Three in the morning.
The village was deathly silent.
The viewers had long since lost the high spirits they had arrived with.
After being frightened several times, they were now exhausted and terrified, huddled in the narrow gap between the walls of two houses and praying for dawn to come soon.
"Hm?"
Just as everyone was growing drowsy but didn't dare fall asleep,
Zhang Ming, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly shuddered all over. He quickly rolled over and got to his feet, pricking up his ears as if he had heard something.
"What's wrong?"
"What happened?"
"What did you find?"
The others, still groggy, immediately snapped awake at Zhang Ming's movements and began asking questions in hushed voices.
Their voices were filled with tension and fear.
"Shh." Zhang Ming raised a finger to his lips, signaling them to keep quiet.
Everyone instantly shut their mouths, though their eyes remained fixed on him.
"Listen!" Zhang Ming lowered his voice and stealthily pointed toward the direction of the red-brick house.
"It sounds like there's something going on."
It was pitch-dark outside, and nothing could be seen.
The dim light from a few streetlamps couldn't penetrate the haze and darkness at all.
Taking Zhang Ming's cue, everyone held their breath and listened carefully.
Soon, they too heard a strange sound.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang!"
The sound was as if someone was making the rounds with a watchman's clapper!
Everyone looked at one another.
In this eerie village, even an idiot could guess that this wasn't something a living person had done.
Besides, what era was this? How could the profession of Night Watchman still exist?
The answer was obvious.
Ghosts were on watch!
At the thought, terrified unease appeared on everyone's faces.
Had a ghost come looking for them?
The only girl was trembling violently with fear. Unable to stop herself, she began crying softly again.
Tears streaked through the makeup on her face, making her look like a painted clown on a stage.
"Stop crying!"
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
The bald middle-aged man's expression changed when he heard her sobbing.
He cursed under his breath, then clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her from making a sound.
At a time like this, any inappropriate action could lead to utter disaster.
The others looked grim as well. Their hearts pounded wildly, as if they were about to leap out of their throats.
If they weren't afraid of bringing disaster upon themselves and attracting the Vicious Ghost, they would have thrown the girl out.
At that moment, streamer Zhang Ming was crouching on the ground. He didn't dare look directly outside. Instead, he quietly turned on his phone and stuck the camera out.
His position was at the outermost edge of the gap, less than a meter from the exit. If the Vicious Ghost spotted them, he would probably be the first to suffer!
Of course, if they needed to flee, he would also be the first one out of the gap.
The watchman's clapper sounds outside drew closer and closer.
Each strike seemed to land right in the depths of everyone's hearts.
Everyone remained tense and terrified, not daring to move even slightly. They had even deliberately slowed their breathing.
"It's the fifth watch—"
"Go to bed early and rise early. Take care of your health!"
A sinister voice drifted down the street.
The voice wasn't loud, but it clung to everyone's ears like a bone-deep parasite, making their hair stand on end and sending chills down their spines.
Zhang Ming watched the image on his phone intently.
Soon, he saw a faint, eerie green glow from an oil lamp appear at the end of the street.
"Thud, thud—"
"Thud, thud, thud—"
Then heavy footsteps rang out.
Within the fog, a thin, hunched figure slowly emerged.
The figure wore worn-out cloth clothing, a melon-skin cap, and had a palm fan tucked into its waistband.
But what frightened Zhang Ming most was the small hand growing from its belly, shaped like a chicken claw.
The little hand swayed back and forth as it carried a lantern.
"Good heavens."
The sight sent a chill from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The Night Watchman Ghost lurched as it walked and soon arrived at the mouth of the gap where everyone was hiding.
"No one found..."
"No one found..."
"No one found..."
Everyone prayed that the Vicious Ghost would merely pass by without noticing them.
However, things went against their wishes.
The Night Watchman Ghost suddenly halted and stopped right outside the gap.
"Heh heh heh heh."
A sinister, furtive chuckle rang out.
Everyone inside trembled like sifting chaff.
The Vicious Ghost stared at the pitiful people who had accidentally wandered into the Ghost Domain and revealed an ill-intentioned smile.
Suddenly, it struck the clapper once.
"It's time to be on your way."
Its voice was eerie and shrill, like someone scraping a blackboard with their fingernails.
It made gooseflesh erupt all over their bodies.
With the sound of the clapper, the girl who had been crying continuously suddenly stiffened.
She felt as though a membrane had covered her consciousness, and her mind began to grow hazy.
Her body stood up involuntarily. Under everyone's horrified gazes, she rose onto her toes and walked outside one step at a time.
"Heh heh heh."
With a dark laugh, the Vicious Ghost glanced at the girl, seemingly quite satisfied.
Then it struck the clapper again.
"Bang!"
At the sound, the girl's body trembled slightly. Her skin rapidly turned gray-white, and all signs of life vanished.
A faint stench of decay began to spread from her body.
It was as if she had already been dead for more than ten days.
The sight made everyone in the gap's scalps prickle.
After taking one life, the lantern in the Vicious Ghost's hand seemed to grow brighter.
Its gray-white eyes, devoid of pupils, swept constantly over the group.
Everyone held their bodies rigid, not daring to move. They didn't even dare blink.
"Heh heh heh heh."
The laughter rang out again, as sinister and terrifying as the cry of a night owl.
It seemed to have discovered something amusing. A hint of excitement and mockery appeared on its wrinkled face.
"It's time to be on your way."
It spoke to the group and struck the watchman's clapper again.
In an instant, two more people in the group stiffened. They rose onto their toes and walked out of the gap against their will.
As they walked, their bodies began to rot. By the time they reached the doorway, only piles of white bones remained.
Urgh—
Quite a few people couldn't hold it in and vomited directly.
Fear and disgust twisted together, churning their stomachs.
Under the immense pressure, several people in the group suddenly began screaming hysterically.
A crazed look flashed through their eyes as they charged straight out of the gap.
"Fuck your mother! I'm taking you down with me!"
However.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Without the slightest hurry, the Night Watchman Ghost struck the clapper four times.
The people who had rushed out immediately froze, then collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Heh heh heh heh."
The sinister laughter carried a hint of mockery.
A bunch of little bugs—and they still thought they could resist?
Seeing this, the bald middle-aged man slowly closed his eyes and revealed a bitter smile.
His career had achieved modest success, and his family life was happy and complete.
His wife had just given birth to a daughter with their second child.
Everything had been so beautiful.
What had gone wrong with him tonight? Why had he joined a group of youngsters to attend this damned gathering?
Despair appeared on the others' faces as well.
Seeing their expressions,
the Night Watchman Ghost was extremely satisfied.
Its favorite thing was to capture a group of humans, then strike them to death one by one while watching the despair on their faces as they awaited death.
How interesting.
A vicious smile appeared on the Night Watchman Ghost's face:
"It's the fifth watch. It's late. Time to be on your way."
As it spoke, it prepared to strike the watchman's clapper again.
But just then,
a lazy voice came from one side of the street:
"In such a hurry to be on your way? Is it because your mother got stuck to the bottom of the crematorium's pot and is waiting to be flipped over?"
Before you continue