Chapter 75

Jiao Feng had already arrived at the well, but he did not get too close. He crouched down, trying to look ahead with a tilted line of sight without leaning over to peer into the well.

He remembered the rhyme word for word: "Do not look at him, or you will join him in the dry well." This was as clear a warning as it could be. Jiao Feng had no doubt that if he glanced at what was in the well, he would immediately trigger a death flag... He did not want to be suddenly dragged down by some irresistible force, causing his health to drop to zero instantly.

"Hey... " Jiao Feng called out, raising his voice: "How about I find a rope and throw it down to you?"

The voice from the bottom of the well responded after a few seconds: "I... can't... climb up... alone..."

When Jiao Feng heard this, he felt a sudden clarity. He asked tentatively: "Then... how about I carry you up?"

The voice from the well simply replied: "Okay..."

Jiao Feng asked straightforwardly: "I'm not familiar with this school. Do you know where I can find a rope nearby?" He wanted to see how far the hints for this task would go.

But this time, the other party did not answer, only repeating: "Save... save... me..."

So, Jiao Feng said: "Wait here, I'll be back with a rope."

The voice did not object, continuing to call for help.

Jiao Feng was a bit curious about what would happen if he did not return, but after some thought, even if the person in the well did not come out to seek revenge, he would eventually have to come back to complete the task.

Leaving the well, Jiao Feng jogged to the sports equipment room. He had wanted to search it earlier when he passed by. Now, he returned there with ease, smashing the padlock at the door with a wrench, and started rummaging through the boxes.

Before long, he found a thick rope, likely used for tug-of-war. After testing its strength and finding it satisfactory, Jiao Feng coiled the rope and put it in his backpack. Then, he left and returned to the dry well.

As he approached the well, the cries for help from the bottom sounded again. Jiao Feng ignored them and quickly walked over, finding a large tree nearby. He tied the rope securely to the trunk with a knot, then went to the well and threw the other end down. He estimated the well was no more than ten meters deep, probably only six or seven meters, so the rope was definitely long enough.

The most troublesome issue now was the phone. Whether going down or up, he would need both hands, and he couldn't exactly hold it in his mouth... Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to answer it if it rang halfway up. If the phone fell into the well, he would definitely be hunted to death...

Checking the time, he saw that the next call was seven minutes away. Jiao Feng felt this was manageable. The person calling for help was likely the boy from the death scene, and he was probably light enough for Jiao Feng to carry, even more so as a ghost.

Jiao Feng made up his mind and did not hesitate. He placed the phone on the ground, grabbed the rope, faced the tree, and sat on the edge of the well with his back to the opening. He then lowered his legs into the well. Facing upward, he stepped on the well wall and alternated his grip on the rope, moving down as quickly as possible. Throughout the process, he did not look down once, always keeping his back to the likely ghost.

"Look up at the sky... the moon is smiling..." As Jiao Feng descended into the well, he maintained a position with his back down, looking up at the sky. Unconsciously, he hummed a couple of lines, then immediately stopped, muttering to himself: "Damn... I almost sang that brainwashing melody... Luckily, there's no one around, that would be so embarrassing..."

When he reached the bottom, Jiao Feng's feet seemed to land on soft soil. He stood against one side of the well wall, not turning around, and said: "Where are you? I'm here to carry you..."

Before he finished speaking, two bloody arms reached out from either side of his head, wrapping around his neck. At the same time, he felt "half" a person press against his back. Jiao Feng was certain that even a female player could carry this ghost, as it was very light, or perhaps... not fully formed.

"Hmm..." Jiao Feng hesitated, wanting to make a sarcastic comment, but he thought better of it. In this situation, pointing out the ghost's obvious non-human features could lead to a bad outcome. Comments like "Why don't you climb up yourself with those agile moves?" or "Why is your skin on your arms rotten?" or "I don't feel anything below your waist" or "Is your abdomen leaking?" were all forbidden.

In countless ghost stories, the protagonists often say to someone who seems human: "I just saw a ghost, it looked like this..." and they always get the same response: "Like this?" before being killed.

Jiao Feng did not want to take that risk. His neck was still in the ghost's grip. If he reminded the ghost that it was indeed a ghost, it would definitely trigger a death flag. He could not mention those things.

"Hold on tight, I'm going to climb up." Jiao Feng ignored the strong hints from the smell and sound, as well as the bloody arms under his chin, and started climbing up with the ghost on his back.

When he descended, he did not look down, making it feel like he was walking backward. Climbing up, he faced the direction he was looking, so he climbed very quickly. The thing on his back was not heavy, not a significant burden.

The entire trip up and down the well took only a little over four minutes. Jiao Feng stood outside the well, catching his breath, still cautious. He did not rush to pick up his phone but took out the wrench again and said to the thing on his back: "We're out, you can go home now."

The voice from behind Jiao Feng's neck sounded like a cold breeze: "Go... home..."

The next few seconds were suffocatingly silent.

"Thank you..." This was the ghost's final response.

As Jiao Feng heard these words, the bone-chilling cold around him suddenly disappeared, and the feeling of carrying something on his back vanished. He let out a long breath and turned around.

Under the silver moonlight, the well had changed. The opening was no longer open but sealed with a concrete slab. The thick rope in Jiao Feng's hand was still tied to the tree, but the end he had thrown into the well was now lying on the ground beside it.

Perhaps Jiao Feng had never actually descended into the well, or perhaps he had gone to another place and rescued the boy from there.

...

The last paragraph of the clipping in Siyu's hand read:

In the autumn of 1998,

A parent invited a yin-yang master to perform a ritual. When leaving, the master claimed to have injured the vengeful spirit but lacked the power to send it to the afterlife.

When asked repeatedly, the master left with the words, "Do you want me to go to 'there' and carry him out?" and stormed off.

Afterward, the well was resealed with concrete, and there have been no further incidents.

...

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