Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 19 The Non-Existent Cry
"Waaaaah... Mommy... Where are you... I'm so scared..."

The crying seemed to emanate from the depths of an ancient well sealed for centuries, carrying a dampness that seeped into the very marrow of the body. It wasn't the cry of a child; the sound lacked any warmth of life, containing only repetitive sorrow and fear. Each syllable was like a rusty needle, piercing with pinpoint precision into the most vulnerable nerve endings of the four.

The instant they heard the cries, a force of rules far more terrifying than the hundreds of gazes within the ancestral hall bound them firmly to their spots like a spiderweb. It wasn't that their bodies were immobilized, but rather that a shackle called "restriction" bound them. They could sense that if they made any movement unrelated to "finding the paper doll for help"—such as retreating or attacking—the noose of "rules" would tighten instantly, wiping their existence from this world completely.

“The seventh rule…” Lan Ce’s voice rang out in the mental link, his tone losing its usual calmness and trembling with the inability to analyze the data, “'There are no children in the village. If you hear a child crying, please immediately seek help from the paper doll.' This is a typical… typical logical paradox trap.”

"What do you mean?" Mo Fei's muscles were tense like steel. He forced himself not to listen to the ear-piercing crying, but the sound seemed to penetrate everywhere, drilling into his mind and stirring up the deepest fear of powerlessness and loss in his heart. "Is there no way to break it?"

“It’s simple.” Lan Ce forced himself into analysis mode, even though his brain was buzzing with the eerie crying. “Option one: We ignore the rules and try to leave. Based on the consequences of breaking the rules before, our mortality rate is 100%. Option two: We follow the rules and go out to ‘seek help from the paper figures.’ But we all know that the paper figures outside are the monsters from the ancestral hall banquet. Asking them for help is tantamount to walking into a trap, and the mortality rate is also 100%. It’s a dead end. No matter what we choose, we will die.”

"Then what are we waiting for! We're going to die anyway, so I'll just charge out and kill as many as I can!" Mo Fei's anger was reignited; this seemed to be the only way for him to fight his fear.

"Shut up, Mo Fei!" An Mu's voice, like a cold anvil, slammed down on Mo Fei's impending outburst. "The more critical the moment, the more we need to stay calm. Since the rules have provided the 'ask for help' option, it means it's not simply meant to kill us; it's testing us." His gaze swept across each team member in the darkness, finally settling on Bai Yu, who was leaning against the wall, her face ashen. "Bai Yu, what do you think? Your intuition is the sharpest."

At this moment, Bai Yu was enduring unimaginable pain. The child's cries were more than just sounds to him; they were like a key, forcibly unlocking the prison door in his mind that sealed away the memories of the "wine of resentment." The wails of countless wrongfully killed girls intertwined with the child's cries, unleashing a tsunami in his mental world.

"Heh...what a naive trap, yet surprisingly effective." Hei Yan's voice languidly echoed from the depths of his consciousness, carrying a hint of condescending commentary. "It exploits your pathetic sympathy for cubs and your reverence for 'rules.' Like a clumsy hunter setting a honey-coated trap on the road. The interesting thing is, you know it's a trap, yet you have no choice but to stick your feet in. This struggle adds a touch of charm to this tedious drama."

Bai Yu forcibly suppressed the tremors in his soul, focusing all his attention on the "crying sound." He had drunk that cup of wine, and his spirit had already formed a strange "resonance" with the origin of this space. He could "taste" that there was no soul in the crying sound.

“This crying… is fake,” Bai Yu said in the mind link, his voice weak but unusually clear. “It’s not a real child, it’s more like a… tape recorder, a ‘rule trigger’ that’s been programmed and keeps playing on repeat.”

"Fake?" Lance immediately grasped the key point. "You mean, this is a decoy made purely of the power of rules?"

“Yes.” Bai Yu nodded, feeling that every thought he had intensified the tearing pain in his soul. “The rule says ‘seek help from the paper dolls,’ which is correct. But it cleverly exploits our preconceived notions. When we think of paper dolls, we think of those malevolent monsters outside. But… is it possible that it refers to other paper dolls?”

His gaze slowly shifted from the room from which the crying was coming to the portrait of a sinister old man on the main wall of the hall.

"The owner of this diary, the 'elder' who killed Awan and was ultimately consumed by the curse himself. He died in this room. Where are his resentment and obsession most likely left behind?" A flash of realization crossed Bai Yu's eyes. "The solution to breaking the rules is probably not outside, but right here in this room!"

This bold inference was like a faint oil lamp lit in a pitch-black dead end.

"You mean... the 'paper figure' we're looking for is in this house?" An Mu instantly understood Bai Yu's intention.

“I’m not sure, but this is our only way out.” Bai Yu took a deep breath and forced himself to stand up straight. “We have to go in. We have to go to the source of that crying.”

An Mu gazed into Bai Yu's eyes, which were filled with weariness but also unusual determination. After a few seconds, he made a decision: "Alright. We'll do it your way. Mo Fei, you lead the way and keep watch. Lan Ce, follow behind me and be ready to provide support at any time. Bai Yu, you walk in the middle. Let's go in."

The four formed a tight tactical formation once more, and step by step, they approached the ajar door. Each step was incredibly difficult, the sound of crying seeming to weigh heavily on their hearts. The dust on the floor rose with their movements, appearing like countless lurking spirits in the beam of their flashlights.

Mo Fei walked in front, reached out and gently placed his hand on the cold wooden door, then pushed it hard.

"Squeak-"

After a long, drawn-out sound, the door was pushed open completely. A mixture of musty, dusty, and rotten candy-like odors wafted out from inside.

