CH 23

Su Wangsheng, once again, felt the terror from the child.

Last time in the villa, when Ning Su asked him to touch the child, he was stared at by the child with that terrifying look that made people go crazy.

Even though the child was not staring at him now.

Su Wangsheng subconsciously glanced at Zhu Shuangshuang and saw her holding her chest, struggling to breathe.

Su Wangsheng quietly stood in front of her and looked at the child standing silently.

Under the blood moon, the scarred male bride had no shadow.

The child did, but only half of him.

That half of the small shadow was strangely stuck to the ground, connected to his little feet.

The scarred man’s hand holding the knife trembled, and he felt the same sensation as he did at the wedding.

At the wedding, he didn’t want to kneel at all, but some force pressed him down and had to kneel on the ground. It was a natural suppression that he couldn’t resist, no matter how strong he was.

He saw black patterns creeping up the child’s face and the only hand left on his body, becoming deeper and denser.

The patterns crawled around his black eye sockets and, against his white-grey skin, looked like cracks. The eye sockets without eyeballs seemed to be about to crack open.

At the same time, cracks appeared on the ground, and the land in the village began to tremble.

In a few distance away, the wailing in the villa suddenly increased, and the real cries of ghosts and animals echoed around the village.

Excited or painful screams mingled in the night sky, accompanied by the sound of doors being knocked open in every household.

It was lively for a moment, then it became out of control.

The scarred man did not understand. He only put a knife on the neck of a pig held by the child. How did it become like this?

Before he could react, the ghost child with black patterns all over his face opened his purple mouth, froze for a moment, and then screamed at him.

The sound waves of that sound were like something solid, instantly pushing the scarred man dozens of meters away, breaking everything in his body. His shattered self fell onto the grass, startling a green firefly.

The four people behind the child listened to the shaking of Huaiyang Village and looked at all this in shock.

Chen Tian gritted his teeth and stopped shaking. “Could he be the Ghost Master?”

Others had mentioned this child to him before, and he had said to pay attention to this child. However, there were too many things happening, and he had not seen this child again, so he temporarily forgot.

Hearing him say this, Chen Qing was silent for two seconds.

When she was at the slaughterhouse with Ning Su, the other asked if the child was the Ghost Master. She thought Ning Su was just grasping at straws.

Who could have thought that this child was so terrifying?

“Ning Su asked him before, and he doesn’t seem to be,” Chen Qing added. “But he didn’t say he wasn’t either. At that time, I didn’t think he would be so frightening.”

The child cleared the way for them and continued to run with the little pig without delay.

Just as Chen Qing finished speaking, while they were still in shock, the child had taken a few steps and fell to the ground with a “plop.”

“...”

Zhu Shuangshuang said, “Don’t just stand there, many ghosts are about to come out, let’s go!”

The four of them caught up with the child in a few steps.

Su Wangsheng saw that the child’s face was bruised and swollen and looked very pitiful. He gritted his teeth and picked him up.

The ghost child didn’t want to give the little pig to anyone else and ran a few steps with his short legs, falling down again and again, but still determined to keep running.

Su Wangsheng felt that the big and small figures of Ning Su and the ghost child were just too similar.

The big one had a lazy and beautiful appearance, and with one move, he broke the soul-locking rope of the black-robed man.

The small one was a foolish and clumsy idiot who could fall while running, and just one shout from him made the Huaiyang Village shake.

One had black blood vessels, while the other has black veins on his face.

What kind of monsters were they?

It took Su Wangsheng several seconds to dare to look at the child. When he held the child, he was actually so nervous that he was sweating all over, afraid that the child would scream and shatter him.

Fortunately, the child stayed quietly in his arms, holding the little pig without moving.

Seeing the black lines on the child’s body begin to fade, Su Wangsheng breathed a sigh of relief.

The four of them ran towards the villa, and many villa doors were knocked open by ghosts along the way, chasing after them with angry screams or eerie laughter.

Although they knew that these were all ghosts in Huaiyang Village during the day, being chased madly during the day and night was completely different.

“Why are they chasing us? Is it because of the ghost child?” Chen Qing asked while running. “What do they want with the ghost child?”

The group of strange and grotesque ghosts, complete or incomplete, stepped on their shadows and chased them closely under the blood moon.

“Don’t worry about them, run to the villa!” Chen Tian shouted at the three people, “The villa is safe!”

