Chapter 4

8.

"What do I do now?"

My voice shook.

"Zhong has his sights on you. He won't let you go."

Master Shan's expression was deadly serious.

"The only way is to find the wraith's true body and destroy it."

Old Zhong was the one tending the mushrooms and watering them with blood.

The inn was his net for catching "offerings."

"The cave is in the forbidden area behind the inn."

Master Shan pointed.

"He guards it closely. Never lets anyone near."

I understood.

Lin Wan must have stumbled onto the cave's secret.

And Zhong had killed her to silence her.

"I'm going with you."

My mind was made up.

I had to avenge Lin Wan.

And find a way to survive.

He nodded, taking a machete from the wall and a coil of rope soaked in black dog's blood.

"Remember. Once we're inside, don't believe anything you see or hear."

"Above all... don't answer any voice that calls to you."

We avoided the main trail, circling around the back of the mountain toward the inn.

It was utterly silent, like an abandoned house.

We slipped into the backyard.

Sure enough, in one corner stood an inconspicuous wooden door secured by a large padlock.

A yellowed talisman was pasted to it, covered in symbols I couldn't understand.

"This is it," Master Shan whispered.

He took out a tool. After a little work, the lock came open.

As soon as the door moved, cold, damp air hit us, carrying the smell of decay.

Beyond it, stone steps descended into bottomless darkness.

We switched on our flashlights and went down.

The steps were slippery. Slimy green moss coated the rock walls.

The farther we descended, the stronger the stench became.

After a dozen meters or so, the passage suddenly opened out.

A natural limestone cavern.

Strangely shaped formations filled it. In our flashlight beams, they looked like bleached skeletons.

A pool lay at its center.

Stagnant water.

Its surface was an uncanny inky green, giving off waves of foul odor.

Dense clusters of mushrooms grew around it.

Their shapes were grotesque.

The caps were creased like human faces, glowing with a sinister phosphorescence.

"The wraith's true form. Human-faced mushrooms."

Master Shan kept his voice very low.

Then I heard a voice.

Lin Wan's.

"Mo, save me..."

It came from the middle of the pool.

I shone my flashlight across.

She stood in the water.

It reached her waist.

Soaked through, face deathly pale, she looked at me with pleading eyes.

9.

"Wanwan!"

Instinctively, I started toward her.

"Stop!"

Master Shan grabbed me and shouted.

"It's a hallucination! Look carefully!"

I looked again.

There was no Lin Wan.

In the middle of the pool stood a mushroom many times larger than the human-faced ones surrounding it.

On its cap, a face exactly like hers confronted me, mouth opening and closing.

That was where the voice had come from.

Cold sweat drenched me.

This thing could read my memories directly and create a vision of what I most desperately wanted to see.

"You filthy beast! I'll send you straight to hell!"

Master Shan roared and took a wine gourd from his backpack.

He yanked out the stopper and poured it over the mushrooms.

The gourd contained potent realgar wine.

Where it touched them, black smoke rose at once. They hissed as though splashed with sulfuric acid.

An acrid stench and terrible screams filled the cavern.

Men, women, old people, children...

As though countless wronged souls were wailing.

Just when we thought we'd succeeded, the enormous mushroom began to shake violently.

The face on its cap twisted.

Its mouth opened, releasing a thunderous roar.

A powerful blast burst from it, throwing both of us to the ground.

My flashlight flew from my hand, rolled across the floor, and went out.

Darkness swallowed the cave.

All I could hear was Master Shan's muffled groan and a series of heavy footsteps.

Those footsteps...

Were coming toward me.

"Heh heh... another fresh one..."

An old, hoarse voice sounded in the dark.

Old Zhong.

My heart sank.

I struggled to get up. Suddenly, something tightened around my ankle.

An icy hand had seized my leg.

"Don't be in such a hurry. Stay and keep an old man company."

His voice was right beside my ear.

10.

I fought wildly, kicking at him with my free foot.

But his hand clamped like an iron vise. His strength was astonishing.

In the darkness, I caught a stench of mud and rotting flesh coming off him.

"Master Shan!"

I shouted for help.

Only a hollow echo answered.

"Don't bother. That old fool can barely look after himself."

Zhong laughed nastily.

Despair filled me.

Was I going to die here?

Then a weak light appeared.

Master Shan.

His flashlight was almost out of power.

The beam lit his bloodied face—and the scene before us.

Old Zhong was dragging me by the leg, backing toward the pool.

He looked horrifying.

His eyes had rolled back, showing only white. Drool ran from the corners of his mouth. He no longer looked remotely normal.

Master Shan was in an even worse state.

A dagger protruded from his chest. Blood kept pouring from the wound.

"Young man... hurry... burn the mother fungus..."

With all his remaining strength, he threw the flashlight toward me.

It arced through the air and landed nearby.

I saw a chance to live.

I stopped struggling and let Zhong drag me toward the pool.

Just one step from the gigantic mother fungus, I suddenly snatched the flashlight from the ground and drove it into the fungus with all my strength.

Zhong screamed.

"How dare you hurt my treasure! I'll kill you!"

He reached to pull the flashlight out.

In that split second, I broke free. By the faint light, I scrambled and rolled toward the fallen wine gourd.

Fury burned through me as I took in the scene.

I thought of Lin Wan.

Of all the innocent people who had died.

I swung my arm, flinging all the remaining wine over the mother fungus.

Whoom!

It erupted in flames like an ignited gas cylinder.

The fire burned green, unnaturally vivid and searing.

The mother fungus screamed more horribly than ever.

The sound seemed ready to pierce my eardrums.

The cavern began shaking violently.

Stalactites rained from the ceiling.

The hand gripping my ankle suddenly let go.

I scrambled to Master Shan and helped him up.

"Go! It's coming down!"

He gave me a push.

Supporting each other, we fled for the entrance.

Suddenly, he seized my arm and looked back.

I turned.

Old Zhong lay on the ground.

Master Shan watched him, his expression torn.

Behind us came the roar of falling rock and the creature's final screams.

I gritted my teeth.

In the end, I went back, grabbed Zhong's trouser leg, and dragged him desperately toward the exit.

We'd barely burst out when falling rocks sealed the passage behind us.

Master Shan and I collapsed, gasping.

Sunlight fell across us.

Only then did I feel it...

I was truly alive.