TRYMBPIETM 120: When I went in the Past (2)

The moonlight enveloped every corner of Linghe Village.

The overwhelming ghostly energy belonging to Chi Qingzhou spread along with the moonlight, causing all the peach blossoms in the village to fall.

Countless petals dropped from the branches, and as they withered, they dissipated into the wind, creating tiny specks of light in the air that lit up briefly before quickly extinguishing, like fireflies approaching the end of their lives.

This strange scene left Song Yuzhi and his assistant wide-eyed.

They were somewhat frightened and instinctively wanted to move closer to Chi Qingzhou, but the moment they took a step, they suddenly felt a chill.

Both of them shuddered and quickly took out coats from their bags to cover themselves.

Xing Shuangzhan, who had glanced at them, withdrew his gaze and tightened his embrace around Chi Qingzhou.

Chi Qingzhou said nothing.

He gazed at the village, where not a single lamp had lit up, quietly listening to the sounds in the darkness.

The nearby houses, the small courtyards in the distance, and even the few dilapidated houses further away all emitted unusual sounds at the moment the peach blossoms withered.

In some homes, it seemed like someone had fallen, and the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground and muffled groans followed, with continuous faint cries of pain.

In other homes, it sounded like something had been broken, the sharp crack of shattering and astonished exclamations echoing louder than usual in the night.

In still other homes, children cried, and the sound of slaps could be heard…

Chi Qingzhou whispered, “There are no sounds of cats or dogs.”

“What?” His voice was too soft, and Song Yuzhi didn’t hear it clearly. After putting on his coat, he looked at him in confusion.

Chi Qingzhou didn’t respond, continuing to listen.

Du Huan and Song Yuzhi quickly followed Chi Qingzhou’s example, perking up their ears to listen to the various sounds.

Song Yuzhi’s assistant didn’t understand, but seeing everyone else doing the same, he followed along in a daze.

Soon, all three of them heard the sounds in the village, and their faces turned pale.

Song Yuzhi’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively asked, “Why is this village making so many strange noises all at once?”

His assistant scratched the back of his neck, deep in thought. “It feels like something’s missing, like there’s something off.”

Du Huan swallowed nervously and repeated Chi Qingzhou’s earlier conclusion: “In this village, there are no sounds of cats or dogs.”

He glanced toward Song Yuzhi’s assistant as if seeking confirmation. “I grew up in a city, so I just want to ask, do people in rural areas not keep cats or dogs anymore? Or, did something happen to the owners, and now the cats and dogs aren’t barking anymore?”

In his memory, cats and dogs always barked frantically when their owners were hurt.

Song Yuzhi and his assistant suddenly had goosebumps.

The assistant mumbled, “I don’t know.” He paused, then repeated, “I don’t know.”

Song Yuzhi took a sharp breath, looking at Chi Qingzhou for help, then wanted to step closer.

“This village really feels strange. Is it safe for us to be filming here?”

Xing Shuangzhan gave him a cold glance again, his expression not good.

It had been a long time since he had seen someone so oblivious.

Chi Qingzhou ignored the undercurrent between them and simply curved his lips into a half-smile, saying, “Maybe it’s not just a feeling.”

Song Yuzhi jumped in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Du Huan’s face also changed. “Chi-ge?”

Chi Qingzhou had no intention of explaining and merely looked at the tree that had once been full of peach blossoms, slowly retracting his ghostly energy.

Xing Shuangzhan couldn’t help but laugh. 【Are you afraid they’ll run away?】

Chi Qingzhou replied in a tone only Xing Shuangzhan could hear, 【Humans often only have a little courage.】

Xing Shuangzhan pondered for a moment, then said, 【It’s rare to see you tackle problems from such a unique perspective.】

Chi Qingzhou didn’t react to that comment.

He gestured for Du Huan and the others to follow and started walking toward the north.

Du Huan hurriedly followed.

Song Yuzhi and his assistant exchanged a glance. Neither of them wanted to stay in this eerie place. After hesitating between going to the crew or leaving the village, they chose the former.

The first reason was that they were worried something might happen to the crew. If something went wrong, the two of them were stronger men and could at least help out.

The second reason was that they’d learned enough from horror movies to know that you shouldn’t separate in times like these. The consequences of being alone could be disastrous.

As for the idea that two people together weren’t considered separated?

That was a joke. Right now, Chi Qingzhou was the only reliable one here. Together with him was the only real “together.”

The two hurriedly grabbed their luggage and followed behind Chi Qingzhou, cautiously heading north.

Without the villagers to guide them, it took a bit more time for the few of them, unfamiliar with the layout of Linghe Village, to find the filming location for “Wanxiang.”

Unlike the village, around 9 PM, “Wanxiang” filming site was brightly lit.

The bright lights calmed Du Huan and the others, and following Chi Qingzhou, they entered the filming area, where workers were coming and going in the resting area.

Chi Qingzhou stopped in his tracks and took a closer look. It turned out that a few of the crew members had been injured, and others were helping them tend to their wounds.

They were gritting their teeth in pain, angrily criticizing the villagers of Linghe Village for being unreasonable.

“…This is ridiculous. What does the peach blossoms in the village have to do with us, or with Mrs. Chi?”

“Exactly, are we supposed to control the pear trees to make them bloom peach blossoms? If I had that ability, I might have already become a superhero and been recruited by the country!”

“The villagers really don’t make any sense. Besides, Madam Chi wasn’t called by us, what’s the point of getting angry at us?”

“Madam Chi went missing from the hospital, and in my opinion, this has something to do with these villagers.”

