Chapter 276: Chapter 276: The Glutton Ghost
 

Although Binhai has a subtropical climate, with long and searingly hot summers, once midnight arrives, cooling breezes still weave their way through the streets.

There is hardly anyone on the streets. The wind scatters the plastic bags and papers that litter the area, causing them to flutter in the air, as countless eerie eyes seem to surreptitiously peek from the street corners.

“Um… Little Long, it’s kind of cold…” Chu Tingting wraps her arms around herself, shivering slightly.

Moreover, the fact that she knows ghosts are real and that she had come out to summon spirits with Huang Xiaolong tonight made her feel even colder, as she might truly see a lone, wandering ghost.

“Tingting…are you nervous?” Huang Xiaolong smiles wryly, stretching out a hand and pulling Chu Tingting into his embrace by her slender waist.

Um… his hand feels amazing.

With Huang Xiaolong’s arms encircling her, Chu Tingting trembles slightly, her heart is in turmoil and blush spreads across her face. Her ears are burning, but still, the intimate gesture and the warmth from Huang Xiaolong’s body are like a furnace that eliminates all the unease and chill in her heart.

“Damn! A sappy couple!” Yang Kai, accompanied by three guys and two girls, follows Huang Xiaolong and Chu Tingting, cursing under his breath.

“You know…Yang Kai, the street feels really weird at midnight. The last time, when you knocked on the bowl, did you really…really didn’t see any…any sort of…those kinds of things…” A petite girl who was Yang Kai’s classmate starts to look anxious.

“What are you scared of? You actually let that kid scare you? Ghosts? There are no ghosts in this world! Even if there are, ghosts are scared of humans as well!” Yang Kai appeared to be very brave.

Just then!

From ahead, the sound of children’s clapping and laughing suddenly rings out. The lyrics of a song are very clear–

“Grind the grindstone,

Saw the saw,

Drill the borer,

Scrape the shovel,

Ant climbing up the tree scratches the heart of the board,

Itchy, itchy, itchy…”

This is a simple nursery rhyme. The children’s voices kept singing it over and over, as if they were playing some small game while singing the song.

“Little Long…what kind of song is this? And why are there kids playing in the street this late at night?” Chu Tingting frowns and asks the questions.

“Hehehehe” Huang Xiaolong looks thoughtfully at the direction from where the sounds come, then smirks. “Tingting, do you know the meaning of this nursery rhyme?”

“Huh?” Chu Tingting is stunned and does not continue the conversation.

“Hahaha It’s very simple–this nursery rhyme is such that the children say the lines while imitating the actions of grinding, sawing, drilling, and scraping on the palm of another child’s hand. When they get to ‘ant climbing up the tree’ part, they move from the palm to the armpit or other parts of the body and start tickling. It’s a small game, which can be played by adults and children alike, usually used to amuse children. It always has the kids laughing and trying to avoid being tickled.” Yang Kai approaches from behind, looking at Huang Xiaolong coldly.

“Wrong,” shakes his head Huang Xiaolong. “This nursery rhyme is hinting at a murder…a murder took place then the body was sawed into pieces, buried with a shovel, and maybe even the bones were ground into ashes. Hmm, after N years a tree grew at the spot. Would the tree feel itchy when ants climbed it? Of course it would, because part of it was once a person’s arm…”

“Little Long…don’t…don’t say that…” Chu Tingting shudders at Huang Xiaolong’s account, and presses herself closer to him.

“Your mind…it’s so dark!” Listening to Huang Xiaolong’s interpretation, Yang Kai also feels a shiver down his spine. The faces of his five classmates change as well.

“I’m just stating a fact,” Huang Xiaolong says, arm still wrapped around Chu Tingting, as they continue to walk forward. “There are some nursery rhymes that you learn to chant from childhood, but you start to question their weirdness as you grow up. When you explore them, you find they contain themes from horror movies. Actually, many nursery rhymes are composed and sung by little ghosts. They spread when they are unintentionally heard by the living.”

Huang Xiaolong’s words paused and gave people an eerie chill.

“Yang Kai…should we…should we go home…” One of the guys trailing behind Yang Kai is quite tall and sturdy, but now he is also feeling quite uneasy.

“Scared for what! Are you frightened just by his words? Don’t be afraid! Damn! What kind of ghost rhyme is this? It’s all lies! Let’s keep going! We’re almost at the intersection!” Yang Kai angrily lashes out.

Walking up to where the child’s singing was heard, it was deserted.

A flash of brilliance crossed Huang Xiaolong’s eyes as he saw the soul forms of several children running off into the distance, laughing merrily.

“Huh? Where are the children who were singing just now?” Chu Tingting asked, somewhat confused.

At this point, a crossroad appeared ahead with occasional cars passing by, but no pedestrians were in sight.

“Alright, we’ve reached the crossroads. Here, I’ll summon back the soul and spirit that Zhong Hui lost,” Huang Xiaolong said with a grin. “By the way, Tingting, if you ever have to cross a crossroad alone at night, it’s best to keep your head down and hurry along. You wouldn’t want to be noticed by random lost souls or ghosts.”

Now, Huang Xiaolong had opened his Heavenly Eye. The seemingly deserted crossroads were filled with wandering souls.

Of course, these were merely lost souls or ghosts. No malicious spirits were detected.

To get to the crossroad, Huang Xiaolong and the group waited outside the zebra crossing for the traffic light to turn green.

The light was currently red and counting down.

Apart from Huang Xiaolong’s group, there were a few emotionally detached lost souls standing beside them, silently waiting.

In fact, many ghosts would wait for the traffic light at the zebra crossing during the night. This was a habit formed during their lifetimes and persists even in death.

Eventually, the green light came on.

The lost souls were still standing there.

“Hurry up! The light’s green,” Huang Xiaolong reminded them.

The ghosts looked up at Huang Xiaolong, revealing looks of terror. In an instant, they shook their ephemeral forms and distanced themselves quickly.

“Little Long, were you talking to me just now?” Chu Tingting asked, astonished.

“No, Tingting, I wasn’t talking to you,” Huang Xiaolong shrugged.

“Really… stop scaring me…” Chu Tingting pleaded with a mournful look.

“Playing the ghost, I wonder how long you’ll keep this up!” Yang Kai coldly glared at Huang Xiaolong.

The group crossed the zebra line.

“Come, let’s get started! Today, I’m going to prove that there are no ghosts in this world!” Yang Kai placed the prepared dishes and soup on the ground, surrounding them with six empty bowls.

“Listen, each of you will be responsible for knocking on an empty bowl.” Yang Kai sat cross-legged, “Sit down.”

The three guys and two girls sighed and sat down at an empty bowl, each holding a pair of chopsticks.

“Now, we start knocking on the bowls. If there are ghosts, the passing spirits and nearby ghosts will be attracted by this sound and come to eat the dishes and soup prepared for them,” Yang Kai explained. “As long as we don’t stop knocking, the ghosts won’t see us. But, in order to prove there are no ghosts in this world, I will command everyone to stop.”

After speaking, Yang Kai began knocking on his bowl, following by the five classmates who started knocking on their bowls with their chopsticks.

Ding ding ding

The sound of the bowls was eerily strange. Especially in the silent night, it not only echoed far away but also gave goosebumps on the first listen.

After a few minutes of knocking by the six people including Yang Kai, chilling auras from all directions started converging towards them!

“Damn, what a bunch of morons…” Huang Xiaolong took a look around.