Zhu Shuangshuang ran desperately.

Su Wangsheng held the child and the little pig. His physical fitness was good, and he was just as fast as Zhu Shuangshuang.

A horde of ghosts pursued them for almost half a block beneath the blood moon, but managed to enter the door just in time to avoid being captured.

Those ghosts had some scruples about this villa and did not smash the door or climb over the wall to enter.

The four of them collapsed and leaned against the door, panting heavily.

The entrance gate overlooked the front yard, where crimson vines snaked their way up the walls, nearly meeting the blood moon in the night sky. The dark green and red vines seemed almost black from afar, and they gave life to eerie blood flowers that bloomed from the shadows. The bride, donning a red wedding gown, sat still and silent, resembling a blood-red stone statue against a backdrop of misty darkness.

Only then did the four realize that they had seen the bride three times, and she had not moved once.

The noisy Huaiyang Village suddenly turned into a silent and deserted place, so silent that it made people feel scared.

A gust of night wind blew by, lifting the corner of the bride’s red veil, revealing a glimpse of darkness.

A strong smell of blood and a faint smell of decay passed through their noses.

Chen Qing swallowed and asked softly, “What do we do?”

As soon as she spoke, the scarf around her neck was suddenly taken away by a soft and beautiful hand.

Chen Qing ran wildly, mentally and physically exhausted, and she did not have her guard up against the surrounding people, so Zhu Shuangshuang, who had planned it beforehand easily took the scarf away.

“Chen Qing, I’m borrowing your scarf for a bit.”

By the time Zhu Shuangshuang said these words, they could no longer see her and could only vaguely confirm her position by her voice.

“Shuangshuang, don’t be impulsive!” Chen Qing whispered to her, “Last time, even the Butcher could sense us under the scarf when I was hiding with Ning Su. If she is the Ghost Master, the scarf is useless!”

“But she’s not moving,” Zhu Shuangshuang said, “And we don’t have time, we have no choice.”

By the time Zhu Shuangshuang said this, her voice had become more and more distant.

Chen Tian and Chen Qing could not understand what they heard next.

“Last time, I didn’t touch the face of the bus driver. This time, it’s my turn to lift the red veil of the bride.”

At the entrance, there was a pair of small white shoes, and the delicate feet of a girl stepped on the bluestone without making any sound.

She was most afraid of the night wind at this time. The black-green leaves in the courtyard sway in the wind. The soft and slender yellow-green grass on the ground also bent down with it.

Everything was normal.

Suddenly, a drop of water fell from the grass leaf.

Then, in a slow process, the sound of something falling on the ground was heard.

Chen Tian, Chen Qing, and Su Wangsheng were all nervous and sweating profusely.

At the same time, they were also worried, especially Su Wangsheng.

Chen Tian and Chen Qing might just be scared of the possible danger, but Su Wangsheng knew how sensitive Zhu Shuangshuang was.

Through observing her for the past two days, Su Wangsheng had figured out a rule.

Zhu Shuangshuang didn’t feel uncomfortable in dangerous places, but rather when the danger suddenly increased.

For example, when she was in the car on their first day here, she felt uncomfortable passing by the slaughterhouse. When she got used to the danger there, she felt much better, but when she encountered an increasing danger from the butcher, she felt uncomfortable again. When she adapted to the butcher’s presence, she didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore.

In this ghost village, she was normal when the environment was peaceful, but she felt stressed when cracks appeared on the ghost child’s body.

She could be called a human danger predictor.

She was like this now. It must be because this bride was extremely dangerous.

Su Wangsheng: “Be ready. This bride is exceptionally dangerous. She may be the ghost master.”

Chen Tian: “You two stay here, I’ll go.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a disturbance appeared in front of them.

Zhu Shuangshuang was gasping for breath, huddled up under the silk scarf. Her legs were so weak that she could no longer support her body.

She was gasping for air in big gulps, but her throat felt as if sandpaper had rubbed it raw, making it hoarse and sore.

There were indescribable sounds ringing in her ears, shaking her eardrums and brain like a volcanic eruption.

Her brain felt like a lump of paste that had been hit, unable to think of anything.

Apart from those sounds, she couldn’t hear anything else. At the sound of the mountain collapsing in her mind, there were faint cries of anger mixed in.

Zhu Shuangshuang shook her head, propped herself up on her thighs, and stood up.

