Chapter 21: Something’s Amiss

Old Master Chen was puffing on his cigarette, meticulously skinning the carcass, when he heard my cry of alarm. He looked at me, puzzled. "What is it?"

I pointed a trembling finger at the severed wolf head, swallowing hard. "The... the wolf! It’s alive again!"

Old Master Chen turned his head, and sure enough, he saw the wolf’s jaws opening and closing rhythmically.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, he didn't hesitate. He grabbed the short blade beside him, stood up, and strode over. With a stoic expression, he gripped the wolf's mouth and used the knife to... well, he simply sliced the hairless head clean off.

He tossed the head aside as if it were trash and returned to his work. I felt a chill run down my spine.

Old Master Chen said calmly, "It’s nothing, Sanqi. These are just natural phenomena."

"Huh? Natural phenomena?" I was skeptical. I had skinned countless animals back at the hunting grounds, and I had never seen a creature that had been gutted and skinned still manage to snap its jaws.

He explained, "Sanqi, sometimes, even if a creature is completely dead, its nerve cells don't stop functioning immediately. Some cells might still trigger short-lived impulses, causing the muscles to contract involuntarily. That’s all this is."

"Is that so?"

"Yes! Sanqi, have you ever heard of a corpse rising from the dead?"

I froze. A corpse rising? I had heard of that. I nodded. "Yes, I have."

"It’s the same principle. All those spooky tales people tell—corpses suddenly sitting up in their coffins and grinning, or eyes snapping open—it’s just residual nerve activity in the body. That’s why these things happen."

As he spoke, he skillfully peeled away the wolf hide and began cleaning off the loose hair and blood. After nodding vaguely, I asked a question that seemed to bubble up from nowhere: "Old Master Chen, do you think... do you think there are really ghosts in this world?"

Master Chen’s body jerked violently. He pondered for a long time before answering, "Perhaps there are! Or perhaps... there aren't."

In the end, he didn't give me a straight answer. He just lowered his head to work on the hide, lost in his own thoughts. He rinsed the two complete hides in the river and sprinkled a layer of salt over them to prevent bacterial growth.

Dahan stood by the bed, watching the two hides with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Once we finished, we headed toward the small cabin where the evil deity had previously resided. We walked in silence the entire way. Finally, I broke the quiet. "Master Chen, if that evil deity refuses to forgive us, will we end up dying in this old forest?"

"We will not!" he answered without a moment’s hesitation.

I blinked.

Master Chen pushed aside the branches blocking our path and said, "Hmph! Sanqi, I’ve spent twenty years in this forest. What haven't I seen? What haven't I encountered? If this evil deity really refuses..."

His voice was filled with confidence. It was then that I realized: of course. As one of the most senior hunters at the Dongjia hunting grounds, he had encountered more strange occurrences in these woods than some people had eaten meals.

However, when I asked what he would do if the deity truly wouldn't forgive us, he only smiled and told me nothing.

...

After walking for less than an hour, we spotted a few hornets. I knew that meant we were close to the cabin with the shrine.

Ten minutes later, when we reached the clearing, Master Chen and I both stopped dead in our tracks.

"Sanqi, I haven't misremembered the location, have I?" he asked suddenly.

"No! This... what is going on?" I stared at the scene, utterly bewildered.

The spot where the cabin and the shrine had stood only a short while ago was completely empty. There was no cabin, not even a stool to be seen. The shrine had vanished entirely.

"Damn it!" Master Chen cursed under his breath. He strode into the area, scanned the surroundings, and then pointed to a spot with a look of growing anxiety. "Sanqi, tell me, was this where the cabin stood?"

"Yes, Master Chen, right here! There was definitely a cabin here! I’m sure of it."

Once I confirmed it, Master Chen began to panic. The spot he was pointing to was now overgrown with tall, lush green grass. It didn't look like a place that had held a cabin at all; even the traces of our campfire and the spots where we had slept were gone.

We exchanged a look. I wondered if someone had moved the shrine, but that made no sense. Even if someone had moved it, what about the grass? That cabin had clearly been there for a very long time; there should have been some sign of its existence. Could the grass have grown so quickly in just a few days to cover the entire ground? That was pure nonsense.

A deeply eerie atmosphere began to settle in, making my skin crawl.

Suddenly, Master Chen spoke: "Sanqi! Go check that grass pile and see if the bones we left are still there!"

I realized he was right. I hurried over and pushed aside the tall grass. Looking inside, I saw the scattered white bones lying there. I turned back and said, "Master Chen, they're here! The bones are still here!"

Master Chen gritted his teeth. After surveying the overgrown grass, he walked to a specific spot, bent down, and grabbed a tuft of foxtail grass, pulling it hard.

A shocking scene unfolded. Not only did the grass come up, but it pulled up a patch of the surrounding greenery along with it.

Good heavens! I was stunned and rushed over to look. What Master Chen had pulled up was a sheet of artificial turf! Beneath the fake grass, we could see the remnants of our campfire and the indentations where we had slept.

"This..." I was breathless.

Our campfire and sleeping spots had been hidden; it was no wonder. If this was the case, then the spot where the shrine had disappeared must have been covered by the same kind of turf.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Master Chen’s expression suddenly shifted. He grabbed my arm tightly, his face pale with tension. "Sanqi, something is wrong! We need to leave, now!"

Without another word, he dragged me into the forest and we began to run for our lives.