Upon hearing these words from Young Master Liu, and recalling the peculiar incidents at the Lingguan Temple, Elder Tian’s cold sweat broke out. Though he maintained a stubborn front, deep down, a seed of belief had taken root. He began to ponder what he would see if he dared to look back, but the memory of Young Master Liu’s recent warnings held him back. Yet, after only a few steps, that terrifying thought surfaced again in his mind—it was like a splinter lodged in the flesh, demanding to be pulled out for relief.

Elder Tian could bear it no longer; he absolutely had to glance behind him. Whatever might be there, he couldn't worry about it now; at the very least, he had a copy of Chairman Mao’s Quotations tucked close to his chest! With the five-pointed star shining and the red flag pointing the way, what was there to fear?

So, seizing a moment when Young Master Liu wasn't paying attention, Elder Tian secretly risked a look behind. Better he hadn't looked, for the instant he did, his little heart skipped a beat. He desperately fought down the terror, preventing a cry from escaping, because under the moonlight, aside from the shadows of himself and Young Master Liu, there was a third shadow moving on the ground, matching their pace exactly. Elder Tian glanced at Young Master Liu ahead; the boy seemed entirely oblivious, even whistling a cheerful tune. Elder Tian frowned, thinking the darkness might have played tricks on his eyes, so he rubbed them vigorously and looked back down the road again. Strangely, where there had been three silhouettes just moments ago, there were now only two. This time, all certainty left him; he froze on the spot, his legs turning to water.

Young Master Liu, walking ahead, noticed the silence where Elder Tian’s chatter should have been. He stopped whistling and looked back. Seeing Elder Tian standing motionless, pretending ignorance, he called out, "Uncle Tian, what are you standing there for? Hurry up! Did that ghost story I told really scare you?"

Elder Tian remained rooted to the spot, shaking his head, and pointed vaguely behind him without speaking a word. Young Master Liu followed the direction of his finger and said, "There’s nothing there?"

Regaining some composure, Elder Tian turned to look behind him once more. Indeed, on the ground, there were only the shadows of the two of them.

Young Master Liu’s eyes widened, looking at Elder Tian as if he’d encountered an extraterrestrial: "Uncle Tian, you’ve been acting strange ever since we left the temple. Did you actually see something?"

Elder Tian forced a cheerful expression. "Kid, I didn't see a thing. I was just testing your mettle, trying to scare you! To see if you’re worthy of being a Young Pioneer of socialism."

"Ha! You were warning me not to scare you, but you ended up scaring yourself instead!" Young Master Liu, realizing it was a false alarm, grinned and resumed walking forward.

Elder Tian followed, but after only a few steps, some perverse impulse made him glance back again. Now, the ground didn't show the previous two shadows, nor the three, but four shadows moving—one trailing behind his own shadow, and another trailing behind Young Master Liu’s.

"Ghosts!" Elder Tian could hold back no longer, letting out a piercing, desperate shout.

"My dear mother and ancestors!" Young Master Liu was so startled by Elder Tian's cry that goosebumps erupted all over his body. He spun around and stared behind them for a good ten seconds before turning back to Elder Tian with a look of reproach. "Uncle Tian! Haven't you ever heard that scaring a person can actually kill them? With all your jumping and shouting, you didn't scare yourself to death, but you nearly scared me to death first!"

Elder Tian sighed in helplessness. "Nephew, I didn't mean to frighten you. I truly saw four shadows following us just now. The first time, there were three. I didn't believe it myself—how can two people cast three shadows? When you looked back, there was nothing. But after walking a bit, I looked again, and there were four! Isn't that bizarre?"

After hearing this, Young Master Liu looked back down the road again. "Look closely, Uncle. There are clearly only two shadows on the ground. You must be thoroughly spooked by that ghost story I told. If I’d known you’d get this worked up, I wouldn't have bothered telling you any nonsense stories."

Elder Tian turned his head to look at the ground. Just as Young Master Liu had said, only two dark shapes stretched out from beneath their feet. It must be fatigue, his eyes playing tricks. He said to Young Master Liu, "Let's go, Nephew. We need to hurry back; the old woman is probably waiting for us! Getting going is what matters."

The two continued forward. Before they had walked ten paces, they heard Peng Jianguo shout, "Uncle Tian, run!"

Elder Tian didn't even think; he simply bolted. Though they were "running," their speed was barely faster than a brisk walk. After all, they had been climbing up and down hills for hours; they were utterly exhausted. Young Master Liu, being much younger, had more stamina. Before they had gone very far, the unfortunate Elder Tian had fallen about ten meters behind him.

Seeing himself left behind, Elder Tian became terribly anxious. But the more anxious he felt, the heavier his legs became, as if filled with lead. Elder Tian shouted loudly from the rear, "Nephew, slow down! I can’t catch up!"

Young Master Liu, focused solely on running for his life, hadn't realized Elder Tian had lagged so far behind. Only when he heard the shouting did he slow his pace and stop to wait for him. When Young Master Liu turned to look back, he nearly collapsed onto the ground. Trailing behind the stumbling Elder Tian was a group of indistinct figures—at least ten of them. They appeared to be men, women, old, and young, and they were following at a slow, steady pace, matching Elder Tian’s speed exactly. Young Master Liu noticed that unlike the ground shadows earlier, these dozen or so figures were standing upright. They were walking, but their arms remained rigidly still, without even the slightest swing, resembling nothing so much as walking corpses.

