Ghost Breath - C22

Every summer, Xu Mei’s two grandsons would come over from the city to visit, and Xu Mei would lead them around.

The two children were twins, one was called Wang Jun, the other was called Wang He. Both of them were in the first grade of primary school, and because they were going to vacation, their parents didn’t have time to take care of them at work, so they were sent to live at Xu Mei’s maternal grandma’s house. Xu Mei naturally did not find it troublesome, and liked it quite a lot. After all, the old people usually liked to cause a stir, especially when their wife, Xu Mei, passed away a long time ago.

The place they visited most often was the river, and because there was no river in the city, the two children found it very strange.

However, the rivers in this area were very dirty, there was no other way around it. It was not realistic to clean the river right next to the industrial area. Every time the two children tried to move the algae on the water’s surface with their branches, Xu Mei would always stop them.

Not only that, but there were also a lot of miscellaneous items along the river, such as thick ropes, baskets, broken shoes, used shampoo bottles, cigarette boxes and so on.

Xu Mei had always hated these things of unknown origins, and it could also be due to the shadow of her childhood.

Occasionally, when the two children wanted to pick up the things on the ground to play with, Xu Mei would say, “Don’t randomly pick up the things on the ground, hurry up and throw it away!”

That day, after dinner, Xu Mei took the two children for a walk as usual and once again came to this road.

After walking a few steps, they saw a dark blue schoolbag on the ground.

Xu Mei guessed that it should be a child from someone else who accidentally left it here.

Xu Mei instinctively wanted to go around the bag, but unexpectedly, when the two grandsons saw this bag, they were overjoyed. Wang Jun immediately picked up the bag and carried it on his back.

“Let me try, let me try as well.” His younger brother, Wang He, was envious of his big brother and wanted to take responsibility for the ruckus.

Although the bag was worn out, it was indeed quite exquisite, and was the kind of style that primary school students loved the most.

But Xu Mei really did not like the things that were picked up from the ground, so she shouted to stop them, “Hey hey hey, the two of you are not obedient anymore, throwing it away, quickly throw it away!”

“Grandma, just let us play for a while, okay?” Wang He pleaded.

“No!” You can’t touch other people’s things. Have you forgotten what your grandma usually tells you? ”

“But others don’t want this. If someone comes looking for a bag, can we give it back to him?”

“That won’t do, hurry up and throw it away, hurry up!” Xu Mei already had no patience. Even though she was old, her temper was still very bad.

“Hmph, grandmother is unreasonable.” Wang He had finally managed to snatch the schoolbag from his brother. This time, he wanted to throw it away, and was unwilling to do so. However, he was afraid that his grandma would really be angry, so he could only pucker his mouth and prepare to put the schoolbag down.

At this moment, Wang Jun, who was standing behind Wang He, seemed to have noticed something as he shouted, “Look, Grandma! Look! There’s a hole in the bag!”

After Xu Mei arrived behind Wang He, she saw that there was indeed a hole on the outer pocket of the bag. She thought that it was no wonder that no one wanted this bag.

Wang Jun was also curious. He reached his hand into the hole and fiddled around in his bag for a long time.

Seeing this scene, Xu Mei was suddenly stunned. She remembered something from the past, a fear that had been buried deep in her heart for a long time.

“Throw it away! “Throw it away!”

Xu Mei uncharacteristically snatched the bag from Wang He’s hands and threw it far away.

Wang Jun and Wang He were both stupefied. They had never seen their grandma lose her temper like this before. In the past, no matter how mischievous they were or how much they angered their grandma, she would never be like this.

Xu Mei panted heavily. After pausing for a long time, she realized that her two grandsons were staring at her in a daze.

“Grandma, did we do something wrong again?” Wang Jun eagerly asked.

“No, it’s just that my grandma was scared, my grandma was scared.” Xu Mei waved her hand.

“Why?” Wang Jun asked with a smile. Upon hearing that it had nothing to do with them, the two brothers instantly felt relieved.

Xu Mei looked at the blue bag that she threw far away again and was quietly sitting next to a pile of yellow sand. She said thoughtfully: “In this world, there are many strange things that you have never seen before. If something strange pops out of the bag, aren’t you guys scared? ”

“But grandma, there’s nothing in the school bag!” Wang Jun said with certainty.

“What if there really is one?”

“What should I do?” Wang Jun repeated Xu Mei’s question dumbly.

“Grandma, what do you mean by strange thing?” Wang He could not help but ask.

“Grandma will tell you a story, okay?” It was back when my grandma was a little kid. ” Xu Mei said.

