Strange Oddities Along the Way

The wooden walls of the old house were covered in thick, black moss, while the roof and courtyard were blanketed in a deep layer of fallen leaves.

Beneath these leaves lay a bed of rotting foliage, emitting a pungent, musty odor.

The faded black wooden door was tightly secured, wrapped seven or eight times in iron chains as thick as hemp rope.

Yet, in the bottom-left corner of the door, there was a bowl-sized hole. The darkness within was absolute, like a hungry mouth waiting for a visitor!

"This is the place!"

Shoko excitedly opened the car door and stepped out.

"That's right, this is the famous Hirao Haunted House!"

Shinsuke smugly pulled out his camera and began filming Shoko.

Shoko leaned forward, hands resting on her thighs, grinning as she admired the surroundings of the house.

Are they seriously here to die? Wu Heng felt a sudden urge to curse.

"I heard a female ghost comes out of this house! Miss Shoko, please say something to the camera and introduce yourself."

Shinsuke pushed his baseball cap backward, held the camera, and zoomed in on the area just below Shoko's neck.

"No way! I'm not wearing makeup, I can't be on camera!"

"Come on, what if we actually capture something incredible?"

A pair of suicidal idiots!

Wu Heng was furious. Stupid people really do drag others down to their deaths.

Although this body had poor habits, its usual hobbies were just drinking and practicing crafts. Unfortunately, he had been dragged here by his good friend Shinsuke while he was drunk and disoriented.

"Today I've come to the Hirao Haunted House, I heard..." Shoko began her introduction to the camera, her words belying her earlier reluctance.

Suddenly, Wu Heng felt a sense of being watched emanating from within the haunted house.

The hole in the corner of the door seemed to grow deeper, as if something were blocking the view from the inside.

He stepped forward, grabbed Shinsuke by the collar, hoisted him up, and fished the car keys out of his pocket.

Then, he tossed him onto the ground like trash, returned to the car, ignited the engine, and slammed on the gas.

"Nani? Genichiro, what are you doing!"

Seeing Wu Heng rudely throw Shinsuke to the ground and prepare to drive off, Shoko rushed into the car before the back door could close, sat in the backseat, and demanded an explanation.

Wu Heng ignored her, stepped on the accelerator, and drove back the way they came.

"Hey, wait for me!"

"Genichiro, Shoko, you bastards, that's my car!"

Seeing the two leave him behind, Shinsuke chased after them, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Shinsuke hasn't gotten in yet, Genichiro, stop the car!"

The back door slammed shut with a bang, caught by the rushing wind.

Shoko pounded on the window in a panic.

Wu Heng turned a deaf ear and pressed harder on the gas. Shinsuke's voice grew fainter until it vanished entirely.

"Genichiro, how could you? Shinsuke is your best friend! He'll be in danger all alone in the forest."

"Why are you doing this? If you don't stop, I'm going to call the police and tell them you killed Shinsuke."

Shoko was restless, but the high-speed car made her afraid to make any further moves, so she could only keep nagging.

Then, seemingly remembering something, she looked worried. She quickly buttoned her open shirt and pulled her collar up.

The car drove along the road for ten minutes.

The last rays of sunlight vanished, and the road was plunged into total darkness.

The rows of crooked old trees on either side cast shadows that twisted and distorted in the headlights as the distance changed.

They waved their limbs like claws, their cracked, black bark looking like the skin of charred corpses.

"Do you want to get out and keep him company?"

Only then did Wu Heng find the heart to reply; this woman was noisy.

"My head is so itchy... eh? What is this?"

Shoko didn't answer Wu Heng's question; instead, she scratched her head and pulled out a lock of long, dry, black hair.

Her own hair was dyed black-orange and was nowhere near that long.

Wu Heng saw her movement in the rearview mirror, and his expression darkened. This woman had already been targeted.

Though he didn't know what kind of thing had latched onto her, or if he could even defeat it, he preferred to avoid it. There was no value in fighting such bizarre entities.

