Following Chunsheng like headless flies, the group wandered through the mountains for more than half a shichen, yet there was still no sign of the place he had spoken of.
“Almost there, almost there.”
Chunsheng kept his head down and led the way, suddenly pointing toward an open clearing.
“Look! Isn’t that bandit lair right over there?!”
Raising their lanterns to gaze into the distance, the crowd indeed caught sight of a bizarrely shaped, dome-topped thatched hut. Outside on the ground, bits of gold and silver lay scattered in the dirt.
A few yamen runners scooped some up, stealthily tucking them into their robes.
Candles seemed to be lit inside the hut, casting a faint, warm yellow glow through the opening.
This thatched hut was truly bizarre to the extreme: it had neither doors nor windows, only a small, square opening right in the middle of its wall.
Peering through that opening, the crowd could see that it was fully furnished inside, presenting a stark contrast to the desolate exterior.
Grandmaster chairs, imperial consort couches, Eight Immortals tables... Countless piles of gold and silver were heaped like mountains, and the tables were laden with fine wine and sumptuous dishes, their mouthwatering aroma wafting into the air.
Moreover, a fair-faced, lovely woman stood to one side, offering them a graceful curtsy:
“Kind officers, this humble woman’s husband was surnamed Ma, originally a stonemason from Changhuai Village in Wen County.
“I am called Mei Niang. Who could have known that bandits would abduct me and drag me to this wretched den of thieves?
“Today, you brave heroes have driven the bandits away, and I am endlessly grateful. If any hero does not despise me, please take me back to be your wife or concubine...”
Temptation stirred in several men’s hearts; their eyes practically glued themselves to the woman.
“Those bandits ruled these mountains and stockpiled heaps of gold and silver, all stashed right inside the house—”
Chunsheng took a few swift steps forward, opened the opening, and beamed at the crowd with a grin:
“There’s fine wine and good meat! Come inside quickly to warm up and feast!
“Once you’ve grabbed your fill of silver and eaten your fill of food and drink, it won’t be too late for us to hit the road.”
Although the men were blinded by the gold and silver, seeing such a bizarre scene still made them feel that something was amiss.
Though they couldn’t put a finger on it, looking at this thatched hut that had suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere gave them pause.
Zhang Long knitted his brows and held them back with his official saber:
“Something’s wrong. In such a desolate wilderness, where would a household come from? Beware of a trap!”
“You bunch of blockheads, rather standing out here shivering in the mountain wind than going inside to enjoy yourselves!
“You truly are stupid to the bone—you don’t even know how to enjoy good fortune!”
Zhou Dalang took the lead and squeezed through the small opening.
Chunsheng followed close behind.
The small hole was extremely narrow; they had to lie flat on the ground, squeezing half their bodies in first before squirming all the way inside.
As soon as the two entered, they sat by the table and began gorging on meat and wine:
“Delicious! So fragrant! Delicious, truly fragrant...”
Huge, succulent pork hocks, thinly sliced roasted fat geese, plump chickens and ducks steamed to a glistening golden grease, along with snow-white flour pancakes and meat buns...
Zhou Dalang opened his mouth wide, stuffing food incessantly down his throat as if his stomach were a pitch-black bottomless pit:
“Delicious! So fragrant! Delicious, truly fragrant...”
Watching him gorge, the men swallowed hard in desire, casting pleading looks at Zhang Long:
“This food and drink must have been prepared by those bandits!”
“So much silver! So much gold and silver!”
“With all this silver here, if we don’t take it, wouldn’t we just be letting outsiders profit?”
Zhang Long cursed in fury:
“You fools with eyes only for gold and silver! If this was a bandit hideout and the tiger devoured all the bandits, where are the corpses? Where is the blood?
“Why is this place spotless without even a whiff of blood? Look at the food on that table—does it have even a shred of steam rising from it?!”
He couldn’t help but seethe internally.
Zhang Long was now certain that everything before them had to be a glamour.
Yet in the face of immense fortune, almost no one could resist temptation.
Seeing Zhou Dalang eating with such relish, one runner couldn't hold back any longer. He slipped past Zhang Long and scrambled toward the hut's opening.
However, his frame was too large and the hole was far too small; he couldn't crawl in.
Standing inside the hut, Mei Niang smiled sweetly and gave him gentle advice:
“Officer, take off your official hat and clothes, and you will fit right in. That official saber is also quite cumbersome—why not leave it outside?”