“Good!” “Alright!” Hearing that their grandma was going to tell a story, the two children became excited.

“At that time, Grandma was the same age as you guys, and she was in primary school as well …”

Xu Mei said as she reminisced about the past.

Just as Xu Mei had told the two children, she was still young and lived in the rural areas instead of the town. Because it was only the 1950s, the conditions were quite harsh and the family had many children. They often fought over food. The rare good thing was that there were many children in the countryside during that time, and they all liked to run outside. The whole village was filled with children, and it was very lively.

On Xu Mei’s way to and from school, the students would flock away every evening. There were those who went to the roadside stall to buy candy, those who went to catch fish, those who hopped off ropes, those who played marbles, and, of course, those who were naughty and fought.

Xu Mei’s popularity in the class could be considered good, because she had a good relationship with a few of her classmates. Because their families were close, they often traveled together from school to school.

That day, Xu Mei returned home from school with three other classmates. Two of them were female, one was called Zhou Yan, the other was called Gu Wenfang, and the other was a male.

After turning off the road into the lane, they passed a long alley. On both sides of the alley were a few dilapidated bungalows. As a result of the infrastructure, the residents had all moved to the town.

The alleyway was very quiet and completely different from the roads outside. There were very few people here, especially at night. It was dark and gloomy, so no one dared to come in.

Xu Mei had walked this path countless of times. She knew that every winter, because the sky was getting dark quickly, it would be very dark when she passed through the alley after school. That was why she arranged to go home with her classmates.

But today, as she passed through the alley, she saw a strange figure walking towards her.

When she got closer, she found that he was an old man, stooping over a walking stick, walking slowly like a snail. The old man’s face could be described as deathly pale. It was rather gloomy, and he didn’t have any expression on his face. Under the pile of wrinkles, his eyes were almost narrowed into slits, causing people to wonder how the old man was able to see clearly.

“Where did this old man come from? I’ve never seen him before.” Zhou Yan whispered to Xu Mei.

Xu Mei shook her head, she was also observing.

When the three children stopped, the hunchbacked old man walked slowly past them.

Xu Jing was an exceptionally mischievous child. He saw that the hunchbacked old man looked weird and he had never seen a hunchbacked old man before. He curiously asked the hunchbacked old man: “Hey, where are you from?”

The hunchbacked old man didn’t answer and continued to advance.

“Is he from our village?” Xu Jing asked again, and he even took the opportunity to rub the hunchbacked old man’s bent back, then grinned at Xu Mei and the others.

But the hunchbacked old man remained silent, as if he could not hear him.

Xu Jing was unhappy, he stood in front of the hunchbacked old man, baring his fangs and brandishing his claws, he even spoke loudly, but the hunchbacked old man still ignored him and walked forward step by step.

This time, Xu Jing got anxious and tried to snatch the old hunchback’s walking stick.

Xu Mei and the others felt that what Xu Jing was doing was not good, and quickly gestured for him to leave. However, Xu Jing did not listen to their advice, and already extended her hand out to grab the walking stick.

Just as he was giggling and was about to pull the hunchback old man’s walking stick away, the hunchbacked old man suddenly raised his walking stick and suddenly stabbed at Xu Jing’s leg.

Seeing that Xu Jing had been beaten up by the old hunchback, Xu Mei and the others panicked and immediately supported him. Xu Jing held onto his thigh and stared at the old man.

The hunchbacked old man was still expressionless as he continued to walk forward.

Xu Jing was finally afraid, and he retreated a few steps, but with every step he took, he felt a pain in his leg, which showed that his injuries were not light.

He couldn’t imagine how this old man could still muster up so much strength when he looked like he was about to sink into the ground.

“Why did you hit him, it’s true!” Gu Wen Fang said to the hunchbacked old man on Xu Jing’s behalf.

The hunchbacked old man walked around the corner and disappeared from their sight as the students pointed at him.

From start to finish, the hunchbacked old man did not say a single word, nor did he even bat an eyelid.

From that day onwards, Xu Mei found out that Xu Jing’s calf bone was fractured, and had to recuperate at home for a few days. And every time they returned home from school, they would see the hunchbacked old man in the alley. The hunchbacked old man continued to ignore them, walking so slowly that it made people worry.

Not long after, Xu Jing returned from recuperating, and on the same day, he was in high spirits as he told Xu Mei and the others that he must take revenge for the old hunchback injuring him, and let Xu Mei and the others watch.

