N-A-A Chapter 21 The Anomaly of Recovery
Chapter 21 The Anomaly of Recovery
The wind rushed in through the main gate of the ancestral hall, carrying billowing white mist that made the oil lamp in front of the altar sway precariously.
"What's going on? Is the legend true?" Li Maolin's expression changed.
"What do you know?" Sun Rui stepped forward and asked.
The fog in the lobby grew thicker and thicker, until it was almost impossible to see anyone.
"The smell is even stronger now!" Sun Rui said, covering his nose. The stench of corpses in the mist was much stronger, mixed with the smell of burning bodies.
It seemed that only he could smell this odor; the other two did not react to it. Li Maolin just stared at the door in horror, while the old man just kowtowed frantically.
Li Maolin calmed down a bit and said, "Grandpa used to say that we have to offer sacrifices to the Dragon King before each rescue, otherwise we will be cursed for offending the Dragon King's majesty... A few days ago, Grandpa took on another job, and since he came back, he has been saying that he is being watched by something... So tonight he wants to ask the Dragon King for protection..."
Li Maolin's voice trembled as he spoke, so Sun Rui stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and urged him to continue.
"There were rumors that Grandpa was fighting with drowned ghosts to retrieve bodies... Drowned ghosts can't be reincarnated; they can only be reincarnated by finding someone to take their place on the shore. Grandpa must have offended those vengeful spirits... Ah! No... no, they're coming in!"
Li Maolin broke free from his hand and ran off somewhere. Sun Rui was about to chase after him when he realized that Li Maolin had disappeared into the fog, just like Qin Qiuyun had before.
"What is going on here? Is this a ghost realm? Then what are the rules of how these vengeful ghosts kill people?" Sun Rui was still confused about the current situation.
If it's a vengeful ghost, so much time has passed, and he still hasn't triggered the vengeful ghost's killing pattern?
The oil lamp in front of the altar was blown out, and the already obstructed view was now completely dark.
Sun Rui followed the direction of the altar in his memory, but after walking for a long time, he still couldn't find the altar or bump into anything.
"Damn it! I've walked at least a hundred steps since I got here, and the ancestral hall isn't that big." Sun Rui gritted his teeth and continued walking forward.
The space here seems to be infinitely expanded, with no end in sight.
Sun Rui had nothing to provide light and could only move in one direction. He remembered that there was an oil lamp and a flint on the altar. Only by getting these things could he know what was happening around him.
He didn't know if he had lost his way, but he didn't dare to change direction casually, as that would only make the situation more chaotic.
All Sun Rui could hear now was the sound of the wind and... the sound of the river?
"Why is there a sound of water? I don't remember there being any rivers around this ancestral hall." Sun Rui frowned. Even if he had gone the wrong way, he wouldn't have strayed this far.
He gritted his teeth and walked forward a little further.
Sudden.
He felt like he had bumped into a corner of the altar.
Sun Rui carefully reached forward, and the next moment he seemed to touch something.
"This looks like an oil lamp." Sun Rui's hands were covered in some greasy stuff, probably grease from the lamp holder.
He was still missing a flint, so he reached out along the edge of the altar to one side. Strangely, he didn't touch anything else. Apart from the oil lamp he had just touched, there seemed to be nothing else on the altar.
Finally, he touched something warm, like someone's hand.
The next moment, a woman screamed.
"A ghost!"
"That's Qin Qiuyun's voice!" Sun Rui thought.
At this moment, the thick fog gradually dissipated, the original Republican-era town disappeared, and Sun Rui returned to the ancestral hall in Luoshan Village.
The person he touched was Qin Qiuyun, and she was screaming and running away.
"Don't run away, it's me!" Sun Rui said, and he found that all his belongings were back, including his GPS phone and body bag.
He should have returned to the real world now, as evidenced by the fact that he still has the gold items on him.
"Sun...Sun Rui?" Qin Qiuyun stopped in her tracks upon hearing this voice.
Qin Qiuyun turned around, watermelon juice still dripping from her lips.
wrong!
Sun Rui looked at "Qin Qiuyun" in front of him warily.
"Why are you looking at me like that? What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? And you even dressed up as a ghost to scare me." Qin Qiuyun walked towards him.
Now Sun Rui was even more certain that Qin Qiuyun, who had entered the ancestral hall, was the only one who hadn't seen him that night.
"Stand there and don't move." Sun Rui pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her.
Tonight's events were completely unexpected. First, there was the shadow in the ancestral hall, then the second Qin Qiuyun, and then the fog appeared, all the way to that small town from the Republican era...
"What are you doing? Have you forgotten that I treated you to a late-night snack tonight?" Qin Qiuyun said to herself, seemingly unafraid of the gun in Sun Rui's hand.
"Who are you?" Sun Rui wanted to test whether this thing could understand him.
Qin Qiuyun was stunned for a moment and said, "It's me, Qin Qiuyun. What's wrong with you?"
"So how did you get to the ancestral hall?" Sun Rui continued.
This thing is somewhat similar to the mirror ghost in Sun Rui's memory; it seems to be able to mimic living people.
This time, Qin Qiuyun was stunned for even longer: "I...I am...yes...how did I get here..."
Gradually, Qin Qiuyun, who had been normal, became dazed, and her face turned frighteningly pale.
boom!
Without hesitation, Sun Rui pulled the trigger. The bullet left a bloody hole in Qin Qiuyun's forehead, while Qin Qiuyun stood there as if nothing had happened, muttering to herself about what she had just said.
"It's definitely not a real person; it must be some kind of supernatural being!" Sun Rui said.
At this moment, the fog density dropped significantly again, the stone statue on the altar next to Sun Rui disappeared, and it reverted to the original wooden memorial tablet. Everything in the ancestral hall returned to its original state. If you hadn't experienced it firsthand, no one would believe what had happened here.
As Qin Qiuyun gradually disappeared from sight, and the sound of insects chirping reached his ears, Sun Rui picked up his phone and checked the time.
"Is it six in the morning?"
This is a very special time, and many haunted places are associated with this time, including the Ghost Post Office, which turns off its lights at 6 p.m. and turns them on at 6 a.m.
Sun Rui thought back carefully. The thick fog... it should be called smog now. The smell of that stuff was really too strong. If Sun Rui weren't a ghost tamer, he would definitely have thrown up his dinner.
"The smog started appearing at midnight and lasted until it disappeared at six in the morning." He recalled the time; the smog suddenly appeared on his way back from the ancestral hall at midnight, and then the thin smog gradually became thicker.
By six o'clock, the sky outside was already slightly bright. Sun Rui did not linger in the ancestral hall, as being discovered by the villagers at this time would complicate matters further.
On the way back, Sun Rui kept looking at the satellite positioning phone in his hand. The headquarters had already investigated and clarified the pictures he had taken last night.
These are some people living on the water, also known as corpse retrievers. Some of them worship the Dragon King in their homes, like the stone statue in this case, while others worship things like water ghosts.
Moreover, Li Maolin is right. There is a common belief that drowned people are dragged down by water ghosts to die in their place. This is why people who retrieve corpses keep these stone statues in their homes, mainly to seek peace of mind.
The front door of Qin Qiuyun's house was open.
"I wonder if Qin Qiuyun survived." Sun Rui stroked his chin. Although the events of last night were bizarre, he was not attacked by any supernatural forces from beginning to end. This situation proves that the killing patterns of vengeful ghosts are relatively limited.
Before he could even step inside, he heard the sound of several people arguing behind him.
"Who the hell seduced your man? Explain yourself!"
This was Qin Qiuyun's voice.