The voice made me jump. I spun around in a hurry, only to see a short, thin old woman in her sixties or seventies wearing a black funeral gown standing three meters behind me. Her face was dark, and her pair of shiny black eyes stared at me intensely—as if she were the same old woman who had cursed me in the elevator that day.
But hadn't that old woman been hit and killed by a truck? If so, then what I was seeing right now...
While I was frozen in confusion, the old woman in the funeral gown spoke again: "Humans eat food; ghosts inhale joss stick smoke. Is this 'dead person's incense' tasty?"
"D-dead person's incense..." I stammered, shocked.
I looked her up and down, and realized she was tiptoeing—there was no shadow beneath her. Only ghosts have no shadows. A chill shot through my chest in an instant, and my whole body felt half-frozen. I'd heard stories about encountering ghosts or evil spirits before, but I'd never imagined it would happen to me.
Seeing the terror on my face and my ragged breathing, the old woman in the funeral gown let out a dry, cackling laugh: "You little brat—you inhaled my incense, so now I have to eat you!"
As she spoke, her eyes widened and her mouth split open. Her lips actually stretched apart, and a blood-red tongue slowly slithered out. Cold puffs of air drifted from her mouth.
I'd never seen such a terrifying sight before. The hairs on my body stood up instantly, and goosebumps broke out all over my skin. An indescribable fear swept over me in a flash.
"G-ghost... a ghost..." I gasped in panic, feeling like the world had turned upside down.
I turned and ran toward the community, not daring to pause for even a second... The sound of my "thump-thump-thump" footsteps echoed in my ears, while the old woman's eerie cackle chased after me: "Run, run—let's see how far you can get!"
I didn't dare look back; I just kept running toward the community. Nervousness and fear made me pant heavily, "huff-huff-huff," and cold sweat poured out nonstop. My mind replayed that terrifying image over and over—the old woman opening her mouth wide and sticking out that blood-red tongue.
It was pitch-black all around, deathly quiet, and not a single car was visible on the road. But the more I ran, the more something felt wrong. The bus stop was only about 200 meters from the community gate—I should have reached it quickly. Yet I ran for ages, and still couldn't see the gate, not even the glow of the streetlights in front of it. There was only the empty road and the lifeless street trees by the side. It was as if I was the only one left in the entire world, with no other sounds around.
The road stretched endlessly ahead, and behind me was nothing but darkness. This wasn't right. I lived in a residential area—even at two or three in the morning, there should be some light around. But now there was none. A fear I'd never felt before gripped me, and my body trembled uncontrollably.
I'd heard the elderly in my village talk about this—it's called a "ghost wall" (a supernatural phenomenon that traps people in an illusion). I must have been trapped by that old woman in the funeral gown; she wasn't going to let me go.
I remembered the elders saying: if you encounter this and have no evil-repelling items on you, you have three choices. Either sit and wait for death until dawn; or kneel and beg for mercy, promising offerings to let the evil spirit spare you; or pee (if you're a virgin) or splash black dog blood, put your shoes on backwards, and walk backward—this might give you a slim chance of survival.
The old woman in the funeral gown had already said she was going to eat me. Begging her would definitely lead to death, and it was too passive—no different from waiting to die. I was twenty years old and had never been with a woman. I didn't even know if that counted as being a "virgin," but instead of waiting to die or begging, I'd rather fight for my life.
Not caring whether the method would work, I unzipped my pants and peed as hard as I could. I put my shoes on backwards and quickly started walking backward. My mind was in a mess; apart from the sound of my rapid breathing and footsteps, I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my throat.
As I kept walking backward, speeding up, I suddenly noticed that the surroundings weren't as dark anymore—and there were sounds again. The dim sidewalk regained its light, and cars reappeared on the lifeless road. I glanced sideways behind me, and there, finally, was the community gate—only about twenty to thirty meters away now.
In that moment, I was overwhelmed with joy. I knew the method had worked; I must have escaped the ghost wall. I quickly turned around, ready to run back into the community.
But the second I turned around, the old woman in the funeral gown was standing straight in front of me. Our eyes met directly. She stared at me with her shiny black eyes, a creepy smile on her face, standing rigidly before me.
My whole body went numb, and my face was filled with terror. Before I could react, I heard a roar—"Oof!"—and the old woman opened her mouth wide and pounced straight at me.
My shoes were still on backwards, so I couldn't step back in time. She knocked me to the ground. I tried to struggle to my feet, but the old woman was surprisingly strong—she held my hands down, pinning me in place. I tried to scream, but no sound came out of my throat.
The old woman in the funeral gown widened her eyes, her face filled with excitement and anticipation. She spoke in a hoarse voice: "You're mine now."
After saying that, she grinned and took a sharp breath toward my mouth and nose. In that instant, I felt like my whole body was being drained. My limbs went limp, and my head started to spin. I knew it was over—she must be sucking my yang energy (vital life force), just like the Black Mountain Demon in the movie A Chinese Odyssey who sucked people's yang energy. Once she'd had her fill, I'd be dead.
But there was nothing I could do now; I couldn't even control my own body. I felt utterly hopeless, as if there was no way to heaven or earth.
Just as I lay on the ground, waiting for death, a low "meow" rang out. A tabby cat with striped fur darted out of the nearby bushes like a bolt of lightning. With another "meow," it pounced at the old woman on top of me. It raised its sharp claws and scratched wildly at the old woman's face, "meow-meow-meowing"—actually forcing her to step back from me.
This tabby cat was the "stray cat boss" around our community. Every time Xiaoshuang and I went downstairs to feed the strays, it would snap at Xiaoshuang, and I'd scold it. And whenever it was there, the other stray cats didn't dare come near—they could only eat after it had finished. I never thought that at this critical moment, this stray tabby cat (the one I'd scolded before) would rush out to save me.
The old woman's face was scratched to pieces. Furious, she grabbed the tabby cat by the neck and slammed it hard onto the ground, growling venomously: "Damned cat... damned cat..."
The tabby cat was coughing up blood after being slammed, but it still didn't run away. It jumped up again and pounced at the old woman. I knew this tabby cat was fighting for its life to save me—it was repaying me, repaying the kindness of the food I'd given it.