"Who's there? Show yourself."
Miles Mao placed his hand behind his back, beneath his clothes, where he concealed a Peachwood Blade. Because our scent was now indistinguishable from that of ghosts, we had to be doubly cautious.
Hu Tianshu looked around, holding Mao Xiaoyu's compass.
"Let's keep moving. Ignore it—we're not here to play."
Our group moved through the uneven forest. The trees around us were uncanny—sometimes, I could swear human faces pressed out from the bark, staring with blank, silent eyes. We walked for nearly half an hour, the oppressive atmosphere growing heavier with each step.
"Wait, everyone. Stop." Hugh Thompson called out. Justin Huang stopped abruptly, his foot slipped, and Rufina Howard, who was riding on his shoulders, lurched forward and nearly fell.
"What are you doing?" Rufina Howard cried out in surprise, her legs dangling as Justin Huang held her upside down. She nearly fell to the ground.
"Yeah, Hugh, is something wrong?"
Dalton Fang spoke, glancing around. He watched Hugh Thompson's grave expression, and we all instinctively looked about.
"What's going on, Hugh?"
Just as I stepped over a rock, Hugh Thompson plopped down onto the ground.
"No one noticed? This is the third time we've ended up back here."
Hugh Thompson pointed to the ground beneath me—a patch of white rock jutting out from the soil.
"I've seen this rock three times already."
"Let me see." Miles Mao said, taking the compass from Hugh Thompson and examining it closely.
"Looks fine to me, Hugh. Maybe you're seeing things?"
"It's no big deal," I chuckled. "Let's send a few people ahead. If we end up back here again, then something's definitely off. Who's coming with me?"
As my cousin spoke, I stepped forward. Rufina Howard came over and produced two white talismans, handing them to us.
"Take these. If we get separated, tear the talisman—I’ll recall it, and you can follow it back to us."
My cousin and I put away the white talismans Rufina Howard had given us. Hu Tianshu stood up.
"You two, be careful. Especially you, Howard Zhang—don’t use any spells. If the ghosts realize we’re human and word gets out, we’ll be in real trouble."
"Don't worry, let's go, cousin," I said.
My cousin and I headed downhill. The others sat down behind us. Though I wondered if Hugh Thompson might be mistaken, his mind was sharper than any of ours—he wouldn’t forget.
"Let’s rest for a bit, cousin," my cousin said.
I grunted, and my cousin plopped down, leaning against a tree trunk. Suddenly, he toppled to the side, his head smacking the raised ground. He clutched the back of his head and howled in pain.
"Are you okay, cousin?" I hurried to help him up, worried the others would hear and come running. But strangely, there wasn’t a sound from behind us.
We'd only walked five or six minutes, so the distance shouldn't be too far. I was a bit puzzled and wanted to turn back.
"Look, cousin, there’s a house over there." Amid the chaos, I followed my cousin’s finger—sure enough, something like a house was faintly visible to the left front.
"Let’s go check it out."
After about four or five minutes, my cousin and I stood in a clearing. Before us was a small teahouse with three or four stools inside, a canopy outside, and a steamer of buns on the stove. My cousin sniffed the air.
"Cousin, why can’t I smell anything?"
"Of course not. It’s for ghosts—we humans can’t smell it." I leaned in and whispered in my cousin’s ear.
"Gentlemen, come inside." An old ghost with one eyeball dangling and a hunched back shuffled out, reaching out a hand. Without hesitation, my cousin pulled out a Spirit Note and handed it over.
"Bring us something good—the best you’ve got."
"Just a moment, gentlemen." The old ghost took the Spirit Note and turned inside. My cousin and I sat outside.
"Cousin, you can’t eat ghost food. Why bother?"
"Even if you say it’s awful, I’ve never tried it. I want to see for myself," my cousin said, chuckling.
I told my cousin about spending money in the Underworld. When you return to the world of the living, your earthly wealth can be diminished—maybe you’ll even get hurt and lose a fortune in medical bills.
"It’s nothing, cousin. Don’t worry about it."
Come to think of it, my cousin’s family was much better off than mine.
Soon, a large plate of steaming meat, several buns, and wine were brought out. My cousin sniffed at the food.
"Even if I can’t smell it, it looks pretty good. Come on, cousin, dig in."
I shook my head firmly.
My cousin grabbed a big chunk of meat and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing hard.
