Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-Pierce, Proofreader-adjective
“Oh?”
Ji Dong was curious.
Since Ji Xiao’niao hadn’t been able to find any clear clues from this simple urban legend for the time being, he asked, “Do you have any other information?”
“Take a guess,” Ren Jianmo replied.
Ren Jianmo smiled again and pulled out a few old, yellowed newspapers from the coffee table, handing them to Ji Dong. “The study in this villa has 30 years’ worth of newspaper clippings. If we can find some clues online, we can follow the trail and discover more.”
Curious, Ji Dong took a look and wondered, “Longxing Mountain Private Coal Mine Explosion and Collapse Accident”?”
He read out the contents of the newspaper:
“In the year 20XX… Hmm, that would be 32 years ago… There was a gas explosion in the Longxing Mountain Private Coal Mine, causing a collapse in one of the mine shafts… Six workers were trapped at the bottom of the pit… When they were found a week later, there were no signs of life…”
As Ji Dong read this, he suddenly realized.
“No wonder the handprints had coal dust and ink! So, are you saying that the spirits haunting the tunnel are the souls of those deceased miners? Are they… trying to find the person who caused their deaths?”
After saying that, he widened his eyes and stared at Ren Jianmo with sparkling eyes, as if he were a little dog seeking praise. He was almost shaking his tail behind him.
However, instead of receiving Ren Jianmo’s praise, he received a flick on his forehead.
“Ah, why are you so silly?”
Ren Jianmo shook his head.
“You guessed wrong, think again.”
——————————-
When Ji Dong and Ren Jianmo went downstairs, the Fan siblings were sitting on the sofa. One was scrolling through their phone, while the other was reading some materials. The kitchen door was wide open, and the rich aroma of food wafted out from inside.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Hearing footsteps, Fan Luming looked up and glanced at Ji Dong’s face. “Not bad, not bad. Your complexion is rosy, and you look energetic. It seems like you had a really good sleep.”
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Llr ujhf ecmbcrmlberis vgloafv abkjgvr Efc Aljcwb, gfnfjilcu j tlca bo uelia jcv j ojlca rfcrf bo gfugfa—la kjr jii yfmjerf tf tjv rifqa abb rbecvis, ecjyif ab gfwfwyfg jcsatlcu, cba fnfc mjamtlcu j uilwqrf bo Efc Aljcwb’r riffqlcu ojmf!
“Cough!”
He deliberately coughed, asking knowingly, “What are you guys up to?”
“We just gathered some information about the haunted place we’re going to tonight.”
Fan Luming patted the space on the sofa next to him, gesturing for Ji Dong to come and sit.
Ji Xiao’niao eagerly moved forward when he heard it was something important.
Then, during this moment before dinner, the siblings briefly told him about the situation of the haunted location they were about to visit tonight.
According to Fan Luming’s plan, what they were going to obtain tonight was a “J”.
The coordinates of the poker card “J” were approximately 40 kilometers away from their current villa. There were no specific buildings, but Fan Luming used a panoramic view and discovered that it should be a river with a very old-fashioned and unremarkable arch bridge on it.
Even though it’s just a river, the city where Ji Dong and the others were currently located was surrounded by water on three sides, and the water system was very developed. So even though it’s just a river, from the panoramic view, it appeared quite wide. According to the official hydrological monitoring data, the average water depth was three and a half meters, and during flood season, it could even rise to five meters.
Fan Luming told Ji Dong, “This river is officially called Dongsi River based on its location in the city. However, when searched online, it is most commonly referred to as the ‘Life-taking River.’”
The name itself sounded ominous that Ji Xiao’niao shuddered as he asked:
“How does it ‘take lives?’”
“Have you seen this bridge?” Fan Luming opened a picture saved on his phone and showed it to Ji Dong, pointing at it with his finger. “Legend has it that anyone who spends the night under the bridge will be haunted by vengeful spirits and meet a gruesome death on the spot.”
No matter which city it was, there would always be some homeless people. These people usually chose to spend the night under bridges, in abandoned houses, or in other places with shelter.
However, anyone who spent the night under the bridge of the “Life-taking River” would have their bodies discovered the next day by others, and their deaths were gruesome, with their bodies torn apart and scattered.
The only exception was when two drunken individuals walked together and ended up collapsing and sleeping under the bridge.
In the middle of the night, when one of them was half-dreaming and half-awake, he seemed to feel someone pushing his body, while softly singing:
“…I’m in pain, can you lend me your feet… I’m so hungry, can you lend me your teeth… I’m cold, can you lend me your skin…”
At that time, he was still intoxicated by alcohol, muddled, thinking it was just a dream and not taking it seriously at all. He even thought it was a prank by his companion and grumbled, telling the other person to stop bothering him and let him sleep.
Until a sharp pain shot through his arm, the drunkard woke up from his slumber and was shocked to find that his left wrist had been severed!
