Chapter 11 The end

Chapter 11 The end

“Oh, I see!” Xiaoqiao smiled, a bright smile showing on her face. “This is great! If we had found out earlier, I wouldn’t have had to be on the run all this time. It was so exhausting to keep running.”

“Thank you, big brother and big sister!” Xiaoqiao said sweetly, “If there is a chance in the future, I will repay your kindness!”

As soon as Li Qiao finished her sentence, her body started to emit soft but bright lights and then her body turned transparent and floated in the air.

“She really is a ghost…” Shi Yitong muttered.

“Yes, she is. She can go to the heaven now after letting go of all her earthly attachments.” Bai narrowed his eyes and looked at the floating Xiaoqiao. “This would count as having done a good deed I guess.”

The lights emitted from Xiaoqiao’s body became so bright that we had to close our eyes. With a huge gust of wind, Xiaoqiao disappeared in the air.

“If there is a next life, I will come back and play games with big brother and big sister.”

“Whoa!” Liang Kaifeng suddenly shouted out in shock.

I opened my eyes and was similarly shocked.

Nobody knew when the forest suddenly became bright, it was obviously the time right before sunset. In front of us, there was a pile of human bones, it looked like something ate them and then spat out the bones all over the place. The color showed that they had been dead for many years.

Not far from the bones, we saw the white car. But unlike what we saw previously, the car roof was covered by leaves and dust, the paint had peeled off, and the iron plates beneath were rusty.

“This is…” even Bai was shocked.

“It seems the car has been here at least five years… no, no, at least ten years.” Shi Yitong touched the rusty iron plates of the old car.

All of a sudden, my phone that previously was unable to get a signal before, lit up. I looked at the phone, it showed the time was five forty-five in the afternoon.

“Wasn’t this the time we entered the forest?” I was confused.

“Guys, look!” Su Xiaoyun pointed over in a direction. “There’s a light over there, it should be the exit.”

“Let’s go!”

As expected, as we walked towards the lighted crack, after only a few minutes we left the forest. It was still evening, and the sky was not fully dark; a group of teachers and students were waiting for us.

“Great! We are out!” Liang Kaifeng cheered, he was so happy that he almost danced.

The teachers and students who were waiting outside paused at first and then they looked at the three of us. “Why did you return so soon? What did you do inside?”

“Soon?” Shi Yitong was puzzled.

That’s right, according to the time we left, it had only been less than five minutes since we entered the forest.

“Uh, because it is just a small forest,” I jumped in and explained, “We found Liang Kaifeng very fast. I’m sorry, sir.”

“You still know how to be sorry?” The teacher in charge seemed very angry. “You knew it was dangerous and yet still did it! It’s alright this time but make sure you do not make the same mistake again. Who will be responsible if we cannot find him?”

It turned out all four of us were given demerits without exception. However, even the normally bossy and domineering Liang Kaifeng did not object, which surprised the teachers.

“You saved me this time,” Liang Kaifeng muttered while touching his nose. “My father once said that people should repay the kindness of other people. Without your help, I probably would have died in that deserted place. This time, I owe you one.”

We looked at each other and were surprised.

“But I need make it clear, I still do not like you guys at all. Unlucky things always happen when I meet you guys.” The next second, he became bossy and domineering again. He stared at us and said, “That is quite another matter, do you understand?”

After throwing these words at us, Liang Kaifeng left angrily.

“Maybe… this rich kid is not that annoying.” Shi Yitong said while rubbing his jaw.

“What a surprise that you can say such nice words.” Su Xiaoyun giggled.

At night, after I safely returned to the school dorms, I went to the old house and visited Wen Jiubo. I told him what happened to us on Mt.Yanjin in detail. He looked much better now but was still very annoying as ever.

“… so, that’s what happened.” I released a long sigh and lay on the clean wood floor.

“Isn’t that nice?” Wen Jiubo squinted at his phone while playing his game.

“No, it’s not!” I sat up suddenly and complained. “I almost died there! Did you even hear what I said?”

“Of course I heard what you said,” Wen Jiubo said casually while playing the game. “But you did not actually encounter any danger, did you? It was just a false alarm.”

“But I almost fell off a cliff.”

“That’s your fault, do not blame it on others.”

“You!” I was so angry but did not know how to contradict him. I really did not know what went on inside his head; sometimes, I felt he actually cared about me, while sometimes he was completely indifferent.

“But, even though the monster we saw was an image created by the little girl ghost, the fact that the family of three was attacked was true.” I thought it over and replied.

“That’s true.” This time Wen Jiubo gave me an affirmative reply.

“Strange,” I muttered. “The car we saw is the same car in the photo shown on the news a few days ago. But how did the reporter of the news take that photo? Did he break into the forest barrier like we did? How did he come out?”

Wen Jiubo gave me a look and said indifferently, “Who knows, maybe it is just a coincidence.”

“Besides, what is this monster?” I jumped up and grabbed a piece of paper on the desk. I sketched the big black monster from memory. I studied art for two years during high school, I thought my sketch was not bad.

Wen Jiubo put down his phone, took my sketch and studied it for a while, then shook his head. “I do not know.”

I did not believe what I just heard and asked, “What?”

“I said.” Wen Jiubo put down my sketch. “I do not know.”

“Did I sketch too poorly?” I thought in my mind. I picked up the sketch and studied it.

I didn’t think so.

“No, your sketch is good. It is just that I do not recognize this monster.” Wen Jiubo shook his head.

“No way?” I was surprised. “You do not know? Is this a monster that even you do not recognize?”

Wen Jiubo looked at me and seemed amused. “I am not God, I do not know every monster; of course there are monsters I do not recognize. The world is much bigger than you think. If we say the world is round, what we know is just a spot on its diameter. What’s more, a monster as huge as this must not be an indigenous resident in the forest. Hence, I do know how they ended up in this forest. What are their habits and whether they have already left.”

I froze and did not know how to respond. What Wen Jiubo said gave me a feeling of unknown fear.

Wen Jiubo stood up, grabbed the coat off the hanger and got dressed. It seemed that he was about to go to the House of Exorcism to prepare medicine herbs. When he was about to step out the room, he stopped. And then he turned back and looked at me.

“Maybe it is a coincidence, maybe it is not.” Wen Jiubo narrowed his eyes. “Maybe… someone wants to draw your attention, Gu Yu.”