Chapter 231: Ghosts
Standing by the highway, Li Mu waited nervously for a car to pass by.
But it was still early, and after ten minutes, only a few small trucks had sped past. Even though she held out her hand to try to stop them, the drivers just ignored her.
Not long after, less than thirty minutes, Yu Fan and Long Zihan showed up.
"You guys didn’t bring your bags?" she asked in surprise, turning to look at them.
"We snuck over to take a look," Yu Fan said with a helpless look on his face.
"Turns out Xiao Jing tricked us. That place is just the village clinic, and behind it is the village cemetery."
"And it’s not hidden deep in the forest or anything. The clinic is right next to the edge of the woods."
"What a combination..." Li Mu muttered.
"The doctor is also the gravekeeper," Long Zihan added. "Some places are just like that."
Li Mu was stunned and looked at the two of them, who both seemed a bit embarrassed. "So… we’re not leaving anymore?"
"Let’s leave at noon. I already changed my ticket," Yu Fan said, glancing down the highway. "But there aren’t even any cars right now, so we couldn’t leave even if we wanted to."
"True..."
Li Mu still felt a little uneasy, but when they returned to the village, everything was just as quiet and calm as before.
To keep her from overthinking, Yu Fan even took her to the small clinic to have a look.
Xiao Jing was sitting on the steps in front of the clinic, eating a lollipop.
Wait, she said there were sick people and graves everywhere?
Li Mu looked around the clinic entrance.
Yes, there were patients. Two couples with two children, pacing back and forth outside the clinic and knocking on the door. It clearly wasn’t open yet.
As for the graves...
She looked behind the clinic, toward the small forest. Between the clinic and the trees was an open area full of tombstones, a graveyard.
Earlier, Xiao Jing had been watching from the direction of the forest. From that angle, it did kind of look like there was another village.
Li Mu turned to Yu Fan and Long Zihan and said, "She scared us for nothing. Xiao Jing totally tricked us."
"Wasn’t it her who said this place might be haunted?" Yu Fan looked toward Long Zihan.
"My parents were the ones who told me to check it out!" Long Zihan shot back. "They said something might be seriously wrong with this village!"
Everyone was quick to blame someone else.
Xiao Jing stood up and happily ran over to Li Mu. She pulled another lollipop out of her pocket.
"Sister! The uncle doctor gave me this!"
"You can have it." Li Mu didn’t scold her. She just patted her head and held her hand. "Don’t run off like that again, okay?"
"I know!"
The group went back to the guesthouse. The morning’s events had worn them out a bit, so everyone returned to their rooms to rest.
Li Mu stood by the window in her room, looking out at the village as it slowly came back to life.
By around 8 a.m., older villagers were already riding electric bikes and taking their kids to school nearby.
"It still feels kind of strange," she muttered.
She turned around and carefully opened her door. The living room was empty, Yu Fan and Long Zihan weren’t there.
Xiao Jing had probably run off again, and Yu Fan was likely just scrolling on his phone in frustration.
Li Mu quietly tiptoed out of her room, opened the front door, and left the guesthouse.
"You're up early, huh?"
An old man was sitting outside in the sun. When he saw her, he smiled and greeted her. "How’s your stay here so far?"
"The view is really nice. I took a lot of photos in the mountains," Li Mu answered with a small smile.
"Where are you headed?"
"I just want to take a look at the fields nearby. I'm from the city and haven’t really seen this kind of thing before."
As she spoke, she walked in the direction of the clinic. The old man said nothing more, just watched her as she walked away.
The weather wasn’t very good that day. A gray foggy sky made the whole village look dull and colorless.
Li Mu walked slowly along the concrete road in the village. From time to time, she greeted the elderly and children with a bright smile.
"Mm, I’m just walking around and taking some photos."
"We’re leaving at noon."
"The guesthouse owner will provide lunch, no need to trouble yourself."
No matter how you looked at it, this village seemed peaceful and friendly.
Li Mu wondered if she was just overthinking. Even though Xiao Jing could be noisy at times, she wasn’t the type to panic easily.
Of course, it could be a prank...
She quietly kept her thoughts to herself, but the closer she got to the clinic, the more people she saw along the road.
When she had walked this road earlier, it had been quiet. No chickens, no dogs barking, nothing.
But after just half an hour in the guesthouse, now the road was suddenly full of villagers, as if they had all come out at the same time.
"Young lady, there’s a graveyard ahead. It’s a dirty place."
"Are you feeling unwell? Do you need a doctor? I know how to treat people. Come over and let me take a look."
Li Mu smiled and replied politely to everyone who talked to her, but secretly she was watching everything closely.
They’re nervous...
So, something is wrong.
Just then, a rare sight, a middle-aged man, was walking toward her.
But before he even got close, his face suddenly showed fear. He turned and ran back the way he came.
Was he… a ghost?
He was still a bit far, and Li Mu hadn’t yet entered the area where ghost energy could be felt. But judging from that man’s reaction, she had a strong guess.
She stopped walking.
Behind her, an old man with a shovel also stopped swinging it and instead rested it on his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
The old man was sweating on his forehead. "Going to work in the fields… just farming…"
They’re afraid of me.
Li Mu suddenly realized something as she watched the old man walk away. Then she remembered something the previous hotel manager had said during her spring exam.
There’s a powerful ghost inside her. It scared them.
She watched the old man walk down into the field, then lose his balance and fall into the irrigation ditch.
He’s alive. Dead people don’t sweat. Unless it’s someone like Xiao Jing, but that takes years of training. So she could rule that out.
More and more information filled her mind, and as everything came together, it all started to make sense.
She smiled sweetly and walked toward a woman nearby who was eating melon seeds.
The woman was clearly startled and almost fell off her little stool.
"Y-Young lady… is something wrong?" the woman asked, wiping sweat from her forehead.
Yup. She was clearly alive.
So... does that mean everyone in the village has been possessed by ghosts?
Even Li Mu was surprised by the answer she had come to.
Yu Fan and Long Zihan were probably already possessed by ghosts when she had been waiting for the car.
Xiao Jing might have been forced to go along with it, or maybe tricked, just like Li Mu had been before.
She needed to go to the clinic. That place definitely had some dark secret. Otherwise, the villagers wouldn’t be trying to keep her away.
Even though that was what she was thinking, she turned around and walked back toward the guesthouse.
She could clearly feel the villagers around her all breathe a sigh of relief.
When she got back, Yu Fan was pacing nervously in the living room.
As soon as he saw her, he rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders, very anxious. "Where did you go?! I was so worried! This place is full of ghosts! Are you okay?!"
His voice even sounded like he was about to cry.
"You..."
"We got possessed by ghosts. But luckily, I brought one with me."
Long Zihan opened the door to her room and looked inside. Xiao Jing’s spirit form was standing guard over two ghosts in their twenties or thirties. There was also a tall man inside who turned around and nodded at Li Mu.
That must be the ghost she brought with her.
"Da Zhuang, my strong and loyal helper!"