56 - Listen to Ghost Stories

Translated by rabbitrisu

[Tonight, you’ll come to my house to play at the ghost story assembly, right? I’ll have snacks ready and waiting for you!]

The nickname of the person who sent this message was ‘Hua Xiaowan.’ Naturally, Su Zimo wouldn’t ask the other person’s name out of the blue, so regardless of whether that was her real name or not, Su Zimo already began to use ‘Xiaowan’ secretly to address the girl with the bun on her head.

“Would you like snacks?” Xiaowan looked around, but didn’t seem to find any snacks, so she got up from the sofa and smiled as if embarrassed and said, “I’ll go to the kitchen to see if there are any snacks to eat.”

“No, let’s just start!” Du Lei yelled anxiously. Most trainers didn’t want to eat anything from the nightmare world. The apartment they were in actually looked very ordinary. If not for the pale red moon outside, they could almost confuse the real world with the nightmare world… but even so, the food in the nightmare world isn’t acceptable to ordinary people.

Su Zimo lowered his head and thought. Before leaving, he had better go to the kitchen to see what he could take. There were too few commodities in An Yu Yi Yu.

“Are you nervous?” Xiaowan’s face was full of suspicion.

“I…”

“We only mean that it’s late right now.” Su Zimo glanced at the three young trainers and explained. “The moonlight is beautiful right now. It’s very suitable for ghost stories.”

“That said, shall we get started?” Xiaowan glanced at the four people present. “Strange. Why does it seem that there is one extra person?”

Everyone, including Su Zimo, became nervous instantly, but Su Zimo and the trainers thought differently.

“Forget it, more people will make it more lively!” Xiaowan smiled, adding a bit of a glow to her originally bland face. “The rules of the ghost story assembly are very simple. Everyone tells a story. If everyone is safe after telling the story, they can have a party together to celebrate!”

The rules of ‘Ghost Story Assembly’ from Xiaowan’s mouth were indeed very simple, but Su Zimo understood what was behind ‘partying’ and ‘everyone is safe.’ If something happens during the storytelling… they would not only not have a party, but they may also encounter bad things.

“Then who will tell the first story?” Xiaowan glanced at the three people in front of her, then in the other direction. “It’s better for you to go first. Anyway, you look like the extra person.”

The person Xiaowan looked at was Du Lei, one of the three real trainers, who was sitting in the position nearest to her.

“Am I the extra one?” Du Lei pointed to himself in disbelief. After the other nodded once more, he nodded helplessly and said, “Okay, I’ll be the first.”

Then Du Lei turned to look at Xu Yingying, who was sitting next to him with her legs folded, and said in a low voice, “What I said is true. It’s this NPC who has a problem. I’m not a ghost. I really watched your Latin dance video.”

“I see. Don’t speak too much nonsense.” Unlike other trainers, Xu Yingying wasn’t carrying a backpack for convenience. Instead, she carried a small white rattan bag, which she was protecting very preciously in her hands at the moment. “It’s better to prepare your story.”

Xu Yingying didn’t seem to like Du Lei very much, and subconsciously leaned in Zhu Zhu’s direction.

“In terms of ghost stories, people like us are wonderfully well-stocked.” Du Lei coughed a few times before clearing his throat and starting to speak. “This is… something my friend has experienced.”

Su Zimo knows that none of the three trainers present were newcomers, so he knows that each of them had experienced several nightmare worlds. For them, the ‘Ghost Story Assembly’ only required that they modify their prior experiences and narrate them.

This mission didn’t seem to indicate any degree of horror for the ghost story as long as the story is finished.

“My… friend once went into the depths of a certain mountain with a certain team. There was a village called ‘Shēngwú’ hidden in the desolate mountain. The name of the village was the village population. ¹ The accents were a bit difficult to understand, but it’s probably called by that name.

“Because it’s easy to get lost walking in the mountains at tonight, my friends decided to stay overnight in Shēngwú Village and leave at dawn the next day. Although there weren’t many people in the village, they were all very polite and welcoming. Only one old lady who lived at the entrance of the village tried to persuade them to leave as soon as possible. When my… friends were surrounded by the welcoming villagers, she cried and wanted to drive them away. In the end, a few villagers separated them from the old lady and they successfully entered the village. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to leave, but because of some greater force, they had to stay in the village for one night.”

The so-called ‘greater force’ sounded to Su Zimo like a nightmare world task that must be completed.

“They were staying at the village head’s house furthest from the village entrance, and heard a story from the village head. The village head had a granddaughter named Xiao Cui who left the village a year ago because she wanted to work. She was only 18 years old and said she would return with money every six months, but she never returned after she left.

