The rain is black.
Chen Lusi suddenly heard this and immediately doubted that the great-uncle was suffering from senility.
However, after he reached out and caught a few drops of rain.
He realized... the rain indeed seemed to be black.
The continuously falling raindrops were as black as ink.
Yet the texture was undeniably that of water.
It was very strange.
However.
Now was obviously not the time to care about these things, as the dining area was at the drying ground, with no cover overhead.
Although the meal was finished and quite a few things had been packed up, nobody expected sudden rain on such a sunny day.
So there were still many things uncollected, and as the rain intensified, the people still present quickly mobilized to pack up the items together.
Chen Lusi was among them.
However.
Everyone underestimated... how fast the rain intensified.
From the first drops falling to a torrential downpour.
It took barely two minutes.
Soon, the people present could no longer worry about gathering their things and started taking shelter from the rain, with some running to the host family's kitchen in charge of the Qingming meal and others to the ancestral hall.
Chen Lusi ran to the ancestral hall, accompanied by an unnamed little cousin, several great-uncles, and two cousins.
Outside the ancestral hall.
The entire world was already shrouded in a curtain of rain.
The previously clear sky was now filled with layers upon layers of dark clouds.
In an instant.
The world seemed to have transformed into another image.
The black, unsettling raindrops crazily plunged from the sky to the earth.
Falling more intensely.
Falling more intensely.
When countless black raindrops strung together, forming a curtain of rain.
The black rain curtain reflected in the pupils of everyone inside the ancestral hall.
Everyone felt as though a black shroud covered their eyes.
Combined with the piling dark clouds, seemingly touchable.
It was as if... everyone suddenly stepped from reality into some sort of abnormal space.
Clearly, they were just eating moments ago.
Clearly, the weather was still good just now.
Clearly, the rain just started.
But why?
This bizarre scene left everyone in the ancestral hall utterly stunned.
Immediately then.
As they came to their senses.
There was tension and unease.
Several great-uncles stared wide-eyed at the black rain outside the hall, muttering to themselves.
One of them even jumped three feet high, rushing to the place enshrining the ancestral tablets, trembling as he lit incense and began praying to the ancestors.
Chen Lusi was also dumbfounded.
But he quickly reacted, trying to turn around to ask a great-uncle about the Mountain God.
However, as soon as he turned around, his arm was grabbed.
The unnamed little cousin clutched his arm tightly, her small face showing fear, eyes wide open, with a slight sob in her voice: "Cousin, did someone pee on the ancestors' graves!? Is this retribution!?"
Chen Lusi: "..."
How could someone have such a wild imagination?
...
At the same time.
On the mountain top.
The Security Army's leader stood at a high point, slightly out of breath as he looked at the scene in the distance.
Here.
The weather was clear, the sky bright and clean.
But not far away.
The black rain and the continuously piling dark clouds were like an invisible cover, enveloping everything in front of them.
It was as if the world had been divided into two.
Truth be told.
It's not uncommon to see rain in one place and sunny weather in another.
But this kind of exaggerated, unbelievable scene was truly abnormal.
Especially with that pitch-black rain...
"..."
The Security Army's leader hesitated almost not at all and immediately pulled out his phone.
Fortunately.
There was still signal.
As soon as the call connected, he spoke urgently: "Ah Yue, this is not at the level of a rural legend here..."
A moment of silence on the other end: "Understood, I'll be right there."
"Okay, I'll try to get closer to the center as well."
The leader was straightforward, leaving a message before preparing to hang up the phone.
But just as he pulled the phone away from his ear, he thought of something, fury flashing on his face as he grumbled: "Oh right, after this, help me pass a message to Kunlun! Gan Lin Niang! Still guaranteed with a pat on the chest! What Mountain God on the mountain?"
The person on the other end laughed and agreed.
Putting the phone away.
The leader took a deep breath, looking at the nearby soldier: "Isn't there a village over there?"
"Yes."
"Head down the mountain, stay safe, and if you encounter uncontrollable possessed individuals... try to subdue them, if impossible, engage freely."
"But at the mountain's base..."
"Something must be done, Ah Yue will come, what we must do now is to try to control the situation before he arrives."
The leader glanced at the mountain base also shrouded in rain, taking a deep breath, then picked up the submachine gun in his hand and led the way down the mountain.
For Chen Lusi, descending the mountain is quite difficult.
But for them, it's not too hard.
Yet truly stepping into the rain curtain that seemed to segregate another world.
The leader couldn't help but feel nervous internally.
Because even though it was just a few steps away, entering the rain curtain felt like stepping into a dark room with no lights, no windows, only faint daylight streaming through curtain gaps.
The torrential rain continuously fell, pounding on his head, body, and clothes, painfully.
Not to mention the strong noise from countless raindrops falling.
Making one feel very uncomfortable both physiologically and psychologically.
"Even typhoon days aren't this exaggerated..."
The leader stood midst the rain, looking slightly upwards at the seemingly reachable thick clouds, murmuring: "So..."
...
"What is it this time?"
Chen Lusi looked up at the cloud layer through the eaves of the ancestral hall.
He could say he witnessed the disappearance of light with his own eyes.
Seeing the clouds thicken, the light fading away.