The woman's voice lingered in their ears, making their hearts race with panic. The harder they tried to distract themselves, the more their brains refused to cooperate—fixating only on figuring out whose name the woman was calling out.
Clear bloody handprints began appearing on the surrounding walls. It seemed countless tragedies had unfolded along this dirt road they were currently walking.
"Don't listen! Keep moving!" Chen Ge felt something closing in behind them. He gripped the Skull-Crushing Hammer, his backpack on his back, positioning himself at the rear.
These vengeful spirits wanted nothing more than to end their torment and break free from the female ghost's control—this was their only chance.
It was as if an invisible rain began falling through the night sky. The air grew humid, a faint metallic scent of blood drifting past their nostrils, and the streets seemed to grow even more labyrinthine.
The woman drew closer, her voice shifting, overlapping with some memory—it sounded like the dearest person in one's life calling out to them.
"That sounds like my daughter's voice?" Grandpa Bai glanced back. "Is it a ghost impersonating her?"
Chen Ge clamped a hand on his shoulder. "Don't look back! Don't answer!"
He had barely finished warning Grandpa Bai when Old Wei, who was scouting ahead, ran into trouble of his own.
"Look at the house on your left—the rooftop!"
After shouting, Old Wei's hand shot directly to his holstered pistol. His emotions were running high.
"On the rooftop?" Chen Ge looked toward the nearby building, and his pupils contracted sharply.
A figure was crouching on the eaves of the old house!
The figure was gaunt with abnormally long arms, resembling a monkey.
"What the hell is that?" Chen Ge had never seen a ghost like this before—it didn't even look like a vengeful spirit.
"I heard my father talk about these once—I think they're called Eave Ghosts." Grandpa Bai's face had gone pale. "They perch on the eaves at night, and once the homeowner falls asleep, they slip through the windows, steal the owner's clothing, and drain their blood dry. There are legends about these monsters in the countryside, but nobody's ever actually seen one."
Chen Ge pulled his gaze away from the creature—as long as it wasn't a Red Coat, he wasn't afraid. "Ignore it! We charge straight through!"
The three of them rushed past the Eave Ghost with the child in tow. The creature perched on the eaves seemed very interested in living people. It extended its long arms to hook onto the roof beams, then swung itself upside down beneath the eaves, giving chase.
This ghostly thing was quite clever—it neither closed in too tight nor fell too far behind, maintaining just the right distance, as though it was biding its time.
Soon a second Eave Ghost appeared. Their appearances were vastly different from living humans—skeletal structures jutting outward, tiny eyes, and mouths full of razor-sharp teeth.
"Chen Ge, we can't keep this up!" Old Wei was encountering a scene like this for the first time. If Heaven gave him the choice to redo this, he would never have followed Chen Ge into this mountain village.
"Don't worry about anything—just run toward the exit!" Chen Ge wasn't the least bit concerned about these Eave Ghosts. What he truly feared was the Red Coat, and that voice that never stopped echoing in his ears.
Visible danger wasn't real danger—often it was the invisible things that were truly lethal.
They ran a few more meters ahead, and just as they were entering the second turn, the Eave Ghosts trailing behind them finally lost their patience.
But these creatures had lived here a long time and were very cautious. They didn't attack the living directly—instead, they targeted Chen Ge's backpack.
Several skeletal hands lunged for the bag. At this point, Chen Ge could endure it no longer. He swung the Skull-Crushing Hammer and smashed the Eave Ghosts' hands away, then hit the switch on the repeater.
"End this quickly!"