That night, a hazy, fuzzy moon hung in the sky. It was already midnight, and there wasn’t a single light in the whole village, making the night feel even more eerie and chilling...

Maybe it was because I’d heard too many ghost stories since coming to this village, but sitting outside alone on such a spooky night, I really did feel a bit creeped out. Maybe Monkey felt the same way, which is why he kept chatting with me while squatting in the outhouse.

Monkey, with a kind of “mm-hmm, ah-ah” sound, asked me, “Old Foster, do you think those ghost stories Old Martinez and the others tell every night could be true? They tell them with so much detail, it almost feels real.”

Old Martinez is the village secretary. Now that we’re familiar with each other, we call him Old Martinez just like the villagers do. It seems Old Martinez’s ghost stories are really powerful—even a good comrade like Monkey, who’s always loyal to the leader, has been made suspicious and superstitious by these tales. But to be fair, Old Martinez’s ghost stories are truly scary. Listening to them, it’s as if ghosts really exist. Just thinking about the stories he told made me shiver, and I said, “Monkey, can you not talk about this in the middle of the night?”

Maybe Monkey also realized it wasn’t the right time to bring this up, so he stopped talking and just made “mm-hmm” sounds...

Of course, I was the same. There was a burst of “crackle, crackle,” and just as I was feeling completely relieved and almost floating with comfort, suddenly—whoosh!—a ball of fire shot out from the grass behind my butt!

I was so startled that I screamed, yanked up my pants, and jumped up.

Monkey, who was squatting in the outhouse, immediately asked with concern what had happened.

But I couldn’t make a sound, because after hearing my scream, that ball of fire actually stopped, hovering about three feet above the ground, ten paces away from me.

If it had been an ordinary fire, I wouldn’t have been scared. But this fire was too strange, too bizarre! Normal fire has long flames, but this one was round, about the size of a washbasin, ghostly blue, and it even made a “quack quack” sound like a duck...

Even though I didn’t believe in superstitions, I still had a sense of awe toward the unknown. This fire in front of me was neither ordinary fire nor the so-called phosphorus fire from books, because regular fire is red and has flames, and while phosphorus fire can be bluish, it would never make a “quack quack” sound.

Looking at it, I started to recall the ghost fire stories Old Martinez had told us, and I couldn’t help but get a little nervous. Could this really be a ghost fire?

That ball of fire, seeing me frozen in place, hovered in front of me for a while, then suddenly shot up like a rocket and flew away, leaving my eyes wide in shock. I thought to myself, I really did see a ghost fire tonight!

The fireball shot up high, flew seven or eight hundred meters away, and landed behind Old Smith’s house...

As soon as the fireball left, I shouted, “Monkey, Monkey, come out and look, I think I just saw a ghost!”

Maybe Monkey was annoyed that I’d ignored him earlier, so he cursed at me, “What are you yelling for, making such a fuss? We were born in New China, raised under the red flag, the Chairman’s steel warriors—if there really are ghosts, we’ll wipe them out and leave no place for monsters and demons!”

I didn’t have time to argue, so I said anxiously, “Monkey, cut the crap, I really saw a ghost!”

Monkey asked suspiciously, “Old Foster, are you serious? You’re not just trying to trick me out so you can take my spot in the outhouse, are you? Old Foster, I’m your revolutionary comrade, I came all this way with you, and now you want to fight your comrade for the outhouse?”

I was so anxious outside I was practically jumping, and Monkey was still messing around. I was both anxious and angry, and shouted, “If you don’t come out right now, I’m going to throw rocks into the pit!”

Our outhouse is very small, and half the pit is dug outside the building, mainly to make it easier to collect fertilizer from the pit. The downside is, if someone throws rocks into the pit from outside, the person squatting inside will get splashed all over with filth...

As soon as Monkey heard this, he was so scared he begged for mercy, and in no time he came running out, pulling up his pants. As he put on his pants, he yelled at me, “Old Foster, you’re really shameless, coming up with such a dirty trick. I was just minding my own business, not bothering you at all, seriously!”

I didn’t have time to explain, and hurriedly pointed at the fireball behind Old Smith’s house, shouting, “Monkey, look over there, what is that?”

Monkey looked in the direction I pointed, and said doubtfully, “Huh? Is Old Smith’s house on fire?”

Old Smith’s house is the one I mentioned earlier, the closest to us. The head of the household is surnamed Liu, an old man in his sixties, with two sons.

I said, “Look carefully, that’s not fire. Have you ever seen fire shaped like a ball? And that fireball flew over from our side!”

Then I told Monkey everything that had just happened.

Monkey was startled and asked in confusion, “Old Foster, are you really not tricking me? The ‘quack quack’ I heard in the outhouse just now was really coming from that fireball?”