"Damn it! Uncle Tian, scram!" Young Master Liu yelled from the front, frantically signaling wildly with his eyes toward the rear.

Hearing Young Master Liu’s shout and seeing the sheer terror on his face, Elder Tian finally understood. The things behind him were about to catch up. He instinctively looked back. Immediately, a loud "Ah!" escaped him as he broke into a desperate sprint toward Young Master Liu, shouting as he ran, "Heavens! Nephew, what are those things?"

Young Master Liu grabbed the hand of the charging Elder Tian as he reached him. "I don't know, those things are terrifying. Could they be actual ghosts?"

"We’re done for; we’ve encountered ghosts. They really exist in this world!" Elder Tian gasped, discarding all thoughts of science or political doctrine at that moment.

The two ran hard for another ten minutes or so, until their legs gave out, and they collapsed onto a small rise of earth to rest.

Young Master Liu asked, "Uncle, why did you look back too?"

"Ow!" Elder Tian wheezed, catching his breath. "I was just following your lead! You said you saw something strange when you looked back, and I didn't believe you, so I wanted to check. Look what happened—I saw a ghost!"

Young Master Liu managed a wry smile. "Heh, you believe me now, don't you?"

Elder Tian said nothing more, only nodding repeatedly. "I believe, I believe. If I didn't believe now, I wouldn't have a life left to believe with."

Sitting down, Elder Tian lit a cigarette and said to Young Master Liu beside him, "What hellhole is this place? We’ve been walking for ages and still haven't gotten out?"

"Wow, Uncle, you've got a 'Da Tuanyuan'!" (A popular cigarette brand from the Liberation Era.) "Hurry up and give your nephew a couple to try!" Young Master Liu’s eyes watered at the rich tobacco scent wafting from Elder Tian’s mouth.

"Go on, go on! What is a kid like you doing smoking!" Elder Tian gave Young Master Liu a disdainful look and slapped his hand away.

"Uncle, just this once, please?" Young Master Liu pleaded.

"Forget it, forget it. I’ll give you one! But this is the last time." Elder Tian relented, flicking a cigarette over. Young Master Liu immediately brightened up, bringing the cigarette close to his nose to inhale deeply, feigning ecstasy. After a moment, he said, "I’m not entirely sure either. I only know this is a mass grave site, filled with bones buried here and there. Although I don't travel this road often, I pass through here once or twice a year. In my memory, it never takes this long to walk out. I have no idea why it’s taking so long today."

The two turned and looked at each other, their eyes widening almost simultaneously: "Bad news, we've hit a Dao Lu Gui (Road-Turning Ghost)!"

Elder Tian’s face darkened. "It’s terrible. It seems we’ve truly run into a Road-Turning Ghost. There’s no way we’re getting home tonight."

Young Master Liu grabbed a handful of sand from the ground and flung it away. "I heard the elders say there really are Road-Turning Ghosts. They say if someone traveling at night runs into one, no matter how far they walk, they just circle back to the same spot. They can only get out when dawn breaks and the rooster crows."

Hearing this, Elder Tian slapped the back of his head hard. "That’s right! Why didn't I think of that? Ghosts fear the crowing of a rooster the most! I can crow." With that, he stood up, craned his neck toward the night sky, and shouted, "Cock-a-doodle-doo—cock-a-doodle-doo!" After his performance, he asked Young Master Liu smugly, "Nephew, how was that? Sound like a rooster?"

Young Master Liu laughed. "Uncle, that wasn't a rooster crowing. I think you sounded like a hen settling onto her nest."

Elder Tian chuckled. "See, it worked! Those ghost figures aren't following us anymore."

Hearing Elder Tian’s words, Young Master Liu suddenly remembered they had been sitting there for quite a while. If those things had caught up, they’d be in serious trouble. How could they forget the danger just by sitting for a moment? He quickly looked behind them. Thankfully, the shadows hadn't reappeared. If they had, they’d have been strangled or scared to death. Young Master Liu got up from the ground and said to Elder Tian, "We should get going."

"Go back?" Elder Tian’s facial muscles twitched. "Nephew, this is a mass grave! We must have been targeted by these things. What if we run into those ghosts again?"

"Don't worry. I have a bamboo pole. Whoever comes up first gets a good whack," Young Master Liu replied, picking up a sturdy bamboo rod.

Elder Tian noticed a piece of white paper stuck to the pole and asked, "Where did you get this bamboo pole?"

Young Master Liu pinched his nose and said smugly, "I pulled it out of the earth behind me. There’s plenty more. Want me to get one for you, or is there a problem?"

He bent down to pull another one, but his body suddenly shook violently, and he hastily dropped the pole, crying out, "Ghost!"

Elder Tian heard the cry and turned back, freezing in place. Less than ten meters in front of them, figures that looked almost human, yet not quite, had suddenly appeared. Both wore ancient clothing—the era unclear, but certainly not modern—and both had deathly pale faces, staring fixedly at Young Master Liu and Elder Tian in the fading light.