“The key point is that they won’t let us report to the police. This is clearly a guilty conscience—hey, stolen contentbe gentler, ouch, that hurts!”

As the disinfectant touched the wound, the speaker’s expression twisted, and the words he hadn’t finished were immediately stuck in his throat.

He sucked in a breath and took a while to recover, before continuing his conversation with another injured person.

“Look at how suspicious they are. I always feel like they’re accusing us of being involved in Madam Chi’s disappearance to cover their own tracks. Who doesn’t know that Madam Chi never came here?”

“Exactly! We barely interacted with Madam Chi, what else could we have done? These people are simply unbelievable, not only do they hate us, but we haven’t done anything, yet they want to attack us. If I had known this drama production would be such a hassle, I wouldn’t have come!”

“The old generation was right, poor mountain water breeds bad people!”

They kept complaining, and the person treating their wounds couldn’t hold back and rolled his eyes.

“Alright, stop talking about the drama. Think about your pay first. Director Fang already told you that weird things might happen on set, and your wages were doubled, so stop blaming the villagers. Blaming the crew doesn’t make sense.”

The man looked a little embarrassed but still stubbornly retorted, “Well, stolen content I’m not lying, am I?”

He glanced around, looking for validation from everyone, “Everyone knows, right? When they filmed the first version of ‘Wanxiang,’ a lot of weird things happened.”

Someone nodded, “That’s true, we did encounter a lot of trouble last time.”

“But last time wasn’t as outrageous as this! I remember clearly, last time we just encountered a little girl in a flowered dress at the shoot by the foot of the mountain, and we heard singing in the river at another location.”

“No, bro, do you have some misunderstanding about what’s outrageous? What you’re saying was already quite strange!”

“But compared to this time with the changes in the climate and the peach blooming, last time was really nothing outrageous.”

“Uh… that’s true.”

For a moment, the staff didn’t know how to evaluate the situation. They sighed and continued treating their colleagues’ wounds.

Fortunately, the villagers were unreasonable but not too harsh, [stolen content]and the injuries were all superficial, so they could handle them themselves.

Meanwhile, Song Yuzhi and his assistant were stunned listening to this.

They stared blankly at the staff who hadn’t noticed them yet for a while, then couldn’t help but quietly turn to look at Chi Qingzhou.

Madam Chi?

Wasn’t that Chi Qingzhou’s mother?

She went missing?

Song Yuzhi wiped the cold sweat off his palm on his pants, suddenly remembering that during the filming of the second episode of “Scenery Along the Way,” someone had mentioned that Madam Chi was a shaman from the Puluo tribe.

And just a moment ago, Chi Qingzhou had also said something strange—“My mother really cares about her appearance and image.”

He couldn’t help but come up with a guess. Could those peach blossoms be related to Madam Chi?

Were the peach blossoms created by Madam Chi, or was her disappearance connected to the blooming of the peach flowers?

The thought that Madam Chi’s disappearance wasn’t simple sent a chill down his spine.

Perhaps they were about to encounter something special again.

If this really had something to do with dirty things, the entire crew wouldn’t be reliable except for Chi Qingzhou!

Song Yuzhi took a deep breath and immediately made up his mind to stick close to Chi Qingzhou from now on!

His expression was too obvious, and Xing Shuangzhan, who was holding Chi Qingzhou, glanced at him again.

Chi Qingzhou noticed and almost laughed.

He said to Xing Shuangzhan, 【No wonder Ah Lai, with such a good temper, gets annoyed with him.】

Xing Shuangzhan laughed too, 【Though you misunderstand Ah Lai’s character somewhat, you’re right.】

Chi Qingzhou tilted his head and gently hummed.

His voice wasn’t loud, and the staff in the rest area were too busy to notice him.

But Fang Mingge, who had just promised the extra bonus to the injured staff, caught his voice immediately.

Fang Mingge froze for a moment, turned around, and when he saw Chi Qingzhou standing in their rented yard, his eyes immediately lit up!

He hurriedly ran out of the workroom, heading straight for Chi Qingzhou without any small talk, and said directly, “Teacher Chi, you’ve finally arrived! Have you seen the anomalies in Linghe Village? Is this the sign that the ‘Key’ has already appeared?”

Du Huan reflexively asked, “What key?”

Fang Mingge didn’t answer him, just stared at Chi Qingzhou, hoping for an answer.

Chi Qingzhou smiled lightly and said calmly, “The ‘Key’ hasn’t appeared yet. However, this is indeed a suitable opportunity.”

Seeing the understanding on Fang Mingge’s face, Chi Qingzhou shifted the topic, “Director Fang, have all the actors of the crew arrived?”

Fang Mingge immediately answered, “Not yet. Ling Jiao, who plays the ghost-hunter streamer, and Ding Yuan, who plays the fitness instructor, haven’t arrived yet.”

Chi Qingzhou: “Has the crew notified them?”

Fang Mingge nodded, “They’ve been informed to join the crew. This afternoon, Ling Jiao said she was ready to leave, but Ding Yuan hasn’t replied yet. I’ll go urge him again.”

Chi Qingzhou nodded.

Fang Mingge called a staff member and asked him to take Chi Qingzhou and the others to their accommodations, while he took out his phone and stepped aside to make a call.

After arriving at the accommodation, Chi Qingzhou ​visit our site​separated from the others in the hallway. Just as he was putting his luggage down, Fang Mingge rushed over in a hurry.

“Teacher Chi, I just spoke with Ding Yuan’s agent. She said Ding Yuan had a car accident.”