Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 314 The Road to Beheading

The cold night wind swept across the city's borders, and the suburban roads were desolate and dilapidated.

This is the border of Moonlit City; beyond that are fields of corn and pine forests.

The roads, frequently churned by large trucks, are riddled with potholes and dilapidated. The once-paved cement surface has almost completely disappeared, with yellow dust and sand accumulating between the roads, and occasionally a few slightly protruding stones can be seen.

After finishing their hot pot meal, Ran Qing and the other two rested for a while before leaving the chicken hot pot restaurant and arriving at this intersection of the national highway.

This place is also known as the "Beheading Road," where, according to legend, prisoners were dragged here and beheaded during the Republic of China era.

Unfortunately, with the development of the times, this place has become an important main road leading out of Moonlit City.

Many vehicles traveling from the south and north, entering and leaving Moonlit City, all head in this direction.

The ancient legend of the "Cut-Head Road," coupled with the fact that truck drivers often travel at night, has led to a wide circulation of various eerie tales about the road in Moonlit City.

The midnight minibus is one of the most widely circulated ghost stories.

But besides these, many other similar ghost stories have been passed down.

For example, a truck driver was driving at night and passed by a road with no head, when he saw a female ghost by the roadside.

Or perhaps, as darkness fell, the nearby villagers saw people in tattered old-fashioned clothes stiffly waving and smiling at them from the woods beside the road to beheading.

This is a place full of legends and eeriness, but because it is located on the edge of the city and right on the main road, people can hardly avoid it even if they are wary and fearful.

It was past nine o'clock at night when Ran Qing and the others left the hot pot restaurant.

By the time they reached the vicinity of the headless road, it was already late at night, close to ten o'clock.

At this time, even in the main urban area of ​​Moonlit City, most streets are deserted and devoid of people.

At the dead-end intersection, one can often see the bright headlights of large vehicles flashing in the darkness, followed by the rumbling vibrations of the ground and the roar of car engines.

Old-fashioned Red Star tractors, green-skinned freight cars, and many passing cars.

The traffic here is obviously heavier than in Yue Zhao City.

Ran Qing and the others walked to the crossroads of the road to the headless gate and found a flat place to sit down.

They were to wait here until midnight, for that strange minibus to appear.

Xiao Mianhua stayed somewhat uneasy beside Ran Qing. Although she came from Southeast Asia, she grew up in Yue Zhao and was familiar with the terrifying legend of the beheading road.

Now that she's actually at the scene of her childhood nightmare, Little Cotton, who's already afraid of ghosts, is even more nervous.

Ran Qing knew very little about this strange minibus; she had almost no information about it.

The only thing known is that once you board the minibus, you will be taken to a distant place and disappear.

But he had no idea where he went or why he disappeared.

Ran Qing could only erect two white banners at the crossroads of the road to beheading, with some strange and scribbled incantations written on them using goat blood mixed with incense ash.

This is a kind of road sign, similar to the road sign left in the human world when Aunt Liu took him to the ghost realm of Wujiang.

If that minibus really does have the strange ability to take people away and make them lose their way, perhaps this road sign can help them find their way back.

But just as Ran Qing finished inserting the soul banner and fixing it in the sand, Long Zongshu suddenly spoke up.

"...There seems to be someone over there."

Under the cover of night, Long Zongshu pointed into the distance with some doubt and unease.

The Zangke Mountains are numerous and the terrain is rugged, so the roads are winding and twisting, with a bend every few steps and almost no straight roads.

At the crossroads ahead of the headless road, at the end of the pine forest, there is a bend.

Long Zongshu's reminder made Ran Qing look up. He took a few more steps forward and stood side by side with Zongshu.

As you get closer to the bend, you can indeed vaguely see a light hovering motionless by the roadside at the end of the bend from this angle.

But this place is almost a desolate wilderness on the edge of the city, with no residents nearby. Why would there be a light here?

Ran Qing stared in astonishment at the lamp, and faintly heard the soft laughter of a little girl playing in the night breeze.

Mo Li also stepped forward, looking in surprise at the lights at the end of the bend in the road.

In the darkness, such light was incredibly glaring.

Little Cotton shrank back in fear and muttered, "...Could it be the midnight minibus coming?"

This is a dead-end road. Although vehicles occasionally pass by, no car would dare to stop here.

Ran Qing frowned and said, "The lights on minibuses don't look like this."

Whose minibus only has one headlight?
And the little girl's playful laughter drifting on the night breeze sounded somewhat familiar...

Ran Qing walked forward expressionlessly, heading directly towards the lamp.

Little Cotton was startled, but seeing that Mo Li and Long Zongshu had already followed, the timid Little Cotton could only tremble and follow along.

Soon, as they got closer, the sounds of a little girl playing near the lamp became clearer and clearer.

Ran Qing and the others finally got a clear look at the lamp.

It was a kerosene lamp hanging on the tent, emitting a dim yellow light in the darkness.

The style of that tent was very familiar.

Mo Li and Long Zongshu looked at Ran Qing almost simultaneously, their expressions somewhat strange.

Ran Qing paused slightly.

But this time, he did not stop or avoid the tent.

Instead, he walked straight toward the tent he had seen at Laowang Mountain.

On the dark mountain roadside, at a legendary haunted beheading crossroads, a tent like this is set up... What is Ran Jianfei planning to do?
Ran Qing arrived near the tent and saw the mother and daughter sitting inside.

The woman, whose eyebrows and eyes already showed faint wrinkles and hinted at her age, was still quite beautiful. The little girl sat on her lap, happily reading picture books with her.

The scene of this mother and daughter reading together at night is incredibly heartwarming.

—It would be even better if it weren't in this haunted place.

Ran Qing stared in astonishment at the scene, looking around but unable to find the middle-aged man.

There were only the mother and daughter in the tent. The young girl's hair was messy, as if she hadn't combed it when she got up that morning. There was also sleep in the corners of her eyes, and her hands were dirty, giving her a disheveled appearance.

It was completely different from the clean and cute little porcelain doll I usually see.

The middle-aged woman holding her read the picture book to her with a lifeless gaze, her voice devoid of any emotion, like a walking corpse.

The sound of Ran Qing and the others approaching made the middle-aged woman look up, but after seeing that it was Ran Qing and the other two, she looked away as if she hadn't seen anything and continued reading to her daughter.

In just a moment of eye contact, Ran Qing saw the middle-aged woman's red and swollen eyes, and the bloodshot veins in her eyes.

This middle-aged woman, reading picture books with her daughter, seemed to have been crying for a long time.

A sorrowful and desperate sadness lingered around her.

(End of this chapter)