Chapter 60

Xue Liangliang was the first to speak: “Xiao Yuan, is there something on our bodies, and not on yours?”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: “The expressions on your faces are all very bad right now, meaning you’re all experiencing serious bad luck. Although luck and Feng Shui aren’t absolutely accurate, at least it explains that you’ve all encountered something. I originally thought I would be the same, but strangely, I’m not.”

“Binbin, give me your notebook and pen.”

“Liang ge, here.”

Xue Liangliang opened a page and drew a square frame, then drew two small figures at the top and bottom, representing the four people.

Finally, he drew a door on the left side of the frame.

“Let’s use the process of elimination.

After we got off the train, we first ate together, then we got on Zhu Yang’s truck. During this time, Xiao Yuan didn’t separate from us, and there were only three people we contacted outside, besides Zhu Yang, just that pair of mechanics, master and apprentice.

So, this period can be eliminated, we can look ahead.”

Tan Wenbin asked: “Why can’t we go back further, for example, the night we were on the truck?”

“Because things had already started by then. Zhu Yang’s disappearance can be seen as a marker; moreover, since Xiao Yuan said we’re all experiencing bad luck, does the tire being nailed broken count? If that counts, the timeline can be pulled forward, perfectly including the time we four were collectively in the truck, understand?”

“Seems… understood.”

“Then we can focus on the train.”

“But there were too many people on the train.”

Xue Liangliang shook his head: “Actually, not that many, because most of the time, we stayed in the soft sleeper compartment, and the soft sleeper compartment was an absolute clean area, because Xiao Yuan is fine.

Also, I remember very clearly, the three of us never went out collectively.

So, the only possibility is the intersection we touched or contacted when we went out individually.”

“Then, should we each recount our experience of going out of the soft sleeper compartment? Do we need to mention going to the toilet?”

“Runsheng, you go first,” Xue Liangliang pointed at Runsheng, “You went out for a smoke just that once on the train. If I remember correctly, you didn’t go out again after that, right?”

Runsheng scratched his head, thought hard for a bit, and replied: “Right?”

Xue Liangliang frowned slightly, then decisively raised his hand:

“I remember correctly, you only went out once because I asked you midway why you weren’t going out to smoke, and you said the cigarettes you brought this time were better, meant for meals, not to be smoked idly.”

“I…” Runsheng was a little dazed, “Seems I did.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Tan Wenbin reached out and touched Runsheng’s forehead, “No fever?”

Li Zhuiyuan silently looked at Runsheng, then turned his head to look at Xue Liangliang.

Xue Liangliang continued to ask: “On the train, every time Xiao Yuan went to the toilet from the lower bunk, you, Runsheng, went with him, so that route can be eliminated.

That is to say, only that time you went out to smoke just after getting on the train could you have been contaminated.

Now, describe the people and things you saw at that time, no, narrow the scope a bit more, who did you contact, it can be physical contact or interaction, tell us this first.”

Runsheng narrated haltingly while trying hard to recall.

Until he mentioned giving candy to a little girl who told her grandma she was “hungry”, Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin both raised their hands to signal him to stop there.

Xue Liangliang: “I gave her a box meal.”

Tan Wenbin: “I gave her a breakfast.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the two of them: “Describe in detail how that old grandma was dressed.”

After listening to the two of them describe her, Li Zhuiyuan pursed his lips and said:

“We should have found it because when I saw that old grandma, there was no little girl next to her, but there was an urn wrapped in cloth.”

Strictly speaking, Xue Liangliang’s method of elimination was actually very unrigorous, with many loopholes, but this was a relatively common practical way of thinking. First, try to eliminate the problem in as large a range as possible, ignoring the corners. If it’s not found, then target the corners seriously.

Xue Liangliang closed his notebook and said: “Just that little girl, Xiao Yuan can enter the underworld, he has real ability, so the little girl dare not let him see or… Xiao Yuan is originally not easily deceived by ‘eyes’.”

Tan Wenbin didn’t understand: “But we clearly all gave her food, why does she still want to harm us, isn’t that ungrateful?”

Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan tried to analyze: “Applying living people’s social and moral standards to that kind of dirty thing is inappropriate, and stepping back, the little girl might not want to harm you, but her actions caused harm to you.”

