1TWITF[C Chapter 65

Chapter 65

The village chief stayed behind, locking the door, leaving the courtyard in complete silence.

After a moment, a sharp scratching sound came from inside the coffin.

At this moment, Lu Yanli received a message from Luo Ying. She asked Lu Yanli to find a way to slip away and come to the courtyard, claiming she had a major discovery.

Luo Ying was standing there waiting for him. Seeing Lu Yanli arrive, she whispered, “We need to go in and open the coffin now. That old woman has something we need.”

“But it hasn’t been long since she reanimated.”

“What does she have on her?”

Luo Ying said, “Don’t worry about that. Anyway, we won’t have time once she’s buried. The cemetery in this village is a forbidden area, and I can’t get in without a villager leading the way.”

Seeing that the item seemed important, Lu Yanli’s original speculation deepened.

Sure enough, she wasn’t here purely for missionary work.

Lu Yanli didn’t believe in a “God” who required sacrifices to grant wishes through strange means, but now, he desperately wanted to know what this “God” wanted.

In Shangxian Village, what item was so coveted that even this “God” desired it?

They carefully pried open the lock and entered the courtyard. In front of the main room, the two braziers were still burning with unburnt paper money. Pale paper figures with crimson mouths smiled as they sat by the braziers.

Under the wreaths, a rooster whose throat had been slit was completely dead. Beside it was a small bowl of thick chicken blood. Lili had used it to create the red thread that sealed the coffin.

Luo Ying brought some kind of tool and began to pry open the nails. She was very fast, able to pry one open in just over ten seconds. Lu Yanli collected the nails for her, constantly watching for anyone else who might arrive.

As she was pulling out a nail halfway, a strange sound rang out.

Something was scratching inside.

“Are you sure?” Lu Yanli asked her.

Luo Ying nodded firmly, “As long as we’re not discovered by the villagers, we’ll be fine.”

As she spoke, she pulled out the last nail.

The scratching sound inside the coffin stopped abruptly.

A trace of imperceptible solemnity flashed in her eyes. She hesitated for a long time with her hand on the coffin lid, but finally slowly pushed forward with force.

With a “creak,” the coffin lid slowly opened.

A strong stench rushed out, almost knocking them over. The stench seemed to have color, steaming out like a fog. The two immediately dodged to avoid any toxins in the gas.

After a long while, Luo Ying cautiously moved closer.

Inside the coffin, an old woman with a withered and sunken face lay quietly. She was dressed in a colorful silk shroud. The first thing that caught the eye wasn’t the jade ornaments in her ears, wrists, and mouth, but the fine hair on her withered face.

It was clearly the fur of a mammal. Her whole face looked like a cat and a human at the same time, with fangs exposed. Her hands, resting on her waist, also had long, sharp claws, making her particularly terrifying.

Luo Ying steadied herself and first tossed a small object into the coffin, then gestured for Lu Yanli to reach in.

“Take out the thing in her mouth,” Luo Ying said softly, while handing Lu Yanli a plastic glove.

Seeing Lu Yanli hesitate, she urged, “You lived in that person’s house for a few days, she won’t move against you for now. Hurry, take it and go!”

Only then did Lu Yanli put on the gloves and reach out, slowly probing.

He also wanted to know what Luo Ying was making such a special effort to retrieve.

In the old woman’s mouth was a strangely shaped jade object. It was precisely because the jade object was propping open her mouth that her rows of fangs were exposed.

As his fingertips reached the jade object, a cold aura rushed towards him, almost freezing his fingers even through the gloves. After a slight pause, he quickly pulled out the jade object.

“Quick!” Luo Ying urged, her hand already on the edge of the coffin, pushing inward with force. Unexpectedly, just as she was about to close the lid, the old woman, as if possessing intelligence, grabbed Lu Yanli, who hadn’t fully retracted his hand, and dragged him into the coffin.

Everything happened in a brief instant. The coffin slammed shut, and the old woman had already leaped out, standing on the coffin lid, emitting beast-like moans from her throat.

“Who’s in there?!” Villagers’ shouts came from outside the door.

Leaving Lu Yanli lying in the pitch-black coffin, he wanted to push open the coffin lid and escape, but the courtyard door had been pushed open heavily.

“What’s going on? Is it acting up again?” It was the village chief’s anxious voice.

