Chapter 61

"A whole village of people are car bandits and road tyrants?"

Tan Wenbin found this hard to believe. Although his family had been police for generations, Tan Yunlong basically didn't talk about work at home, and the police situations faced by different regions were also different.

Xue Liangliang explained: "The situation of a whole village acting as a unit to engage in collective crime is not common, but it's not rare either.

For example, this village in the mountains. They have little contact with the outside world, and the villagers' range of life and production activities is narrow. With kinship as a bond, it's easy to understand how it developed into a small-scale criminal group."

"But, no one reported it?"

Xue Liangliang looked at Tan Wenbin and asked back: "Would you report your deskmate for cheating on an exam?"

"That's different. Cheating on an exam and committing murder are different."

"That's because you can realize this point.

But smoking is clearly harmful. Why do you still try to smoke?

It's because you see your father smoking and your peers around you smoking, so you subconsciously feel that smoking is no big deal. When a large number of people in a village engage in criminal activities, the people living in it will also have similar thoughts, thinking that this isn't a very serious matter."

Tan Wenbin nodded thoughtfully, then turned to look at Zhu Yang in front of him, sighing with regret:

"He still has a wife and children at home..." 【61-1

Zhu Yang was their fellow townsman, but that was secondary; the main point was that this man was truly quite good, very enthusiastic, and honest. In his spare time, he liked to read novels, and when speaking, he would occasionally pop out a few pedantic witticisms.

He said he didn't like the profession of a truck driver, but for the sake of his family, he could only trap himself inside the cab.

Now, he was trapped here once again.

Xue Liangliang then discussed another matter with Li Zhuiyuan: "Xiaoyuan, if it weren't for that little girl, would we have met with disaster by now?"

Runsheng tapped the steel pipe against his own chest, producing several dull thuds.

The meaning was that he was still there.

Xue Liangliang shrugged: "Runsheng, I know you can fight well, but what if they have guns?"

Runsheng frowned, unable to refute.

Therefore, he now preferred watching martial arts films on TV rather than police-and-thief films, because the latter had guns.

Li Zhuiyuan spoke up: "It is possible to associate it in that direction, but it has no meaning. That little girl didn't come to help save us; the three of you truly had a deathly aura appearing on your faces. She just wanted to come and take your remaining lifespan. It's just that several bad things happened to coincide, producing a 'negative times negative equals positive' effect."

Xue Liangliang: "That repair shop owner was also pretending to be honest, saying the robbers ahead had guns, with the goal of tricking us into coming to this village."

"He might also have harbored the intention of testing us. If we weren't afraid of guns and continued driving forward, they would have suspected that we also had powerful tools on us."

"The schemes go that deep?"

"They do, because I didn't see him lying."

"Xiaoyuan, don't shoulder this kind of responsibility yourself; none of us saw it either."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. Ever since he finished studying the "Essence of Yin-Yang Physiognomy," he could basically tell whenever a normal person was lying in front of him.

But that repair shop owner had no micro-expressions, which meant the other party not only had extremely strong psychological quality but was also highly experienced.

"Brother Liangliang, perhaps that repair shop owner is the leader here." Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand, "Let's go around and take a look inside the ancestral hall."

The water level was not very deep; even Li Zhuiyuan could easily wade through it. It was just that passing through the periphery of the dense corpses made the atmosphere truly oppressive.

Fortunately, the dead in the pond did not undergo any strange changes, and the four were able to pass through safely.

Arriving under the main hall of the ancestral hall, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt something. He raised his head to look up and discovered that many copper coins and copper swords were hanging under the eaves. Some were new and some were old; it should have been because they were regularly repaired.

Li Zhuiyuan then pressed his palm against the pillar in front of him. The tactile sensation was not cold; instead, it vaguely exuded a hint of warmth.

Scanning other corners outside the hall, the details corresponded one by one, and the boy's gaze could not help but become serious.

"What's wrong, Xiaoyuan?"

"Brother Liangliang, the person who built this ancestral hall was a true expert. Although the building is small and the layout is small, it created a small closed loop of a dragon drawing water. Combined with the Feng Shui aura of this place, it is equivalent to carving out a small blessing in a blessed land."

