C13 The Mystery of the Ghosts

Zhang Baigui was puzzled. Tang Wan'er clearly wanted to ask more questions, and the middle-aged man had too many unresolved mysteries about him. Yet, Tang Wan'er stopped in the end.

"Didn't you notice how tense he was? In that state, if he doesn't want to talk, we won't get anything out of him," Tang Wan'er said, heading straight into the forest. She murmured softly, "Besides, he's already given me the answer."

Zhang Baigui stepped in front of her. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the river to find the truth, of course."

"It's getting late. We should continue in the morning."

"Move aside." Tang Wan'er tried to push past him, but Zhang Baigui firmly blocked her way.

Their eyes locked, and suddenly a flash of white light blinded Zhang Baigui. A faint fragrance wafted past his nose.

He realized a silk cloth had covered his eyes, and Tang Wan'er was already thirty feet away, her figure disappearing at the village edge.

"Miss Tang!" he called, quickly chasing after her. Despite her light steps, Tang Wan'er moved incredibly fast, and Zhang Baigui almost lost sight of her several times.

Soon, they both reached the riverbank again, but something strange happened...

The leaves in the forest rustled with the wind, and from a distance, eerie cries echoed from the riverbank.

The eerie sounds echoed through the forest, causing Tang Wan'er to stop and carefully observe her surroundings by the riverbank. Zhang Baigui, following closely behind, was equally startled by the haunting cries reverberating through the night-shrouded woods and river. The shadows of trees swayed in the moonlight, and the chilling wails could easily be mistaken for ghostly screams, evoking a sense of a hellish nightmare.

Even someone as experienced as Tang Wan'er felt a shiver run down her spine, and she stumbled over some loose stones.

"Watch out!" Zhang Baigui rushed to steady her, advising, "I told you it's dangerous by the river at night, but you insisted on coming."

Tang Wan'er kept her head down, and Zhang Baigui wondered if she was crying. Reflecting on his earlier harsh tone, he frowned, thinking how troublesome women could be.

Just as he was pondering how to comfort her, Tang Wan'er let out a soft laugh. "So that's it."

"What?"

With an excited smile, Tang Wan'er explained, "I've figured out the secret behind these ghostly wails."

Zhang Baigui was puzzled, so Tang Wan'er led him to a large rock. "Look at what's on this stone."

Under the moonlight, Zhang Baigui noticed numerous small holes on the surface, but he still didn't understand.

"The wind doesn't make a sound when it blows over ordinary stones, but with these little holes, the sound changes, like this." As she spoke, Wan'er covered some of the holes in the stone with her hands. Sure enough, the sound by her ear changed slightly. When she removed her hands, the original sound returned.

Baigui mimicked her actions, alternately covering and uncovering the holes, and the stone produced different sounds, almost like a flute.

"So that's it. The eerie noises are actually the sound of the wind passing through the cracks," Baigui marveled. "Nature's creations are truly amazing."

Wan'er raised an eyebrow. "This isn't nature's doing."

"Is it man-made, then?"

Wan'er crouched down and used a stick to brush away the loose dirt on the ground, revealing small, chipped stones beneath. "Look, these stone fragments were chiseled out with a tool."

Baigui was puzzled. "Who carved them? And why?"

"We don't know yet," Wan'er replied, stepping lightly toward the large stone they had discovered earlier.