"Just as I thought—terrible. It’s like a ball of mud. I ate something like this as a kid. Damn, ptooey!" he said, spitting the meat out.
Suddenly, a chill crept up my spine—I felt eyes watching us from the shadows. Just as I was about to turn, my cousin stood up with a forced grin and strode over, as if nothing was wrong.
Behind us stood a female ghost, her smile unnerving. She wore an old-fashioned floral dress, lips painted a vivid red, her hair twisted into an elegant bun. Her beauty was haunting, almost unnatural.
"Miss, the food here is delicious. Did you make it?"
I glared fiercely at my cousin. He was lying through his teeth.
"Yes, sir. I hope it suits your taste, but I just saw you spit out what you ate."
"Well, to be honest, my teeth aren’t great. I ate too fast because I was starving, and now it hurts."
Then the female ghost and my cousin started chatting like old friends, sitting at the table. I kept giving my cousin looks, but he acted like I didn’t exist.
"Sir, aren’t you hungry? Eat up."
My cousin nonchalantly picked up another piece of meat and ate it. He took a bun too, pretending to struggle as he ate. I turned away, sniffed, and nearly burst out laughing.
"Why aren’t you eating, sir?"
"Yeah, cousin, didn’t you just say you were starving?"
Just as I turned, my cousin shoved a bun at me. I had no choice but to open my mouth, glaring at him. The bun tasted like eating toilet paper—absolutely awful.
In the end, my cousin and I, under pressure, finished everything on the table. My cousin and the female ghost sat closer and closer together.
"By the way, sir, would you like to rest inside? There are guest rooms. You paid so much—let me treat you well."
"No, thanks." Seeing my cousin about to accept, I quickly refused before he could answer.
"By the way, miss, how do we get down from here?"
After getting directions, my cousin and I headed down a small path behind the teahouse.
Seeing my cousin’s disappointed face, I was so angry I wanted to slap him.
"Cousin, we’re here for business. Damn, everyone’s waiting for us."
As we talked, my cousin patted my shoulder. I rubbed my eyes, and suddenly—we were back in front of the teahouse, as if we’d never left.
"What’s going on?" I turned to look behind us—the path was gone.
"Please, come in, sir."
It was the same female ghost as before.
"Miss, the path you showed us was wrong—we’re back again."
But the female ghost pretended not to know us, then smiled and spoke.
"Sir, you must have passed my older sister’s teahouse. I’m her younger sister."
Before my cousin could get tangled up with the ghost, I asked for directions again and dragged him behind the teahouse. There was another identical path. I glanced back—the teahouse looked exactly the same as before.
"Wait, cousin, something’s wrong."
We walked for a while, then stopped and looked back—the teahouse still loomed behind us, unchanged, as if mocking our escape.
"Let’s just go back."
As soon as I finished speaking, my cousin started laughing.
"Going back won’t help, cousin. Let’s try going a bit further."
Unable to argue, I followed him. We walked on, and there—another identical teahouse. I stared in disbelief as my cousin went over.
"Sir..." A female ghost identical to the last emerged, her smile cold. This time, the old ghost followed, his lone eyeball swinging grotesquely.
"No need to say it—you must be the sister from the last teahouse."
"I don’t know what you mean, sir. There’s no teahouse in these wild hills." As soon as she spoke, the teahouse behind her began to dissolve into mist. I blinked—now it was a small, weathered grave tangled in weeds. Both the female ghost and the old ghost had vanished into silence.
"What’s going on?"
I quickly pulled out a white talisman and tore it, but nothing happened—it was still in my hand and didn’t show us the way.
My cousin walked up to the grave and looked around.
"So her name was Wendy Wood. That female ghost just now—ha, nice name. Too bad I didn’t bring my camera."
I ignored my cousin and turned to scan the woods. Suddenly, a rustling sound made me whirl around—my eyes widened. My cousin was gone, and the grave had vanished too. All that remained was a twisted, uncanny forest, silent and suffocating.
"Cousin, where are you? Damn."
I shouted loudly, my voice echoing into the distance. I closed my eyes, trying to sense anything around me, but there was nothing.
I looked around and called out several times, but there wasn’t a single person in sight. I clutched the white talisman, hoping Huangfu Ruofei would hurry and recall it—otherwise, we might really get separated.
"Cousin..." I shouted again.
Still no response.