Feeding Ghosts with Rice, Paying for the Path with Ghost Money

When the Dodge stopped at the Westham Mine, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. Long shadows were cast from the twisted and rusted machinery in the abandoned mine, falling on the roofs of the hiking group's vehicles parked next to it.

As usual, Alessa got out of the car carrying a plush toy, with the zipper half-open, revealing the handle of Gru's Super Red Hawk gun.

Qin Jin sighed and pulled out a Glock 19 from under the seat cushion, then stuffed a magazine of bullets into his pocket.

Under Alessa's sharp gaze, they followed the discarded trash and cigarette butts to find the hiking group's path up the mountain—

Although it was a mountain path, the branches on both sides showed obvious signs of being cut, the weeds lay low, and in some places there were arrows painted in red paint, stretching into the depths of the dense forest.

The two embarked on the hiking group's route. The dense forest blocked out most of the sunlight, and the surroundings were quiet. Even the birdsong could not be heard, only the rustling sound of their footsteps on the dry branches and leaves.

After walking for about forty or fifty minutes, Alessa, who was ahead, suddenly stopped, sniffed twice, and turned her gaze to the woods on her right.

"Any findings?" Qin Jin asked.

Alessa nodded and began to disappear into the bushes, with Qin Jin quickly following behind.

After passing through a dense thicket of bushes, the scene before Qin Jin surprised him slightly.

A hidden path appeared before them. The grass here was unusually sparse, and the soil was a different color. Qin Jin squatted down, grabbed a handful, and immediately smelled the mixture of lime, sulfur, and cinnabar in the soil.

Following the trail of seclusion, one notices something else besides the unchanging color:

Piles of rotten, blackened rice grains; scattered, faded, and decaying paper money; heaps of ashes from paper money washed away by rain; and clumps of incense sticks every few dozen meters...

Each batch of five sticks was almost all burned to a state of three long and two short!

"Three long and two short... a terrible omen!" Qin Jin muttered to himself. What on earth was going on?

Scattering rice to feed ghosts, buying roads with ghost money, offering five-spice powder to the underworld messengers, hiding footprints in cinnabar...

These things not only look unlucky, but even seem ominous, so why continue?

The end of this road is worth exploring!

Qin Jin stood up, sighed, and said, "Let's go and follow them. The secret should be hidden deep inside."

The two abandoned the hiking route and began to follow this path, which had obviously not been used for many years. Although there was not much grass on the ground, the vines and branches on it were lush and green, making the journey very difficult.

The distance between the trails and the hiking routes is not fixed; sometimes they are only a few dozen meters apart, and sometimes they even detour to different locations, but the destinations are almost the same...

The general direction is pointing to that pool of water!

The dark surface of the pool finally came into view through the gaps in the trees.

The secret path almost intersects with the main tour route here, and through the sparse trees, Qin Jin could even clearly see the tents camping by the pool—

By this time, the campfire had been lit, and some people were playing and splashing around in the pool, some were lazily listening to music, and others were barbecuing, creating a lively scene.

Qin Jin's gaze swept across the camp, confirming John Constantin's beige trench coat, before continuing forward.

Like two ghosts disappearing into the shadows, they slid silently past the edge of the tour group's camp, attracting no attention.

The secret path did not lead to the camp, but instead followed the edge of the pool and began to extend into a more secluded and shady corner.

The path beneath our feet became even wetter and muddier, covered with moss and tangled tree roots.

They had to push aside the damp vines and tread on fallen leaves that smelled of humus as they painstakingly made their way around the edge of the pool.

After walking around for about three or four hundred meters, they arrived at a stone wall by a pool. The rocky terrain and gnarled trees made the area feel particularly gloomy and damp, with the light mostly blocked by the dense canopy.

Amidst this pile of rubble, a striking tomb suddenly came into view!

This is a typical Chinese earthen tomb, very old. Moss grows among the huge stones piled on top, and the tombstone is also a single piece of mountain stone. The name on it is very blurry, and only the surname "Tong" can be seen. The rest is covered with soil.

"As expected!" It all started right here.

A soft rustling sound came from beside him, and Qin Jin was startled when he turned his head—

Aresa pulled out a ball of explosives from somewhere and was looking for a spot on the grave mound, seemingly intending to blow it up...

"Stop! This isn't about blowing it up, Alessa!" Qin Jin quickly pulled her back.

"This thing might not be something from the grave. This grave... should be the burial place of a man, related to the paper bride, but it shouldn't be her!"

Aresa stared straight at Qin Jin. Although she could understand each word individually, when put together... she had absolutely no idea what it meant!

Chinese taboos and the bizarre are not only profound for Westerners, but also for Western monsters.

Despite her lack of understanding, since Qin Jin stopped her, Alessa obediently put away the explosives in her hand and stuffed them back into the science monster.

The sky had darkened, and the forest was cold and gloomy, with twilight rising from the depths of the woods like a thick fog.

Just as the light was about to disappear completely, an extremely faint sound entered Qin Jin's ears without warning!

That was neither the sound of any known musical instrument nor a human voice.

It's like countless cold metal pieces rubbing and colliding at a great distance, or like fingernails scraping against rotten wood, carrying an indescribable desolation and emptiness, drifting faintly in the silent air, penetrating straight to the soul.

The voice seemed to disregard spatial distance, resounding directly in his and Alessa's minds.

In the center of that thick, ink-black pool, without warning or a sound, a group of figures rose to the surface!

A wedding procession!

The people in the group wore old-fashioned yet brightly colored red clothes, their faces were covered with thick, stiff white powder, and their cheeks were dotted with round, blood-red rouge.

At the front of the procession, someone carried a pale white or blood-red lantern, the light emanating from it a halo of orange-red, but the edges were burning with a ghostly greenish-blue ring.

In the middle of the procession, four identically dressed people stiffly carried a simple sedan chair—

It couldn't even be called a sedan chair; it was more like a bamboo frame covered with red cloth, topped with an equally bright red embroidered silk canopy.

A figure sat upright in the sedan chair.

She wore an elaborate and gorgeous bright red wedding dress adorned with gold embroidery, and her face was covered by an equally bright red veil.

Only a pair of feet, clad in small, equally bright red embroidered shoes, peeked out from under the hem of the wedding dress, dangling from the edge of the palanquin, swaying gently as the procession moved.

This extremely bizarre team emerged from the pitch-black pool!

The paper figures that banged gongs, beat drums, and played suonas waved their arms dramatically, but made no sound.

There was no splashing of water, no footsteps, not even the sound of clothes rubbing together.

Only that grating, melodious yet deathly silent music continued, as if it were the only proof of their existence.

They stepped onto the muddy ground beside the pool. This silent, pale, scarlet procession, with stiff but orderly steps, followed the secret path of the incense burner, step by step, towards the edge of the mining area...

The paper bride... has finally appeared.