Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Afterwards, the man drew a small portrait.

Using the blood from the fingertips of six people as ink, they inscribed a line of words on the back of the portrait.

[This cannot be opened by those who are not like me]

The portrait rolled up on its own, and along with the man's slightly undulating body, it was placed into the coffin.

"Awakening——"

The six coffins were scattered and buried in a mountain.

Time has flown by, and countless years have passed...

On the burial site, a small sprout broke through the earth.

From saplings to saplings, until they grow into towering trees, clusters of locust flowers bloom and fade among the branches and leaves.

When the flood struck, the refugees settled on the mountainside, and the area quickly became a small village.

This place is very suitable for living, as it only drizzles occasionally, which the villagers believe is due to the protection of the three locust trees at the foot of the mountain.

until a certain day.

Suddenly, an unprecedented torrential downpour began on the mountain, accompanied by lightning and thunder, but fortunately, it did not affect the village.

But what the villagers didn't know was that the thunderstorm was extremely precise, with streaks of lightning striking three old locust trees on the back hill.

At first, it was the smell of mud that made it smell fishy.

Later, a trickle of crimson liquid seeped from the tree trunk, until it flowed more and more, eventually congealing at the roots...

.....

The scene ends here.

Chen Ji suddenly opened his eyes, his heart filled with turmoil!

In this domain, there are only two people who can interpret this story almost completely: Chen Ji and Du Tingfeng!

The first six children were the six demons in their childhood, and they happened to have experienced a famine.

The famine was so severe that cannibalism had begun, as the flesh of the thighs of the corpses in the straw mats had already been cut off.

All of this undoubtedly distorts children's perceptions.

But what truly turned them into cannibals... was that rosy-cheeked little boy who pointed at the vultures!

Having personally encountered Wusu and seen the murals in the tomb, Chen Ji recognized the child at a glance... It was one of the Source Corpses, the Ghost Infant!

Everything connected.

After the massacre of the village, the ghost baby wandered around and encountered six children who were starving to death. He taught them to eat people. Later, the children ate the old, weak, sick and disabled in the homes of the rich and survived the famine.

But even after surviving, they continued to eat human flesh, as if possessed...

This reminded Chen Ji of how Abu became addicted to black mutton.

Abu's retribution was that he was transformed into a gray goat.

These six people, however, contracted a terminal illness, and like the starving people they had eaten back then, their bellies were swollen terribly.

On the verge of death, a dark figure appeared at his door, searching for the ghost baby.

From the camera's perspective, Chen Ji could only observe that the shadowy figure took out a painting and showed it to "Big Brother." Afterward, Big Brother was terrified, and then the shadowy figure left, leaving Big Brother in a daze.

Finally, the eldest brother suddenly realized something, drew a scroll, and buried it underground. Many years later, a locust tree grew on the tomb.

This is the only part that Chen Ji is still unclear about.

The message conveyed by that dark figure was to abandon the physical body and become a ghost, but we don't know who that dark figure is.

Chen Ji suspected that he was also one of the source corpses.

A scream broke his train of thought:

"The content of the painting has changed!"

The scroll hanging on the wall, as if stained with ink, gradually turned gray.

Two new portraits then appeared on it!

First picture:

An open coffin.

It was actually a mother-and-child coffin, with a large coffin inside a smaller one, protecting the pale pink skeleton on the innermost side.

Second picture:

There were still six coffins, but they were stacked together, and atop each coffin sat a black goat!

Its fur was as black as ink, and its eyes had a greenish tinge.

Surrounded by six people, their faces filled with despair, missing limbs, and swollen bellies, they were none other than the original forms of the six ghosts from the portrait's memories!

And the goats are chewing on their limbs.

"A mother and child coffin..." Chen Ji's expression hardened. The structure of this painting reminded him of the layout of Miyake and the sheepfold.

Both have internal and external structures.

The black goat never truly crossed the line with the principal wife.

He speculated that the locust tree was transformed from a coffin, and it had a protective effect on these ghosts. After being cut down and made into a door, it became a new coffin.

Miyake and the sheepfold... are the safe zones that the ghost set up for himself, covering both inside and outside the village!

However, apart from the Zhou residence, the other three newly built outer gates had been tampered with by the intruders and were not sturdy; in terms of coffins, it was as if a few nails were missing, making it easy to open the coffin lid.

The second painting is simpler to understand: the black ewe ate the six demons.

However, the souls of the six demons are all in new bodies, so why is the original body still shown in the picture?

