I was certain that Lü Peng didn't want to stay in such a village forever, so I pushed him step by step.

Lü Peng was indeed wavering: "I want to go out."

Yi Lǜ said anxiously, "Brother Peng, think about it, the village has the foundation we worked so hard to build!"

"It's all your hard work!"

Niè Xiǎo Chun sneered, "A village full of dead people, plotting against each other, what's there to miss?"

"Don't you want to go back to a normal life?"

Yi Lǜ said helplessly, "We also want to live normal lives, but what can we do after we go out?"

"It's better to stay here and be a small-time king."

It was understandable that Lü Peng had such thoughts. It was like someone who had been in prison for too long, feeling lost and even afraid of the outside world when they were about to be released.

However, hearing these words from Yi Lǜ made me suspicious.

Niè Xiǎo Chun said, "You can definitely do more things outside than you can now."

"How long have you lived here? You're familiar with every plant and tree here, right? Don't you want to go and see other places?"

"You..."

Yi Lǜ said anxiously, "Stop talking, it's not your turn to tell us what we want."

"I want to go out!" Lü Peng suddenly said, "I've had enough of staying here. I want to go out, even if it's to be a beggar. At least I can walk all the way home!"

"Brother Peng..." Yi Lǜ was about to say something, but Lü Peng stopped her with a look.

Just as Lü Peng was about to turn around, the bell of the second village rang even more urgently.

Yi Lǜ's face changed. "Brother Peng, this is bad. The village must have been breached. If we don't go back, everything left in the village will be gone."

"At that time, even if we go out, we'll have nothing!"

Lü Peng subconsciously turned back to look in the direction of the village. I said coldly, "You don't need to look. We can't leave. Look at what's behind that tree over there."

When Lü Peng looked in the direction I was pointing, he saw the corner of a garment peeking out from behind a tree trunk.

Xiào Hong!

That should be Xiào Hong's clothes!

Lü Peng was about to walk towards the tree trunk, but I grabbed him back. "Don't go, that's a ghost trying to lure you in."

Ghosts have countless ways to deceive people. Deliberately letting people see their clothes is one of them, called "gui gua bi" (ghost hanging on the wall) in the art.

It means that the ghost deliberately reveals a bit of their clothes or shoes from a street corner or wall corner for people to see.

If passers-by don't have any curiosity, then it's fine. But once curiosity arises, they go over to take a look, and who knows, they might come face-to-face with a dead person when they turn the corner.

Lü Peng said in a trembling voice, "Impossible, Xiào Hong wouldn't hurt me."

I looked at Lü Peng and said, "Have you forgotten how you died? Have you forgotten the cause of Xiào Hong's death?"

"I'm not trying to scare you. Until the truth is found, anyone could be the murderer who killed Xiào Hong. Otherwise, she wouldn't have such a strong resentment."

Lü Peng's face changed instantly, and he stood silently next to me.

I gave Niè Xiǎo Chun and Qín Xin a hand signal, meaning: take care of yourselves. If something happens, don't worry about those two, and escape on your own. That's the important thing.

Yè Yang and I deliberately staggered our positions, sandwiching Lü Peng and Yi Lǜ in the middle, and continued to walk upstream.

We hadn't gone far when we saw a red shoe floating in the water.

The shoe floated not far from us and stopped, floating on the surface of the water and spinning like a pointer.

Finally, the toe of the shoe pointed at Yi Lǜ.

Yi Lǜ screamed, "Why is the toe of the shoe pointing at me?"

"Because you killed Xiào Hong!" I looked coldly at Yi Lǜ and said, "Resentful ghosts don't mistake the murderers who harmed them. She's looking for you now."

"No... it's really not..." Yi Lǜ said anxiously, "Brother Peng, believe me, I really didn't kill Xiào Hong."

Lü Peng also said, "Mr. Li, are you mistaken?"

I smiled and said, "Whether I'm wrong or not, you'll know if you let Yi Lǜ leave us by five steps."

"I'll go!" Yi Lǜ turned around and was about to leave, but Lü Peng pulled her back. "You're not allowed to go."

Lü Peng stared at me and said, "I believe Yi Lǜ!"

I spread my hands and said, "Whatever grudges you have between you are not within my consideration. You don't need to prove anything to me either."

"I'm just telling you a fact!"

While I was speaking, the red shoe had already sunk into the water. When I wanted to look for it again, I couldn't find any trace of it.

Yè Yang said in a low voice, "That shoe is looking for someone. Be careful, don't let the shoe be put on your feet."

Further ahead, the river channel was sandwiched between two mountain walls. We had no choice but to continue upstream along the river, unable to bypass this small river that flowed down the mountain.

Niè Xiǎo Chun and Qín Xin subconsciously floated to the surface of the water, using their toes to tread on the water.

Now, the only people left who could wear that red shoe were the four of us standing in the water.

At the same time, the river water surging down from upstream somehow stirred up a large amount of sediment, and the surface of the water became a chaotic mess.