By the time we got back to where we'd parked, we had encountered that headless ghost four times along the way.
Chen Zi'an had grown somewhat numb to it. He just kept mumbling "Amitabha" under his breath, walking with exaggerated caution.
I thought the Taoist was guiding us. We kept encountering him again and again, each time moving closer to the cave whose entrance was hidden.
But without tools, we had no way to break through all those vines.
The sun, which had been hanging at an angle in the sky, had already dropped to the horizon. Dusk was settling in.
We got into the cars and drove toward the village exit.
I saw the headless ghost again.
The road was so narrow that he walked straight toward us, leaving the car nowhere to go.
I called for us to stop, wondering if we should get out and avoid him. Then the ghost vanished from ahead of us. The sound of bells came from behind, and when I turned around, I saw him appear behind the police car and in front of the taxi. The next second, he vanished again, only to reappear behind the taxi.
Chen Zi'an was terrified. I could see his face turn pale through two panes of glass.
People from Huixiang weren't afraid of ghosts only because they knew those ghosts wouldn't take their lives. If they encountered a ghost capable of killing them, they wouldn't be so eager to watch the spectacle.
I told Zhuang Huai to keep driving.
We drove all the way to the village entrance.
By then, I'd lost count of how many times I'd heard the bells.
The headless ghost walked toward us, but this time he didn't vanish. He stopped far away, pivoted on his heel, and headed toward the