Several villagers who followed were shocked after seeing the situation. “Village chief, the nails on the coffin…”

“The chicken blood thread is broken too!”

“Quickly! Nail it back on!”

Lu Yanli couldn’t care about anything else and immediately called for help, but the coffin seemed to be made of some special material. He shouted loudly twice, but the people outside still didn’t hear him and only talked among themselves. He then decisively shut his mouth to conserve oxygen, and then reached out to knock on the coffin wall.

“Wait, there’s a sound inside the coffin!”

“Quick, quick, quick! Nail it faster! Bury it quickly!”

The rhythmic knocking didn’t make the villagers think there might be a living person inside. The old woman’s reanimation during the day had already scared them half to death. After hurriedly nailing the coffin back together as it was, the village chief used chicken blood to draw out threads and glue the coffin lid together.

Uncle Zhang was also among them, looking around, not finding Lu Yanli’s figure. He thought he was slacking off and couldn’t help but curse inwardly.

He was strong and sturdy, so the village chief naturally let him carry the coffin.

The group quickly divided the work. Soon, the courtyard rang out with the mournful sound of the suona again.

High-pitched, loud, the sound made people tremble from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads, almost blowing into their souls.

Lu Yanli lay in the coffin, his whole body stiff.

Whether it was because of the jade object or because the coffin had some tricks, a chill came from all directions, and Lu Yanli’s limbs slowly stiffened.

He still wanted to make a sound, but found it extremely difficult, and even his throat seemed to be blocked by the cold.

What… is going on…?

What… to do?

A coldness that could even freeze his thoughts, Lu Yanli lay on the soft silk, but felt like he was in an ice cellar.

So cold…

He slowly curled up his body, shivering non-stop.

Suddenly, his body felt lighter.

The coffin was lifted up and carried out.

Whether it was the long shouts, or the cries of others, or the sounds of firecrackers, suona, and erhu mixed together, Lu Yanli couldn’t hear clearly. He shrank in the wide coffin, under him was soft, cold silk, constantly trembling, making the originally flat cushion crumpled and randomly covering his body, trying to draw a little warmth.

The courtyard door opened, and the mountain wind howled, bringing the unique scent of the mountain forest.

On the winding mountain road, a car sped past, its headlights illuminating the road ahead.

Yu Xianguang listened for a while, perplexed. “Why does it sound like funeral music?”

“Is someone holding a funeral?”

“Who holds a funeral late at night…”

After a long while, someone in the car asked softly.

The car continued to move forward. Unexpectedly, the mountain road that the navigation said was still dozens of kilometers away quickly came to an end. They drove into a flat area, with only wild green trees dancing in the wind on both sides.

After driving a little further, the sound of the suona became closer and closer. They could already vaguely see a long line of people in the distance, traveling through the dense forest.

It really was a funeral procession!

The coffin was very heavy, bending the thick wooden poles slightly. If the farmers weren’t used to heavy work, they might not have been able to walk so smoothly. Even so, several people carrying sturdy wooden stools followed behind the procession, ready to let them stop and rest at any time.

They all had shadows, they were all people. This reassured everyone in the car a lot.

Seeing that the people in front were probably villagers, several task-takers got out of the car one after another. An Xingyu took the lead in greeting the person at the front of the procession, saying that they were returning home from out of town to pay respects to their ancestors.

His words made the task-takers look at each other.

There were other people here to pay respects to their ancestors?

Were they also doing a task?

Yu Huan asked, “How long will it take to get to the village now?”

One of the people in the procession pointed behind him. “Just keep going straight on the main road, don’t turn, you can see it in about ten minutes.”

It was that close? But the navigation said it would take several hours ten minutes ago.

Had they been going around in circles?

Yu Huan held back from saying it, his gaze uncertain. After thanking the villagers, he returned to the car. At the same time, the navigation sounded again: “…The distance to Shangxian Village is three point five kilometers…”

The sweet electronic female voice now made their scalps tingle.

Even though they had experienced strange events, they still had to go to the tiger mountain. Xie Ziqing and Yu Huan exchanged driver’s seats, letting the long funeral procession pass by the car.

That sound… came from inside the coffin!

