Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
At that moment, the sky was overcast, and Ye Chenfeng and his companions' vehicle was driving through a relatively flat area. They found themselves in a large basin surrounded by mountains, with the asphalt road they had traveled becoming increasingly rare. The landscape was desolate, filled with potholes and muddy ground, making it quite difficult to navigate.
This place was remote, devoid of any embellishments of pure nature. However, because of this isolation, the transportation here remained underdeveloped. On the bare branches of trees, numerous black birds perched.
"Those are Cold Crows," Sun Hong said. "Cold Crows survive by feeding on carrion and animal corpses."
Su Bei felt a chill at Sun Hong's words about the Cold Crows feeding on corpses and dared not look too closely at the small-headed black birds. He had an unsettling feeling that even a single glance could invite misfortune.
"Strange, with so many Cold Crows around, could there be carrion or animal corpses nearby?"
"I'm not sure," Sun Hong replied. He didn't know everything; this was something that might require consulting a wildlife expert to understand why so many Cold Crows were gathered together and what they were doing.
Just as they were talking, whether it was the sound of Ye Chenfeng's car horn or something else that startled the Cold Crows perched on the branches, they suddenly cawed loudly and took flight in a massive wave of black feathers toward the vehicle.
Indeed, the Cold Crows were heading straight for Ye Chenfeng's car.
A cacophony erupted as countless Cold Crows collided with the car's windshield, their bodies splattering against the glass in a gruesome spectacle. The scene was utterly bizarre. Su Bei shrank back in fear, particularly terrified that a Cold Crow might break through the windshield and come after him.
Sun Hong shouted, "Hurry up and accelerate!"
The others were too frightened to speak, while Ye Chenfeng was also too shocked to breathe, focusing solely on speeding away from the assault of the Cold Crows.
Why were the Cold Crows attacking them?
Sun Hong had said that Cold Crows fed on corpses and carrion, but they were all living people in the car. Did that mean the Cold Crows would eat living beings? If that were true, it would be terrifying!
"The appearance of Cold Crows here means we must be close to Zhanglin Village."
"Oh."
"I want to go up the mountain and see where the Cold Crow gathers, to check if there's anything unusual," Ye Chenfeng suddenly suggested, startling everyone in the car.
"Don't! Let's listen to the journalist and stay away from the Cold Crow. Don't go looking for trouble. From now on, your life isn't just yours; it's ours," Qin Keqing joked, always lighthearted even when she felt nervous and scared inside, unlike the others who were visibly frightened.
"Is it really that serious?"
The car finally broke through the siege of the Cold Crow, and there were bloodstains left on the windshield that looked particularly disgusting.
"Qin Keqing, you drive. I'll clean the windshield with a cloth."
Ye Chenfeng parked the car. In the quiet atmosphere, the night mist swirled around them like a stampede of horses.
Su Bei expressed her concern, "I think we should stay in the car."
"What are you afraid of?" Ye Chenfeng pushed open the car door and stepped out. The solid ground beneath his feet felt reassuring; he didn't sense anything unusual, at least not any ghostly presence. He grabbed a cloth to wipe off the bloodstains on the windshield while outside. Inside the car, everyone felt their hearts in their throats, fearing something might happen to him out there.
This situation was somewhat reminiscent of a death road in a Hollywood blockbuster.
In those films, road killers create various malfunctions to force lone vehicles to stop, then they appear dramatically. If there are men in the car, they deceive them into trusting them before seizing the opportunity to kill and dismember them, feeding their flesh to dogs.
If they encounter women or couples who enjoy camping outdoors, their killing methods become even more perverse and brutal, horrifying to witness.
Ye Chenfeng and his friends had watched such a bloody horror movie.
But movies and reality are two different things.
While movies can realistically evoke fear within an audience through compelling performances, the fear encountered in real life stems from within oneself.
Ye Chenfeng quickly wiped the bloodstains off the windshield. Just as he was about to get into the car, a flash of red passed by him from behind, something that not only he felt but everyone inside the car saw.
"Ye Chenfeng..." Su Bei exclaimed in fright, pointing behind him and saying, "A woman dressed in red just ran past."
Ye Chenfeng became tense as well. He tried to reassure them, saying, "It must be a villager!"
Qin Keqing stared nervously at the place where the woman had run into—a dense thicket of trees. He muttered to himself, as if speaking to them, "Maybe yes, maybe no."
At that moment, Sun Hong looked pale with fear and remained silent.
Shen Binghan noticed and hurriedly whispered comfortingly, "It's okay."
Ye Chenfeng asked Qin Keqing what he meant by "maybe yes, maybe no." He was puzzled because when they mentioned the woman in red, he couldn't help but think of the strange woman in red who had been staring at him on their way back to Purple City.
This time it was Qin Keqing driving.
He skillfully turned the steering wheel and switched on the headlights before replying to Ye Chenfeng, "If she were a villager, why would she run? And alone at that, crossing this farm road by herself."
Ye Chenfeng found Qin Keqing's words reasonable. If that woman had been a villager, she would have at least been curious about their presence or perhaps frightened enough to run into the woods to hide.
