Back in the village, I suddenly saw the Village Chief standing by the Well of Truth. Wisps of white vapor kept rising from the well, drifting up into the sky.
"What exactly is going on?" Ken Wang asked. I explained.
"The souls that were bound here have finally been released."
White, wispy souls kept rising from the well. The once dim sky now glowed with patches of white light, as if clouds lit by the sun were drifting above our heads.
Gradually, the sky began to brighten. The Village Chief before me was also emitting a steady stream of white vapor from his body.
"What's happening to you?"
"Heh, young man, thank you. I think it's about time for me to be freed too. It's been so many years. Riverbend Village should disappear now, and no one else will enter again, right?"
As the Village Chief spoke, there was a loud rumble. We saw the road into the village, and huge clouds of dust rose in the sky on the other side.
"I've completely blocked off the road. This place should disappear for good."
I let out a quiet "oh." The Village Chief's body gradually turned white, then began to rise up into the sky.
After everything calmed down, I briefly explained some things about ghosts to Ken Wang. He looked excited. We unlocked the door to the convenience store and found some food.
Checking the time, it was already 7 o'clock. In five hours, it would be midnight—and we would enter the next story.
"As soon as I came in, I was pulled into the beginning of this story. Ethan Zhang, just like you said—this is the story written by that ghost book. The story was originally something that happened in reality, but the ghost moved it into his own horror story. Still, something feels off to me."
Ken Wang spoke, and I felt it too. You could say this is a story from reality, but it isn't—not really. The ending can be changed at will, and even Ken Wang's ability to write horror stories can't explain it.
"Ethan Zhang, I've thought about it. Maybe my family is still alive. If I can unravel the mystery of this horror story, there might be a way to save them. I can't wait to see them again."
I nodded. I felt the same way—eager to see my parents and Rachel Lan.
Then I told Ken Wang to keep his ballpoint pen safe. Ken Wang took out a blue ballpoint pen. I took it and examined it—a perfectly ordinary pen. Suddenly, something came to mind. Looking at the pen, I remembered the ballpoint pen I'd seen at Niu Quanfang's house in Linland County. They looked somewhat similar.
I took out the ink refill and held it in my hand. There was nothing unusual about it.
"By the way, where did you get this pen?"
Ken Wang stared at me blankly, then shook his head.
"I don't know either. In a panic, I thought maybe I could change the contents of the book, and then realized I had a ballpoint pen on me."
I handed the pen back to Ken Wang. The two of us found a room to rest in—after all, once midnight struck, just as the Blue Wraith hiding behind the scenes said, the second story would begin.
I asked Ken Wang if he knew what the second story was. He had no idea. The special way he existed in this story was something I found increasingly hard to understand.
The key point was, how could we find our loved ones in the story—and then figure out how to escape from this horror story? I’d called out to John Chou several times, but except for hearing his voice by the water, there was no response.
At 11:40, my phone rang. Ken Wang and I blinked awake and went to the well in the village. Then I felt something was off—it was the sound of running water, very clear. I turned my head.
Suddenly, my eyes widened. I saw that something had changed at the back of the village. There used to be a mountain separating us from the waterfall, but now the mountain was gone—and under the moonlight, we could see the waterfall flowing, bathed in silvery light.
Ken Wang noticed too. We both stared in amazement.
A cold laugh drifted over with the wind—"Heh." Then Ken Wang and I both saw it clearly: on the curtain-like waterfall, a face appeared, grinning wickedly.
"Alright, the next story is about to begin. Heh, I put a lot of effort into planning this one—I want to see what tricks you have left, Ethan Zhang."
There was a cracking sound, like something breaking, echoing all around us. I saw that everything around us was splitting, then shattering into pieces and fading away.
I let out a bit of deathbane aura—it was still usable, which made me feel more at ease. But then, everything around us vanished completely. Ken Wang and I were in a sealed space. Suddenly, I saw Ken Wang's body fading, piece by piece. He screamed, and then disappeared quickly.
