chsdbacks #576 - Secrets shared by female journalists
#576 - Secrets shared by female journalists
The mountain road wound forward, and the scenery outside the car window gradually became desolate. Tang Yin looked at the faintly visible outline of the village in the distance, his eyes revealing a hint of indifference.
"I don't think the living conditions in Wuyin Village are very good, and it's a bit far from the central village here," he said calmly, as if discussing something unrelated to himself.
Xia Hui turned around, the sunlight reflecting off her glasses: "Why do you think so?"
"Because everyone's tone is hesitant when they mention my arrangement," Tang Yin's gaze was slightly deep, and he continued: "And Qin Zhi, rather than saying he's just kind-hearted, it's more like he's the kind of person who can do something heartless without batting an eye, right?"
Hearing this, Xia Hui's expression visibly froze: "...Really?"
Tang Yin noticed the unease flashing across Xia Hui's face and smiled faintly: "Don't worry about me, I'll be satisfied as long as I have a place to live."
Xia Hui bit her lip, as if thinking about how to speak: "Don't blame me for being nosy, but this place is really remote. If it's just a longing for the countryside, you definitely won't be able to stick it out."
"It's okay, compared to death, anywhere is paradise..." Tang Yin said halfway, suddenly realizing something, "Ah, that sounds a bit weird."
"Ahaha." Xia Hui laughed dryly twice, and a trace of awkwardness filled the air. The atmosphere in the car became heavy for a moment, as they all knew about Tang Yin's previous suicide attempt.
Tang Yin coughed lightly, trying to ease the atmosphere: "Speaking of which, I'm suddenly a little curious, what kind of place is this?"
Xia Hui's expression became serious: "...A very special place."
"Xiao Q." Zhou Zhengxiong suddenly reminded, his side face with sunglasses showed no expression.
Although Xia Hui's words were euphemistic, they gave people a chill. Compared to those rumored isolated villages, such a vague description was even more unsettling.
Despite the warning in Zhou Zhengxiong's tone, Xia Hui seemed determined to speak. Her fingers unconsciously twisted the corner of her clothes: "...I don't actually know much, it's just that many people who have suffered unfair treatment are forcibly arranged to live there."
She paused, her voice even lower: "Baifeng Village... People here rarely mention it, whether it's the place or the people."
Zhou Zhengxiong's voice suddenly became stern: "Information can't be leaked so casually."
"It depends on the person," Xia Hui retorted rarely, "It's only fair to provide information to someone who knows nothing but is about to live there."
"Then you should have told him before getting in the car, right?" Zhou Zhengxiong's words carried a hint of sarcasm.
A trace of regret flashed across Xia Hui's face: "...Yeah, sorry, Tang Yin, can you keep what I just said a secret?"
"Yeah, I won't tell them." Tang Yin agreed calmly.
Xia Hui hesitated for a moment, then suddenly seemed to make up her mind: "Are you really okay with it? If you change your mind, you can come back with us today... Ah, Zhou Zhengxiong, that should be okay, right?"
"As long as he's willing." Zhou Zhengxiong responded blandly.
A glimmer of expectation flashed in Xia Hui's eyes: "...Tang Yin, do you want to go back with us?"
The atmosphere in the car fell into a brief silence. Tang Yin quietly sized up the two people in the front row, using the reflection in the rearview mirror.
Xia Hui was wearing a light-colored shirt, looking capable and youthful. She always spoke with enthusiasm, and her eyes revealed sincere concern. Zhou Zhengxiong, who was sitting in the driver's seat, gave a completely different impression. He was wearing a dark jacket, and his build was robust. Even without speaking, one could feel the pressure emanating from him.
Interestingly, although Xia Hui was responsible for talking to him, Tang Yin keenly noticed that the one who really made the decisions was Zhou Zhengxiong, who had been silent all along. Whenever Xia Hui said something crucial, Zhou Zhengxiong would always speak up in a timely manner to remind or stop her.
Although Zhou Zhengxiong didn't say much, every word seemed very rational, as if carefully considered. In contrast, Xia Hui occasionally showed impatience and impulsiveness. This difference in personality formed a subtle contrast. Zhou Zhengxiong gave an unexpected sense of stability, which was not only reflected in his strong physique, but more in his calm temperament.
