Chapter 72: The laughter of the Ghost Festival
“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”
Liu Haoyu finally understood one thing today: Qin Liu could also learn to be bad.
Pretending to eat with great relish, she took a big bite of his.
“Hahaha!!”
And this little ghost was still laughing carelessly.
Liu Haoyu threw the burger in his hand into the trash can, and then checked the other items.
The fries were soft, and the coke was flat. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that.
There was no way to eat it at all.
“Tsk…”
Liu Haoyu casually gave the fried chicken shop a big thumbs down.
“I’ll buy from a better place next time.”
Because of that bite of a sour burger, Liu Haoyu’s good mood in the morning was gone.
Qin Liu looked at him gargling and couldn’t help but ask.
“Speaking of which, when are we going to that bamboo forest today?”
“Let’s buy some things first.”
The operation was tonight, and there was still a little time for preparation during the day.
More importantly, the commission only provided the location of the bamboo forest, not the specific location of Gu Qianyang’s grave.
Deng Xiaolin had entered the bamboo forest in a daze at the time and did not remember how she entered.
So Liu Haoyu had to ask the local townspeople.
After packing his luggage and taking all his belongings, Liu Haoyu arrived at the town of Lingnan Town.
Lingnan Town was quite large, more prosperous than the surrounding towns. The roads were lined with residential buildings and small shops, and the streets were bustling with people, appearing very lively.
Liu Haoyu also saw the “KFC chicken” that sold sour burgers.
The burger shops in these towns basically doubled as milk tea shops. This shop was very small and very dim inside, as if the lights were not turned on.
This situation made Liu Haoyu a little strange. He walked into the KFC chicken, and as soon as he entered, a smell of rotten eggs hit him.
Thinking about the bite he had taken that morning, his stomach churned for a while.
On the contrary, Qin Liu seemed unaffected.
There were no customers in the shop, it was empty, and only a thin, dried-up uncle sat at the counter.
Since he had already come in, Liu Haoyu went up and asked the uncle.
“Brother, do you know about the abandoned grave in the bamboo forest of Jiding Village?”
The uncle’s eyes were originally vacant and dull, but after hearing this, they suddenly became sharp.
He scrutinized Liu Haoyu and asked in a hoarse voice.
“What do you want to do there?”
“I heard that it’s haunted, so I want to go there to get some material.”
Liu Haoyu completely displayed the notebook in his hand, pretending to be a horror novelist.
However, the uncle narrowed his eyes and looked at Liu Haoyu with an ice-cold gaze.
“You mean Gu Qianyang’s grave, right?”
Hearing this, Liu Haoyu was greatly shocked, but he maintained his composure.
The uncle in front of him was definitely not an ordinary person, and it was not impossible that he was an enemy.
“The owner of that abandoned grave is Gu Qianyang?” Liu Haoyu pretended to write the name in his notebook, “I heard that there is this grave in the bamboo forest of Jiding Village. Uncle, you seem to know this place well. Could you please tell me?”
“I advise you not to risk your life for unnecessary curiosity. That place… is not a place for the living.”
“Why?”
Liu Haoyu said very calmly.
“Is it really haunted there?”
“No one in Lingnan Town dares to go to that place. Even when we go up the mountain to pay respects to our ancestors on Qingming Festival, we don’t dare to go through there. What do you say?”
Perhaps it was a warning, or perhaps it was contempt, the uncle continued to say so.
“Also, you’d better not ask too many questions. The people here won’t tell outsiders about this matter.”
After hearing the uncle’s words, Liu Haoyu did not give up and handed him a hundred yuan bill.
“Why?”
Facing Liu Haoyu’s persistent questioning, the uncle’s brows rose when he saw the money. Although his face was still very cold, he still took the money into his pocket.
After giving the money, he spoke a little more kindly.
“Because that place is extremely evil. Anyone who has been there has not come out normal… including me.”
The sun was shining brightly outside, but inside it felt like entering an ice cellar. Liu Haoyu squinted his eyes and looked at the uncle in front of him.
He was certain that the other party was not a ghost, but no one knew what he had experienced.
“Brother, could you elaborate?”
Liu Haoyu placed the second hundred yuan bill on the table, and the uncle’s expression did not change when he saw the money, but his hand still quietly put the money into his pocket.
“Every night, the bamboo forest is filled with the laughter of the elderly.”
“This sound is not heard by a few people. Even during the Ghost Festival, everyone in Jiding Village hears that terrifying sound.”
“And every year on the Ghost Festival, someone’s soul is taken away by the laughter in the middle of the night, and they unconsciously enter the forest, and they are bound to encounter an abandoned grave without a name.”
“Even if they can come back, they will become like me… listless.”
The uncle pointed to himself.
“Not living like a human, nor dead like a ghost. Most people die tragically within about a year.”
“Thus, the rumors of haunting gradually spread. The police also entered the bamboo forest to conduct a carpet search, but found nothing.”
“Some people tried to record it to prove that it was true.”
“However, strangely, no matter what recording equipment was used, it could not record the old man’s laughter.”
As he spoke, the uncle found a tape recorder from inside the counter and turned it on. Liu Haoyu only heard the sound of fallen leaves rustling through the trees and the wind.
“This is the recording I made during the Ghost Festival. I clearly heard the old man’s laughter, but the recording equipment just couldn’t capture it.”
“What happened then?”
“The carpet search lasted for two full days, and the police, including nearly 200 villagers from Lingnan Town, searched the entire bamboo forest but found no clues.”
“They didn’t even see the so-called abandoned grave. Because it was too evil, everyone in Lingnan Town chose to keep silent about it, for fear of scaring away outside tourists.”
The uncle maintained his cold face and stared at Liu Haoyu with vacant eyes. He looked so dazed, like a soulless puppet.
Liu Haoyu tidied up what the other party had said and then said.
“Thank you.”
After Liu Haoyu left the KFC burger shop, his originally calm expression gradually became heavy.
It was easy to explain why the uncle had become like this.
Gu Qianyang had eaten part of these people’s souls and used it to nourish his own soul.
No wonder he had lived to the present day from decades ago with just a wisp of residual soul, and this also explained why he had encountered two Gu Qianyangs in the factory before.
This was because the weaker Gu Qianyang residual soul had already become an independent individual after devouring so many villagers’ souls.
