Chapter 304: with translation of chapter title

All of this, everything, is not an illusion.

They were skinned alive, burned to death, buried in pits by Chen Ping... resentment coalesced, and they were suppressed in the Dang Pu!

So, who is the person who incited Chen Ping and helped him cause such a heaven‑shaking calamity?

Is he really helping Chen Ping?

No, it's obvious Chen Ping was deceived; he was played with in the palm of someone's hand without realizing it.

Chen Ping is merely a pawn in that person's hand!

Who is that person? Is he still alive now?

For such a person, death cannot be his end.

Then where is he now?

Could it be... in Wufu Town?

Right beside us?!

At this moment, Li Qingying could empathize with me, after all we are both immersed in it, no one can stand aside.

I took her hand and said: "The information we have is growing, which is to our advantage; when soldiers come we meet them with generals, when flood comes we block with earth—Li Qingying sister, we'll proceed steadily, and we may not be the ones who lose in the end!"

Li Qingying nodded firmly: "Xiao Jiu, I will always be with you."

Dawn is approaching.

That night was terrifying and exhausting; both body and mind were truly worn out, so we each went back to our rooms to sleep.

Early the next morning, I was awakened in my sleep by the sound of knocking on the door.

I had just opened the Dang Pu's main door when something came flying straight at me, giving me a big fright.

I instinctively reached out and caught it, and Li Qingying, who had hurried over, already rushed out.

She is a martial artist, agile, and in no time she had grabbed someone by the collar and brought them back.

At that moment, I was still holding the thing wrapped neatly in a black garbage bag.

Li Qingying grabbed the person and threw him to the ground, snarling: "Liang Chao, are you bored of living? Coming to our Dang Pu this early to cause trouble!"

Liang Chao is the butcher at Wufu Town's agricultural market; it's said that the pork‑killing knife he uses now once sliced Japanese soldiers on the battlefield!

Liang Chao is in his early forties, sturdy and burly, a well‑known troublemaker in Wufu Town; ordinary people dare not easily offend him.

But today he sat slumped on the ground, his whole face ashen, devoid of vitality, and even his eyes showed a hint of fear.

I handed the black garbage bag to Liang Chao.

Liang Chao dared not reach out to take it, instead shuffling backward as if he had seen some monstrous thing.

Seeing him about to retreat to the threshold, Li Qingying again grabbed his collar and dragged him back.

Already poorly rested and under great mental pressure, Li Qingying was itching to vent, and impatiently said: "Speak, who sent you to cause trouble in our Dang Pu? What's inside the garbage bag?"

"I... I didn't come to cause trouble," Liang Chao stammered, clasping his hands and gesturing frantically at me and Li Qingying, "I wanted to pawn the thing inside the garbage bag, but I was afraid you wouldn't accept it, so I had to resort to this..."

Li Qingying laughed in anger: "Forced buying and selling?"

The Dang Pu's rules in Wufu Town are known to the vast majority of townsfolk.

Liang Chao is a living person, so pawning his item would be a yang pawn, and I can refuse a yang pawn.

Judging by this, whatever is inside that black garbage bag surely isn't anything good.

I shoved the black garbage bag at Liang Chao and said: "Our Dang Pu has its own rules; if everyone just tossed things in like you do and I had to accept them, what would our Dang Pu become!"

"It's my fault," Liang Chao said while slapping himself in the face, helplessly adding, "But I really have no other choice; it... it is sucking my son's blood."

Hearing that, both I and Li Qingying felt our scalps go numb.

Li Qingying pressed Liang Chao's shoulders, forcing him to open the black garbage bag in front of us.

This kind of black garbage bag is huge; when fully unfolded it can be as tall as a person.

At the moment, looking at its shape, it is flat, and inside it looks like a dried wide‑edge kelp sheet.

But when Liang Chao opened the garbage bag and revealed what was inside, we were still stunned.

Inside the garbage bag was a male human‑skin effigy.

This male human‑skin effigy looks about thirty years old; its eyebrows and eyes resemble Liang Chao's by fifty‑sixty percent, the skin is whole except for an opening about ten centimeters long at the back of the head.

It stood still in the garbage bag, motionless, like a sheet of paper, as if a gust of wind would blow it away.

But at this moment, the cheeks of the human‑skin effigy showed an abnormal redness.

This condition is exactly the same as when Chen Fuying dripped blood onto her great‑grandmother's human‑skin effigy.

I asked: "Who is he? When did he appear? Did he actively suck your son's blood?"

"It... it should be my great‑grandfather, I suppose? I'm not sure either." Liang Chao said, "When I was little my father told me that the butcher's knife I use now was left by my great‑grandfather; he went south and north, fought on the battlefield, also sold pork, but then suddenly disappeared and the family never saw him again."

Until last night, this human‑skin effigy suddenly appeared at my house; my son, in the middle of the night, seemed possessed, sleepwalking over to let it suck his blood. If I hadn't gotten up at night and discovered it, kicked it away with my shoe, and this morning found my son again, he would probably be nothing but skin and bones.

The more Liang Chao spoke, the more fearful he became.

He actually knelt up with a jerk and repeatedly pleaded: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, I really didn't come to cause trouble; I'm just terrified. My original intention was to pawn this human‑skin effigy to the Dang Pu—only if you accept it can our family live in peace, please."

Li Qingying's inquisitive gaze turned toward me.

I hesitated not, saying: "Fine, I'll take your great‑grandfather's human‑skin effigy; however you want to pawn it, however much gold, go ahead—but I'll warn you up front, this thing is hard to suppress, it might cause some trouble later, yet our Dang Pu will find a way to properly deal with it in the end, you can rest assured on that."

"I believe! Now I trust no one else but our Dang Pu, I trust Xiao Jiu Zhanggui." Liang Chao exclaimed excitedly, "I'll pawn this human‑skin effigy for life; the gold... the gold will be just a cent, Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, let's hurry through the formalities—finish early, rest easy."

I brought him to the Nan Shu Fang; Li Qingying ground ink, and I took out the pawn ticket to begin writing.

After writing it, I had Liang Chao sign and press his fingerprint.

The pawn ticket exists in two copies; one given to Liang Chao, the other filed.

Li Qingying lifted the garbage bag containing the human‑skin effigy and asked: "Xiao Jiu, should we put this thing in the west room?"

I thought, then shook my head: "Move the courtyard's clothes‑drying rack over here, place it in the Nan Shu Fang, and use clothes to prop it up hanging."

This thing is sinister, and it has already tasted blood; it surely won't stay quiet—I need to observe it first.

This is also why I took in this skin puppet.

This is the first, and later many more skin puppets will gradually appear.

And that day will not be long in coming.

Only by knowing oneself and knowing the enemy can one remain undefeated in a hundred battles…