Free Web NovelThe path underfoot was an ordinary mountain road, rugged and winding, rarely traveled, and extremely desolate. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Weeds grew rampant on both sides of the road, and the trunks of the dark trees were strangely shaped, looking from afar like ill-intentioned people hiding in the shadows, peeping.
In the dead silent jungle, damp air drifted, and the surface of the skin exposed outside of clothing quickly condensed a thin layer of water droplets.
These water droplets, accompanied by the bumpy steps, suddenly merged into a stream and slid down, like some indescribable cold insect crawling across the skin, horrifying, disgusting, and irritating.
Walking through such a jungle, the sounds of breathing and footsteps were infinitely amplified in the ears, repeating monotonously, wearing away patience and hope.
If someone ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) were following behind, walking with almost the exact same pace, they wouldn't be discovered at all, would they? After a long time, Lu Yibei gradually developed this thought.
She had always liked quiet and solitude, but it wasn't until she had been walking in this damned place for several hours that she realized that wasn't true quiet and solitude.
It was just finding a reasonable and impressive excuse to be lazy at home, with modern technological products like mobile phones, computers, and the internet as hubs, subtly connecting her to civilized society.
But.
The ancient desolation before her, this mountain forest that seemed to exude eternal and silent sorrow, was completely different.
The true loneliness and quiet contained within it were like a terrifying Nightmare, invisibly eroding sanity and pushing people to the edge of rationality.
Therefore, Lu Yibei gradually became more and more eager to escape this tormenting environment, urgently wanting to go to the village she had visited the last time she entered the Bamboo Scroll Illusion.
This wasn't just because she felt that entering that village offered a chance to find the knowledge the mysterious girl spoke of, but also because only by doing so could she escape this quiet and loneliness that was enough to drive a person mad.
Although that village was full of eerie vibes and likely contained a vast amount of urban legend, venturing into it meant having to face danger directly.
This time, she was destined not to be as cowardly as before... well, probably! Lu Yibei thought. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
However, before facing the danger...
"How about singing a song first?" Lu Yibei muttered to herself.
Just like many people who walk at night like to listen to or sing some rousing or cheerful songs.
Lu Yibei thought this, and soon, the sound of a skylark-like melodious song echoed through this black jungle that seemed to have been abandoned by the world.
In fact, Lu Yibei was quite talented at singing and had even won second place in the Hua City Children's Singing Competition.
So...
"Fold a thousand paper cranes~ and tie a red ribbon~ May kind people have good luck every day~♪"
So, in a bizarre black forest, such a song drifted from the mouth of a small and cute pink and white-haired loli.
As Lu Yibei sang and bounced along, making the best of a bad situation, not far behind her, hidden by the dark bushes, pairs of eerie eyes watched her back, with a hint of confusion in their pupils.
The hunters from various villages had never seen such "food" before.
Most of the "food" gifted by the heavens in the past would die upon arriving in the forest, and the few who survived would be severely injured, quickly descending into madness and even losing their lives amidst the pain and terrifying silence.
They had never seen anyone like her, full of life, able to walk, jump, and sing.
They just felt... they just felt that something wasn't quite right...
Fear!
...
When Lu Yibei finally encountered the village in a low-lying area, she was truly startled by the scene before her.
As Lu Yibei arrived at the village entrance, the sky seemed to have darkened a bit more.
The village in her memory of the Bamboo Scroll Illusion seemed to be constantly raining, with only the gray of the stone, the black of the sky, and the dark yellow of the mud visible, everything seemed lifeless.
But at this moment, large swathes of bright red abruptly intruded into the village.
In the village, red cloth was strung between the low stone houses, and beautiful red lanterns hung in front of every household, each lantern emitting a faint glow, dyeing the streets and alleys a bloody color.
The not-so-wide streets and alleys were silent, despite the scene of lanterns and decorations, giving off a feeling of extreme oppression and unease.
Although her eyes showed no signs of warming or heating up, she just felt that something wasn't quite right?
Lu Yibei stood at the village entrance feeling uneasy and observed for a while, and soon she realized what was wrong.
In those winding and deep alleys, traces of human activity were visible everywhere, ox carts parked by the roadside, needlework boxes placed on stone steps, and even half of a dark red flatbread made of who knows what.
But Lu Yibei didn't see anyone, as if all the villagers had hidden the moment she arrived.
She frowned and walked along the widest alley in the village, the scarlet light of the lanterns casting a glow on the buildings on both sides, giving the feeling that the buildings were bleeding.
As she ventured deeper into the village, she quickly made new discoveries.
Standing at the alley entrance and looking ahead, far away, in an open space in the center of the village, stood many statues carved from black wood with snake heads and human bodies, wrapped in red clothing.
Surrounded by these red-clad statues, many temporary stalls were set up, and the festive atmosphere became even more intense.
Goods were displayed on the stalls, colorful and varied, but from a distance, it was hard to see what they were.
In front of one stall that looked very much like a noodle stall often seen in movies, a large pot was set up, with a fire burning underneath, and something was boiling in the pot, sending up wisps of white steam.
