Miao Fangfei woke up in so much pain that she almost fainted again. She felt muddle-headed and didn’t know where she was. The light in the room was on, and the old light bulb emitted a dim and yellow glow. The room was dark, and she couldn’t tell whether it was day or night.
Where was she?
She secretly summoned Spotty and clenched the dagger from around her waist in her hands. Miao Fangfei calmed down, endured the pain, and her memories quickly returned.
She went to III-9’s room to buy props and bargain with him, and noticed that III-9 had put out nine bamboo baskets. She was feeling strange, then, then……
Then, a cold wind seemed to blow across her ankles. When she returned to discuss with them, she fainted——
In an instant, Miao Fangfei’s expression grew ugly. She turned over and rolled up the hem of her trousers, and found that there was a dark blue handprint on the white skin of her left ankle.
It was like a baby had wrapped its hand around her ankle!
“Sister Miao, you finally woke up!”
A surprised male gasp came from the door. Miao Fangfei looked up and saw Shi Tao coming in with two bags of bread and a box of milk. His eyebrows, which were originally furrowed, relaxed after seeing her wake up.
“It’s getting dark.”
After seeing Miao Fangfei struggling to get up, Shi Tao hurriedly went over to help.
“I was targeted.”
Miao Fangfei whispered in a hoarse voice. Her left leg felt cold and weak, and she had a headache and abdominal pain. It was only with amazing perseverance that she stood up.
As she gradually loosened up her body, Shi Tao briefly told Miao Fangfei the story about the “fetal flesh” that Miao Fangfei said to the rest of them. He only picked the main points to tell her.
“In my hometown, my family members were all grown up, and I have no relatives in the mountains.”
Miao Fangfei coldly laughed and directed Shi Tao to take out a box of ibuprofen from the side pocket of her bag. Miao Fangfei swallowed two and closed her eyes. Although she was still pale, she looked much better now.
“What time is it now? Where are the others?”
With the help of Shi Tao, Miao Fangfei walked out with a serious expression on her face. “I know what this attraction is about.”
“Leader Miao, you’re awake!”
The tourists were all waiting at the restaurant where they gathered in the morning. Seeing that Shi Tao helped Miao Fangfei over, Wang Pengpai and Zhao Hongtu went to welcome them.
“Are you okay?”
Zhao Hongtu glanced at Miao Fangfei’s pale face, frowned, and stopped talking. Wang Pengpai stuffed a thermos cup into Miao Fangfei’s hand and told her, “Leader Miao, drink more hot water. You have too much Yin energy on your body.”
It was also common to be possessed by ghosts during tours with supernatural elements. Women, children, and the elderly in the tour group were especially easy targets.
Some experienced tourists summed up their experiences and roughly divided the supernatural tour attractions into three categories, from easy to difficult. For easy attractions, like the attraction at their first scenic spot, the tour guide would issue materials and explain the mission objectives. Tourists wouldn’t face much danger except that encountered when they were experiencing the attraction.
As for attractions that involved possession, they were slightly more troublesome.
“Ghost babies, wild graves, bamboo baskets.”
Miao Fangfei showed the greenish bruise on her ankles to the others. “It’s an attraction to revive the ghost babies or help the ghost babies realize their wishes.”
Miao Fangfei was “selected” and a ghost was attached to her. All the legends about “fetal flesh” and the story of that village were information related to this attraction.
“Does the second scenic spot’s attraction involve possession?”
Xu Chen smiled bitterly. “Given the difficulty of this attraction, it’s truly worthy of being an Intoxicating Xiangxi tour.”
“It isn’t easy to get rid of possession. When I was touring Paektu Mountain, there was a scenic spot at ‘Great Yellow Immortal Temple,’ and that place was insidious.”
Wang Pengpai cursed, “Fuck.”
“The task assigned in the attraction back then was also related to possession. A male ghost possessed my bro’s body and he cried extremely miserably. The ghost said that he and his wife got married in the Great Yellow Immortal Temple. However, the elders in their family were against the marriage. His wife committed suicide after she was kidnapped and brought home by her family. He went there in hopes of seeing her, but heard that his wife committed suicide, so he simply committed suicide himself. At that time, he hoped to have a ghost marriage and meet her again in hell, and so on.”
