In the dead of night, a childs cry startled everyone present. Those who were awake got up, and even those who were asleep were awakened by the crying and couldnt fall back asleep. At that time in August, the moon was hidden behind thin clouds, and its light occasionally shone through, casting an eerie glow over the scene.

  Everyones eyes were fixed on the little boy, which made his mother somewhat terrified. She tried several times to cover the childs mouth, but hesitated and couldnt bring herself to do it. All she could do was repeat: "The child is having a nightmare... The child is having a nightmare..."

  Only Comrade Zhang, who initially looked at the wailing child with some confusion, but after a moment, that confused gaze turned strange. It was as if he had won the lottery jackpot years later. Finally, someone couldnt bear this repressed emotion and shouted loudly at the childs mother: "Look at your kid, Lin Hus family! His grandfather was cursed to death by him! Now youre still spouting nonsense! Do you want to curse the whole village to death?"

  "King Two Idiot, what the hell are you talking about! Comrade Zhang said that his grandfather died from parasites, but your grandfather was cursed to death by you! Your whole family is cursed to death by you!" The father of the child jumped up and scolded, pointing at the mans nose. At this time, the scene in the courtyard immediately divided into two factions based on distance, thickness, and thinness, with each side starting to curse at each other loudly. Just after the village head had died, no one could calm down the situation for a while, and it seemed that the quarrel was about to escalate into a physical fight when another great god appeared on the scene.

  Fortunately, the instructor didnt leave in the evening and also slept in the courtyard. Just as things were about to get out of hand, the instructor pulled out his belt and pointed at the two opposing groups. A few words calmed down the situation: "Youre not done yet, are you? Whoever makes another move, Ill have them switch places! Do they want to live in a bamboo hut instead of their own home? Ill fulfill their wish!"

  At that time, not to mention a small mountain village, even in big cities, there were only a few who didnt fear officials. At this point, everyone lowered their heads and remained silent, while the little child also woke up, unaware of what had happened, staring wide-eyed with terror at these uncles, grandfathers, aunts, and grandmothers across from him, unintentionally catching sight of a pair of smiling eyes looking at him.

  With the instructor in charge, no one dared to make trouble again. However, no one could sleep either, everyone leaned against each other, chatting nonsense from time to time. They leaned until dawn, without finding anyone in trouble, and the hanging hearts were finally put down. However, those who eliminated the parasites had not returned yet, and it was unknown what the situation was outside, whether the worms were killed or not, and no one dared to go home rashly.

  It wasnt until the sky was bright and it was almost eight oclock that there was any movement outside the courtyard. The two younger ones entered the courtyard, their faces looking good. The one with the surname Xiao walked directly to Comrade Zhangs face, took a deep breath, and said: "Your information is wrong, last night wasnt the fifth day, it was the thirteenth day..."

  This sentence, except for Comrade Zhang and a few others, no one else could understand. At this time, the expression on Comrade Zhangs face had already become extremely ugly, he didnt say a word and immediately left the scene, with the young man surnamed Xiao following closely behind him. The crowd didnt know what had happened, after being stunned for a moment, they all surrounded the little fat man surnamed Gao to ask questions.

  "This little fatty is quite talkative, he smiled and said: Last nights work of eliminating parasites went very smoothly, basically all the parasites in the village have been eliminated. Its just that towards the end, the medicine was used up, now Director Zhang and Comrade Xiao have gone to the county town to purchase more medicine. Sorry everyone, please wait a bit longer, itll be done in a few hours."

  With Gao Pangzi around, no one dares to go out easily and just continues to linger here. However, there is a good thing about it - taking advantage of everyones inattention, he sneaked over to the child who had a nightmare last night and coaxed him into telling what happened in his dream.

  But the child was too young, and his ability to express himself wasnt very good. Moreover, it was something he had dreamed of, so now he has almost forgotten more than half of it. After holding back for a long time, he finally said: "At first, those uncles divided into several groups and drew pictures on the ground in the village. Then they buried some things underground. When night fell, all the uncles hid, until midnight when the ghost that ate my grandfather came out. It walked to where the uncles had drawn the pictures and couldnt move. The uncles came out and used bags to capture it. Not long after, another ghost appeared, which also couldnt move when it reached the place where the uncles had drawn the pictures, and was taken away in a bag.

