There Are Ghosts

"Lost City?? What is all this? This is just a forest, where's the village??"

Xiao Ran's heart began to race as he looked at the blood-red text before him. This was nothing like the training he had imagined, and it was far beyond his scope of understanding.

"Dong! Dong! Dong!"

The sound of the night watchman's drum rang out again, clearer and closer this time.

In the distance, a light gradually became clearer through the mist.

As the light approached, the hazy white mist seemed to recede as if in the rain, revealing the earthy yellow walls and gray-blue tiles around them.

Xiao Ran looked at the unfamiliar surroundings in shock, unable to help but exclaim in his mind, "This... there's really a village??"

"Who!!!"

Under the lamplight, a withered, sallow face peeked out, looking at Xiao Ran with the same surprise. "Who is it!"

Xiao Ran was also startled by the sudden voice. He steadied himself and, using the light before him, examined the man carefully.

He wore a coarse gray-blue shirt, with a crooked blue patch sewn onto the cross-front cloth buttons.

Judging by the man's attire and appearance, he didn't seem like a modern person, but rather dressed from the last century. Though suspicious, Xiao Ran quickly calmed down.

Xiao Ran smiled and explained to the man, "Brother, I'm just a passing traveler. The rain is getting heavier, and I saw what looked like a house here, so I wanted to take shelter."

Hearing Xiao Ran's words, the man scrutinized him, then shook his head with a troubled expression, as if muttering to himself, "Unlucky fellow, how did you end up here."

Xiao Ran heard him clearly and thought, I didn't want to come here either.

The man grumbled a bit, then looked up at the sky. "It's about to thunder!"

With that, he turned to Xiao Ran and said, "Alright, I'll find you a place to shelter from the rain. It's a bit dirty, but if you don't mind, follow me."

The man gestured for Xiao Ran to follow him, and they walked through the rain along a stone path.

As they passed by the scattered village houses, Xiao Ran's doubts grew stronger.

The sound of raindrops pattering on the bluestone slabs echoed through the village.

Xiao Ran walked behind, watching the man's back, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the man's feet.

When they reached the entrance of the village, the man raised his oil lamp and shone it forward. "Here it is. Make do with it."

Xiao Ran looked up and saw a dilapidated old house before him. Judging by its condition, the place had been abandoned for some time. The windows only had frames; anyone passing by could see clearly inside from the window openings.

"Buzz~"

The man pushed open the door and, using the lamplight, Xiao Ran squinted as he looked inside from the doorway.

He saw a pitch-black coffin placed inside the house.

"This coffin is empty, don't be scared. There's a bed inside, just make do for one night," the man said, placing the oil lamp on a table and pointing to the nearby bed.

"It's fine, it's great to have a place to rest," Xiao Ran nodded. Let alone an empty coffin, even if someone were lying inside, it wouldn't affect him.

The man seemed satisfied with Xiao Ran's cooperation and nodded. "You rest here tonight. We'll talk after the rain stops."

With that, the man got up to leave. Before departing, he suddenly turned to Xiao Ran and said, "Oh, right. I forgot to remind you, it's not very peaceful here at night. You must lock the door tightly later. If you hear someone knocking, don't open it."

Xiao Ran's heart stirred, and he quickly asked, "Brother, what should I call you?"

"Li Ji!"

Li Ji said as he walked out the door.

After Li Ji left, Xiao Ran closed the door and changed out of his soaked clothes. Fortunately, he had a change of clothes in his backpack.

He took out his phone and saw that there was indeed no signal. Pondering the man's words, Xiao Ran began to think.

Clearly, he had been drawn into a special place. According to the hints, to leave, he had to complete the main quest.

But what was the main quest?

Was it like in a game, where he had to explore on his own?

Or was this a test?

Just as Xiao Ran was lost in thought.

The previously tightly shut door suddenly let out a creaking sound, as if it had been forcefully pushed from the outside.

"Bang!!!"

The sudden noise made Xiao Ran's heart leap, and he involuntarily held his breath.

"Rumble..."

The sound of the rain outside grew louder, and the entire room was silent except for Xiao Ran's own heartbeat. After a while, when there was no further movement outside the door, Xiao Ran let out a heavy sigh.

Am I just being too sensitive?

Xiao Ran frowned, walked to the door, pushed it shut again, and then wedged a chair against it.

Just as he was about to return to bed to rest, his body suddenly stiffened, and he glanced sideways at the window.

Before the dilapidated window, a disheveled woman stood there, her face almost pressed against the cracks in the glass, her bloodshot eyes staring intently at him.

In the pitch darkness, even though Xiao Ran was no stranger to dealing with corpses, he was startled by this sudden appearance.

The woman's eyeballs darted around, fixed on Xiao Ran for a moment, then shifted to the coffin in the room, and then back to Xiao Ran.

Her ashen face grew more complex, and she actually beckoned to Xiao Ran, signaling him to come closer.

Xiao Ran took two steps forward, about to ask what the woman wanted, when she first made a shushing gesture, then she pointed to the coffin, and made the shushing gesture to Xiao Ran again:

"There's a... ghost in the coffin!"

A flash of lightning tore open the night sky, illuminating Xiao Ran's face. The gaze beneath his brows remained unfazed.

Following closely was the soul-stirring thunder.

"RUMBLE!!!"

The deafening sound was accompanied by a gust of cool wind that surged in through the window, damp and cold, seeping into his collar.

"A ghost?"

Xiao Ran glanced back at the coffin with suspicion, but when he looked again, the woman was gone.

He hurried to the window and looked out, only to see the woman, dressed in white and barefoot, running through the rainy night, disappearing in an instant.

"The white-clothed woman?"

Xiao Ran watched the woman's receding figure. She didn't seem to harbor any ill will towards him.

With a sense of unease, Xiao Ran turned back to the coffin behind him. After a moment of thought, he walked up to the coffin and placed his hands on the lid.

He would know if it was true or not by looking for himself.

"Bang! Bang bang bang!"

Xiao Ran knocked on the coffin, three times for the gods and four for the ghosts, then shouted after knocking four times: "Are you home?"

"Your takeout has arrived."

"Want to add an extra meal?"

"No one's home, I'll leave it inside for you?"

"Bang bang bang bang..."

Xiao Ran knocked for a while, but there was still no response from inside the coffin. Confirming there was no reply, he pushed hard, and with a "click!", the coffin was opened with little effort.

Unexpectedly, the coffin didn't reek of decay as he'd imagined. Instead, there was a faint smell of mold.

Xiao Ran squinted and peered into the coffin. It was empty, containing only a set of dusty clothes, but no body.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran's face showed no joy, but rather disappointment.

A cenotaph was typically used when a body couldn't be found, with clothes and belongings placed in its stead.

Just as Xiao Ran was about to close the coffin again, he suddenly felt that the clothes inside looked a bit familiar.

Noticing the large blue splotches on the clothes, Xiao Ran's brow furrowed. He bent down, reached into the coffin, and lifted the hem of the clothes.

He saw that a wooden clapper and a gong were placed beneath the clothes.

"It's him!!"

The gaunt, sallow face from earlier flashed in Xiao Ran's mind. He quickly rummaged through the coffin again and, sure enough, found a small wooden figure beneath the clothes, with Li Ji's name scrawled crookedly on it.