"": 200, "": "",
"": "An hour later, at the Mountain God Temple.
It was a wooden building even larger than the mortuary, with blue bricks, gray tiles, and red-painted beams and pillars. It looked solid and imposing.
The village ended just in front of the temple. Heading farther right led into the mountain beside it.
Across the road stood a small, single-story house.
Luo Feng waited by the roadside outside the house.
Luo Bin and the village chief were inside.
The little room was only a dozen square meters, with a bed, a wooden table, and a small cabinet. Everything was cramped together.
The window had been completely boarded up, letting in no light. A rusty iron hook protruded from the ceiling, and a thin chain suspended an oil lamp covered in verdigris. The lamp was filled to the brim, surface tension keeping the oil from spilling.
"Don't let anyone make contact with the outsiders or take them away."
"If the outsiders run into the village before dark, tell me immediately."
"If they don't, light the oil lamp just before dark and lock yourself in this room. Whatever happens then, ignore it. You must never open the door or put out the lamp. Understand?" the village chief told Luo Bin sternly.
"Yes." Luo Bin nodded solemnly.
"Repeat what I said," the village chief said.
Luo Bin repeated his instructions almost word for word.
Only then did the village chief's brow relax. "Very good."
He turned, walked out of the little house, and called, "Luo Feng, your son is very levelheaded. He won't be in danger. Let's go."
Luo Feng glanced back, nodded slightly, and left with the village chief.
Only after both men had disappeared from view did Luo Bin let out a heavy breath. Looking at the Mountain God Temple across the road, he silently thought, Three days. All I have to do is stay put.
Instinctively, Luo Bin glanced to his right. The concrete road rose steeply, leading deep into the distant mountain forest.
The trees were so dense and dark that sunlight could not penetrate them. The oppressive feeling washed over him like a suffocating tide.
Meanwhile, inside the Mountain God Temple.
The mountain god's statue looked bizarre. Its hair was gray, its face yellowish, and its high red nose extended straight up between its brows. Its mouth protruded in a sharp point, like a beak.
Two men and two women sat beside a pillar, their hands and feet bound.
They were members of the city's archaeological team. An ancient tomb on Cabinet Mountain had been illegally excavated, and the team had gone there for a salvage excavation. Then a cave-in buried several professors. All communications were cut off; even the satellite phone could not make a call!
Xu Qi, the convoy leader who knew the roads best, had therefore driven out with three others to find a rescue team.
But things had started going wrong around midnight the previous night. People kept appearing by the road, smiling as they tried to flag down the vehicle. Some even threw themselves at its hood. The four did not dare stop.
They entered the village at dawn, hoping to ask for help, but the villagers' eyes looked even more unsettling.
Most importantly, none of the four remembered this little village, and it was not on the map of Cabinet Mountain.
Afraid they might be robbed, they hurried out of the village, only to lose their way and return shortly afterward. With no other choice, they asked a villager for directions. The villager turned and shouted, summoning around a hundred people!
They sped away, yet still drove back into the village. Then a tire blew, and they were captured...
"What the hell is this place...?" Xu Qi's eyes were bloodshot, his forty-something face exceptionally haggard. He tried to wrench free of the ropes, but they only grew tighter.
"Who knows, Xu? I kept saying we mustn't drive back here. There's something wrong with this village, and look what happened!" The woman speaking was Zhu Qianqian, twenty-two or twenty-three, with short hair and a clean-cut, spirited appearance. Now, however, her expression was full of fear.
"Kidnapping is kidnapping. They've made up a whole load of stories to fool us. Evil spirits, being unable to leave the village... it's all a trick to force us to obey. We have to get into the city and find help tonight. The professors will get hypothermia overnight. They're old; they won't last." The other man was Zhang Li, twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and visibly agitated.
"In our situation, we'll be counting our blessings if we can get back to the vehicle under cover of darkness. There's a spare tire in the trunk." As he spoke, Xu Qi jerked hard to one side and fell to the floor, his head facing Zhang Li's wrists.
"Hold still, Zhang. I'll untie you first."
Xu Qi caught one end of the rope between his teeth. His cheeks bulged as he worked at the knot.
"I've been here before..." The woman with a beauty mark beneath her eye stared blankly at the mountain god's statue and murmured, "Right here, inside this temple. On the first night, after dark, Zhang Li opened the door. A crowd poured in, tore him apart, and ate us..."
"On the second night, someone said they knew where the vehicle was. Xu believed them, and they ate his brain... we all died."
"On the third night... Qianqian, they tore your face apart..."
"On the fourth night, I... I... blood... someone was drinking my blood..."
The more Gu Yiren spoke, the more her voice trembled. Suddenly, she screamed!
Her body curled up like a shrimp, convulsing uncontrollably.
Uneasy, Zhu Qianqian whispered, "Could it be true? But Yiren said in the vehicle that she didn't know this place either."
Zhang Li shook his head, his face tense. "Yiren has mild epilepsy. Stress makes her hallucinate. Ever since we came into this temple, she's been staring at the mountain god's statue. I knew something would happen. Xu, hurry and untie me. She's having a seizure!"
Birds took flight among the trees, the flapping of their wings echoing without end.
Luo Bin sat on the doorstep, watching the Mountain God Temple the whole time. He did not move when he heard the scream.
His thoughts had wandered too far. Knowing anxiety would do him no good, Luo Bin instead calmed down.
Especially today. It seemed the village chief had been testing him, but had the village chief really been the only one?
Had Luo Feng also gone along with it?
After all, Luo Feng's suspicions about him were far stronger than the village chief's.
Beside him on the doorstep lay a palm-sized piece of paper, trembling slightly in the breeze.
Luo Bin had not changed his mind. Xu Kaiguo's own uncertain nature could not provide a reason for Luo Bin to save him.
Besides, the village chief had made it very clear: as long as the outsiders behaved themselves, they would not die.
The crimson sunset clouds stained the horizon bloodred.
Dusk gradually descended, beginning to swallow the daylight.
Luo Bin carefully shut the wooden door. The room instantly became so dim it might as well have been night.
He struck a match and lit the wick. An orange flame danced in the oil lamp covered in verdigris.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Luo Bin felt considerably more at ease.
Beside the head of the bed stood an old, dirty thermos with a green casing. On the floor at the foot of the bed sat a red-and-white chamber pot of a very outdated design.
The bundle beside him contained not only clothes, but also several dozen dry flatbreads and a small jar of pickled vegetables.
He ate the flatbreads with the pickles, then poured himself a small bowl of water. Soon, his stomach was full.
Luo Bin lay back on the bed, closed his eyes, and forced himself to sleep.
He tossed and turned for a long time, his mind unusually alert. Finally, he stared sidelong at the oil lamp hanging in the middle of the room.
It's so glaring!
How am I supposed to sleep with a lamp this bright that I can't put out?
The moment he sat up, Luo Bin gave a start. Didn't everything go back to normal after I drank the lamp oil last night? Why is it happening again?
Luo Bin closed his eyes and lowered his head, forcing himself not to look at the oil lamp as he prepared to lie back down.
But my throat is so dry. I'm so thirsty... if I don't drink some blood soon, sparks really are going to fly out!
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