False evidence

Chapter 272 Gray Mountain Opens (Part 1)
I was taken aback. This doesn't seem to be a local station.
I pressed the turntable button.

After a series of crackling sounds, the same sound came from the loudspeaker again:

"Please help me, I need to go to Shuangshan Road to find someone."

I switched channels several times, and they kept repeating the same words, with the same voice and not a single word different.

I hesitated for a moment, then simply turned off the radio.

The phone screen suddenly lit up by itself, and at the same time, that sound came from the speaker again:
"Please help me, I need to go to Shuangshan Road to find someone."

I'm starting to get really scared.

I couldn't help but think of the orders I had taken before leaving the hospital.

No. 28 Shuangshan Road, isn't that the clinic?

I instinctively turned my head to look at the back seat.

It was cleaned before I left the car this morning, so it was spotless.

I turned to look at my phone.

The screen was still lit, and no sound came out, but all the icons on the screen had disappeared.

Instead, there was a deep blue... a shimmering deep blue.

I took my phone off the stand, and the screen returned to normal instantly.

"This is truly a ghost story!"

When I turned the radio back on, I was certain that none of this was a hallucination.

Because no matter how you change the channel, it just repeats the same sentence.

After thinking it over, I released the handbrake...

The car stopped in front of the clinic on Shuangshan Road, and suddenly an advertisement came on from the radio that had been silent the whole way.

I was already on edge, and the sound startled me, so I instinctively turned the volume down to the minimum.

However, the phone screen then automatically lit up again, and the voice said:

"Could you please come pick me up here again tomorrow morning?"

The screen automatically turned off.

I suddenly had a strange, indescribable feeling.

The car door hadn't been opened, yet at this moment, it felt like something was missing from the car.

I instinctively turned around, but there was still nothing unusual in the back seat.

However, in the instant I turned my head, I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye that there were several pieces of joss paper burned for the dead on the passenger seat!
At Xiao Shen San's shop, I recounted what had just happened.

Xiao Shen took the few pieces of paper money, looked at them, and then asked me, "How much should the fare be from the hospital to here?"

"eighty."

"This is number one hundred and sixty."

"what?"

Xiao Shen placed the paper money on the table and pushed it in front of me. "Even ghost money has denominations. This is proper ghost money, exactly one hundred and sixty."

"What do you mean?" I found it utterly incomprehensible.

Xiao Shen San casually remarked, "People have to pay for rides, and ghosts have to pay for rides too. Burning this 'money' is like depositing it into my own account."

I frowned: "What do you mean by depositing into an account?"

Xiao Shen said, "Just think of it as a bank account. You don't need it now, but you'll need it when you die."

I pinched my brow hard: "If it were a ghost hitchhiking, I should be able to see it, but..." "You're overthinking it. You've seen what Han Ning and Lu Daoren looked like after they died. Ghosts and evil spirits come in different kinds, and even those born with the ability to see ghosts can't see many of them."

Xiao Shen San took a sip of tea and said in his strange accent, which he could no longer shake:

"You don't need to be afraid. Ghosts won't harm you if you have no grudge against them. It's not common for ghosts to hitchhike, but you can figure it out by thinking about it. Ghosts are also called 'ghosts,' but they can't just float dozens of miles away in the blink of an eye. Even ghosts need to take a ride when they want to travel far."

"Hitchhiking..."

"It's rare, but I've actually encountered it by chance."

Xiao Shen got up, grabbed a half-empty bottle of wine from the corner of the shelf, poured himself a small glass, took a sip, and grinned, saying, "These are all old stories. Since we have time anyway, let's talk about them..."

Shen San lived a hundred years ago. He was originally a servant in a family surnamed Tang. Later, he seduced a concubine of the family and was almost beaten to death.

Fortunately, Master Tang from the same clan was a generous and magnanimous man. Seeing that the two were truly in love, he not only spared Shen San but also gave him capital to open a funeral shop in the town.

The "ghost ride" that Shen San mentioned happened before he started having an affair with the concubine, when he was still living in the Tang family.

The Tang family were merchants, and it was common for Shen San to accompany his patriarch, Master Tang, to handle goods.

Traveling through the mountains to buy goods in Northeast China is not an easy task, but once you get used to it, it becomes commonplace.

But in the twelfth lunar month of that year, on the way out of the mountain for the last time with Master Tang, Shen San encountered several strange things one after another!

First, even the usually cautious Mr. Tang slipped and fell into the "big belly" while using the toilet.

This "big belly" is a trap set by hunters in Northeast China.

It's not something that just one or two families can set up; usually, it's hunters from an entire village who work together to dig a large pit, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, where they can pile up enough to fit a dozen or so large coffins.

Unless it's a large predator like a monkey or a bear, it's unlikely to climb out.

The most detrimental aspect of this large, cratered pit is that it takes advantage of the unique climate and environment of the snow-capped mountains.

The mountain valley is covered with snow all year round, and people and livestock can easily fall in, with only a hole above them that is not easily noticed.

If a key person falls down, you can't shout loudly. If you do, it will cause resonance, and the flimsy roof might collapse, bringing ice and snow, knocking the person unconscious on the spot.

At that temperature, if a person faints for more than a few minutes, the chance of reviving them is less than 20%.

Fortunately, Shen San was with them, and with his years of experience hiking in the mountains, they found Master Tang.

Even though he survived, Mr. Tang still broke his leg.

Shen San sat slumped on the side of the carriage. "Master, something seems off about that 'big belly' of hers."

Tang Ye wiped the cold sweat from his throbbing forehead and gasped, "You noticed it too? There definitely wasn't such a pit in that hollow before. I looked down there, and it looks like it was recently dug."

Shen San waved his hand and said, "No way! Once winter comes, who can dig frozen soil? Besides, the snow and ice on top are still thick; it can't have been dug recently!"

"But that's a new pit!"

Grandpa Tang propped himself up and sat up, sniffing the air as he said, "Why do I always smell like rat droppings?"

Shen San sniffed: "No! I mean, isn't your nose frozen stiff? How can you still smell it..."

Before he could finish speaking, the person driving the carriage ahead exclaimed, "Hey! The gates of Gray Mountain are open!"

The next second, before Shen San and Master Tang could react, the whole group of people driving the carriage had vanished without a trace.

At this moment, Shen San and Tang Ye also saw an extremely eerie scene not far ahead.

That was originally a mountain path trodden out by hikers; although rugged, it was still a path.

Right in front of us, less than twenty meters away, the middle of the road was blocked by a gray-black 'mountain'!
The key point is that this 'mountain' is not fixed, but is moving towards us little by little at a certain speed!
"San'er!"

Master Tang grabbed Shen San, trembling, and said, "Go! Don't worry about me, go!"

(End of this chapter)