"Does that mean the ancestors of this village were once wealthy?"

"Hmm, not just ordinarily wealthy. In ancient times, this kind of technique was generally used for imperial tombs."

"That is truly amazing. When I was an intern, I heard an old professor from another school say that the craftsmen who could design and build imperial tombs in ancient times had wealth and status far higher than the developers of the top-tier residential areas in the capital today."

"A very wonderful metaphor."

Xue Liangliang sighed: "But the descendants have ultimately fallen and decayed to this point."

Walking into the hall, memorial tablets were placed on the offering table, all surnamed "Wang."

"Brother Liangliang, do you feel that there seem to be too few memorial tablets here?"

"Hmm?"

"Compared to the construction era of this ancestral hall and the architectural techniques used, there shouldn't be so few memorial tablets enshrined above."

"Some family ancestral halls have higher requirements for placing memorial tablets; that's how it is in my hometown village."

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the side of the offering table, jumped up to take down a memorial tablet from the very top edge, and observed it by flipping it up and down.

"Brother Liangliang, it's not right. Even for the oldest memorial tablet at the very top, the date is not too distant."

"Is that so?" Xue Liangliang took the memorial tablet and also took a look, "I don't understand this; how did you tell?"

"I just happened to have done some research on memorial tablets a while ago."

"Xiaoyuan, what are you suspecting?"

"It's hard to say yet, but I feel that even if such a family's heritage has declined and the descendants are unworthy, it shouldn't be so outrageous as to invite that level of Daoist priests or monks to perform rituals at the entrance of the village."

Li Zhuiyuan turned around and began to circle along the inner hall wall. This was not a brick wall but a pebble wall. The pebbles varied in color and size but were polished smooth, and the layout was very reasonable and comfortable.

Xue Liangliang threw the memorial tablet in his hand onto the ground very casually. The ancestors of such a village were indeed not worth respecting.

Immediately after, he bent down and crawled under the offering table covered by curtains to search inside and see if he could find an exit.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin were not assigned specific tasks, but they were not idle either. The two of them knocked here and stomped there, hoping to stumble upon a dead mouse.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped after circling the three walls once. He closed his eyes, pondered and savored it for a while, then opened his eyes and walked through it again.

Actually, he had already noticed the clues during the first pass. The pebbles of different colors and sizes on this wall were actually a huge jigsaw puzzle scattered across three sides.

Ordinary people really wouldn't be able to discover it; they would only feel that the arrangement was quite solemn and good-looking. The Li Zhuiyuan of the past wouldn't have been able to discover it either; it was thanks to having practiced blind chess with A Li when he was blind.

It was also a coincidence; playing three blind chess games simultaneously happened to correspond to these three walls at this moment.

After reviewing it again, Li Zhuiyuan stood in place and closed his eyes, beginning to piece together the puzzle in his mind.

There were characters on the puzzle, and very quickly, the first line of characters was deciphered by Li Zhuiyuan.

"Ancestral Teachings of the Qi Clan?"

But on these memorial tablets, everyone was surnamed Wang.

Li Zhuiyuan thought of a possibility, which was that this village should have originally been a branch of the Qi Clan, but in modern times, it was usurped by a group of people surnamed Wang.

It wasn't that they had declined or were unworthy; this was a complete replacement of bloodline and surname.

The plaque in front of the ancestral hall was not prominent, not only because the ancestors were ashamed to be seen, but also because the descendants were already gone.

If this Qi Clan had really been passed down to the present, even if the heritage were lost, there shouldn't be a lack of even a slightly decent Feng Shui master.

Li Zhuiyuan continued to piece together the puzzle in his mind to decipher it. The next long section was the content of the ancestral teachings. Except for the differences in wording, it basically conformed to the conventional, emphasizing benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Li Zhuiyuan skimmed through it quickly.

Continuing to piece it together further down, the characters that appeared were suggestive. No, not just suggestive, but very clearly pointing out the direction to you.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes and looked outside the hall. The target point of the direction was outside, which was the central position currently surrounded by the dead.

