Hailing barren city

After leaving Misty Rain Jiangnan and walking for about a quarter of an hour, the two arrived at the gate of the Netherworld Palace.

At this time, it was [-]:[-] in the evening, and the sky was already dark.The last smoldering cloud in the distance is like a pool of blood, gradually seeping into the end of the earth.

Ling Li and Tao Rujiu walked in tandem, holding flashlights in their hands.When passing by the concierge, Tao Rujiu faltered and sang the code words he had learned from Xiao Li, and his serious out-of-key drew a sharp burst of laughter.

After passing the gatehouse and walking a few steps forward, the two of them saw the fork behind the screen wall.Tao Rujiu naturally wanted to go left and go down the underground palace, but Ling Li stopped and grabbed the young man's arm.

"Well, if you have the guts, follow me to the other side."

"It's a long way over there, so Master Lu and the others will have to wait for a long time, so I won't go."

Tao Rujiu wanted to shake off the fierce hand, but was dragged by the other side forcefully and walked towards the path on the right.

"There are shortcuts on the ground, but they don't know it."

Pointing sharply at a small forest not far away on the ground, he said,

"After passing Shihun Town, we will turn right at the first intersection of Resentful Ghost Road. Walking a section of grass, we can bypass Reincarnation Street and Nine Coffin Forest, and go directly to Zanghun Slope. The vegetable field is just west of Zanghun Slope."

Although he explained in detail, Tao Rujiu knew that there must be fraud, so he still insisted on going to the underground palace.Seeing this, Ling Li didn't waste any more words, he shook off Tao Rujiu's hand and walked towards the underground palace on the right.

The young man came to the entrance of the underground palace first, but stopped there.With the dim light of the flashlight, Tao Rujiu saw that the vermilion lacquer palace door that was originally open was closed tightly today, and a large lock was added on it.

"I was the one who locked the door. Although I am not afraid of theft, if someone enters by mistake at night, it will be very troublesome if there is a mistake."

Ling Li leaned on his proud skull wall and explained like this.It was only then that Tao Rujiu realized that Ling Li had planned everything carefully, and he might not be able to escape tonight. He only hated that he had sobered up from last night's alcohol, otherwise it would have been easier to use the strength of alcohol to break through.

He sighed and turned around without saying a word.

"Where are you going?"

Ling Li still followed behind with a sneer.

"Go and be scared enough by you!"

Tao Rujiu answered angrily.

"Don't you just want to see me make a fool of yourself? Wouldn't it disappoint you not to take the one on the right!"

While talking, the two had already walked back to the fork in the road. Tao Rujiu was about to stride towards the woods on the right, but was grabbed sharply and pulled behind him.

"If you don't know the way, go behind. Don't lead me astray."

"Isn't it just a road? There is no way to get lost!"

Tao Rujiu's emotions seemed to be a little out of control. After arriving in Hailing City, he had never yelled so loudly.

Holding the flashlight, Ling Li looked Tao Rujiu up and down, and then laughed out loud.

"Stop yelling and emboldening yourself, your legs are shaking, kid."

Corpse Soul Town is the first stop in the scenic spot on the ground, just behind the forest at the fork.It seems to be to prove the correctness of the saying "if you don't follow, you will get lost". What you walk sharply is not the stone path used by tourists.But this is indeed a shortcut. After turning over a small slope, a dozen or so tile-roofed houses appeared at the downwind vent.

This is Ghost Town.

Tao Rujiu looked down the slope, and saw that the dozen or so tile-roofed houses ran east-west, surrounding a rammed-earth path about three meters wide.On the left and right sides of the road there are bamboo fences as tall as a person, and there is a lookout bamboo building at the end—it looks like a very ordinary town in ancient costumes.

Because the melon field was on the other side of the town, the two had to cross the entire Soul Town.In the chaotic pile of grass at the entrance of the bamboo fence, a wooden sign was inserted obliquely.Ling Li ignored it, while Tao Rujiu glanced curiously.

Two rows of warnings were written on the decaying wooden sign soaked in dark brown liquid.

"Walking dead haunt, avoid."

Even though he knew it was just a gimmick, when he saw the wooden sign, Tao Rujiu still felt a burst of cold air from behind his calf and climbed up his back.

The yellow-white halo of the two flashlights illuminated a circular area about one meter square in front of him.The low black wooden houses on both sides have closed doors, no lights, and no life. They seem to be no different from the antique buildings in other parks.