The beam of the flashlight shone inside immediately. Behind the door was a room that looked like a girl's bedroom. The furnishings inside were covered with a thick layer of dust, obscuring their original colors. There was a small wooden bed, a dressing table, and a rag doll lying on the floor, its cotton entrails spilling out of its ruptured belly. One of its glass eyes was missing, while the other stared blankly at the ceiling.

The mournful cries came from the exquisitely carved wooden music box in the very center of the room.

The dancing figurines that should have been spinning on the top of the music box are gone, leaving only an empty base. And the mournful melody flows out again and again from the springs inside.

"As expected... it's a trigger," Lan Ce said in a low voice.

The four of them cautiously entered the room, their eyes quickly scanning every corner, searching for the "paper doll" Bai Yu had mentioned. However, apart from the rag doll lying on the floor, there was nothing else in the entire room that could be seen related to the "doll."

"Wait... Where's the paper figure?" Mo Fei looked around warily, his palms, gripping the battle axe, were already sweaty.

"Don't rush," Bai Yu's voice rang out. He didn't look at the obvious furnishings, but instead focused his gaze on the dusty dressing table. In front of the mirror on the dressing table sat a dusty jewelry box and a rusty wooden comb.

"Lan Ce, scan that comb," Bai Yu said.

"A comb?" Lan Ce asked, puzzled, but immediately did as instructed. A faint blue light swept across the comb, and the detector immediately displayed a reading.

"There is... there is faint biological residue. Mainly... hair. Based on the analysis of the missing DNA fragments, it belongs to a female child between the ages of seven and nine."

“This is it.” Bai Yu stepped forward. He didn’t touch the music box that was making a crying sound, but instead reached out and picked up the wooden comb.

The moment he picked up the comb, he saw a shattered illusion. The sinister-looking old man was sitting in front of the dressing table, gently combing the long, black hair of a girl whose face he couldn't see.

“He loves her very much,” Bai Yu said softly, as if speaking to himself, or perhaps explaining to his teammates. Then, he took the wooden comb and slowly walked to the rag doll lying on the ground. He knelt down, reached out his other hand to lift the dirty, tattered rag doll, and gently patted the dust off it.

Then, he did something that surprised everyone.

He picked up the wooden comb that belonged to the little girl and began to "comb" the lifeless, tattered rag doll's long-gone hair, stroke by stroke.

His movements were light and slow, full of ritual. It was as if he were grooming not a doll, but a truly sleeping child.

"What are you doing?" Mo Fei asked, puzzled.

"Please help." Bai Yu's reply consisted of only two words.

He continued his movements. Once, twice, three times…

When he combed the tenth stroke, the child's cries that had been echoing in the room suddenly changed. The sorrowful melody became less mournful, instead carrying a hint of soothing calm.

Then, an even stranger thing happened.

On the main wall of the hall, there was a portrait of a sinister old man. Suddenly, two lines of jet-black "tears" flowed from his eyes, those eyes drawn with ink dots.

"Woo..."

A sigh filled with endless regret and sorrow echoed in the ears of the four people, spanning a century.

With that sigh, the mournful melody of the music box abruptly ceased.

The room fell silent once more. But this time, the binding force that had been holding them back vanished as if a thread had been severed.

They succeeded.

"This...this is it?" Mo Fei looked at everything in front of him in disbelief.

“The rule says ‘seek help from the paper doll.’ This ‘paper doll’ doesn’t refer to a physical object, but rather the ‘longing’ in this elder’s heart for his daughter.” Bai Yu slowly stood up and put the comb and rag doll back in place. “We used his daughter’s belongings to appease this longing, which is equivalent to completing our ‘seeking help’ from him. He acknowledged us, so the rule was lifted.”

“A perpetrator, and also a tragic father.” An Mu said with a complicated expression as he looked at the portrait with tears streaming down his face.

"Click."

Just then, the sound of a mechanism clicking came from behind the portrait.

The four immediately became alert. They saw the portrait slowly slide aside, revealing a dark compartment behind it that had long been blackened by smoke.

The hidden compartment contained no gold or silver treasures, nor any secret manuals. There was only a yellowed linen cloth, neatly folded and placed there.

Anmu stepped forward and carefully took out the linen and slowly unfolded it.

It was an extremely rudimentary hand-drawn map. It depicted the terrain of the mountains behind Luoshui Village. The map's lines were crooked and drawn with some kind of charred charcoal. But in the center of the map, a cave was heavily marked with a red pigment, whether cinnabar or blood, it was unclear.

Beside the cave were a few hastily written words filled with terror.

“…The mountain god…eats people…Awan…is inside…save her…”

On the other side of the map, a hidden path leading to the back of the cave is drawn. That path is marked as the "path to survival".

“It’s a sacrificial cave!” Anmu’s voice was tinged with excitement. “This is the only clue left for posterity by the owner of the diary in the last moments of his life, out of remorse and the instinct to cry for help!”

"With this, we can avoid the direct confrontation and find the source of Awan's obsession!" Lan Ce couldn't hide his excitement.

Looking at the hard-won map, the four knew they were one step closer to the truth about this cursed village. Although their bodies were exhausted to the limit, the flame of hope was rekindled in this desolate wasteland.

"Take a five-minute break." An Mu glanced at the team members' condition and gave the order, "Replenish fluids and energy, check your equipment. We'll head to the back mountain in five minutes."

He carefully put away the map, then looked through the grime-covered window of the room towards the end of the village. Behind the deep, blood-red fog, a majestic and menacing black mountain range loomed in and out of sight, like an ancient behemoth lurking in the darkness, waiting for them to walk into its trap.

The real battleground is right there.

　Thank you for the monthly ticket from Tianxia Youzhi q Lengyue Wushuang.

　　@( oω)@
　　
　
(End of this chapter)