I thought about it and realized it made sense. Whether or not this thing would really cause someone to die as Old Martinez said, it was still better not to let Old Smith and the others know. But my heart was full of doubts, so I asked Old Martinez, “Hey Old Martinez, this is a really serious matter, you better not be fooling us. What you’re saying sounds so mysterious—could it be fake? How could ghost fire possibly call away a person’s soul?”

Monkey also nodded and said, “Yeah, yeah, isn’t it the job of the underworld messengers to take souls?”

Old Martinez said, “I’m already this old, why would I lie to you? Let me tell you, I don’t know exactly what that ghost fire is. Some say it’s the underworld messenger that comes to collect souls, others say that ball of fire is a deceased relative of the dying person, coming specially to fetch them. No matter who it is, the fire that came out of Old Smith’s house must be the soul of someone in their family. If you don’t believe me, just wait and see—within a few days, something is bound to happen at Old Smith’s house!”

Seeing how serious Old Martinez looked, both Monkey and I felt our hearts pounding with anxiety...

Monkey and I were both stunned, thinking this was just too damn mysterious. Old Martinez didn’t say much more, just sighed, then got up and went back to the fields. The heavy look on his face made it seem like someone in The Smith Family really was about to die.

After Old Martinez left, I said to the still-shocked Monkey, “Monkey, do you believe what Old Martinez said?”

Monkey shook his head. “It’s really hard to say, but whether it’s true or not, we’ll find out in a few days.”

I nodded in agreement. Since I couldn’t figure it out for the moment, I decided not to think about it anymore.

I glanced back at the fields behind me. Old Smith and his two sons were working, and from the looks of them, they were strong and healthy—there was no sign that anything was about to happen.

Because the matter of the ghost fire and soul-taking involved Old Smith’s family, we didn’t mention it to anyone else. Even though we were full of doubts, the farm work still had to go on. Just like that, three days passed in a flash, and Monkey and I had almost put the whole thing out of our minds. That day, as usual, Monkey and I arrived early at the fields, when suddenly, the village secretary Old Martinez shouted to everyone, “Old Smith, Old Smith? Has anyone seen Old Smith today?”

Chapter 12 Old Smith is Dead

When everyone heard what secretary Old Martinez said, they all looked around and asked, “What, Old Smith didn’t come today?”

Some of those who usually hung out with Old Smith even joked, “Old Martinez, stop looking for him. That guy Old Smith must have worn himself out at Widow Li’s place last night. He’s probably still lying on a woman’s belly right now.”

As soon as he said this, everyone burst out laughing.

Then someone chimed in, “Old Ghost is right. If you’re lying on a woman’s belly, who’d bother coming here? If it were me, I’d rather lose some work points than leave a woman’s soft belly, hehe...”

That got another round of laughter. That’s just how it was with collective work—everyone was bored all day, so they’d use dirty jokes to amuse themselves.

Everyone was laughing, but Monkey and I couldn’t laugh at all. We both had a vague sense that something was wrong.

I stood up and looked around, and sure enough, there was no sign of Old Smith.

At that moment, secretary Old Martinez shouted at everyone, “Old Ghost, stop messing around, I’m talking about something serious. Has anyone seen Old Smith?”

Seeing how serious Old Martinez looked, he must have sensed something was off, which was why he was being so earnest. You know, even though Old Martinez was the village secretary, he was usually pretty casual—he was often the one leading the dirty jokes.

Then, the same Old Ghost who had been joking before said, “Aren’t Old Smith’s two sons here? Just ask them and you’ll know!”

Secretary Old Martinez nodded, glanced over at the fields, and when he saw Old Smith’s son, he walked over and shouted, “Tom, Tom, where’s your dad? Why hasn’t he come yet?”

Tom was Old Smith’s eldest son, in his twenties. He had already heard Old Martinez calling for his father and was looking around for him. When Old Martinez asked, he replied, “I haven’t seen him either. When I left the house this morning, my dad was feeding the chickens. He said he’d come after he finished, but I don’t know why he still hasn’t shown up.”

A villager nearby said, “Maybe Old Smith is busy with something. Just dock him some work points, why keep looking for him?”

Yeah, back then it was common for people to skip work—usually they’d just lose some work points, nothing serious.

Secretary Old Martinez had already walked up to Tom and said to the villager, “What do you know? All of you, go look for him. Don’t let anything happen!”

When the villagers heard this, they all started to get suspicious, muttering, “Put down what we’re doing to go look for someone? How could a grown man just disappear? What’s up with Old Martinez today?”

Even though everyone was whispering, there was no way Old Martinez didn’t know what they were thinking. He put on a stern face and said, “Stop mumbling and go look for him. Anyone who doesn’t will lose three days’ work points.”

When everyone heard that, they knew it was serious. Losing three days’ work points meant no meat for the holidays, so everyone quickly dropped what they were doing and started searching for Old Smith...

Standing next to Old Martinez, Tom looked puzzled and asked, “Secretary, what’s going on? Did my dad do something wrong?”