In excruciating agony, the drunkard sobered up completely, clutched his still bleeding severed hand, and stumbled away.
Before leaving, he looked back while crying, casting a glance behind him—illuminated by the half-hanging full moon, he saw a black figure!
That black figure vaguely resembled a person’s silhouette, sitting on top of his companion, raising a cleaver high in the air, repeatedly striking his companion…
…
The next day, the police found another person’s mutilated body under the bridge.
However, contrary to the testimony of the drunkard with the severed hand, there were no traces of a third party at the scene—no footprints, no fresh fingerprints, and not even the so-called “murder weapon” mentioned by the drunkard, the cleaver, could be found!
The drunkard was arrested by the police as the prime suspect in killing his companion, but after several interrogations, he was released due to lack of evidence. This grisly dismemberment case, which finally had a living suspect, ultimately came to nothing.
But after that, a terrifying nursery rhyme started to spread.
Later on, as more and more cases of unidentified killers and dismemberment emerged, it gained widespread fame. Some even composed music for it, completed the lyrics, recorded it as a single, and shared it online…
“Here it is,” Fan Luming said and clicked on the player.
The ethereal prelude of the overly delicate music box began to play, accompanied by a sweet and childlike female voice, deliberately lowering her tone as she sang:
——I’m in pain. Can you lend me your feet? I’m so hungry. Can you lend me your teeth? I’m so thirsty. Can you lend me your tongue?
——Thank you, thank you, you are such a good person, please die here instead of me!
——I’m so cold, can you lend me your skin? I’m so tired. Can you lend me your hand? I’m so sleepy. Can you lend me your head?
——Thank you, thank you, you are such a good person, please die here instead of me!
Ji Dong shuddered.
He felt that this song truly captured the essence of “Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme.” Despite the sweet and coquettish female voice, the lyrics were chilling, enough to be used as the ending theme song for “One missed call.”
“Mmm… From the looks of it, it resembles a classic haunting tale,” Ji Dong furrowed his brows in worry.
“Whether or not it has any grudges, as long as we enter its range of hatred, we will be subject to indiscriminate attacks… It’s just like Ju-on, a classic curse that binds spirits,” he said.
He didn’t want to have his hands and legs chopped off and be horrendously dismembered!
Fan Luming felt the same way. “How about we switch to a ’10’ card?” he suggested.
There were a total of 4 cards that could represent “10”. It was not necessary to stubbornly confront a Ju-on-like entity to the end!
“Don’t bother with that!”
Fan Hemian reached out and struck the back of her little brother’s head. “Of the remaining three, ‘Campus Seven Mysteries’, ‘Evil Spirit of Panshan Mountain Road’, and ‘Apartment Strangulation Master’, which one sounds easier to deal with?”
He pouted, “It doesn’t matter which one we choose, right?”
Fan Luming originally wanted to argue back, but after thinking about it, he realized that his sister’s words made sense.
With the mischievous nature of the [Peach Blossom Spring], if they could arrange a geisha-like earthbound spirit in this [Film], then other supernatural places might be inhabited by Sadako or Hanako.
At that moment, Mo Tiangen, who was in charge of cooking, brought out dinner for everyone.
So the five of them sat around the dining table, eating and discussing tonight’s action plan.
Mr. Dagen’s attitude was much calmer than Ji Dong and Fan Luming.
He supported the older sister’s opinion—since no location would be easy to reach, it would be better to choose one, gather as much information as possible, make thorough preparations, and then give it their all.
And, most importantly, they were not weak drunkards or wanderers. Not only did everyone possess supernatural abilities, but their combat power was far superior to ordinary people on countless levels. Even if they encountered fierce ghosts, couldn’t they still run away if they couldn’t beat them?!
“Well, what about you…”
Mo Tiangen turned to Ren Jianmo and inquired, “You’ll be alone, will you be okay?”
Fan Hemian and Fan Luming, upon hearing this, stopped eating and looked at Ren Jianmo, who would be acting alone tonight.
Ren Jianmo smiled lightly and nodded:
“Yeah, no problem.”
Even though he had answered this question several times already, Ren Jianmo didn’t feel impatient.
On the contrary, he was well aware that he didn’t dislike the concern of his companions.
……………..
After dinner, the group gathered in the study to organize the information they had collected and had a serious and thorough discussion.
Time flew by quickly, and before they knew it, it was already midnight.
The group left the villa, got into two separate cars, and headed towards their respective destinations.
Shortly after Ji Dong and the others’ cars left, the people from the neighboring Blue team, Yin Jun’s group, also left the villa, got into their car, and drove onto the ring road from the nearest intersection, heading straight towards the west of the city.
Yin Jun and his team’s destination was different from Ji Dong and the others, but it confirmed their previous speculation, the direction of “Q” and “2”.
