The sun had just peeked out a sliver of light when Tang Tang started to gather the things she needed. In fact, she had barely slept all night.
Little Sun Xu didn't know if it was because he had suddenly changed places and was with a stranger, albeit a kind one. He was scared and cautious. He didn't sleep at all in the first half of the night and only dozed off in the second half when he couldn't hold on any longer. He was quite unceremonious and started snoring as soon as he fell asleep.
Tang Tang wasn't very sleepy to begin with, but the snoring made her even more wide - awake.
She leaned against the corner of the table, looking outside. Her hand instinctively reached for her phone to make a call. Before she could send it, she heard her watch say, "Sorry, you are out of the service area."
Still no signal.
Tang Tang felt a bit uneasy. Or rather, she had been feeling this way since yesterday.
The most obvious sign was that she had almost worn out the surface of her watch from constantly touching it.
After trying several times and still getting no signal, Tang Tang thought for a while and then sent her location to Zuo Mu.
Then she sent a message, "Brother, I'm doing okay now. I just miss you."
Tang Tang glanced at her phone, quickly composed herself, and then turned to wake Sun Xu up.
She didn't know the way, but since they had set out, she just kept saying they should follow the small river downstream as they did yesterday.
To conserve energy, the two of them didn't talk much on the way. By noon, Sun Xu couldn't hold on anymore. When he saw a cave, he ran towards it excitedly, "Sister, shall we take a break?"
Tang Tang frowned as she held a stick in her hand. "Slow down. I'll go first."
Sun Xu really stopped and waited for Tang Tang. This cave was different from the one yesterday which was clearly menacing. This one seemed open and above - board. Tang Tang stood at the entrance and didn't see anything. She walked a bit further inside.
"Sister, is there anything? Can we have lunch here? I just looked around. It seems that if we keep going, it's downhill. Are we almost..."
Before Sun Xu could rush in and keep chattering, Tang Tang reached out and covered his eyes.
"What's going on... Is there something?"
Sun Xu was very cautious. Even when he tried to pull Tang Tang's hand away, he stopped when he felt Tang Tang's body go rigid behind him.
It must be something really scary.
Tang Tang saw the hanging corpse in the corner inside the cave. There were also a few dolls beside it, probably put there to keep it company. They were all hanging in a strange posture.
The corner where these were placed was so hidden that you couldn't tell from the outside. You had to walk inside to see the situation.
The person who made the dolls, for some unknown reason, made them look smiling.
Tang Tang only took one look and felt her scalp tingling.
Just as she was about to be completely freaked out, her watch suddenly beeped.
"It's a heartbeat!"
The heart - rending singing came out, and Tang Tang was so scared that she almost jumped up. Sun Xu, whose eyes were still covered by her, also got startled. "Ahhhhh, what's going on! What is it!"
Tang Tang almost couldn't hold him back as he jumped around. He almost ended up face - to - face with the dolls inside.
"Mommy," Sun Xu jumped and then saw the dolls on one side. His hair stood on end. "What is this? What is it!"
His tone sounded like he was about to cry. Not like, but he was really on the verge of tears.
Tang Tang sighed. "I told you not to look." She glanced at her phone and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a signal.
She fumbled around to answer the call. The number was clearly Zuo Mu's.
But just as she pressed the answer button, it was still the mechanical voice saying there was no signal.
Tang Tang frowned and called back, but still got no signal.
"Brother..."
"Hmm?" Tang Tang was busy with her phone and didn't pay attention to Sun Xu. When she heard his voice, she instinctively looked towards the entrance of the cave. "What?"
It took her a moment to realize that the kid was referring to the hanging body.
Tang Tang didn't know what to say for a moment. She touched her watch on her wrist.
"Sun Xu..."
Sun Xu's eyes were red. He rushed over there, but since he was so short, he couldn't even reach the ankle of the hanging person.
"What should I do? What should I do?" The tears in Sun Xu's eyes were falling one by one. He wiped them away with his hand and looked at Tang Tang with red eyes. "Sister, I can't reach my brother. I can't reach him. Can you help me get him down?"
Sun Xu looked up at the person hanging above. "Brother, brother! It's me. Why are you up there? It's Xiao Xu, brother."
Sun Xu was flustered and didn't know what to do. He wanted to pull, but he couldn't reach. He wanted to find something to poke, but he was too scared.
"Sister, he's my brother. Can you help me? Help me get him down."
Sun Xu's eyes were full of pleading. "Or if you don't want to, can you hold me so I can get him down?"
Seeing him like this, Tang Tang suddenly didn't know what to do. She looked up at the child's corpse. His face was blue and his lips were purple. For a moment, Tang Tang didn't know what to say to Sun Xu.
"You... I'll help you."
Tang Tang walked up to the corpse, closed her eyes, and didn't move for a long time. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Sun Xu, who was usually so talkative, started to chatter non - stop. "Sister, don't be scared. My brother is very nice. He has a really good temper. At home, it was always me who caused trouble, and my brother would take the blame for me when mom was going to hit me. He was the kindest."
"Brother... Um."
Tang Tang felt a pang in her heart. She gently reached out to pull the body, trying to untie it from the rope. But just as she opened the small knot, there was a sudden whoosh at the entrance of the cave.
Both of them were on high alert. Even the slightest sound could make their hair stand on end.
Tang Tang's hand trembled and she almost dropped the body.
The originally wide entrance of the cave suddenly had a big door close from nowhere.
Tang Tang didn't care anymore and was about to rush over.
This cave was shallow, and she had just looked around. Unlike the previous cave, this one had only one exit.
If it was closed, they might be suffocated to death here.
But no matter what they did, as soon as Tang Tang let go of the rope, the entrance of the cave slammed shut.
Tang Tang, "..."
Tang Tang, who had been taught by Tang Gu not to swear for years, wanted to curse at this moment.
Sun Xu had already gone over to hug his brother. Tang Tang tried to walk over and push the cave door. As she walked over, she accidentally stepped on something.
There wasn't much in the cave. Why was it so messy as soon as it got dark?
Without thinking, Tang Tang turned on the flashlight function on her watch and shone it on the ground. This shine almost made her fall forward. Her scalp went numb.
On the ground was a doll staring back at her.