Tan Wenbin pointed at his own face, then at Xue Liangliang and Runsheng: “Then what does she want to do, because we gave her food, so she wants us to keep giving?”

Xue Liangliang asked: “Xiao Yuan, I remember you used the method of setting up an altar to solve this kind of matter before. Can we do the same this time?”

Tan Wenbin slapped his thigh: “But all our luggage and food and drink are in the truck, and the truck is gone now, where do we get offerings? Incense is available.”

Xue Liangliang: “There are quite a lot of things hanging and drying outside the village. To solve the current problem, I can take the risk and run into the village alone to get some things to set up the altar. I’ll leave money.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “No, if it’s just a hungry ghost, it will cause people bad luck, but not to this extent. She wants to eat, not drain the pond to catch fish, at most she’ll just pester you, unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless that little girl’s ‘hungry’ refers to her wanting your Yang life.”

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the three of them fell silent.

Li Zhuiyuan continued: “Only if she is very urgently wanting you all to die, will she create this kind of wind-candle-like appearance for you all.”

Tan Wenbin spread his hands: “She has already been put in an urn and turned into ashes, she died a long time ago, what does she need Yang life for?”

Xue Liangliang spoke: “Her grandma is old, her grandma might also die soon, she’s not asking for herself, she’s asking for her grandma.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang again, then at Runsheng who was struggling to think and ‘walk’.

Tan Wenbin cursed: “This indeed makes sense, fuck, children are really scary, if I can go back to the train and meet her again, I’ll pour her ashes into the toilet!”

Anyone who is harmed to death for doing a good deed will be particularly angry.

Li Zhuiyuan said: “She might not be on the train anymore, she might be on you all.”

Tan Wenbin: “Hic!”

This was out of fright.

Although the current situation was also very strange, it was just temporarily unable to leave, and there was no direct danger yet, but the feeling was completely different when one knew that kind of thing was right next to them.

Xue Liangliang immediately asked: “Xiao Yuan, did you see her?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: “I didn’t see her, but I guess she should be on you all. This morning, she might have been on you, Liangliang ge.”

“On me?”

“Because you now and you before are very different in appearance, you before were obviously more panicked, your thinking was unclear, and the questions you asked were very low-level.”

Xue Liangliang pointed at his nose: “Did I?”

“With this kind of thing, the person themselves might not feel it, I’ve experienced something similar.”

Li Zhuiyuan had experienced his great-grandfather’s luck, he thought bad luck should also be similar.

“If she was on me before, now she is in…” Xue Liangliang said, looking at Runsheng.

Obviously, he had noticed Runsheng’s abnormality early on.

Tan Wenbin also finally realized that although Runsheng usually spoke little and looked dull and honest, his mind was actually quite delicate, especially in terms of memory. Every time Xiao Yuan told him a string of positions and requirements before, he could remember them and complete them well.

But the Runsheng just now was just very stupid, recalling something was like racking his brain.

“Me?” Runsheng raised his hand and started groping his own body, “Where is she?”

Immediately, Runsheng took out a talisman paper and stuck it on his own forehead.

Then he took it down again and found that there was no change in color.

“Xiao Yuan, no.”

“She should not be a dead corpse.”

“Then what should we do?” Runsheng clenched his fist, “If she’s on me, then I won’t go with you all, the three of you try to run outwards, maybe you can run out.”

After a pause, Runsheng pointed at Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin again: “Or you two and I stay here together, and let Xiao Yuan run out alone. Xiao Yuan is clean, he couldn’t get out before because he was affected by us.”

Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin both nodded, obviously agreeing with this plan.

Li Zhuiyuan, however, refused this proposal: “We can’t do this. I don’t think that little girl can set up such a big formation. We are now in a separate strange area.

Originally, we shouldn’t have been able to enter, even if we wanted to enter actively, it would be very difficult. But because she was with us, guided and triggered by her, we entered.

Therefore, there is a high probability that whether she is here or not, we cannot easily leave here.”

Tan Wenbin irritably shouted: “Then what should we do! What should we do! What should we do!”

Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang glanced at Tan Wenbin at the same time, then immediately looked away.

Runsheng was about to speak, but Li Zhuiyuan interrupted him first:

“Runsheng ge, don’t speak, just sit here and hold my hand, I’ll try to use the corpse fisher method to see if I can help you break her.”