The four of them had previously come along the edge and missed the exit they were looking for.

"Xiaoyuan, did you discover anything?" Xue Liangliang asked while patting the dust and dirt off his hands.

"Brother Liangliang, this village was previously surnamed Qi. This group surnamed Wang are outsiders who later usurped this place."

Xue Liangliang was stunned for a moment, then said: "That really fits the style of conduct of the people in this village. Sure enough, the ancestors of this group were nothing good."

"The exit is in the pile of dead bodies; we have to push them aside to get in, Brother Runsheng."

"Understood!"

Runsheng walked out of the hall first and arrived at the pond, reaching out to push aside the dead in front. Tan Wenbin also ran up to help.

These dead were like roly-poly toys; they would be pushed aside, but after a burst of swaying, they would still maintain a vertical posture and wouldn't fall down.

Moreover, after continuously pushing aside several batches of the dead, the dead in front actually scattered to both sides one after another, actively clearing a path.

This left Runsheng and Tan Wenbin both bewildered. For a moment, they didn't know whether they should continue to advance and could only turn their heads to look at Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's go."

The four walked inward along the small path cleared by the dead.

While advancing, the dead on both sides who were originally standing facing the gate of the ancestral hall all slowly turned, becoming face-to-face with the four.

Furthermore, they would continuously adjust their posture and direction according to the four's progress.

The atmosphere was already very oppressive when circling past the edge of the pile of dead earlier; the scene right now made one's scalp tingle even more.

Tan Wenbin muttered in a low voice: "They won't suddenly pounce over collectively, will they?"

Runsheng, who was walking at the very front, said: "If that happens, I'll block them; you guys run out first."

Xue Liangliang guessed: "It doesn't seem like they want to attack us; it's more like they are showing goodwill."

Tan Wenbin: "Showing goodwill?"

Xue Liangliang: "Hmm, it could also be said to be a request."

"Brother Runsheng, you can stop; it's right here."

Li Zhuiyuan shouted. Runsheng stopped his footsteps. In front of him, there was a Taiji pattern paved with pebbles.

This place was the true Gate of Life.

"Xiaoyuan, is it right here?"

"Hmm."

"Then I'll try first." Runsheng twisted his neck. Just as he was preparing to walk inside, he saw an acquaintance, Zhu Yang, move out from the pile of dead in front.

He couldn't speak, had no expression, and was even less able to express himself, but right now, he had come here from the very front of the first row.

He didn't stand in the Taiji pattern but was outside. Clearly, he had no intention of stopping the four from leaving.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Zhu Yang and said: "Rest assured, after I get out, I will call the police and give you all justice."

Zhu Yang didn't move.

All around, a cold wind suddenly blew. It wasn't violent, but it carried an extremely oppressive emotion—it was sorrow, it was unwillingness, it was anger.

Li Zhuiyuan knew what they meant, but he could only raise his hand to explain: "I understand your intentions, but I cannot promise, because the four of us cannot solve the problem. Rest assured, the police will eradicate the evil here."

Tan Wenbin also spoke up at this time: "Yes, I promise."

Unfortunately, the dense dead bodies all around didn't have any reaction. The cold wind was becoming increasingly chilly.

Tan Wenbin was somewhat puzzled: "Why does it feel like saying it was useless?"

Xue Liangliang whispered: "It might be because this isn't your dad's jurisdiction."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't intend to continue entangling. He pushed Runsheng from behind.

Runsheng understood and stepped onto the Taiji pattern.

Nothing happened.

Runsheng even looked around on his own and asked: "Xiaoyuan, is there anything else that needs to be done?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "Brother Runsheng, you come out, I'll go in."

"Okay."

Runsheng walked out, and Li Zhuiyuan stood inside.

Then, Li Zhuiyuan also walked out, signaling for Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin to imitate in turn.

After all four people had stepped over the Taiji pattern, still nothing happened.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, what should we do next?" Tan Wenbin asked somewhat nervously. He discovered that white smoke had already started rising from the bodies of the dead all around.