“Fuck, back then, everyone thought it was a ghost marriage attraction. Guess what happened?”
“This male ghost was actually a weasel spirit! In that year, the weasel abducted an untouched virgin who was born in a Yin month and Yin hour, forced the girl to conceive its evil children, and planned to eat them all to increase its cultivation. Fortunately, the woman’s family invited a monk from White Horse Temple and saved the girl. It was a pity that the girl couldn’t stand the humiliation and hung herself. The weasel still wanted to dig up her corpse to eat, but it was caught and killed by the monk.”
“Unfortunately, the damn beast’s soul did not disperse, and it still wanted to commit evil deeds. Damn it, if we really listened to him and brought the girl’s soul back, the weasel would eat the female ghost that we summoned. After the weasel ate the Yin spirit, its cultivation would greatly increase, and it would wipe us all out.”
“Fuck his grandmother. Our whole tour group almost capsized, falling into the gutters. The attraction’s real task did not involve us hosting some shitty ghost marriage. Instead, the task of the attraction was for us to kill the weasel spirit.”
“Right, this is the difficulty of attractions that involve possession.”
Hou Feihu said coldly, “What the ghosts say are from the perspectives that are beneficial to them. We can’t believe them blindly. Sometimes the task given in the attraction may even request us to do the contrary of what the ghosts request us to.”
“The ghost who possessed Leader Miao said that the baby was killed, eaten, and turned into a ghost baby to take revenge on the village. But to be exact, there is only one clear clue.”
“Those who ate fetal flesh died.”
“As for whether the person who killed the people in the village was the ghost baby, the ghost baby’s mother, or someone else, we can’t be sure now.”
“Yes.”
Miao Fangfei rubbed her forehead wearily, tearing up the bread and swallowing it after gulping some hot water. She reluctantly cheered up and said, “It is possible that we have to choose from two options.”
“The first option is that we may have to destroy the seal on the ghost babies’ grave, releasing them and solving their grievances before sending them to reincarnate.”
“The second option is that we feel that the ghost babies are evil spirits while the stockaded villagers are all kind, so we must kill the ghost babies.”
Xu Chen asked, “Do you remember the short introduction we had for the tour? We have to experience the life of ‘corpse driver Pingping.’ She was the only female corpse driver. Say……”
Xu Chen paused and suddenly felt his scalp turn numb. It seemed that someone was staring at him coldly. However, when he noticed this sensation the line of sight disappeared again.
Keeping this in mind, Xu Chen continued, saying vaguely, “Do you all think that the ‘fetal flesh’ that was eaten by the villagers had something to do with Pingping?”
“It’s possible, but I think there should be a choice given to us in this attraction.”
Wang Pengpai interrupted, “Leader Miao, you weren’t aware when you fainted, but our team also found a grave. The grave we found was a ‘baby’s grave,’ and we found it at the bottom part of the stream.”
The fetal flesh’s grave was found at the upper part of the stream, and the baby’s grave was at the bottom part of the stream. It was obvious that this attraction would involve them making a choice.
“For, for example, if the story told by the ghost is true, the baby who was eaten was not miscarried. In fact, it was alive when it was born. It is reasonable that it should not be buried in the fetal flesh’s grave, but in the baby’s grave.”
Yu Hean stuttered as he joined in the discussion. Not used to everyone focusing their attention on him, he rubbed his hands and gave a humble smile.
“However, since the baby was treated as fetal flesh and eaten by the villagers, there is a possibility that we will have to choose the fetal flesh’s grave.”
“Yes. It makes sense, but let’s see what Guide III says.”
Miao Fangfei said, “It’s almost eight o’clock…… It’s almost time for roll call.”
At 8:00 p.m., all of the tourists stood in front of the stilted building, waiting for III-9 to take a roll call. Although the attraction should not start until tomorrow, they still brought their bamboo baskets in case something unexpected happened.
Sure enough.
After the arrival of III-9, a faint and cold song came out of nowhere and surrounded every tourist’s ears.
