor's face, the fat man's first reaction wasn't relief, but to retreat immediately, until he clearly saw the surrounding scene.

　　It was still the same thatched hut. Except for Shao Tong guarding the door, the doctor and Li Bai were both by his side. He was lying on the bed, with a wet cloth on his forehead.

　　The fat man tried to open his mouth to speak, but his throat was very dry, and all that came out were "Ah... ah..." sounds. Li Bai considerately took a waterskin and fed him.

　　Seeing that the fat man was alright, Jiang Cheng also breathed a sigh of relief, the worry between his eyebrows gradually fading away. "What happened to you? We couldn't wake you up."

　　Through communication, the fat man gradually learned what had happened during this time. The doctor and Shao Tong had a peaceful first half of the night, but when they changed shifts, they suddenly realized they couldn't wake him up. Li Bai, who was sleeping on the same bed, was fine, and everyone realized something was wrong.

　　After recovering, the fat man told everyone what he had encountered last night, but because his thoughts were a bit chaotic, everyone could only get a general idea.

　　"How did you know the figure outside the window was Grandpa? You've never seen him before." Li Bai asked the first question.

　　"It was the coughing... I heard it very clearly, exactly the same as what we heard when we first arrived yesterday. Also, I looked outside through the crack in the window. Outside was a withered figure, an old man. There was a moon in the sky at the time, the moonlight was good, and I saw it very clearly."

　　After hearing the fat man's explanation, Jiang Cheng walked over to the tightly closed window and squatted down. After a moment, he reached out and called the fat man over. Only after the fat man squatted in his position did he realize something was wrong.

　　The window seams had been sealed long ago, and you couldn't see outside at all.

　　"Also, there was no moon last night, and there was almost no light in the village. It was impossible for a shadow to be cast on the window paper. The stove in the room hadn't gone out either."

　　"Let's just call it a dream for now. There were too many unreasonable things in that dream. You were probably able to come back alive thanks to that gong sound."

　　The fat man was stunned when he heard this. "What, you guys heard the gong sound too?"

　　"Yeah, you woke up not long after the gong sounded." Li Bai said, looking up in the direction of the village. "The gong sound came from that direction."

　　"Right, the plaque!" The fat man suddenly reacted and reached inside his clothes to touch the wooden plaque on his chest. This was the guiding plaque given by the Marquis's mansion, and it was very important. Fortunately, the wooden plaque hadn't been lost.

　　The fat man exhaled, wiped the cold sweat from his face with a wet cloth, and finally felt relieved. It seemed that this dream wasn't so bizarre as to distort reality. That was what he was most worried about.

　　"Take out the plaque." Jiang Cheng said.

　　The fat man unbuttoned his clothes and took out the plaque from the innermost pocket. But the moment he held the plaque, the fat man realized something was wrong. The plaque was still the same plaque, but this touch... why was it so sticky?

　　At the same time, a faint stench, mixed with a strange smell of blood, spread out, stimulating everyone's nostrils.

　　It was blood!

　　Looking closely, there was actually a bloody handprint on the dark wooden plaque!

　　"There's blood, and a smell of rotting corpse." Jiang Cheng said without changing his expression. He rubbed the plaque with his hand. "There's also some mud mixed in."

　　Compared to Jiang Cheng's attitude, as if he was used to this kind of scene, the fat man was speechless for a while. The scene from last night shattered and reorganized in his mind, making it difficult for him to distinguish between illusion and reality.

　　"Ah...! Ah ah...!"

　　A woman's scream came from next door, followed by a burst of crying.

　　"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

　　Hearing the gong meant that the night was receding. Jiang Cheng wrapped the wooden plaque in cloth and then put it back on his body. "Let's go take a look."

　　Hearing the crying, Yao Shunyu and the others also walked out of their rooms. Just as everyone arrived at the door of the woman and Grandpa's house, the door was opened, and a woman with tear-streaked face stumbled out, her whole body becoming dazed, looking as if she was in great pain. "Grandpa, he... Grandpa, he's dead!"

　　"Dead?"

　　"I woke up this morning when I heard the gong, and I saw Grandpa was still sleeping, so I didn't disturb him, but just now... just now I was going to wake Grandpa up for breakfast, and that's when I found out... that's when I found out..." The woman's face was covered with tears, and she couldn't control her emotions. She looked very pitiful.

　　Jiang Cheng looked through the open door and saw a person lying on a dilapidated earthen bed, wrapped tightly in a quilt, unable to see their face.

　　"Please help me take care of Grandpa. I... I'm going to find the villagers to help with Grandpa's funeral. Please."

　　The woman's sadness didn't seem to be acted out. More importantly, she didn't give Jiang Cheng and the others a chance to refuse. After saying these words, the woman stumbled away, looking like she had lost her soul from the back.

　　After the woman left, the small courtyard fell into silence. Everyone looked at the figure on the earthen bed, or rather the human shape wrapped in the quilt. The scene was a bit strange.

　　Jiang Cheng briefly told Yao Shunyu and the others what the fat man had encountered last night. At this moment, everyone couldn't help but feel a little nervous, worried that what was hidden under the quilt wasn't a corpse, but a fierce ghost.

　　Shao Tong volunteered to step forward, which was exactly what everyone wanted. As the corner of the quilt was slowly lifted, an old face was revealed.

　　The old man didn't die peacefully. His face was twisted, even a bit disfigured. His eyes weren't completely closed, and his mouth was open, as if he wanted to say something. The fat man immediately recognized that this was the Grandpa he had seen last night.

　　Jiang Cheng pulled out Grandpa's two hands, compared them, and then took out the plaque from his chest. After comparing the two, the bloody handprint on the plaque matched the left hand perfectly.

　　Now everyone was sure that the fat man's dream last night was related to Grandpa.

　　Li Bai pried open Grandpa's eyelids, then reached out and felt the old man's temperature. He lifted the corpse to examine it, and after a moment, he made a judgment. "The pupils are dilated. Judging from the temperature and other characteristics, the person hasn't been dead for long, about 4 or 5 hours. Corpse spots have already appeared on the back and other lower parts."

　　"According to this time, when we first arrived yesterday, this Grandpa hadn't died yet. The cough we heard was also made by him," Zhu Jie analyzed.

　　"That's what it looks like from the corpse." Li Bai nodded.