He was just about to say something more to bolster his courage when he suddenly saw something pale and ghastly hanging from the crooked-neck tree ahead.
The beam of his flashlight hit it, and he was so startled he nearly dropped the torch.
The thing had a head and a body, glowing with an eerie green light, its eye sockets dark and hollow. It swayed gently in the night breeze, its limbs drifting—what else could it be but a ghost?
"Ghost! There really is a ghost!"
This time, Yu Zhen was genuinely terrified, his voice cracking with fear.
"Run! Run down the mountain!"
He scrambled to his feet, not caring about direction, and charged headlong down the slope.
Seeing their leader flee, the others panicked even more, following him in a mad dash down the mountain, not even stopping to pick up the ration bags and flashlights they dropped on the ground.
Hidden in the shadows, Shen Nanchu clung to a tree branch watching this scene and almost laughed out loud.
That coward Yu Zhen, who had been so full of bluster just moments ago ordering everyone around, was now running faster than a rabbit.
A smile played at the corners of Pei Zhengnian's lips.
"Moving those rocks wasn't in vain. Xiong Lei and the others propped the branches at just the right angle. Our effort wasn't wasted."
Beside him, Xiong Lei covered his mouth to stifle giggles, his shoulders shaking.
"Sister-in-law, you didn't see Feng Kangping's face—white as a sheet. I bet his pants are wet. When he ran off, I think I heard a squelch..."
Sun Xuelin was also amused.
"I bet they won't dare come back for the rest of their lives. That should be scare enough. The rocks, the scarecrow, plus that skeleton... even a god would be frightened."
"Not quite finished yet."
A mischievous glint flashed in Shen Nanchu's eyes as she pointed to the fork in the road ahead.
"Let's add some fuel to the fire, make them run even more 'joyfully,' so they won't get any ideas about coming back."
Pei Zhengnian immediately understood her meaning and shot a glance at Sun Xuelin.
Sun Xuelin nodded, quietly slipped into the nearby bushes, took out a reed whistle, and gave it a soft blow.
The whistle produced a sharp, thin sound that in the darkness sounded exactly like a woman's weeping, now piercing, now mournful, carried by the wind towards the fleeing group.
Yu Zhen and the others were stumbling and staggering down the mountain when suddenly they heard whimpering sobs behind them—sharp and thin, as if countless wronged souls were chasing them, making their scalps crawl.
"It... they're catching up!"
One of them, Hong Xiuzhu, was so scared her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground, tears streaming.
"I don't want to die! I'll never come to Wang Family Village again! Please spare me!"
Yu Zhen's own legs were trembling, but he didn't dare stop for a second.
The weeping seemed to linger around his ears, sometimes near, sometimes far—utterly terrifying.
Feng Kangping, who had run the fastest, was already long gone without a trace.
Yu Zhen cursed the guy's lack of loyalty in his heart, but there was no time to settle scores now; he just wanted to escape this haunted place.
Reaching the fork in the road,
ghostly flickers of phosphorescent light rose on the left side.
Without a second thought, Yu Zhen charged to the right.
Many of the Red Armband followers behind Yu Zhen also rushed to the right.
But they failed to notice that the right path ran alongside a graveyard. The old graves of Wang Family Village were all here, a place rarely visited.
The night wind rustled the grass, sounding like whispers from behind the graves, indescribably sinister.
"L-leader... what kind of place is this?"
A Red Armband member asked, trembling.
A flashlight beam landed on a mound of earth with a crooked wooden stake stuck in it. The writing was long faded, only a few twisted strokes visible.
Yu Zhen's heart was also gripped by fear.
"Don't worry about what place! Run forward! We'll be safe once we're out of this woods!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a rustle came from the grave beside them, the grass shaking violently.
A flashlight beam shot over—just in time to see a dark shadow dart out from the grass and vanish with a whoosh, stirring a chill wind.
"Ghost!"
A Red Armband member was scared out of his wits and sprinted forward.
Yu Zhen, also terrified, followed suit.
But they hadn't run more than a few steps when,
thump thump,
they fell into an earthen pit.
It was a pit dug last year for a coffin, not yet properly filled, containing rotten coffin planks and decayed leaves.
Yu Zhen's flashlight happened to illuminate a red coffin plank.
"Ah!"
A piercing scream tore through the sky.
The distant weeping continued.
Yu Zhen suddenly felt something cold and slimy on his hand, accompanied by a faint hissing sound.
He looked down and, by the faint moonlight, saw a snake taking a leisurely stroll across his hand...
"Ah!"
He screamed in terror, flung the snake away, scrambled to his feet, and charged forward blindly, eyes squeezed shut.
In the darkness, his head slammed into something with a thud. Stars exploded before his eyes from the pain.
But Yu Zhen didn't dare stop. Clutching his head, he kept running, babbling, "Don't chase me! I'll never come back!"
Actually, that dark shadow was Chen Kai.
As for the weeping, it was Sun Xuelin blowing his whistle. Combined with the mountain wind, it managed to produce the effect of wailing ghosts and howling wolves.
The earlier scarecrow was also them, carrying it around.
"Yu Zhen and his lot are too easily frightened. To be scared out of their wits just like that."
Xiong Lei hadn't had his fill of fun yet.
Tonight's special operation was much more interesting than military drills.
A sly light shone in Shen Nanchu's eyes.
"Scare them thoroughly, guarantee they won't dare come back."
She made a gesture to Pei Yunzhou, who immediately understood, pulling a few firecrackers from his bag.
They were saved up by Wang Dabao and Wang Xiaobao. Shen Nanchu had specifically asked Pei Yunzhou to trade milk candies with the two little ones for them, to add some 'excitement' for the guests who had come from afar.
Sun Xuelin, Xiong Lei, and the others quietly trailed Yu Zhen's group.
They lit the firecrackers and tossed them behind Yu Zhen and his men.
"Bang!"
"Pop!"
The short, sharp reports of the firecrackers exploded in the silent mountain forest, startlingly loud, like roars of anger.
Hearing the firecrackers, the fleeing Yu Zhen and his men thought the "ghosts" were furious and ran even faster.
Along the way, the sounds of people tripping and falling could be heard intermittently.
...
Finally, Yu Zhen and the others tumbled and scrambled their way out of the mountain forest.
He was covered in mud, his face bruised purple and green, his left eyebrow cut and bleeding, his hair a tangled mess stuck to his face—as wretched as a stray dog.
The others were in similar states.
Yu Zhen looked back at the pitch-black forest, shuddered, and didn't dare look again, as if man-eating demons lurked within.
Now, just thinking of the green glow, the weeping, the rolling rocks, and the shadow in the graveyard made Yu Zhen's heart clench and his hands and feet turn to ice.
Promotion was important, sure, but you had to be alive to enjoy it.
He'd rather stay a minor official in Yongning County.
At least he'd still have his life.
Gritting his teeth, Yu Zhen said,
"Let's go! Back to the county!"
This Wang Family Village... whoever wants to come in the future can come!
He was never coming back!
Even if they offered him gold bars, he wouldn't set foot here again!
The group supported each other, walking towards the village entrance without a backward glance.
When Yu Zhen and the others finally reached the village entrance,
well, well,
Feng Kangping had long since hidden himself in the driver's cabin.
Yu Zhen was so angry he almost cursed the man's parents.
That bastard, running so fast and not even giving him a hand!
...
Shen Nanchu and Pei Zhengnian stood on the hillside, watching the disappearing taillights, and shared a smile.
No Red Armband would dare come to Wang Family Village anymore.
Very well.
Time to head home for a late-night snack.
...
