novelraw Chapter 312 - 308: Mountain Village [1]
Chapter 312 - 308: Mountain Village [1]
The sudden sound startled my great-grandfather awake, and he snapped his eyes open.
His gaze instinctively darted to his side, only to discover in astonishment that the companion who had been sleeping to his left was gone.
A sense of foreboding washed over him, and he quickly suppressed his rising panic.
Soon, his gaze settled on the corner of the room, where a dark figure was squatting silently.
Thanks to the vast, white snowfield outside, moonlight reflected into the room.
It wasn’t bright, but it was just enough to make out some blurry shapes.
As his gaze slowly lowered, my great-grandfather’s eyes widened. Beneath the dark figure...
...lay another person. He recognized the man’s silhouette with a jolt of horror—it was one of his companions!
The dark figure was hunched over his companion, tearing at something. Every so often, he could hear the sickening RIP of tearing flesh.
My great-grandfather’s heart leaped into his throat. A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He didn’t dare to breathe, terrified of alerting the thing.
But he knew he couldn’t just sit there and wait to die; he had to find a way to escape, and fast.
He quietly nudged his other companion, who was still sound asleep beside him.
As the man started to make a sound, my great-grandfather quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and pointed toward the corner.
The companion’s face instantly turned deathly pale and his eyes filled with terror, but he quickly grasped the situation.
The two of them began to move cautiously, crawling slowly toward the door and away from the dark figure in the corner.
With every inch they moved, their hearts hammered against their ribs. The wet, chewing sounds seemed to be right in their ears, grating on their every nerve.
But as they pushed open the wooden door, it let out a loud CREAK.
In the dead of night, the sound was like a clap of thunder.
The dark figure whipped its head up, and a pair of eyes glowing with an eerie green light stared right at them.
It was the face of a fox, dripping with fresh blood.
My great-grandfather and his companion shuddered violently. Forgetting everything else, they burst through the door and bolted into the night.
The creature let out a bloodcurdling shriek and gave chase.
Luckily, the house was on the outskirts of the village, so no one got in their way.
The two of them ran for their lives, stumbling through the deep snow, oblivious to the icy slush pouring into their shoes.
The sound of the creature’s pursuit grew closer and closer, as if at any moment it would pounce and drag them down.
Fortunately, in a moment of desperate inspiration...
...they dove into a snowdrift at the bottom of a nearby slope.
They used the deep snow to hide themselves and managed to escape. It wasn’t until the sky began to lighten at dawn that the two finally managed to struggle back to the village.
"Later, when the villagers went up the mountain to search, all they found at the bottom of a slope were several bodies, their internal organs and brains hollowed out.
Judging from the wounds, it looked like they had been torn apart by the sharp claws of some animal.
Other than that, there was nothing. No trace of the supposed village whatsoever."
Clearly, the middle-aged driver had a Talent for storytelling.
He told the story as if he’d seen it with his own eyes.
"I’d always thought it was just a story, but then, about a decade ago...
...a few teenagers from our village went missing. They were eventually found on Fox Tail Mountain, and they had died horribly—their organs and brains hollowed out, just like in the story. After that, Fox Tail Mountain became a forbidden place. No one dared go near it again."
The driver shook his head as he finished.
"It wasn’t until a few years ago that the authorities sent experts down to investigate.
They said the mountain was full of toxic miasma and man-eating beasts. It was dangerous, and people who went inside were prone to hallucinations. That’s why they sealed it off."
Hearing this, Hu Qi’s eyes flickered.
’Miasma and man-eating beasts? Of course, none of that exists.’
’According to the Security Bureau’s files...’
’...all these changes on the mountain are related to the Nightmare event in this area.’
What Hu Qi didn’t understand, however, was...
’...people died here more than a decade ago. Logically, the Nightmare event should have already been sealed by *that* person.’
’So how did those teenagers die?’
’Could it be that the Dream Eye here is immune to his seal? That it can just ignore it?’
’Of course, the possibility of human foul play couldn’t be ruled out either.’
’The human heart can be the most treacherous thing of all.’
’People are capable of anything.’
After that, the two made idle small talk. Hu Qi, meanwhile, was carefully reviewing and organizing the new information he had just gathered about Fox Tail Mountain.
A little over ten minutes later, the car arrived smoothly in Shidun County.
It was surrounded by mountains, a dozen or more of them.
Shidun County was basically situated in a mountain basin.
As far as the eye could see, there were rows of gray-white buildings, no different from any ordinary town.
The county got its name from the massive stone plinth standing at its entrance, which was over ten meters high.
It had some carvings on it as well.
According to the driver, a wealthy landlord had hired an expert to create it a century ago.
It was said to have the mystical power to suppress certain unclean things, which would make it a cultural relic of considerable historical value.
At one point, government experts heard about it and came, intending to take it away for proper preservation and further study.
However, the object was simply too massive and difficult to move. Furthermore, many of the locals were against the idea, believing it should remain right where it was.
And so, it has remained here ever since.
Looking at it, Hu Qi didn’t sense anything unusual. To him, it was just an ordinary piece of rock.
After that, Hu Qi got out of the car.
Before he left, he paid the driver double the fare as a thank you for all the useful information.
The driver protested verbally, but his hand had already honestly taken the money.
Then, under the driver’s eager gaze, Hu Qi strode away.
Without any delay, he headed straight for Fox Tail Mountain, in the direction he had subtly pried from the driver during the ride.
He had studied a map of the area before arriving.
So, getting his bearings wasn’t difficult for him.
Hu Qi moved as if the wind were at his heels, his speed incredible. Before long...
...he arrived at the foot of Fox Tail Mountain.
He knew for certain that this was Fox Tail Mountain because it was completely different from the surrounding peaks.
The entire mountain was tightly encircled by a wire mesh fence, a full three meters high.
It was as if it were meant to completely cut off everything on the mountain from the outside world.
The trees in the forest were incredibly dense, standing crowded together with their branches and leaves tangled in overlapping layers. From a distance...
...it looked like a giant, dark green curtain, concealing the entire mountain so completely that it was impossible to glimpse its true face.
However, off to one side of the mountain path, Hu Qi spotted something unexpected.
It was none other than the red SUV whose driver had arrogantly flipped him off on the road earlier.
The vehicle had been carefully covered with dead leaves and hidden in a patch of woods. Such a deliberate Disguise was obviously intentional.
Hu Qi searched the vicinity but saw no sign of the car’s occupants.
All he found were several sets of messy footprints leading off into the distance.
They led directly into the depths of Fox Tail Mountain.
Clearly, the people from the car had already entered Fox Tail Mountain.
Following the footprints, Hu Qi soon came to a section of the fence. Beside it was an opening just large enough for one person to squeeze through.
The cut in the wire looked fresh, as if it had been made only a short time ago.
The opening was hidden behind a large tree and surrounded by overgrown weeds; it would have been difficult to spot without looking closely.
’They’re just asking to get killed.’
Hu Qi shook his head.
He tilted his head back, drained the last of his fruit drink, and tossed the container aside.
Then, with a sudden burst of movement, his figure blurred. He vaulted effortlessly over the three-meter-high fence and headed into the mountains.