Qin Changsheng felt that no previous appearance of her had ever drawn as much attention as this one.
Jiang Zhongxue walked ahead, her spine straight as a rod, with only a few faint bloodstains smeared on her clothes. Her silhouette resembled an unyielding green bamboo. Qin Changsheng, however, was different. She hobbled out behind her, covered in grime, her face and hair caked with dried patches of blood and dust.
She couldn’t have looked more wretched.
Outside, the scene was chaotic and noisy, filled with the clamor of voices. Someone shouted as if rallying the crowd, “We saw that girl enter this haunted forest, she’s probably beyond saving! Shouldn’t we just go back?”
A woman nearby chimed in, “That’s right! No one who enters this forest has ever been seen again! Aunt Zhang’s husband and daughter both went into these woods years ago, and not even a trace of them has been found!”
Aunt Zhang stood there in a daze, her expression vacant. Other women cast sympathetic yet complicated glances her way, huddling together and whispering fearfully, “Aunt Zhang’s fate is truly harsh. First, her husband entered the haunted forest, then her daughter, and now even a passing tenant! She’s brought misfortune to them all, one after another!”
Outside, torches flickered, and the sounds of barking dogs and chattering people filled the air. Amid the murmurs, a deep, somber male voice suddenly cut through the noise, “We must see the person if she’s alive, or the body if she’s dead. If you want to leave, go ahead. My men and I will stay here. I refuse to believe that girl won’t come out.”
His words brought a momentary silence. A few locals huddled together, whispering among themselves. After a long pause, cautious voices of persuasion arose, “Let it go, brother. You’re an outsider, you probably don’t know the legends about this haunted forest. Years ago, the government sent people to cut down the trees here to eradicate superstitions, but the worker went missing. When the government reported it, they refused to believe it was anything supernatural and ordered the forest to be burned down. And what happened? The fire spread through the woods but suddenly died out at a certain spot! This forest has stood here untouched all these years! A forest that even fire can’t destroy, isn’t that eerie enough? After that, the government never dared to meddle with this cursed place again. Brother, take my advice, that girl isn’t coming out!”
The deep voice fell silent.
Outside, the clamor continued. Qin Changsheng followed Jiang Zhongxue, heading toward the sounds and the torchlight.
The noise outside persisted, torches crackling as they burned. Suddenly, the somber male voice roared, accompanied by the sharp report of a gunshot, “Get the hell out of here, all of you! My brother is still in there! I don’t give a damn whether that girl lives or dies, but my man is inside! If he doesn’t come out, what the hell are we leaving for?”
The crowd fell into a terrified silence, exchanging uneasy glances. Someone mustered the courage to whisper to the village chief, “Chief, who are these people? They’re carrying guns? What kind of trouble has that girl gotten herself into?”
The village chief coughed, cleared his throat, and announced vaguely, “Everyone, go home now. This is their private business, why are we making such a fuss? It’s late. Time to go back and get some sleep!”
The man holding the torch nearby shooed away the lingering women who were reluctant to leave the scene, much like herding chickens. As the village chief passed by Aunt Zhang, he seemed to recall something and nodded to her, saying, “Aunt Zhang, it’s getting late. You should head back soon.”
Aunt Zhang nodded dazedly, her eyes unfocused as she glanced at the village chief. Seeing her like this, the chief couldn’t help but add, “I don’t mean to criticize, Aunt Zhang, but first your husband went into the woods, then your own child followed, and now even this girl has run into the Ghost Forest. Aunt Zhang, you’re in your fifties or sixties, how come you can’t keep an eye on anyone?”
Aunt Zhang’s lips trembled uncontrollably. The village chief sighed and walked past her.
Aunt Zhang stood rigid as a statue, the torchlight illuminating her pale lips and lifeless eyes. The crowd gradually dispersed, and the few women who had been watching the commotion called out to her a couple of times. Seeing her dazed and unresponsive, they eventually left on their own.
The two remaining middle-aged men stood in place, staring into the Ghost Forest. They held flashlights, their expressions anxious, even fierce.
Inside the Ghost Forest, a chilling breeze rustled the leaves, making them dance with the night wind and producing a soft, rustling sound.
Under the moonlight, everything within sight in the forest seemed coated in a ghastly layer of frost. Further in, the darkness appeared to conceal countless ghosts and demons, their eerie laughter luring people into this land of no return.
Aunt Zhang stared blankly at the Ghost Forest.
It seemed as if some strange force within the forest was drawing her gaze. Her eyes remained fixed on the flowing darkness deep within, as if it were an indescribable form of life, beckoning to her with a smile.
In the darkness, Yu Mingming, pale as a ghost, was smiling and waving at her.
This was the Yu Mingming from when she was twelve or thirteen, looking entirely different from how she had been in life. Her eyes were filled with a sinister smile, her skin as pale as paper. She was thinly dressed and barefoot, as if she had been running through the forest for so long that she had lost her shoes. Her feet were covered in blood, chunks of flesh falling off as she moved.
Aunt Zhang stared obsessively into the impenetrable darkness of the forest. Though her daughter had been missing for years, and she had almost forgotten what she looked like, today, in the dense darkness of the woods, Yu Mingming’s past appearance and voice surfaced in her mind, even the way she used to lower her head and cry when others called her a bastard.
Aunt Zhang took a dazed step forward.
The two middle-aged men, hearing her heavy breathing, finally noticed that someone was still there. The man in the lead paced anxiously in front of the forest, grabbed his head in frustration, and hurled something to the ground, cursing angrily, “What the hell kind of mission is this?!”
The other man tried to calm him down, but when he saw Aunt Zhang walking toward the forest as if possessed, he instinctively reached out to stop her. “Hey! We told you to go back! Why are you still here?!”
Aunt Zhang paid no attention. She walked straight into the forest, showing no reaction to the attempt to stop her. The other man remarked in surprise, “Has this woman been bewitched?”
The hot-tempered man at the forefront turned his head suspiciously upon hearing these words. Aunt Zhang continued walking step by step into the forest, her face wearing a neurotic expression as she muttered, “My poor child… I’m coming for you, my poor Mingming…”
As Aunt Zhang was about to enter the forest, one of the men moved to stop her, but the leader sharply commanded, “Don’t move! Let her go! We’ll follow behind and see where she leads us!”