The old lady wept bitterly for a while and finally stopped crying. She climbed up with a blank expression and looked back at Xiao Tangqiu and them, “Outsiders, your actions just now have offended the mountain god! The mountain god will not let you go!”

Her eyes were murky and her whole body teetered, and she seemed to have aged over a decade just now.

“Mountain god?” Xiao Tangqiu frowned, “You mean that wolf?”

The old lady spoke with fear, “That was the envoy of the mountain god. You killed the envoy of the mountain god. Divine punishment will befall from the mountain god!”

“Mountain god? Is there a god in this place? But wait, isn’t this place called Hundred Ghost Village?” Tang Mianmian felt befuddled. And wasn’t their instance called the Hundred Ghost Night Parade? What was the relationship between ghosts walking at night and god?

Xiao Tangqiu frowned, “The Japanese gods and our gods are different concepts, especially the mountain gods and whatnot, but they do seem to have the custom of treating the wolf as mountain gods or protectors of the gods.”

“To see the wolf as a mountain god, were you sacrificed to it just now?” Tang Mianmian quickly recalled the previous horror game routines and asked with a stunned expression, “…you were all sacrificed to the mountain god?”

The old lady glanced at Tang Mianmian with a blank expression and didn’t answer.

Xiao Tangqiu said, “I’m afraid it’s not that simple! What did you mean by “for Ichiro, you have to bear it”?”

The old woman closed her mouth tightly, unwilling to answer.

Duan Hongzhen snorted, “Forget it since she doesn’t want to say anything. Let’s just take her down the mountain and take a look at her home. Her home should be nearby, right?”

Upon hearing the words “down the mountain”, the old woman immediately widened her eyes, veins popping out, “No! I will not go down! I will never go down!”

Duan Hongzhen raised an eyebrow, “Oh? Why?”

The old woman shut her mouth again, like a clam that could only be opened with prying.

Xiao Tangqiu frowned. What the hell was going on? What’s the secret behind this?

“Since you aren’t speaking, then it’s agreed.” Duan Hongzhen didn’t bother to negotiate at all and he spread his hands. “So this matter has been happily decided. This mountain is not very safe, it’s too dangerous for an old lady with half a foot in the grave like you. We are very helpful people so of course we must escort you safely down the mountain!”

The old lady immediately screamed hysterically, “No! I won’t go down the mountain! I want to stay here with the mountain god!”

Duan Hongzhen said with a smile, “It’s not up to you.”

As he spoke, he picked up the old woman with one hand and put her on his shoulder.

The old lady struggled hard, “Let me go! Put me down! I want to stay on the mountain! I will never go down!”

Yu Fuling frowned slightly, “Duan Hongzhen, change the posture! Do you think you are carrying rice?”

Duan Hongzhen said, “How else? Princess hug? If I carry her on my back, she will run away.”

Yu Fuling, “…forget it, you just carry her over your shoulder.”

“Let me go! For Taro! I must stay!” The old woman screamed in resolution.

Duan Hongzhen carried her down the mountain, relaxed, “Be still.”

“Taro! Taro save me!” The old lady cried for help again, but there was no one else on the hill beside them, let alone the “Taro” she shouted for.

“What the hell is going on?” Tang Mianmian couldn’t help but ask Xiao Tangqiu.

Xiao Tangqiu shook his head and was about to chat with Tang Mianmian, but suddenly felt Shen Yuan’s gaze on him and had an inexplicable feeling.

Wait, what’s going on with the gaze of a partner having caught a cheating husband eyeing some random third party?!!

Xiao Tangqiu’s mouth twitched, and his heart felt frantic, but at this moment, Shen Yuan’s gaze chilled, “The corpse is gone.”

They were all stunned at the same time, looked back, and sure enough, the dead old woman’s corpse had disappeared at some point.

The body actually disappeared!

Although they had encountered this situation many times before, previously the corpse disappeared without them realizing, and it was usually on the second day. But this time the corpse was before their eyes!

Xiao Tangqiu felt a chill go down his back. The wild wolf has been chopped in two by Yu Fuling and they hadn’t seen another wolf… Did this hill really have a mountain god?

But compared to the mountain god, this kind of man-eating behavior was more like a mountain ghost!

On the road afterward, Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian couldn’t find any words. Although it was not the first time that they had seen someone die in front of them, actually witnessing a life passing away with their own eyes still left a bitter feeling inside. Especially since it was an elderly woman whose dying screams still echoed in their ears.

The old lady who was carried over Duan Hongzhen’s shoulder seemed to be tired and gradually stopped shouting and struggling. Her expression turned blank and finally appeared completely wooden.

After coming down the hill, they met the newbies again. To their surprise, none of them had chosen to leave. The 13 people waited for them at the foot of the mountain.

But thinking about it, it made sense. In such a strange place, it was dangerous no matter where they went, it was better to stay here and go nowhere.

When they saw Xiao Tangqiu’s party returning with an old woman, they were shocked, “Where did you go to kidnap an old lady back?”

“Is this the old lady on the mountain just now?”

Suddenly, someone found something wrong, “Why does this old lady wear a kimono?”

Although the old lady carried by Duan Hongzhen was plain and shabby looking, they could still see that she wore a kimono. When he got to the foot of the hills, he threw the old lady from his shoulders to the ground.