The runner actually obeyed, stripping off his clothes and wriggling inside. But just as half his body slipped through, Zhang Long grabbed him by the ankles and yanked him backward!
The faces of the three inside changed drastically. They reached out to grab the runner—one clutching his head and the other two seizing his arms—engaging in a fierce tug-of-war with Zhang Long!
“You fool! Look closely—is there a single living soul inside this house?!
“Look at the three of them—do they even have shadows?!”
Pulling hard on the runner’s feet and feeling the monstrous force pulling back, Zhang Long roared at the others:
“And the rest of you! Open your eyes and look at what’s really in your robes—is that gold and silver, or are these people all ghosts?!”
As fate would have it, just as his words landed, something seemed to explode not far away.
Boom!
A muffled crack of thunder echoed in everyone's ears—
The haze in their minds cleared, as if snapping awake from a dream.
When they looked again, where were the gold and silver ingots in their chests? They were clearly lumps of black mud!
Where were the fine meats and wines on the table? They were clearly toads, centipedes, scorpions, and snakes!
And that thatched hut was plainly a burial mound with only a single small tomb opening!
As for Chunsheng, Mei Niang, and Zhou Dalang, their faces were ashen and grotesque, standing inside the tomb and grinning ghastly smiles at the crowd!
These were unmistakably three ghosts!
The crowd was terrified.
The runner who was halfway inside was closest to the three ghosts. Seeing delicacies turn into venomous vermin and the beauty turn into a skeletal fiend, he nearly wet his pants in sheer terror.
He screamed at the top of his lungs:
“Constable! Constable! You mustn't let go, whatever you do!!”
With their true identities exposed, the expressions of the three ghosts darkened, their grip on the runner turning even more violent.
“This man surnamed Zhang truly deserves to die! Ruining our good fortune!”
“Now that you've all come, how could we let you leave? Stay and keep us company!”
The oil lamp in the tomb flickered. The yellow glow wavered and shifted into a sinister, sickly green light, casting an eerie pallor over the three ghosts’ faces that made them look all the more horrifying.
A thin mist coiled through the woods, obscuring all sense of direction.
“Pull! Quick, pull Zhao Liu out!!”
“They're so strong!”
“Put some muscle into it! Don’t let him get dragged in!!”
Seeing that the runner was about to be pulled entirely into the tomb, the crowd rushed forward to help Zhang Long. They hauled on the runner with all their might, barely managing to keep the unlucky bastard halfway out.
The men formed a chain like children playing eagle-catches-chicks, bunching up behind Zhang Long and pulling with every ounce of strength they had!
“Curse you!!”
Seeing her prize about to slip away, Mei Niang scrambled out from the tomb opening, extending long, sharp fingernails to gouge out Zhang Long's eyes!
Chunsheng and Zhou Dalang wore gloomy expressions as well. Dissolving into viscous puddles of meat mud, they slithered out through that narrow aperture and clamped onto Zhang Long's neck from left and right—
Veins bulged across Zhang Long's forehead. Clenching his teeth, he mustered the last of his strength to roar:
“Eldest Daughter of the Nan family, if you don't lend a hand now, this Zhang won't be able to hold on much longer!!”
Pfft—
A pitch-black slaughtering knife flew out of nowhere, striking Mei Niang right in the chest.
Before she could react, a hand crackling with electrical sparks abruptly punched through her back.
Mei Niang didn't even have time to turn her head before collapsing to the ground, melting into a puddle of black water.
“Mei Niang!!”
Chunsheng's eyes threatened to split with rage. Screaming like a madman, he released Zhang Long and lunged toward the hand's owner, but only managed to strike a cloud of mist.
“It burns! It burns!! It burns!!! Save me! Mountain Lord, save me!”
Beside them, Zhou Dalang let out a piercing shriek as a spark ignited at the center of his chest.
As if he had been doused in lamp oil, the fire roared with a whoosh, engulfing him completely:
“Aaaaargh... I—I’m burning! Argh! Save me! Mountain Lord—Mountain Lord!!!”
Like a burning paper figure, Zhou Dalang’s eyes, nose, and facial features began to shrivel and char—
In the end, Zhou Dalang was reduced to a blazing ball of fire, the flames illuminating half the clearing.
He was dead.
Or more precisely, just like Mei Niang, he dissolved into a pool of black water.
Rate on N.U.
