The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 130 Reflection
A sense of unease flashed through her mind, and Zhang's wife put down the bucket in her hand and leaned against the well, carefully observing the movements below.

It continued until the ripples gradually subsided.

She gradually came to see the reflection of the person below.

This caused her face to contort in extreme terror—there was clearly only her by the well, but the reflection inside was of another face!

"Ah—! I've been possessed by an evil spirit, I've been possessed by an evil spirit!"

The screams drew the attention of those nearby.

"Sister-in-law, what's wrong?"

Old Mrs. Zhang was so frightened that she couldn't speak coherently, and could only keep pointing at the old well and saying:

"There are people here, there are other people here! That old well is weird! It's really weird!"

The people who rushed over didn't understand what he was saying, but they could tell that something seemed to be wrong with the old well.

Because it was the well used by many households on the east side of the town to draw water. Several daring men exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and approached the well, peering down into it.

At first, I couldn't see anything.

The well was still the same old well, the water was crystal clear, neither reddish nor with any horrifying objects floating on it—they had all heard the storyteller say that murderers and thieves loved to throw corpses into wells!
But there's absolutely nothing wrong with this well!

"Sister-in-law, is everything alright?"

"A shadow, it's a shadow!" Old Mrs. Zhang cried out hoarsely.

"Ok?"

Only after being reminded did everyone concentrate on looking at the reflection in the well through the sliver of sunlight.

Immediately, everyone was horrified.

Because what's reflected in that image isn't them at all!
Even the direction is reversed!
“A ghost—!”

Several screams, now distorted, rang out, and the people who had been close by scrambled away from the well.

The horrifying sight then spread like wildfire, drawing even more people from the town to the well, where they peered down in astonishment and fear, only to be met with renewed screams and chaos.

The commotion lasted until noon, alarming even the magistrate of Huishui County, who rushed over in his sedan chair. Upon seeing the chaotic scene, with everyone cowering in fear, the magistrate immediately hardened his face and, with an air of official authority, sternly rebuked them:

"A bunch of ignorant and unruly people! Under the clear blue sky and the Emperor's rule, how dare you spread your heretical rumors and slander the Emperor's virtues?!"

The people were so frightened by him that they fell silent and retreated with their heads down.

The magistrate snorted coldly, led a few constables to push through the crowd, strolled to the well, slowly straightened his clothes, and then demurely peered into the well—

With just one glance, his official hat almost flew off in shock!

Not only did the well water fail to reflect his carefully crafted, imposing official appearance, but deep within the shimmering water, he also saw a figure with a bloody, mangled neck and a missing head, lying askew against the well wall!

"Oh my goodness—!" The magistrate was so frightened that his soul almost left his body. His face turned ashen, and he staggered backward, his voice cracking.
"Quickly! Quickly! Go and invite a Dharma Master! Invite a high-ranking monk! Invite a true master! No matter who it is, invite anyone with the ability to do so to this official!!"

In no time, any monks, Taoist priests, sorcerers, or shamans from inside or outside the county who possessed even a little bit of "magical power" were hurriedly "invited" to the county.

Suddenly, gongs and drums resounded around the well, chants and incantations rang out, and talismans and incense ash filled the air as various rituals were performed.

However, the well water remained clear, and the eerie reflection remained unchanged.

Left with no other choice, the terrified county magistrate hastily ordered: the roads closed!
The woman sighed deeply, her voice filled with helplessness:

"That's how it is. Look, do you see that house over there with its doors and windows tightly shut?"

"That's Old Lady Zhang's house. Ever since that incident, she's been terrified and has fallen ill. She really can't live here anymore, and now she's crammed into a relative's house in the county town. Alas, what a tragedy!"

Originally, these families stayed because they thought that if they stayed far away from that old well, everything would be fine.

But why did this guest say that something had happened to the old well again?
Du Yuan nodded in agreement.

So that’s what happened.

As soon as the woman finished speaking, the man who had gone out to call for help earlier hurriedly led a large group of people back.

The leaders, besides the village elders, were the patrolmen who led a few militiamen.

Deer Town was considerably larger than Bridge Water Town, which was more of a village than a town, so it had a patrol station to manage daily affairs and command the militia for defense. Upon their arrival, the other party didn't dare go directly to the well, but instead asked Du Yuan:

"Young man, is this the old well you just looked at?"

Du Yuan nodded:

"it's me."

Everyone's expression immediately changed, and they asked:

"Has that well dried up?"

Du Yuan continued to nod:

"That's right, what I saw was indeed a dry well."

Upon hearing that something had really gone wrong, many of the townspeople who had come along started talking all at once:

"Could it have run off to another well and caused trouble?"

"Yeah, could the severe drought in the southwest be related to this stuff?"

Human thought is indeed incredibly unconventional.

Sure enough, the townspeople immediately wondered if this was related to the severe drought in the southwest.

These words made everyone feel insecure.

"Oh my god, quickly go check if anything else has happened!"

Seeing that the riot was about to spiral out of control, the village elders and the patrol inspector spoke out in unison:

"Silence! Silence!"

With the assistance of several militiamen.

The riots were then barely quelled.

Seeing this, the village elders all gave the inspector a look.

He was signaled to take some people to take a look.

This immediately changed the other party's expression.

These days, all sorts of rumors about that well are flying around. And each one is more bizarre and terrifying than the last.

Let him go and check the situation now.
He suddenly remembered several things he had heard in the past few days.

That well sucks away a person's life essence; the longer you look at it, the more it sucks away!

That well is used by the little devils of the underworld to choose people. Those above are the living, and those below are the dead. The more times you are seen, the greater the chance of being chosen to go down and suffer in their place!
That well is a monster in disguise; it's captivating. If you look at it too much, you'll find yourself jumping in without realizing it, so the monster can eat you!

But he's an inspector, and as long as he still wants to do the job, he can't shirk his responsibility.

After gritting his teeth, he finally came up with a plan and said to the militiamen behind him:

"Who among you will go and take a look? I'll give you a reward; one tael of silver will be given to you if you go!"

As the saying goes, a great reward will surely bring forth brave men. How could the common people, who were used to haggling over a few copper coins, tolerate such words?
Two militiamen immediately mustered their courage and ran off.

Before long, they came running back:

"No, the well is still the same!"

Suddenly, everyone's attention was focused on Du Yuan.

This made Du Yuan understand.

It's not that he couldn't see the problem.

Instead, this thing 'hid'!
The only problem was that his hiding wasn't very clever; he was still there when he gave himself away.

(End of this chapter)