Diary

Xiao Ran crouched by the window, watching Niu Wazi swing an axe, smashing the wooden puppet in front of him until it was a bloody mess. Images flashed through his mind of Niu Wazi's innocent face just moments ago: "I want to go to school too, meet more good friends, and play with them..." A chill ran down his spine.

Recalling the kind smiles of the other villagers surrounding him, he suddenly felt everything had changed. Their friendly smiles now seemed twisted and monstrous.

Goosebumps erupted all over his arms.

"I can leave, but you can't. You're just like that bitch, both deserving of death. You all want to run away. It's her, her fault we're neither human nor ghost. I'll be like this my whole life, can't even grow a single hair. Damn it, all of you deserve to die!"

Niu Wazi, like a madman, hacked the puppet to pieces with his axe. What made Xiao Ran's scalp tingle even more was that the severed limbs were still writhing on the ground in agony.

Only after reducing the puppet to a pulp did Niu Wazi finally put down his axe, satisfied.

He nodded contentedly, stuck out his tongue at the remains of the puppet, and hummed a little tune as he walked out. He was still contemplating making more good friends after they escaped this hellhole. Thinking of the fresh, meaty scent on Xiao Ran earlier, Niu Wazi couldn't help but swallow.

Just as Niu Wazi was filled with beautiful visions of the future, he poked his head out of the cellar entrance and heard a "whoosh!" cutting through the air. Immediately, he felt a "bang!" on his head, his vision spun, and he lost consciousness completely.

Xiao Ran watched Niu Wazi tumble down the stairs, casually tossing aside the brick in his hand.

But he soon noticed something on Niu Wazi's face. He walked into the basement, knelt beside Niu Wazi, and gently pulled at his cracked face.

With a "riiiip."

A piece of debris was torn from Niu Wazi's face. Looking closely, Xiao Ran's expression turned strange as he looked at the fallen Niu Wazi, exclaiming in surprise, "Made of paper??"

Saying it was made of paper wouldn't be entirely accurate. After tearing off the paper-like layer from Niu Wazi's face, there was still flesh and blood underneath. However, the flesh and blood looked like discarded pig offal from a market – ugly and rotten, with white maggots crawling within.

Anyone else would have vomited at the sight.

Xiao Ran, however, was already accustomed to it. Instead, he picked at the paper skin on Niu Wazi's face with keen interest, studying it closely.

"As the Old Woman said, they are indeed living people, just trapped here for too long. Their flesh and skin have long since rotted."

"Niu Wazi was likely trapped here from a very young age. Although his mind grew, his body remained that of a child. Over time, his nature has become twisted."

"But this paper skin is made so exquisitely, it looks just like real skin when worn on the face. No wonder all the villagers' faces looked so pale; I thought it was because they never saw the sun."

"No wonder when they smiled, I always felt something was missing. After all, their faces are made of paper; the details would inevitably be a bit stiff when smiling."

He then looked back at the puppet beside him and suddenly understood. The puppet was like Niu Wazi, but with a wooden shell covering it. Its heavy weight left it at Niu Wazi's mercy.

"Ooh! Pretty clothes!"

Xiao Ran heard a voice and turned to see the woman in white had followed them in at some point.

She knelt before a chest, picking out clothes one by one and holding them up against herself.

Xiao Ran walked over and saw that most of the clothes were women's, and each piece bore bloodstains. Some were clearly children's clothes.

Xiao Ran's brow furrowed deeply.

It seemed the people who died in this cellar were more than just the puppets.

"Ah!!"

At this moment, the woman suddenly shrieked, crawling several meters on the ground before curling up in a corner, covering her head with her hands. "Ghosts, ghosts! Don't harm me, I don't know anything, I don't know anything!"

Seeing the woman's reaction, Xiao Ran glanced back at the chest. A sharp glint flickered in his dark, clear eyes, but after looking for a long time, he saw no ghost.

He walked to the chest and peered inside. Only one set of clothes remained.

The style of the clothes was out of place in this village, resembling the school uniform worn by women in the drama "Romance in the Rain." It was a top and skirt, made of a blue-green fabric. Although it looked very old, the color hadn't faded.

This blue-green fabric was clearly high-quality compared to the other clothes.

Why would such clothes be in this dilapidated village?

At this point, Xiao Ran noticed something in the pocket of the clothes. He took it out; it was a diary.

The diary was yellowed and its pages were falling out, but a name was written on it in elegant handwriting.

[Yang Xuan]

"This is her diary, so... were these clothes hers too?"

Seeing the name, Xiao Ran remembered the story the Old Woman had told him that morning – about the female protagonist who slept with everyone, poisoned her husband, and became a vengeful spirit after her death.

The Old Woman's words might be unreliable. Perhaps this diary held other clues.