Chen Ji frowned, and he and Hua Yilan searched the room again, but they couldn't find Master Zhou's skin.

Now that Wu Gong is dead, the situation is clear.

"The Terracotta Warrior Prophet" did not lie; there are indeed important clues to clearing the level here. However, what it did not tell Wu Gong is... that Master Zhou is also here.

So Wu Gong was tricked by Master Zhou?

Speaking of which, this is Wu Gong's 8th domain, and he only has one strange creature... It just doesn't seem very likely?

Did he have no other means of survival?

While they were pondering, Chen Ji and Hua Yilan suddenly turned serious.

"clang--"

"clang--"

The sound of gongs and drums could be faintly heard in the village!

This means the big show is about to begin!

Chen Ji immediately turned his head and said to Hua Yilan, "We'll split into two groups."

"I'm going to the stage; all six ghosts should be there."

"You are responsible for testing whether fire can burn down the main gate. If not, try to dismantle the main gates of the three houses."

"The village is relatively safe now. After you finish demolishing, go back to Li Fengxiu's place. I'll come find you before dark!"

......

The stage was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers.

Beneath the stage, a bright red wedding table stands.

Behind the stage, Yin Ziqin's eyes were covered with a cloth, her arms ached so much she couldn't lift them, and all her strength was almost completely exhausted!

One hand removed the cloth from her eyes.

Yin Ziqin immediately looked around and her heart sank. Looking around, there was no one else there except herself!

What about Wu Gong, Chu Jing, and Du Tingfeng?

"You'll play the role of the maid."

"Chang Hao" stood in front of her and said.

A maidservant? A bad feeling rose in Yin Ziqin's heart, because "Jiang Zhong" had said before that she would play the "clown"!

Chang Hao pulled out a few pieces of paper from his pocket, took one out, and it read:

[Yin plays: a maid]

The other three are:

【Brother Wu】

【Chu - Second Sister】

[Du plays the role of the third brother]

Dang Dang Dang——

Three consecutive drumbeats rang out, and "Chang Hao" grabbed her hand tightly and dragged Yin Ziqin onto the stage!

Immediately, Yin Ziqin felt her body slip out of her control and numbly walked towards the center of the stage.

Beside the wedding table below the stage...

"Li Fengxiu" and "Xiao Yan" held hands and whispered intimately; "Jiang Zhong" pouted, his expression not very good.

Including "Chang Hao" who walked past.....

There are four ghosts in total.....

There is no "Chen Ji".

Yin Ziqin wanted to look at it more, but just then, the four people below the stage suddenly stopped talking and looked at her with a half-smile.

Yin Ziqin's head was forced to turn to the side, looking at the decorations on the table.

On the left is a small bed with a gauze curtain, behind which stands a wooden board, while on the right is a screen.

A hunched figure could be vaguely seen sitting behind the screen...

Who is it?

Yin Ziqin walked over stiffly, pushed open the screen, and her eyes suddenly widened!

Inside was a gray goat!

The goat numbly turned its head, revealing an old face. Yin Ziqin vaguely remembered that she seemed to have seen this face in the village before, but back then the other person was still in human form.

The gray goat opened its mouth, trembling.

What was she trying to say?

The moment this thought crossed Yin Ziqin's mind, her limbs and facial features began to move uncontrollably once again!

Yin Ziqin turned around, as if explaining, and sang to the four ghosts below the stage:

"In the dark of night, there is no one around; a lonely girl and an old man gaze sadly at the yellow sky."

"The first cry is for hunger, the second for cold, the third for the knocking of the door at the fourth watch, for death is imminent and the heart is uneasy."

As the last line of the opera was sung, a knocking sound came from behind the stage.

Boom!

Boom!

The gray goat suddenly became agitated and cried out in terror:

"Bah!"

Yin Ziqin stared intently at the wooden plank behind the stage, but her body moved uncontrollably, taking hurried, short steps towards the gray goat.

"old lady--"

"Don't be afraid!"

Her facial features twisted and distorted rapidly, contorting into an exaggerated, artificial expression of panic:

"Which starving ghost comes begging for food in the dead of night?"

The knocking stopped abruptly.

Bang!

Suddenly, the temporary wooden plank was kicked hard!

There was no further activity after that.

Yin Ziqin herself, and the maid she played, were both stunned.

Just then, she suddenly heard a ripping sound behind her, as if something had been torn apart.

The gray goat in front of her stared at what was behind Yin Ziqin, and tears streamed down its face as it screamed silently!