Runsheng nodded vigorously and reached out to grab Li Zhuiyuan’s hand.

Li Zhuiyuan then drew his hand back and changed to himself grabbing Runsheng.

The boy’s fingertips were already red, he had pressed seal mud before.

Next, Li Zhuiyuan turned the compass in his other hand, opened the card slot below, and pinched a pinch of white powder from it with his fingertip.

Because they were taking public transport, equipment like the Yellow River shovel was inconvenient to carry, but they brought whatever small items they could.

This compass from Ding Dalin itself had grooves, and Li Zhuiyuan originally had a fan, which had various groove designs inside, loaded with powders for different uses.

In fact, that fan was quite useless. In ancient times, it was normal to carry a fan everywhere, but in modern terms, it was a bit strange.

So, Li Zhuiyuan transferred all the useful special powders into the bottom of the compass. Anyway, Runsheng would carry this compass no matter what.

“Runsheng ge, get ready, we’re starting.”

Runsheng nodded vigorously again, obediently not speaking.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes. Before entering the underworld state, he suddenly let go of Runsheng’s hand and changed to grabbing Tan Wenbin.

Entering the underworld was successful!

In Li Zhuiyuan’s vision, the other three were not seen, only a little girl in red clothes standing in front of him, her hand being held by him.

The last time he entered the underworld, he relied on Runsheng’s body, and the little girl was not on Runsheng’s body at that time, so she avoided his underworld probe.

But just now, Runsheng had obviously recovered, his thinking became agile again, while Tan Wenbin showed rare emotional loss of control.

It was reasonable to suspect that she heard the four people’s conversation, came down from Runsheng’s body, and transferred to Tan Wenbin’s body.

But very obviously, playing tricks, she was no match for him.

Xue Liangliang and Li Zhuiyuan had actually already discovered it, but deliberately didn’t say it.

“Brother, I’m so hungry.”

The girl pleaded with Li Zhuiyuan, her face still shy.

She was indeed quite cute and easy to arouse pity, no wonder she could make all three of Xue Liangliang help her.

But unfortunately, Li Zhuiyuan didn’t have this extra emotion.

Or perhaps she also noticed this point, so she didn’t attack this younger brother.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his other hand and patted it towards her.

In reality, Li Zhuiyuan was still sitting there without moving, but the white powder pinched between his fingertips rose without wind and floated towards Tan Wenbin, to be precise, towards the back of Tan Wenbin’s neck.

Tan Wenbin’s nose twitched, he couldn’t help but want to sneeze.

But soon, he felt his neck become cold, like being stuck by a large piece of ice, and then, it was burning pain, it could be said to be an ice-fire duality, only feeling that a large piece of skin was about to curl up.

In the underworld state, Li Zhuiyuan saw the girl screaming.

“Pa ji!”

She escaped, towards the distance, her figure gradually fading.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and looked at his hand, a section of the girl’s arm, bloody, like a section of bleeding lotus root.

Now the very awkward thing was that Li Zhuiyuan didn’t know whether he should chase or not. He hadn’t tried fighting in the underworld state before, and he didn’t know how to fight. Could it be that he chased up and tore her apart to make her die?

But how could she be considered dead? Her arm had fallen here, but she still wasn’t ‘dead’.

Or, use Wei Zhengdao’s black-skinned book method, see if he could control her?

But this girl didn’t seem to be a dead corpse, she had turned into ashes.

Just as he hesitated, the timing was missed, because after the girl ran far away, her figure became more and more faded until it disappeared.

This also counted as a not bad result, he drove her away.

No wonder it was called “driving ghosts”.

This kind of thing, even if a professional person came, it would be very difficult to deal with, let alone him who was cross-professional.

Then could she go back to the urn next, or would she become a lonely ghost and finally dissipate from now on?

Let her dissipate, anyway, she deserved it.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, his consciousness began to float up, and soon, the underworld session ended.

When he reopened his eyes, he found that Runsheng, Xue Liangliang, and Tan Wenbin had all stuck a talisman paper on their bodies.

Li Zhuiyuan: “This talisman paper is useless.”

Runsheng retorted: “It’s useful, it just transferred from my body to Binbin’s body, so it didn’t change color.”

Everyone obviously already understood the situation, because Tan Wenbin’s neck was now a bluish-black, and it still hurt badly.

