Chapter 1: I. The Forest Cabin That Does Not Exist on the Map

I. The Forest Cabin That Does Not Exist on the Map

Yu Lianyun walked along the coastal road of Yonghu Town in Litaishi, her head lowered, arms wrapped around her chest, bundled in three layers of thick cotton-padded coats as she moved forward in silence.

It was the height of the dog days of summer, and a large crowd of tourists had come to this small coastal town in Litaishi to escape the heat; it was hard for the tourists moving in and out around the beach not to notice the woman with such strange behavior.

In this weather where the scorching sun roasted everything, for someone to actually dare to dress as if it were winter—if she wasn't mentally ill or trying to film a video, such attention-seeking behavior was hard to justify.

However, the tourists who passed by this woman all frowned; after some of them ran back to their companions, they one after another expressed similar, hair-raising feelings:

"Is it psychological or something? Standing next to that lunatic, I just feel creepy—from the inside out, it's freezing."

"Just now, I think I saw that person actually breathing out white mist. Isn't that something you only see in winter?"

Yu Lianyun ignored everyone, walking forward with her eyes closed until she reached the end of the coastal road.

The noisy sounds in her ears had gradually disappeared, but she felt not a shred of relief, because when human voices could no longer be heard and the environment grew quiet, another kind of sound began to intensify, accompanied by an untraceable, soul-piercing low temperature.

"The sun... I must find that shop before the sun goes down." Yu Lianyun looked at the midday sun, as if she could already see the moment night would fall, panic flashing in her eyes.

Crossing the coastal road and two more streets, she arrived at the foot of a small hill in front of a narrow stone staircase, then she put away the phone she had been using for navigation. Because for the road ahead, the navigation had no records; it contained no directions to the place she was going.

She could only rely on the information she had scraped together from the fragmented words of netizens online to piece together an approximate location, and then she had to use the most primitive method—using her eyes and her imagination to search.

The stone stairs had no handrails and the steps were narrow; if Yu Lianyun walked up facing forward, only half of her foot could land on each step, which was extremely dangerous, so she had to walk up sideways, like a clumsy teddy bear mascot, needing to both protect her clothes and maintain her balance.

The stone stairs were only about ten meters high, but after climbing them, Yu Lianyun felt she had already spent most of her energy for the day, yet she had no time to stop and rest. She glanced once more at the sheet of directions she had written out herself and memorized by heart, reciting silently: "Take the middle gravel path, walk 66 steps until you hit a corner, then turn left, continue walking 44 steps, and you will see a small cabin with a blend of Chinese and Western styles."

She followed the directions, stepped onto the gravel path, and began counting her steps in her heart—first walking straight for sixty-six steps, then turning left and walking straight for forty-four steps, and then when she looked up, the scenery of the forest had changed drastically.

She saw a large patch of locust trees appearing not far away, growing around the house, lush and shading it; by the cold pool in front of the house door, eight Gui Liu with twisted branches were planted neatly, the bark of each willow tree cracked open like human skin, revealing faces of "sorrow and distress," as if countless unjustly dead souls were bound within those willow trees.

Yu Lianyun's legs trembled and her teeth chattered; such a quaint and solemn mansion hidden deep in the mountains and forests was truly frightening, but when she saw a tacky shop sign common to the 2000s placed in front of the mansion's door, she couldn't help but doubt the correctness of her journey.

She saw the red plastic tape on the shop sign written with colorful characters like "Lin Ling's Shenqi Miaomiaowu," "Ten-fold compensation for fakes," "Refunds for ineffective results," and "Cure guaranteed upon medication," and the sign even had built-in neon light effects only found in discos, looking very unprofessional.

Is this a haunted house? A toy house? Or the shop for exorcism Dharma Artifacts she was looking for? Why does it look so much like a scam shop?

But at this point, she had already reached her destination, and there was no turning back.

As the saying goes, since she was already here, no matter what, she had to go in and take a look.

Approaching, the red wooden gate was painted with two hideous, fanged masks, one red and one blue, fierce and menacing; a "Business Open" sign hung on the ring-shaped door handle, indicating that customers should push the door to enter, and Yu Lianyun did as instructed and entered the shop.

Entering the old house paved with gray bricks, the crowded shelves before her eyes stunned Yu Lianyun; she felt as if she had arrived at a library with a massive collection of books, only the things placed on the shelves were not just books, but all kinds of miscellaneous items—there were books, antiques, modern appliances, secret church objects, and ordinary daily necessities...

The arrangement of the items also seemed to have no logic to speak of; priceless items like antique artifacts might be placed together with modern defective goods, and biological specimen-like objects might be placed on the same shelf as modern industrial puppets; the pattern of their display was completely baffling.

But eerily, Yu Lianyun felt there was nothing wrong with the placement of these things, because they all seemed to possess a commonality she couldn't quite articulate, and it was that strange commonality that made them look so harmonious.

The bloated-looking Yu Lianyun walked carefully through the aisle between the narrow shelves, browsing the eerie items placed on the front and back shelves while searching for the shop's owner, a strange thought flashing through her mind: "Could it be that these things are all the exorcism Dharma Artifacts of this shop?"

Having finally passed through the shelves, Yu Lianyun was exhausted from the long walk, panting as she held her knees to rest on the spot.

"Miss, if you are so tired, why not sit down and rest for a while?" A clear, gentle voice suddenly broke the silence of the shop.

Yu Lianyun looked up toward where the voice came from and saw a young man of about seventeen or eighteen sitting at a tea table not far away, smiling at her. The other party had delicate features and an elegant posture; he was like a handsome yet strange wax figure deeply integrated into this odd shop, and before he spoke, it was almost hard for anyone to notice his existence.

