Jiang Chuyan stood at the door for a long time.
Once night falls in this remote mountain village, a dead silence reigns. The entire building is silent, so quiet that he can hear his own heavy, rapid breathing, and can also clearly hear the conversation of his companions coming from the first-floor hall.
It was so quiet that the footsteps that had just made Jiang Chuyan's scalp explode seemed like an illusion.
Jiang Chuyan took a tentative step forward, and soon, the slippery feeling from his feet gave him goosebumps. He lowered his head and saw the bright "water mark" in front of his door.
It was a mass of slime.
Jiang Chuyan subconsciously raised his head and looked at the ceiling, but the villagers did not hang any masks in this position.
So what was behind this slime? Or did the bugs that had escaped earlier pass through his door?
Could those bugs possibly have caused such intense and loud footsteps?
Countless doubts raced through Jiang Chuyan's mind. He wasn't the type to get easily startled or become suspicious over the slightest thing, but it was undeniable that at this moment, standing in the silent corridor, he felt an inexplicable chill.
Jiang Chuyan finally went downstairs.
As Jiang Chuyan walked downstairs, he saw Liu Tianyu and Bai Ke huddled by the fire, chatting casually. Although Jiang Chuyan had been the one asking the question, he found himself unsurprised when Bai Ke and the others responded that they hadn't come upstairs before.
However, the chilling feeling that seemed to be tinged with a fishy and damp smell was spreading more and more throughout his body.
"Brother Chuyan? Are you really okay?"
Jiang Chuyan heard Bai Ke asking.
He could feel that Bai Ke was observing him with great interest.
Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Did you... hear any footsteps?"
Although he didn't want to have any interaction with Bai Ke, Jiang Chuyan suppressed the chill in his heart and asked.
As calmly as possible, he told the two people by the fire what had just happened to him.
Liu Tianyu still looked half asleep. He shook his head. "Footsteps? I didn't hear any. I felt a little cold, so I put the box up and came down to warm myself by the fire."
Bai Ke's eyes flickered.
As soon as Jiang Chuyan mentioned the sound of footsteps, he immediately remembered the "creaking" sounds he heard.
However, Bai Ke did not think that it was something supernatural.
He couldn't help but glance at the two people who were still collecting the stairs on the platform, then he deliberately raised his voice and laughed out loud.
"Puchi, of course I heard it, but... Hahahaha, Brother Chuyan, why are you so superstitious? You don't think that sound was made by a ghost, do you? Hahahaha..."
While laughing, Bai Ke looked at Jiang Chuyan wantonly, with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes.
"Didn't someone explain this kind of thing years ago? Many people hear the sound of marbles in their upper floors at night, but it's actually just the sound of steel and concrete squeezing and stretching against each other. It has nothing to do with the supernatural at all."
Bai Ke deliberately spoke in a scientific tone.
"Xu Yuanzhou and He Yuan were just outside clearing the stairs. This is a wooden building, so the so-called footsteps you heard were probably just structural noise! Brother Chu Yan, why are you so scared your face is pale, hahaha." After saying that, Bai Ke turned to Liu Tianyu beside him, "Otherwise, how can you say that Brother Chu Yan is a scholarship recipient? He's so focused on his studies that he doesn't even know this little common sense."
However, after he finished speaking, he received no response.
The charcoal fire in the fire pit was emitting tiny sparks, but Jiang Chuyan just sat there silently, as if he didn't hear anything.
Even that idiot Liu Tianyu didn't join in the laughter like usual. At some point, he hugged his knees again and continued to observe the so-called "very familiar" mask.
In the silence, Bai Ke became the embarrassed person.
Bai Ke's expression changed again and again. He wanted to say something but remained silent. Because of his bad mood, his face looked a little funny. But he didn't know that Jiang Chuyan didn't mean to embarrass him this time.
Of course, Jiang Chuyan has completely lost his good impression of Bai Ke now, but the reason why he is so silent is purely because he is actually a little... scared.
Even if Bai Ke's theories could explain the footsteps he heard, Jiang Chuyan still couldn't find peace of mind. Only by sitting by the fire with his companions could he vaguely grasp a sense of security.
Somehow, Jiang Chuyan's intuition had been warning him.
Something's... not right.
…
"Tsk—"
In the end, it was Bai Ke who broke the stagnant atmosphere.
He snorted impatiently, then stuck his phone on the handheld gimbal and began to walk around the hall with his arms raised. Obviously, he was filming a video.
Jiang Chuyan frowned and said disapprovingly: "Photography is not allowed here——"
"There are no villagers here! As long as no one tells on me, no villagers will know what taboos I have violated. Don't you agree, Brother Chuyan?"
Bai Ke stared at Jiang Chuyan with a fake smile on his face, clearly looking like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water.
