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

Chapter 24 The Tears of the Saintess
"Brother Baiyu..."

That soft call carried a sorrow powerful enough to freeze the soul and a history spanning a century.

Bai Yu's body froze completely. He slowly turned around, the wooden ladle in his hand slipping from his grasp and falling onto the wet, slippery flagstone with a soft "thud." The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer striking the deathly silent backyard, and also striking his soul, which was instantly gripped by immense shock.

He saw the stream.

She was still standing under the eaves of the back door. The earthenware bowl that should have been filled with water had long since shattered on the ground, just like her broken heart at that moment.

Her small body trembled slightly, and her face no longer held the innocent and carefree look of before, but instead showed a sorrow that Bai Yu had never seen on her face before.

Those eyes, which should have been as clear as a mountain stream, were now brimming with glistening tears. Those tears were not those of a child shed in distress, but rather like two pieces of amber polished a thousand times by the years.

She was no longer the little girl who skipped and hopped around, humming eerie nursery rhymes. At this moment, she seemed to be possessed by an ancient soul, and her small body emanated a sorrow that made heaven and earth grieve.

"I..." Bai Yu opened her mouth, but found that her throat was so dry that she couldn't say a word.

How could he explain himself? Should he say he was trying to survive? Should he say he was trying to mend his collapsing soul? Faced with this "child" who seemed to bear the weight of the entire village's tragedy, any self-centered reason seemed so pale and powerless.

"I thought... I thought you were different." Xiaoxi's voice was still childish, but her tone had become ethereal and distant, as if it came from another time and space.

Her tears finally streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably, dripping into the murky puddle at her feet. Strangely, they didn't cause a ripple, but rather blended in quietly like pure dewdrops, making the surrounding small patch of sewage a little clearer.

“Every outsider who comes here wants to drink the water from the well. Some are greedy, some are fearful, some are crazy... They all want to get something from the Holy Maiden. But they don’t know that with every drop of ‘tear’ they drink, the Holy Maiden’s power to protect this village will weaken a little. The mountain god’s ‘rain’ will be one step closer to us.”

Tears streamed down her face as she looked at Bai Yu with eyes filled with profound sorrow, gently shaking her head.

“I thought you were different from them. There was no greed in your eyes, only weariness and confusion. You had a clean scent about you that was different from my parents'. I thought… I thought you were the one I had been waiting for for a very, very long time… But you still drank it…”

That sigh was filled with endless disappointment, like the softest knife, stabbing deeply into Bai Yu's heart.

Bai Yu fell silent. He didn't argue, but simply looked quietly at the "child" in front of him who was shedding tears.

The "stream" before us is no longer a stream. Or rather, it never was. It is a guardian, a lonely soul carrying memories and hopes.

He struggled to his feet from the well and bowed deeply to the stream.

"sorry."

No unnecessary explanations, no hypocritical pretexts. Just the simplest three words.

He admitted to his "theft" and also admitted that he had betrayed the "trust" that was perhaps misplaced.

Xiaoxi seemed surprised by his reaction. She paused for a moment, and the tears in her eyes flowed even more fiercely, but the overwhelming sadness seemed to lessen slightly as a result.

"Aren't you going to explain yourself?" she asked, sobbing.

“I drank the water from the well, that’s a fact.” Bai Yu raised her head, her gaze frank and sincere. “Whatever my reasons, for me, it was a matter of survival. But for you, and for the ‘saintess’ you protect, it was a matter of theft and harm. So, I apologize.”

He paused, looking into Xiaoxi's tear-blurred eyes, and said in a gentle yet solemn tone, "But before I accept any punishment, I want to tell you something. Something... about you, about the Holy Maiden, and about the true story of this village. Perhaps, after hearing it, you will understand that my coming here was not accidental."

Xiaoxi's crying gradually subsided, and she looked at Baiyu with her red eyes, seemingly not understanding the meaning behind his words.

Bai Yu gave her no more time to think. This was his only chance, his only chance to connect all the clues and gain the trust of the "Well Soul" before him.

“Haven’t you always wanted to know what happened ‘that day’?” Bai Yu’s voice became deep and resonant, as if he were recounting a history he had witnessed firsthand. “Now, I will tell you.”

He recounted everything he had seen in the real world, in that ancestral hall shrouded in resentment, after drinking the "nuptial wine" that was transformed from the groom Lin Sheng's century-old grievances.

He was no longer talking about the cold words in the diary, nor the desperate speculations in his predecessors' last words, but about the scenes he was actually there.

“A long time ago, this village wasn’t called Luoshui Village. It should have had a more beautiful name. There was a kind and beautiful girl in the village named Awan.”

