Chapter 12 – The Truth
Li Yin is still not clear on what is going on right now. By the time his body reaches the edge of the riverbank, he is already more than ten meters above the ground!
If he falls from this height…
But he cannot hesitate!
He grabs the rope tightly, steps onto the riverbank and abruptly jumps down.
It is also at this exact moment that giant woman’s mouth suddenly closes. Then her incomparably t.i.tanic head also dissolves into stream of wispy smoke, leaving no traces behind.
Li Yin’s body hits the ground. Since the ground beneath him is completely covered with damp gra.s.s and further beneath the gra.s.s is only dirt, he did not suffer any serious injuries. Still, he feels heart-piercing agony surging through his aching body.
But seeing that enormous head was such a bizarre and horrifying scene that Li Yin already completely forgets about the pain.
“Li…Li Yin…”
Having lived in the apartment for three years, the fact that Ye Kexin is still alive today is naturally indicative that she has seen many strange, unexplainable sights, so by now she is already numb to them. On the other hand, Li Yin is extremely terrified. This kind of exaggeratedly horrifying scene makes him feel as though a bone-chilling cold has descended over his entire being.
“We… need to stay in such a horrifying village… for an entire month?”
Li Yin’s brain is completely blank at this moment.
Although he has predicted many kinds of scenarios, but the actual situation has far exceeded his estimations!
“Kexin…” At this time, Li Yin’s body is completely covered in water, but he does not know what to do next.
Only one third of the month has pa.s.sed. Just how… should they endure the rest?
And what now? What should they do next?
“I was too naïve. I believed that I was quite experienced after living in the apartment for a year. But when I compare myself to Xia Yuan, I am still too incompetent.”
Kexin sighs and says, “Leave it be, Li Yin. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re still alive. Let’s leave first…”
“Shoutian is dead.”
After Kexin hears Li Yin say this sentence, her heart instantly sinks.
“He… He is dead?”
“Yes. He was also in the water just now.”
“How did that happen…” Ye Kexin lowers her head, feeling a bitter pain in her heart.
Throughout these three years, so many residents have died around Kexin that she is almost apathetic. Last time, she barely escaped from death after much suffering together with Shoutian. Who would imagine that this time…
But Kexin did not shed any tears. It is not her first time experiencing this kind of thing. After entering that apartment, her tears have already dried from crying excessively.
“But… At least you’re still alive, Li Yin.” Kexin helps him up and says, “We have to help each other to survive through this month! Yeah, there is just a bit over two weeks before we can leave this Village of Tranquil Water. ”
There are still two more weeks…
“There aren’t any places that are safe.”
Li Yin understands this point well.
This Village of Tranquil Water… There will not exist any place that will let them spend this month in peace! In the following days, these kind of otherwordly situations will almost certainly occur continuously.
This ‘Bing Er’… What exactly will satisfy her? Why does she want to kill even Shoutian and himself? Hengyan, is he still alive? Unfortunately, the chance of bad news exceeds that of good news.
If Bing Er’s objective is to take revenge on the villagers who hurt her, then there is no reason for her to come after him as well. Thus, it can only be a.s.sumed that she has become a malicious ghost that kills indistinguishably.
Then… what about Ah Xiu?
Perhaps Bing Er will not lay her hands on Ah Xiu?
This deduction is highly probable. Then if they show kindness to Ah Xiu, is it possible that they can escape death?
“Let’s go back to Ah Xiu’s house.”
At this moment, this is his only choice.
No matter how dangerous she is, as of now he can only rely Ah Xiu, his only saving grace.
The two of them return to Ah Xiu’s house. When they knock on the door, they hear Ah Xiu’s voice ask vigilantly, “Who is that?”
“It’s us.” Li Yin says weakly, “Miss Ah Xiu… Please open the door.”
When Ah Xiu opens the door, Li Yin peeks into the house and spots a person lying in the room.
It is Liang Renbin.
