Chapter 54: Do I Look Like a Human to You?

With Zhang Yang having spoken and Gao Wen having persuaded him for quite a while, Zhang Wumao finally stayed behind with a aggrieved expression, watching the militia squad head up the mountain.

The atmosphere of today's mountain patrol was much more oppressive than the previous few.

All around, only the sound of a few footsteps could be heard.

Holding his hunting rifle, Zhang Yang walked at the very front, maintaining a high level of vigilance.

After entering the mountain, he reminded the Gao brothers, Gao Wen and Gao Wu, to get to work.

"There were pheasant footprints around here earlier; you can bury a few more traps under the tree roots."

Gao Wen and Gao Wu were full of enthusiasm. "Understood!"

After walking for a while, seeing that the three accompanying team members all looked listless, Zhang Yang gave them a graceful way out.

"It's probably the gunshot from the night before yesterday that scared all the animals in the mountain. There really shouldn't be anything to hunt today. If you're feeling tired, don't push yourselves. Just let me know and head down the mountain early to rest."

The three newly joined temporary members merely nodded, remaining quiet and not much for talking.

Zhang Yang had no choice but to tell them to stick closer, fearing they might get lost.

After crossing two ridges, the team members' physical endurance gradually reached its limit.

Moreover, the northern wind blew so fiercely that people's noses felt like they were about to freeze off, and even the flask of liquor Zhang Yang had brought with him was mostly consumed.

The chilling moonlight filtered through the sparse treetops, casting mottled patterns on the snow.

Every tree looked like a silent guardian, quietly watching over the peace of this barren mountain.

Looking out, the entire forest was completely empty. Apart from their group of seven, it seemed there were no other living creatures.

"I'm so sleepy..." Zhao Dong let out a huge yawn.

The others caught the contagion and began yawning as well.

Zhao Dong nudged Zhang Yang. "Yangzi, why don't we chat... tell us everything you saw when you went to town!"

The others perked up, listening attentively.

Zhang Yang choked slightly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk, but those matters of the black market...

Were hard to speak of.

However, helping Old Man Jiang sell medicinal herbs could also be considered a rare adventure.

He could tell that story to entertain everyone and drive away the boredom.

"We happened to run into a kind old gentleman this time..."

Zhang Yang began telling the story alone, occasionally turning back to check everyone's reactions, trying his best to make the tale vivid and interesting.

Yet this story did not meet everyone's expectations.

One of the team members still couldn't hold on and proposed to head back first.

"Do you know the way back, then?" Zhang Yang asked with concern.

The other nodded. "I came to the mountain with my dad in the summer; I know the way!"

Although the man was certain, Zhang Yang still felt uneasy. "Why don't all three of you go back together as companions? It'll be safer on the road."

Since he was the squad leader, everyone still listened to what he said.

Since they were indeed genuinely tired, they didn't force themselves.

The three temporary members bid them farewell, and the two groups parted ways.

With only his trusted insiders left, Zhang Yang resumed talking about his encounters in the black market.

Just as he reached the point where Peng Si'er sent people to block his path over that protective amulet, Zhao Dong's expression suddenly changed.

"Yangzi, did you hear that?"

Thinking Zhao Dong was being jumpy and frightening himself, Zhang Yang glared at him. "Hear what?"

"It sounded like a woman crying..." Zhao Dong shivered. "Or maybe a woman laughing..."

Zhang Yang genuinely hadn't heard anything, but Gao Wen and Gao Wu were nearby, so he couldn't help looking at them.

Gao Wu looked blank. "I didn't hear anything."

However, Gao Wen's expression also changed. "Stop talking, you guys... there really is something..."

Zhang Yang held his breath and concentrated.

The night wind whistled, carrying a bone-chilling cold as it swept through the mountain valley, making a sound like soft weeping or sorrowful recounting, as if telling a tale from ancient times.

Was what they heard just the wind?

Just as Zhang Yang was about to ridicule the two of them, shouts suddenly echoed from afar.

"Squad leader! There's a ghost!"

"We ran into a ghost!"

"Squad leader, save us!"

A ghost?

Where would a ghost come from?

"There is! There really is! Right over there! A female ghost!"

"She's super thin and came floating right toward us!"

Watching the three small team members running back, Zhang Yang strained his ears even harder to listen.

Yet still, he heard nothing.

Zhao Dong was already shivering uncontrollably. He gripped the old muzzle-loader in his hands, growing only more terrified the tighter he held it.

"Yangzi, our weapons can shoot wolves and kill pigs, but they can't fight a female ghost..."

"What ghost!"

With his rifle on his back, Zhang Yang walked directly in the direction they had pointed.

Terrified to the extreme, Gao Wen and Zhao Dong nevertheless followed closely, muttering as they walked, "Could it be that Yangzi has too much righteous spirit in him, which is why he can't see these things?"

"Then we have to stick even closer to him!" Zhao Dong looked on the verge of tears. "I'm still so young, I haven't even taken a wife, and I've only just started enjoying a few days of eating meat. I've got a long life ahead of me—I can't possibly end up in the hands of a female ghost..."

Quickening his pace, Zhang Yang walked several hundred meters further until he finally caught sight of a faint, shadowy figure among the trees.

The figure had disheveled long hair and wore a plain white garment, fluttering about and indeed looking utterly terrifying!

In this era, generations upon generations practiced earth burials; when someone passed away, they would simply find a propitious spot in the mountains to bury them and be done with it.

Consequently, mounds of graves were indeed frequently seen in the mountains.

After patrolling so many times, Zhang Yang had stepped on ritual joss paper on several occasions.

Yet in a scientific society, where would ghosts come from?

If ghosts truly existed, then that was simply an adventure!

As the saying went, every debt has a debtor and every grievance has a master; even a ghost wouldn't indiscriminately harm people and would actually be less aggressive than wild beasts.

Thinking this, Zhang Yang's momentum grew stronger as he walked straight toward that figure.

Zhao Dong, however, could not control his fear. Unable to walk properly himself, he grabbed onto Zhang Yang.

"Yangzi, don't go! That's a female ghost!"

Seeing that Zhang Yang didn't believe him, Zhao Dong raised his rifle, aimed at the shadow, and fired a shot.

"Ah!"

The shadow let out a startled cry and collapsed onto the ground.

Zhang Yang immediately shouted, "Dongzi! That's a person! Stop shooting!"

A person?!

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Zhang Yang rushed forward immediately.

Up close, it was indeed a person—an emaciated woman.

Judging by the looks of it, Zhao Dong's shot hadn't hit her.

It probably just frightened her.

"Miss, which family do you belong to? Why did you run out wearing so little?"

Seeing that she wore only a single layer of clothing, Zhang Yang finally understood why she looked like she was floating from a distance...

It was the effect of her shivering!

"Did you get lost?"

With the situation pressing and seeing that she was so cold she couldn't even speak, Zhang Yang had no choice but to take off his padded cotton jacket and drape it over her first.

The others rushed over, all talking at once.

"What's going on?!"

"Miss! Which family are you from? Not sleeping in the middle of the night is one thing, but why run out to scare people?"

The woman didn't look very old, but right now, frozen completely devoid of blood color, she still looked a bit frightening.

Zhao Dong also took off his hat and scarf to warm her up.

Just as he finished tying the scarf for her, he saw the woman stiffly raise her head, her gaze fixed rigidly upon him as the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward into a sinister smile.

Suddenly, she reached out with a cold, stiff hand and grabbed Zhao Dong's arm.

"Young man, do you think I look like a human?"