Jiang Chuyan raised his eyebrows, and finally chose to shut up.
Seeing that Jiang Chuyan had stopped talking, Bai Ke curled her lips, as if she had won some victory, and took more and more photos to show off.
"Hello everyone, I'm your incredibly cute Bai Keke. Guess where I am right now? You can type the answer on the public screen... But I bet you don't know this place..."
The only sound in the entire hall was Bai Ke's slightly excited monologue.
Jiang Chuyan pretended he hadn't heard anything, pulled out his phone, and unconsciously searched for the place name "Longzhao" on a search engine. However, just like when he wanted to do his homework before leaving, he searched the entire internet but didn't find much useful information.
The only somewhat useful information is that the name "Long Marsh" is related to a famous legend in the Xishan region—according to legend, the area wasn't actually called Long Marsh, but rather "Dead Man's Marsh." Perpetually rife with miasma, it was inaccessible, and only the most savage and resilient of the indigenous mountain dwellers could afford to live there. The entire village was impoverished, struggling to even survive. Then, over fifty years ago, dark clouds suddenly rolled in, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Many witnessed a dragon-like creature howling and tumbling down from the clouds, plummeting deep into the Xishan Mountains.
It is said that township officials and villagers who were carrying out poverty alleviation work near the "Dead Man's Swamp" at the time saw the dragon falling into the area with their own eyes.
The township official originally wanted to report the appearance of this unprecedented strange creature to the country. However, when he returned to the village with scholars and other officials sent by the government, he found out that as soon as he left, the dragon had been eaten by the ferocious and ignorant villagers.
The reason is simply because the village witch said that eating dragon meat can make you immortal.
…
Of course, many years have passed, and the details of what happened back then are no longer verifiable. Especially regarding the existence of the so-called "dragon", a fantasy creature, the whole story sounds more like a rural legend and is not very credible.
However, it was precisely because of this legend that the former "Dead Man's Swamp" was renamed Dragon Swamp.
But after that, the people and things in Longzhao seemed to have disappeared and never appeared in the records of the outside world again.
He Yuan also mentioned that the first time he found this place was purely by accident.
He got separated from his companions during a hiking trip in the mountains and wandered aimlessly for a long time before he finally found this secluded village by some unknown means.
Otherwise, this village might continue to be closed in the mountains for a long time.
…
Just as Jiang Chuyan was staring blankly at a web page on his phone that he had already looked at countless times, Bai Ke suddenly squeezed next to him.
"...By the way, let me introduce my friend to everyone! This is the beautiful lady Hatsugen Kusae from K University! Isn't he handsome?"
Jiang Chuyan raised his head unexpectedly, and saw himself on the phone with a look of surprise, and Bai Ke, who was leaning close to his face and taking a selfie with him with a smile.
It's a selfie, and they look really affectionate, but Bai Ke chose a very clever position. His face is actually just a little behind Jiang Chuyan's shoulder. At this distance, the distortion of the front camera is not obvious, and he looks particularly well-behaved and cute, just the type of lovable little puppy.
On the contrary, Jiang Chuyan's face appeared slightly distorted on the screen because he was too close to the camera and looked so surprised.
"Bai Ke, what are you doing?"
Jiang Chuyan naturally didn't notice Bai Ke's little trick. He just instinctively felt a little uncomfortable, especially since he hadn't originally planned to appear in any of Bai Ke's videos.
"Hey Chuyan, don't be so shy..."
Bai Ke looked at the young man who still looked handsome even with the lens distortion, and a hint of unwillingness flashed in his eyes.
He kept pestering Jiang Chuyan, and the platform in his hand kept shaking.
He knew that this would make Jiang Chuyan very unhappy.
And what he liked most was seeing Jiang Chuyan, the hypocritical guy, getting upset.
But at this moment, the light bulb hanging on the roof suddenly flickered, and then went out.
Apart from the faint light provided by the charcoal fire in the fire pit, the entire building instantly became dark.
It just so happened that Jiang Chuyan and Bai Ke were facing the mobile phones mounted on the platform at this moment.
The phone's screen provided a little bright light, and the camera faithfully captured the stunned faces of Jiang Chuyan and Bai Ke in the dim environment.
However... in addition to their two faces, there are several small squares in the viewfinder.
As long as Bai Ke's phone captures a face, a facial recognition frame like this will appear.
Before the two could react, Bai Ke's advanced camera phone, which was specially used for shooting videos, automatically adapted to the external light and started intelligent fill lighting.
It was also because of this that Bai Ke and Jiang Chuyan both clearly saw the face appearing on the phone screen.
Weird, distorted, with only two deep depressions where the eyes should be.
The mouth was wide open, as if it had been completely disfigured by screaming.
They were right behind Jiang Chuyan and Bai Ke, staring at them without blinking.
…
Bai Ke screamed.