Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

The man's face was so dirty, covered in mud and leaves, that Chen Ji wasn't even sure if he had opened his mouth when he said those words.

However... it was indeed just as he had initially guessed.

The madman is Young Master Zheng!

This makes sense, because now only Young Master Zheng remains who is related to Li Fengxiu's true form.

"He's gone mad!" Hua Yilan whispered in Chen Ji's ear.

Really?

Chen Ji didn't speak.

He slowly walked forward and discovered that although the madman was extremely dirty, it was still possible to tell that his clothes were made of brocade with exquisite embroidery.

This proves that the madman comes from a well-off family.

"Where is Li Fengxiu?" Chen Ji asked.

The madman didn't say a word.

Hua Yilan pointed outside, towards the foot of the mountain: "Let's go down the mountain."

It's obvious that the madman told Hua Yilan who the original form of the mother black sheep was.

She asked again, "You were chosen by a ghost? What exactly happened these past few days?"

Chen Ji summarized it simply: three people died, and there was a ghost among the original Miyake people.

When the topic of Mr. and Mrs. Zheng came up, Chen Ji noticed that the madman remained expressionless, showing no signs of inner turmoil.

After thinking for a moment, he asked:

"Young Master Zheng."

"Have you been home?"

Xiao Yan said that Young Master Zheng was still on his way home, but she has been confirmed to be a ghost, so this statement is highly unreliable.

The madman stared blankly for a while before nodding in a daze.

Chen Ji pressed on, "Have you met your father?"

A madman remains silent.

"After Old Madam Zheng replaced Li Fengxiu, Old Master Zheng wanted to replace you, right!" Chen Ji blurted out all his speculations in one breath.

The madman suddenly raised his head.

He raised his finger, then suddenly pulled the skin at the corner of his mouth upwards, forcing a fake smile: "Yes."

That smile made Chen Ji feel inexplicably awkward. Hua Yilan whispered beside him, "I've told you before, he's crazy."

The madman continued with a laugh, "However, this happened after I met Fengxiu."

"I found her transformed into a sheep, tied under the bed like livestock; I heard her bleating and crying for help when she saw me; but I didn't say a word..."

"I discovered that her entire family was dead, her mother had turned into a gray sheep and had her head cut off; but I didn't say a word..."

"Haha, then I found out that my dad was actually going to turn me into a sheep too. Isn't that ridiculous?"

The madman lowered his hand in an instant, his lips drooped, and his expression turned extremely gloomy in a second: "Then I ran away."

What he said far exceeded Chen Ji's expectations.

Chen Ji originally thought that the two of them were a pair of star-crossed lovers like Ah Jian and Xiao Yan, but according to the madman's description, that was not the case.

The madman described himself in a very unsavory way as a cowardly and afraid-to-die person.

Hua Yilan twitched her lips. She had heard this story many times since she was rescued by the black ewe.

"Let me tell you."

She sighed helplessly: "After Li's mother passed away, he went mad... Young Master Zheng discovered that his father, Master Zheng, was dying and was discussing with 'Li Fengxiu' about replacing him; then he went mad and ran away with the black ewe."

"Later, the eldest brother of the Li family was burned to death for some unknown reason... I believe he was deliberately murdered because he discovered that 'Li Fengxiu' had a problem."

Chen Ji listened quietly to her words and pointed out a problem:

"Brother Li is not dead."

"Brother Li has turned into a charred ghost and is now in the east wing."

Hua Yilan frowned: "Did he hurt you?"

Chen Ji said, "No, not at all."

However, he could never forget the half-face that appeared on the window frame and the eyes that stared intently at him; Chen Ji was quite certain that those eyes held a strong sense of malice.

So Brother Li might be a new ghost created from resentment, imprisoned by "Li Fengxiu".

Let’s not mention this matter for now.

Hua Yilan gave Chen Ji an unexpected clue.

That is... there are actually three locust tree stumps hidden in the back mountain!

“They were all struck by lightning and broken off,” Hua Yilan said. “I don’t know how many years they’ve been broken off, and the trunks have already been moved away.”

As she spoke, she led Chen Ji through the cave, squeezed out through a crevice on the other side, and into a small, dense forest.

There are three wooden stakes in the middle of the woods.

It was covered in insect damage, lifeless, and rotten inside.

Chen Ji dug around and, sure enough, found skeletons under each locust tree stump. Just like the three skeletons at the foot of the mountain, the bones were covered with a thin red film.

Now that things have come to this, the source of the first wave of ghosts is finally clear.

Everyone was initially misled by the name "Sanhuai Village," but in fact, the three locust trees refer to the three locust trees in the village, and there are three more on the mountain behind!

The ghosts in these three trees were released many years ago, and according to the investigation, they have now possessed different bodies:

Old Mrs. Zheng (later "Li Fengxiu"); Old Mr. Zheng (later "Xiao Yan"); Village Chief Old Mr. Zhou.

Then came the three locust tree ghosts at the foot of the mountain, which were released one by one by the entrants who cut down the trees.

“Fengxiu doesn’t like coming here,” Hua Yilan said. “She hates locust trees.”

Sure enough, the locust tree gate was there to keep out sheep.

Staring at the locust tree stump, Chen Ji deduced three clues:

.....

【1.】The six ghosts knew each other in their previous lives.

【2.】It is not true that cutting down a tree at any time will release a ghost.

It seems that the locust tree needs to be struck by lightning to meet the requirements.

The ghosts only appeared on the three locust trees at the foot of the mountain the day after they were struck by lightning.

The same applies to the three trees on the back mountain.

This explains why the first three ghosts didn't proactively cut down the tree to release the next three.

【3.】The original door of Miyake was probably also made of locust wood.

However, due to its age and exposure to wind and sun, it has gradually lost its protective ability and therefore needs to be reinforced.

...

The clues provided by Hua Yilan brought great benefits to Chen Ji.

The two sat under the locust tree. Chen Ji touched the tooth marks on the locust tree stump and looked at the girl beside him.

No one expected that Hua Yilan, whom everyone thought was in the most danger, was actually the luckiest.

"Fengxiu is very good to me."

Hua Yilan said softly, "She picked fruit for me to eat and let me sleep leaning against her."

"If it weren't for her, I'd probably be like those three... dead without even a proper burial."

Chen Ji had already told her that the sheep carcasses in the sheepfold were mangled beyond recognition, with their eyes, tongues, and ears gouged out; even their horns and hooves had been broken off.

“Every night when they return to the village, I hide here…” Hua Yilan looked at Chen Ji, a hint of guilt in her eyes: “It’s not that I don’t want to go back and reunite with everyone, it’s just… I really don’t dare to appear in front of the ghosts.”

Chen understood perfectly.

"You've already been chosen by Master Zhou, so it's safer for you to stay here—"

Chen Ji froze halfway through his sentence.

He sniffed, but all he could smell was the stench of sheep dung on his body and a very faint scent of grass.

“Hua Yilan..…”

He turned his head stiffly. "Where did the grassy scent go?"