u would have died two years ago. If you don't want to die, then don't inquire about things that are not meant to be known."I closed my eyes, feeling his icy breath swirling around my nose and lips.“Ok...Old Chen's face was full of fear, not like he was lying. He swallowed nervously and gestured to us with his hands, motioning for us to go outside and talk.

The day I brought this root carving back, I felt a chill. That night, I dreamt of a dripping wet woman. I thought it was just from holding it in too long and didn't think much of it. The next day, I took it to the carpenter's place to have him deal with the mud caked inside the gaps.

He rubbed his face and said, "The next day I went to the carpenter's place. The carpenter's family said he went out late at night and didn't know where he went. This piece of carving was left clean in the shop, so I took it home... Later, I dreamed of that wet woman again. She said she was very hungry and asked me to satisfy her... Well, you know, men..."

I looked at him with disdain, and he quickly explained, "Heroine, I was just having a spring dream, it's not that bad to despise me... I've lived half my life, and I've only met two women..."

"I don't care how many women you touch! Get to the point!" I glared at the sleazy old man.

"Yes, yes, yes... after a few days I passed by the carpenter's house, he was still not back. I started to get scared. I knew something about these things too, and the more I looked at it, the more I felt something was wrong with the root carving. So I stuck some charms around my house. Later, Mr. Zhong's men came to my door. I told them the money was hidden inside, they carved a hole through the root carving and took the money. But that night, I dreamt again. The wet woman said she was still hungry, so I... well, I slept with her a few times. She smiled and thanked me... hey, don't hit me! It was just a dream!"

My brother raised his fists: “Get to the point!”

“Then the woman thanked me and returned the money! I didn't dare to touch it. A few days later, Mr. Zhong’s people came again. I repeated what I had said, and they took out more money from inside the carving! I was terrified and didn’t dare to go back! These days, I’ve been staying with that woman……”

I looked at the root carving and said to my brother, "We can't take this."

"Nonsense! I don't want anything to do with female ghosts! The last time that bronze statue incident still serves as a lesson!" My brother spat.

"Well, since we can't get our money back, let's just bring him back to Boss Zhong... That formation has been demolished, and we haven't seen it before. We need your help remembering what happened. If we succeed, we'll split the money with you, and if we fail, we'll let you go free. What do you say" I said seriously to Old Chen.

My brother rolled his eyes, clearly not impressed by my "kindness". Even Old Chen looked at me in disbelief.

"Well, I said you must be a kind soul since you're such a beautiful young lady—"

"Don't talk crap! Get in the car!" My brother kicked him in the waist and yelled, "You old fool, you almost got us killed! We were lucky we weren't greedy! Otherwise, we would have touched that root carving!"

The car started, and I sat in the passenger seat rubbing my eyes non-stop. My brother saw that I was sleepy again, so he let me take a nap for a while.

I drifted off to sleep, occasionally hearing a few words from my brother. When I felt the car come to a stop, I heard my brother's furious roar—

"Fuck your **ing old ass! What the hell are you talking about! You trying to get us killed!"

I heard this sentence in a daze, and it woke me up directly. When I opened my eyes, everything around was pitch black, and there was the sound of water.

It was before nine o'clock on the dashboard, but outside it felt like midnight, an utter blackness that even moonlight couldn't pierce.

"This...this is the right way, isn't it..." Old Chen stared straight ahead into the darkness, his voice slow and sluggish, carrying an indescribable strangeness.

"Go to hell! This is a road!" My brother pulled out a talisman from his pocket and slapped it onto Old Chen's forehead with a *snap*.

Old Chen said lazily, “It’s this road here~~ I've walked it three times~~”

I looked at my brother, he wasn't acting normal.

My brother, scared out of his mind in the car, said, "You say there's a road Go find it! This is just a pile of weeds! Damn it, if we hadn't been stuck here because of the accident, I wouldn't have listened to you old liar!"

Mr. Chen actually got out of the car to look for a way, his movements were a bit stiff, he went step by step into the weeds.

"Damn it!" My brother cursed, jumped out of the car and pulled me along.

I got off the car with him. It was freezing outside. Old Chen's face was pale, his eyes glazed over, and my brother's talisman stuck to his forehead. He walked forward, stiff and unnaturally, like a zombie, dragging himself along. I tried to pull him back, but he wouldn't budge!

"Here, I'm here..." He suddenly spoke, then twitched his lips and added, "You, you guys see, I, I didn't lie to you, right..."

Ahead of us lay a row of old houses. They were ancient earthen brick structures, without yards, each one standing in a line. Their dark windows and doors looked eerie and ominous.

Near the riverbank stood a two-story earthen building. Its windows were extremely narrow, with a dim yellow light faintly filtering through.

I was a little scared, and I glanced at my older brother. My brother obviously guessed the result and muttered disdainfully, “Blind fool! Don't you know that I am the Lord Hades’ brother-in-law!”

"Come on, big brother, can you be serious for once"

Mr. Chen walked like a puppet on strings, stiffly limping towards the hut. His face twitched, tears streaming down his cheeks, looking utterly terrified, yet he couldn't control his body.

As he touched the dilapidated door of the shack, a faint female voice came from within: "Who... don't come in... I can't move my legs... don't scare me..."

"Could there be weak women in this kind of place My first thought was that the female ghost was tricking us. Although this place is eerie and creepy with a strange atmosphere, the moment Old Chen pushed open the dilapidated door, both my brother and I instinctively dodged to the sides. "

A palpable sense of gloom hung heavy in the air. Chen Lao's legs were slick with perspiration.

"That old geezer is scared **less… let me give him a hand." My brother kicked the back of Mr. Chen's waist, sending him tumbling into the room, then quickly slapped a talisman on the door.

A pained roar immediately echoed throughout the house: "AAAAAAAAAA—You, you brought people here! You actually brought people to hurt me!"

Seeing that the amulet worked, my courage grew. I followed my brother into the earthen house —

My brother held a copper amulet in his mouth, flashlight in hand and talismans clutched in his fingers, ready for anything. As soon as we entered the room, the dim yellow light flickered and went out, replaced by a stench of decay...

From inside the room came muffled sobs. A woman’s voice, soft and trembling, whispered: “I’m just hungry… It’s fine if you don’t give me anything to eat… Why are you trying to harm me…”

My brother's flashlight immediately shone past, the white light illuminating the dilapidated door frame. A white hand trembled and supported itself on the frame, its arm covered in black scars, its palm bare—no fingers...veal them to the human world. Meanwhile, humans fear shamans because some unscrupulous practitioners have caused chaos, leading to persecution and expulsion by the imperial authorities."I stroked the...