The old lady with a blank expression suddenly fell to the ground and cried, “I can’t go down! I can’t go down! Let me go back! Let me go back!”

A girl came out of the newbie group, expressing sympathy, “Old lady, what’s wrong with you? Did this group kidnap you?”

The old lady shouted in horror, “I can’t go down the mountain! Let me go back! The mountain god will be angry! Divine punishment will befall from the mountain god!”

The upright man immediately sneered and said, “Mountain god? Divine punishment? I think this old lady and this group of people are together!”

The girl frowned, “Old lady, do you have some unspeakable difficulties?”

Suddenly the old lady climbed up and was about to run up the hill, but was stopped by Duan Hongzhen, “Be quiet for me!”

“Let go of her! You really are not good guys!” The girl cried immediately.

Duan Hongzhen gave a laugh, “So you want us to let her go back to seek death? There are wolves in the mountains! The kind that eats people!”

The girl froze, but the old lady screamed resolutely, “That’s the envoy of the mountain god! The mountain god came to welcome me!”

Duan Hongzhen simply stunned the old lady with a hand chop, and then carried the old lady who passed out on his shoulder again.

“How can you treat an old woman like that!”

Duan Hongzhen didn’t bother her and walked forward with the old lady.

Yu Fuling suddenly spoke, “Where are you going?”

Duan Hongzhen spoke without worry, “Hundred Ghost Village.”

Yu Fuling said, “Wrong, it should be on the left.”

Duan Hongzhen didn’t ask how she knew that and turned his head and walked to the left.

The others in the Reincarnation team didn’t say anything and followed Duan Hongzhen. Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian glanced at each other and naturally followed. The dozen newbies looked at each other, not wanting to keep up but not daring to stay. They finally decided to keep up.

They wanted to see what the hell these people were doing!

The crowd walked along a winding path. Gradually, a few fields of farmland appeared before them. After the farmland was a village.

Because it was nighttime, there was no one working the fields and the gates of the village were closed. The whole village was very quiet with only the occasional dog barking.

Through the fence and gate around the village, they could barely see the buildings in the village. The wooden houses with thatched roofs were clearly different from most of the buildings they were used to, and the whole village had such wooden houses.

The newbies looked at each other, unsure if this was a con. Could a con be so big?

The Reincarnation Team quickly talked it over, “What to do? Forcibly break in?”

“It will alarm the people in the village. I’m afraid it will be difficult to investigate afterward.”

“Secretly sneak in?”

“Then let’s sneak in.”

Things were decided so easily, but the progress was not so smooth.

Perhaps to resist bandits, the village’s fences were both strong and sturdy. They couldn’t find a breakthrough in a short time. Although they definitely had a way to enter, it was difficult to not alarm those villagers.

As they were in a dilemma, a chance suddenly appeared — the village gate suddenly opened from the inside, and a man quietly came out. But he did not leave the village, he just stood at the village gate and looked towards the hills in the distance, expression hesitant.

Without waiting for Xiao Tangqiu to remind her, Yu Fuling rushed forward and knocked him out with a hand chop.

She supported the gate with one hand and held the man with another hand, winking at her teammates. The others immediately followed.

They finally succeeded in sneaking into the village… but it was actually directly from the main entrance. Other than the torches lit by the village entrance, the whole village faded into darkness and appeared asleep. They did not dare to wake the villagers and remained silent all the way.

Yu Fuling dragged the man forward with one hand. The village was not large. Soon they found the only wooden house with an open door, presumably the man’s home.

They immediately entered the wooden house and closed the door.

The interior of the wooden house was very simple, the only furniture was a bed. Even the windows were covered with paper, which did not block the cold wind at all.

Although there were candles in the house, they didn’t dare light them in fear of attracting the attention of any villagers who got up at night. Fortunately, the paper windows didn’t block the moonlight. The moonlight in the village was relatively bright so they were able to see each other clearly.

Duan Hongzhen lowered his voice and asked Yu Fuling, “When can this guy wake up?”

Yu Fuling thought about it, “Probably in a little while. When will the grandma wake up?”

Duan Hongzhen paused, and said without any changes, “I didn’t control my strength earlier… I guess she will sleep until tomorrow.”

Yu Fuling, “…”

Xiao Tangqiu’s lips twitched, “Nevermind. She probably won’t say anything anyway. Let’s wait for this man to wake up. I have a hunch that we should be able to get something valuable from him.”

They could only wait patiently. The wooden house was small and the twenty of them could barely squeeze in. Soon, the impatient Duan Hongzhen spoke out, “Why isn’t he awake?”

Yu Fuling was silent for a while before she said, “…I also didn’t seem to control my strength earlier.”

Xiao Tangqiu, “…” Indeed pro teammates!

The Reincarnation Team, “…” These two were definitely not their teammates!

T

/N: So there’s probably some confusion about “mountain” and “hill” being used here. The issue is that it’s all the same word in Chinese: “山” (mountain

/mound). There’s only “big mound” or “small mound” or other adjectives to describe its size and shape so it’s basically up to interpretation which word to use in English. Since the height mentioned is that the tallest one is no more than 100 meters (about 328ft), I’ve made the decision to use the word “hill”.