Chapter 385: The Horror Story

A damp cavern, dim lighting, deformed statues.

Xia Caoqing sat kneeling before a statue, and in this place where the eerie atmosphere was fully saturated, she recounted the horror story of her own personal experience in a soft, gentle tone.

"The first half of that trip was perfect. The six of us went up the mountain together. The scenery on the mountain was wonderful, the air was very fresh, and I even photographed many creatures that are hard to see in the city."

"Colorful birds standing on the branches of towering pines and cypresses, turtles hiding in the crevices of rocks amidst clear streams, mushrooms that hadn't yet opened their caps beneath the leaf litter..."

"Perhaps because I was the only girl in the group, the five people traveling with me took great care of me, which made my travel experience quite good."

Huang Debiao felt a bit jealous hearing this; Xia Caoqing had never told him about these things.

"No need to go into such clear detail; just get straight to the part where there were ghosts."

The Mad Woman poked Huang Debiao: "Don't listen to him. The more detailed you are, the greater the probability of reigniting the palace lantern."

Xia Caoqing nodded.

"Near dusk, we found a place with relatively good scenery, set up our tents, lit a campfire, and had a simple but very meaningful dinner, then chatted and played cards by the campfire... In short, it was very fulfilling."

"But the only flaw was that there was a man in the group named He Can who always looked at me with a very lewd gaze, his words were also very flippant, and he often leaned toward me."

Hearing this, Huang Debiao was already getting a bit hot-headed.

Xia Caoqing shook her head and sighed.

"He probably thought that since I came out to play before marriage, I wanted to experience a forbidden spree, but I really just like this kind of travel, so I rejected him many times."

"This made him a bit unhappy, so before everyone went into their tents to rest, he told us in an intimidating tone that there were rumors of bears active in the mountains at night, and told us to be sure to stay vigilant when we slept."

Xia Caoqing swallowed, her voice beginning to tremble.

"At that time, I thought He Can just wanted to make me feel scared, but I didn't expect that just over an hour after I fell asleep, I suddenly heard footsteps outside."

"Through the tent, I could see a massive creature walking on all fours wandering near the tent. That must have been a bear!"

"I was almost scared to death, hiding in the tent, clutching my anti-wolf spray, praying in my heart that this bear wouldn't come looking for me..."

"A few minutes later, I suddenly heard a man's scream, as if someone had been dragged out of their tent. The screaming lasted for a long, long time."

"The man who was dragged out kept shouting."

"Save me, quickly save me!"

Wu Xian raised his hand to interrupt: "I have a question. Who was the man dragged out?"

Xia Caoqing froze for a moment, as if Wu Xian had asked a very terrifying question. When she answered, her teeth were chattering: "I don't know. At that time, I was scared to the extreme, and he was screaming too miserably. I could only distinguish that he was a man, but I couldn't tell who he actually was."

Seeing this, Huang Debiao hurriedly hugged his wife, which finally allowed Xia Caoqing's emotions to stabilize a bit.

"I've heard that when a bear attacks a person, it won't kill them, but will eat them bite by bite while they are still alive. Presumably, when that person was calling for help, they were also being gnawed on by the bear."

"The chewing sound that made my scalp tingle lasted for a long time before it finally went quiet."

"Everything was over. My friend was swallowed alive by a bear. There was only a piece of cloth between us, but I didn't feel any sorrow for my friend; instead, I felt lucky—lucky that the person attacked by the bear wasn't me!"

Xia Caoqing stopped, her expression sorrowful, as if she were blaming herself.

The Mad Woman's expression was a bit disappointed. Being attacked by a wild beast is indeed an unforgettable experience and can be called terrifying, but such a story, I'm afraid, cannot satisfy that statue.

What the statue wants to hear is a more bizarre story.

She was just about to let Xia Caoqing step aside and have someone else tell a story, but Xia Caoqing spoke again.

This story wasn't over yet.

"It was quiet outside for a long time. I thought it was safe, so I wanted to pull open a small gap to see the situation outside, when suddenly I heard a sound that made my hair stand on end," Xia Caoqing said, enunciating every word.

"Save... save... me, quickly save... save me!"

"This sound was somewhat like a beast's roar, and also like the voice of the person who had just died. It was very strange and unpleasant, just like a throat leaking air. I could even hear the strange 'pfft-pfft' sound made when air passed through a severed trachea."

"This plea for help lasted for several more hours. The longer it went on, the more it resembled a human voice, as if it were undergoing some kind of imitation training!"

"That whole night, I spent it in terror. I don't know how many times I was scared into wetting myself, and I didn't dare to make even the slightest sound..."

"When morning came, my companions called me out."

"I crawled out of the tent cautiously, only to see a pool of blood in the middle of the tent. Everything that could be bitten off had been eaten, leaving only incomplete bones and a few tendons."

"Everyone was pale, their bodies trembling, not saying a word, as if they didn't want to discuss anything, just packing their things and wanting to go down the mountain."

"I found it very strange. Even if they weren't like me, secretly rejoicing for having escaped death, they shouldn't have been so unwilling to say a word."

"I looked at them one by one, wanting to know who the person who died last night was, but I discovered that our number was still six—not one more, not one less."

"That bear was hiding among those five people!"

"So I didn't dare to speak either, just followed them to pack up, escaped from the mountain in a sorry state, went home separately, and never dared to have any contact with them again."

Xia Caoqing let out a long breath.

The story was finally finished.

She buried her head in Huang Debiao's arms, not daring to lift it for a long time, which showed how much psychological trauma what she had just said had brought her.

Wu Xian, however, felt a bit emotional.

This female writer's heart is too big, isn't it? Having just encountered such a thing, she dared to travel into the mountains with her husband again. Wasn't she afraid of encountering a bear? But what the female writer thinks doesn't matter.

What matters is the lamp.

Wu Xian looked up at the palace lantern, only to find that the palace lantern didn't brighten immediately as expected.

Immediately after, Wu Xian smelled a strange odor. The smell came from the temple. Wu Xian was very familiar with this scent; it was the smell of burning incense.

But there was no one in this temple at all. Who lit the incense? Just as he was wondering.

The lamp above suddenly went out, and the entire cavern plunged into darkness.

The Mad Woman let out a hearty laugh.

Huang Debiao and his wife hugged each other and screamed, and the scene was once somewhat out of control.

Wu Xian's eyeballs rolled around, his brain thinking rapidly.

A layer of goosebumps rose on his body, his heart contracted, and his scalp felt a bit tight. This was a reaction that only occurred when encountering a powerful malevolent entity that didn't conceal its aura.

This meant that some kind of terrible thing was hiding nearby! "Can't wait any longer!"

Wu Xian didn't hesitate and activated the 'Suanni Yu Hu' divine ability.

Then...

The lamp lit up.

(End of chapter)