The wooden walls of the old house were covered in thick black moss. A dense layer of leaves blanketed the roof and the courtyard,
and beneath them lay rotten old leaves that reeked of mold.
The faded black wooden door was tightly bound with a chain as thick as a rope, wrapped around it seven or eight times.
Yet a bowl-sized hole had been broken in the lower left corner of the door. Its interior was pitch-black, like the mouth of a hungry creature waiting for visitors!
"So this is the place!"
Shoko excitedly opened the car door and climbed out.
"That's right. This is the famous Hirao Haunted House!"
Shinsuke smugly pulled out his camera and started filming Shoko.
Shoko bent forward, bracing her arms on her thighs as she grinned and admired the area around the house.
What the hell, had they come to a haunted house just to get themselves killed? Wu Heng felt like cursing.
"I heard a female ghost comes out of the house! Shoko, say something to the camera and introduce yourself."
Shinsuke put his baseball cap on backward, then aimed his camcorder at the space just below Shoko's neck.
"Oh, I don't want to. I'm not wearing makeup, so I can't be on camera!"
"Come on. We might catch something incredible."
Two suicidal idiots!
Wu Heng was furious. Stupid people really did drag others down with them.
This body might have had some questionable habits, but its usual hobbies were just drinking and practicing its craft. Then, after getting drunk, he'd somehow ended up here with his good friend Shinsuke.
"Today I've come to the Hirao Haunted House. I heard..." Shoko began introducing herself to the camera, saying one thing but clearly meaning another.
Wu Heng suddenly felt a gaze slowly creeping out from inside the Ghost House.
The hole in the lower corner of the door seemed even darker, as though something had blocked it.
He strode over, grabbed Shinsuke by the collar, and hauled him up. Then he took the car keys from Shinsuke's pocket.
He tossed him onto the ground like a piece of trash, returned to the car, started the engine, and stepped on the gas.
"Nani? Genichiro, what are you doing?!"
Seeing Wu Heng roughly toss Shinsuke to the ground and prepare to drive away, Shoko hurriedly climbed into the still-open rear door and sat in the back, demanding an explanation.
Wu Heng ignored her, pressed down on the gas, and headed back the way they had come.
"Hey, wait for me!"
"Genichiro, Shoko, you bastards! That's my car!"
Shinsuke shouted and ran after them as he watched the two of them leave him behind.
"Shinsuke hasn't gotten in yet! Genichiro, stop the car!"
The rushing air slammed the rear door shut with a bang.
Shoko anxiously pounded on the window.
Wu Heng paid her no mind and pressed harder on the gas. Shinsuke's voice faded farther and farther away, until it vanished completely.
"Genichiro, how could you do that? Shinsuke is your best friend! He could be in danger all alone in the forest."
"Why would you do this? If you don't stop, I'll call the police and tell them you got Shinsuke killed."
Shoko fidgeted restlessly, but with the car speeding along, she didn't dare make any sudden movements. She could only keep nagging him.
Then she seemed to realize something. Looking a little worried, she hurriedly fastened the open buttons at her chest and pulled her collar up.
The car drove back along the road for ten minutes.
The last rays of sunlight disappeared, and darkness swallowed the road.
The crooked old trees lining both sides cast shadows that twisted and changed shape as they moved closer or farther away from the headlights.
They waved their claw-like branches. The dry, cracked black bark on their trunks resembled charred corpses.
"Do you want to get out and keep him company?"
Only now did Wu Heng bother to reply. That woman was noisy.
"My head's so itchy. Huh? What's this?"
Shoko didn't answer him. Instead, she scratched her head and pulled a lock of dry, black hair from it.
Her hair was dyed black and orange. It wasn't supposed to be this long.
Wu Heng saw what she was doing in the rearview mirror, and his expression darkened. She'd already been targeted.
He didn't know what the thing was or whether he could beat it, but it was better to avoid trouble when possible. There was little to gain from fighting such an eerie creature.
Apart from blood, he couldn't get anything from spirits at the moment.
"Do you want to go find Shinsuke?" Wu Heng asked pointedly.
"Huh? Really? You're willing to go back for Shinsuke? Great, great! Genichiro, I knew you wouldn't abandon him!"
Shoko was delighted to hear that. She'd had a bit of a thing for the fashionable Shinsuke, so of course she wanted to go back and get him as soon as possible.
But Genichiro seemed like a completely different person. She even suspected he wanted to compete with Shinsuke for her, or that some eerie creature had possessed him.
Sitting in the car, she was terrified. She couldn't accept either possibility, but outside was pitch-black and the car was going too fast for her to dare jump out.
Shoko was so excited at the thought of seeing Shinsuke that she forgot she was still holding the black lock of hair.
Screeech—!
The car braked sharply. Shoko's forehead slammed into the front seat, and she cried out as she clutched her head.
Wu Heng opened the car door, dragged Shoko out through the rear door, tossed her onto the roadside, and quickly shut the door.
He hit the gas and sped back toward the main road. If that eerie creature had managed to follow them, Shinsuke was probably already dead. Since she wanted to see him so badly, she could go see him.
The gender-ambiguous scream faded into the distance. At last, the woman had stopped forcing her voice and let her real voice slip out.
Wu Heng was furious now. If that eerie creature dared bother him again, he'd blow up the whole forest.
Five minutes later, Wu Heng passed through an iron-mesh gate and entered the Black Pine Northern Expressway.
There were other cars on the road now, and the place felt a little less desolate. Following the map, Wu Heng drove toward the temporary lodging he remembered.
The thing from the Ghost House didn't follow him.
The car stalled as soon as it entered a county road in Kiso District. Wu Heng guessed it was because he'd drifted at high speed along the forest road. Japanese cars were poorly made anyway—too light and flimsy.
The navigation showed that he was less than two kilometers away, so he decided to get out and walk to his destination.
Wu Heng left the car keys inside and didn't shut the door. The car could go to whoever happened upon it.
After all, the car had picked up the scent of that thing from the Ghost House. Who knew if it might come sniffing after him again?
Wu Heng walked along the county road for five minutes, covering about half the distance.
Up ahead stood two middle-aged office workers in suits.
They were holding black briefcases and pointing across the road as they talked in hushed voices.
A sign at the bus stop partially blocked his view in that direction, so Wu Heng couldn't see what was happening.
But he slowed his steps, because he heard a sound.
Swish, swish, swish—!
From across the road, behind the sign, came the sound of someone scrubbing something hard with a stiff brush.
Swish, swish, swish...!
The rhythm was rapid and irregular.
Wu Heng took two small steps forward, shifting out from behind the sign that blocked his view. From about thirty meters away, he finally saw what was behind it:
At the roadside bus shelter, an eerie woman wearing a white kimono sat on a wooden bench with her back to the road, her long hair hanging loose.
All he could see was her white-clad back.
She was clawing at her body with both hands, as if it were covered in thousands of fleas and she was so itchy she wanted to tear her skin raw. She didn't stop for a moment.
The swishing sound came from her constantly scratching herself with her fingernails.
"Fujimori, what's wrong with that woman?"
One of the office workers, a man with glasses, asked the other, who was bald.
"Let's go see. Maybe she needs help." The bald office worker narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"You're right. She looks really itchy. Maybe she had a fight with her husband and came out here. She needs a bath."
The bespectacled man chuckled lewdly.
The two middle-aged office workers exchanged a look and started across the road.
What a nuisance!
Wu Heng glanced at them but didn't stop. He quickened his pace, passed them, and continued along the county road toward the lodging.
After walking two hundred meters, he faintly heard two screams behind him. They were men's screams.
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