She closed her eyes tightly and the boy who had always been blocking her from danger appeared in her mind.

The corners of her eyebrows twisted upward with a fierce determination as she lifted her hand and directly lifted off the scarf.

That way, she had no way out.

She could no longer hide behind that silk scarf and deceive herself.

The blood-red moonlight fell on the girl’s pale cheeks, her long eyelashes and the wet strands of hair on her forehead were damp.

As she ran, the scarf on her body began to ripple from her long hair.

Her moistened fingers tightly grasped the corner of the red veil, the knuckles protruding whitish curves, lifting it up.

“Who are you?!”

The light and fluttery red veil of the bride’s head was lifted up by Zhu Shuangshuang. The veil moved up by 5 cm and rotated as it fell, covering Zhu Shuangshuang inside.

One red veil covered two stiff bodies.

The moonlight penetrated the red veil, casting a thread of red light into the space below the veil.

Zhu Shuangshuang rubbed her nose against a bunch of hard and stiff black hair. Her eyes meet a pair of eyes that are soaked with blood and tears, with shattered eyeballs and eye sockets that looked like the eyes of a beast about to burst open.

Above the bride’s shoulder, the head of the black dog shook like a demon awakened from the abyss, with its facial hair trembling and its muscles tensing upwards. It opened its bloody mouth wide at her.

***

When Ning Su woke up, the cold pierced his skin.

It’s incredibly cold.

He hadn’t been this cold in a long time, he shouldn’t be this cold.

When he was a child, he jumped around without a winter coat.

Even when Ning Su opened his eyes and found himself deeply trapped in the snow, he was sure he wouldn’t be so cold that his brain would almost stop functioning.

At the same time, his feet hurt as if they were cut by a knife.

He tried to move and, using all his strength, pulled out an intact pig’s foot from the snow.

“...”

The pig’s foot was too small, not even enough for him to eat.

Ning Su stared at his pig’s foot, wondering how many of these pig’s feet would be enough for him to eat, when he heard an extremely faint and desperate whimper.

Ning Su followed the sound and saw something stuck in the snow like him not far away.

A small black puppy the size of a palm.

The northwest wind whistled on the snow, lifting up snowflakes that fell on the little puppy’s head one after another.

Its whimpering became weaker and weaker, just like its breathing, and its eyelids drooped bit by bit.

Ning Su also felt like he was freezing to death.

As its final whimper was about to fade away, a “creak” sound of cowhide boots stepping on the snow came from not far away.

A puff of white vapor fell on the head of the little puppy, and a gentle voice awakened a hint of consciousness in it.

“Little guy, are you okay?”

The little puppy trembled and weakly opened its eyes, seeing a young girl with two dimples smiling at it.

The girl gently brushed off the snow on its head, didn’t directly pull it out of the snow, but instead removed the snow beside it and rescued its bleeding little leg from the trap.

“I guess you were caught in a trap.” The girl picked up the little puppy, took off her gloves, and rubbed its frozen head with her warm palms. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll take you home.”

Ning Su also jumped out of the snow, looked at his intact paws, and then looked at the girl. He followed her all the way.

The north wind still roared, but Ning Su didn’t feel as cold anymore.

There was a warm heat source that shielded him from the snow and transmitted heat to him gently and uninterruptedly.

However, this should be the feeling of the little puppy in the girl’s arms.

Ning Su said “huh” that almost sounded like a little pig’s snort.

He followed in the girl’s footsteps, walked out of the snow warmly and calmly, and arrived at the girl’s home.

The girl lived alone in a small courtyard with a stove burning in the room, which was very warm.

She treated the little puppy’s wound and tied a bow on its short leg.

The little puppy stared at her with a pair of moist eyes without blinking.

She rubbed the little puppy’s head and found a ham sausage to give it to eat.

It was a ham sausage with far more starch content than meat, but it was exceptionally delicious.

Ning Su leaned over and wanted to take a bite, but he couldn’t reach it.

For the first time in his life, he couldn’t taste the food, but he could feel the satisfaction and happiness from eating it.

The little puppy licked the cheap ham sausage in the girl’s palm and looked up at her.

The girl was amused by it, her eyes curved like a crescent moon.

In the old and shabby wooden house, under the dim kerosene lamp, the girl gently touched the little puppy and said, “Are you also unable to find your family? Then let’s live together.”

