Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Dashun immediately started tearing at Ren Song’s jacket.

Ren Song was wearing a black zip-up jacket, and Dashun yanked it open with ease.

But the moment the jacket came undone, all of us sucked in a sharp breath.

Under Ren Song’s jacket, at some point, an all-too-familiar Blue Cloth Gown had appeared!

“Wh-what the hell is that?”

Liu Xun was terrified. He had seen that eerie old man in the supermarket with his own eyes, so how had this piece of clothing suddenly ended up on Ren Song?

Liu Xun was so scared he didn’t dare move. He plastered himself against the side of the car like a gecko.

Dashun fumbled desperately with the gown’s buttons, but the garment was visibly tightening by the second.

Gripping the steering wheel, I roared at Liu Xun, “Get your ass over there and help! Keep playing dead and I’ll throw both of you out right now!”

Liu Xun looked like he was about to cry. He was scared, but he had no choice but to scramble into the middle and tug at Ren Song’s clothes with trembling hands.

After a frantic mess of pulling and grabbing, the two of them finally managed to undo Ren Song’s buttons.

But when the gown was halfway peeled off, it seemed to suddenly come alive and whipped straight toward Liu Xun’s arm.

Liu Xun screamed in terror and flailed his hand like mad.

I shouted at Dashun, “Get the liquor! Pour it on that thing!”

Dashun hurriedly dug a bottle of Erguotou out from under the seat and dumped the whole thing over the gown.

The Blue Cloth Gown, which had already wrapped itself up to Liu Xun’s shoulder, instantly went limp like a deflated ball.

I reached back, yanked it free, rolled down the window, and threw it out.

The alcohol-soaked Blue Cloth Gown landed in the middle of the road, right in time for my tires to run it over!

Only after the car had crushed the gown did Ren Song finally come to.

His face was flushed scarlet. He coughed for a long time, scared completely stupid.

Liu Xun was in a sorry state too. His face was smeared all over with who knew whether tears or snot.

At eleven o’clock at night, our surroundings were unnaturally quiet. It felt as if we were the only ones left on Huai Mountain Old Road.

Afraid something else might happen, I slowed the car even more. The headlights shone across the road, casting everything in a ghostly white glow.

At some point, houses had begun appearing on both sides of the road.

At first, they were all broken-down structures, like nothing more than foundations and brick walls left behind after demolition.

But gradually, the houses grew more and more complete, denser and denser, and closer and closer to the road.

“Where did all these houses come from? I never heard there was a village on Huai Mountain Old Road.” Ren Song’s voice trembled slightly.

Just then, Liu Xun’s phone suddenly rang. It sounded like a message had come in.

Liu Xun lowered his head to look at his phone, the screen’s glow washing over his face.

He looked up at me, and our eyes met in the rearview mirror. Then he quickly lowered his head again.

The houses on both sides of the road had almost pressed right up against the guardrails, narrowing my field of vision along with them.

Dashun was getting spooked too. He leaned forward, close to my ear, and whispered, “Brother Long, this can’t be Zhenya Village, can it?”

I shook my head and said nothing.

At that moment, two glaring headlights shone straight at us from up ahead.

In a panic, I steered onto the emergency shoulder at the side of the road.