However, when he got closer, Tao Rujiu realized that the wooden doors and wooden walls were covered with deep scratches, mixed with patches of red blood.In some places, the wall boards were even broken down the middle, exposing the dark inner room.

Tao Rujiu couldn't see clearly the furnishings in the room, but felt an indescribable unpleasant smell blowing towards his face, which reminded him of the rotting mouth of a zombie.

"Ling..."

It wasn't that there was really something to ask, Tao Rujiu simply felt that the surroundings were too quiet and wanted to make some noise.Embolden yourself.But before the words could come out, his mouth was suddenly covered sharply.

"Don't speak loudly if you don't want to be scared."

The breath of the man's words gently stirred Tao Rujiu's temple hair.

"To tell you the truth, I also specifically told them not to turn off the switch today, and some organs in this town are voice-activated. Like this..."

He dragged Tao Rujiu to a well beside the road.

It was a strange old well, on which a pavilion-like building was built, with a high roof, completely hidden in the darkness.

Sternly and softly, he ordered Tao Rujiu,

"Clap your hands at the top of the pavilion."

Tao Rujiu shook his head.

"To take pictures of yourself."

"Coward." Leng Li sneered, "Just watch."

After speaking, he patted three times vigorously in the pavilion.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

The crisp applause sounds strange and loud in the dead silence.Tao Rujiu stood beside Ling Li, staring vigilantly at the darkness overhead.

In just a few seconds, several appearances of ghosts flashed through the young man's mind: blue-faced fangs, face like gold paper, disheveled hair, bleeding from the seven orifices... But until he drove the last imagination out of his head, there was no ghost. I saw something hanging from the top of the pavilion.

"What did you show me?"

There was a burst of doubt in my heart, and I even thought it was a mechanical failure.Tao Rujiu then thought that Ling Li had made a fool of himself this time, and even happily wanted to turn around and mock him.But he didn't expect that the fierce movement was faster than him, and suddenly he reached out and grabbed the back of his neck, pushing him down on the edge of the well.

Caught off guard by a sneak attack, Tao Rujiu had the illusion that he wanted to "murder to silence" because of "anger turned into anger".He was forced to lie prone on the well ring, and his face was facing the dark well mouth, and a pungent breath came to his face.

"look at this……"

Ling Li laughed mischievously behind him.

It was only then that Tao Rujiu realized that the organ was in the well, and the reason why there was a pavilion built on top of the well was to gather the sound and activate the voice-activated switch in the well.Ling Li just said that the organ was on the top to distract himself, and then took the opportunity to push himself down on the mouth of the well.

Tao Rujiu gritted his teeth and struggled, trying to get rid of the sharp shackles, but was bullied by the other party and pressed down, cutting his hands behind his back.

"Ha, don't you know that I'm trying to scare you? Then obediently wait for the surprise, and remember not to blink."

The man who squeezed him said so in a harsh tone.

In fact, in this kind of dark night, Tao Rujiu, who poked his head into the deep well, couldn't see anything clearly, but the pure darkness is more able to stimulate the potential imagination of human beings, and imagine things that cannot exist at all.

The young man tried his best to calm himself down. Since he was pressing himself against the edge of the well forcefully, there would probably be a mechanism rising up from the well after a while.However, since it was an obvious tease, it was much safer than a shock without warning, and the degree of terror was limited after all.

Thinking of this, the young man took a deep breath and made a secret decision in his heart, no matter what, he couldn't let Ling Li see the joke again.

So he simply gave up struggling, feeling the heat of the living Ling Li sticking to his back.After a few seconds, Tao Rujiu heard the faint sound of "Qingta" coming from the deep well, followed by a thin cool breeze.In the darkness where he couldn't see his fingers, the young man could only feel something rising up from the deepest part of the well, and the sound of the mechanical "cracking tower" gradually became clearer.

Almost everyone has at one time or another experienced that strange feeling of being stared at in the dead of night.Sometimes that gaze appears behind you, and sometimes it seems to be pressed against your cheek or so.However, whenever you turn around to check, you always find that there is no one around you.

Tao Rujiu feels very realistic now.

It's just that the object staring at him now is an absolutely real existence, only hidden in the darkness that is very close to him right in front of him.

After a while, the mechanical sound stopped.

In the dead silence, the regular sound of "cracking towers" disappeared.Tao Rujiu held his breath, waiting for the next move of the next mechanism.However, all he could feel was another voice, coming from a distant place down the well.

It's the sound of running water.