The water in the pond was also becoming increasingly cold, gradually reaching the edge of being bone-chilling.

Regarding this, Li Zhuiyuan only gave a one-word answer: "Wait."

The temperature was getting lower and lower. The positions on everyone's legs submerged by the water had already been frozen red.

Runsheng bent down and lifted Li Zhuiyuan up.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't refuse and took the opportunity to climb onto Runsheng's back.

Scanning the surroundings, these dead bodies were all starting to freeze.

And the breath that they themselves exhaled also brought out white smoke. Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang had already started shivering.

Li Zhuiyuan consoled: "Just hold on for a little while longer and it will be fine."

Tan Wenbin hugged his arms and said with a trembling voice: "Will we be able to get out like this?"

Xue Liangliang's teeth chattered as he said: "Xiaoyuan shouldn't be wrong. Even if this gate is found, it will take a little time to get out. Remember how the truck disappeared after we entered the village and then left it?"

Tan Wenbin: "My brain is frozen stiff now; I can't think. Just say it directly."

Xue Liangliang: "It's that the entry and exit of this spatial interlayer isn't a one-time thing; it's more like squeezing toothpaste."

At this moment, all the dead bodies around were completely covered by ice crystals, looking like a large patch of ice sculptures.

And the endurance of the four was also almost reaching its limit. Even with Li Zhuiyuan on Runsheng's back, he was somewhat unable to bear it.

Tan Wenbin: "Is it because we didn't promise to help them take revenge, so they want to use this method to freeze us to death and take us as companions in death?"

After experiencing the ingratitude of the little girl on the train, Tan Wenbin no longer held any expectations regarding humanity for this kind of "dirty thing."

Xue Liangliang: "Xiaoyuan, why don't we just promise them? Promise them that after we get out, we will call the police first, and then we will also find a way to avenge them."

The four of them had no ability to help them take revenge. Calling the police first and then taking revenge was actually a bit like taking off one's pants to fart, but at this moment, they could only use this method to appease them.

Tan Wenbin's lips were frozen purple, but he still couldn't help saying: "Brother Liang... you really know how to... fool ghosts."

Xue Liangliang couldn't help glaring at him: "Your... brain is frozen... don't be so blunt... about saying it out loud."

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand with difficulty and said: "You two have the energy to talk... why not hug each other to keep warm."

Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin immediately realized and stuck together like penguins. Although this kind of warming effect was better than nothing, it at least played some psychological role.

Li Zhuiyuan added: "This has nothing to do with them... it's that we... are about to get out."

As soon as the words fell, Li Zhuiyuan felt everything around him go black. While the cold dissipated completely, he himself also started to fall.

"Splash!"

Below was water, very cold, very cold water, but compared to the previously frozen environment, this water could even be called warm; it was just somewhat sticky and greasy.

And because the fall was too sudden, and Li Zhuiyuan was originally lying on Runsheng's back, he hit the water surface face-down with his body straight when he fell. Although it was the water surface, it still hit painfully.

This caused him to be dazed for a moment after falling into the water, and his body started to continue sinking.

When Li Zhuiyuan's consciousness recovered, he was suddenly struck on the back by something, and his body was therefore unavoidably moved in the direction of the force.

But very quickly, a hand grabbed his clothes, and then an arm wrapped around his waist. A powerful force appeared, driving him to float up quickly.

After arriving at the water surface, Li Zhuiyuan started coughing violently.

"Xiaoyuan, are you okay?"

Although it was pitch black all around, Li Zhuiyuan still recognized that the one holding him in the water right now was Runsheng.

Runsheng should have dived down to find him earlier. Because there was no light, he could only keep swinging his arms and legs in an attempt to expand the contact area. The strike he himself took earlier was probably Runsheng's hand or leg sweeping him.

Fortunately, Runsheng immediately noticed and fished him up.

"Cough, cough, cough..." This was Tan Wenbin's coughing sound, not far away.

"Xiaoyuan, Xiaoyuan, Binbin and I are here." Xue Liangliang's voice came.