The moment Bai Yu uttered the words "Awan," Xiao Xi's body trembled violently, and her eyes, which had already stopped crying, were once again filled with endless sorrow like a tidal wave.

"She had a beloved young man named Lin Sheng. He wasn't from the village; he might just be a scholar passing through. But his love for A Wan was pure and sincere. He would weave the cutest little rabbit for her with willow branches under the ancient tree at the village entrance, and he would promise her the most secure future with all his tenderness."

Bai Yu's voice was soft, yet it seemed to possess a magical power, bringing back a history that had been sealed away for a hundred years, along with scenes full of sunshine and hope, to this cold, rainy landscape.

Xiaoxi listened quietly, forgetting to cry and question, simply gazing intently at Baiyu, as if seeing the happy times that had long since passed through his eyes.

"But a sudden plague shattered all that beauty." Bai Yu's tone shifted, becoming heavy with sorrow. "The villagers, gripped by fear, became ignorant, blaming the disaster on the wrath of the mountain god. And the village's old-fashioned elders, those wise men who should have protected the village, made a cruel decision under the mountain god's secret influence—sacrifice. They chose the purest and most beautiful girl in the village, Awan, to marry her off to the unseen mountain god in order to appease the so-called 'divine wrath.'"

"They forced Lin Sheng, using the village's righteousness and the lives of hundreds of people to blackmail his love. Lin Sheng resisted, he roared, but he was ultimately just an unarmed scholar. He watched helplessly as his beloved girl was dressed in that glaring red wedding gown and sent as a lifeless sacrifice into that bottomless cave in the back mountain..."

Bai Yu paused at this point.

He saw that Xiaoxi's body was trembling violently, and the tears flowing from her eyes were no longer tears, but an overwhelming grief and hatred. Her small hands were clenched tightly, and her knuckles turned white from the force.

"You... how could you know... how could you know these things..." Her voice was no longer that of a little girl, but had become the voice of a young woman filled with endless sorrow.

“Because I drank Lin Sheng’s ‘resentment’.” Bai Yu looked directly into her eyes and said, word by word, “I felt his heartbreak, I experienced his despair. When he saw the villagers who had once oppressed him cheering and celebrating in front of the ancestral hall after the plague subsided, taking his suffering as a natural sacrifice, the last glimmer of hope in his heart was completely extinguished.”

"So, wearing that red suit where he would never see his bride, he used his life and his deepest resentment in the ancestral hall to cast the most vicious curse on the village he once loved, a village now only filled with betrayal. He wanted everyone to stay and wait with him for this wedding that would never end. He wanted the village to be forever immersed in the day he lost his lover, day after day, year after year."

"This is the true origin of the village you are protecting."

When Bai Yu finished speaking the last word, the entire backyard fell silent.

Only the endless rain continued to fall softly, as if the whole world was weeping for this sad story.

"...Is that what he...thinks...?"

After a long while, Xiaoxi… or rather, Awan’s obsession, asked softly in a voice filled with endless heartache.

"He hates them, and he hates this village... That's why he doesn't want to wake up, doesn't want to end this wedding... Is that right?" "Yes." Bai Yu nodded. "His resentment is the core that keeps that shrine and that terrifying wedding going. But his resentment is also being used by the mastermind behind it all—the 'Mountain God.' The Mountain God twisted his curse, turning this place into a breeding ground for 'despair,' and it's secretly enjoying it all."

"Mountain God..." As Awan uttered this name with unwavering obsession, her voice was filled with deep-seated hatred. "It was it... it was it that took my life with the plague, it was it that deceived the ignorant villagers with lies, it was it... that destroyed everything I had, and it destroyed everything Lin Sheng had..."

She slowly raised her head, her sorrowful eyes radiating an unwavering light. Looking at Bai Yu, she said in a solemn tone, "Outsider, I believe everything you say. You are the only one who can see through the deep love behind Lin Sheng's resentment, and the only one who knows who our common enemy is. You are right, your arrival here was not accidental. You... are the hope I have waited a hundred years for..."

As she finished speaking, her body began to undergo a strange transformation. Her slender figure, dressed in blue cloth, began to become transparent, shimmering like a reflection in water. In its place, the ethereal image of a tall, elegant young woman in a simple white dress slowly emerged from that small body.

Her face was still shrouded in a soft halo, making it difficult to see clearly, but Bai Yu could clearly feel her pure beauty.

She is the drowned saintess, Awan.

