"Liu Cunxi, since you seem to know so much about ghosts and spirits, do you have any idea what's happening right now?" Fang Qinghua asked, staring at me. At this point, I had become the focal point of the group.
To be honest, I'm just an amateur in all this. But I couldn't let them know that—everyone was already terrified. If I revealed my uncertainty, it might push them into full-blown panic.
"If my guess is correct, we're dealing with ghost walls. But this isn't your average ghost wall. It's as if we've accidentally stumbled into a pathway or a trap. Earlier, when we kept returning to the same spot, that was classic ghost wall behavior. But now, it feels like we've fallen into an endless pit."
I couldn't make sense of it, no matter how hard I thought.
It was times like these I wished Mr. Ye was here. Wait—Mr. Ye!
I pulled out my phone to call him, but as soon as I did, a crackling sound came from the device, and the screen went black.
Seeing my phone fail, the others quickly checked their own. Every single one was the same. Fang Qinghua looked at her phone in horror, trembling as she clutched it.
"What's going on? I don't want to die here!"
"If you don't want to stay with us, you can leave on your own," Zhang Jue said coldly.
From the moment I met Zhang Jue, I thought he was a bit too detached. But I hadn't expected him to speak so harshly, even to the girls. This guy was destined to live alone.
"You… Zhang Jue, stop talking like that! Qinghua's just scared," Huang Lianfang said, quickly stepping in to mediate before Fang Qinghua could lash out.
I was preoccupied with figuring out how to get out of here and wasn't paying much attention to their squabbles.
Fang Qinghua said she needed to use the bathroom, and after some hesitation, Huang Lianfang decided to accompany her. Once the two of them left, it was just me, Zhang Jue, and Mo Yun.
That's when I remembered what Ye Cha had said earlier—that one of them was the malevolent spirit. If one of the women was the ghost, wouldn't it be dangerous for both of them to go off alone?
I stood up abruptly.
Mo Yun, who had been observing me closely, grew nervous. "What's wrong, Brother Liu? Did something happen?"
Until we identified the ghost, anyone could be the culprit. It was better not to startle them prematurely.
"They've been gone for a while now. What if something's happened to them?" I said.
"They're just using the bathroom. Nothing could've happened," Mo Yun replied, though his voice grew quieter. Clearly, even he didn't believe his own words.
The three of us headed in the direction the two women had gone. When we arrived, we found Huang Lianfang unconscious on the ground.
I quickly knelt beside her, propping her up and pressing my thumb into the center of her philtrum.
"Ah—there's a ghost! There's a ghost!" she screamed as she woke, flailing her arms.
I grabbed her hands to calm her down. "It's us! Calm down!"
Realizing it was us, she immediately threw herself into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Caught off guard, I froze awkwardly, unsure how to react. The scent of her shampoo filled the air.
"Why did you take so long? Those ghosts were terrifying!" she wailed.
Sure, blame us for not being there sooner. Did she expect us men to follow them to the bathroom? If we saw something we weren't supposed to, we'd probably get beaten to death.
After several attempts to push her away, I looked to Zhang Jue and Mo Yun for help. They pretended not to notice, leaving me to deal with her alone. Eventually, I managed to soothe her.
"Can you tell us what happened? And where's Fang Qinghua?" I asked.
But as soon as I mentioned it, her emotions flared up again. Just as she was about to start screaming, Zhang Jue grabbed her by the collar and lifted her off the ground.
"Listen, I'm not patient. If you keep wailing, I'll throw you off this mountain right now."
Mo Yun and I were stunned. I hadn't expected Zhang Jue to be so cold, even to women. For some reason, his demeanor reminded me of Lu Zhiqiu, who never wasted words and let his actions speak for him. Zhang Jue had the same frosty attitude.
"Zhang Jue, you can't treat women like that—" I began, intending to tell him to be gentler or risk staying single forever. But before I could finish, he shot me a glare so chilling it felt like a venomous snake was staring me down.
Swallowing hard, I stepped back and stayed quiet. I wasn't afraid, just smart enough to pick my battles.
Frightened by Zhang Jue's threat, Huang Lianfang quickly spilled everything.
She and Fang Qinghua had finished using the bathroom and were heading back when a red sedan chair appeared out of nowhere. Four faceless creatures grabbed Fang Qinghua and dragged her into the chair. Huang Lianfang tried to intervene but felt a blow to her back and passed out.
Her account seemed plausible at first glance, but I noticed two inconsistencies. If the ghost wanted to abduct people, why only take one and merely knock her unconscious? And while she now described faceless monsters, she had been screaming about "ghosts" earlier.
Huang Lianfang was clearly suspicious, but I didn't confront her outright. Instead, I observed how the others reacted. Zhang Jue and Mo Yun believed her story. Zhang Jue even asked for the direction the sedan had gone, ready to give chase. I quickly stopped him.
"Zhang Jue, even if they went that way, it's been too long. We wouldn't catch up. Our priority should be finding a way out. The ghosts are likely at the bottom of the cliff."
Zhang Jue frowned at me, his gaze piercing. For a moment, I worried he'd see through my intentions.
What they didn't know, but I did, was that one of the four of us was the ghost. I knew I wasn't the culprit, so it had to be one of them. Splitting up would only give the ghost an opportunity to strike.
"I think Brother Liu is right. Let's focus on getting out of here. You need to find your brother, and I need to find my sister," Mo Yun said.