It should have been Xue Liangliang who pulled Tan Wenbin up, because Xue Liangliang's swimming ability was very good; after all, he was someone who would go down to the Yangtze River for secret meetings.

Both sides gradually drew closer following the sound and finally gathered together. Xue Liangliang: "Is this a pond? It's so deep. Since there is no light, the top should be a rock cave. We should have come out of the spatial interlayer."

Li Zhuiyuan: "The problem now is how we get out of here and go ashore. We can't see anything, and we don't know how big this pond is."

Runsheng: "Xiaoyuan, you guys wait here for me. I will swim in one direction to see how long it takes to touch the shore. If it's a rock wall, I will swim back and then change direction to swim. If I swim a few more times, I will definitely be able to find land."

"Okay, Brother Runsheng, but don't swim too far. We will call out to each other. When you feel like you are about to stop hearing our voices, you must return. Otherwise, we might get separated here."

Runsheng had matches and a fire starter on him, but after the previous freezing and then falling into the water, they definitely couldn't be used anymore.

Xue Liangliang sighed: "Next time I go out, I must carry a waterproof flashlight with me."

"Brother Liangliang, even if you brought one, it would be useless; our luggage is all on the truck."

"Oh, that's true."

Just as Runsheng was preparing to start swimming, Tan Wenbin, who had choked on several mouthfuls of water earlier, suddenly called out: "There's something below, touching my feet!"

Hearing this, everyone was startled.

Runsheng didn't swim out but dived downward.

Tan Wenbin continued to shout: "It's hands, I kicked hands, more than one pair."

Xue Liangliang also said: "Right, my feet touched them too; just now it seemed like I stepped on someone's head."

Li Zhuiyuan was short, so he didn't enter the water as much as them, but at this time he also felt it. Not only did he feel it, but when he reached his hand forward, in the pitch-black front, he touched something bloated and greasy.

This thing had a nose and eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan immediately withdrew his hand; it was a human face, just a few decimeters in front of him.

Xue Liangliang: "Binbin, is this your arm?"

Tan Wenbin: "I'm hugging you."

Xue Liangliang: "You are not hugging me right now."

Tan Wenbin: "..."

Runsheng floated to the water surface at this time and said after shaking his head: "Xiaoyuan, below is full of corpses that are floating up."

"Gurgle..."

"Gurgle..."

Nearby, bubble sounds kept coming.

Runsheng said: "This is the corpse gas overflowing after the corpses bloated and floated to the water surface; it's releasing gas."

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head and looked at the completely invisible top: "We should be located in a crack in the mountain under the ancestral hall right now. These corpses are the victims we saw in the ancestral hall when we hadn't come out earlier."

Things seen in the spatial interlayer and reality would have some differences, but there would also be linkages.

No matter how rampant the people in the village were, they wouldn't be stupid enough to neatly arrange the corpses of the people they murdered in the ancestral hall. So since those corpses were all in the center of the ancestral hall earlier, it meant their positioning coordinates were on this vertical line.

I have to say, this is indeed a good place to destroy the evidence. After killing people, throwing the corpses here is truly without anyone knowing.

Tan Wenbin whispered: "They... they won't turn into 'dead-stiff' (zombies), will they?"

If these corpses all turned into zombies right now, then the four of them would definitely be finished.

Even if only two or three turned into zombies, Runsheng could only deal with one alone, and the rest could all gnaw the three of them to death.

"They won't."

"Brother Xiaoyuan, it's okay, you don't need to console me; I can face it bravely."

"In the ancestral hall above, there is a very clever layout of 'taking blessings within blessings.' Where there is blessing, there is peace, which naturally has the effect of suppressing evil spirits. Theoretically, these corpses cannot turn into zombies.

Unless someone up there went crazy right now and smashed the ancestral hall, even pushing over the pillars, only then could it possibly cause the suppression below to be lost, but even then, at most one or two corpses could turn into zombies.

To want all of them to turn into zombies, one would have to change the Feng Shui in the ancestral hall. A neutral-leaning-to-good Feng Shui layout is not easy to change, but this kind of extreme layout of 'taking blessings within blessings' is relatively easy to change from one extreme to another."

