Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 75: Secret

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Secret

From upstairs came the voices of two Li Mus.

Yu Sheng was first startled, then a chill ran through her heart. She understood... Li Mu had encountered a ghost.

Judging by the words spoken, the second voice was the real Li Mu. He was telling her to escape quickly because he must have... been trapped.

Yu Sheng sat in her wheelchair, fear spreading in her heart, torn with indecision.

She knew that the most correct action now would be to leave here quickly.

However, just then, Yu Sheng suddenly felt... something seemed to change around her.

She looked around warily, and that glance truly frightened her.

The surrounding environment had quietly changed without her noticing.

The road was continually cracking, becoming uneven and bumpy.

Humanoid outlines gradually appeared on the walls of the houses, and the air was filled with the stench of decay.

"Drip... drip..."

Yu Sheng turned back in surprise, looking towards the Old Village Chief’s house.

Strong scent of blood wafted out, the floor and stairs were oozing with blood...

It had begun...

That ghost... had started moving!

Yu Sheng was so scared her face turned pale. Her gaze gradually moved from the ground to the stairs, the beams... everywhere was dripping blood.

Moreover... the smell of blood and decay in the chief’s house was getting thicker.

Just then, a sound suddenly arose from upstairs.

"Tap—tap—"

Was it footsteps?

Was it Li Mu coming down?

This speculation was something even Yu Sheng herself dared not believe.

Fear rapidly spread inside her, bit by bit consuming her rationality.

It’s coming down... It’s coming down!

Yu Sheng felt goosebumps rising on her arms.

The footsteps down the stairs drew nearer and nearer, like hammers pounding on her heart.

Finally, Yu Sheng couldn’t take it anymore. She tightly bit her lip and quickly wheeled herself away.

Li Mu... I’m sorry...

...

Meanwhile, in the Old Village Chief’s room, Li Mu didn’t see what Yu Sheng had seen.

The walls hadn’t changed, nor had the floor cracked. Everything... seemed quite normal.

He leaned against the wooden door, and after shouting for her to leave, most of the fear in his heart had surprisingly dissipated.

Now all he could do was stay put and await death.

Or... find a way to deal with the ghost before it came in to kill him.

Li Mu didn’t know when it would come in. Strangely, it suddenly became very quiet outside; Yu Sheng’s voice had gone silent, as had the ghost’s.

Yet... he didn’t dare attempt to open the wooden door. Who knew if a ghost might be standing right outside the door?

Better turn his mind to the clues he had found...

Inside was dim, but not so dark that he couldn’t read the letters. Li Mu took out the stack of letters once again and scrutinized them.

Although he got angrier the more he read, this time he discovered a new letter.

"... Sun Liang hasn’t returned. If there’s any news, please let us know..."

This letter hadn’t been sent out, and judging by its crisp condition, it seemed to be the most recent one among them.

Yet Li Mu was thoughtful. That name...

Sun Liang... Sun Liang...

Wasn’t he the middle-aged, silent passenger named Sun Liang?

Wait a minute!

Li Mu suddenly remembered... It seemed like he was the first one to discover this village.

Yes... it was him!

Sun Liang originally belonged to this village!

He died outside the village, and he is the real ghost in the forest at the edge of the village!

So... did he deliberately guide everyone to Sacrificial Blood Village?

So the ghost had always been beside them...

Li Mu tightly held onto the letters, his expression changing wildly.

No... he couldn’t stay here any longer. Even if opening the door meant facing a ghost, he had to take the risk!

He had to inform everyone of these matters, Sun Liang, the Old Village Chief, and the sins committed by everyone in this village...

...

The villagers went toward the outskirts. They didn’t believe the Old Village Chief would get lost within the village, so they spared no time lingering inside.

Lin Yan followed the main group.

Only two people went alone: one was Xiao Bin, and the other was Lu Bingyan.

Xiao Bin watched them with an odd expression.

Lu Bingyan headed towards the back of the mountain, saying the chief might be at the ritual site.

As for Su Qian, she went to a cage.

The cage was covered with a black cloth and was no different from the others.

But Su Qian knew she was different because Yu Hanzhou had said so, that she was different...

Su Qian carefully lifted the black cloth, revealing the woman inside the cage.

She seemed startled by the sudden burst of light, curling up and shrinking into a corner of the cage.

Her hair was long and unkempt, her frail body shivering, her face dirty, and her clothes filthy and tattered. But perhaps due to some preconceived notion, Su Qian faintly felt this time that her features were indeed delicate and graceful.

Once cleaned up, she might not be a hideous person.

At least, unlike most villagers here.

"Hello?"

Su Qian squatted down, cautiously moving closer.

The woman shrank back in terror, her dim eyes full of fear.

Su Qian suddenly found herself at a loss on how to communicate with her.

At this point, she too saw her difference.

Compared to other women, she wasn’t aggressively hostile, and moreover... her eyes revealed emotions.

She was scared, she felt terror, rather than being like the other women, who seemed merely like living corpses.

Thinking about this, Su Qian simply sat down and softly spoke: "You... want to leave here too, right?"

Her eyes seemed to light up, but she still cowered in the corner.

Su Qian didn’t look at her further, speaking to herself: "I also want to leave here... If I’m lucky, I could leave today and never come back..."

Although saying this aloud, Su Qian held no hope in her heart.

Because... Yu Hanzhou was dead.

Even Yu Hanzhou had died. She didn’t believe she could survive.

Maybe... everyone might die this time.

Su Qian’s thoughts were very negative. To others, Li Mu was their anchor, but to Su Qian, Yu Hanzhou was her anchor...

However, just then, a sudden image of another person flashed through her mind.

His eyes revealed no emotion, and he wasn’t ostentatious.

He was Bai Yanliang, someone... even Yu Hanzhou couldn’t understand.

Maybe, he could make it out alive?

Su Qian, lost in thought, hadn’t noticed the woman in the cage staring at her in a daze.

Ever since Yu Hanzhou died, she found it easy to lapse into thought, and this time was no different.

When she finally snapped out of it, she saw a face full of despair and tears streaming down.

The tears washed away some of the grime on her face, revealing her originally fair skin.

Su Qian looked at her, somewhat incredulous.

The woman in the cage spoke then.

"Save me... please... save me..."

Her voice was hoarse, as if she hadn’t spoken for a long time, but the desperate plea in it tugged at Su Qian’s heart.

What on earth had this woman gone through?