“Hiss… She actually stealthily ran onto my body, hateful!”

Xue Liangliang checked his injury while teasing: “Maybe she was hanging on your neck most of the time.”

“Fuck, really, I said how I always couldn’t memorize English words, just memorize and forget!”

Li Zhuiyuan said: “She has been driven away, the probability is high that she won’t come back, even if she does, we’ll just drive her away again at most.”

Saying that, Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and looked at his hand, that section of arm was obviously not visible, it didn’t exist in reality either, even so, Li Zhuiyuan still picked up the dry leaves on the ground and rubbed them with both hands.

He observed the faces of the three people again. Although it was impossible to recover immediately, the previous ‘deep darkness’ had become much shallower.

“So now, what we should consider is how to leave here.” Xue Liangliang pointed at the village, “If we can’t find another way to break the situation, then I can only suspect that the key to getting out is inside the village.”

“There are people in that village, I saw them, but I don’t know if they are living people.”

Runsheng said: “If we’re going into the village, let’s go now, while my belly isn’t too hungry yet, I still have strength.”

“Give me a little more time, I’ll think of another method.”

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the compass again and stood up, starting to observe the Feng Shui.

Xue Liangliang followed Li Zhuiyuan, as for Runsheng, he was massaging Tan Wenbin’s neck.

“Lighter, lighter, it hurts!”

“It doesn’t hurt if it’s open, it hurts if it’s not open.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t walk far, he first looked at the village in the distance, then at the small road in the distance, then lowered his head to fiddle with the compass.

Actually, at this time, he had already given up a little. If he could think of a method, he would have used it earlier. Now he was just making a last struggle, because he really didn’t want to enter that village.

“Xiao Yuan, I feel we can really try the method I mentioned, go into the village and see.”

“Liangliang ge, your personal experience is a special case, you were able to come out last time because someone outside put pressure on Baijia Town.”

“Xiao Yuan, you misunderstood, my meaning is, since we want to go out but can’t, does that mean entering represents going out, is it the opposite?”

Li Zhuiyuan realized that he had really misunderstood Liangliang ge, and at the same time, he felt that not being hung by that little girl was really useful.

“To verify, we can divide into two groups, one group stays in place, and the other group runs according to a specific route, then observe and record. For example, run in a corner, or run in a circle, and see in what way we return to the original point.”

“No, no, we can’t separate.”

“Then…”

“I’d rather everyone go into the village together.”

“Okay, Xiao Yuan, you decide.”

Li Zhuiyuan observed the Feng Shui for a while longer, and finally couldn’t see anything, so he just said: “Everyone, touch your pockets, see if you still have snacks and candy, etc., give them all to Runsheng ge.”

They did have some food, but not much, just enough for Runsheng to stuff between his teeth. He lit ten sticks of incense, chewed them all in his mouth, then pulled a lot of grass and leaves, and also chewed and swallowed them together.

This kind of behavior was a bit too fierce, but he was also trying to increase his satiety. In fact, incense was similar to seasoning to him, he couldn’t get much energy from incense, the little he got might not be enough for his body to digest the incense.

But no matter what, Runsheng’s belly did bulge up.

“Xiao Yuan, I’m ready!”

“Let’s go, enter the village while the sky is still not dark.”

Staying here was a more human choice, but there was only bark and leaves here, no proper food. Staying here would only make everyone’s condition worse and worse, just sitting and waiting for death.

As the four people approached the entrance of the village, they all stopped because they heard a sound.

Tan Wenbin asked: “What sound?”

“Very messy, very close and very far.” Xue Liangliang looked around, but could only hear the sound and couldn’t see any clues.

Li Zhuiyuan’s ears were constantly trembling slightly, he said: “There are gongs, drums, suona, and chanting sounds, like someone is performing a ritual.”

Immediately, Li Zhuiyuan paced at the entrance of the village. He lowered his head and looked at his feet. Here, it was the center of the sound source.

Looking forward, Li Zhuiyuan discovered a pair of shallow footprints appeared in front.

“Make way, be careful!”

Everyone immediately made way, all staring at that position.

The footprints gradually deepened, and in the direction directly opposite the footprints, four more depressions appeared.

“Runsheng ge, go!”

“Okay!”

