# 343
Chapter 343 – Forest Ghost Affair
“There’s no detailed explanation in the intel either.” Lin Qiye thought back for a moment and spoke slowly.
An Qingyu pondered for a bit. “When we were buying gear in Tianhe City I did hear some rumors.”
“What rumors?”
“Around the Greater Khingan Range there are a lot of treasure hunters.”
“Treasure hunters? There’s treasure here?” Baili Pangpang’s eyes lit up.
“Not exactly. The ‘treasure’ here mostly means old wild ginseng or other pricey herbs that grow deep in the mountains. There are a few stories about ruins or lost riches, but not many, and most of those are horror tales.”
“So it’s just herbs.” Baili Pangpang sighed in disappointment.
“Horror tales?” Cao Yuan was intrigued. “Tell us.”
Baili Pangpang froze, glanced around at the dark, creepy forest, swallowed, and muttered, “You want to hear ghost stories here? Seriously?”
“Might be useful. A lot of mysteries start as local gossip; we might run into one someday,” Lin Qiye said.
Baili Pangpang twitched his lips. “Why do you sound eager?”
An Qingyu cleared his throat. “There are plenty of scary legends about the Greater Khingan—fox immortals, monkey goblins, paper men carrying a bridal sedan… but the one I heard is stranger.
They say deep in the virgin forest there’s a logging camp—”
“Hold on!” Baili Pangpang cut in. “Logging camp? The same abandoned one we’re heading to? You sure you didn’t invent this for atmosphere?”
“Of course not; the camp isn’t the point.” An Qingyu shook his head. “Beside that camp lies a gloomy ghost forest. One day a lumberjack walked in to cut wood. After felling the first tree he saw a shadow deep among the trunks.
At first he thought it was just an animal, but when he got closer he saw it was human-shaped, short, wearing glaring scarlet clothes. The face was the worst part—pale, features blurred, human… yet more like a corpse.”
Baili Pangpang shuddered.
“Word spread. A group of young thrill-seekers came to explore, hoping to find the figure. They wandered the ghost forest, felt nothing but a creepy vibe, then left.
Only afterward did they realize—one of them was missing.
The lost man was their local guide. They searched for days, then showed his photo to the lumberjack, asking him to rally other loggers.
The moment the lumberjack saw the picture his face went white.
The missing man looked exactly like the dead face he’d seen in the trees.”
When An Qingyu finished, silence fell.
Baili Pangpang’s face was bloodless. He pulled out prayer beads and muttered mantras, peering into the darkness, chin tucked into his collar, terrified something might leap out.
Lin Qiye mused, “So what’s the moral?”
“That deep in the uninhabited Greater Khingan there’s an eternal realm where the dead gain new life and live forever. The missing youth was a dead soul who’d strayed out; he joined the expedition only to find his way back home,” An Qingyu explained.
“A kingdom of the dead inside the virgin forest… interesting,” Cao Yuan murmured.
At that moment Lin Qiye, at the head of their single-file line, stopped dead.
He could sense the surroundings, so he led; An Qingyu and Baili Pangpang followed, with Cao Yuan guarding the rear. When Lin Qiye halted, the other three froze as well.
“What’s wrong? We’ve still two hours to the abandoned camp,” Baili Pangpang whispered.
Lin Qiye stood still, frowning, sweeping his flashlight across the black woods. His hand drifted toward his backpack.
“There’s… something nearby.”
The low words reached them all. Instantly they tensed, scanning the darkness.
The forest was silent; only their breaths showed as pale mist in the torchlight. Each exhalation tightened the knot in their throats.
Suddenly Lin Qiye’s pupils shrank.
Clang—!
A soft ring sliced the night. His Straight Blade flashed from its sheath, the pale-blue edge slashing through branches and streaking into the dark!
A shrill shriek answered—nothing human. The next instant a bull-sized black shadow burst from the gloom and charged!
Reflexes snapped; the four scattered. The shadow brushed past Baili Pangpang and smashed into a giant tree.
THUD—!
The trunk snapped in half. Four flashlight beams converged, revealing the attacker.
A blood-red monstrous ant—one-and-a-half meters tall, two meters long, scythe-like mandibles, six thick legs. It spun, locking onto the nearest target: Baili Pangpang.
“Why me?!” he cursed. A golden light flared at his throat!