Tan Wenbin: "Brother Xiaoyuan, you only need to say the first sentence; you don't need to say those few sentences afterward."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Sorry, I'm used to this kind of problem-solving approach."

He seemed to have always had this cognitive inertia, which was that every time he saw a formation, his first reaction in his mind was how to change it to be worse and more ruthless.

It's all Wei Zhengdao's fault!

Of course, it's not too strange that he has this kind of thought now. Almost every corpse here died an unnatural death, and the resentment was not small to begin with. And the terrifying cold experienced in the spatial interlayer earlier was actually the materialization of the resentment of these corpses.

And although the formation of the ancestral hall could prevent the possibility of them turning into zombies, it was not specifically for suppressing evil spirits after all, so the resentment would only continuously accumulate, and the corpses were all continuously being soaked and nourished under this pond.

It can be said that this place is a terrifying "biogas digester." A professional technician just needs to go up and light a fire, and it could be completely detonated!

At this time, Li Zhuiyuan heard dense water-splashing sounds. It wasn't an animal, it wasn't a fish; it was very slight.

He started to determine the position points in his mind based on the sound. Then, he very quickly realized that after these corpses floated to the water surface, they started to move slowly.

Tan Wenbin: "Eh, where did the corpses beside me float to? Just a moment ago there were several leaning against me; now they are all gone."

Xue Liangliang: "I can only touch one here."

Li Zhuiyuan immediately said: "Brother Liangliang, feel around the front and back of the corpse beside you to see if you can touch other corpses."

"Okay, wait a moment." After a burst of close-range water sounds, Xue Liangliang's reply came: "Xiaoyuan, there are some at both the front and back ends; they seem to have lined up."

Tan Wenbin: "Lined up, what for?"

Li Zhuiyuan breathed a sigh of relief and said: "They are building a bridge for us, guiding us to go ashore."

Hearing this, Xue Liangliang was startled first, then immediately realized it was inappropriate: "Damn, thank you!"

Xue Liangliang asked: "Xiaoyuan, the direction is to follow the direction the heads are facing, right?"

"Right, follow this direction first."

"Then you guys follow up, hold onto these corpses and move over, don't fall behind. I'll be first, Binbin second, Runsheng, you and Xiaoyuan be at the back."

Next, the four people moved through the pond while holding onto the corpses as if holding onto a railing.

These corpses were generally on the fat side, but there were also some thin ones; those were people who had just been murdered and thrown in recently, not yet having had time to turn into 'giant-view' (bloated) corpses.

Especially when passing by one of the most normal-looking corpses, when Li Zhuiyuan's left hand brushed past, whether it was a coincidence or what, it happened to embed into the other party's hand. For a moment, it couldn't be pulled out.

"Xiaoyuan?" Runsheng behind him saw the boy stop and hurriedly inquired.

"I'm fine." Li Zhuiyuan used his other hand to touch the face of this corpse.

Blind man touching bones—he didn't know how, but these two elements, he either had or had had.

Through touching, the face of this corpse appeared in Li Zhuiyuan's mind. Although not very clear, he could recognize that it was Zhu Yang.

Li Zhuiyuan's hand withdrew from Zhu Yang's face, wanting to pat his chest to signal him to "grieve no more."

Although it was a bit strange to advise the dead to grieve no more.

But right now, it could only be treated as him dying with his eyes wide open.

However, with such a pat, the hand sank in, actually sliding into the other party's chest.

He... had been disemboweled.

Li Zhuiyuan really couldn't understand why the people in the village, after killing people and robbing things, still had to treat the corpses like this.

No, a more reasonable explanation should be that it wasn't insulting the corpse after death, but that he was tortured to death.

Recalling the corpse water on the bed and in the cabinet seen when "being a ghost" and kicking open the door of the residential house, as well as the cured meat Tan Wenbin took.

It is hard to imagine that in this day and age, there is still such thick evil remaining in the world.

The hand reaching into Zhu Yang's chest also touched something hard and thick inside. Grabbing it twice, it could be crumbled and scattered.

It was a book.

