Chapter 116: Hibiscus Emerging from Water

Beneath the ginkgo tree with the fire burning in its heart, Ji Taimi, covered in bite wounds, stood beside the Earth Temple, silently watching the imposter—who didn't know if he was human or ghost—holding his sister's hand and walking further and further away.

His sister looked very happy; the guy who had impersonated his identity seemed quite good at coaxing people.

"What does that thing want to do? What is his intention toward my sister?" Ji Taimi glanced at his grandmother, who was kneeling before the Earth Temple kowtowing like a pestle, and hesitated whether to follow the imposter who had taken his sister away.

Ji Taimi didn't know what state he was in now. Whether it was his grandfather, grandmother, or others in the village, or even the "thing" that had impersonated his identity, it seemed everyone was unable to perceive his existence.

He felt that he was now somewhat like a lonely ghost wandering everywhere after death in folklore, but if he were a ghost, what was the thing that had replaced him?

And the woman in red who appeared under the ginkgo tree just now...

Ji Taimi swallowed silently, but his throat had a large hole, and he could no longer perform the action of "swallowing." The empty and eerie feeling made him unable to help but look around. Ever since he crawled out of the coffin after "death," Nursing Village in Ji Taimi's eyes had completely changed its appearance.

He followed the imposter—who didn't know if he was human or ghost—all the way from his grandmother's house to the Earth Temple, only to see people coming and going on the empty streets. Strange "people" wandered around the houses of Nursing Village, but neither his grandfather nor grandmother seemed to be able to see those "people," just as they couldn't see him.

The state of those "people" was hard to describe, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call them "ghosts."

Ji Taimi lifted his head slightly, watching the back of Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe holding Yin Lishang as they walked further and further away. He could see 4 eerie ghost shadows following closely behind them, but the two seemed completely unaware, just chatting and laughing while walking forward.

There were 4 ghost shadows following Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe:

One was an old ghost with rotten teeth, a face full of smiles, holding a human skull in his left hand.

One was a thin ghost, tall and thin like a hemp stalk, holding a human leg bone in each hand.

One was a fat ghost with a wide face and a big belly, holding a human heart and lungs in his right hand.

One was a hunchbacked ghost, very young, carrying a large bundle on his back filled with human bones, chewing inside his mouth with a *clattering* sound.

Actually, there were originally 5 ghost shadows; the other was the human bone snake with Grandmother Wang's head, the one that had bitten Ji Taimi to death last night.

But just a moment ago, the imposter didn't know what he had done. A young girl wearing a red wedding dress suddenly appeared under the ginkgo tree, with no facial features on her snow-white face, holding an almanac in her delicate hands.

As if a big fish had floated up from a bottomless deep pool, the woman in red floated before the Earth Temple and gently opened the almanac in her hand.

At the same time, Ji Taimi saw the human bone snake that had been following the imposter suddenly have its eyes light up. It pounced up like a madman, opening its pitch-black mouth without a few good teeth, wanting to tear a few pieces of delicate flesh from the fair girl... but in the next moment, Grandmother Wang screamed and disappeared.

All of this happened too fast, so fast that Ji Taimi only vaguely saw the figure of "himself" holding his grandmother instantly blur and then instantly return to its original state. Now, focusing his eyes again, what he saw was the human bone snake that had slipped off the woman in the wedding dress and was struggling painfully on the ground.

"Grandmother Wang" was dead.

"That imposter... he killed Grandmother Wang? He has the ability to deal with these ghost things?"

The terrifying scene he witnessed with his own eyes made Ji Taimi even more cautious. The imposter couldn't see ghosts, but he could kill them?

If he were exposed, could he also kill me?

And what exactly was that woman in red? Was she also a ghost?

Completely different from the peaceful and quiet little village seen by normal living people like Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu, Nursing Village in Ji Taimi's eyes was filled with all kinds of eerie ghosts or monsters wandering around. Those monsters didn't hurt him and didn't seem interested in him, but they would be attracted and followed by the few living people in the village, yet they did nothing.

While Ji Taimi hesitated, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had already walked far away holding Yin Lishang. He hesitated again and again and finally didn't follow.

Although his mother had told him in the letter to return home and take good care of his sister, his intuition told Ji Taimi that that person was dangerous, very, very dangerous. "I have to find a way to warn Grandmother... That person is not me, that is an imposter." Ji Taimi gritted his teeth secretly. He had already tried to smash the bowl in the cupboard before, but the effect was not good. What method could be used to safely warn his family without being detected by the imposter ghost?

Thinking about this problem required time, and Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't give him that time.

Not long after Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe left with Yin Lishang, several flickering and hazy ghost shadows suddenly appeared in the alley across from the Earth Temple.

Ghosts in the village would be attracted by people. If ghosts gathered, it meant there were people. Ji Taimi leaned forward to look, and sure enough, a stranger was hiding in the alley. It was a dignified noblewoman as beautiful as a hibiscus emerging from water, wearing a deep-purple long dress, wearing expensive jewelry, and with her hair coiled in an exquisite cloud bun.

Ji Taimi had seen this person on the bus on the way here.

"It's her?"

She also came to the village?... That's right, when she was on the bus, he heard this woman tell the conductor she was coming to Yanglao. She was originally coming here.

The noblewoman carefully put her phone back in her pocket, wrapped her legs with her long skirt, and sat on the pile of firewood against the wall. Then, a black shadow darted out quickly from under her feet.

Ji Taimi's eyesight was not enough to capture the speed of the shadow's movement. He subconsciously turned his head in the direction the shadow was moving, only to see his grandmother, who was kneeling before the Earth Temple, stiffen and collapse to the ground.

His grandmother was dead.

=9+Shu_Ba

A feeling of shock instantly filled Ji Taimi's brain, but an even more terrifying scene followed.

After killing his grandmother, the woman took out her phone again, pursed her lips, and began typing on the screen. There was a somewhat excited and somewhat expectant expression on her face, as if she were asking for credit from someone. After her bright face received the praise she wanted, she bloomed with a moving smile and hurried away from the alley where she had been hiding.

Ji Taimi didn't chase after her. Only his grandmother's corpse lay quietly before the Earth Temple, the fire in the ginkgo tree's heart was still burning, and the July heat of Yun Province radiated a scorching warmth.

*Crackling—crackling*—it was the explosive sound of wood burning. Time without concept passed second by second, until the corpse lying on the ground slowly moved, and Ji Taimi finally confirmed the hypothesis in his heart.

He saw the chest of the corpse before the Earth Temple rising and falling constantly, as if one restless hand after another was arching inside the chest, wanting to break out of the shell.

Ji Taimi gathered his courage and walked forward, watching his grandmother's corpse struggling and twisting like a living snake. The flesh and skin at her neck were stretched and torn during the violent struggle, forcibly snapped, and the lymphatic tissue and blood vessels dragged beneath the cross-section of the neck. Snow-white bone joints drilled out from the chest.

One rib after another crawled out from the chest, the blood-soaked snake tail twisted gently, and a kind smile appeared on the wrinkled, aged cheeks:

"Good grandson..."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 117 =====