Chapter 11 Old Fire Pit

Under the intense twisting impact, Hu Ma obediently followed the little girl in red to her home for dinner.

His wooden brain could only make the simplest choice at that moment. Compared to this strange and terrifying thing, the eerie old woman and little girl in that room seemed safer…

It was already dark, and a lamp illuminated the small house. The old woman was waiting for him at the Baxian table.

The meal in this humble house was surprisingly sumptuous.

Hu Ma was still gasping for breath from running, and he was also somewhat dazed from being frightened by those ghostly things. He didn't know how long he had been running. He only saw a dish of salted vegetables, two bowls of porridge, and a plate of neatly cut meat already laid out on the Baxian table.

So Hu Ma obediently sat on the left side of the Baxian table, while the old woman sat at the head.

Little Hongtang was squatting on the beam, craning her neck to look down.

The lamplight flickered, shadows danced, and something seemed to be peering in from the shadows outside the house.

The old woman didn't speak, she just silently ate her meal, only touching the salted vegetables in the dish.

Little Hongtang on the beam also didn't speak, only blinking her eyes as she watched Hu Ma, who was now sitting beside the Baxian table.

The atmosphere was eerie and oppressive. Hu Ma finally couldn't help it and carefully broke the silence:

"What... what exactly were those things?"

"..."

The old woman and Little Hongtang, who was playing on the beam, both turned to look at him. The atmosphere in the house seemed even more oppressive.

"Evil spirits."

In the silence, the old woman slowly opened her mouth: "As soon as it gets dark, those things all come out."

"You were too badly injured, and you forgot the rule that you can't go out at night."

"..."

"I..."

Hearing this answer only made him feel more uneasy. Hu Ma said a word softly, but didn't know what to ask.

"There's no need to be so afraid."

The old woman glanced at him, then slowly said: "You've only just recovered, and your body is weak. It's normal to encounter evil spirits."

"As long as you listen to Grandma, eat more meat, and you'll slowly get better."

"..."

"Eat meat?"

Hu Ma had no choice but to look again at the piece of meat cut into neat squares on the plate.

It turned out that the previous piece had been eaten by Little Hongtang. This piece looked like it had just been cooked.

But even freshly cooked, it had a cold aura. The grease had already solidified, and it gleamed an eerie white under the oil lamp, sitting coldly alone on the plate.

He had been forcibly fed it many times before, but he still couldn't taste what kind of meat it was.

He was certain it wasn't pork or beef, and certainly not human meat. It wasn't any kind he had ever eaten.

In addition, the shape of the meat always reminded him of the sacrificial meat used to commemorate the dead in his previous life.

The resistance in his heart made it difficult for him to pick up the chopsticks, but the old woman stopped her chopsticks and looked at him with a ghostly gaze:

"You don't trust Grandma?"

Hu Ma met her eyes and felt a slight shock in his heart.

"I do!"

He took a deep breath, reached out and pulled the plate in front of him, lowered his head and started to gnaw.

Whatever happens, happens!

Could his situation get any worse?

Even if it was poisonous, he would eat it now. Besides, he had been forcibly fed it several times in the past few days.

The greasy meat was chewed up and swallowed hard into his stomach. His already very hungry body gradually felt a sense of fullness.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but as soon as the meat entered his stomach, it seemed to start digesting.

It was as if the meat had come alive after entering his stomach.

It wriggled in his body, seeping into his organs and blood, repairing his body.

The strange feeling invigorated him, and the wounds on his shoulders seemed to lighten.

Was Hu Ma imagining things?

Normal meat couldn't digest so quickly, so was this an illusion?

...

The old woman watched him eat the meat clean, and her expression seemed to soften slightly.

And the resistance and forced endurance on Hu Ma's face, although he tried his best to control it, seemed to have been noticed by her.

When Hu Ma had eaten all the meat, she slowly said, "Good child, after eating, go back to your room and rest early."

"If you need to get up at night, just pee against the wall, don't go out, and don't look outside. Those things are still there!"

"Tomorrow, Grandma will take you to the old fire pit. After worshiping the ancestors, you'll be fine."

"..."

"Things?"

Hu Ma actually had many questions he wanted to ask.

But when he met the old woman's face hidden in the shadows of the oil lamp, he subconsciously cowered and didn't ask.

He just secretly glanced at the door, and saw that it was pitch black outside, without even a sliver of moonlight. It was so dark that he couldn't see his fingers.

It was as if even the light of the oil lamp in the room was being squeezed, and countless strange things seemed to be hidden in the thick night, staring at him with pairs of strange and sinister eyes. Before he knew it, his back was covered in a layer of sweat.

