Chapter 45

Tiger Granny’s tone was also strange, but when Qi Xu mentioned looking for food, that gaze suddenly became much more gratified. From that look, Qi Xu somehow discerned the kind of heartfelt relief her own mother felt when urging her to eat more.

It was just a little different from her own mother’s look, and Qi Xu struggled to describe the feeling. Its gratification wasn’t the kind one had for juniors or children—it was more like a rural old lady eyeing the pigs in her pen, hoping they’d fatten up for more meat come slaughter time.

This gaze, laced with malicious scrutiny, made Qi Xu deeply uncomfortable, but with those four girls present, she couldn’t lash out. She could only sit obediently a bit farther from Tiger Granny and continue rummaging through the bag.

Sure enough, she had been right—there was just food and drinks, nothing else. Qi Xu choked up a little as she pulled out a long, bar-shaped item and unfurled it… Who wanted to eat Snickers!

Qi Xu opened the Snickers bar anyway and ate several. As a college student, her manners far surpassed Xia Zhiming’s. She stuffed the wrappers into the side pocket of her backpack, planning to toss them in a trash bin once they descended the mountain.

After resting for a good while, the fog showed no signs of lifting—instead, it grew even thicker. To avoid getting separated from Qi Xu and the other “person,” the four girls called them over. Qi Xu hugged her bag and sat down, only to find Tiger Granny seated directly across from her.

Now there were five people and one ghost in total, sitting in a circle. Qi Xu and Tiger Granny sat opposite each other, with two girls on either side. To Qi Xu, those four girls might as well have been Tiger Granny’s hostages.

Once seated, everyone began introductions. The four girls went first, using nicknames or online handles rather than real names—like Xiaoxue and Honghong.

When it was Tiger Granny’s turn, it spouted some gibberish no one could understand, yet the four girls around it seemed entranced and started calling out “Tiger Granny” without a hint of suspicion. That left only Qi Xu without an introduction. Before she could speak, all four people and one ghost turned to her, as if she were the outsider.

Qi Xu took a deep breath and replied, “I’m Qi Xu, a college student.”

They then fell into casual chatter, mostly driven by the four girls—Honghong in particular was a chatterbox, never letting the conversation lag as her mouth ran nonstop. Qi Xu listened in a daze, thinking she outdid even the homestay owner from that morning.

Qi Xu actually wanted to warn them to talk less and conserve energy, but with Tiger Granny staring her down, she never found the right moment.

As Honghong spoke, she brought up the story the homestay owner had told her. “I heard there used to be tigers on this mountain—quite a few, in fact. There was even a tiger plague once. I never imagined Hui Province had tigers; I thought they were only in the Northeast or southern regions.”

“Yeah.”

Qi Xu had assumed they were from the same homestay and asked, only to learn otherwise. It seemed all the local homestay owners used tiger tales as chit-chat bait for tourists.

“That owner also told us there might still be tigers up here and to be careful when heading out.”

Xiaoxue, one of the two girls sitting right next to Tiger Granny, said this, and Tiger Granny’s eyes darted over to Honghong. Honghong just laughed it off. “Tigers are super rare these days. I’ve only ever seen them in zoos or videos—not like we’re gonna run into one.”

…You already had, in the form of a freakish old ghost lady with a tiger head.

Qi Xu chatted with them for a bit until Honghong dropped a bombshell. “Speaking of tigers and this place in She Nan County, have you all heard of an old strange-tale novel?”

Qi Xu sensed trouble the moment she said it, but the words were already out. “It’s the Tiger Matron Chronicle, written by someone in the Qing dynasty. It’s a story from the She Nan area of Hui Province, pretty much like Little Red Riding Hood, except the Wolf Granny is a Tiger Granny. The Tiger Granny disguises herself as a child’s mother to trick them into opening the door, or as a granny to lure them out and eat them.”

“Ah? There’s a story like that?”

They chatted excitedly about it while Qi Xu wore a utterly defeated expression. But the intel lined up perfectly—everything matched.

It was indeed a Wolf Granny tale, just with a tiger instead of a wolf.

Honghong grew even more animated. “Yeah, I heard the Tiger Granny story predates Little Red Riding Hood—maybe ours is the original.”

As she spoke, fur sprouted on Tiger Granny’s hands clutched to its chest, and they increasingly resembled claws. Qi Xu had no idea what was happening, but her instincts screamed it was bad news. She quickly steered the conversation elsewhere.

