Xia Qing tian changed into a casual outfit from a popular brand, slung a light pink backpack over her shoulder, put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and let her hair down. She then boarded a bus that took three and a half hours to reach the outskirts of Z City.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Xia Qing tian would have found it hard to believe that such desolate and dilapidated places existed around the glamorous city of Z City.
The half-started construction projects had been completely abandoned, with mud and mess everywhere. Three children were peeking out from a corner, seemingly looking at something.
"Little friends~" Xia Qing tian waved at the children and took out some candies from her backpack, intending to share them. "Hello there~"
"Who are you?" The older child seemed wary, scrutinizing Xia Qing tian from head to toe, while also preventing the other two children from taking the candies from Xia Qing tian's palm.
"I'm a student at Z University, in the Fine Arts department. I want to come to a remote place to paint scenery," Xia Qing tian said, looking around. "Do you know of any beautiful scenery here?"
"There's no beautiful scenery here. You should go back," the child said, waving a hand.
"How could that be? I saw online that they were going to build a resort here. If there wasn't any good scenery, why would they build a resort?" Xia Qing tian feigned surprise, unwrapped a candy, popped it into her mouth, and narrowed her eyes exaggeratedly, looking as if it tasted delicious. "Don't you want any?"
This time, even the older child swallowed hard. The three children immediately snatched the candies from Xia Qing tian's palm.
After eating the candies, the three children became more talkative.
"My dad said they're not building a resort here anymore," the older child said.
"Yeah, my dad said this place can be sold for a lot of money, so they're not building it," said the little girl with pigtails, her cheeks bulging with candy. "Miss, you should go paint somewhere else."
"Can be sold for a lot of money?" Xia Qing tian began to ponder. Didn't the Xia Corporation already buy the land here? What other opportunities were there to sell it for a high price?
In her previous life, she hadn't heard of any government orders for demolition in this area. Even if there were demolitions, it wouldn't concern the residents here. Could it be that there was gold buried underground?
"Xiao Ni! Stop being so talkative!" The older child hit the little girl's head, scolding her for speaking out of turn.
The candy in the little girl's mouth fell to the ground when she was hit. She was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears.
"Don't cry, don't cry, I have more!" Xia Qing tian immediately took out a few more candies. "You can share these."
After receiving more candy, Xiao Ni stopped crying. Only the chubby little boy shyly said thank you.
With the little boy taking the lead, the other two children followed suit and said thank you.
Xia Qing tian just smiled faintly, asked a few more small questions, and then returned to the topic of painting. "Is there really no beautiful place here?"
"Shenshan! Shenshan is very beautiful!" Xiao Ni pointed to a place not far away. "But you have to go through a small forest to find the path up the mountain, and it's not easy to walk."
"I know the way!" The chubby little boy patted his chest and said, "I can lead the way."
"Xiao Pang! Did you forget your task today?" The older boy immediately pushed him aside and said, "No one can leave their post!"
"You have tasks?" Xia Qing tian's thoughts stirred, and she said with a smile, "That's great. I loved playing games like this with my friends when I was little."
"We're not playing games, we really have a mission!" Xiao Ni felt offended by Xia Qing tian's words and said anxiously, "We have to stop bad people from the city. If any bad people come, we have to go back and inform the adults!"
"Bad people?" Xia Qing tian blinked. "Is someone trying to harm you? Do you need me to call the police?"
"No, it's about building the resort. This place is protected by Shenshan, so people can't come to build resorts. People will die," Xiao Ni said mysteriously.
"Xiao Ni! You bigmouth!" The older child, exasperated, reached out to hit Xiao Ni again.
Xia Qing tian quickly pulled Xiao Ni behind her and said, "No fighting. You are all good friends, don't fight. You're the older brother, you can't hit your sister."
"What sister, I'm her uncle!" The boy corrected Xia Qing tian.
"Then your generation is quite senior," Xia Qing tian smiled. "Why don't you tell me about Shenshan? I still have homework to do, and if I can't draw it, I'll be scolded by the teacher."
"Hiss..." The three children clearly had a lingering fear of being scolded by teachers. They gasped and looked at each other.
"People who are not from here can't find the way to Shenshan... Why don't you go paint somewhere else?" The older boy hesitated. "We don't have time to take you up."
"Since that's the case, there's nothing we can do," Xia Qing tian said, looking at her watch. "The earliest bus back will take at least an hour and a half. How about I keep guard with you? If any bad people come, I'm an adult, and I can hold them back for you to escape first."
Upon hearing Xia Qing tian's words, the three children looked at each other.
Seeing this, Xia Qing tian took out two more packs of snacks. The three children then happily agreed.
With snacks in hand and plenty of time, Xia Qing tian managed to get a lot of information from the children.
It turned out that this area was indeed where the Xia Corporation planned to build a resort. With a large capital investment, the cooperation between both sides was initially smooth.
Until one day, someone died, and several bizarre incidents occurred. The residents then remembered the curse of Shenshan.
As for what those bizarre incidents were, the children offered several versions, each more outlandish than the last, but all of them were very strange.
However, they remembered the curse of Shenshan clearly: at the foot of Shenshan lived the God of Nightmares, and those who disturbed the god's slumber would pay with their blood.
So, the residents protested and began to obstruct the construction. Later, some construction workers also died mysteriously, and the project was completely halted.
"It was like falling asleep, I saw it with my own eyes!" Xiao Ni raised her hand and said, "My dad said it was the punishment of the God of Nightmares! People fall asleep and then die!"
"Such a thing actually happened..." Xia Qing tian instinctively didn't want to believe in the God of Nightmares, but she herself had the [Chosen Son] system. Could there really be anything supernatural involved?
[Beep...
The Chosen Son System has been activated.
Select A: Dispel feudal superstition, solve the mystery of Shenshan, and resume the project. Reward: a universal antidote.
Select B: Confess to Xia Honglang and abandon the current project. Reward: five million yuan in cash.]