Chapter 170: Cloth Doll
It was just a glance, which wasn’t anything special. Wang Tao had long passed the age where talking to a woman would make him blush.
But the crucial point of the problem was that this woman looked very abnormal.
She kept her head lowered, with thick long hair hanging in front of her body, covering her face. A pair of bloodshot eyes appeared at some point, peering through the gaps between the strands of hair, staring fixedly at Wang Tao with an indescribable gaze.
Even stranger, the woman hadn’t turned her head at all, and the position of those eyes wasn’t even on her face.
Judging by that position, it was as if two eyeballs had grown out from within the forest of hair.
This was definitely not a normal human. Could there really be ghosts in this world?
“Cough cough.”
Just as Wang Tao was deeply trapped in fear and unable to extricate himself, the old woman sitting next to him suddenly coughed a few times.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it pulled Wang Tao out of this unknown fear.
Coming back to his senses and looking again, the woman was just sitting there silently, her head of long hair black and glossy. Where were those spying eyes?
Could it have been a misperception?
Wang Tao wiped the cold sweat from his face, not knowing what had just happened.
In the cold and silent carriage, only his rapid breathing remained. For a moment, Wang Tao felt like he was drowning, somewhat short of oxygen.
He had just been so tense that he forgot to breathe, nearly suffocating himself alive.
Yesterday, he had stayed up late making a guide and slept quite late. Could this be a sign that he was about to drop dead?
As someone who grew up in the 21st century, Wang Tao instinctively ruled out the possibility of a fierce ghost, assuming it was some kind of illusion he had.
Could it be that doing too many limit challenges had made his body this weak?
Speaking of which, recently quite a few streamers he knew had met untimely deaths, especially in the flower market area, where ghost hunting streamers seemed to be dying off almost completely.
Luckily, the old woman next to him had reminded him, or he might have really followed in their footsteps…
Although he didn’t know if the old woman had done it intentionally, Wang Tao thought for a moment and softly thanked her, “Thanks for just now.”
Seeing the old woman still indifferent and unresponsive, Wang Tao thought for a moment, picked up the backpack from the ground, and took out a wooden little mannequin from the bag.
The mannequin had only a rough outline, no facial features, no fingers or clothing details, and even some burrs on the surface. The workmanship looked very crude.
But this thing wasn’t as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Wang Tao handed the mannequin over and introduced, “I’ve run around all over the world before, seen quite a few things, and collected some small trinkets. This one was given to me by an indigenous tribe in the rainforest. They said it could bless people with good health.”
“It’s not anything valuable. If you don’t mind, just keep it as a little toy.”
This thing was exactly what Wang Tao had obtained in the depths of the Amazon.
At that time, the team had gone to the rainforest for adventure, but unexpectedly encountered a primitive tribe that had lived generation after generation in the depths of the dense forest.
Just as they were about to be captured by the indigenous people as enemies, the accompanying guide actually stepped forward and pushed Wang Tao out.
This guide happened to know a bit of the indigenous language and knew the tribe’s custom of admiring the stronger one. He actually boasted Wang Tao up as a divine figure who could wrestle a fierce tiger barehanded or even take one down single-handedly.
Wang Tao had no choice but to cooperate with the guide in fabricating a story about slide-tackling and taking down a tiger.
The indigenous people were really fooled. Not only did they receive them with the highest specifications, but they also gave this little statue as a gift upon parting.
Of course, Wang Tao didn’t take it for nothing. He also gave the tribe plenty of good liquor and medicine, so it was like exchanging gifts.
After that, Wang Tao indeed hadn’t gotten any serious illnesses, and the adventure process went exceptionally smoothly, with almost no injuries.
He didn’t know if it was psychological effect or if this mannequin was really that magical.
As if attracted by Wang Tao’s words, the old woman slowly turned her head and glanced at the mannequin in Wang Tao’s hand.
Just one look, and the old woman recalled some past events, letting out a disdainful cold laugh. “I wondered where that old ghost had run off to. Turns out it went to a place like that.”
With that said, she reached her hand toward the basket on her lap.
The top of the basket was covered with an opaque cloth, completely blocking the view of what was inside.
But just as this cloth was slowly lifted, the electronic screen at the front of the bus flickered, and the number “42” suddenly changed to “43”.
No one in the carriage showed any surprised emotions, and Wang Tao didn’t notice this tiny change.
At this moment, he was carefully watching the old woman’s actions, curious about what she wanted to do.
He saw the old woman take the mannequin and throw it into the basket, then take out a tattered cloth doll from the basket and casually toss it into Wang Tao’s lap.
This doll seemed to have thorns on it, as it lightly pricked him.
Before Wang Tao could ask in detail, the bus suddenly stopped, and the huge inertia nearly made Wang Tao crash into the seat in front.
Looking up, outside was a bustling scenic spot with people coming and going.
The bus door creaked open, and the driver in front reminded at this time, “Young man, you’ve arrived at your stop. Get off.”
“Ah? Oh oh, okay.”
Wang Tao felt a bit regretful in his heart. He didn’t think he had said where he was going. How did this old man driver know?
This bus felt a bit eerie overall…
Seeing the old woman still ignoring him, Wang Tao didn’t want to stay longer and quickly got off through the open bus door.
Noisy sounds suddenly flooded into his ears. Wang Tao, who had gotten used to that silent environment, actually found it a bit harsh.
It was just like a deaf patient suddenly recovering; for a moment, it was hard to adapt to this change.
But his mobile phone rang at this time.
Taking it out from his jacket, he saw that the messages on the app had already soared to 99+, with a ton of missed calls too.
Not daring to delay, Wang Tao glanced at the contact name on the number, quickly picked up the mobile phone, and pressed the answer button.
“Hello? Gou Zong?”
“Sorry sorry, my mobile phone just had no signal. I’ll restart the live broadcast right away.”
“I still want to do it, I still want to do it. I really didn’t mean to, it was just that…”
After a bunch of criticism, the call from the number noted as Gou Za Zong finally hung up.
By now, that strange bus had long sped off out of sight, who knows how fast it was going.
But this wasn’t Wang Tao’s concern. After adjusting his emotions, he casually hung the cloth doll on the side of his backpack, adjusted his emotions again, took out his iPhone, and opened the live broadcast room.
“Adventure buddies, real or fake Brother Tao says.”
“As you requested, solo trip to Qing Yi Ancient House, starting right now!”
