"Enter the depths of the tunnel before midnight — does 'depths' mean the very end of the tunnel?" The mission requirements were frustratingly vague, and
If a trial mission failed, the corresponding scenario would remain locked forever, so Chen Ge couldn't afford to take any risks. "I'll just have to push as deep into the tunnel as possible. Go as far as I can."
He had looked up information on the Bailongdong Tunnel before. Most of what the internet turned up had to do with the female ghost from the car accidents.
In other words, people only knew there was a female ghost inside Bailongdong that would hitch rides on passing vehicles. As for the spider-like shadows, the strange breathing sounds, and anything else related to them — there was nothing about any of it online.
"Let me head over and check it out while it's not completely dark yet." The Bailongdong Tunnel had seen multiple car accidents over the years. Experts from the city had studied it, shutting it down and renovating it several times, but strangely enough, no matter what modifications they made, accidents would start happening again the moment it reopened to traffic. In the end, they had no choice but to seal the entire tunnel permanently.
Online sources said the tunnel had undergone three major overhauls, plus countless smaller modifications. Some people had even suggested mixing black dog blood into the walls and burying black donkey hooves in the corners, but none of it had made any difference.
The tunnel's interior was complicated, and Chen Ge wasn't about to let his guard down.
He shouldered his bag, locked the haunted house door, and rushed out of New Century Amusement Park, hailing a cab bound for the Bailongdong Tunnel in the Eastern Suburbs.
Having learned from past experience, Chen Ge didn't dare tell the driver straight up that he wanted to go to Bailongdong. Instead, he politely asked to be dropped off at an intersection near the tunnel.
The Bailongdong Tunnel had originally been built to connect Jiujiang and Xinhai City, serving as a new transportation hub.
The Eastern Suburbs were hemmed in by the great river and mountains. To revitalize the area's economy, they had to carve open a road — but this road was perpetually plagued with problems.
Some of the older residents of Jiujiang claimed that the land was blessed with extraordinary feng shui, with nine great rivers forming the pattern of nine dragons playing with a pearl. Cutting a road through the mountains of the Eastern Suburbs, they said, would drain Jiujiang's spiritual energy, which was why strange things kept happening on that stretch.
Nobody had believed it at first. But after so many bizarre incidents, the authorities finally changed their minds and sealed the tunnel.
Night descended over Jiujiang. The farther east he drove, the fewer vehicles there were on the road, and the high-rise buildings gave way to shabby, run-down houses.
Crossing through the old downtown, the driver was chatty and friendly, rambling on about one thing and another the entire way.
The Bailongdong Tunnel sat at the edge of the suburbs. The driver hadn't even reached the destination yet, but there wasn't a single other car in sight.
On the narrow road, streetlights appeared only at long intervals. Perhaps because the route saw so little traffic, the road was poorly maintained — debris littered the pavement, and many of the roadside lamps were broken.
"I hate driving out to the Eastern Suburbs. The locals are really xenophobic — they throw all kinds of things onto the road. For a veteran like me it's no big deal, but a young driver could easily get into an accident," the driver grumbled casually.
"Those things aren't necessarily thrown by the locals." Chen Ge had come to the edge of the Eastern Suburbs many times, and the place gave him a peculiar feeling — as if it were rejecting the living.
The cab drew closer to the Bailongdong Tunnel, and the surroundings grew increasingly desolate. Buildings were replaced by unbroken stretches of trees, with only the occasional farmhouse dotting the landscape.
"Drop me off here." Chen Ge didn't want to make the driver go any farther. He decided he'd just spend the extra time walking the rest of the way — it was still early enough.
"You sure? There's nothing out here — no village ahead, no inn behind. Not a soul in sight." The driver's mouth was still trying to talk him out of it, but his hand was already passing the WeChat payment QR code over.
Chen Ge knew the driver was probably just being polite. He scanned and paid, but just as he was about to step out of the car, the driver in the front seat suddenly spoke up: "Hey, why is there a woman sitting there?"
Following the driver's gaze, Chen Ge saw a woman crouching in front of a dilapidated farmhouse on the left side of the road.
She wore a shoe on only one foot, her skirt hem was torn, and she crouched before the old house with her head bowed low, as though searching for something.