“Little basket, dangling leisurely”
“Amid the sound of laughter, my mother carried me away from the stilted building”
“The first time I tasted wild fruits in the secluded mountains”
“The first time I lightly washed my hands in the river”
.
“In my childhood years, my mother’s small basket was unforgettable, how much joy and how much love”
“How many memories and how many feelings, my mother’s smiling face still looks sweet in my heart”
It was obviously a childish and happy song, but it inexplicably sounded like a gloomy and chilly song in the deep mountains. Hou Feihu solemnly chanted, “I have an ominous feeling.” Zhao Hongtu vigilantly held his long bow in his hand. Xu Chen opened and closed his eyes, rubbing them painfully. Lin Xi’s expression was awful and he covered his ears, but the song still rang out at the bottom of each tourist’s heart.
Amid the voice that appeared to travel from the depths of the underworld, Wei Xun calmly finished the roll call. Then, he clapped his hands, attracting the attention of all the tourists.
“Everyone should have had a good rest. Not bad, you’re all energetic.”
“Now let’s embark on the Travel Services giveaway attraction —— I believe everyone has heard that Baby Bamboo Miao Village has three wonders: the beauty of its natural scenery, the beauty of Miao Village, and the most beautiful wonder, the fireflies by Little Dragon stream. This is a bonus giveaway attraction for this tour. Next, we’ll take an SUV around Little Dragon stream to watch the little fairies perched by the river.”
Wei Xun smiled, but his smile was a little ghastly due to the dim yellow light. “It is said that the pure soul of a baby who died young will turn into a firefly. A truly beautiful sight.”
“I’m sure everyone will see lots of fireflies later.”
After he finished speaking, the singing ringing out in everyone’s ears suddenly stopped. In the environment that quietened abruptly, countless babies’ laughter rang out.
“Hehehe, hahaha”
“Hehehehe——”
It was as if in a place where the tourists could not see, countless ghost babies had surrounded them, and everyone’s hair stood upright as cold sweat flowed down their backs.
“Let’s go.”
Wei Xun glanced at the tourists carelessly. He saw a gray, meat ball-like ghost baby lying on one of their shoulders, with a thin, monster-like little hand holding a purplish-red ball. The ghost baby was grinning at him. On the placenta ball, there was a smile on the sorrowful pale ghost face, showing the kindness and love a mother would have.
The ghost babies were having a good time, the ghost of the mother who lost her son stuck in the placenta ball was having a good time with the children, and Wei Xun was also in a good mood.
It was a triple win.
Wei Xun also gave them a smile. Facing the tourists who had fearful and confused expressions, he moved his gaze away from them.
“Oh right, I’m very sorry, but our driver had something else to do and can’t accompany us during this tour.”
Wei Xun directly threw the problem to the tourists.
“Who can drive?”
As soon as III-9 tossed the question out, the tourists went silent. In modern times, most people would have taken the driver’s license test and would know how to drive. Especially for tourists who often encountered “road trips” like them, their driving skills were naturally quite good.
However, driving on a normal road was definitely different from driving on a supernatural tour. No one could be absolutely confident. Perhaps as they drove, they would slowly drive on a road leading to the netherworld and implicate all their companions.
The tour guide also needed to get in the car, so the important position of the driver would naturally be left to the people they trusted most. However, in the past, something horrible happened. A tourist who hated their tour guide buried their hatred in their heart, and flattered the tour guide again and again during the tour. Because of this, the tourist was designated as the driver, but they cruelly drove the vehicle down a crevice in the ice and died in the icy waters together with the tour guide.
Therefore, even a driver trusted by the tour guide would be controlled by the tour guide in various ways. Slaughterer tour guides were heavily suspicious and crazy, and the means they used to control tourists were extremely cruel.
This was not a good task to take upon.
Usually, when it came to tasks like this, no one would take the initiative, but——
“I’ll do it.”
“I can do it.”
“I’m good at driving.”
“I’ll drive.”
A moment later, four people stood up at almost the same time and spoke in unison.
Their voices fell, and the several people looked at each other in surprise.
For a moment, the scene fell into a strange silence.