“In the beginning, they thought that the village chief’s granddaughter just chose to live outside the mountain and forgot about the villagers. There was nothing strange about that. But the village chief told them that half a year ago, a villager screamed that he saw Xiao Cui at the village entrance, and that he felt something was wrong… Then the next day, the screaming villager disappeared and couldn’t be found!”

“The village chief told them that after that incident, a rumor spread around the village that Xiao Cui had an accident when she left the village a year ago. It was actually Xiao Cui’s ghost who returned to the village six months ago. She saw that everyone in the village was living well. She wanted to pursue a city life but she couldn’t find her body, so she would return to the village and take someone away every time so she wouldn’t be lonely.”

“Because they lacked evidence, the veterans in the team told my friend that newcomers like him wouldn’t encounter such terrible things, so there must be some clues that could be easy found in the village. The strangest thing in the whole village may be the old lady who blocked them at the entrance.”

“So my friend asked the village chief about the old lady. He noticed that the village chief seemed to be in a daze. Then he told them that the old lady came in from outside, and he didn’t know how long she’d been there. Because everyone in her family had died and there was nowhere else to go, she lived in the village.”

“When they heard that the old lady came from outside, my friend felt that she must know something, so they couldn’t help but run over that night.” Du Lei spoke with a dry mouth, so he took some water out of his backpack. After taking a sip, he continued.

“The old lady heard them… After knocking on the door, she hurried them into the house. She said that there were too many villagers around them before, so she didn’t dare tell them a horrifying thing before. The village wasn’t Shēngwú, but Shēngwù, meaning ‘Strangers Do Not Enter,’ because it wasn’t a place where the living should enter. So the most terrifying thing was that all the remaining people in such a big village, except for the old lady, weren’t alive!”

“My… my friend felt very strange at that time. If the old lady knew all those things were true, the why did she live in the village for so long? After that the old lady said something even more surprising!”

Du Lei was very tantalizing when telling stories, so every time he stopped to sip his water, the others in the living room waited quietly for him to continue. For a moment, even Su Zimo felt that it was just an ordinary gathering, and wanted to hear Du Lei tell the story to the end.

“The old lady asked my friend if he had heard of a ghost named Xiao Cui, and how that ghost would come to the village and take someone away every time? My friend nodded, and then the old lady shook her head helplessly with a wry smile. “I am Xiao Cui.”

“My friend and the others were stunned. The village chief said that Xiao Cui had left only for a year, and she was only 18 years old when she left. She should still be young! But the woman in front of them looked at least 70 years old. How could it be the same person?”

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“Later, the old woman who claimed to be Xiao Cui told us that she didn’t leave the village one year ago, but fifty years ago. At that time, all aspects of communication were undeveloped. After working outside for half a year, Xiao Cui learned that in the village she had escaped, there was an epidemic. Some people escaped, but some people couldn’t.”

“At that time, Xiao Cui was thinking about her parents and the elderly. Regardless of other people’s warnings, after doing some simple things to protect herself, she returned to the village. She thought she would see something terrible in the village, but she never expected the sight that entered her eyes. It was peaceful!”

“The village Xiao Cui saw was the same old village. Those who were said to have died according to the villagers who escaped were actually living in the village. Xiao Cui couldn’t believe her eyes, so she stood outside the village to observe, After a while, she discovered that most of the villagers stayed in their houses during the day, but at night they were more active. They were doing things and working they would normally do during the day, and greeting and talking with each other.”

“Xiao Cui waited for a long time, and finally found a playmate she’d grown up with. She wanted to ask him something. It might have been because Xiao Cui appeared so suddenly, but the stupid man screamed to everyone, and Xiao Cui, who hadn’t finished digesting the strangeness, hid without thinking.”

“When Xiao Cui met the stupid man again, she turned on her flashlight and took him to a place without other people to ask him some things. The strange thing was that the stupid man didn’t know anything about the epidemic, didn’t know how many people had left the village, and didn’t even feel that their lives were any different from before.”

“But Xiao Cui knew that everything was different. When Xiao Cui shone the flashlight at the stupid man, she asked a question without thinking — “Why don’t you have a shadow?”

The stupid man who stood in front of her suddenly turned into a ghost with a pale face and plague scars all over his body. Then, as if he couldn’t recognize her at all, he rushed toward her like a beast, squeezing her neck and trying to kill her!”

