My body was shaking uncontrollably. However, Chu Bai stayed silent.

“Oi, what’s wrong with you?” I asked anxiously. “Now isn’t the right time to stay silent.”

The whole village had been slaughtered and there was blood everywhere. Who knew what happened in this village?

At this moment, Chu Bai murmured in a mosquito-like voice,

“Blood..”

Blood? What about it? Is she afraid of blood? How would a ghost who died hundreds of years ago be afraid of blood?

“Don’t worry, we’re here with you,” I comforted her. “Get up, don’t crouch here. Wen Jiubo is still waiting for us.”

“No!” I was startled by her sudden yell. “Let’s get out of here! Right now!”

“What?” I was surprised by her reaction and tried to persuade her to stay, “We can’t leave now. The monster killed all the villagers, so we must seal it. It’s okay, please get up now. You’ll be fine with us.”

“No, we won’t be fine!” Chu Bai raised her voice again. I could tell from her trembling voice that she was terrified. “Please, human kid, listen to me this time, okay? Let’s not go any further, we have to turn back!”

“No!” She left me no choice but to forcefully take back control of my body. I stood up slowly. “I don’t want to listen to your nonsense. This is my body, and if you’re scared, you just hide inside and stay silent.”

I was squatting for so long that my legs were numb. I looked around, there was no sign of Wen Jiubo and Bai. The only thing I could see was the blood-soaked village.

Were there any survivors? Or perhaps..Gudiao ate all the villagers just like Wen Jiubo thought?

At this moment, I suddenly heard a strange sound. It sounded like a beast heavily panting, or even a little heavier, echoing around me.

Wooz, Wooz..

What was this sound? Was there anyone alive?

I held my breath and started to turn around to see what was going on. However, Chu Bai immediately stopped me.

“Idiot, don’t turn around! Run, now!”

I frowned, “Can you just stop talking? I told you I won’t go back!”

“You moron!” Chu Bai yelled at me furiously, “Haven’t you noticed yet? Those wounds are still fresh, and you can see the blood on the walls hasn’t dried yet! Whatever this monster is, it’s still here!”

I stood there frozen after hearing her words.

Was the Gudiao still here?

It ate all the villagers, and the sound I heard, was it..

Before I could react, a big furry head popped out from behind the house. The animal shook its body and let out a weird sound which sounded like a crying baby and a groaning beast at the same time. Then, it locked its eyes on me.

Gudiao..is this the Gudiao?

The strange thing was that even facing such a massive beast, I wasn’t scared at all. It might be because it didn’t look as fierce and frightening as I had imagined.

It had wings, leopard-looking fur, and deer horns. Its mouth was big and half-opened. The blood at the corner of its mouth showed what it was doing a moment ago.

It stopped five steps away from me, staring at me calmly. Its fluffy head tilted to one side as if it was studying me. Its pitch-black eyes twinkled as if it was just a massive pet dog.

My heart was nearly jumping out of my chest. I swallowed hard and slowly stepped back while I kept staring at it.

I hoped that the monster was full now and didn’t want to eat a small creature like me..

I lowered my body and slowly moved back. I forced out a smile, “Good boy, good boy. My flesh tastes really bad. Please let me go.”

The Gudiao tilted its head and looked at me, but it didn’t move at all. I was a little relieved and thought it might actually let me go.

However, at this moment, I accidentally stepped on a stone, lost my balance and fell on the ground.

Then, the Gudiao suddenly became excited. It let out a groan before opening its big mouth and rushing over towards me.

I instantly felt an excruciating pain on my chest. The Gudiao held me up with its big claws and threw me directly into its mouth.

“You moron!”

At the same time, I heard Chu Bai’s voice and then pain swept through my body. After my head hit something hard, I lost consciousness.

——————————————————————————

I had a dream about Chu Bai again.

At first, everything was dark and after a while, the surroundings slowly got brighter.

I smelt the fragrance of sophora flowers before seeing the beautiful white flowers and blue autumn sky.

Oh, right. I’m Chu Bai, I see this world through Chu Bai’s eyes. And this place is Wen Jiubo’s yard.

“Today is a nice day,” I muttered, as I sat on the branch of the ash tree.

Mr. Wen was in this big and quiet yard alone as he always was.

I came to this place from time to time, but always hid when he showed up. I didn’t want him to see me.

Mr. Wen sometimes went out in the morning and didn’t come back until the next day. Sometimes he spent days staying inside the house, reading or practicing calligraphy, but not going out.

Did he never feel lonely being alone in this big and quiet yard?

I wanted to talk to him several times, but when I faced him, I became speechless.

Mr. Wen was so perfect that I thought it was disrespectful to stand in front of him, let alone talk to him.

When Mr. Wen was not home, I would go to a nearby village to rest. Occasionally, I would borrow human tools to clean myself in order to look good.

One day, I came back to the yard again and hid behind the thick ash tree leaves.

Oh, Mr. Wen was sitting by a stone table in the yard, under the warm sunlight, playing chess alone.