Qiangzi took out his phone, opened WeChat, typed a few words, and sent them. Immediately, his brow furrowed, and he handed the phone to Yu Daohan beside him.
Yu Daohan took the phone and saw that the message Qiangzi had sent could not be delivered, showing no network connection.
(Yu Ye, do you know what's going on?)
Yu Daohan shook his head, looking at Qiangzi's undelivered message. He had never encountered such a phenomenon, but he had heard others mention it.
Legend has it that thirty years ago, a strange incident occurred in a small mountain village in the northwest. The people there had different living and working habits; they worked at night and slept during the day. If one went to the village during the day, it was no different from visiting a ghost town, eerily quiet. However, at night, most houses were brightly lit.
Once, four reporters went to the village to conduct an interview. When the reporters arrived at the village at night, they found it brightly lit.
The villagers saw outsiders and hospitably welcomed them. The four reporters were a bit curious why the villagers' complexions were so pale, with almost no dark-skinned people.
However, during meals, there were only vegetables and no meat, and very little oil. Moreover, not a single dog could be seen in the village. In any normal village, you would hear dogs barking upon entering.
The village also had a strange rule: outsiders were not allowed to sleep in the village.
The four reporters found it strange but respected their custom. Thus, the four reporters went to the village to investigate at night and slept in tents not far from the village during the day.
This continued for three days. An outsider passing by their tents saw the four discussing the "dead village" and curiously approached them to inquire.
The four recounted their experiences over the past few days. Upon hearing this, the passerby's face turned pale. He told them that there were no people in that village; they had all died twenty years ago.
The passerby explained the situation. After hearing this and recalling the strange occurrences they had encountered in the past few days, the four reporters' expressions changed. They quickly asked the passerby for more details, but he didn't say much, only urging the four to leave the area quickly before departing himself.
After hearing this, the four prepared to leave. However, two of them did not believe it and wanted to stay that night to observe the situation.
The others agreed, as it seemed unreasonable to leave based solely on the word of a stranger.
They waited until midnight, and all four looked grim. The previous days, the lights had started to turn on at eleven o'clock, but now it was past midnight, and there was no activity.
One of them, mustering his courage, picked up a long defensive staff and walked towards the village. The other three, armed with defensive broken knives, followed.
They arrived at a house near the village entrance. One of them chose a relatively dilapidated one and kicked the door open. A pungent smell of decay assailed their nostrils.
The four simultaneously shone their flashlight beams inside.
They saw that the furniture inside was covered in a thick layer of dust. The four were astonished; there were no signs of anyone having lived there.
As they looked around, one of them suddenly shouted, pointing in a direction. The other three shone their flashlights over. They saw a withered skeleton lying in a corner of a table, with the decaying bodies of several rats nearby.
The four were so terrified that their legs went weak, and they quickly ran out of the village and drove away.
Later, the Supernatural Affairs Bureau found the bodies of the four and the wreckage of their car in an open area. Professional assessment indicated that the four had not reached their destination and had died in a car accident when their vehicle went off a guardrail.
However, what was puzzling was that a notebook was found on one of them. The content and timestamps recorded in the notebook were from after their accident. The camera indeed contained a photo of the village brightly lit at night, but no person appeared in it.
Even more bizarre was that the location recorded in the notebook had no villages or signs of human habitation for a hundred miles around; there was only a mass grave.
Yu Daohan typed this story on his phone and showed it to Qiangzi.
Qiangzi's expression changed after reading it. He looked up at the pedestrians around them and then turned to Yu Daohan with a surprised look.
Yu Daohan nodded. Although Qiangzi didn't speak, he could guess what the young man was thinking.
That story was something Old Biao encountered when he first joined the Supernatural Affairs Bureau. That notebook was found by him.
Yu Daohan initially didn't believe it. Given Old Biao's personality, he would exaggerate killing a minor ghost into a three-day, three-night battle with a ghost king, ultimately winning by a narrow margin.
However, it now seemed that Old Biao's story was indeed not exaggerated.
"Young man, are you from outside the village?"
Suddenly, a voice came from behind, startling both Yu Daohan and Qiangzi.
The two turned around simultaneously, drawing their Kanglong锏 (Kanglong mace) and copper coin swords.
They saw an old man watching them. Yu Daohan signaled to Qiangzi beside him, indicating that he should put away their weapons.
Qiangzi nodded in understanding, and the two put away their respective weapons.
The old man, with his hoarse voice, continued to ask, "Are you visiting relatives in the village?"
Qiangzi looked at Yu Daohan. Yu Daohan shook his head. The reason they were safe for now was entirely due to the item in their mouths; if their Yang energy leaked out, they would both be finished.
Thank you to [User10867235], [Liang Keke], [User10326341], [Wu Duan Shang Xie], [Er Gou Zi], and [Xia Yu You San] for the gifts, thank you.