chapter 45

Ghosts don’t necessarily scare people to death on the spot.

But people scaring people-it’s easy to drive someone mad.

Especially when that person is a fool!

Right now, Li Liang was just standing outside, holding a knife, staring straight at me as if I were his mortal enemy.

I was so terrified that I fell to the ground, not even having time to pull up my pants.

If Li Liang weren’t a fool, if he were a normal person, he probably would’ve just pushed open the bathroom window and come in, since the window wasn’t locked.

If I hadn’t needed to pee tonight and slept as soundly as usual, wouldn’t I have been chopped to death in my sleep?

My soul nearly left my body. I bolted out of the bathroom and rushed into the room to wake Song Xiaotian.

“What’s wrong… It’s not even dawn yet… Let me sleep a bit longer…”

Song Xiaotian was an even heavier sleeper than me; he didn’t even open his eyes.

“Sleep my ass! That fool is here to chop us up!”

“What!”

He shot up instantly, wide awake: “Is the grudge really that deep?!”

“Damn, this lunatic! I treated him like someone with a disability and didn’t stoop to his level, and he still wants to mess with us!”

Song Xiaotian was furious. He immediately told me to get dressed, ready to go find Li Liang.

We thought Li Liang was just following his mother’s orders at the time, but who would’ve thought that even after we came to the Village Chief’s house, he’d chase us all the way here.

And now it was three in the morning. Who knows how long that fool had been lurking outside. Just thinking about it gave me chills.

Song Xiaotian and I went straight to the bathroom and saw Li Liang turn and run.

We opened the window and climbed out, chasing after him.

“Li Liang! Stop right there!”

Song Xiaotian cursed as he ran: “Just because you’re a fool, you think you can kill people? Watch me beat the crap out of you!”

Li Liang had been vicious before, chasing us with a knife at his house, but now that we were chasing him, he didn’t dare face us.

“Brother Tian, I think something’s off. It’s like he’s deliberately leading us somewhere.”

I glanced around and noticed there were no houses nearby. Li Liang seemed to be leading us up the mountain.

Is he really a fool?

A fool who knows how to set traps?

“If we don’t teach him a lesson, he really might chop us up. I’m telling you, we can’t let our guard down.”

Song Xiaotian seemed really pissed off and insisted on catching up to Li Liang and giving him a beating.

I couldn’t talk him out of it, so I could only follow.

As we chased, sure enough, we were led up the mountain-and then we lost track of Li Liang.

At this point, Song Xiaotian realized something was wrong: “How is this guy running so fast…”

I said Li Liang was familiar with the terrain here, there’s no way we could catch up, and he was consciously leading us up the mountain.

The key question was: Why was he leading us up here?

I started to suspect Li Liang was just pretending to be a fool. Was he planning to kill us deep in the forest?

“He’s probably nearby. Let’s be careful…”

Song Xiaotian was getting nervous too.

In a forest like this, it’s easy to get lost, especially at night when you can’t tell directions. Take a wrong turn and you might wander farther and farther away.

And in the dead of night, this place was truly eerie.

We decided to search the area, and if we couldn’t find Li Liang, we’d head back.

As we searched, Song Xiaotian suddenly stopped and poked me with his finger.

I asked what was wrong, and he pointed: “Look over there…”

I followed his finger and saw, not far ahead, more than thirty mounds rising from the ground.
These mounds of earth varied in height, and in some places, there were even scattered white bones and Yellow Paper.

Seeing such a scene late at night, Song Xiaotian and I suddenly didn’t dare to move, our legs feeling as heavy as lead.

That bastard Li Liang… actually led us to a Mass Grave.

Those mounds were actually graves.

Some families, having few members, would have no one to handle the affairs after someone died. The corpse would then be taken by villagers up the mountain to be buried, so at least they’d be laid to rest.

But even then, you couldn’t just dig a random hole and bury them; a designated place had to be set aside. Any unclaimed corpses would all be buried in the same spot.

But deep in the mountains and forests, animals inevitably roamed, and the bodies were easily dug up by them.

This was what my grandfather told me. He said that when he was born, in those days, many mountains had Mass Graves.

Seeing a Mass Grave at night, Song Xiaotian and I were already feeling complicated.

But at that moment, a wave of crying came from the Mass Grave.

Only, the crying sounded a bit strange.

Song Xiaotian’s legs were shaking: “Chen Mo, why is there crying here? Do you think it could be…”

Before he could finish, I quickly covered his mouth.

“Bro, will you die if you don’t mention that word?”

“That’s Li Liang crying!”

I’d already recognized it-it was indeed Li Liang’s crying.

No wonder I thought the crying was odd, because Li Liang was a fool, with the intelligence of a young child. When he cried, it was just like a child crying.

Song Xiaotian and I followed the sound, getting a bit closer, but not daring to get too near-we didn’t enter the Mass Grave.

But we could already see Li Liang. He was lying in front of a grave mound, crying and rolling around.

We quickly hid, lowering our voices to talk.

“Do you think he’s just pretending to be crazy?” Song Xiaotian asked me.

I shook my head, unable to say for sure.

This Li Liang, he was clearly leading us up the mountain intentionally. If he were truly a fool, he couldn’t possibly have such complex thoughts.

But if he wasn’t a fool, then with what he was doing now, I felt even a real fool wouldn’t act so foolishly.

Li Liang’s crying was definitely not an act-he was truly upset, and as he cried, he mumbled to the grave mound.

“Dad, Mom said Sister is dead. I don’t have a sister anymore.”

“Sister died so terribly. They cut out Sister’s tongue.”

“Sister can’t talk. I want to talk to Sister.”

Song Xiaotian and I simultaneously covered our mouths, not daring to make a sound.

We were both so scared we wanted to run.

But we couldn’t run.

Because Li Liang was talking to his deceased father. We didn’t know if he was just talking to himself, or if Li Liang’s Father could actually reply.

We were afraid of the latter, and even more afraid that if we ran, we’d disturb his father…

At this moment, I wasn’t just scared-Li Liang’s words had also shocked me.

Li Xiumei’s body had only been dug up a few days ago. Before that, no one knew she was dead, let alone how she died.

She died in Lanjiang City, so how did the Old Woman in distant Qindao know?

Not only did the Old Woman know Li Xiumei was dead, she also knew her tongue had been cut out, and that she couldn’t speak.

Especially when Li Liang said: They cut out Sister’s tongue.

That ‘they’-could it mean… there was more than one person who killed Li Xiumei?

Maybe two, or even more people were involved…