At this moment, his tongue has already been cut off. Lying on the ground with his body completely soaked in water, he should definitely be dead,
“Ah, I let you guys see that.” Ah Xiu’s expression is completely indifferent. “Whatever, you already know anyway. I was just cutting off his tongue.”
“Ah Xiu…” Li Yin does not dare to offend her so he could only say, “Please stop. Can you think of any way to communicate with Bing Er and ask her to stop killing people…”
“Shut up!” Ah Xiu says coldly, “What qualification do you have to say the name ‘Bing Er’ ?”
“You…”
“Although I don’t understand why Sister Bing Er took action against you guys, she must have her reasons for doing so,” she says with a frigid smile, “Alright, come on in. You can continue staying here. But don’t forget to report those things! Otherwise why would I house you guys?”
Insane…
This woman has gone insane for sure!
But what can they do even if she has gone insane? This crazy woman is their only hope at staying alive in this Village of Tranquil Water.
The next day… The disappearance of Renbin, Ah Wu and the other people evokes a huge disturbance in the village. Although there have been people who went missing in past years, there are just way too many people who have disappeared this year! Moreover, both the elder’s grandson and granddaughter are missing!
However, even though more and more people suspect Ah Xiu, no one dares to challenge her.
The reason is simple. Since the rumours of ghostly hauntings have already spread widely and have ingrained into the hearts of many people, then wouldn’t hurting Ah Xiu who is closest to Bing Er be equivalent to courting death?
After this day, once the villagers spott Bing Er, they will all take a detour to avoid her out of fear. No one dares to speak anything bad about her. Moreover a lot of people fawn over her instead, sending a lot of food to her and some even helping her to water her plants and cultivate her land.
However, in the following days, it is uncannily quiet. No strange situations happened.
Perhaps after killing so many people all at once, even Bing Er also wants to temporarily take a break?
So… Just like this, July 7th finally arrives surrounded by emotions of great paranoia.
Li Yin and Ye Kexin are both feeling a bit more relaxed, but they are both certain… that before 12 midnight today, there will definitely be some extremely horrifying things happening.
“You are leaving right at 12 o’ clock at midnight?”
At the dinner table, Ah Xiu is a bit surprised but she soon says, “Alright… Then please report well. Anyway, if you don’t report… You understand the consequences.”
Consequences… Li Yin obviously understands. But he has not the slightest intention to report any news.
No matter how malicious and cruel the ghosts they meet are, as long as they can escape back to the apartment, they will be completely safe.
Though that apartment is terrifying, it is also their safest haven. Xia Yuan has mentioned many times that he is already completely convinced that no matter how horrifying the ghosts are, they cannot enter the apartment.
After eating dinner, Li Yin and Kexin instantly begin to gather their belongings and prepare for their departure.
“You’re leaving so soon?” Ah Xiu is still tidying up the dishes on the table. She asks in confusion, “Why are you leaving in such a hurry?”
“We have some urgent matters to attend to and need to leave at night… ”
“But it takes a lot of time to cross the Black Crow Mountain. And right now, there are no buses heading down the mountain so how are you leaving?”
“Our car was parked at the foot of the mountain so there should not be any problems.”
“Oh? Well, it’s up to you.”
Then, the two of them leave hurriedly, as though they were fleeing.
Throughout this month, Li Yin and Kexin have been extremely friendly and kind to Ah Xiu, helping her do her ch.o.r.es many times and trying their best to alleviate her workload. They hope that since Bing Er had such a good relationship with her, behaving like this grant them her mercy.
Of course, if they can survive so easily, then their fourth b.l.o.o.d.y instruction will be way too simple. Even Li Yin himself does not believe in this possibility.
Only after walking to the borders of the village do Li Yin and Kexin decide to stop and sit down.
Both of them are looking at the watches on their wrists.
In order to prevent any mistakes on the time showing up on the watch, all of the residents bought famous branded watches from Switzerland. Although these watches were very expensive, they cannot be stingy about this money. If they make a mistake regarding the time and leave the village early, then their shadows will manipulate them to kill themselves. That would be the feeling of wanting of cry but not being able to shed tears.