  In the end, a total of five ghosts came out, and they were all taken away by the uncles with their bags. Then these uncles started erasing the paintings they had drawn earlier. Just as they had erased half of them, another ghost appeared and encountered an uncle, and they started fighting. The uncles outnumbered it, but it took a lot of effort to capture that ghost.

  That thinner uncle seemed to think it was not good, and started arranging people to repaint the previously erased painting. This time, before the painting was finished, another ghost came out, and after fighting with the uncles for half a day, that fat uncle stabbed it to death with a small knife. Later, those uncles didnt paint anymore. They ran to the car at the village entrance, brought back small pistols and big sticks.

  The ghost came out again and was beaten directly, the first few rounds were still able to take the lead. By the time of the last few rounds, several uncles had been beaten by the ghost and lay motionless on the ground, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. It was those two surnamed Gao and Xiao who finally managed to drive away the last ghost with their lives.

  After listening to the childs words, the person found the childs mother and said: "Lin Hus family, take your child to the county hospital when you have time. What a pity, such a young child, how did he get this disease..." The childs mother was confused and didnt know what had happened.

  It was already past noon, and Comrade Zhang still hadnt returned. Since last night, everyone had hardly eaten anything, and by this time, the hunger had burned away their rationality. Some people were already shouting that they wanted to go out and find something to eat, anyway, Comrade Gao said that the parasites had almost been eliminated, so he didnt believe I would be so unlucky!

  The commissar was still able to hold on, but the crowd was getting impatient and he couldnt use it anymore. Just as the villagers were about to rush into the courtyard, Comrade Zhang finally appeared. However, this time he didnt come back by himself, behind him followed thirty or forty people wearing blue work uniforms, and behind them were hundreds of Peoples Liberation Army soldiers wearing green military uniforms.

  Comrade Zhang reappeared, his face ashen, and said to everyone: "Theres some bad news I need to inform you all about. When we eliminated the parasites yesterday, there was a slight deviation. Weve discovered signs of drug resistance in the parasites, so we cant guarantee that last nights medication took effect. The higher-ups have given instructions that we must ensure the safety of the peoples lives and property, so we need to evacuate everyone immediately. Dont take anything with you; once were at a safe location, the government will provide compensation."

  After he finished speaking, people behind him had already arranged for everyone to evacuate. Some people were lucky enough to want to go home and pick up a few things, but they were stared at by the Liberation Army soldiers on the periphery, and before they could even move, they were scolded back. It wasnt until everyone followed the guide to the village entrance that they discovered several large Liberation trucks had already been stopped here, apparently having been arranged for a long time, it was impossible not to leave now.

  Just as the villagers were arranged to get on the car and leave, five people came out of the two jeeps parked outside the village. The first one was about the same age as Zhang, holding a large wooden box in his hand, walking towards the village together.

  Later, what happened to whom no one knows, only that place became a military restricted area for quite a long time later, and was reopened only after nearly twenty years. When the original villagers went back there, they couldnt even see an intact house, it had become a rubble.

  After Ximen finished speaking, Sun Baozi looked at him with a sullen face and said: "Master, its not me who says this, but your ghost story is not well told. In the end, you didnt say what happened to the night-walking ghost, how it was solved back then, or how it came out again now. You didnt mention a single word about it."

  Ximen laughed and said, "I was thinking of saying that the problem is I also need to know? It wasnt until later when I went to handle other events that I came into contact with villagers who told me about it at the time. I asked Director Qiu, and he said that the night-walking ghost was indeed real, but as for the rest, Director Qiu couldnt say anything either."

  Here is the translation:

  "Up to this point, Xi Men Chain paused for a moment, looking at Sun Baozi with a hint of a smile, and said: "There were originally three people who survived that incident, but unfortunately two of them passed away this year, leaving only Gao Juzhang himself. Do you think I can go ask him?"

  "This year has passed again... " Sun Baozis eyes rolled around and said: "The one with the surname Gao is Gao Juzhang, the one with the surname Xiao is Xiao Sanda. He also died almost a year ago, who else was there? The one with the surname Zhang?"

  As he said this, Sun Aos eyes changed and he smiled strangely before continuing: "No, there is another one, that little kid, his fathers surname is Lin, he is Lin Feng..."