EBE Chapter 108: No silk skirts in the Gaofu Academy, no baby boys in the abandoned infant tower.
Chapter 108: No silk skirts in the Gaofu Academy, no baby boys in the abandoned infant tower.
Li Shuyue shook her head, looking innocently at her teammates beside her.
She swallowed nervously and began to explain, "It's true that I took him to the bathroom yesterday, but you saw me come back with him, didn't you?"
The only male player in the team nodded, but Qin Senjing still didn't let her guard down around Li Shuyue.
When asked if she had noticed anything amiss, Li Shuyue simply shook her head.
The villager who discovered the body was barely supported by Jiang Qi. He was terrified and kept talking nonsense.
"This is an ominous sign. See? The Gu worms crawling out of his body are poisonous insects."
"What a terrible thing! I'm going to tell the clan leader. That old hag is harming people again."
Jiang Qi smiled innocently and listened to him silently.
At the opportune moment, ask, "Who is this old hag you're talking about? The one who died was our friend, and of course we must find the culprit and avenge our friend."
The villager answered Jiang Qi in a trembling voice, pointing vaguely in a direction.
"See that? That old hag lives in that pagoda."
"I'll go find the clan chief first. Remember to be careful and don't break any of the village's taboos."
The villagers' voices weren't loud, but every player could hear them clearly.
The crowd had various expressions, and after the villagers left, the players rushed towards the pagoda.
Jiang Qi rubbed his fingers together; he had just placed a miniature listening device on a villager.
Jiang Qi walked slowly toward the pagoda, with Lu Zhi, Lin Wanchu, Lu Xue, and Chi Miaomiao following behind.
He casually picked a foxtail grass from the roadside, put it in his mouth, and acted like a tourist who had come here to enjoy the scenery.
After winding their way through the narrow path, the five of them finally saw the pagoda.
The architectural style of the pagoda is completely different from that of the Miao people's wooden houses. It is made of bluestone and its surface is covered with traces of time.
The tower is slender, with strings of wind chimes hanging from its top. Whenever a gust of wind blows, they emit a desolate and mournful sound.
As you get closer, a chilling aura washes over you.
The tower gate was tightly closed, and some strange symbols were carved on it, which should be the ancient script of the village.
Two worn-out lanterns stood in front of the door, their dim yellow light swaying in the wind, giving people a sense of unease.
The player at the front, without thinking twice, pushed open the ancient tower gate.
The door hinges creaked loudly, and a musty and rotten smell filled the air.
It was pitch black inside, with only a few beams of light filtering in from the gaps above, barely illuminating the path beneath our feet.
The stupa was dark and damp, and the air was filled with a suffocating stench.
The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves and debris, and it felt soft and spongy when you walked on it.
Lu Xue couldn't help but rub the goosebumps on her arms and asked a question.
"Does anyone actually live in here?"
The sound echoed endlessly within the vast stupa, sending chills down one's spine.
As they ventured deeper into the ground, they heard cries and howls. The sounds seemed to be coming from underground, mournful and sorrowful.
Looking up, one could see that the walls inside the tower were covered with countless infant corpses.
They were carelessly abandoned here, some even rotting away, leaving only piles of bones.
His eyes were empty and filled with fear, as if he were cursing everyone who stepped into the pagoda.
The corpses that were not yet fully decomposed were even more gruesome, their faces still bearing the painful expressions of their impending death.
In this eerie and terrifying stupa, every inch of the space is filled with the aura of death.
Suddenly, a female player slipped and fell to the ground.
Her companion rushed forward to help her, only to find that her forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Her voice trembled as she said, "It's so scary in here, let's leave quickly."
Having said that, he dared not linger any longer and fled the pagoda in terror.
"No skirts are worn in the academy of the Gao family, and no baby boys are found in the abandoned infant tower."
Jiang Qi blinked and sighed deeply, this situation reminding him of this saying.
He had noticed before he arrived that most of the children in the village were boys.
Lin Wanchu crossed her arms, her lazy gaze suddenly becoming serious.
In this isolated village, the preference for sons over daughters is at its strongest.
Seeing thousands of infant corpses sent chills down Lin Wanchu's spine.
To liven up the atmosphere, Lin Wanchu blurted out.
Didn't you say you never went to school?
Jiang Qi raised an eyebrow and smiled gently, with a hint of mischief in his expression.
"It's true that I never went to school, but that doesn't mean I never read books."
After he finished speaking, the atmosphere became even more silent.
Just as Lu Xue was about to speak, a blurry figure suddenly appeared from the darkness.
Lu Xue was the first to see it. She was so frightened that she trembled and took a few steps back, sticking tightly to Lin Wanchu while also pulling Chi Miaomiao along.
Her appearance was as sudden as a ghost, instantly making the players' hearts race and sending a chill from their feet to their heads.
The figure slowly approached the players, and as she drew closer, her features gradually became clearer.
It was an old man with a hunched back, his face covered with wrinkles and spots, his skin dry like old parchment.
His eyes were sunken deep in their sockets, his pupils were cloudy, and his nose was sharp and hooked, like a bird's beak.
Her thin lips were pressed tightly together, almost bloodless.
Her hair was sparse and messy, swaying gently as she moved.
She wore a tattered robe, its color faded to an unknown dark hue, the hem dragging on the ground, making a rustling sound as she walked.
She approached each player, occasionally flashing a twisted smile that revealed a set of uneven teeth, some of which had already fallen out.
When it was the last player's turn, she spoke.
His voice was deep and hoarse, like a whisper from the depths of hell, which made people feel a strange unease.
"You must be from out of town. What are you doing here?"
"Don't you know this is a forbidden area?"
The female player escaped from the lonely pagoda, and the surroundings turned into a silent night.
"Hmm? It gets dark so quickly?"
The pale moonlight cast a long shadow over her, and beyond sight, it seemed as if she carried a secret on her back that was heavier than the night itself.
As she moved further and further away from the stupa, she felt her steps grow heavier and heavier, as if an invisible burden was slowly climbing up her shoulders.
She stopped and looked back at the pagoda, but saw only its silent and lonely shadow under the moonlight, without any movement.
Only viewers outside the live stream could see what was on her back.
The baby lying on the female player's back was the infant who had died in the pagoda.
They lay densely packed on her shoulders, her skin so pale it was almost transparent, and through that thin layer of covering, one could vaguely see the clearly visible veins beneath.
Their mouths were abnormally twisted, and instead of baby teeth, they contained sharp little teeth that could easily tear at a female player's neck.
They extended their long, slippery tongues, like snake forked tongues, and licked the female player's cheeks, leaving itchy, wet marks.
The female player touched her face in confusion, looked up at the night sky, and wondered if it was raining.
Their limbs are disproportionate, small and with twisted joints, and their nails are sharp and long.
At this moment, it is constantly scratching at the female player's clothes and skin, leaving behind fine marks.
The female player could only take a deep breath and choose to continue back the way she came.
But she had a vague feeling that something was touching her back, gently, almost tenderly, but with a hint of coldness.
She quickened her pace, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling, but the cold touch became increasingly pronounced.
Finally, she couldn't bear the feeling any longer, stopped, and turned around abruptly, but saw nothing.
Her shadow, stretched long by the moonlight, was twisted and lonely.
However, the feeling of heaviness in my steps did not disappear; instead, it grew stronger and stronger.
A nameless fear welled up in the female player's heart. She looked around, but there was nothing but the stillness of the night.
She tried to shake her head to dispel the absurd thoughts in her mind.
But the cold touch on her back lingered until her figure disappeared into the night.