I stood up, wiped my eyes, and stared at the Ghoul Idol. There was nothing.
"Maybe I was just hearing things." But now, I couldn't find Lily Wu or Nathan Li anywhere.
I called out several times in all directions, but there was no response. The feeling just now was so strange that for a moment, I wanted to swing my fist at the Ghoul Idol.
By nature, I'm timid, but I crave excitement. I'm scared, yet I still want to see what those ghosts and monsters are like.
Suddenly, my head buzzed.
"Ethan Zhang..."
A woman's voice echoed in my mind, gentle and unfamiliar. I'd never heard it before.
Speaking of Riverbend Village, it's called that because it's downstream from a waterfall. Rumor has it this place is haunted, and no one who comes here ever returns. Honestly, I'd wanted to visit for a while.
Not for any special reason—it's said that the waterfall behind Riverbend Village is beautiful. Lily Wu once said she wanted to see it, so I planned to bring her here to have a look.
"Where did they go? Are they messing with me?"
I kept moving forward, the air around me thick with an eerie chill. Though it was midday, the forest was shrouded in darkness. As I walked, calling out, a rustling came from the woods to my right. I turned my head.
Suddenly, a figure in a gray T-shirt darted past, screaming at the top of his lungs.
I stared in surprise, then quickened my pace, but the road seemed endless. No matter how far I walked, the scenery stayed the same.
Panting, I stopped, my skin crawling. Had I been bewitched by a ghost?
Just as I hesitated about moving forward, I suddenly heard two footsteps behind me.
Startled, I turned around. It was a man and a woman.
The woman was quite pretty—long hair, sharp features. The man was half a head taller and good-looking. Both wore jeans and matching red couple's outfits.
After chatting for a bit, I learned they're both freshmen, here during their break after hearing the local legends. The guy's name is Victor Zeng, and the girl's Tina Wu.
I told them a little about the Ghoul Idol I'd just seen—its bleeding eyes, and something about the gates of hell opening.
"Kid, I don't believe you. You must be trying to scare us."
I chuckled and joined up with them. With company, I felt much more at ease. After walking for a while, we reached the village. Inside, there was only a small square, with a dried-up well in the center.
The village was made up entirely of small tile-roofed houses, looking desolate. The ground was all mud, and for a moment, I felt like I’d stepped into a village from twenty or thirty years ago.
A small shop was open. I saw Lily Wu and Nathan Li sitting outside, faces grim and clutching their foreheads.
I hurried over. Both of them looked gloomy, as if exhausted.
"Why did you leave me behind?"
As soon as I finished, Lily Wu looked up at me, her face expressionless.
"Ethan, where did you go? We looked for you for ages." She suddenly burst into tears and threw herself into my arms.
I kept comforting her. Victor Zeng and Tina Wu came over. After some chaotic conversation, I noticed that Nathan Li and Lily Wu's pale faces looked a bit better.
The little shop only sold instant noodles and a few snacks for kids—hardly any variety. The five of us bought noodles and some food, then sat at the shop entrance to eat.
But the woman selling goods looked unhappy, glaring at us as if we owed her money.
"That woman is so fierce," Tina Wu muttered.
"Young people, I advise you, if there's nothing important, go home. Riverbend Village isn't a good place."
The shopkeeper suddenly muttered this. Out of nowhere, a strong wind whipped up. The five of us hurriedly got up, clutching our instant noodles, and went inside the shop.
Something felt wrong, unsettling. Holding my noodles, I watched the others talk. Even after the wind passed, we could only stand outside the counter, eating our noodles.
Looking at my noodles, it felt like my life shouldn't be like this—everything was so strange.
Suddenly, I noticed something red by the well in the center—a streak. I quickly finished my noodles, drank the soup, and ran over.
At the edge of the well, I saw it was dried up. Near where the well met the ground, there was a bright red mark.
I leaned in for a closer look and smelled something strange—sour and putrid. My mind jolted; I felt like I'd smelled this before.
"Ethan, what are you looking at?"
Lily Wu came over. I replied, pointing under the well, saying there was a mark that looked like blood.
But when Lily Wu got closer, she looked at me in confusion.