He immediately obediently cleaned up his bowls and chopsticks and crawled into the side room next door.

The room was narrow, with only a wooden bed and a quilt that seemed to have just been taken out, thick and cold.

He didn't dare to sleep. He hid in the dark and narrow side room, pricked up his ears, and his mind was focused on the main room.

Outside the house, the old woman's murmuring chanting sounded, faint and mysterious.

"Creak, creak..."

Outside the chanting, there was a strange sound mixed in. He stretched his head and peeked through the crack in the door, and saw Little Hongtang hugging a bone, he didn't know what it was, and grinding her teeth.

The uneasiness in Hu Ma's heart rose to the extreme. He hugged the quilt and silently knocked on his head.

"Was I reborn into this boy who is also named Hu Ma?"

"Why are there so many unreasonable and strange things in this world?"

"Is that eerie old woman really a relative of this body, or is this just another lie?"

"What is that cold, greasy meat that she keeps forcing me to eat?"

"..."

His head was clearer than it had been in the past few days, but it was filled with endless questions and doubts.

He had a strong desire to understand these things, but he didn't even have the courage to look out the window.

It was as if he was imprisoned on this small wooden bed by the night.

In such a world, Hu Ma originally didn't dare to sleep, but he didn't know if it was because he had been running for so long today with his weak body, his mind was tired, or if the old woman's chanting and Little Hongtang's teeth grinding in the outer room had a strangely hypnotic effect.

He was vigilant for a short time, then fell asleep in a daze without realizing it.

Vaguely, he seemed to have come to a dark and deep place, surrounded by dark red mist.

His body quietly pushed the mist aside and walked forward, suddenly his footsteps paused slightly.

Ahead, there was a dilapidated platform, with a tattered incense burner on it, and a large expanse of darkness behind it.

Vaguely, he could see the faint shadow of a statue in the darkness, but he couldn't see it clearly.

Hu Ma subconsciously took a few steps forward, and couldn't hear his own footsteps in the emptiness.

After approaching the platform in front, he discovered that it looked like an incense table in a temple. Even the entire space looked like an abandoned temple, but it was dilapidated. It had been without incense for who knows how many years. The plates on the incense table for displaying offerings were all empty.

And inside the incense burner, there was only half a burner of dead ashes, cold and lonely, not having seen incense for who knows how long.

But strangely, beside the incense burner, there was half a red incense stick, the length of a finger, lying upside down.

It looked brand new and had a familiar aura.

Hu Ma stood in front of the incense burner for who knows how long. His heart stirred slightly, and out of some unknown feeling, he subconsciously picked up the half of the red incense stick, gently placed it in the incense burner, and slowly withdrew his hand.

"Chirp..."

After the incense stick was placed in the incense burner, it inexplicably lit up.

The dim red light seemed to add a bit of life to the entire abandoned and dilapidated space.

Wisps of smoke floated gently, like a long and illusory little snake, drifting lightly into the surrounding empty space.

Hu Ma realized something and held his breath slightly.

He quietly watched the wisp of smoke drift, and it seemed that something would happen.

But the truth was that the incense stick continued to burn quietly, and the burning speed seemed to be faster than ordinary incense.

He waited until the half of the incense stick was almost burned out, but still nothing happened.

But just as he felt a slight sense of relief in his heart, and felt that his tension at this time seemed unreasonable, he suddenly saw that the scattered and drifting incense suddenly straightened out as if it were real, extending into the depths of the dark red mist.

This clearly unreasonable phenomenon caused Hu Ma's breathing to disappear at this moment.

The next moment, a voice suddenly sounded: "Codename Erguotou calling for a transmigrator in Lao Yin Mountain, is anyone listening?"

"..."

"This..."

The unexpected sentence shocked Hu Ma's mind, staggering backwards, his body trembling.

He looked suspiciously at the direction from which the voice came, and forgot to answer for a moment.

Just at this moment, suddenly a chill ran down his ankle.

A strange feeling swept through his body, and Hu Ma suddenly woke up, only to see that he was sleeping on the narrow wooden bed. The little girl in red was grabbing his ankle with her cold little hand, her eyes were abnormally bright, staring fixedly at him.

Like an electric shock, he reacted and quickly withdrew his ankle:

"What are you doing?"

"..."

"So timid."

Little Hongtang glanced at him and said with a giggle, "Brother Hu Ma, get up, Grandma is taking us to the old fire pit!"

"Old fire pit?"

Hu Ma turned his head in a daze and found that the skylight was shining through the small window.

It was already dawn.