Behind the young man was a Shrine, and the two candles lit on the left and right of the Shrine were not the common red candles but two white ones; the halo of the candlelight cast upon the young man behind him was like two eerie golden eyes scrutinizing her, and Yu Lianyun couldn't help but hold her breath subconsciously.

She had encountered too many unspeakable things in recent days, and Yu Lianyun's heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate at this moment; she felt an inexplicable terror.

Only... this terror seemed to be different from the horrific events she had experienced these past days.

Suddenly, a strange cry sounded from behind the young man, and a black figure jumped out from the darkness where the candlelight could not reach, standing on the Shrine; it was actually a black cat from who knows where, with unusually thick cat paws, and it was impossible to tell what breed of cat it was.

The cat was mostly cute, but one dared not have such a thought; in its golden cat eyes were tiny black pupils, and a spiritual radiance flowed within those lively eyes.

There is a saying among the folk that cats are psychic and have nine lives; compared to dogs, they have a more independent personality, and the older a cat is, the more it can express human-like emotions; this cat gave her that general feeling.

The black cat wagged its tail, standing on the altar, its tail sweeping back and forth over a headless official-robed deity statue and a Zen monk statue covered in blood-stained yellow cloth; it scrutinized her for a moment, indifferently withdrew its gaze, and quietly retreated back into the darkness, slowly closing its bright golden eyes.

At this time, Yu Lianyun realized that there was no main deity worshipped on this Shrine, and the only two deity statues were broken-limbed left and right guardians, and the so-called offerings were even more non-existent.

How strange!

If the shopkeeper does not worship deities, why set up a special Shrine in the shop? If he does worship deities, why treat them with such disrespect?

Yu Lianyun felt the shopkeeper, just like the things in his shop, was not quite normal.

Hearing the young man's words, Yu Lianyun assumed the young man was an employee of the shop, so she shook her head and asked, "Is the boss not here?"

The young man's brows sank, his eyes level, revealing a look of helplessness as he said, "My name is Lin Ling, I am the boss here."

Only then did Yu Lianyun realize she had misunderstood and hurriedly apologized.

"Drink a cup of tea and rest; you are sweating a lot." Lin Ling smiled gently; a faint fragrance emanated from him, the kind of incense smoke Yu Lianyun had only smelled in Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, yet Yu Lianyun had not seen an Incense Burner in the room; the scent seemed to emanate from the young man's body, from the inside out.

Yu Lianyun wanted to refuse, but recalling the young man saying she was sweating, she couldn't help but be stunned; only then did she understand the reason her body was getting heavier—it wasn't that the strange illness entangling her had worsened, but that her sweat had soaked her thick cotton-padded coat, making it heavy and "muddy," which was very uncomfortable to wear.

"How could it be..." Yu Lianyun muttered to herself; the confusion did not bring her deeper despair, but instead, her eyes gradually revealed a bright light.

She took off her coat and removed her cotton hat, revealing her proud curves and a slightly disheveled yet pitifully beautiful face.

Regaining a normal physical sensation, Yu Lianyun felt as if she had grasped a Life-Saving Straw, bowed deeply to the young man, and pleaded, "Boss, no, sir, please, help me."

Lin Ling's smile remained as gentle as before: "Whatever the matter is, sit down and drink a cup of tea first, calm down, and then tell me about it."

Yu Lianyun dared not refuse again, sat respectfully opposite Lin Ling, tasted a sip of fragrant tea, and after exclaiming that it was good tea, she began to recount her unbearable experience while trembling, her hands constantly and greedily rubbing against the warm temperature of the teacup.

Yu Lianyun spoke slowly; that terrifying event happened half a month ago, and to this day, the memory was like a nightmare, and every time she closed her eyes, she could recall every detail of that experience.

Following the global trend of world integration, Yu Lianyun, who graduated from one of the world's top fifty medical schools, became a forensic pathologist; she opened a private morgue in Jiunian City with her father, who had been in the industry for many years.

Their family could be considered generations of coroners and autopsy experts, with excellent heritage and exquisite skills; coupled with their outstanding abilities, their techniques had helped local Enforcers solve many major cases, and they had gained some fame locally. Therefore, almost whenever there was a difficult case related to a corpse, the Enforcers would come to their family for help.

But just half a month ago, an old acquaintance, Lao Chen from the Fourth Enforcer Team of Jiunian City, sent over an unidentified corpse as usual, asking them to help with the autopsy.

Lao Chen said that not long ago, during an operation to capture a criminal, an Enforcer accidentally fell into a sinkhole while fighting the enemy; fortunately, the criminal died on the spot from the fall and the Enforcer was unharmed, but it was at this moment that the Enforcer made a new discovery at the scene where the criminal died—this place seemed to have been a site for some folk ritual, only it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

The place where the criminal fell to his death happened to crash open a hidden cave, and there seemed to be something inside; when the cave was chiseled open, everyone discovered that a young girl wearing a red wedding dress was buried inside.

The girl's youthful face was visible to the naked eye; even a layman could tell how fresh this corpse was—the time of death was no more than two days.

The Enforcers thought the girl was from one of the nearby villages, and according to an old Enforcer who grew up locally, the girl's physical features and facial appearance were very consistent with the local people, so the Enforcers specifically went to the nearby villages to inquire and check if there were any missing persons; however, they later found that there were almost no missing persons in the villages recently, and even if there were, they did not match the appearance of the deceased.

With no other choice, the unidentified girl could only be sent to the morgue for an autopsy to facilitate subsequent investigations.

Thus, Yu Lianyun and her father began the autopsy on the girl.

It was just that at the time, no one expected that it was precisely their act of performing an autopsy on the young girl that led them to discover a terrifying secret hidden within the corpse, a secret that plunged her and her father into boundless fear and even eternal damnation.