Runsheng held the steel pipe and swung it constantly beside the footprints, but didn’t hit anything.

At the same time, no strange changes happened to his body.

“Stop, Runsheng ge.”

Runsheng stopped his actions and began to breathe steadily.

Li Zhuiyuan came over, squatted down, and carefully observed these two places with very close depression marks.

Xue Liangliang also squatted down to look together: “These are human footprints, should be boots, but what are these four depression marks in this area?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “A table.”

“A table?”

“Should be a table, and, the sound of these instruments is like a musical troupe’s.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Tan Wenbin, who was standing outside, shouted: “Careful, fire!”

A floating fireball appeared above Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang’s heads. The fireball lit Xue Liangliang’s clothes and hair. He immediately avoided it while vigorously patting it with his hand. Only then did he extinguish it and didn’t cause any harm to himself.

Because Li Zhuiyuan was short, the fireball floated above his head at a certain distance. He didn’t dodge it but tilted his head to observe the fireball’s direction of advance.

While looking, his hands also swung slightly, as if he was planning and predicting.

Suddenly, the fireball began to move quickly, circling a large circle with a much larger amplitude than before.

While staring at it, Li Zhuiyuan also looked at the four table leg marks below.

In his mind, he recalled his great-grandfather’s habits when performing rituals. He would first hold a yellow paper and light it with a candle, then chant scriptures in front of the altar while swinging it, and occasionally circle the altar with the yellow paper.

When the yellow paper was almost burning to his hand, he would throw the yellow paper into a bowl with duck blood, chicken blood, and pig blood.

Now, he just needed to wait for the next step.

“Si la…”

The fireball fell downwards, extinguished instantly, and disappeared without a trace, and there were no sparks splashing.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up while patting the mud on his pants legs, looked at his three companions, and said: “The position we are in now is where someone is performing a ritual.”

Tan Wenbin screamed: “Ghosts can also perform rituals? That’s too rebellious!”

“Pa!”

Runsheng drew out a talisman paper and slapped it on Tan Wenbin’s forehead. The force was a bit strong, making Tan Wenbin retreat several steps.

The talisman paper did not change color.

Tan Wenbin pulled his collar and signaled Runsheng to look at the talisman paper stuck on his neck: “It’s stuck here, can’t you look first before sticking a new one?”

“Who told you to get emotional again.”

“I believe in my Yuan ge’s words, but the matter of ghosts performing rituals is really too unbelievable.”

Xue Liangliang said with a solemn face: “Perhaps, the ones performing the ritual are not ghosts.”

Tan Wenbin: “Not ghosts, then what are they, why can’t we see them?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Perhaps, we are now ghosts.”

Li Zhuiyuan remembered that the last time he entered the underworld, he heard a scolding voice coming from inside the village, scolding which animal had kicked down his door.

Tan Wenbin: “Ge, this ritual, who is it for…”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: “Perhaps, it’s for us, because this morning, we kicked down two doors. A ghost that can kick down doors should be fierce enough to scare the villagers into inviting a ‘mister’ to perform a ritual.”

It’s just that this Taoist or monk who was invited seems to have limited ability, with such little effect, their real level is estimated to be the same as his great-grandfather’s.

Tan Wenbin reached out and pinched Runsheng’s arm hard, and asked: “Does it hurt?”

Runsheng shook his head: “It doesn’t hurt.”

Immediately, Runsheng reached out and pinched Tan Wenbin’s arm:

“Oh oh oh oh! It hurts, it hurts!”

Xue Liangliang walked in front of Li Zhuiyuan: “Xiao Yuan, are we ghosts now?”

“Liangliang ge, I don’t understand this matter either, I haven’t been a ghost. Also, I feel that in this matter, Liangliang ge, you have more direct experience to speak from than me.”

Runsheng: “Right, you played a ghost.”

Xue Liangliang immediately breathed heavily and said: “She is not a dead person, nor a ghost, she… is also not like a living person.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Not a person, not a ghost, it fits our current state quite well.”

Xue Liangliang raised his hand, indicating that he was thinking: “I often recall the experience of going to Baijia Town a long time ago…”

“Liangliang ge, no need to recall, you went every day for a period of time.”

“Oh, right, yes. So, now I feel that the environment we are in now is similar to Baijia Town, it exists at the bottom of the river, yet it doesn’t really exist.

