C8

"What's wrong?"

I frowned. The driver didn't say why, which meant that if I went there, I would only be a kilometer away.

In the end, I gave him an extra twenty and the driver finally agreed to take him to the neighborhood.

However, he didn't say another word along the way, especially when they were passing by a bridge. The driver would look into the rearview mirror from time to time, as if he was afraid that something would catch up.

After crossing the bridge, I walked about a kilometer, and the driver refused to go any further. He also advised me not to go, saying that he could take me back on the way and wouldn't charge me for it.

Smiling, I rejected the driver's good intentions and walked another kilometer before arriving at the place where the driver's expression changed upon hearing my words.

This place was a dilapidated area. Along the way, he could see large words written on dilapidated houses. The buildings were in ruins and overgrown with weeds.

The surroundings were clearly blocked by the high-rise district, but the wind was howling through the streets. A few old newspapers were flying all over the place.

There were only a few people on the road, and they were all in a hurry. From time to time, he would hear the sounds of beating and crying coming from the alleyway, but he could not see anyone.

After walking for a hundred meters, I saw a small alley on one side lit up with flames, and a short black shadow was moving beside it, as if it was burning something.

I looked at the address on my phone and thought about going up to ask.

The closer we got to the alleyway, the lower the temperature felt. I felt uneasy, unsure of where this feeling came from. The short shadow became even more distinct. It was a stooped old lady with messy silver hair who was burning paper money, her back facing me made it hard to see her face, but from the blue veins and her dry hands that held the paper money, I could tell that she was already very old. I could even faintly hear her miserable low sigh.

"The old man and the child are both dead. What should I do? Cough, cough, cough."

When I stopped about ten meters away from her, the uneasy feeling became even more obvious. I raised my head to look at the bright sun in the sky and looked down to see the old man squatting in the shadows of the alley.

"Hey, old granny, these old men are lost. Do you know how to get out of this place? Also, lend me some money, how about we take a taxi?"

However, just as he was about to turn around and leave, he heard an arrogant shout from the other end of the alley. A young man with dyed yellow hair was walking towards the old man with two lackeys.

"The old man and the child are both dead. What should I do? Cough, cough, cough."

The old man seemed to not have heard the words of the hoodlum as he continued to mutter with his head lowered. As he put the paper money into the brazier, the bright yellow light from the firelight illuminated her skinny body, making it seem even thinner.

The elder's reaction seemed to have angered the hoodlum. The yellow-haired youth's face became ugly as he snapped in annoyance, "You old fogey, why don't you just go down and die with me!"

After he finished speaking, he lifted up his right foot, obviously prepared to vent his anger on the withered old man in front of him.

"Stop!"

I shouted angrily. That hoodlum was so scared that he almost stepped into the brazier.

"F * ck, where did this dog come from and dare to look after me?"

When the yellow-haired youth saw that I was alone, he immediately became angry. He pulled two people beside him and was about to come over to mess with me.

I raised the phone in my hand and said with a sneer, "I just filmed a video of you robbing an old man. If you don't want to go to jail, then scram!"

The three hoodlums were stunned. They looked at my phone with some fear and quickly left. "Don't let me see you again."

I glanced at the back of the three hoodlums before turning my head to look at the old man who hadn't been affected in the slightest. He was still squatting on the ground burning paper money, and couldn't help but smile coldly.

"How reckless!"

After saying that, I turned around and left, leaving the old man still burning paper money. Unbeknownst to him, a cold wind blew in the alleyway after my back completely disappeared. The old man jerked his head back and stared in the direction I had gone.

That withered and ravaged face was filled with hatred, but its turbid yellow eyes were filled with greed. Its tongue unconsciously licked the corner of its mouth, exposing its jet-black and disorderly teeth.

After walking for a long time, they finally arrived at that shop. I took out my cell phone and compared it with the house.

"It should be here."

Just as I was about to enter, a black shadow suddenly scuttled out from behind me. I turned around in alert.

"Meow!"

A sharp cat's cry sounded out. It turned out to be a black cat. I patted my heart and continued walking towards the store.

The door was pasted with a piece of white paper, on which was written, in a brush, the fortune of the wooden officials. On either side of the door were two paper men, a man and a woman, both so lifelike that if it weren't for the sunlight reflecting off them, I would have thought it was two real people.

I lifted my leg and walked through the door. I don't know if I was mistaken, but when I passed by the paper man, I kept feeling that the gazes of the two paper men were following me. When I turned my head back, I didn't see anything.

"Maybe he didn't sleep well at night."

I shook my head at myself and walked into the shop.

Although the door to the shop was open, it did not seem like the owner was here. There were all kinds of paper men sitting or standing around in the hall.

As I casually strolled around the hall, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine. All of the paper men seemed to have a faint smile on their faces as they felt that wherever I went, their gazes would follow me.

"No wonder the comments on the internet say that this place is strange. Ordinary people would be scared half to death to come here."

Fortunately, I didn't sense any other auras from these paper men. The reason why I felt so eerie was simply because I instinctively felt repulsed by these things that had the shape of humans.

After strolling around for a while, he suddenly heard footsteps from outside the door. A very ordinary-looking middle-aged man walked in and was stunned to see someone in his shop.

I turned around and smiled at him, my eyes shining with a strange light.

"I'm sorry, I had something to do previously, do you want to do some dirty work or..."

The boss put the paper man aside and greeted me apologetically.

I raised my eyebrows and looked at the boss's hand. "The yang people can't do it, but the Yin people can't."

With that, the temperature of the entire store dropped. The boss squinted his eyes at me and his tone became cold.

"If the Yang people do not do it, then the Immortal will do it. I wonder which Immortal you are talking about."

The corners of my mouth curled up as I pulled a stool over and sat down.

"There aren't any deities in the temple, but there are quite a few wild deities in the fields."