Essence The Ghost in Red

Chapter 1: "Let's Get Together" (1)\Chapter 1: "Let's Get Together" (1)\"Hey hey hey! Do you guys know about Li Peiying from the class next door going missing?"\"I know! Didn't you hear she was abducted by an internet friend?"\"Yeah! But… yesterday when I went to take photo booth pictures with Q Baby, the clerk said…"\"What did they say? What? Come on, tell us!"\As soon as they heard there was gossip to listen to, everyone's eyes seemed to light up in that instant, each person wearing an expectant expression, waiting.\"He said… before Li Peiying lost contact with her family, she had gone to take photo booth pictures with a tall, slim, handsome guy, but even though there were clearly only two people who went into the machine, when they came out, the monitor showed three people…"\"Ah! Stop saying it!"\A more timid girl, upon hearing it was a ghost story, immediately covered her ears and screamed, but this did not stop the storyteller from continuing.\"…At first, he didn't notice either, but when the police came to check the surveillance tape, he discovered the person who appeared out of nowhere."\"Eek… that's so scary! Was that extra third person a ghost?"\The small girl telling the story shook her head: "I don't know, but according to the clerk, that person… looked a lot like the 'Red-Clothed Little Girl' from TV, except with long hair."\"What?" Everyone's volume suddenly rose a lot at that moment, but then quickly became subtle again, so subtle that it was almost inaudible…\"Red… clothed little girl?"\The 'Red-Clothed Little Girl,' as it turned out, was just a mysterious little girl appearing in someone else's home video, but why did she cause such a sensation across Taiwan at the time? Because behind this unremarkable name, there was actually a very frightening story…\In 1998, a family went on a trip to the Dakeng Wind Stone scenic area in Taichung. During the outing, some family members used a DV camera to record their activities for remembrance.\And less than a few months after this family gathering, the DV owner's brother-in-law suddenly passed away for unknown reasons. So the family members gathered once again to arrange the funeral.After finishing the funeral, someone suddenly remembered the video tape that was shot during the last family outing and suggested making copies for everyone as a keepsake. Everyone agreed that it was a great idea, so they asked the owner of the DV to take the tape for copying and then distribute it to everyone. However, when the copied tape came back, everyone suddenly discovered two terrifying images they had never seen before...

First, the unusual phenomenon was noticed in the Fēngdòngshí scenic area. In the segment where the anomaly appeared, everyone was walking up the mountain one after another, and no one noticed anyone else in between them, nor did the camera capture other tourists. However, in the copied tape, everyone was shocked to see that behind the line of family members, there was a little girl wearing red casual clothes following them. Moreover, that day, the sun was shining brightly, but the little girl's face seemed as if it were in a different world, exuding an unspeakable sense of darkness and eeriness. Some even said her face looked like a skull or an old person's face. The strangest part was that the way the little girl walked seemed to defy gravity; her walking angle was about fifteen degrees off compared to the others, meaning she was moving forward in a slanted posture. Seeing this, all the family members were very puzzled because when they originally watched the tape, they had not seen this little girl appear in the footage, and no one remembered seeing her at the outing. They thought maybe they just didn't notice her before, so they didn't pay much attention.

However, when the second bizarre image appeared, everyone was terrified. The second strange scene was filmed later when everyone had returned home, and at the time, everyone should have been sitting around a table drinking tea and chatting. When the camera focused on the deceased brother-in-law, they were shocked to see that in his wide laughing mouth, there appeared to be fangs like a vampire! This left everyone completely baffled and unsure of how to explain it, so they sent the tape to one of the most popular paranormal TV shows at the time, hoping to get an explanation.And after the program was broadcast in full force, along with the solemn explanations from all the spiritual studies teachers, the terrifying legend of the "Little Red Riding Hood Girl" spread like that... On the fifth day after Li Peiying disappeared, her good friends Pan Yijie, Huang Qinglan, and Zheng Yuting, three ninth-grade girls, were sitting in McDonald's discussing how to help Li Peiying's parents find her.

"Qinglan, didn't you already give the police Peiying's PChome social account? So why is there still no news?"

The speaker was Pan Yijie. She was resting her face on one hand while holding her drink cup in the other, lightly drawing circles on the table, the motion making intermittent squeaking sounds as the table surface rubbed against the cup.

At this moment and place, such actions were practically meaningless, showing that they really couldn't think of any solutions.

Huang Qinglan shrugged, indicating she also didn't know why, then lowered her head to continue fidgeting with the now-empty burger box in her hands.

Pan Yijie pouted: "Ugh… so annoying! Where on earth has Peiying gone?"

Zheng Yuting pursed her lips and then said: "Maybe she's also using other websites for socializing. There are so many social sites now; who knows where she met that guy?"

"Yeah! Even on Wretch, I couldn't find anything; you need her password to see the messages left by others…" Huang Qinglan continued: "I also checked the photo albums of friends she added, but there wasn't the one she went to play sticker games with. They're all so ugly!"

"Pfft!" Zheng Yuting couldn't help laughing: "At a time like this? You still have the mood to check if people are handsome or not?"

"Ugh! It's not like that! You can tell handsome from ugly at a glance, okay? No need to really check!"

"Hehe…" Pan Yijie laughed as well, then gently nudged her shoulder: "Stop pretending! Everyone knows you, like Peiying, love looking at handsome guys."

At this point, she picked up her tray and tapped it lightly on the edge of the table in protest: "Hey! What's going on now? Why suddenly drag me into this? Right now the most important thing is to quickly figure out how to find Peiying!"