It was that kind of thick, pirated novel with printed oil that Zhu Yang kept in the car and read in his spare time.

They stuffed all these books into Zhu Yang's body.

"I understand."

The hand that had been stuck on Li Zhuiyuan loosened.

The boy withdrew his hand, didn't stay any longer, and continued forward to catch up with the two in front.

The area of this pond was truly terrifyingly large. Even with corpses to hold onto for rest and leverage, everyone was gradually becoming physically exhausted.

And if there weren't these corpses as "road signs," wanting to find the shore in a completely pitch-black environment would be almost a pipe dream. Even if Runsheng swam in one direction with all his heart, he would deviate from a straight line once he got far.

Finally, water-splashing sounds came from ahead; they had gone ashore.

Runsheng, who was at the back, lifted Li Zhuiyuan, letting Li Zhuiyuan get onto the rock.

The four people all lay on the ground exhaustedly, gasping for air.

Li Zhuiyuan: "The time in the spatial interlayer is highly likely to be consistent with the outside. It should still be dark outside right now. Let's not delay; let's get out while it's dark."

All four stood up. Except for Runsheng, the other three swayed again as soon as they stood up. This was because they had been soaked in the water for too long and were already somewhat unaccustomed to the gravity of land.

Xue Liangliang: "The last corpse was tilted toward here; let's walk along this direction."

The four progressed along that small protrusion outside the rock wall. One could feel that it was twisting and turning, but the more they walked, the more they could perceive the response of the wind. Vaguely, they could also see a little light; it was moonlight.

And beside the crowd, the pond also shrank here, becoming something like a stream. It is thought that when the people in the village threw corpses, they wouldn't walk that far inside; they would throw them down outside and let the water flow carry the corpses into the deepest pond.

Continuing to walk out, it finally opened up, and they saw the moon overhead.

This place should be located under the hillside where the village was situated, and the small path leading to the main road was on the other side of the village.

Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang pointed in one direction at the same time; it was to walk through the mountains.

Passing through the village to return to the main road was obviously impossible. If they were discovered, it would be courting death. The only thing they could choose was to go around the mountain.

This time, it was Li Zhuiyuan's turn to walk at the very front of the team. Just after going up along the slope and not walking far, the boy heard movement in his ears, and he immediately raised his hand to make a downward-pressing motion.

Everyone squatted down and didn't move.

Li Zhuiyuan moved forward slowly. His hearing was good, and he very quickly heard the dialogue coming from the grass under the tree above the slope. It was a man and a woman:

"You say, why are you in such a monkey's rush? Don't tear my pants!"

"Then why don't you hurry up and take them off? You're going to rush me to death."

"Aren't I taking them off right now? Let go, if you don't let go, I won't do it for you."

"My dear aunt, don't delay time. Your man drank alcohol tonight, but he has a good tolerance; maybe he'll wake up in the second half of the night. What if he finds you aren't lying beside the bed and comes out to look for you?"

"What are you afraid of? Even if he wakes up, it will be at least the second half of the night. Isn't that enough for you to do it once?"

"I want to rest after doing it once, and then do it again."

"Look at your dead appearance."

Very quickly, muffled groans of a man and woman came from over there.

Li Zhuiyuan turned to the side and made gestures to Runsheng behind him, signaling that there were two people under the tree above and to directly take them down later.

Worried that Runsheng would have concerns and that the other party would make a sound after an accident, Li Zhuiyuan also made a throat-slitting motion, meaning Runsheng could choose a more extreme way of handling it depending on the situation.

Runsheng nodded forcefully.

But just as Li Zhuiyuan made the gesture to act, the muffled groans over there ended under the man's long moan.

Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng froze in place.

The boy felt that his speed of making gestures was already very fast, but he didn't expect the other party's speed to be even faster.

"How is it, comfortable?"

"You were comfortable, but you left me feeling neither up nor down."

"It's okay, wait for the second time, it will last longer."

"Did the village chief hit a fat haul this time?"

"Fat my ass, what was loaded on the truck was steel cable."

"How is that possible? I heard steel cable is very valuable."