“Xiao Cui’s hand only held a heavy flashlight, so when her neck was squeezed, she used all of her energy to slam his big head with the flashlight. She kept going until she had almost lost consciousness, but she was still bashing his head mechanically. When Xiao Cui came back to her senses, the stupid man, who should have fallen in front of her, had disappeared, as if he had evaporated.”

“On the evening of the next day, there was a sudden commotion in the village. They knew the stupid man was missing even though they didn’t remember anything. Then, the rumours gradually emerged that Xiao Cui was a ghost!”

“Xiao Cui didn’t dare contact the villagers anymore. She had been living in the mountains near the village. Most of the time, she hid behind some rocks and observed the village that had been renamed Shēngwù Village.”

“After a period of time, Xiao Cu was almost sure that all the people in the village weren’t alive. They never left the village and no longer raised livestock or crops, as if they didn’t need to eat at all. Yes, the ghost villagers in the village had a very strange concept of time. It was clear that Xiao Cui had been observing from outside for over half a year, but the villagers would still look around for the stupid man who had disappeared ‘last night.’”

“It’s actually hard to imagine how Xiao Cui survived those years, but that fact was that Xiao Cui had waited outside the village until her youthful round face became thin and her hopeful eyes became dull. Even her original enviable black hair began to thin. After Xiao Cui couldn’t recognize herself, she walked boldly into the village.”

“In the eyes of the ghost villagers, the strange outsider was desperate. In Xiao Cui’s eyes, she was going home.”

“Finally Xiao Cui told me… my friend, that the ghost villagers were harmless on weekdays, but outsiders who come to the village absolutely cannot disrupt the calm and harmlessness!”

“Whether it was that time had passed outside of the mountain, advanced communication equipment, or movies and music that had never been seen before, the ghost villagers would discover that there were no longer alive. Additionally, the disappearance of those ghost villagers could not be exposed, nor could the fact that they don’t need to eat. There were many things to pay attention to, and there were even many prohibitions that Xiao Cui hadn’t discovered.”

“Xiao Cui said before that many people had violated the taboos before they had time to find her, making the villagers they came into contact with instantly turn into ‘ghosts.’ If the outsiders were killed by the ghost villagers, all the villagers wouldn’t remember anything the next day and would return to a peaceful life. But if the outsiders ‘killed’ the ghost villagers, the next day there would be a rumour that Xiao Cui’s ghost had come to kill again.”

“They didn’t know that the whole time, Xiao Cui had been living by their side. The grandmother named Xiao Cui stayed in the village the entire time, and saved anyone who came from outside.”

“But my friend later said that he saw something else in that grandmother’s eyes. He always felt that she was actually very reluctant to have such a peaceful ghost village, since as long as the ghost village continued to exist in that day, her family would continue living exactly like before.”

“That is the story my friend told me. They later relied on the warnings from the old lady and tried not to violate any taboos before leaving, so they were able to leave peacefully.”

After Du Lei finished speaking, he breathed a sigh of relief and drank the rest of the water in his hand.

“You’re good with eloquence and narrative skills. Maybe you’re a Chinese student?” Xu Yingying couldn’t help but sigh after listening to such a long ghost story.

“it’s been polished up a bit, but it’s really something I encountered when my friend was a newcomer.” Du Lei said and looked at Xiaowan, the host of the ghost story assembly. “Well, my story should be considered passed, right?”

“The story of Grandma Xiao Cui is really impressive, but from what you said, if your friend didn’t go to see Grandma Xiao Cui that night, could he have slept well until dawn and then left the village?” Xiaowan asked curiously.

“Ahem. After all, a newcomer wouldn’t encounter such difficult issues.” Du Lei first explained to the trainers present, then said, “Actually it was necessary for my friend to find the old lady, because when he woke up the next day, the village chief began to ask about the situation outside the mountain like a crazy person. He was very impressed with the cameras and cell phones that my friends brought with them. If it weren’t for the reminder from the old lady, they may have had no other way to leave safely except to kill all of the ghosts in the ghost village.”

“It’s a good story. Although it’s too long, it passes.” Xiaowan nodded, as if accepting Du Lei’s supplemental detail.

“Since the extra person has finished telling the story, let the most beautiful girl start telling hers.” Xiaowan looked to Xu Yingying.

“Okay. I’ll just throw some ideas together and tell a very simple story.” Xu Yingying emphasized the words ‘very simple’ as if she had said them specifically to Du Lei.

“Aren’t there many beauty filtering cameras in cell phones now? Most beauty filters can automatically capture the face that appears in the camera and both whiten and resurface the skin. There are also some beauty filters that can even intelligently estimate how old the faces in the captured photo are.”