You see, the Yangtze River is not the sea, it’s not that deep, nor that vast. A bridge is going to be built across the river there later. If there really was an explorable town below, it would have been discovered long ago.

After I returned to school, I went to the library to check materials…”

“Check for what?”

“Didn’t find anything. Then I just went to find our school’s club to consult a bit.”

“Club?”

“A supernatural phenomena enthusiast club, that female president gave a relatively reasonable explanation to my story description, she said it’s possible to be a spatial interlayer.”

“Then did she tell Liangliang ge how to leave this spatial interlayer?”

“No, she even doubted that the town I mentioned was real, she begged me to take her to see.”

Tan Wenbin seemed to be proving that he wasn’t possessed by the little girl again, and asked a very reasonable question: “Then Liang ge, haven’t you been to the spatial interlayer many times, how did you get out?”

Xue Liangliang waved his hand, very perfunctorily and vaguely said: “Every time I just muddled through and came out.”

Tan Wenbin didn’t hear clearly: “What did you say?”

Runsheng: “Every time he just came out comfortably.”

Xue Liangliang raised his voice: “The pattern of every place is different. Baijia Town is controlled by her, I only need to jump into the river in that area to enter, and when I come out, my head is dizzy and I’m lying on the shore.

Here, I feel it’s not controlled, not man-made but naturally formed, otherwise these villagers wouldn’t be scared enough to invite people to perform rituals.

Xiao Yuan, let’s go in and see, for example, the ancestral hall or the village central well, the exit is generally in such positions.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

As the four people walked towards the village, in the original place, the sound of instruments rang out again, and that group of fireballs appeared again.

Everyone looked back a bit, knowing that this was the beginning of the second ritual, and they didn’t pay attention anymore.

After entering the village, most of the house doors were tightly closed, but some individual doors were open. The houses with open doors were all relatively rundown.

And on both sides of the doors of these houses, there were no Spring Festival couplets or door god images posted.

Tan Wenbin also noticed this and muttered: “My mom asked me to paste the ‘Fu’ character and Spring Festival couplets last New Year, and I still found it troublesome, I’m really stupid.”

Xue Liangliang also responded: “Later, I’ll also paste them on the door of the construction site dormitory.”

Everyone came to the old well in the center of the village. This might be a landmark for getting out. Runsheng took responsibility. After tying the rope, he bit the steel pipe and went down the well.

The others all waited patiently at the edge of the well.

Xue Liangliang asked: “Xiao Yuan, if Runsheng doesn’t enter the well water, will he get out?”

Tan Wenbin: “Don’t worry, if the exit is really below, Runsheng will float up again and tell us.”

Li Zhuiyuan countered: “If he gets out, and knows where the entrance is, can he still come in?”

“Ah, right, then what should we do, if he really gets out, we…”

“Binbin ge, pull the rope up a bit, see if it can be pulled straight.”

“Okay.” Tan Wenbin began to pull up the rope at the edge of the well. As he pulled, the bottom was pulled straight, and he also felt a pull back, “Runsheng is still below, he just pulled the rope twice himself, I felt it.”

Xue Liangliang worried: “He’s been down for a long time, nothing will happen, right?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: “No, Runsheng ge’s swimming skills are very good.”

Li Zhuiyuan was very certain about this matter. After all, Runsheng ge was a character who could fight with dead corpses in the water.

“Xiao Yuan, I still have a question, how do you explain the corpse water in the two rooms we entered before?”

“Perhaps an old person was bedridden there and finally left.”

“The corpse water in the second room was in the cabinet, it couldn’t have been bedridden in the cabinet, right?”

“Perhaps something was put there, some places have the custom of eating placenta, don’t they?”

Xue Liangliang: “Xiao Yuan, how can you be so calm and quickly give me such reasonable explanations?”

Li Zhuiyuan said in a low voice: “Because I am unwilling to think about things in the worst direction.”

Xue Liangliang was first puzzled, then immediately understood and responded: “Right, that’s too terrible, especially for Zhu Yang.”

“Hey!” Tan Wenbin shouted with a tangled face: “Can you two consider my feelings, I’m still listening, don’t omit or skip!”

At this time, there was a sound from below the well, it was Runsheng coming up.

