Chapter 965 Fully Understanding
The people in the village cheered, they knew that the nightmare was finally over.
But no one expected that this seemingly happy ending was just a new beginning. The bonfire of celebration had not yet completely extinguished, and the embers were still emitting a faint heat, and Qi Tongwei sat among the crowd again. His face was as mysterious as ever, and his eyes flashed with strange light under the jumping firelight, as if he had another shocking story hidden in his belly.
"Do you think this is the end?" Qi Tongwei's voice broke the brief silence, with a hint of deliberate exaggeration in his tone, "The real weirdness has just begun. To the east of the village, there is a forgotten forest. You all know about it, right?" Everyone nodded. The forest was not far from the village. Usually, everyone just avoided it because there were too many weird legends about it.
"That forest is not simple, it's like a living thing." Qi Tongwei said slowly, his voice low and hoarse, as if coming from a faraway place, "Legend has it that a long, long time ago, this forest was a peaceful and tranquil paradise, inhabited by a group of kind elves. They were in charge of the flowers, trees, birds and beasts in the forest, making the entire forest full of vitality and vigor. But one day, an evil wizard passed by here, he was attracted by the powerful magic contained in the forest, and tried to take this power for himself."
"The wizard cast an evil spell and broke the tranquility of the forest. He bound the elves with dark power, extracted their magic power, and injected it into every inch of land and every tree in the forest. From then on, this forest was cursed and turned into a place full of weirdness and danger. The souls of the elves whose magic power was extracted could not rest in peace and could only wander in the forest. Their resentment and pain made the forest have its own consciousness, and began to ruthlessly retaliate against the intruders."
Hearing this, everyone's faces showed a look of fear. Li Xin tightly grasped Xiaohu's arm, his body trembling slightly. Xiaohu stared at Qi Tongwei intently, his eyes full of curiosity and desire to explore.
"Once upon a time, there was a young hunter who heard that there were rare prey in this forest. He ignored everyone's advice and broke into the forest alone. At first, he was able to move forward smoothly in the forest, but not long after, he found himself lost. The trees around him seemed to be constantly changing positions, and the road he had just walked on disappeared in an instant. The hunter began to panic. He ran desperately, trying to find a way out, but he ran deeper and deeper, as if he would never get out of this forest."
"Just when the hunter was in despair, he suddenly saw a soft light in front of him. He thought it was hope, so he ran towards the light regardless of everything. When he got closer, he found that the light was emitted from a beautiful woman. The woman was wearing a white robe with long flowing hair, like a fairy descending to the earth. She smiled and waved to the hunter, and the hunter walked towards her involuntarily."
"However, when the hunter walked up to the woman, he found that her eyes were empty and cold without any emotion. Before the hunter could react, the woman suddenly stretched out her hands and strangled his neck tightly. The hunter struggled, trying to break free from the woman's control, but he found that his body seemed to be fixed and unable to move. Just when he was about to suffocate, he suddenly heard a voice whispering in his ear: 'You shouldn't come here...'" Qi Tongwei's voice stopped abruptly, and there was a dead silence around, with only the crackling sound of the burning campfire.
"What happened next?" Xiao Hu couldn't help asking after a long while. Qi Tongwei sneered, "What happened next? The hunter died. When his body was found, all the blood in his body had been sucked out, leaving only a dry shell. Since then, almost everyone who entered the forest has never come out again. Occasionally, there are lucky ones who escape, but they become crazy and keep muttering nonsense like 'the trees are talking' and 'eyes are everywhere'."
"This is too scary..." Li Xin whispered, his voice full of fear. "This is just the beginning." Qi Tongwei continued, "It is said that on full moon nights, strange sounds will be heard in the woods, like someone crying or whispering. Those sounds seem to have a magical power that will make people walk into the depths of the woods involuntarily. In the center of the woods, there is a huge old tree with eyes all over its trunk. Those eyes will keep staring at you, and no matter where you go, you can't escape their gaze."
"That ancient tree is called the 'Tree of Judgment'. Anyone who is targeted by it will be punished. It will create various hallucinations based on the fears and sins deep in your heart, causing you to fall into endless pain and despair. Some people saw the things they feared most in their hallucinations and were frightened to death; others saw the mistakes they had made and committed suicide out of regret."
"But there is also a legend that there is a huge secret hidden in this mysterious forest. If someone can solve the curse of the forest and find the secret, they can gain extremely powerful power and even change their destiny." Qi Tongwei's eyes flashed with greed. "So, over the years, many people have risked their lives to enter the forest and try to find this secret, but without exception, they all disappeared without a trace."
Hearing this, Xiaohu felt an inexplicable urge in his heart. He thought of the adventures he had experienced in the past few days, and all the difficulties that seemed impossible to overcome were overcome one by one with the efforts of him and his friends. He felt that maybe he could uncover the secret of this mysterious forest and lift its curse.
"I want to go to that forest to have a look." Xiaohu suddenly said, his tone firm. Everyone looked at him in surprise, Li Xin quickly said: "Xiaohu, are you crazy? That forest is too dangerous, we can't go there." Xiaohu shook his head: "I'm not afraid, I believe we can find a way to break the curse. Moreover, I always feel that this forest is somehow connected to the things we encountered before."
Qi Tongwei looked at Xiaohu with a hint of admiration in his eyes: "Good boy, you have courage. However, that forest is not so easy to enter, we need to make some preparations." So they began to collect various items that might be used, from sharp weapons to torches for lighting, from dry food to first-aid herbs. During the preparation process, Qi Tongwei also told everyone some details and legends about the forest, so that they had a better understanding of the dangers they were about to face.