Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 27 Midnight Song
As the night deepened, the wind chimes under the eaves of the old man's house suddenly started moving without any wind, making a soft, tinkling sound.

Inside the room, Jiang Jin vaguely sensed something was wrong. He looked out the window, but could only see his and the old man Huang Jianhua's shadows cast on the mottled wall.

The old man slumped on a bench, his calloused fingers holding a half-smoked cigarette. His wife sat beside him, shaking her head.

“When Xiaoming came to the village, he first found an old friend of mine named Li Qiang. He, Azhi, and I were all members of the village’s Cantonese opera troupe when we were young. He brought Xiaoming to me. Xiaoming told me that one night, on a whim, they played a spiritual game at home. They filled a basin with water, put their own blood in it, and then each of them drank a sip, saying that they could communicate with spirits in this way.”

Jiang Jin's back tensed up. He was so close to the old man that he could clearly see the cold sweat seeping from every wrinkle on his face.

The death knell tolled uneasily at his feet, and claws thrashed about on the ground.

The old man suddenly coughed violently, and cigarette ash fell onto his clothes.

"At first, he said he thought it was just a game. He felt it was unhygienic and didn't drink the water. But later, two of the people who drank the water said they saw a woman in red!"

“Red clothes…” Jiang Jin immediately pressed, “Isn’t that what they mentioned in the visitor guidelines…”

"But Xiaoming said that what he saw was not a woman in red, but a woman in blue."

"Didn't he not drink any water?" Jiang Jin asked, puzzled.

"He said he was born with a weak constitution and could see ghosts. He was very puzzled by this, saying it didn't make sense that the images they saw were so different."

Yin-yang eyes?
So he naturally has a low SAN value?
"Then, he immediately interrupted the psychic game, but the group became even more excited. The first person who said he saw a woman in red said he was going to the restroom and would play again when he came out. But he had only been in there a short while when he ran out again, saying he had seen a ghost in the restroom!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jin subconsciously glanced at the doorway.

There, he had already set a rusty animal trap.

"And then?" Jiang Jin's voice sounded a little dry.

"later……"

As the old man spoke, his cloudy eyes narrowed, and his body began to tremble.

"Xiao Ming told me that they all immediately went into the bathroom, and then they actually saw..." The old man said, unconsciously tightening his grip on his cigarette, "...in the bathtub was their friend who said the bathroom was haunted, and he was dead!"

"what?"

Jiang Jin could easily imagine the horrifying scene.

"That's not all. Later, they heard footsteps and found that their friend had gone to the bathroom door again! When they looked at the bathtub, it was completely empty! When they looked back at the door, no one was there anymore. The group of them ran out in fright and found their friend's body lying outside! His face was horrifying. When the police arrived, an autopsy determined that he died of heart failure. As for what Xiaoming and his friends said, naturally no one believed them, including Xiaoming's own sister, who was a reporter."

"It seems that my friend died because he drank the water from the pool?"

"I only found out later," the old man continued after catching his breath, his gaze drifting out the window, "that the water company had been drawing water from the pond in our village, so people outside the village were also drinking this water."

Jiang Jin suddenly felt a tightness in his throat as he recalled the pool water he had drunk. Xiao Ming's friend drank the pool water and died that very night? Did his SAN value drop so quickly? Logically, as long as the SAN value is above 80%, one shouldn't be attacked by ghosts.

"And then?"

"Later, those who participated in the spirit communication game also died mysteriously one after another. Xiao Ming later..."

Just then, the old man's expression suddenly changed drastically!
"No, no...you, you stop singing..." The cigarette in the old man's hand suddenly fell, the sparks splashing on the floor and quickly going out.

"She's here," the old man's voice changed, his withered fingers gripping the chair armrests tightly.

However, Jiang Jin heard nothing!
Then, the old man staggered to the door and took a dusty red lantern off the wall.

His fingers trembled violently, and the match, though it produced a flame, failed to light the lamp wick despite striking it several times.

Jiang Jin immediately ran up to help the old man light the lantern!

Clearly, the old man heard the female ghost singing!

At this moment, Jiang Jin could hear his own accelerated heartbeat, and his blood was roaring in his eardrums.

"Death knell! Warning!"

However, the match went out again after being lit several times!
Then, Jiang Jin quickly ate a few more pieces of char siu pork and said to the old man, "Old man, hide behind me and try again to see if you can light the lantern."

The old man's face turned deathly pale.

"She won't stop...she just won't stop..."

"Who exactly is she? What is the Soul Suppression Ritual?" Jiang Jin asked anxiously, holding up a lantern. "Does the Soul Suppression Ritual mean that it can suppress her?"

"It's no use, it's no use... No one can complete the soul-suppressing ritual!" The old man gripped Jiang Jin's hand tightly. "You drank that water, and your only chance of survival is to stay in the village! Otherwise, you'll end up like Xiao Ming..."

As soon as those words were spoken, darkness suddenly engulfed the entire room, and even the lights went out.

Jiang Jin's pupils contracted sharply as he immediately activated Hunter Vision!
Then he saw a dark humanoid silhouette emerge not far behind the old man.

The old man stood frozen in place, making a gurgling sound in his throat, as if something was choking him.

Jiang Jin threw away the lantern, took out the bone whistle of the dead, and began to blow it. The sharp whistle echoed in the room.

But the humanoid silhouette in the darkness merely tilted its head slightly, which had no effect whatsoever!
The system then indicated that the deceased's bone whistle was invalid and no SAN would be deducted for this use.

Deathstroke cowered in the corner in fear, not daring to move an inch!
"Run!"

Perhaps it was a final burst of energy before death, but the old man, with strength he didn't know where he came from, shoved Jiang Jin hard!
As the dark silhouette approached the old man, Jiang Jin did not hesitate to draw the crossbow from his watch!

He had already exchanged for a dead man's finger bone arrow in advance and applied the Resentful Moss Ointment!
The arrow gleamed with a faint white light in the darkness, and Jiang Jin could feel it trembling slightly, as if it had its own consciousness.

Aim, pull the trigger—the arrow pierces the air, striking precisely the chest of the humanoid silhouette.

In the darkness, the ghostly figure swayed, and the finger bone arrow trembled in front of her chest!
The old man clutched his throat, staring in disbelief at Jiang Jin's crossbow.

"escape!"

The stiffness could only be maintained for 1.5 seconds, but with the help of the Resentful Moss Cream... it was extended to 5 seconds!
Jiang Jin pulled Huang Jianhua, an elderly man, while Huang Jianhua pulled his wife, Azhi, and they rushed straight toward the gate!
　When filming "The Haunted Village," due to a script overrun, a plot hole was left in the early stages where "Xiao Ming and his friend saw female ghosts in different colored clothes." So, I took this opportunity to expand and explore the mystery of the red and blue female ghosts.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)