“Li Yin…” At this moment, Kexin is extremely nervous. Her heart palpitates continuously. Finally…they are going to leave this village!
“Listen well, Kexin,” Li Yin says with a solemn expression. “That mountain path is very hard to navigate. I’m afraid this trip will be incredibly difficult for us. Even if the trip goes smoothly, it will still take us three hours to reach the bottom of the mountain. Driving to City K by car will probably take around two hours. And from the time we enter the city to the time we arrive at the apartment will also take around another hour.”
Six hours!
These six hours will decide their life or death!
If they can enter the apartment after these six hours, then they can continue to live!
“Xia Yuan told me…” Li Yin raises another point. “Although this apartment is extremely cruel and in many situations, dying seems like the only possibility, a small amount of people will retain the possibility of staying alive. So…we must never give up!”
Kexin nods her head.
How can she not understand this principle after three years?
Although six hours is a long time, it is not possible for the ghosts will not attack every second. Otherwise, trapped in their mortal bodies of flesh and blood, how could Xia Yuan and Ye Kexin have stayed alive till today?
Time continuous to flow past. It gets closer and closer to 12 o’clock midnight.
At Ah Xiu’s house in the Village of Tranquil Water.
In the kitchen, the water tank’s lid has already been opened.
“The elder’s family is shattering from pain… Haha, that’s so funny.” The expression Ah Xiu’s face is extremely twisted, the malice in her eyes akin to those of a demon. She holds a pair of scissors in her hand and says, “Sister Bing Er… What a good job you did at killing them. You killed all of them! Ah, right. There’s still Ah Wu and Suyue’s mother. She needs to die as well because she also slandered you. Right, you should also kill her tomorrow so I can cut off her tongue. Haha, not bad right… Ah, ah?”
A hand suddenly reaches out from the water tank!
A contorted, boneless body rises slowly from the water tank.
Messy hair drifting around a miserably pale face; both arms dangling and swinging purposelessly.
From a towering height, the woman looks down at Ah Xiu. Her body is so tall that she touches the ceiling.
“Sister Bing Er…” Ah Xiu shouts excitedly, “You are finally, finally willing to see me!”
At this moment, Li Yin who is still at the edge of the village checks his watch again… In less than five minutes, they will be able to leave the village!
“We’ll be departing soon…” Li Yin continues to vigilantly keep watch over his surroundings. Suddenly, he notices a human figure approaching him!
“Who…” Li Yin instantly panicks, shouting loudly, “Who are you?!”
He grabs his torch and directs the light towards the figure. It is actually a very young woman who looks to be only 24 or 25. Judging from her clothing, it appears that she comes from the city. In one hand, she carries a handbag.
“You?” Li Yin gazes at this woman. It appears to be “human”.
“Who are you guys?” That woman says in surprise, “Can it be the elder is sending people to welcome me? That can’t be. I didn’t tell him that I am coming today.”
“I…” Li Yin is confused and asks immediately, “You know the Elder?”
“Yes. Your clothing… You don’t seem like you are villagers. Who are you guys?”
“We are here to see the sights and experience some farmhouse traditions.”
“Oh?” That woman laughs understandingly and says, “Quite interesting! But why are you staying out here in the middle of the night?”
“This…”
“Alright, whatever. I am going to look around the village. Haven’t been back in years….”
“Excuse me, Miss, you used to live in this village?” Li Yin asks.
“Ah…” The pleasant smile remains on her face as she says, “That’s right. I left the village quite a few years ago. Two months earlier, I wrote a letter to the Elder saying that I am coming back to invest in this village to help it prosper.”
“What? You are…”
“Ah, right. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is—- Li Bing.”
In Ah Xiu’s house, that tall and huge woman draped in a white cloth extends her hand slowly and reaches toward Ah Xiu… That pair of pupil-less eyes emanate waves of ghastly and terror.