Even though Lin Chu had prepared herself mentally, knowing that she would inevitably encounter paranormal events that couldn’t be explained by science during the task, facing death and the strange was still different from imagining it. In an instant, her body was covered in goosebumps, and the tingling sensation on her scalp made Lin Chu’s breathing a little rapid.

After death, besides turning into a corpse and slowly rotting, could there be other forms?

What kind of existence were ghosts? Why could there be ghosts in this world?

Unconsciously, she tensed the back of her hand. The strong desire for knowledge in her heart made her quickly leave a sentence, “I’ll go take a look,” and then she pulled open the car door and followed, using her unfailingly effective cute smile to ask the villagers, “Can I go pay my respects? Don’t worry, I won’t cause trouble.”

The villagers, who had been full of enthusiasm just now, immediately waved their hands and refused. “No, girls have heavy yin energy, go back quickly.”

Hearing that the reason was actually something nonsensical like heavy yin energy, Lin Chu spread her hands. “Okay, then I’ll go back.” After saying that, she walked back and squeezed back into the car under the villagers’ gazes.

The others hadn’t expected Lin Chu to pull such a move at all. Before they could say anything, Lin Chu made a “shh” sound. “Drive forward a bit, I’ll secretly get out of the car and chase after them later.”

“But they said you shouldn’t follow.”

“No, I want to see.” Lin Chu’s gaze cast from the rearview mirror to that procession. “I heard a little sound from the coffin just now, it’s necessary to go take a look. Don’t worry, I won’t easily court death.”

The others all shook their heads.

“So, where do they want to take the person to bury them?”

This question stumped everyone.

Yu Huan stepped on the brakes, not knowing whether to admire her or pray for her. After hesitating for a while, he still said, “Be careful, don’t get into trouble.”

The long funeral procession continued to move forward. Lin Chu trailed far behind. Thanks to the band, the loud and clear music was especially obvious in the dark night. It was easy for Lin Chu to keep up.

The procession’s route was indeed a bit strange. After walking along the road they had come from for a while, they suddenly made a turn in front and advanced towards the jungle where no road had been opened.

What was going on?

Lin Chu recorded it and secretly took a few photos and sent them to the group, and then continued to track.

An Xingyu’s heart trembled fiercely, but it didn’t show on his face. He zoomed in on the picture again and found that the old man’s face was a bit strange.

Withered, cyanotic, with green fangs and fine hair, at first glance it looked a bit like a raccoon cat.

“Tell Lin Chu, there may be danger,” An Xingyu said.

He edited the picture, circled it with a red line, and sent it back to her, but there was no response from the other side for a long time.

Lin Chu didn’t know about their discovery. In her eyes, the scene in front of her was perfectly normal. Every time she ran forward a certain distance, she took a few pictures and sent them over. But on her phone, she didn’t receive any feedback at all!

“She’s probably been bewitched, this kind of situation often happens in previous tasks.” An Xingyu took a deep breath, sliding through the photos one by one. “From now on, everyone don’t look at the phone, I’ll look at it alone. If a strange situation occurs, I’ll throw the phone away immediately.”

Soon, Shangxian Village arrived.

Going around to the back of the mountain?

She was puzzled.

In the coffin, Lu Yanli’s whole body was almost completely stiff.

He still remembered the thing that Luo Ying had thrown into the coffin. Using the last bit of strength, he tried hard to touch it, grasped it in his hand, and barely regained a trace of clarity.

He was now… in the coffin…

No, he had to find a way out.

The coffin under him still had a sense of suspension, and the procession was still moving forward.

Where were they going? Where were they going to bury this coffin?

At this moment, the funeral procession finally arrived at the edge of the forest.

The first person stepped out, followed by the next one.

When the coffin was completely carried out of the forest, what surprised Lu Yanli was that the feeling of stiffness in his whole body suddenly disappeared!

It was as if the feeling of being frozen just now was just an illusion. He held the thing Luo Ying threw into the coffin in his hand, and the other hand still unconsciously gripped the jade object in the old woman’s mouth. Lying in the coffin, he could feel the oxygen gradually thinning.

He heard the sounds outside.

“We’re finally here, everyone, give it your all and keep moving forward!”

“We’re not afraid of anything happening here, quickly, quickly, let’s bury it!”

“Where is the old woman’s grave set?”

The village chief’s voice came, and it was hard to hear clearly through the thick layer, but he could only hear him leading the way in front.