Currently, he couldn't extract anything from spirits other than blood.

"Do you want to go find Shinsuke?" Wu Heng asked, his words carrying a hidden meaning.

"Eh! Really? Are you willing to go back and pick up Shinsuke? Great, great! Genichiro, I knew you wouldn't abandon Shinsuke!"

Shoko was overjoyed to hear this. She had long harbored feelings for the stylish Shinsuke, so naturally, she was eager to bring him back.

However, Genichiro seemed like a completely different person. She even suspected that he was trying to compete with Shinsuke for her affection, or perhaps he had been possessed by some anomaly.

Sitting in the car, she was terrified. She couldn't accept either possibility, but with the pitch-black darkness outside and the high speed of the vehicle, she didn't dare jump out.

Lost in her thoughts about Shinsuke, Shoko was so happy that she even forgot about the lock of black hair she was clutching in her hand.

Screech—!

With a sudden slam of the brakes, Shoko's forehead slammed into the front seat, and she clutched her head with a cry of pain.

Wu Heng opened the car door, dragged Shoko out from the back seat, tossed her onto the side of the road, and quickly slammed the door shut.

He floored the gas, speeding back toward the main road they had come from. If that freakish anomaly could track them, Shinsuke was likely already dead. Since she wanted to see Shinsuke so badly, she could go and meet him.

The androgynous screaming behind him gradually faded into the distance. The woman had finally stopped putting on a fake voice, revealing her true tone.

Wu Heng felt a surge of ruthlessness; if that anomaly dared to trouble him again, he would blow this entire forest to pieces.

Five minutes later, Wu Heng passed through a wire fence gate and entered the northern highway of Black Pine.

There were already other vehicles on the road, bringing a touch of human life. Following the map, Wu Heng drove toward the temporary guesthouse he remembered.

The thing from the haunted house did not follow.

The car stalled as soon as it entered the county road of Kiso District. Wu Heng guessed it was likely due to the high-speed drifting he had done on the forest roads; these island-nation cars were poor in quality—too light and too fragile.

Checking the navigation, he saw he was less than two kilometers away, so he decided to get out and walk to his destination.

Wu Heng left the keys inside the car and left the door ajar. He would leave this vehicle for whoever was fated to find it.

After all, the car was tainted with the scent of that freak from the haunted house; who knew if it would track the smell back to him?

Wu Heng walked along the county road for five minutes, covering about half the distance.

Two middle-aged salarymen in suits appeared ahead.

They were standing there holding black briefcases, pointing across the road and whispering to each other.

Their line of sight was partially blocked by a bus stop sign, so Wu Heng couldn't see what was happening.

However, he slowed his pace, because he heard a sound.

Swish, swish, swish—!

From the bench across the road, hidden behind the sign, came a sound like a stiff-bristled brush scrubbing something vigorously.

Swish, swish, swish...!

The rhythm of the sound was dense and erratic.

Wu Heng stepped forward a few paces, moving past the sign that blocked his view. From about thirty meters away, he finally saw what was behind it:

In the roadside bus shelter, a bizarre woman in a white kimono with disheveled hair sat on a wooden bench, her back to the road.

Only her white back was visible.

She was clawing at her body with both hands, as if she had thousands of fleas on her, scratching so hard she was tearing her own skin and flesh, never stopping for a second.

That swish sound was the noise of her fingernails constantly raking against her body.

"Fujimori-san, what do you think is wrong with that woman?"

One of the salarymen, wearing glasses, said to the other, who was bald.

"Let's go over and see; perhaps she needs help." The bald salaryman squinted and chuckled.

"You're right. She looks very itchy. Maybe she had a fight with her husband and ran out, and she needs a bath."

The bespectacled man replied with a lecherous grin.

The two middle-aged salarymen exchanged a look and began walking across the road.

Bad luck!

Wu Heng glanced at them but ignored them, quickening his pace to pass the two men and continue along the county road toward the guesthouse.

After walking two hundred meters, he faintly heard two screams from behind—the screams of men.