The little puppy looked at her with big eyes, and the little pig hummed comfortably beside them.

“Then I’ll give you a name. I found you in the snow, and I saw that your head was round, so I’ll call you Snowball. How about that?”

The puppy kept looking at her without making a sound, and she smiled to herself as she looked at the puppy’s black fur.

The warm yellow light shone through the window of the small house.

That night, the cold wind passing through the small window carried away the sound of “Snowball.”

That night, the little puppy slept a warm and peaceful sleep, and so did the girl.

Not just for one night.

The little puppy had a home and lived with the girl in this small house.

Its leg healed, and on sunny days, it loved to play in the yard. Every time it played for a while, it would turn its head and look at the girl, and its tail would wag slightly.

Later, the dog learned from the villagers that this yard belonged to the girl’s grandfather, and she was raised by him.

The girl left the village before and didn’t get to say goodbye to her grandfather when he died. And after coming back, she stayed here for a long time, unable to leave.

Sometimes, she would teach at the school in the village, and the children all liked her, thinking she was someone who had seen the world outside the village.

In reality, she was very timid.

She was afraid of the dark, especially walking on dark and quiet roads, as if there were monsters lurking in the darkness.

Whenever this happened, the little black dog would run ahead and lead the way for her.

It would bark and scare away the silent “monsters” that the girl was afraid of.

As it wagged its tail vigorously to dispel the darkness, it would also look back at the girl with bright, moist eyes, reflecting her smile clearly.

She was also afraid of getting into trouble.

Perhaps someone in the village noticed this, as someone came to her house one night to steal something, but the sharp-eyed little dog discovered him.

The little dog rushed out and fiercely bit the thief who sneaked into the girl’s yard, and the thief kicked the dog’s head while screaming in pain.

The little dog didn’t let go even after being kicked several times until the thief picked it up and smashed its head.

Tears fell from the girl’s eyes onto the bloody head of the little dog. “Snowball, why did you do that? Let him take what he wants.”

The little dog, who never made a sound no matter how much it was beaten, finally let out a whimper and put its paw in the girl’s hand, as if admitting its mistake and asking her not to cry anymore.

But the next time someone came, it still rushed up and fought with all its might, protecting the girl no matter what.

Time after time, it would rush up and bite anyone who had ill intentions towards the girl.

The whole village knew that the girl’s house had a fierce dog that could guard it well.

When no one came to steal again, the small palm-sized dog grew much larger, and it could raise its front paws to protect the white skirt corner of the girl when the wind blew.

The girl was also going to get married.

She really wanted to get married because she had always yearned for a home and a family.

That year, the girl came to a remote and poor place called Huaiyang Village with the little black dog.

Her husband was very kind to her, and he was also one of the few ambitious and successful people in this remote and impoverished mountain village. He worked hard and made a living outside the village, and he built the first small villa in Huaiyang Village.

Despite her husband’s frequent absences, the black dog continued to guard the girl as it had before.

With more and more people from out-of-town coming to stay in the villa and plotting against the girl, the black dog fiercely drove away one person after another, almost as if it didn’t care for its own safety.

Its teeth were stained with more and more blood, its body covered in more and more wounds, and its gaze becoming increasingly ferocious.

But it kept watch over the girl and protected her well.

The only thing it couldn’t understand was why the girl was growing increasingly haggard.

Late one night, she saw the girl leaning over the toilet, retching and unable to get up. The dog was anxiously rubbing against her leg while whimpering.

The girl touched the black dog’s ear, and a weak smile appeared on her pale face. “Don’t worry, Snowball, it’s just because I’m pregnant.”

The girl’s eyes were particularly bright. “Snowball, baby, there’s a baby in my belly.”

The black dog stopped whimpering, and those fierce dog eyes looked at the girl, wet and glistening, just like when it was a puppy. It gently rubbed her belly.

“Shh, Snowball, keep it a secret, and give him a surprise when he comes back.”

The black dog moved away, but that night it sat by the girl’s bed and watched over her all night long, without moving a muscle.

During the day, it couldn’t help but want to nuzzle against the girl’s slightly swollen belly.

The little pig in the yard watched dumbfounded for a while before quickly running to the girl’s side.

Approaching slowly, it rubbed against the white cotton and linen fabric of the girl’s clothes, very lightly, as if greeting the little baby inside.

Then the little pig lowered its head.

The joyous and contented atmosphere was gone.