Infected by the emotions of the golden-haired man, the three became serious. Even Chen Ran became less aloof.
“What happened?” Jiang Cheng asked.
The man pursed his lips before downing another gulp of alcohol. The woman who served them didn’t move forward to refill his glass for some reason.
“A few days later, the people who were supposed to guard the edge of the forest suddenly charged into my home and told me that the people who went missing… had returned.”
“Returned?” Fatty widened his eyes. Jiang Cheng glanced at Fatty. The latter immediately shut up.
“That’s right. They returned,” The golden-haired man paused. “No matter what, that was great news. The elders had their kids back, and the women had their husbands back. The children… had their fathers.
“That night, we had a feast to celebrate the return of the warriors. The town was so joyous. Everyone took out their best wine. The men were not allowed to leave until they were drunk. While they drank, they told us about the things they encountered in the forest…”
At this point, the man’s memory became hazy. It could be his problem or an issue with the men who came out of the forest. In any case, based on the mayor’s recollection, not long after the hunters entered the forest, they encountered a rare storm that caused a flash flood.
Back then, they were in a lowland. They didn’t have any spots to hide in. The flood came suddenly. Those who didn’t manage to hide were swiped away. When the flood was over, they did a headcount and they realised one of them was missing. The person was a young hunter, but he was very experienced. He was one of the leaders of the team.
By then, they had given up searching for the people who disappeared before. Based on what they encountered, those people probably ran into a flood as well.
However, to their surprise, as they followed the flood trail, they came to a place they hadn’t been to before. They were deep inside the forest, and they found a giant stone plate. The plate was pure white, and strange light floated above it. The stone plate was buried underground earlier. The flood washed away the mud and revealed the plate.
The hunters noticed there were fruit trees around the plate. The fruits were unimaginably sweet. A small river wound by the plate. The river was so clear one could see the fish in it…
The men’s tale about the stone plate stunned the people at the celebration. The hunters even forgot that their original goal was to search for the missing townspeople.
Then again, it was not hard to understand why they’d be so interested in that place. They noticed it was harder and harder to find food in the sea. The strange stone solved that problem of theirs. Plus, it was a place with great water source. It was not a bad location to migrate to…
Without much discussion, everyone agreed that the hunters would lead them into the forest to check out this plate the day after. That night, the mayor was so happy that he drank a little too much. He was carried home before the feast was over.
When he was lying in bed, someone smacked him on his face. The person was very anxious as he called the golden-haired man’s name. However, as the golden-haired man opened his eyes, his alcohol-addled brain woke up instantly. The person who woke him up knelt before him. He was covered in mud. Only a pair of bloodshot eyes glared at him. Even so, the man recognised him. It was the young man who was supposedly carried away by the flood. But… wasn’t he dead?
As the golden-haired shivered from fear, the young man spoke. “Mayor,” He cried, “We encountered a flood. Other than myself, the rest of the team died!”
At this point, Fatty was the same as the mayor. His heart rose to his throat. If the hunters who came back did not lie, then the young man was a ghost. But what if the young man was telling the truth?
Then, Fatty confirmed that the young man who sneaked into the mayor’s room should be telling the truth or else… Fatty glanced at the golden-haired man. The latter probably wouldn’t be there to tell them this story.
A chill rose in his heart. The stone plate was such a strange and scary thing. In Su Xiaoxiao’s description, they also encountered a white plate. The plate was stacked with bones.
Plus, the white bones were reanimated to slaughter the people near the stone plate. The things that the Su Siblings encountered were probably the men who had ‘returned’ from the forest in the golden-haired man’s story.
What were they? Ghosts?
Fatty thought about it and decided against it. They didn’t match Fatty’s understanding of ghosts. They were more like strange creatures who were brought back to life through some power. It was as if there was something darker controlling them, but Fatty had no idea what.
The golden-haired man didn’t explain what happened next after the feast, but from his eyes, the town had a tremendous change after that night. The next thing he said was, “I led the remaining men in the town…”
The torches caused the man’s face to flicker. When he opened his mouth next, he sounded like there were gravels in his throat, “We found the stone plate. The ground around it was barren. The ground was dark red in colour, as if soaked in blood. The stone plate…” He paused. His eyes were so red that one would assume they’d start to bleed, “It was filled with corpses of the townspeople! All those who went missing were there!”