The glaring headlights illuminated the bumpy road ahead, revealing a gray-brown expanse. In the distance, they could hear barking dogs, which made everyone in the car cheer with excitement—finally, there was a sign of human presence. Where there are dogs, there are people.
Sun Hong said that Zhanglin Village was just ahead.
For the first time, Ye Chenfeng began to engage seriously with Sun Hong. He asked, "How do you know this is Zhanglin Village?"
"I have records," Sun Hong replied. "A colleague gave me a book that details the history of Zhanglin Village and events that have occurred here."
"Is it too much to ask for that book?" Ye Chenfeng said.
Sun Hong shook his head and replied, "Unfortunately, I lost that book. It happened when I was getting off the bus after being harassed by the driver. I left it on that big truck in my hurry."
"Alright then!" Everyone in the car was recalling the Cold Crow attack incident, feeling uneasy. Ye Chenfeng tried to make conversation, "How much longer until we arrive?"
"I'm not quite sure," Sun Hong said. "But if you look at the trees by the roadside, most of them are camphor trees. The name Zhanglin Village seems to originate from the meaning of camphor."
"Oh."
Ye Chenfeng widened his eyes, but all he could see was a mass of darkness. There were no streetlights outside, and even where the headlights shone, it looked desolate, as if no one lived there.
The wheels bumped along the uneven road, shaking them so much that it felt like their bones might fall apart.
"Should we stop the car?" Qin Keqing asked cautiously. Despite her careful driving, they still hit a deep pothole and bounced around more frequently, as if there were no good roads ahead.
Just as everyone was considering whether to stop, Su Bei suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, look!"
Ahead of them by the roadside, they could vaguely see a house.
A dog with glowing green eyes stood its ground, its body leaning forward as it barked fiercely at them, warning: take another step forward and I'll bite you to death.
The car came to a halt. Long-distance travel was truly exhausting; everyone felt sore and uncomfortable.
As they got out of the car, Ye Chenfeng noticed a person quietly standing at the door, scolding the barking dog.
"Hello," Ye Chenfeng greeted the silent farmer standing at the entrance, who seemed to ignore their presence completely.
Ye Chenfeng's greeting was met with a series of coughs from the other man, sounding as if he was struggling to catch his breath, unable to stop the relentless "cough... cough cough..."
Su Bei picked up his backpack and then set it down again. It was indeed challenging for him to carry the heavy load without having found a place to stay yet. He whispered to the others, "This guy must have asthma!"
Qin Keqing interrupted him sharply, "Shut up."
Ye Chenfeng held out a pack of cigarettes that Qin Keqing had bought, offering it to the coughing man. The dog that had been barking was now silent, lying obediently on the ground, staring at the unfamiliar strangers with its dark, shiny eyes.
The coughing man was eager for a smoke. His eyes lit up when he saw the cigarettes, and he took them without hesitation, finally managing to say, "Where are you all from, and where are you headed?"
Hearing that the man could speak and wasn't mute, Ye Chenfeng breathed a sigh of relief and quickly replied, "Um... we're looking for a mountain village called Zhanglin Village. Can you point us in the right direction?"
"Ah... this... this is Zhanglin Village," the man said. Ye Chenfeng was sure of it; judging by the man's labored speech, he indeed had asthma. He glanced back at the person standing by the car, waving at them.
Su Bei couldn't help but feel delighted, mumbling, "So it really is Zhanglin Village."
"Yes," Sun Hong said as she reached for her bag, which was bulging and likely contained her camera for filming.
Qin Keqing offered to help but found it heavy and noticed that the bottom of the bag was damp as if something had leaked.
"It's too heavy; I'll handle it myself," Sun Hong said as she slung the bag over her shoulder and walked away effortlessly.
Ye Chenfeng had more belongings than the others. Shen Binghan thought it unnecessary to carry everything with them and decided on his own to take just one piece of clothing while locking the rest in the car.
The group approached the old farmer standing in front of them.
The farmer looked at these young people who had traveled so far, coughing continuously but still welcomed them warmly into his home.
The houses have adobe walls, and ordinary bricks, kiln bricks, and large tiles are put on the roof in pieces. Entering the house, it's much warmer. Qin Keqing I always feel that there is a faint smell of cow dung in the air. If I look closely, isn’t the yellow stuff on the wall just cow dung? Baidu has recorded that smearing walls with cow dung has at least two benefits: it is more environmentally friendly than synthetic paint, and it has the effect of keeping people warm in winter and cool in summer. I didn’t expect to see cow dung plastering the walls in such a remote mountain village. Qin Keqing Cover your mouth and nose and walk out as soon as you come in. He really didn't want to stay in such a smelly environment for a minute. In fact, before going out, he had planned that if they couldn't find accommodation, they could set up a tent as a last resort. There are three tents in the car, which they usually use for camping when hiking. He came out this time and took it with him. He didn't know if it would come in handy, but he didn't expect it to come in handy. Qin Keqing Not wanting to stay in a house smeared with cow dung, they had no choice but to set up a tent outside and rest in the woods a few meters away from the farmhouse. SunHong lives alone in one tent, and the other two people live in two other tents. Everything was arranged, but Ye Chenfeng felt an inexplicable uneasiness growing in his heart.
Comment 0 Comment Count