HLM – Chapter 1068 Ghost Story

A plate of spicy stir-fried snails was quickly cleaned out. The four of them were still unsatisfied, and Li Xing and Na Qingyang urged Wang Bo to go ask the neighbors for more.

Wang Bo felt embarrassed. “Alright, alright, we still have plenty of dishes. Eat these first. Tomorrow we’ll go dig for snails ourselves, and I’ll cook them for you. I’m really good at this.”

“Yeah right,” Na Qingyang muttered unhappily. “You better keep your word.”

Although Wang Bo’s hometown wasn’t exactly a water-town, there were still plenty of ponds around, filled with snails—nothing rare at all.

Early the next morning, after waking up, he found a few plastic buckets and took them out to look for snails.

Passing by the village entrance, smoke curled from chimneys, and a stove was burning hot.

Wang Bo poked his head inside and shouted, “Uncle Dou, steaming buns today?”

A man wearing a white apron and holding a cigarette in his mouth replied lazily, “Got it. I’ll save a steamer basket for you.”

Wang Bo laughed. “Uncle Dou always knows me best.”

Their village mainly ate rice as the staple food, but Wang Bo got used to eating steamed buns while in school, and the habit stuck.

These days, making steamed buns was much more troublesome than cooking rice. Wang’s parents found it tiring, and only a few people in the village still knew how to make them.

This family at the village entrance had a steaming stove and occasionally made a few baskets, eating some themselves and selling the rest. Freshly steamed buns—soft and fragrant—were Wang Bo’s favorite.

When they reached the pond, he took a look. The water was dark, smelly, with detergent packets and pesticide bottles thrown around carelessly.

Seeing this, he shook his head. “Forget it. Let’s go to the reservoir. The snails here aren’t edible anymore.”

“What if the reservoir isn’t good either?” Na Qingyang asked nervously.

Wang Bo said, “Then what were you eating last night—ghost-snails?”

Li Xing said, “Speaking of ghosts, do you guys have a lot of water-related ghost stories around here?”

Morning sunlight rose, mist drifted above the reservoir, and even in summer the breezes blowing over it were cool.

Na Qingyang hugged his clothes tighter and forced a laugh. “Seriously? You two wanna tell ghost stories at a time like this?”

Wang Bo said, “Hey, we’ve actually got lots of water ghost stories. Take this reservoir. I remember one story that spread like wildfire when I was in elementary school.”

“It went like this—there was this young guy with the surname Na…”

“Get lost! Na? What is he, Manchu? You have Eight Banner nobles around here?” Na Qingyang exploded. “Old Wang, you’re such a jerk! You’re doing this on purpose to scare me!”

Wang Bo spread his hands helplessly. “Can’t help it. That’s really how the story goes. He really was surnamed Na—I remember it clearly.”

Li Xing pinched the back of Qingyang’s neck. “Stop interrupting. Lord Xing is listening to the story.”

“The guy surnamed Na was a small businessman, but he was lazy, greedy, lustful, and liked to gamble. Hey hey hey— Brother A, I’m not talking about you! That’s how the story goes!”

“Get lost!”

“Anyway, he was a businessman. You guys know—businesspeople in the countryside have to get up early to catch the markets. If the market’s far, they have to get up even earlier.”

“One morning, around 1 or 2 a.m., he got up and rode his bicycle to the market. When passing this reservoir, he suddenly saw a balance scale floating on the water!”

“You guys from the city don’t get it—scales were super important for rural traders. Back then, they were handmade, rare, and valuable.”

“When he saw the scale, the young man got excited. He stopped the bike and tried to go down to pick it up.”

“But the scale was floating. It drifted toward the shore at first, but when he reached the shore, it drifted another meter away.”

“The water near the shore wasn’t deep, so he rolled up his pants and went in. But as soon as he entered the water, the scale drifted another meter out…”

‘“I—holy shit!”’ Na Qingyang blurted out.

Li Xing rolled his eyes. “How are you such a coward? It’s broad daylight! What are you scared of? There’s so many of us!”

Na Qingyang grabbed him with one hand and pointed toward the back of the reservoir with the other. “No—not that. I just saw a kid. A kid in red running right here—and suddenly he disappeared!”

Wang Bo said calmly, “Uh-huh. So you’ve seen a ghost now?”

“I swear on my life!” Na Qingyang shouted anxiously. “I really saw a kid in a red shirt running—and then poof, gone!”

Li Xing frowned. “Bro, are you serious?”

“How do I make you believe me! I swear! And you still don’t believe me?!”

Eva said quietly, “Maybe we should go look. I… also noticed something red.”

Wang Bo looked around. The sky was still early, and no one was around the reservoir. The atmosphere suddenly felt strange.

They walked up the steps by the reservoir. Above it was wasteland and a small dirt path, with several piles of garbage—this was where surrounding towns dumped their trash.

Na Qingyang quickened his pace, but then slowed down, face turning pale. “Do you hear it? Sounds like someone crying… wailing…”

Wang Bo didn’t hear anything, but he noticed the Fat Cat Brothers had their ears perked, staring northwest.

“People say cats can see what humans can’t,” Na Qingyang muttered.

Li Xing spat. “Bullshit. We’re three grown men, plus you, a virgin. Even if there were ghosts, would they dare come at us?”

Wang Bo suddenly remembered something; his expression changed. “Shit—it’s not a ghost. Quick! Look around—there should be a damn irrigation well nearby!”

He put the Fat Cat Brothers down. They dashed forward with nimble steps. Wang Bo and the others followed, and soon they saw, next to a garbage pile, a dark open well.

Na Qingyang suddenly realized, “Holy crap—the kid fell in?!”

At the sound of his voice, a child’s cries echoed from inside: “Help! Help me!”

Thank goodness he was still making noise. Wang Bo took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it down. “Don’t be scared, little friend. Tell uncle what’s down there, okay?”

The well wasn’t deep—from the water to the opening was only about five or six meters.

But the well mouth was narrow, straight up and down with smooth, mossy walls. Using his phone’s light, Wang Bo could barely make out a child splashing in the water below.

Wang Bo stripped off his shirt, preparing to jump, but Eva grabbed him. “The opening’s too small. You might get stuck going down. Even if you don’t, you could land right on the child.”

Na Qingyang dialed emergency services, while Li Xing ran toward the village to get rope. As long as they had a rope, pulling the child up would be easy.