“One night when I was resting in the dorm, I was laying sideways on my bed, facing the wall and playing on my phone.”

“I was playing and having fun, but then I accidentally turned on the beauty filter camera in the darkness, and then my camera kept telling me that it recognized a face in the dark! And the facial recognition frame moved from time to time. It got bigger and bigger, as if a face was steadily approaching me.”

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the selfie lens that I opened that had a problem. If there wasn’t a problem with the camera, there must have been someone beside me… that I couldn’t see.”

“The second after I had that idea, a pale scowl suddenly appeared on my phone screen!”

“It said: You finally found me…” Xu Yingying deepened her voice.

After speaking, Xu Yingying smiled and clapped her hands, then said, “Okay, that’s my story! Should I consider it passed?”

“This is your own story?” Xiaowan seemed to be curious about everyone’s stories.

“No, it’s just a ghost story I’ve heard before. The first person point of view is just to increase the sense that you’re part of the situation.” Xu Yingying explained. “Other ghost stories could be as long as Du Lei’s, and would be a waste of time.”

“It’s okay.” Xiaowan nodded, then looked at Zhu Zhu who was sitting next to Xu Yingying. “Next will be the girl with glasses.”

“Zhu Zhu, just speak shortly. Don’t waste time.” Xu Yingying whispered before Zhu Zhu started telling her ghost story.

“En.” Zhu Zhu nodded, adjusted her glasses, then said in a small voice, “I’ll also tell a short story I’ve heard before.”

“This is a story without much suspense. Many small details are mixed in about ordinary life. I’ll also use first person to tell it.”

“It happened shortly after I moved into my new home. I found that there were some very strange things happening around me. For example, when I was in a crowded elevator with other people, there would always be some space around me, as if my body had a bad odor. People didn’t dare to come close.”

“Occasionally when I had a chat with my neighbors, they would tactfully tell me to teach my children not to use violence, and to communicate with them in a gentle manner, otherwise the children would keep crying. But I was still single, and I haven’t even fallen in love.”

“When I went to work, I got onto the metro car when there were few people, then watched more and more people enter. There were even a lot of people standing there holding the railing, but there was no one sitting in the empty seat next to me.”

“After a long time, I felt a little scared, so I decided to take a taxi to work. But as soon as I got into the taxi, the driver turned around and asked me, ‘Miss, where are you going to play with the kids?’”

“The story ends here.” Zhu Zhu lowered her head shyly. “Although the story has no end, the main thing is to experience her emotions?”

“I like this story very much.” Xiaowan nodded. “A lot of things in life are like this. People around me can see things that I can’t.”

“Then next, is it me?” Su Zimo glanced at Du Lei, who had been singled out before. He felt that if there were some character setting arrangements in this nightmare world, then the people in the nightmare world may have mistaken him for Du Lei.

After all, he’s the extra one

As for why it was wrong?

Su Zimo thought for a while, and thought it might be because of his face.

“Wait a minute!” But when Su Zimo was about to tell the story, Xiaowan suddenly stopped him. “This time is the same as last time. Shall I go first?”

Su Zimo couldn’t understand what Xiaowan meant after a while, so he nodded and followed her arrangement.

Then, Xiaowan cleared her throat, sat up straight, and began to tell her story.

Su Zimo and several other trainers also sat up straight and focused. They didn’t believe that the nightmare world would make useless arrangements, so there must be clues about their task clearance in Xiaowan’s story.

When she started to speak, the expression on her face changed a little. From the start, she was casual, but she became more serious. It was as if what she was about to say wasn’t a ghost story, but very serious news about current events.

“The story I’m telling is a real occurrence that happened over a year ago in a nearby high school.”

“It was the final month before university entrance exams, and everyone felt nervous and uncomfortable because of the pressure.”

“So, four students in a certain class in high school, four friend who had been doing well the whole time, decided to play an exciting game at that time.”

“The protagonist of my story is Zhang Xiaoqing. She became attached to the other three students because of her name, but she is the most inconspicuous of the four friends in terms of grades, looks, and personality.”

“In the beginning, Zhang Xiaoqing didn’t dare to play that exciting game they were talking about, but she still had a crush on the only boy among her three friends, who was the famous school grass in their high school.”

“So when the boy gave her an invitation, Zhang Xiaoqing finally agreed.”

“The name of the game was called ‘Bixian’. ² It sounds like a very ordinary psychic game, but it caused an unimaginable nightmare.”

Footnotes

<ol>Shēngwú is LI (51) Bixian is like Diexian, the dish fairy that’s one of the ghost tools from the snake, but Bixian uses a pen, not a dish.</ol>