He climbed out of the well and said: “This well is very deep, I dived all the way to the bottom, there is no exit.”

“Runsheng ge, do you want to rest a bit?”

“Cannot rest.” Runsheng touched his belly, “Already hungry.”

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at the corn cobs hanging on the resident’s door in front: “There’s food there.”

Runsheng was surprised: “Can I eat it?”

“Eat it, in their eyes, it’s just another troublesome ghost.”

Runsheng immediately went to take down a string of corn. No need to cook or roast, he started gnawing directly.

Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang also each took one and took a bite. The taste was really not good, but at this time, everyone just ate what they could.

Tan Wenbin ran out of a house and said: “Eat this, eat this, there’s cured meat hanging in the house, I brought it.”

Xue Liangliang: “There’s still this in there?”

“Everything else is moldy, the dishes on the table too, but cured meat is fine, I just bit a mouthful, a bit oily, but this is for supplementing energy, no matter.

Here, Runsheng.”

Runsheng took it, bit a big mouthful, then his chewing speed slowed down, he didn’t spit it out, but chewed and chewed it down.

Tan Wenbin asked: “How is it, the taste is okay, right, Runsheng?”

Runsheng: “This is dirty meat.”

Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang were immediately shocked.

Tan Wenbin: “Dirty is definitely dirty, what’s not dirty in here, the house is all dusty, but I’ve patted off the dust.”

Li Zhuiyuan reminded: “Binbin ge, when Runsheng says dirty meat, does he mean it’s not livestock meat?”

“Not livestock meat, then what meat, could it be… vomit, vomit!”

Runsheng patted Tan Wenbin’s back and comforted him: “Don’t vomit, it’s all energy.”

“Vomit!”

Li Zhuiyuan calmly said: “Let’s go to the ancestral hall.”

The four people walked towards the largest building in the village. There were two stone lions standing at its door, and an old plaque was still hanging above, but the words on the old plaque were unclear.

Not because of disrepair over time, but because after walking closer, they suddenly found that there were a lot of water droplets trickling down from the roof of this ancestral hall, like a small waterfall, just covering the plaque.

“What kind of decoration style is this?” Xue Liangliang looked at Li Zhuiyuan, “Or, what we are seeing now, is not what is seen in reality?”

“Yes, water has no source, the ground has no storage, it is not seen in reality.”

Tan Wenbin was excited: “Then the exit is here!”

Because this building was the most special, it could present ‘weather’ different from reality, the exit was most likely here.

Xue Liangliang asked: “Xiao Yuan, how does Feng Shui explain this kind of situation?”

“When ancient emperors built tombs, the biggest taboo was water leakage, which was regarded as inauspicious. Whenever such a thing appeared, the craftsmen and officials responsible for building the tomb were guilty of a major crime.

The ancestral hall is a place of luck for a village, a surname, a clan. This kind of flowing water turning into a waterfall can only be said:

【Evil debts are like water, Yin virtue is severely lacking, the plaque cannot be seen, ancestors are ashamed to see.】

Runsheng ge, smash the ancestral hall door.”

“Okay!”

Runsheng stepped forward and began to vigorously smash the door. This ancestral hall door was obviously more sturdy than a resident’s door, but Runsheng was Runsheng after all. Under continuous heavy kicks, the ancestral hall door was finally kicked open.

The four people walked in, and as soon as they went down the steps, they were all collectively stunned.

This ancestral hall could see a waterfall outside, and naturally accumulated a lot of water inside. Every drop of water was an evil debt.

But if it was just a water pond inside the ancestral hall, everyone wouldn’t be so shocked.

The reason was that in this water pond, people were densely packed.

This was the first time the four people had seen ‘people’ since entering the village, and there were so many of them.

All the people had their eyes closed, their faces as pale as paper, gently swaying in the water with the flow. They were all dead people.

And standing in the front, seemingly the newest addition, and also the closest to the four of them, was the truck driver Zhu Yang.

Tan Wenbin said disbelievingly: “Zhu Yang, he’s dead? Didn’t he not enter this spatial interlayer with us, then he should still be in reality now, right?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “So, he died.”

Tan Wenbin swallowed: “Why… why?”

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at his feet, then pointed outside the ancestral hall door, and said:

“Because here… is a village of road bandits and tyrants!”

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