The tractor was slowly moving along the mountain road, shaking and swaying. The fat man asked the driver and learned that they wouldn't reach the town until the evening when the sun sets. It was boring to just sit there, so we started chatting.
After a few words, the conversation turned to supernatural matters. The fat man was always a great talker and immediately started speaking.
"Let me tell you, I've been to Yunnan several times over the years and seen all sorts of strange things. Running into a female ghost during the 'walking marriage' is nothing! The real strange things you haven't seen!"
The fat man boasted, but I, unimpressed, said, "Well, then why don't you tell us. What's stranger than what we experienced?"
The fat man glanced at me, then suddenly stood up on the tractor and shouted, "Do you think Yunnan's mountains only have humans and animals? When I took a tour group to the border, I saw rats as big as dogs, scurrying around like crazy! The mountains are not peaceful, and Yunnan has many monsters that even scientists haven't discovered, the locals call them 'earth beasts.' Hehe, many of them are the ghosts and monsters we Han Chinese talk about, and they eat people!"
While the fat man was talking, he also gestured with his hands. Everyone laughed heartily, thinking that he was joking, especially with his comical face, so no one took it seriously.
Suddenly, the tractor shook violently, with considerable force. It almost knocked everyone down, and the fat man nearly fell off the tractor. Holding onto the bar next to the tractor, he cursed, "Damn, what's going on!"
I turned my head and vaguely saw a black shadow darting out from under the tractor at a rapid speed and disappearing into a nearby haystack. After a while, the local driver came running over and spoke to the fat man. Then, the fat man turned back to us and shouted, "The driver says the tractor's broken and can't run anymore."
"What's going on?" I asked, puzzled.
"I don't know, the driver said it was running fine and then something suddenly sprung from the ground, as hard as a stone, and hit the front of the tractor, damaging a large piece. Damn it, what a stroke of bad luck!"
The fat man shook his head. Meanwhile, I jumped off the tractor and went to the front to take a look. I could clearly see a hole the size of my fist, with sparks flying from it. Thinking about the black shadow I had just seen, I felt a little worried, afraid that we might encounter the "earth beasts" the fat man had mentioned.
"This is really unlucky!" People on the tractor complained and grabbed their luggage, climbing down from the tractor.
After some discussion, we decided to have another tractor to go ahead, and we would head to the town by ourselves along the mountain road. After they arrived, they could find someone to come back and carry us.
I shook my head helplessly. The divination results earlier in the day had been disappointing, and now, the tractor was broken as evening approached, leaving me somewhat uneasy and fearful that something might happen.
The mountain road was relatively smooth, and we were not moving slowly. But unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. After a while, the humidity in the air began to rise noticeably. A veteran in the group, Wang Jianjun, looked at the sky and said solemnly, "It might rain."
His "dark forecast" turned out to be accurate. After a while, the sky started to shower fine rain, and soon, the rain started to get heavier, causing everyone to panic.
After the rain, if there is a landslide in the surrounding forests and hills, it is very likely to take away our lives without any preparation. So, I suggested finding a place to take shelter first to avoid accidents.
Everyone nodded. Fatty looked along the mountain road and seemed to have discovered something, pointing to a distant place and shouted, "There seems to be a house over there. Let's go and take a look!"
The rain was very loud, and the sky was completely covered by dark clouds. Although it was still evening, the surroundings were already dark. A lone wisp of light floated in the distance, and two cottages stood on the edge of the field.
We quickened our pace and arrived in front of the house. Fatty went up to knock on the door. Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the door, the fire inside suddenly went out, silently. Seeing this, everyone was stunned.
Fatty frowned and shouted, "Hey there, we are passing by. It's raining heavily, and we want to come in and take shelter from the rain."
But after shouting several times, there was no response from inside. The rain got heavier, so I went forward and pushed the wooden door heavily. Unexpectedly, the door, which seemed tightly closed, was actually ajar. With my push, the entire door immediately opened. The inside of the house was dark, as if there was no one there.
"No one's here. Then where did the light just come from?"
A girl named Li Qian, who was traveling with us, asked strangely.
"Never mind, let's go in and take shelter from the rain since it's pouring so heavily."
Fatty took the lead and walked into the house.
The house was not large, with a big room in the front and a small room in the back. It was separated by a cloth curtain in the middle. We wandered around the two rooms for a long time, but didn't find anyone. Only a candle was placed on the table, but it was obviously just extinguished.
"There really is no one. It's strange. Put down your luggage first, change into dry clothes if you have them. Cui Zhen, you and I will look for something to light a fire!"
Wang Jianjun shouted, and Li Qian, being a female comrade, went to the next room. I and another fellow traveler, a male intellectual named Xiao Liu, were taking off our clothes. Suddenly, we heard a sharp scream of "Ah!" from the next room. It was Li Qian's voice, filled with fear, and both Xiao Liu and I were shocked!
"What's wrong?"
I called out and, at the same time, stood up and walked to the door curtain with Xiao Liu. But we didn't step inside.
"Can we come in? Li Qian."
Xiao Liu asked following.
"Yeah..."
Hearing a response from inside, Xiao Liu lifted the door curtain, and I quickly walked into the room. The next door was slightly smaller than ours, but it seemed more spacious.
"What happened?"
I asked anxiously when I saw Li Qian bowing her head.
"Just now...I saw a dark figure flash by outside the window."
Li Qian pointed to the window on the nearby wall, and I hurried to the window. It was paper-covered, but it was heavily damaged in many places. Standing at the window, the cold wind blew in and I took a glance outside. I saw nothing, just a dark and empty field.
"No one here."
I said, puzzled.
"Just now when I entered the room to change clothes, I felt like someone was staring at me. At first, I didn't pay attention, but later this feeling became stronger and stronger. I turned my head to look outside the window, and unexpectedly saw a dark shadow darting past from outside."
Li Qian herself said something ambiguous. Xiao Li and I looked at each other, unable to give a definite answer.
"Probably... it's just me seeing things wrong..."
Seeing the worried expression on our faces, Li Qian changed her tone and said, "Maybe I'm just tired. Let's change clothes, have some food, and take a rest."
Sensing the tension, I wanted to make a joke to lighten the mood, but Xiao Li seemed to have realized something and quickly walked to the next room. After searching around, she murmured in a low voice, "Why is this so strange?"
"What's wrong?" Li Qian and I asked as we walked over.
"Just now, we all saw the candle just go out, there's still melted wax on it. We saw the flickering flame just now, but there's no one here now. Did we imagine it? Or did we encounter something invisible?"
Xiao Li's words were cryptic, and I hadn't reacted at the moment, but Li Qian, next to me, widened her eyes and tremblingly said, "Are you saying that we saw a ghost?"
Li Qian's face turned pale in an instant, her pupils seemed to dilate, and even I could tell that this girl was terrified.
"It's okay, don't scare yourself. Maybe the wind blew out the candle. The owner of this house will be back soon. Where in the world do such unfortunate things happen, encountering two ghosts at once? Haha..."
I forced a laugh, while Li Qian wrapped herself in a blanket and sat against the wall, silent.
Feeling uneasy, I put on my clothes and went outside the house. I went to the room where Li Qian was changing clothes, and looked at the window. To my surprise, when I glanced down, I saw something unusual. There were some footprints on the muddy ground below the window. I took a closer look, and each of these footprints was about half the size of my palm, appearing messy and unidentifiable, definitely not human!
Had something been lurking outside Li Qian's window? And deliberately avoiding us! I felt uneasy, and when I turned to look at the dark fields, I felt as though something was staring at us from the shadows.