Xu Mei also knew that Xu Jing was petty, especially bearing grudges, and would definitely not tolerate this kind of thing. However, she still advised Xu Jing not to offend the hunchbacked old man again. She didn’t know the reason why, but she just felt that the old man was weird.

“Pui!” Breaking my legs, I let him go? That stinking old man, I want revenge! ” As Xu Mei had expected, Xu Jing basically could not hear it.

That day, after school was dismissed, Xu Jing did not leave with Xu Mei and the others. Instead, he brought along a few boys from other classes and rushed to an alley ahead of time.

Xu Mei and the others were worried that Xu Jing would go overboard and hurriedly rushed towards the alley.

When the three girls arrived at the alley, Xu Jing and the other boys had already surrounded the hunchbacked old man.

“Smelly old man, you like beating people, right? Keep hitting them!” From afar, Xu Mei could hear Xu Jing cursing.

“You’re bullying us because we’re young, aren’t you?” another boy said.

“Your walking stick is quite powerful. Do you want to compete with me!?” Another boy held a bamboo pole and waved it at the hunchbacked old man.

Who knew that the hunchbacked old man had no reaction at all? It was as if he couldn’t hear or see, and he continued to walk step by step.

Xu Mei and the rest happened to be in the crowd, and completely surrounded the hunchbacked old man.

The male student who helped Xu Jing earlier pushed a bicycle over and stopped the hunchbacked old man in his tracks.

The hunchbacked old man slammed into the bike, but he still managed to ride it, trying to move forward.

They found it strange and wondered if the hunchbacked old man was a fool. Only Xu Jing did not think too much about it. After snatching the bamboo pole from another guy, he decided to give it a try as well.

Just as Xu Mei wanted to advise him against it, Xu Jing had already swung out her bamboo pole, aimed at the old man’s leg, and heavily hit him.

The hunchbacked old man staggered and barely stood still. Xu Jing was not angry to begin with, and then again, but at the same time, the hunchbacked old man swung his cane at Xu Jing. Xu Jing was caught off guard, and was hit on the back, almost falling down.

Xu Jing flew into a rage, his eyes looking as if he was about to eat the hunchbacked old man. He immediately turned around and raised the bamboo pole behind the hunchbacked old man, and just as Xu Mei and the others cried out in shock, he suddenly stabbed it towards the hunchbacked old man’s back.

With this stab, the hunchbacked old man finally let out a low groan. However, it didn’t sound like a sound that came from the throat. The next moment, the back of the hunchbacked old man started to crack as black blood started to gush out of his wound and onto the ground.

Xu Jing’s bamboo stick tumbled to the ground and instantly stunned everyone.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, an even more bizarre scene appeared. They saw a black mass slowly squirming on the old hunchback’s back, trying its best to get out.

Very quickly, the thing had separated itself from its back and slowly crawled to the ground. Xu Mei and the others saw clearly that the thing that came out from the hunchbacked old man’s body was actually a human head, and it was even more so like a centipede that had many legs!

The face of the head was almost identical to that of the hunchbacked old man. However, it was darker and the hair longer. Furthermore, compared to its centipede-like body and slender legs, the head was much larger. The proportions were very inconsistent.

At the same time, the hunchbacked old man weakly fell onto the ground, as if his life force was all on the head of the monster. At the same time, the hunchbacked old man weakly fell to the ground, as if his life force was all on the head of the monster.

The children were so scared that they didn’t dare to make a sound until the monster climbed up the wall and entered a window of the bungalow.

No one dared to chase him, not even a question.

Later, this incident caused a commotion in the local area, and the police had investigated it. However, because it was too bizarre and they could not determine the actual situation, they had to leave it at that.

But up until now, dozens of years had passed, and Xu Mei still kept this matter in her heart. The old hunchback’s dark face, left a deep impression on her.

Perhaps, in this world, there really were some bizarre creatures that were hard to explain and had yet to enter the human eye’s field of vision. Xu Mei always thought so.

After listening to his grandmother’s story, because they were young, the two children did not feel that it was scary. They were just curious, so they stared at Xu Mei and asked a question.

However, they vaguely understood why their grandma reacted so excessively to the backpack. It was because the backpack also had a hole in its back that made her grandma think of that hunchbacked old man.

“Time to go home.” Seeing that it was already late, Xu Mei put her hand on her two grandsons’ shoulders and prepared to leave the riverside.

At this moment, she saw a brown beetle crawling slowly on the ground. In an instant, her vision blurred, as if the hunchbacked old man had appeared before her again.

Oh no!