The Last Taoist

Chapter 2: Graveyard Wager

My name is Zhang Xiu, I'm nineteen years old, and I'm a freshman at Chongqing Normal University.

The story I'm about to tell you was something I heard from the elders in Zhangjiakan. Every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, my father would take me to Wang Jidao's house to stay overnight.

To be honest, there was nothing particularly special about going to Wang Jidao's house. Each time, Wang Jidao would use a pungent liquid to wipe my eyelids, then he would let me stay inside the house alone to sleep, forbidding me from going out no matter what.

"What are you thinking about?" Qin Jiang, who was beside me, nudged me.

Only then did I come to my senses and said, "Just reminiscing about my childhood."

"Hmph," Qin Jiang scoffed and said, "Stop daydreaming. Let's go buy some stuff."

"Do you think it's a bad omen for us to play like this?" I asked uneasily.

"Are you chickening out on our agreement? Whoever chickens out has to back off from pursuing Luo Yaxi," Qin Jiang laughed heartily.

This Luo Yaxi was the collective goddess of the four of us in the dormitory. We often argued about her, and tonight, Qin Jiang proposed that we spend the night at the deserted burial mound on the outskirts of the city. Whoever chickened out and ran away wouldn't be allowed to continue pursuing Luo Yaxi. The last one remaining would be the winner.

The other two guys in our dormitory were named Guo Zifan and Shen Kai.

It's said that the world belongs to the cultured.

After discussing it, Guo Zifan and Shen Kai immediately went to find the deserted burial mound, while Qin Jiang and I sneaked out to buy paper money and incense.

As the saying goes, money can make ghosts push the millstone. If we encountered anything dirty, we could just throw the paper money over. Even if the ghost didn't give me face, it couldn't ignore the money, right?

Qin Jiang and I sneakily bought a backpack full of paper money and incense, then took the bus to the western outskirts of Chongqing.

Guo Zifan had already found a deserted burial mound.

This deserted burial mound was built on a barren hill, covered with weeds. Most of the graves inside had no tombstones, some were just small mounds of dirt.

The four of us stood at the foot of the deserted burial mound, and it was already dusk, with the sky darkening.

In the middle of the deserted burial mound, there was a dilapidated pavilion. The four of us put our things down here, and Qin Jiang took out a deck of cards, smiling, "Let's play cards."

"Sure," the three of us agreed.

I was actually feeling quite nervous now. It was fine when it was still light out, but now that it was dark, just thinking about the surrounding darkness filled with graves was unsettling.

After playing cards for a while, the four of us were all a bit distracted.

"Caw caw."

Suddenly, the cawing of crows came from outside the pavilion.

"Hey, Jiang Ge, how about we leave and stop playing?" Guo Zifan was a chubby guy with a surprisingly timid disposition. He once found a mouse in the dormitory, and his reaction, as a grown man, was quite unexpected.

Qin Jiang rushed up and stomped the mouse to a pulp, while Shen Kai and I were okay. This chubby guy went straight to the toilet and threw up, and for the next few days, he dared not look at the spot where the mouse died.

"What are you talking about? If you want to leave, just go. It would be better if all of you left, then there would be no one to compete with me for Yaxi," Qin Jiang said with a grin.

"In that case, I'm really leaving," Guo Zifan said.

"Get lost. It takes ten minutes to walk out of this deserted burial mound. You dare to go out alone?" Qin Jiang looked at Guo Zifan incredulously.

After considering for a moment, Guo Zifan said, "Um, Xiu Ge, Jiang Ge, how about you guys walk me out?"

"Screw off, you coward. You have the nerve to compete with us for Yaxi with that kind of courage?" I cursed, "Forget it."

"Damn, you guys are bullying me too much." Guo Zifan pinched his fingers and cursed at us, then turned and ran away.

I watched the chubby guy's figure and frowned, saying, "This guy really dares to run."

Shen Kai said, "Wait and see, he'll definitely come back within ten minutes."

I estimated and shook my head, looking in the direction Guo Zifan had left, "You're wrong. I know Guo Fatty very well. He's not as brave as you think. Saying ten minutes is too exaggerated for him. Five minutes, at most five minutes."

None of us spoke after that. After five minutes passed and Guo Zifan still hadn't returned, I thought for a moment and said, "Hey, Jiang, let's just chat. It's creepy here at night."

"What do you want to talk about?" Qin Jiang seemed a bit nervous now too.

"Anything," I said, looking around at the dark surroundings, hoping to distract myself.

"I've always been different from other kids since I was little," Qin Jiang began. "When I was a kid, I used to wonder why Digimon's Wu Baosai saved the world at eight, Xiao Master of China became a special chef at thirteen, and Uchiha Itachi from Naruto unlocked the Mangekyo Sharingan at thirteen. Why do I have to do homework every day? I must have something different from others, so I've always aspired to pick up girls since I was young. I want to pick up a hundred before I'm twenty."

"Who asked you to bring that up? Change the topic," I scolded Qin Jiang.

Shen Kai swallowed and asked, "So, shall we go look for Fatty now? In this wilderness, he definitely wouldn't dare to walk alone. He might be hiding somewhere."

"Forget it," Qin Jiang cursed, "If you want to go, go ahead. This place is too creepy. I don't want to walk around casually. Let's just spend the night in this pavilion."

"Jiang Ge," I signaled to Qin Jiang with my eyes, "let's still go and look for him. It's not good if something happens, right?"

"Damn it," Qin Jiang took out three cigarettes and said, "Let's all smoke one. We'll go over together and take a walk. We'll be back after finishing this cigarette."

"Okay."

The three of us took flashlights and cigarettes and went in the direction Guo Fatty had run off to. It took us two minutes to walk there.

Honestly, it was really unbearable in this wilderness. It was pitch black everywhere, and wherever the flashlight shone, you could see graves. This feeling was really uncomfortable.

The cigarette was about to burn out soon.

"Wow, Guo Fatty is really brave. It looks like he really ran away," I sighed.

"Let's go back," Qin Jiang said, and Shen Kai said, "Wait, I'm going to find a place to pee. You guys wait for me."

After speaking, Shen Kai ran to the side of the road to pee.

"This guy is really lazy," I looked at Shen Kai's back and shook my head.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, in the quiet night, came a scream.

It was Shen Kai's voice.

"Kai Zi, are you okay? Damn it." Without hesitation, Qin Jiang and I ran over.

In just a few steps, we arrived next to Shen Kai, who was trembling on the ground.

Seeing that Shen Kai was fine, I kicked him and scolded, "Are you crazy? What are you screaming about for no reason?"

"You guys, look." Shen Kai's voice trembled as he pointed ahead.

I followed the light of his flashlight and was almost scared to death.

The photo on the tombstone in front of us was actually Guo Zifan's face. What was even more eerie was that Guo Zifan's eyes in the photo were looking at me and smiling.