The sea breeze brushed gently, and waves crashed ashore, sending up sprays of foam. On the sunlit beach, I sat quietly, gazing out at the distant sea. The stench here was fainter, but I felt a heavy gloom.
It must be something John Chou did. Everyone in the village only knows I came alone, and they've never met John Chou at all. I've asked the old man several times, but he keeps insisting that I came here alone last night.
The village behind me isn't big, just over thirty households, fifty-four people, all elderly men and women. Their average age is nearly seventy, most have lost the ability to work, and they survive off the food and supplies brought by the monthly aid ship. Most of them are unwilling to leave this place.
Nameless Island—this place has no name. No one can say when people first settled here. There’s nothing special about the island; the forest looks dense, but if you walk in, it thins out. The island isn’t large, and there’s nothing remarkable about it.
"John Chou left me here alone—what exactly is he trying to do?"
I muttered a complaint, stood up, and kicked some pebbles away. But then I remembered the skeleton in tattered clothes I saw last night. John Chou claimed it was his corpse, which left me deeply puzzled.
As far as I know, when people die and turn into ghosts, if they haven’t reached the level of a Yellow Ghost, they can’t stray far from their corpse. But after becoming a Green Wraith, I’ve heard they all go back to find their skeletons, and then they gain a corporeal form.
But thinking about it, getting angry won’t help. All I can do now is wait. Maybe John Chou went to find his corpse. I know that skeleton is highly aggressive and not weak—it was able to break through John Chou’s ghost aura.
At that moment, I noticed several elderly villagers returning from the fields, inviting me to their homes for a meal. I laughed and went along—since John Chou’s whereabouts were unknown, I might as well stay here for a few days. The place seemed shabby, but I slept surprisingly well last night.
It reminded me of those nights at Hidden Falls Temple—so peaceful and warm.