Only...
The surroundings were still empty, without a single person, eerily quiet.
It was as if this village was celebrating some grand festival, but that festival was not for the living.
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After pausing at the alley entrance for a moment, Lu Yibei silently lowered the guitar bag on her shoulder, unzipped it, and took out a handful of talismans, a mingwang statue, and a Poker Pistol.
She loaded the Poker Pistol and placed it in her jacket pocket for easy access, grabbed the arm of the mingwang statue with one hand, carrying it single-handedly, and then slowly walked towards the open space in the center of the village.
Every two or three meters she walked forward, she would scatter a First Light Spring Wind Curse behind her like sowing seeds, just in case something terrifying suddenly attacked from behind.
As she walked, a faint, almost imperceptible stench entered Lu Yibei's nostrils, and the closer she got to the center of the village, the stronger the stench became.
When she was about five meters away from the center of the village, she finally saw what was being sold at the stalls.
They were bloody and mutilated limbs, neatly stacked together like goods according to different parts, some of which appeared to be from humans.
As for the other limbs, whose origins could no longer be distinguished, they were permeated with a foul and unsettling aura, and their deformed and twisted shapes clearly indicated that they were not from humans.
Are they urban legend?
The villagers who had hidden away somewhere were actually boiling and eating urban legend here?
Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment, her gaze involuntarily drifting towards the large pot in the distance, and then her face turned pale, goosebumps instantly covered her body, and her stomach churned.
Although she had swallowed more than one urban legend core, that was just the urban legend core, not the body of the urban legend.
She had never imagined what it would be like to directly boil and eat those bizarre things.
"Gag—gag—!"
Lu Yibei couldn't control her dry retching, wisps of flames ignited and extinguished in her throat, and the choking smoke that spread further increased her discomfort.
Just then, a hoarse voice suddenly sounded behind her.
"Shush—! Don't make a sound."
Looking in the direction of the voice, an Old man wearing a dark coat was walking quickly from a distance.
When he walked, his posture was very strange, although his feet were on the ground and he was taking strange, small steps, it gave people the feeling that he was being hung by something around his neck.
Lu Yibei focused her attention on the Old man for a few seconds, and only after confirming that her eyes showed no signs of heating up did she slightly relax.
It seems he's not a urban legend, or perhaps his Spiritual Energy is so weak it's almost negligible?
Moreover, looking at the direction he was coming from, if he were a urban legend, he should have triggered the First Light Spring Wind Curse...
It seems the probability of him posing a threat to me is not high.
Lu Yibei thought, slightly parted her lips, and was about to say something to the Old man, but the Old man spoke before her.
"Another outsider?"
Lu Yibei, "..." Another one? Besides me, has anyone else been here? Could it be Gu Qianqian? Is she still alive?
She thought, and asked the Old man, "Old man, have you seen a Miss with chestnut hair, wearing small leather boots, and a red scarf?"
The Old man's cloudy eyes scanned Lu Yibei, but he didn't answer her question. Instead, he silently turned around and walked towards a corner of the village with his strange steps.
As he walked, he muttered some words in a hoarse voice that were completely unrelated to Lu Yibei's question.
"After dark, don't knock on doors... they'll hear you..."
"Old man, what are those things you're talking about?" Lu Yibei asked, confused.
"Those things are celebrating the festival, it's very lively..."
"Old man?"
"Stay at my place for a night, and it'll be fine when it's light..."
Lu Yibei, "..." There's no way to communicate at all!
Lu Yibei carefully followed behind the Old man, listening to him babble while secretly observing him.
She looked at the Old man's strange way of walking, and the more she looked, the more uncomfortable she felt, and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes in thought.
It's hard to find someone who's not a threat, at least I should be able to have a normal conversation with him, right?
Just listening to him repeat himself like this isn't a solution, I need to find a way to interrupt his repetition!
"Old man, why do you walk like that? Aren't you uncomfortable? Or do you have knee problems? I see it's always quite damp here, do you have rheumatism? You should take this seriously, if your bones deform, you might become paralyzed."
"After dark, don't knock on doors..."
"Are the things you're talking about the ones boiling and eating urban legend in the center of the village? Can that stuff be eaten? Or do they have some special cooking techniques?"
"After dark..."
"By the way, Old man, are you the only one in the entire village? Why don't I see anyone else? Don't you feel scared living in a place like this? I'm pretty scared!"
"After dark..."
Lu Yibei kept babbling for a long time, while the Old man repeatedly said the same few sentences.
She didn't know how long it had been, just as Lu Yibei was getting a little dry-mouthed from talking.
Finally, as if his brain had frozen, the Old man suddenly stopped in place, turned around, and stared at her expressionlessly, his cloudy eyes trembling slightly, as if thinking about something. He was silent for about a minute before continuing to repeat those few sentences.
Lu Yibei, "..." He's definitely faking it! If I can't make you talk today, I'm not the trash talker of this work!
