Forbidden Land – CH 107

The two went upstairs, and Chen Rong had already made the bed; a mattress and blankets were laid out on the floor.

Zhang Chao originally intended to sleep on the floor, but in the darkness and the soft, warm light of the room, he couldn’t help but stare into Chen Rong’s bright eyes.

Chen Rong blushed slightly and whispered, “What are you looking at? Go to sleep!”

Zhang Chao chuckled deliberately.

Anyway, they talked for a while afterward, and some things happened. In the end, Zhang Chao didn’t sleep on the floor.

When their emotions ran high, and they couldn’t control themselves, Zhang Chao ran downstairs to get tissues and condoms. But when he got downstairs and was about to turn on the light, he suddenly realized that he didn’t need the light to see clearly, because the door, which had been slightly ajar, was now open.

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The soft moonlight slowly shone in from outside, casting shadows on the floor.

Zhang Chao thought for a moment; he hadn’t heard a sound earlier, so the wind must have blown the door open.

In the heat of the moment, he didn’t think too much, quickly bolted the door, took out tissues and condoms from his bag, and hurriedly ran upstairs to continue their story.

When they were out of ammunition and food, both were exhausted, so they turned off the lights and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but Zhang Chao, in a daze, seemed to sense a light before him.

Zhang Chao opened his blurry eyes; before him was a dim, yellowish light.

The next second, what came into view was a tattered white paper lantern in the darkness, a candle burning inside; the lantern stopped right in front of him.

Behind the lantern, a wrinkled, dirty face, no more than 50 centimeters away, stared at him sharply with piercing eyes.

White paper lantern, black shroud, severed leg…

“Ahh!” With a soft cry, Zhang Chao immediately fainted.

Chen Rong was startled awake. Opening her eyes, she was startled to see the madwoman holding a lantern, shining it on Zhang Chao.

But she reacted quickly, yelling, “Get out! Go down and leave!” She grabbed a pillow and threw it at the woman, then jumped out of bed, turned on the light, grabbed a small chair, and threw it at the madwoman.

“Ouch!” the madwoman cried out, hit hard by the chair, and fell to the ground, whimpering in pain, mixed with indistinct curses.

Chen Rong grabbed a wooden stick and struck the woman’s feet, yelling, “Get out! Go down and leave!”

The madwoman lay on the ground, still crying out. Her voice wasn’t loud, but her sobs were heart-wrenching and especially terrifying in the dead of night on the mountain.

She struggled toward the stairs, still clutching her lantern and cane tightly.

Chen Rong paid no heed to the madwoman’s cries of pain; she only cared about hitting her with the stick, trying to drive her away. The madwoman crawled laboriously, crying and cursing.

But suddenly, at that moment, a cold wind, a chilling wind, slowly blew up from below the stairs.

Chen Rong froze, instinctively stopping. She seemed to vaguely sense that from that moment on, the air held an unusual quality.

The surrounding temperature seemed to drop slightly.

Then, the madwoman abruptly stopped crying, lay on the ground, and looked up at the stairs.

A hush fell over the room, broken only by the soft sound of breathing.

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Chen Rong stood still, her eyes slightly narrowed, watching the madwoman and also looking at the empty stairs.

The madwoman kept staring at the stairs, seemingly waiting for someone to come up from below.

Was someone downstairs?

Chen Rong gently bit her lip, listening intently for any sound around her.

It seemed this atmosphere, this feeling… was a little… off.

What exactly was off?

She couldn’t figure it out for a moment.

But just then, the madwoman calmly said towards the stairs, “Ah Bao, Nilibao. (Ah Bao, you’re here.)”

At those words, Chen Rong froze, then felt a chill run down her spine.

Then, the most bizarre scene unfolded.

The other end of the cane the madwoman was holding slowly rose into the air, as if… as if someone had lifted it.

Chen Rong took a few steps back, covering her mouth in astonishment.

Then, the madwoman slowly got up, carrying a white paper lantern in one hand and the other end of her cane, which had suddenly become waist-high, pulling herself up with the cane, “thwack…thwack,” one step after another, slowly hopping down the stairs.

It was as if… as if her cane was being pulled by an unseen person.

Chen Rong gasped.

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After the madwoman went down the stairs, the sound of her hopping down the stairs could still be heard.

Then, she heard the madwoman say in her local dialect, “Ah Bao, they all bully me. Don’t play with them anymore.”

A while later, the sound of the door latch being removed and the madwoman leaving the house could be heard downstairs.