I left the skinny old man in a state of despair, my mind filled with ancient horror words like "fox spirit", "life sucker", "becoming stupid and crazy". They were like cold poisonous snakes entwining my thoughts and making me breathless.

  Especially the old man's meaningful glance in the direction of Xiao Zhang and Meiling gave me a bad feeling.

  I would think of the cold laughter Xiao Zhang mentioned last night, the shadow outside the window, and his restless and on-the-edge-of-collapse state. Could it be. Could it be that he has really been targeted by that indescribable "fox spirit"?! Has he even begun to be affected?!

  This thought was like an invisible cold hand tightly grasping my heart. I must go back immediately! I must warn them! Especially Xiao Zhang!

  I ran like crazy towards the shabby house where they were hiding. The thick fog still filled the broken walls like a monster with bared fangs and claws, and the dead silence was so oppressive that it was suffocating. But at this moment, I could no longer care about the horror of the environment. I had only one strong thought in my heart - I couldn't let them get into trouble!

  When I pushed open the crooked wooden door again, panting, the scene in the room stunned me.

  Xiao Zhang did not pace anxiously like he did when I left. Instead, he sat on the ground with his back against the wall, staring blankly at a point in the air in front of him. There was no expression on his face, like a zombie who had lost his soul.

  And Meiling. She was still curled up in the corner of the bed, wrapped in a blanket, but she was no longer crying or shivering. She just opened her big empty eyes and stared blankly into the void, as if her consciousness had already floated away from this body.

  The silence in the room was even more frightening than the previous quarrels and crying. A deadly despair filled the air.

  "Xiao Zhang? Meiling?" I called softly, with a strong sense of uneasiness in my heart.

  They seemed not to hear my voice and remained in that dazed state.

  I walked up to Xiao Zhang and squatted in front of him. I stretched out my hand and waved it in front of his eyes: "Xiao Zhang! Wake up! Look at me!"

  His eyes moved slowly, his empty gaze fell on my face, but it was as if he was looking at a stranger. ".Sister.Xue." He murmured, his voice dry and erratic.

  "How are you? Just now. just now I went to find that old man! He told me." I was eager to tell him the warning about the "fox spirit".

  But Xiao Zhang seemed to have not listened at all. He suddenly opened his mouth, revealing an extremely weird smile, which was stiff and unnatural, and matched with his sallow face and empty eyes, it looked particularly creepy.

  ".She.she is so beautiful." He said in a dreamy voice, his eyes losing focus again and looking into the void.

  "She? Who?" My heart sank!

  ". just now. just now she came." Xiao Zhang continued to mutter, with an obsessed and intoxicated expression on his face, ". she smiled at me. she said. she said she could take us away from here."

  "Who is she?! What does she look like?!" I grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard.

  Xiao Zhang was shaken back to his senses by me, and a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes, which was soon replaced by a strange obsession. ".very beautiful. wearing. white clothes. very long hair." His description was vague, as if he was describing a character in a dream.

  White clothes? Long hair?

  The fleeting white figure I saw at dusk flashed through my mind! Could it be. Could it really be.

  "What else did she tell you?!" I asked anxiously.

  "She.she said.as long as.as long as I go with her." Xiao Zhang's voice became more erratic, ".I can.leave this damn place forever."

  "You can't go with her!!" I shouted, my voice sharp because of fear, "She is lying to you! She is.she is a vixen! She is here to suck your energy!"

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "A vixen?" Xiao Zhang was stunned for a moment, then revealed an even more confused and resistant expression, "No. no. she is so beautiful. so gentle. how could she be. a vixen."

  He has been. has been deceived!

  My heart sank to the bottom. Fear was like a cold poisonous snake that tightly wrapped around me and almost suffocated me.

  Seeing Xiao Zhang's obsessed and resistant look, I knew it was useless to reason with him now. I had to find a way to wake him up!

  "Meiling!" I turned to the girl who was still in a daze at the corner of the bed, "Did you hear what Xiao Zhang said just now? A woman in white clothes came here?"

  Meiling seemed not to have heard what I said. She kept her big empty eyes open and did not move.

  Just when I was extremely anxious and didn't know what to do, a faint strange smell suddenly floated into my nose.

  The smell. was very faint, yet extremely pungent. Like. the sweet yet sickening stench of something that had been rotting for a long time?