"Smack..."

Someone was chewing something behind her.

A strong smell of blood wafted into Yin Ziqin's nostrils.

Her hands moved uncontrollably, like flowing sleeves obscuring half her face, as she spoke plaintively to the audience:

“The vermilion gates are tightly shut, and my heart is filled with unease; all I can hear is a quiet silence, both inside and outside the courtyard.”

"The wind howls, chilling me to the bone..."

A chill suddenly ran down Yin Ziqin's spine. As the footsteps drew closer, she slowly uttered the last line:

"I regret not closing the window; a ghost has entered the house!"

A cold hand patted Yin Ziqin's shoulder.

She could move, but she dared not move, much less turn around!

"crunch-"

With a chewing sound, half of a small ear fell to the ground.

Yin Ziqin tried to avoid looking at the baby's ears and closed her eyes with difficulty, but the next second, two slender fingers pried open her eyelids.

Her whole body felt as if it had fallen into an ice cave!

At that very moment, Yin Ziqin suddenly realized...

There are no longer four ghosts.

There are five.

That already pale face was facing Yin Ziqin, only a few centimeters apart.

She was so close she could see it clearly...

The other person's bulging cheeks were twitching, and foul-smelling blood foam oozed from between the opening and closing of their lips.

And those eyes that startled her when they first met.

Now their eyes are wide open even more.

“…Chu Jing,” Yin Ziqin murmured.

Chu Jing grinned.

She corrected him, as if addressing the audience below the stage:

"I'm the second sister."

"Good!" Jiang Zhong stood up abruptly from below the stage and threw a dark, lumpy object onto the stage, which landed right in front of Yin Ziqin!

Her vision went black, and she saw "Chu Jing" pick up the lump of something; it turned out to be a sheep's heart.

At this moment, Yin Ziqin had no more illusions left.

She was 100% certain that "Chu Jing" had been replaced.

Now she understood the content of the play: the three characters, the maid, the old woman, and the baby, were the targets of the ghosts' hunt.

The infant is dead.

Who will be the next one?

There is also a crucial question...

What about Du Tingfeng and Wu Gong?

......

Du Tingfeng leaned against the side of the stage, his face gloomy.

It's not his turn to play yet.

From the commotion that came from the stage just now, he already knew that "Chu Jing" had been replaced while she was in isolation.

He took out his chips again and checked them; the passive level was neither too high nor too low, fluctuating between 2500 and 3000.

Putting the chips back, Du Tingfeng unfolded the crumpled paper in his palm.

This crumpled piece of paper was suddenly thrown in front of him five minutes ago.

Du Tingfeng was all too familiar with the handwriting above:

Wu Gong has long been replaced; it's Master Zhou now.

Try to delay until dark.

The black ewe will come and eat the ghost.

While pondering, Du Tingfeng suddenly felt something and put the note away.

A few seconds later, Wu Gong silently walked over and handed him a piece of paper.

"Your role."

It says:

[Du plays the role of the third brother]

"Who are you?" Du Tingfeng seemed unconcerned about his own role and instead asked Wu Gong.

"Big brother."

Wu Gong smiled wryly: "It's strange, we're actually brothers."

"Yes," Du Tingfeng smiled slightly, "What a coincidence."

Wu Gong nodded to him, and after listening to "Chu Jing's" performance for a while, he explained:

"This means that my second sister couldn't open the door, so she climbed in through the window."

"After she went inside, she found only a maid, a baby, and an old woman who couldn't stand up."

A series of mournful cries came from Yin Ziqin.

“The maid was very scared and offered to give the dried food that was hidden in the house to Second Sister,” Wu Gong added. “However, Second Sister didn’t seem too happy about it.”

She said that her three youngest siblings were crying for food at home, and a little bit of dry food was not enough.

Du Tingfeng listened quietly.

After a while, Wu Gong patted him on the shoulder: "It's our turn."

As he spoke, Du Tingfeng was pushed onto the stage and immediately felt out of control, standing frozen in the corner of the stage.

He saw "Chu Jing" lying on a gray goat, doing something.

Yin Ziqin's face turned deathly pale.

Just then, Wu Gongcai arrived late, seemingly from nowhere...

They brought over a black goat.

He squatted down next to Du Tingfeng and whispered, "You'll be in charge of feeding the meat to the maid later."

-------

Dear readers, I apologize for the late update today. My neck is so sore I can't straighten it.

Extra chapter tomorrow!