This sudden, miserable scream completely shattered the dead silence inside the self-built house.
Liang Fei bolted upright in an instant, while Lu Ming and Zhou Yue looked toward the bedroom door with sheer terror.
"Was that sound coming from the kid's room?"
"What's going on?"
"I don't know."
With a stern expression, Liang Fei cut off Zhou Yue and Lu Ming.
"Let's go take a look."
The three of them quickly ran toward Little Boy's room and pushed the door open to see what was happening.
The room was dimly lit. Chen Lan was curled up in a corner, hugging her knees and trembling violently.
Han Cheng, looking equally terrified, stood next to Chen Lan and tried to comfort her unceasingly.
Qin Kai stared at the window with a guarded look, swallowing hard again and again.
"What happened?"
Liang Fei asked anxiously.
Seeing the three of them arrive, Chen Lan's emotional state eased slightly, but not by much.
She pointed with a trembling hand toward the window. The space in front of it was completely empty; outside the glass, there was nothing to be seen except for a writhing, ink-like pitch blackness.
"Ju... just now, I saw a figure outside the window..."
"He... he, he was holding a claw hammer... it was... it was..."
Her voice quaked, and the terror in her eyes deepened.
"The murderer who killed someone at the tunnel entrance."
What?
That bizarre murderer had actually followed them all the way to this mountain village?
Suppressing the fear in his heart, Liang Fei walked up to the window and leaned his upper body out.
A cold wind brushed past his cheeks, sharp as a razor blade.
A chill swept through his entire body. He cast a hurried glance outside and frowned, saying:
"There's nobody there."
"He... he definitely isn't human."
Chen Lan's voice was laced with crying, and her emotions were on the verge of total collapse.
"Could you have seen wrong?"
Lu Ming looked at the shivering, terrified Chen Lan and asked skeptically:
"You probably just had a nightmare."
"No, I had just woken up and was heading to the restroom. The moment I turned my head, I saw him standing right there."
Chen Lan shook her head, pointing at the window as if recalling something horrifying.
"He... he even smiled at me just now."
Her face had gone completely pale.
"Did either of you see it too?"
Zhou Yue asked Han Cheng and Qin Kai.
Both shook their heads, but their hearts were far from calm.
After all, the death of that woman had dealt them far too heavy a blow.
Liang Fei glanced at Little Boy, who was still lying on the bed without the slightest movement.
"I really saw it! Please believe me."
Seeing that the others seemed to doubt her, fear filled Chen Lan's eyes while her voice grew urgent.
"I... I don't want to live in this house anymore. I'm getting out of here."
With that, she got up and made to head out the door.
Right at that moment, a flash of lightning suddenly tore across the sky.
The intense glare instantly illuminated the room.
The expressions on everyone's faces varied, yet all carried an inexpressible, eerie quality.
The bright light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, followed instantly by a booming crash of thunder that startled everyone.
"What the hell... why did it suddenly start thundering?"
Zhou Yue looked up at the dark sky outside. Built like an ox, even he could feel a chill gripping him.
Liang Fei's brows were locked in a tight frown. Ever since they arrived at the mountain village, the sky here had remained shrouded in a deep, heavy haze.
Rain...
didn't seem all that surprising anymore.
The trees outside twisted and contorted menacingly in the cold wind, resembling demons about to devour them whole.
"If you go outside, you'll probably be in even greater danger."
A shudder ran through Liang Fei. He closed the window and spoke in a low voice:
"Everything about this is bizarre. If it really has shown up, that's hardly unexpected."
As soon as Liang Fei said this, another shudder rippled through the group.
"Does that mean it could kill us at any moment?"
Qin Kai asked, deeply worried.
Liang Fei shook his head.
"If it wanted to strike, the three of you wouldn't be able to stop it anyway."
"I think the mission should have restrictions. At the very least... before we submit our clues, it shouldn't be able to kill anyone."
"How can you be sure?"
Chen Lan cried out in alarm.
"I can't be certain, but... do we have a choice?"
Liang Fei swept a calm gaze toward Chen Lan.
Right.
The moment they stepped onto that bus, they had already run out of choices.
Still, perhaps this was for the best.
At the very least, it made everyone realize that this self-built house was far from safe.
If they wanted to leave this place, there was no other way except to desperately search for clues and find the murderer.
"If... I'm just saying if, what if we manage to escape this village..."
Before Lu Ming could finish, Liang Fei cut him off.
"If you don't want to end up like that woman, you'd better get rid of that thought right now."
Even if they really could escape, who would dare test their luck?
Back in their room, Lu Ming couldn't help asking:
"Brother, was what she said true?"
"She has no reason to trick us with something like this."
Liang Fei replied, then closed his eyes.
For the rest of the night, no one dared to sleep with the lights off. Drifting in and out of a hazy slumber, they finally waited until dawn.
After bolting down a hasty breakfast, the group planned to split up and investigate.
At least during the day, it was somewhat safer.
Liang Fei stepped out the door and looked back at the three-story building.
Just from the outside, this newly built house really did look a bit more "luxurious" than the surrounding homes.
The distance between the third floor and the earthen hill behind it was barely a single step.
Could it be because the murderer mistakenly thought this family was wealthy?
That was entirely possible.
Zhou Yue and Han Cheng went to investigate the east end of the village, while Liang Fei and Lu Ming headed to the west end to gather information.
Chen Lan and Qin Kai were left in charge of looking after Little Boy. The group agreed that everyone had to return to the self-built house before dark.
This mountain village was called Gaoshan Village. Nearly all the young people had gone away to work in the cities, leaving behind only the elderly and children.
As for the murder that had taken place in the self-built house, it was common knowledge throughout the village.
Yet after making the rounds, Liang Fei discovered that the victims—the middle-aged couple surnamed Huang—had always lived honest, hard-working lives in the village. Not only had they never made enemies with anyone, but they had never even argued or squabbled with a single person.
For such a family of kindly souls to be suddenly murdered left all the villagers feeling a deep sense of pity.
Before long, the sky began to darken.
Just as Liang Fei and Lu Ming reached the front of the self-built house, they abruptly heard Zhou Yue complain:
"This is truly haunted."
As soon as Zhou Yue said this, Lu Ming and Liang Fei involuntarily recalled the scene of the woman's murder, along with the 'person' Chen Lan had described holding a claw hammer and wearing a strange smile on their face.
Every hair on both of their bodies stood on end instantly, and fine beads of sweat popped out on their foreheads.
"What did you say? Did you see that 'thing'?"
Lu Ming had already developed a psychological shadow, and that shadow kept expanding as time went on.
"What 'thing'? I'm talking about this."
By contrast, Zhou Yue looked completely bewildered.
"No, I didn't."
"If you didn't, why are you making such a fuss?"
Lu Ming was so angry he gnashed his teeth, while Liang Fei silently breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as that 'thing' wasn't coming out to eat people for no reason, that was fine.
Zhou Yue paused for a second, then suddenly realized what Lu Ming was referring to.
He shivered all over, glanced at Liang Fei, and then turned his gaze back to Lu Ming, explaining:
"Han Cheng and I asked around. This family made their living growing peanuts, and their plot of land was the smallest in the entire village. To build this house, they not only wiped out all their savings, but they also borrowed a tidy sum from people around the village."
"Given their situation, who on earth would target them?"
Zhou Yue's words poured yet another bucket of cold water over Liang Fei.
"Has anyone unfamiliar come to the village recently?"