  The smell seemed to come from outside the house.

  My brows knitted tightly together. This smell. reminded me of the faint fishy smell I smelled near the back mountain yesterday, but this smell was stronger and more. ominous.

  "Do you. smell anything?" I asked vigilantly.

  Xiao Zhang was still immersed in his fantasies and had no reaction to my words. Meiling was also in a daze.

  The stench became clearer and clearer, as if it was seeping in through the cracks in the door and windows.

  I felt a strong sense of uneasiness in my heart. My intuition told me that this smell was definitely not normal!

  I can't stay here any longer! I have to go out and see the world!

  I glanced at the dazed Xiao Zhang and Meiling, gritted my teeth and stuffed the wooden stick into Xiao Zhang's hand (even though he might not know how to use it at all), and I held the trekking pole tightly, carefully opened the wooden door and walked out.

  As soon as I walked out of the house, the sweet and greasy stench instantly became several times stronger! It was so pungent that I almost vomited on the spot! I quickly covered my mouth and nose with my sleeves to suppress the nausea, and glanced around vigilantly.

  The stench in the thick fog was like an invisible guide, leading me in a certain direction.

  That direction. seemed to be a more remote and desolate corner of the village. The houses there had collapsed so badly that their original structures were almost unrecognizable, leaving only piles of rubble covered with moss and vines.

  I suppressed the churning in my stomach, covered my mouth and nose, and walked carefully towards the source of the stench.

  The closer I got to that area, the stronger the stench became. The air almost froze. It was so quiet that there was not even a sound of wind. There was only the sound of my nervous heartbeat and heavy breathing.

  Finally I came to a ruin that had completely collapsed, with only half a broken wall and a pile of huge rubble left.

  That suffocating stench came from under this pile of ruins!

  My heart was beating wildly and an extremely ominous premonition enveloped my whole body.

  I hesitated for a moment, but finally reached out my trekking pole and carefully pushed aside some smaller debris and rotten wood in front of me.

  As the rubble was pushed aside, the scene below made my pupils shrink instantly, and my stomach churned violently. I couldn't hold it in any longer and vomited with a "wow"!

  Under the piles of rubble and rotten wood, there was… there was… a body!!

  A highly decomposed, unrecognizable human corpse!!

  Most of the body was buried under heavy rubble, with only part of the torso and twisted limbs exposed. The skin and flesh had rotted and fallen off, revealing the dark and purple muscles and white bones underneath. Countless maggots and unknown insects were crawling among the rotten flesh, making a tiny "rustling" sound that made people's scalps numb!

  The suffocating stench of corpses mixed with the smell of mud and mold, forming a horrible smell that cannot be described in words!

  I almost fainted on the spot! I stepped back and fell on the muddy ground, retching violently, tears flowing uncontrollably.

  Horror! Absolute horror!

  Although I have been to some death scenes as a reporter, the shock and horror I felt from seeing this highly decomposed body buried under the rubble and the eerie and dead silence around it were unprecedented!

  Here. people really die! And. they die so miserably! So unbearable!

  I forced myself to raise my head, trembling, and looked at the body again. I had to confirm some information! Who was the deceased? Was it a man or a woman? A villager? Or. an outsider?

  The body was so badly decomposed that it was impossible to identify the face and gender. But judging from the rotten pieces of clothing left on the body, it seemed to be. an older style of blue or gray clothing? It didn't look like something modern people would wear.

  Could it be. one of the villagers who disappeared decades ago? Crushed to death in this a**?

  But.if it was a corpse from decades ago, why is it emitting such a strong stench only now? Logically, it should have dried up or completely decomposed long ago.

  Just as I was wondering, my eyes suddenly fell on the twisted, exposed arm of the corpse.

  The position of that arm. was extremely strange! It was as if someone had twisted it into an incredible angle with inhuman force! The bones even pierced through the rotten flesh and were exposed!

  And. on those blackened rotten flesh and white bones, I seemed to see some. strange traces?

  It didn't look like an ordinary wound, nor did it look like a mark left by a beast. It looked more like. more like the marks left by something extremely fine and sharp that had been scratched and torn repeatedly?! It was densely packed, with varying depths!

  This strange death. is definitely not an ordinary accidental death!

  An even more bone-chilling chill instantly swept through my entire body!

  The mummy before my eyes indicates that death has come to this cursed village. Who will be the next one?