Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Night in a mountain village has always been very quiet.
Tonight, however, it was so quiet it was terrifying.
After persuading the few young officers to return inside the house, only Old Li, Deaf Granny, and Chief Zhou remained in the courtyard.
Deaf Granny said half-jokingly, “Comrade Xiao Zhou, as a man of the yamen, I bet you never thought there would come a day when you would personally try to catch a ghost?”
Chief Zhou laughed heartily. “Old lady, as long as it threatens our people, I’ll catch it whether it’s a person or a ghost.”
“Besides, the terminology has changed. It’s not called a yamen anymore; it’s called a police station.”
Old Li took a puff from his tobacco pipe. “This old man is a bit out of the loop, so I wanted to ask you something, Comrade Xiao Zhou.”
“I heard that our country established a special department specifically to deal with filthy things. Is that true or false?”
Chief Zhou replied softly, “If anyone else asked, I’d definitely say there’s no such thing.”
“But since you’re the one asking, I’ll naturally tell it like it is.”
“I heard from an old comrade-in-arms that such an organization does indeed exist, but they are very mysterious. People at my level cannot get in contact with them.”
Just then, the moonlight suddenly dimmed.
A gust of yin wind blew past, and the wind was filled with the stench of blood and decay.
A series of eerie laughs echoed throughout the entire village.
Deaf Granny stared unblinkingly toward the direction of the dried-up well. “The filthy things are about to come out. You all be careful.”
A Red-Dressed Female Ghost was seen slowly crawling up from the well.
Emaciated, pale-green arms supported her body.
The yin wind whipped her matted long hair, revealing a face where the five features had been carved away.
There was no skin, only a mass of rotten meat.
The female ghost opened her dark-red mouth and grinned hideously at the three of them.
Black water flowed from her mouth, dripping onto the snow.
“You deserve to die… You all must die!”
Contrary to what they had imagined, after staring at the group malevolently for a while, the female ghost actually began to walk toward the village with a staggering gait.
Chief Zhou was stunned and asked, “Why didn’t she come in?”
“Should we give chase?”
Deaf Granny replied, “No need to chase!”
“This kind of thing has very deep resentment. The first one she seeks revenge on will definitely be a descendant of the Old Tian Family.”
“We just need to hold our ground here!”
A moment later, a frantic burst of barking suddenly erupted from the village.
Suddenly, the barking stopped abruptly. After a few whimpers, there was no more sound.
This was immediately followed by the foolish, giggling laughter of a man.
Then came a blood-curdling scream, after which everything went quiet again.
Old Li and the others looked at each other in surprise.
That male voice just now sounded like Cadre Zhao, whom Tian Zhigang had arranged to stay at someone else’s house!
Things were indeed as they suspected.
Under the dim moonlight, the female ghost walked back with her head hanging low and a staggering gait.
In her emaciated, pale-green arm, she was dragging the disheveled Cadre Zhao.
At this moment, he looked just like the deceased Xiao Zhao…
Except Cadre Zhao was clearly not dead; a vacant, satisfied smile hung on his face.
His body was twitching in spasms, looking very much like an epileptic seizure.
Old Li let out a thunderous roar, “You beast! How dare you harm people!”
The female ghost did not speak. After shaking the half-dead Cadre Zhao, she dragged him toward the outskirts of the village.
Old Li was the first to rush out. “We can’t just watch him die. After her!”
Deaf Granny and Chief Zhou hurriedly followed.
Although the female ghost’s walking posture was bizarre, her speed was extremely fast.
Even while dragging a person, Old Li and the others still couldn’t catch up.
It wasn’t until they reached the Chaotic Graveyard outside the village that the female ghost stopped of her own accord.
After giving Old Li a provocative look, she threw Cadre Zhao into the Iron Coffin that had been placed here during the day and dove in after him.
The Iron Coffin lid slammed shut, and an indescribable sound began to drift from within.
“Save him, quick!”
Old Li and the other two struggled to push the coffin lid, but it was as if it had been welded shut; it wouldn’t budge an inch.
Even the incense ash that Deaf Granny threw out had no effect at all.
After the time it takes for half a stick of incense to burn, the coffin lid suddenly flew open.
Caught off guard, Old Li and the others were struck by the force, falling to the ground and coughing up blood.
The female ghost floated out with a cackling laugh, tossing Cadre Zhao onto the snow like a piece of trash.
Cadre Zhao’s face was now the color of dead ash, and his wide-open eyes were devoid of any spark.
He was dead, yet his face wore a bizarre expression of satisfaction.
The female ghost continued to cackle, her wet long hair fluttering in the wind.
It revealed that terrifying face.
She slowly turned her head, looking greedily at Chief Zhou.
Deaf Granny struggled to her feet and splashed a bottle of black dog blood at the female ghost.
“Die, you beast!”
The black dog blood splashed onto the female ghost, making a crackling sound.
At the same time, clouds of black smoke rose.
The female ghost let out a scream of agony and retreated rapidly.
Taking advantage of this opening, Chief Zhou endured the pain and scrambled up.
He swung the Immortal-Binding Rope at the female ghost.
Unfortunately, the strike missed, and the female ghost vanished with a sinister laugh.
While Chief Zhou was dazed, Old Li let out a loud shout, “Comrade Xiao Zhou, the filthy thing is behind you!”
Chief Zhou felt a bone-chilling cold on his back, and then he was grabbed by the throat by the female ghost and dragged into the Iron Coffin.
The coffin lid flew up and once again clamped tightly onto the coffin.
Old Li stumbled over to the side of the coffin and pushed against the lid with all his might.
“Deaf Granny, hurry! Find a way to save him!”