"": 200,
"": "",
"": """The windows are all shut... why does Yiren keep saying they aren't? Zhang Li, did you check properly? Should we check again?" Zhu Qianqian asked stiffly.
Sweat from her nerves plastered her short hair to her forehead. With grime smeared across her cheeks, she looked utterly bedraggled.
Cobwebs covered Zhang Li's hair and clothes, and dirt filled the gaps beneath his nails.
"I'm absolutely certain. Every single window has been checked at least three times. They're all completely shut..." Zhang Li answered hoarsely.
"Could you check again? It's almost dark. I'm really scared. Xu died so horribly yesterday." Zhu Qianqian trembled.
Zhang Li said nothing. His gaze settled on Gu Yiren.
Gu Yiren still had her head turned toward the entrance of the Mountain God Temple, murmuring, "The windows aren't shut."
A thought suddenly popped into Zhang Li's head.
Could it be Luo Shan across the road who hasn't shut his windows?
"Zhang Li?" Zhu Qianqian sounded tentative. "Why don't we... invite Luo Shan over? We'd be safer with a local here..."
"Yes, I'll check. Go get him, quickly. It's almost dark." A flicker of delight appeared in Zhu Qianqian's eyes.
But Zhang Li shook his head. "He might not come. I think we're better off staying by ourselves."
He strode swiftly to the entrance and slid the bolt into place.
Through a gap in the window, Zhang Li could see the little wooden cabin opposite and the boy's silhouette.
He didn't want to warn him.
For one thing, shutting the doors and windows was basic knowledge for anyone living in this village. Even if something happened, wouldn't that be his own problem?
For another, saying anything would only give them away, indirectly exposing Gu Yiren's "ability."
Zhu Qianqian said nothing. She hid beneath the mountain god's arm, watching the steadily burning oil lamp. Both hands pressed tightly against her chest as she silently recited prayers to gods and Buddhas.
The persistent drizzle was getting on Luo Bin's nerves.
He glanced again at the entrance of the Mountain God Temple. As daylight faded, the candlelight shining through the cracks around its doors and windows grew more distinct, lending it a deeply mysterious, gloomy air.
"Whew..." Luo Bin exhaled a stale breath and thought silently.
Nothing should happen. Even if something does, it should be tomorrow.
Right, tomorrow, not tomorrow night.
Xu Kaiguo's note had said three days later. It hadn't specified nighttime.
The village's extreme sensitivity to the night had skewed Luo Bin's thinking.
Luo Bin rose to shut the door, then lit the oil lamp just before darkness fell.
Standing beside the lamp, he tried to empty his mind and kept his eyes on the flame.
The steadily dancing orange flame gradually went from comforting to somewhat harsh. His throat tickled, growing dry.
Here it comes!
The aversion to light, and the thirst for blood.
Breathing deeply in and slowly out, Luo Bin tried to push his endurance to its limit.
He knew how much lamp oil he needed to stay barely lucid through the night. The supply had already dwindled over the past two days. Once he drank some more later, there would only be enough left to last until midnight tomorrow.
When daylight came, if the village chief didn't show up, he would have to go find him and ask for more lamp oil.
His thoughts began to wander.
Where was the lamp oil stored?
The aversion to light and craving for blood were like cancer cells. Lamp oil was his targeted therapy!
Suddenly, Luo Bin heard footsteps.
There were evil spirits on the road now, but that was nothing. He couldn't let them disturb his thoughts.
A moment later, Luo Bin realized something was wrong.
He walked to the cabin door and peered through the crack. His heart immediately lurched.
The road at the end of the village was packed with "people."
They wore all sorts of clothing, but their expressions were much the same: lips lightly pressed together, smiling without showing their teeth.
Luo Bin took great, heaving breaths, suppressing the urge to open the door and step outside.
His attention shifted to the entrance of the Mountain God Temple.
His first instinct was that this was abnormal. Was the mass appearance of evil spirits connected to the outsiders?
