Sitting in the moving car, the vehicle jolted slightly as it passed over a small pothole.
The sudden movement shook Tang Xiao awake from his nap.
“Are we there?”
“Not yet, boss, you can keep sleeping.” The man in the driver’s seat held an unlit cigarette between his lips, using the taste of tobacco to stay alert. “We’ve entered the outskirts of Suhui Village. Shouldn’t be long now.”
“Mm.” Tang Xiao, however, didn’t close his eyes again. He straightened up, furrowing his brows and rubbing his temples. For some reason, he had a bad feeling—like a voice in his head was screaming at him to turn around and leave immediately.
Probably just a nightmare. But he couldn’t remember what it was about.
This trip to Suhui Village was mainly for field research. Tang Xiao was a Ph.D. candidate at a university, specializing in the mechanisms of human genome rearrangement and copy number variations (CNVs).
A month ago, a batch of mutated plants and animals suddenly appeared on the market, including a severed human finger specimen. Research revealed that their genomes had undergone structural mutations, piquing the interest of Tang Xiao’s lab supervisor.
And so, the overworked research assistant Tang Xiao found himself on this trip. Since Suhui Village was deep in the mountains with unreliable signals, his supervisor had even hired two bodyguards for him and originally assigned a graduate student to accompany him. However, due to some last-minute issues, the intern had to drop out, so Tang Xiao came alone.
Even in the internet age, there was very little information available about Suhui Village. The only known fact was that a devastating plague had once swept through the area, causing most of the younger generation to leave. Only elderly residents and those with mobility issues remained, sustaining themselves by selling mountain goods from time to time.
The mutated plants and animals had originated from the goods these villagers sold, which led to this investigation. However, the journey was proving difficult—GPS navigation didn’t work, and without buying a physical map from a local, outsiders would have a hard time even finding the place.
Just then, the car suddenly braked hard. The jolt snapped Tang Xiao out of his grogginess. “What happened?”
“Someone’s up ahead,” the bodyguard in the passenger seat said curtly, rolling the window down slightly. “What do you want?”
“I mean no harm!” The person who had flagged them down immediately raised his arms to show he wasn’t carrying any weapons. “You’re heading to Suhui Village, right? So are we. But our car broke down in the middle of nowhere. Could you give us a lift?”
Tang Xiao narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the two people—a man and a woman. The woman was holding a camera, filming their surroundings but carefully avoiding capturing them. The man looked about the same age as Tang Xiao, wearing black-framed glasses with sharp and rational eyes.
The bodyguards were only here for security, so they turned to Tang Xiao for a decision. Tang Xiao considered it. “How did you know where we were headed? And why are you going to Suhui Village?”
“Well, this road doesn’t really lead anywhere else,” the man shrugged. “As for us, my girlfriend is a content creator—she’s interested in mysterious places like this. I’m a freelance writer, make a living from novels, so I tagged along for research.”
That explained why they didn’t look like ordinary workers. They seemed more like fresh graduates.
Tang Xiao said, “Lu Xiong, go check on their car.”
Lu Xiong, the bodyguard in the passenger seat, nodded and got out to verify their story. After a short while, he returned with the two, giving Tang Xiao a nod.
Tang Xiao exhaled slightly in relief and allowed them to get in.
The young man and woman sat in the back with Tang Xiao. The man glanced at him and suddenly looked startled.
Tang Xiao frowned. “What?”
The man shook his head. “Nothing. I’m Li Bohao, and this is Li Po. You’re here because of that rumor too?”
“What rumor?”
“They say that village still upholds some ancient traditions, including their faith. Supposedly, they worship a deity known as the Taizu God.” Li Po spoke with an air of mystery. “Look, isn’t it creepy? I searched through historical records and found nothing similar.”
Tang Xiao glanced at the photo. The statue indeed looked strange. The Taoist deities he had seen before were usually kind-looking, righteous, or at least carried a dignified, carefree air. But this one…
A black Taizu God?
The statue was entirely black, with white strokes outlining its hair. Its limbs were marked with red patterns resembling eyes.
It didn’t look like a proper deity—it looked more like a demonized figure.
“Recently, there have been rumors that the Taizu God of Suhui Village has manifested. The mutated plants and animals are proof of that.”
What kind of nonsense…?
Tang Xiao frowned deeply. “Never heard of it. I’m here for the mutated specimens. And honestly, instead of believing in some supernatural nonsense, I’d rather think these mutations are caused by an unknown disease—possibly the precursor to a new plague. Investigating that is part of my purpose here.”
Li Po seemed like she wanted to say more, but Li Bohao quickly stopped her. He turned to Tang Xiao with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, we’re in the content business, so we tend to let our imaginations run wild. But… have we met before?”
“No.” Tang Xiao was confident in his memory. He had never seen these two before.