With a bang, a thick volume of Horror Stories landed in front of me. It flipped open with a rustle, turned several pages, and stopped. I stared blankly at the second story.
Who Is the Ghost: Eight climbers, seven men and one woman, with one couple among them. During the climb, the woman felt unwell and decided to stay at camp. The seven men went out, but only six returned. The woman's boyfriend died in an avalanche, and she kept crying out for him.
In the end, the seven survivors sat around the campfire. The six men prayed, hoping the dead man's ghost would return. Then, the woman's boyfriend actually did come back—his face covered in blood. He grabbed his girlfriend and ran, saying the other six had all died in the avalanche and were ghosts...
Reading the story summary, my heart skipped a beat. Wasn't this the "Who Is the Ghost" story everyone was talking about on the forums?
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I’d heard this story back in my student days. Although I never cared much for it, everyone knew about it. Just as I was puzzling over it, the voice of the Blue Wraith behind the scenes rang out.
"Ha ha, Ethan Zhang, familiar, isn't it? But is this really just a story? Ha ha ha..."
"Just what are you after? Tell me—damn it, if you’ve got the guts, come out and fight me."
With a rush of wind, the pages flipped. A fierce white light blazed. I covered my eyes, my head spinning.
I snapped awake. Suddenly, memories flooded my mind. But this time, I hadn’t forgotten who I was. It was a simple little living room, nicely furnished.
I remembered—in this story, my name was Ethan Zhang. I worked as an accountant at a foreign trade company. My life was ordinary, except for one hobby: I loved collecting ceramic art, and it left me deep in debt. Then someone gave me an idea—cook the books.
As an accountant, I knew exactly what was going on. That person was Louis Liu, a former classmate. I did the false accounting and made quite a bit, together with my department manager, Harvey Zhou.
But the good times didn’t last. Just as Harvey Zhou and I started enjoying the benefits, Louis Liu began demanding money from us—he knew about the fraud and started blackmailing us.
Year after year, day after day, we became like Louis Liu’s slaves, supporting him with money.
"Damn, what kind of crappy setup is this?"
I couldn't help but curse. Then came the core of the story: tomorrow morning, we would head to Mount No Trace in the south of the city for a five-day climbing and camping trip.
Mount No Trace is popular with climbers, despite the many fatalities every year. So we decided to go.
The trip was organized by Louis Liu. Besides me and Harvey Zhou, I only knew Louis Liu and his girlfriend, Joanne Lu. The other four were strangers, but Louis said they were his close buddies and easy to get along with.
Looking around my home, I saw a large pack, a sled, and inside were climbing gear and food.
Beep beep beep—my phone rang. It was Harvey Zhou calling.
"Ah Yuan, can you come out tonight? I’m downstairs at your place."
I let out a quiet "oh" and went out reluctantly. Everything about Harvey Zhou was familiar to me, but I knew this was just a story. I wanted to refuse, finish eating, and go to sleep, but my body moved on its own.
Outside, I got into Harvey Zhou’s car. He looked at me with a gloomy expression.
"What’s wrong, Brother Zhou?" I couldn’t help blurting out.
"When will it ever end, Ah Yuan?"
Harvey Zhou looked deeply troubled, smoking a cigarette.
"Brother Zhou, what’s really going on?"
"Ah Yuan, this trip is a good chance. If we kill that guy, we can do a few more jobs, then quit for good—and no one will ever know."
My heart skipped a beat as I looked at Harvey Zhou, not knowing how to reply. He put a hand on my shoulder.
"Think it over, Ah Yuan. I won’t force you. Just clear everyone out when the time comes—I’ll do it myself. I hope you understand, my wife’s health is bad, and I’m out of options. If we keep letting him strangle us, we might as well strangle him instead."
Harvey Zhou’s face was deadly serious, his eyes full of murderous intent. I felt a chill down my spine.
Back home, I couldn’t stop thinking about Harvey Zhou’s angry, murderous face. I also knew that every time, Louis Liu took half of everything we made.