Tang Yin shook his head, temporarily suppressing his thoughts on the relationship between this duo. Now was clearly not the time to analyze them in depth.
"It's okay, I don't want to go back to the city anymore. I appreciate your kindness," Tang Yin said with a smile, his voice carrying a trace of exhaustion.
"But..." Xia Hui wanted to say something more, her brows furrowed slightly.
Tang Yin sighed softly: "...Miss Xia Hui, you may be worrying about me from the perspective of urban and rural areas, but actually, you probably also think I'm a suspicious person, right?"
"I'm already very grateful for the help you've provided me."
Xia Hui's expression was somewhat complicated: "...Is that so? Then I won't say anything more."
"Tang Yin, right?" Zhou Zhengxiong suddenly spoke, his gaze still fixed straight ahead on the road.
"What is it?"
"You don't seem like someone who's at the end of their rope." Zhou Zhengxiong's words carried a hint of inquiry.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Tang Yin twitched the corner of his mouth: "I always get told that, probably because I never seem to be serious, right?"
"Is that so? Sorry." Zhou Zhengxiong responded briefly.
Xia Hui seemed to want to ease the atmosphere: "When I was in middle school, a classmate of mine committed suicide. He was usually carefree, and no one would have thought he would commit suicide."
"Perhaps that's true." Zhou Zhengxiong echoed.
Tang Yin realized that he might have said too much, seeming a bit abnormal. He closed his eyes, recalling the situation at the police station, and tried to adjust his state, attempting to disguise himself as a truly desperate suicide survivor.
The van continued to move slowly along the mountain road, gradually entering an open rural area. This should be the central area of the village. Small shops were scattered along both sides of the road, and the signs all looked a bit old.
However, the whole area gave a sense of desolation, and there were few pedestrians on the street. Before long, trees began to appear sporadically among the buildings, and the branches and leaves swayed gently in the breeze, adding a bit of eerie atmosphere to the silence.
Tang Yin roughly estimated that if this commercial area was the boundary, the entire Baifeng Village was about three kilometers in size. Although not too big, this atmosphere of isolation from the outside world gave a sense of unspeakable oppression.
Tang Yin leaned against the car window, silently observing the scenery outside. Baifeng Village was not very large, at most ten square kilometers. According to the information previously provided by Xia Hui, the population density here was only about one hundred people. Although not sparsely populated, it was definitely not lively.
His gaze kept searching around, trying to find a unique standing rock like the one in Wuyin Village, but ultimately he found nothing. It seemed that it was indeed a unique landmark of Wuyin Village, and it could not be found in Baifeng Village.
The car turned a corner, and a gray-white three-story building appeared in the distance. Although it looked a bit old, the overall structure seemed particularly solid. The outer walls of the building were covered with ivy, which shone with a healthy dark green color in the sunlight.
"That's a branch school established here by a neighboring town's school." Xia Hui pointed to the building and explained, her voice carrying a hint of nostalgia, "The children of Baifeng Village complete their compulsory education here."
Tang Yin nodded thoughtfully. According to Xia Hui, most of the children here would directly go home to help with farm work after finishing junior high school. Only a few of the smarter children would continue to high school, and choose to work outside after graduation. As for those who could get into university, they were even rarer.
"Students like Wang Lina can be said to be child prodigies here." Xia Hui added, her tone filled with admiration.
Tang Yin's thoughts were suddenly pulled back to the three students in Wuyin Village. At this moment, they should also be attending class seriously in this school, right? Thinking of this, he couldn't help but frown.
As the car continued to move forward, the surrounding houses gradually disappeared, replaced by a desolate wilderness. Weeds grew wildly, some even taller than a person's knees. The road wound towards the lush deep mountains in the distance, and the heavy canopy of trees blocked out the sun, giving a mysterious and unpredictable feeling.
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Suddenly, a huge stone stood on each side of the road, with ancient and majestic shapes.
"This is..." Tang Yin subconsciously sat up straight.
"Symbolic buildings, like torii gates." Xia Hui explained, her gaze also turned to the two stones.
"Torii gates?"
"Yes, like trees where the messenger birds of the gods perch, or the entrance to a sacred realm," Xia Hui's tone became professional, "Baifeng Village seems to have faith in mountains."