On the first day, when his soul had been summoned and he had awakened, everything had been peaceful.
On the second day, outsiders had arrived in the village, and one had died that very night.
Now, on the third day, the evil spirits looked like a swarm of locusts.
Any normal person would connect those two things.
Yet the hordes of evil spirits didn't approach the Mountain God Temple. Instead, they headed into the village.
Then Luo Bin looked toward where the spirits had come from: the pitch-black mountain forest at the end of the road...
His breathing grew heavier. Luo Bin retreated a few steps to the oil lamp and took tiny sips of its oil, easing the dryness in his throat and his aversion to light.
The urge to go outside and join the evil spirits, however, faded along with them.
Knock, knock, knock. Someone knocked on the door.
Luo Bin's eyelid suddenly twitched. He watched the door warily.
"It's lively out here. Why are you staying inside?" a resonant voice asked.
Luo Bin didn't answer.
"The chief of this village is a liar. He made up a lie to keep you hiding in your rooms every night, too scared to come out."
"But does staying inside really keep you safe? In this village, doesn't someone still die every so often?"
"The evil spirits are fake. There aren't any evil spirits at all. It's all his doing."
"We're from outside the village. We couldn't stand watching this go on anymore, so we're here to free you."
"Don't you want to come out and see? See how we punish him, how we kill him?"
"You'll be free very soon." The voice grew even more beguiling.
Sweat beaded at Luo Bin's temples. He went back to the door and saw a face through the crack, with sallow skin and narrow cheeks.
The man was also staring intently at him through the crack.
"Hurry up. A lot of us escaped from this village, too. They're full of hatred for the chief. If you're late, you'll miss the show," the man urged.
Luo Bin's breathing grew heavier. His eyelid kept twitching, twitching, until he felt he could barely open his right eye.
With a thud, he slammed both hands against the door, making an enormous dull bang.
"I know you! You can't fool me!"
Luo Bin's voice was hoarse as he glared fiercely at the man!
"Hee-hee." A childish laugh came from behind the man. Then a little boy of seven or eight poked his head out and made a face.
The man smiled but said nothing more, walking away.
Luo Bin stayed at the door, still staring through the crack at the retreating backs of the man and the little boy.
The boy even raised an arm and waved it, seemingly smug.
The crack in the door writhed, as though it were about to press itself against his eyelid.
Chaotic, fragmented images flashed before his eyes.
A doctor wearing a mask held defibrillator paddles and struck his chest. His whole body jolted upward, trembling, then dropped heavily back down.
"Adrenaline! Quickly!" the doctor shouted.
On the other side, a nurse held a syringe and plunged it into his waist!
The glaring surgical light changed, becoming a huge, round moon. The person striking his chest became a man with a clean face, sallow skin, and deep-set eyes, his lips bearing
a strange smile that was also relaxed and comfortable.
Crack... A rib had broken.
Agonizing pain shot through his chest, as though bone had pierced it.
His little finger also throbbed with excruciating pain. The nurse giving him the injection became a grinning little boy, raising and waving a hand that held a piece of little fingernail.
The images shattered.
In their place was the cold, faintly blackened crack in the door.
The pain in his chest slowly faded and subsided.
Luo Bin panted heavily.
Those two "evil spirits" were the ones who had killed the body's original owner!
That flash of memory was the only thing he currently knew about the original owner!
Another question surfaced in Luo Bin's mind. Why had the original owner been killed by evil spirits?
Hadn't he known he couldn't open the doors or windows at night, or leave the house?
And the number of evil spirits on the road had clearly dwindled. They hadn't even gone to trick Zhang Li and the other outsiders. They had all entered the village!
Would the village chief really be killed?
Luo Bin's head buzzed, and his right eyelid kept twitching.
The last time his eyelid had twitched like this...
His train of thought stopped abruptly. Luo Bin pinched his forearm hard, inwardly cursing himself for thinking such stupid nonsense. A child's words carry no ill omen. Nothing is taboo...
Before you continue