I rubbed my eyes hard, making sure I wasn't seeing things.

The person in the photograph was actually Uncle Qi Er!

I felt like I had been struck by lightning, my entire head went blank.

We had been walking along the same path for quite a while, could it be that we had circled back to the same place?

No!

Something wasn't right!

Uncle Qi Er's tombstone wasn't like this. The tombstone in front of me was very old and worn out, unlike the brand new one at Uncle Qi Er's grave.

What was going on?

Had Uncle Qi Er already passed away?

Then who was the Uncle Qi Er who had been living in our village all this time?

Or was the person in the photograph just someone who looked very similar to Uncle Qi Er?

It didn't make sense!

I racked my brains, but couldn't come up with an answer.

At that moment, I heard Fatty's startled cry not far away.

I ran over to where the sound came from and saw Fatty kneeling in front of a grave mound, trembling uncontrollably.

When Fatty saw me, he looked as if he had seen a ghost, screamed, and jumped away as if he had been shocked.

I asked Fatty what he was doing, and he struggled to his feet, blocking the tombstone behind him with his body, shaking his head desperately: "It's nothing! It's nothing!"

Fatty's actions aroused my suspicion. I said, "Fatty, move aside. What are you hiding? Let me see!"

Fatty bit his lip, shaking his head like a rattle drum: "You can't see! There's nothing to see! Let's go, let's go quickly!"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As the saying goes, "There must be something fishy going on." The more Fatty said that, the more curious I became.

Taking advantage of Fatty's lack of vigilance, I rushed forward and pushed him aside.

The tombstone behind Fatty came into my view, and I was stunned, shocked on the spot, my brain went blank.

On this tombstone, there was actually my own black and white photograph!

Boom!

It felt like a thunderous explosion in my heart, and I trembled all over, feeling like I couldn't even stand steady.

How could there be my photograph on the tombstone?

Could it be that I was already dead?

If I'm dead, then who am I standing here right now?

I turned to look at Fatty, who shivered with fear, his teeth chattering. I could see the terror in his eyes.

"Am I human or ghost?" I asked Fatty.

Fatty's face was full of tears as he said, "Yang Cheng, Mr. Yang, how would I know if you're human or ghost? I told you not to look, not to look..."

As Fatty spoke, he backed away, but ended up bumping into another tombstone.

He turned to look, let out a scream like a slaughtered pig, his face drained of all color. Pointing at the tombstone, his lips trembling, eyes filled with deep fear, he stuttered, "Th-this... this... this... how is this possible... impossible..."

I approached and saw that the tombstone was adorned with Fatty's black and white photograph.

Fatty cried and sobbed, saying, "I'm still so young, I don't want to die, Mom, I'm still a virgin..."

"Fatty, stop crying damn it! Look around you. The black and white photos on these tombstones are all of people we know!" I pointed to the tombstones around us.

Amidst the dense fog, tomb mounds piled up, each with a dilapidated tombstone in front of it.

What was terrifying was that these graves seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, as if in the blink of an eye, they had emerged from the underground in all directions.

Fatty and I looked around, our eyes scanning the tombstones. The more we looked, the more frightened we became. Each black and white photo on the tombstones was of someone from our village - Grandpa Yu, my grandfather, a few other buddies, and even Zheng Jun who had died earlier. In short, everyone in the village appeared on these tombstones.

Fatty grabbed his hair in agony, looking like he was on the verge of collapse, mumbling incessantly, "What's going on? What is this all about? Did everyone in the village die?"

"It's impossible!" I said firmly. "These graves appeared strangely. Think about it, even if we're dead, it's impossible for everyone in the village to be dead, right? Others are still alive and well in the village, probably having dinner right now!"

"Then what about these... these tombstones?" Fatty asked, trembling.

I shook my head and said directly, "If you're asking me, who am I supposed to ask? If I could figure it out, we wouldn't be stuck here!"

Fatty suddenly burst into tears, "Waaah, I want to go home, I want my mom!"

Fatty's crying annoyed me, and I scolded him angrily, "Crying won't help! Do you think crying will get us out of here?"

As I finished speaking, I suddenly felt like I was stepping on empty space, and with a cry, I tumbled down a slope.

Fatty seemed to have stepped on empty space too, rolling down like a big meatball, and ending up rolling over me.

I felt like I had rolled into a cave, dizzy and unable to get up, and before I could stand up, Fatty rolled over me, his buttocks right in my face. Angry, I gave him a swift "One Yang Finger" right on his bottom, and he yelped and rolled off me.

It was cold all around, with a strange smell lingering in the air.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out a matchbox, and Fatty urged me to light a match quickly to see what kind of place this was.

Sizzle!

I struck a match, and a faint flame lit up.

What came into view was a pair of feet, wearing a pair of bright red embroidered shoes, extremely eye-catching.

I was suddenly startled, sitting down with a thump, and the match went out.

Fatty didn't see those feet and asked if I saw something. I lit another match, and Fatty sat down with a thump again, mumbling in fear.

Raising the matchstick high, I slowly moved my gaze upwards from the feet, and saw, hanging in the air three or five meters above the ground, a woman. She was already stiff, turned into a rigid corpse.

My heart pounded hard. What place was this? Why were there female corpses here? Who was this woman, did she quietly hang herself here?

The match quickly burned to the end, and at that moment, Fatty said, "Oh my god, I have a female corpse here too!"

I squatted down, lit another match, and ignited all the matches in the matchbox. The fire illuminated quite a bit.

In the dim light, we were horrified to discover that we were actually in a room with brick walls. On the beams of this room, dozens of corpses hung in the air, stiff like dried sausages. What was most eerie was that all the bodies here, without exception, were female corpses!

It suddenly dawned on me - Fatty and I had fallen into a tomb.