"Yeah, Senmyō god." Tang Yin casually interjected.
"You know about it?" Xia Hui turned her head in surprise.
Damn it, Tang Yin felt a tightness in his heart.
"Um, Qin Zhi mentioned it," he quickly added.
Xia Hui was thoughtful: "Yeah, but outside of this village, I haven't heard anything about this mountain being special, and I've never heard of a god called Senmyō." She paused. "Just from the literal meaning, it probably has something to do with monkeys, but the relationship between the zodiac sign of the Monkey and monkeys is limited to the calendar and direction..."
"Xia Hui, aren't you a food writer?" Tang Yin interrupted her analysis.
"Ah, sorry," Xia Hui smiled embarrassedly, "Actually, I used to be a paranormal phenomenon writer, but I couldn't make any money at all, so I changed careers."
Tang Yin was stunned. The fashionable and exquisitely made-up professional woman in front of him was actually a writer who studied paranormal phenomena? This unexpected discovery made him re-examine Xia Hui. No wonder she was so knowledgeable about these mysterious things. It seemed that this food writer's background was much more complicated than he had imagined.
"Is that so? That sounds interesting." Tang Yin pretended to respond casually, but in reality, he was secretly observing the changes in Xia Hui's expression.
Xia Hui shook her head with a wry smile, and casually tucked a slightly curly strand of hair behind her ear: "In this day and age, everyone goes online to see strange and unusual things."
Her voice carried a hint of helplessness, and her gaze looked through the car window into the distance, as if recalling the past: "All the strange tales in print media are fake. The real strange tales can only be seen online. Most people think that way now."
"The remaining cake is also monopolized by so-called authorities and experts. There's no room for survival for newcomers." As Xia Hui said this, a trace of loneliness flashed in her eyes.
Tang Yin fell into thought. Indeed, those beautifully printed strange and supernatural magazines were now rarely seen. But whether this change was good or bad, he couldn't say for sure.
The van slowly drove into the mountain road between the two huge standing rocks. This road was narrower than imagined, and the rocks on both sides were like two silent guards, silently watching the intruders.
"The road conditions aren't good, be careful." Zhou Zhengxiong gripped the steering wheel tightly, reminding him with a focused expression.
"Ah, okay." Tang Yin had just responded when the car suddenly jolted violently. Caught off guard, a chill instantly ran up his spine, and his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
If these two standing rocks were really the entrance to a barrier, then hadn't they already entered the sphere of influence of the Senmyō god? Tang Yin looked out the car window, his gaze sweeping over the continuous mountains. On the other side of that fog-shrouded area was Wuyin Village and the place where the God-Given River was located.
He couldn't help but start to think: If this was a sacred realm, then on the other side of the sacred realm, was it the legendary entrance to the underworld? The Senmyō god's belief system seemed much more complicated than he had imagined.
Unknowingly, the smooth asphalt road under the wheels gradually turned into loose sandy soil. The roadside thickets were also gradually replaced by tall and gloomy mountain forests. Looking up, the sky was covered with dark clouds, as if they were about to press down, and the sparse sunlight made this mountain forest particularly gloomy and terrifying.
Tang Yin took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He knew very well that the truly terrifying things were waiting for them ahead.
The atmosphere in the car had become heavy at some point, and none of the three spoke anymore. Tang Yin looked at the scenery receding rapidly outside the window, and suddenly felt a heartfelt gratitude for the power of modern civilization. Without this van, walking through this strange mountain forest on foot would probably be enough to drive a person to the brink of collapse.
They spiraled down the mountainside for a full twenty minutes, then passed through a narrow mountain road that almost scraped the car body. At the end of this seemingly endless deep path, the trees finally began to thin out.
Tang Yin's pupils suddenly contracted—this was the entrance and exit where he had previously risked his life to rescue Xiaomei and passed through the mist. Sure enough, the pair of mysterious standing rocks appeared again on both sides of the road, solemnly announcing the existence of a certain boundary.
"Almost there." Xia Hui said softly, her voice carrying a subtle tremor.
Tang Yin clenched his fists, and a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind: Was this really the entrance to another world, or had they already stepped into the realm of another world?