With that thought, Xiao Ran opened the diary, using the faint light to see what was written inside. After flipping through several pages, his brow furrowed tightly...

"Wake up, wake up!"

Niu Wazi felt groggy, as if he were dreaming. Someone was tapping his head in the dream, and it wasn't until he heard a voice calling him that he slowly woke up.

When he groggily opened his eyes, he saw Xiao Ran sitting at the cellar stairs, calling him.

Niu Wazi instinctively tried to rub his eyes, but as he raised his arm, he found his hands unusually heavy. As his arm lifted, a "clink clank" sound followed.

Niu Wazi froze and looked down, only to discover his hands were chained, and his feet were also shackled.

"Big brother... what... what are you doing?"

Niu Wazi looked at Xiao Ran with a terrified and helpless expression. With his innocent eyes and childish voice, if Xiao Ran hadn't witnessed the entire process, he might have felt guilty.

Xiao Ran ignored him, holding the diary, his gaze fixed on its contents, his eyes gradually turning cold.

"Big brother, let me go quickly, or I'll call for help!!"

Niu Wazi tried to struggle, but the chains and shackles held him firmly, preventing him from moving.

Xiao Ran slowly raised his head, his gaze icy. "So, you're the ones who killed her!"

Niu Wazi's eyes immediately turned terrified. He screamed, "What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Nonsense?"

Xiao Ran held up the diary in his hand. "It's written crystal clear. She was locked up here by you. How you tortured her. Which of the instruments of torture here hasn't been stained with her blood."

Xiao Ran's words echoed through the cellar, each question making Niu Wazi's mind a mess. He quickly explained, "No! No, no, I didn't kill her. It was Niu San, Brother Tao, and them who killed her. It has nothing to do with me. I was just a child back then."

"So, you're not a child anymore, are you?"

Niu Wazi didn't realize that as soon as he spoke, Xiao Ran had found a flaw in his words.

Niu Wazi froze, then slowly raised his head. After a moment, his innocent, childlike eyes gradually turned sinister and vicious.

He stared straight at Xiao Ran. "She deserved to die. If it weren't for her, why would I be like this? When she was locked up here, I often sat nearby and watched her. Watched her get slept with by the village men every day. They pulled out her teeth, blinded her eyes, broke her legs. Even the village dogs could ride her, but I couldn't!!"

Niu Wazi's words grew more frenzied. His already rotting cheeks seemed to contort at that moment.

"It's all her fault, she's the one who ruined me."

After a while, seeing that Niu Wazi's emotions seemed to have calmed down a bit, Xiao Ran asked, "Then the so-called exorcism was also a trap?"

Upon hearing this, Niu Wazi actually calmed down quickly and shook his head. "That's true. The Old Woman is incredibly powerful. We've only survived this long because she protected us."

Fearing Xiao Ran wouldn't believe him, he continued, "In their eyes, I was just a child, a little brat with no hair down there. It's just that over time, I started to think differently, and I made a mistake. Big brother, I beg you, please don't tell my parents. If you tell them, they'll beat me to death."

Xiao Ran nodded upon hearing this. "One last question."

"Have you seen three children from outside?"

"Children??"

Niu Wazi looked completely bewildered. Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Xiao Ran already had his answer. He closed the diary in his hand, put it in his pocket, and turned to leave.

He didn't believe a single word Niu Wazi said. This guy looked like a child, but his mind was probably older than his own.

There was no point in arguing with him further. Besides, he had been out for a while, and someone in the village was probably looking for him already. If they found him here, it would be disadvantageous.

After all, at this moment, it wasn't time to fall out with the Old Woman and the others.

As Xiao Ran walked out of the cellar, he saw the woman in white crouching nearby, muttering to herself in a way Xiao Ran couldn't quite understand.

He had wanted to ask if she had any other clues, but as soon as the woman saw Xiao Ran approaching, she immediately pulled her skirt over her head. "Ghost! Ghost! You have a ghost on you!!"

Xiao Ran wasn't sure what the woman meant by "ghost," but seeing that he couldn't get anything out of her, he could only give up and head back.

"Damn it, damn it, all of you deserve to die, all of you! When I get out, I'll cut off your balls!"

A clinking sound of chains rubbing together echoed from the cellar. Niu Wazi somehow had a small knife in his hand. Gritting his teeth, he slowly began to cut his own wrist, his body trembling uncontrollably with each slice.

Just as his wrist was about to break free from the chains, Niu Wazi felt an itch on his face. He instinctively reached up to scratch it, but his hand unexpectedly caught a lock of hair.

Niu Wazi's heart leaped. He suddenly looked up and saw a face covered in knife scars leaning over him, its eyes like eerie lamps from the abyss, staring directly at him.

"You..."

He screamed, turned around, and raised the dagger in his hand, preparing to stab, but the other party was faster. The axe, stained with blood, was already raised above its head, ready to chop down on his head