Lu Yanli made his breathing longer, and then reached out from his pocket to fumble for a metal knife. After recalling the coffin structure, he found a spot and started to drill a hole.

Now, he needed to breathe.

The sound of drilling wood wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t easy to ignore either. One of the strong men carrying the coffin stiffened.

“Vi, village chief, there’s still a sound inside.”

The village chief was shocked and waved his hands repeatedly. “Quick, quick, quick! Hurry over there!”

He chose a spot that happened to be in the shadow covered by the coffin lid, and no one noticed that there was an extra small hole. As soon as Lu Yanli dug through, he leaned close to the small hole, greedily breathing in the fresh air.

It wasn’t until now that he had time to think.

What had just happened? Why did that stiff, cold feeling disappear in an instant?

Through the small hole, watching the procession move forward, Lu Yanli was pondering how to escape when, prompted by a divine command, he thought of the bone whistle Lili had given him.

Should he do it?

This time, everyone heard the movement.

“Thump thump thump, thump thump thump…”

The sound came from inside the coffin.

The strong men carrying the coffin still didn’t hear human voices, and their legs were about to go weak. The village chief was also afraid, but still encouraged them.

“Don’t be afraid! We’re fine here, hurry, hurry!”

As they spoke, they reached the grave they had originally set for the old woman.

The villagers all breathed a sigh of relief and hurried forward, carefully aligning the coffin with the already dug grave, and slowly lowered the coffin. As soon as they unloaded the goods, they all rubbed their shoulders and arms with sore backs and pains.

“Don’t dawdle, bury it quickly!” The village chief was anxious, and the first to take a shovel and throw a scoop of dirt on it.

Other villagers followed suit, filling the soil one after another. There were at least a dozen or twenty people who came, and with one shovel each, they quickly buried most of the coffin.

The rustling sound fell on the coffin lid.

Lu Yanli knew that if he didn’t take action again, he would really be buried by them.

He picked up the bone whistle and blew it gently.

“What’s going on? Why is there suddenly such a strong wind?”

“Quick, quick! Don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine after we fill the soil.”

“Wait, you, did you hear a dog barking?” The first person to speak asked suspiciously.

Not only him, but everyone else heard it. Lin Chu, hidden in the bushes, widened her eyes suddenly.

“Ghost!!!”

“Run!”

Only a few of the villagers had seen Lili take it fishing, where had the others seen this scene? They immediately dropped their shovels and ran away, but it was no use. Awang, who had been hungry all along, lightly leaped and jumped in front of a villager who was running slower. With a wave of its paw, the villager’s head fell to the ground, rolling away.

Witnessing all of this, Lin Chu tensed her strings. After spraying some prickly ash water and pepper powder on herself, she quietly moved inside.

She suddenly felt that she had touched something stiff.

Looking back, an old woman with a withered and pale face, green fangs, and wearing a shroud, was quietly standing behind her.

At that moment, Lin Chu almost used her fastest speed, leaping out of the bushes like a cannonball, and rushing straight into the grave pit.

This dog didn’t eat the villagers who had just been killed, but just sniffed, maybe it wasn’t interested in fresh human flesh. It didn’t move when it was facing the coffin, indicating that the corpse in the coffin was either fresh, or it was in the same gang.

In contrast, she would rather bet!

She clung to the edge of the grave pit. The villagers hadn’t completely filled in the soil just now, and it was easy to hide in the pit. And as she had speculated, the giant dog roared and rushed towards the old woman.

Lin Chu breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t until now that she found something wrong.

A little bit of, tooth-aching cutting sound came from the inner wall of the coffin.

Was the thing inside coming out?!

Lin Chu was shocked. She was about to climb out, but she realized that the dog and the old woman were still not far away outside. And her intuition didn’t detect any sense of crisis from the coffin in front of her, which reassured Lin Chu.

She took out her phone, took pictures in all directions, and then took out plastic bags and tweezers from her pocket, carefully taking a little bit of the blood-linked thread from the edge of the coffin.

Could this be the blood of a ghost?

Thinking of this possibility, Lin Chu couldn’t help but get excited.

Little did she know that it was precisely because she had taken away a key section of the chicken blood thread that the coffin lid was able to move, and all the blood threads were completely broken.

The heavy solid wood cover was slowly pushed open.

A pale-faced man sat up from inside.