"There's nothing there, Ethan. Are you seeing things?"
I called the others over, but none of them could see the red blood-like mark—only me. My heart skipped a beat.
A sudden scream startled all of us. We looked toward the village entrance—it was the man in the gray T-shirt, flashing past the path into the village.
With a creak, the door of a small tile-roofed house opened. An old man with a cane slowly walked toward us, chewing on something.
We soon learned he was the village chief. He told us not to go out after 8 p.m. If we wanted to see the waterfall, we should go tomorrow.
We gave the chief some money, and he led us past the shop to more houses. Finally, he brought us to a two-story tile-roofed house by the mountain, gave us a key, and told us to help ourselves to beds and quilts. When we left, just tidy up.
"Ethan, it smells a bit musty." Lily Wu and I were upstairs, where there was a lot of dust. Since we planned to stay a few days, the five of us started cleaning.
There were two rooms downstairs and one upstairs. At Nathan Li's suggestion, Lily Wu and I took the upstairs room. Victor Zeng and Tina Wu didn't seem to mind.
By 5 p.m., we'd finished cleaning. But then I realized we hadn't asked the chief where to buy food. We'd only brought some snacks, but we still needed a proper meal.
Lily Wu and I walked through the village, but found every house had its doors and windows tightly shut. Each window was covered with white paper, blocking any view inside.
"Ethan, aside from being a little desolate, there's nothing else here."
I mumbled a reply. Suddenly, a wave of nameless grief surged in my mind. I clutched my head. Lily Wu rushed over, but I screamed out loud.
In front of me, Lily Wu was missing an eye, half her face covered in blood, and the hand reaching toward me was mangled and bloody.
I screamed, swung my fist, and without thinking, punched Lily Wu in the face.
"Ethan, are you crazy?"
With Lily Wu's shout, I snapped out of it. She stepped back in shock, and I explained what I'd just seen.
Lily Wu slapped me hard.
"Are you cursing me to die, Ethan?"
"No, no, really, I'm not."
No matter how much I tried to explain to Lily Wu, she stayed angry. We went to the square with the well and found the whole village empty—not a single person. Even the shopkeeper had closed up.
I went over and knocked several times, but got no response. The whole village looked deserted.
Back at our place, Lily Wu was still upset. We had to eat our snacks. I knocked on several doors, but no one answered. The village felt utterly dead.
It got darker and darker. We were exhausted from the day, and brought the quilts inside.
"Ethan..." Just as I was thinking about how to cheer Lily Wu up, that gentle woman's voice echoed in my mind again.
I clutched my forehead, nearly collapsing. Lily Wu ran over and supported me, looking worried.
"Ethan, are you too tired? Get some rest."
I held my forehead and lay down. Lily Wu covered me with a quilt and gently stroked my forehead. I fell asleep.
The sound of rushing water filled the air. I stared in surprise—somehow, a waterfall twenty or thirty meters high appeared before me. I was standing beneath it, by the river, in broad daylight.
With a splash, water scattered. Suddenly, I saw a strange man. He wore an iron mask that covered his entire head and held a fat fish in his hand as he walked onto the shore.
I was about to speak when I screamed. The iron-masked man tore open the fish's belly with both hands, yanked out the guts, and started eating them.
I gagged and threw up.
"What are you doing?"
"Want some, Ethan Zhang?"
The iron-masked man plucked out the fish's eyeball and handed it to me. I fell back onto the ground. This had to be a dream.
But suddenly, I wasn't afraid anymore. It was a strange feeling. At first I was terrified, but when he came over and offered me the fish's eyeball, I felt no fear.
"Oh, I almost forgot, you're in the story, haha. Ethan Zhang, don't you remember me?"
I shook my head, confused. Suddenly, I saw the iron-masked man raise his hand, and a black mist seeped out from his palm.
"This belongs to you. If you want it, I'll give it back."
I stared in shock, just wanting to wake up as soon as possible.
"You were able to enter the world inside the book—who are you?"
A child's voice echoed behind me. I turned around, startled, and cried out. The child before me had a deathly pale face streaked with blood, a gaping black mouth filled with sharp, jagged teeth—and he was smiling.