“Not necessarily. Grimm’s fairy tales draw from folk legends anyway—maybe they all stem from the same source.”

Hearing this, Honghong smiled and chimed in. “True. Japan and Vietnam have legends of the Tiger Aunt too, pretty similar to Wolf Granny. I figure the Grimms went with Wolf Granny instead of Tiger Granny because they didn’t have tigers over there and had no idea what they looked like, so they adapted it.”

“And now the Wolf Granny version is way more famous.”

As they chatted, the fuzz on Tiger Granny’s hands receded a bit, and Qi Xu breathed a sigh of relief. No change was the best change.

The topic passed quickly, and they moved on to other things. Qi Xu stayed on edge, eyes locked on Tiger Granny across from her, who stared right back. In that moment, Qi Xu even suspected Tiger Granny knew she had figured out it wasn’t human.

The two shared a tacit understanding but neither broke the silence.

Just as Qi Xu and Tiger Granny reached this fragile equilibrium, the four girls began to notice something off too. The fog lingered without end, and at some point, wisps of black mist had begun to rise amid the white.

Heavier than the white fog drifting lightly through the mountains, this black mist hugged the ground like a dark tide, spreading silently. The girls hadn’t noticed at first, but as they talked, the anomaly dawned on them.

Because… the temperature was dropping.

It was already mid-July, the hottest time of year. Even up in the mountains, it should have been cooler than down below, but this sudden chill pierced to the bone. Shivering, Xiaoxue hugged her arms and rubbed them, trying to warm up.

In that instant, as she glanced at Qi Xu, something about the girl in front of her felt… off. Her face was so pale—not the enviable cool-toned skin Xiaoxue usually admired, but an icy, bloodless pallor, gray and lifeless.

She seemed to notice the stare and turned, her dull black eyes fixing on Xiaoxue. “What’s wrong?” As she spoke, a chill seeped into Xiaoxue’s neck, making her shudder involuntarily.

Xiaoxue’s face fell. Her instincts screamed that something was very wrong—very dangerous. Her body urged her to flee, but her legs felt weak, rooted in place. Her friend nudged her with an elbow, snapping her back. She swallowed hard, but the Qi Xu in her eyes wasn’t that… corpse-like anymore.

She looked like a normal, pretty college girl now—as if that ashen face and lifeless black eyes had belonged to someone else. Yet the image lingered in Xiaoxue’s mind, unshakeable.

Suspicion took root. She instinctively wanted nothing to do with Qi Xu. Forcing a smile that seemed normal to outsiders but off to her friend, she said, “Are you okay? Feeling unwell?”

Xiaoxue started to say no but quickly changed tack. “Yeah, I need to pee. Come with me off to the side?”

“Sure.”

Qi Xu didn’t react at first, but then she recalled the homestay owner’s warning—sailors who went ashore to relieve themselves got snatched by tigers. She spoke up. “Maybe don’t? The fog’s so thick—who knows what’s in the woods. What if…” She glanced at Tiger Granny across the way but held back from saying “tiger.” “What if you get bitten by a snake? That’d be trouble.”

Xiaoxue’s friend agreed immediately. “Why not hold it? We’ll hit the main road soon—see if there’s a restroom nearby.”

Xiaoxue shot her friend a look that screamed “hating that iron isn’t steel.” Gritting her teeth, she said, “I’m desperate! Hurry and come with me!” With that, she dragged her friend off.

Qi Xu watched the scene with a headache. She felt a bit of that “hating that iron isn’t steel” toward Xiaoxue too.

In horror movies, shows, novels, and games, splitting up was the ultimate taboo! The first to go were always the ones who wandered off alone! She wanted to follow, but two girls remained, and Tiger Granny loomed watchful.

Compared to Xiaoxue and her friend, Qi Xu prioritized Tiger Granny’s movements. The other two peeing might just lead to some accident, but if she left now, she suspected the remaining pair—Honghong and the other—would drop dead on the spot.

After weighing it, Qi Xu stayed put, eyes glued to Tiger Granny.

So focused on the four girls’ safety, Qi Xu had no idea that Xiaoxue and her friend were off secretly trash-talking her. Xiaoxue hadn’t really needed to pee—she’d just used it as an excuse to get alone with her friend.

Her friend prodded her. “We’re far enough—go already, then we head back.”

But Xiaoxue gripped her hand tightly, palms sweaty from nerves. “Listen… I think that girl earlier is a ghost.”