“My time is running out.” Awan’s illusory figure looked at Bai Yu, her voice ethereal yet urgent. “This dream I constructed is on the verge of collapse after sharing all the truth with you. And my power, after fighting against the mountain god’s cursed rain for a hundred years, is already almost gone. I cannot personally awaken Lin Sheng, nor can I fight against that powerful mountain god. All of this can only be entrusted to you.”

"What should I do?" Bai Yu asked immediately.

"Return to reality." Awan's illusory figure pointed to the ancient well. "You must leave this prison of memories and return to where your companions are. The real battlefield is outside. The awakened Lin Sheng, that terrifying shrine, are waiting for you. You must find a way to stop the mountain god from completely merging Lin Sheng's resentment with that aggregate of resentment!"

"But how can we stop it?"

“Awaken him!” Awan’s voice held a hint of pleading. “Although Lin Sheng’s resentment runs deep, at the very core of that resentment, he must still retain his purest love for me. That is the part of him that is ‘human.’ The mountain god can exploit his ‘hatred,’ but he cannot taint his ‘love.’ You must find a way to make him remember this love, to wake him from the nightmare of revenge! Only when he himself is willing to let go of the curse can this wedding truly end!”

"I understand." Bai Yu nodded heavily; this was the most difficult and crucial part of the mission.

"But before you leave, I have one last gift to give you."

As Awan's illusory figure spoke, she slowly extended her hand, made of light, and pointed to the old wooden ladle that Bai Yu had used to drink water, which had fallen to the ground.

The wooden ladle slowly floated up under her guidance.

"You can't take the 'tears' from this well with you. But my power can reside in this object you once used."

Awan's illusory form began to become more transparent, as if it might dissipate in the wind at any moment. She transformed all her power into streams of pure white light, tinged with golden hues, which she continuously poured into the suspended wooden gourd.

The old, worn-out wooden ladle began to undergo a complete transformation under the infusion of light.

All the cracks and decay on it were rapidly disappearing, transforming into a warm, jade-like texture. The entire wooden gourd presented a pure, milky white color, with golden patterns resembling ripples naturally appearing on its surface.

A pure, vast aura, filled with compassion and purification, emanated from the small wooden ladle, even forcing back the surrounding rain of curses.

“Take it.” Awan’s voice had become extremely weak, and her figure was almost invisible. “It can temporarily purify the mountain god’s rainwater, providing you and your companions with a small sanctuary. Perhaps… at the most crucial moment, it can even allow you to see some ‘truth’ obscured by resentment. Remember, what the mountain god fears most is not overwhelming power, but… the true ‘love’ that can never be corrupted by it…”

"...Lin Sheng...my love...I...am waiting for you..."

With a final sigh filled with endless love and reluctance, Awan's illusory figure, the holy maiden who had protected Luoshui Village for a hundred years, finally vanished forever into the sorrowful rain, like the first wisp of mist in the morning light.

The pristine white wooden ladle gently fell into Bai Yu's outstretched hand.

It feels warm and smooth to the touch, like holding an angel's hand.

At the same time, the entire dream world began to shake violently.

The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be stirred by an invisible hand, forming a huge vortex. Floodwaters began to pour onto the ground, and houses collapsed in the twisting and turning.

This last refuge, built on obsession, has finally come to an end after fulfilling its mission.

Bai Yu gripped the wooden ladle tightly in his hand. What he held was not only a powerful "sacred object," but also Awan's last love, Lin Sheng's only salvation, and the last hope of the entire Luoshui Village.

He bowed deeply once again in the direction where Awan had disappeared.

"I promise you."

An irresistible repulsive force emanated from the center of the collapsing world, striking his consciousness fiercely.

Everything went black before Bai Yu's eyes, and he completely lost consciousness.

……

"Cough...cough cough!"

A violent cough suddenly pulled Bai Yu out of the endless darkness.

The air, thick with the stench of blood and decay, rushed into his lungs, making his body, which had just begun to recover, feel uncomfortable again. He suddenly opened his eyes, and what he saw was no longer the endless rain, but An Mu's face, which was filled with anxiety.

"Baiyu! You're awake!" An Mu's joyful voice rang in my ears.

Bai Yu then realized that they were in a black forest shrouded in blood mist. Mo Fei and Lan Ce were protecting them on either side, their faces etched with exhaustion and vigilance.

"I...I'm back..." Bai Yu's voice was hoarse, but filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.

He instinctively reached for his pocket.

The next second, his pupils suddenly contracted.

In his pocket, a warm, white wooden ladle lay quietly.

That's not a dream.

He returned. He returned with the last tears of the drowned saintess, and with the only hope of the entire village.

(End of this chapter)