"Hehe… got it! But we can't think of anything, so we're just joking out of boredom! If we could think of something, would we still be standing here?""Zheng Yuting took a sip of her cola, then looked out the window thoughtfully: 'Li Peiying… if I found out she ran off with some handsome guy, she'd be in trouble! Here we are, worrying ourselves sick for her…'

'Tsk!' Pan Yijie frowned: 'I don't think that would happen, right? Peiying shouldn't be like that… But on the other hand, I'd rather she was just having fun and didn't want to go home. If something were to happen to her…'

'Hey!' Zheng Yuting patted her shoulder: 'Don't say such unlucky things!'

'Yeah!' Pan Yijie nodded, and then fell silent.

Zheng Yuting continued looking out the window: 'The school exams are coming up, everyone's under a lot of pressure, so I guess she just wants to escape for a while. Once she's had enough fun, she'll come back!'

'Uhm…' Pan Yijie and Huang Qinglan nodded at the same time.

But in their hearts, they didn't completely believe that…

Chapter 2: "Let's Go Together" (2)
Chapter 1: "Let's Go Together" (2)

On Sunday night, Pan Yijie invited a group of classmates to the temple night market to relax, and the group started walking from one end of Ai San Road all the way to the other end of Ai Si Road while eating.

When they were near the intersection, Zheng Yuting suddenly shouted from behind: 'Hey! Do you guys want to eat some nutritious sandwiches?'

Pan Yijie turned around to look at Zheng Yuting, then looked at the crowd in line at the sandwich stall: 'Huh? But there are so many people…'

'That's okay! I'll stay here in line, you guys go ahead to 'Three Brothers' and wait for me.'

Pan Yijie looked at the others: 'Do you guys want some?'

'Sure!'
'Sure!'
'I want some!'
'Okay! Then I'll go get a number tag!'

After confirming that everyone wanted to eat, Pan Yijie, Guo Xianhong, and Lin Youting went ahead to 'Three Brothers Tofu Pudding' to save seats, while Liao Xiaoping stayed behind to line up with Zheng Yuting.

After about ten minutes, they finally managed to buy the sandwiches, so the two of them picked up their bags of sandwiches and hurried to meet Pan Yijie and the others.

When they reached the intersection, Liao Xiaoping saw an older man selling spring rolls on the right side, so she pointed at his stall and said to Zheng Yuting: 'Ah! I kind of want to eat this!'

'Oh? Then go ahead and buy it!'You can just share your sandwich with Guo Xianhong and the others; they'll definitely finish it."

"Haha… really sorry, asking for this, asking for that…" Liao Xiaoping awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "Then… you go find them first! I'll come over after I finish buying."

"Okay…"

After Zheng Yuting left, Liao Xiaoping walked alone to the stall selling spring roll pancakes and said to the uncle chatting with someone, "Boss, I want one."

"Alright, do you want cilantro added?"

Liao Xiaoping shook her head to indicate no. The uncle looked up at her for a moment, then skillfully began putting cabbage and bean sprouts into the pot to blanch while arranging various colorful ingredients on the spring roll wrapper.

After a while, the cabbage and bean sprouts were cooked, so the uncle scooped them out, drained them, and placed them on top of the other ingredients, then evenly sprinkled peanut powder over them.

Finally, the uncle rolled the spring roll tightly by hand.

In this way, a mouthwatering snack—a spring roll pancake—was completed.

"Done! Here! Thank you!"

"Mm! Thank you!"

After paying, Liao Xiaoping happily carried the small plastic bag with the spring roll pancake toward the "Three Brothers Tofu Pudding" while gently humming a tune.

Liao Xiaoping was very cute and tall, so she attracted the attention of boys while walking down the street.

Just as she was about to cross the road under everyone's watchful eyes, a familiar figure ahead caught her attention. She didn't care that there were a bunch of vehicles waiting, and quickly crossed straight over.

She shouted while chasing, "Li Peiying! Wait for me!"

As soon as she shouted, pedestrians nearby, both men and women, immediately turned their heads to look at her, as if they were watching something interesting.

At that moment, she didn't care much because the girl who looked very much like Li Peiying was walking farther away!

She quickly followed and shouted again, "Li Peiying!"

The girl didn't seem to hear, but she did pause slightly in front of a phone store, possibly looking at the phones in the window.It was just that slight side angle that allowed Liao Xiaoping to instantly recognize that it was Li Peiying, who had been missing for a week, and she hurriedly took out her phone to call Zheng Yuting and the others. Excitedly, she dialed the phone while quickening her pace, hoping to share the good news with everyone as soon as possible. But in the brief moment she looked down at her phone screen, Li Peiying was gone! "Huh?" Liao Xiaoping pressed her phone to her ear and looked around, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't spot Li Peiying. Panicking, she ran to the front of the communications store and then noticed a small alley next to it. At the end of the alley was Li Peiying, walking slowly, and she had just exited the alley, about to turn left. Seeing this, Liao Xiaoping immediately quickened her steps to a run, but at that moment, her phone suddenly displayed a message that the call couldn't be connected. She held the phone up to her face and saw: "Ah? Why is there no signal?" "Li Peiying! Wait for me!" Watching Li Peiying walk farther away, she no longer cared that the call wouldn't go through; catching up to her became the priority. So, she went from a jog to running faster, then slowed down to catch her breath when she got tired. But strangely, no matter how hard she tried to chase, Li Peiying always kept the same distance from her.