The car soon fell into silence. Since Tang Xiao had closed his eyes to rest, the two hitchhikers didn’t feel comfortable chatting. They tried to use their phones to pass the time, only to find they had barely one bar of signal.
“What kind of remote backwater is this…” Li Po grumbled.
Half an hour later, they finally arrived at their destination. There were only a few people around the village entrance. A massive pagoda tree stood at the front, blocking most of the sunlight. With today’s overcast weather, the atmosphere felt even eerier. Beneath the tree sat a man. Upon seeing the car, he stood up and walked over.
“You’re finally here, esteemed scholars.” He was a middle-aged man with an ordinary face, dressed in simple, worn clothes, his face weathered from years of sun exposure. As soon as he saw Tang Xiao and the others, he eagerly approached.
“Uncle, what kind of route did you give us?” Li Po complained. “There was a deep pit on the road, and our car got stuck there. If we had been walking, it would have been really dangerous!”
“I'm so sorry, truly sorry,” the middle-aged man apologized repeatedly. “This is a mountainous area, and sometimes wild animals or stray dogs come down from the hills. That was probably a trap to prevent beasts from coming down and harming people. Tell you what, give me the location, and I'll figure something out for you.”
“Sigh, forget it,” Li Po said. “I’ve already called someone to tow the car.”
After a brief exchange, they learned that the middle-aged man was their guide. Without a local leading the way, this place was extremely difficult to find. The village was also highly secluded, and they needed a local sponsor to move around freely. Otherwise, they might be driven out by the villagers.
“Alright, so you two are here for the experience, while this young man is here for field research, correct?”
Tang Xiao and Li Po nodded. “Good, then follow me. I'll take you to your lodging.”
As they entered the village, the eerie feeling grew stronger. It was as if there was a difference in temperature between inside and outside the village. Li Po, after walking just a short distance, clung fearfully to Li Bohao’s arm. “Why is everyone staring at us?”
This secluded village was small, no more than twenty households in total, and just as the rumors suggested, there were no young people. All they could see were elderly folks, most of them over fifty or sixty, sitting on worn-out benches outside their rundown houses, idly chatting. However, their sunken, murky eyes were fixed on Tang Xiao and his group. They whispered among themselves in an unintelligible dialect, occasionally pointing at the outsiders with gnarled fingers. Some even grinned widely, revealing mouths of darkness with only a few scattered teeth remaining.
This kind of blatant pointing and staring was an unfamiliar experience for city dwellers. The sensitive Li Po already felt uneasy. Li Bohao whispered something to her in reassurance, then turned to glance at Tang Xiao—only to realize that he had fallen behind the group, frowning deeply and occasionally glancing over his shoulder.
Strangely, ever since they first met, Li Bohao had felt that Tang Xiao looked familiar. He couldn't help but pay attention to his every move. Seeing his reaction now, he asked, “What's wrong?”
“Nothing.” Tang Xiao frowned. Ever since entering the village, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
The gaze felt dark, damp—like vines or mycelium creeping up from the depths of the earth, carrying the scent of moist soil.
Wait, why did that imagery come to his mind?
For a moment, Tang Xiao's expression was dazed. That vague sense of foreboding returned. Honestly, if it weren’t for his boss's request, he would never have set foot in a place like this.
The sooner he finished collecting samples, the sooner he could leave.
A place like this—who would ever want to come here twice? Of course, such a remote village didn’t have any inns or guesthouses. The middle-aged man led them to a house on the outskirts of the village. Well, not exactly a house—it was more of a wooden shack, one that looked like it would leak during the rain. “You'll have to make do here for the next couple of days,” the man said. “This is all there is. But there are two rooms—figure out how to divide them among yourselves.”
In the end, Li Po took a small room with barely enough space for a single bed. The four men shared the slightly larger room, though one of them had to sleep on the floor.
The place was crude and filthy. Upon closer inspection, there were even signs of rats in the corners. But after the exhausting journey, no one had the energy to complain. Tang Xiao did his best to wipe down his sleeping area with disinfectant before reluctantly lying down.
That night, he expected to have trouble sleeping, but whether it was from exhaustion or something else, he drifted into unconsciousness the moment he closed his eyes.
And then—he had a strange dream. In the dream, the statue from the photo he had glimpsed earlier came to life. The previously vacant eyes became sharp and alert, like a serpent locking onto its prey, staring at him intently.
“%&*@……0”
Was it speaking?
What was it saying?
“10 9%& … once…”
That damp, slimy feeling he had sensed before now surged to an overwhelming degree. Tang Xiao fought the urge to shudder. Instinctively, he turned to flee—only to realize, in a dazed moment, that his limbs were already ensnared by creeping tendrils of mycelium, slithering up his sleeves, their tips piercing his skin.
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