"Hey, what's the situation? What about the other teams?"
The relentless roar of heavy rain echoed in my ears, mixed with the loud shout of a man. I opened my eyes—at this moment, I was in the woods beside the main road into the village.
I saw them—it was the Ghost Burial Squad. Each of them carried large packs and wore black work uniforms. Rain kept pouring down, splashing mud everywhere. The whole village was shrouded in darkness, with only a few scattered points of light visible now and then.
Three people stood before me. I was a bit surprised—they were members of the Ghost Burial Squad, hiding under the eaves of a villager's house and looking around cautiously.
"Tommy, what about the other teams? We came in together, but now that we're here, they've disappeared."
I didn't step out; instead, I hid in the woods. Because I was a ghost, though I wanted to approach them, I decided to watch first. That short man mentioned coming in together, which puzzled me. From the way they acted, it seemed as if they'd just arrived.
I didn't dare release any ghostly aura. Everything in this village was unfamiliar to me, so I could only investigate slowly. I reached into my pocket, searching, and suddenly realized my phone was gone. Panic surged through me.
"Tiger Hu, Mason, my memory feels a bit muddled. Let's go and check the road leading out of the village."
Saying that, I quickly hid deeper in the woods. The three Ghost Burial Squad members headed for the road out of the village. Of the three, the two who called Tommy were a tall, strong man in his thirties, and a short, fierce-looking guy—Tiger Hu. The one slightly taller than him seemed gentle and scholarly—Mason.
I watched the three of them walk along the road out of the village. They walked for quite a while before vanishing, as if they'd entered somewhere else. Suddenly, I was stunned—the three reappeared at the village entrance.
"Tommy, it looks like this place might be the Shadow Realm of a Blue Wraith. We can't get out—after walking for a while, we just end up back where we started."
Mason Man said quietly, and the tall man beside him immediately nodded in agreement.
"Let's not speculate. We'll know for sure soon enough. There's definitely some Yin Energy in this village. You two head in different directions and try to walk out—see what happens."
With that, Tiger and Mason Man began circling the village. I watched closely—the village had only one main street, lined with wooden tables that looked like market stalls.
The rain had eased a little, so I started roaming through the woods, glancing back at the village from time to time. The village was split into two sections, connected by a sloping path. Deeper in, I could see some fields, a river, and a building that looked like a temple.
It seemed like an ordinary village. I wondered how I should explain things to the Ghost Burial Squad. Just then, the two who'd gone out to scout the perimeter returned.
There was a strange feeling hanging over this place, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I watched as the three Ghost Burial Squad members walked to the door of a house at the village entrance and knocked.
They waited a long time, but no one answered. Then, a faint light flickered inside the house, and with a creak, the door slowly opened.
"Who is it? It's so late."
An old man's voice echoed out. He stood in the doorway, holding an oil lamp.