"It's valuable, but it's hard to sell. Selling it in the town down the mountain is too eye-catching. That car can only be dismantled and processed to sell as scrap metal, and it can only be sold little by little."

"What about the cash?"

"There is some cash, but the village chief said the four fattest young ones disappeared. Their clothes were worn so well; one look and you could tell they were carrying quite a bit of money in their pockets."

"Where could the people have gone?"

"Who knows? Originally, the village chief planned to organize everyone to search the road up and down, but didn't strange things happen in the village? Today, we could only invite people to perform rituals, so it was all delayed."

"This matter is truly strange enough. There was absolutely no one, yet those two doors broke open by themselves, and the cabinet inside was also opened. Several bundles of corn cobs I was drying at my door were also lost, and the cured meat in the house was also stolen. It's evil as hell. You say, could it be that vengeful ghosts came out to stir up trouble?"

"What are you afraid of? Just like what the village chief said to us, no matter how powerful a ghost is, it's afraid of a pig butcher. Not to mention our village, from old to young, who hasn't been stained with blood?

In the eyes of ghosts, our village is the true living Yama. Hahaha!"

"Where is there such a fast living Yama."

"The first time doesn't count. You wait for me to recover for a while, I guarantee to satisfy you."

"Then this time, we didn't get much oil and water."

"It's okay, the village chief found the address and village phone number of that driver's family, and also found the love letter that guy wrote to his wife and the letter to his daughter in the car. When the time comes, we'll call over, trick her into thinking her man had a car accident and is hospitalized, and have her and her daughter bring the family's money and hurry over. His woman isn't considered old and can still bear children, and the daughter isn't considered small; she can also be sold for a good price."

"Why don't you just buy them yourself."

"What are you saying? I can't afford two."

"You really dare to think!"

"I'm teasing you. Don't you know yet? I only have you in my heart."

"Oh no, the light in my house is on. That thing woke up; I have to hurry back."

"Damn it! One day I'll find an opportunity to open the back of his head and throw him into that pond too, so we won't have to be sneaky in the future."

"If he dies, it won't be your turn; I have to ask the village chief if he wants it first."

"It's okay, stolen ones are even more fragrant."

"Don't just focus on farting, help me think about how to explain it when I go back."

"Just say you saw a fox stealing cured meat and you went out to chase the fox."

The two quickly packed their clothes and then hurriedly ran back from the slope, which was above Li Zhuiyuan and the four.

After they left, the four stood up again and walked up the slope.

While advancing, everyone was extra careful, fearing there would be animal traps.

Fortunately, the whole journey was without danger. Perhaps, compared to hunting animals, the people in this village preferred hunting people.

With great difficulty, after circling a large loop, they finally went up the mountain.

Because this terrain had a smooth mountain surface, it was difficult to go up the mountain but easy to go down.

Here, one could overlook the entire village. Because the ancestral hall was located at the highest point of the whole village on the side closest to the mountain, sliding down from here would land exactly behind the ancestral hall.

"Alright, I'll send you here. Brother Liangliang, Brother Binbin, you only need to continue walking forward; after going down this mountain, you can get onto the main road. Remember, don't walk on the main road; walk on the side of the road, walk to the town, and call the police.

If you see a truck with an out-of-town license plate, you can try to stop them for help."

Xue Liangliang was puzzled: "Xiaoyuan, what about you? Aren't you going down with us?"

Tan Wenbin licked his lips forcefully: "Brother Xiaoyuan, I think it's fine to let Brother Liang go call the police alone."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "No, it's easy for accidents to happen alone; the mountain road is not easy to walk."

"Alright then." Tan Wenbin looked disappointed.

Xue Liangliang looked at Tan Wenbin, then looked at the calm-looking Runsheng, and finally, his gaze fell on Li Zhuiyuan, asking very seriously:

"Xiaoyuan, tell me the truth, what exactly are you staying behind to do?"

A shy smile appeared on the boy's face. He turned to look at the quiet and peaceful village in the night color below and answered in a clear, childish voice:

"This village is too quiet; I want to make it... lively."

(End of chapter)