Chapter 227: Chapter 195: Horrors in the Village

The two women, one with white hair of an older age and the other with black hair around her twenties or thirties, both very thin, lunged out of the forest. Even though they were closer to He Buning and the others, they turned and pounced towards Sang Que.

The Black Donkey struggled to flee. As Sang Que pulled the reins and drew her blade, suddenly two strands of black hair shot out from her side, instantly entangling the two women and twisting them forcefully.

The sound of breaking bones echoed, as Sang Que swung her blade in a sweeping motion.

Two heads flew off, and Xia Chan retracted her hair. The two bodies, twisted and deformed by her, fell to the ground, still twitching, while the two decapitated heads on the ground hadn’t completely died, emitting beast-like growls.

Xiao Liu and Xiao Wu dismounted, took the kerosene from their saddlebags, and doused the bodies before setting them ablaze.

Black smoke rose into the sky with a stench, and the two bodies soon fell silent.

“Little Chan is really incredible!” praised Xiao Liu, covering his nose and mouth with a kerchief.

Xia Chan shook her head proudly; with her around, no one could harm her sister.

Xiao Wu glanced at Sang Que; these reanimated corpses prioritized attacking Sang Que because she attracted more evil than the others, and her Heart Lamp and Nine Nether Level were not balanced.

Xiao Wu, more composed than Xiao Liu, didn’t ask directly but kept it in mind, intending to remain vigilant and ready to assist Sang Que if needed.

He Buning, riding on his horse, gazed at the nearby village and surrounding fields.

Sang Que was also observing the surroundings; to their right was a forest.

Previously unnoticed, she now saw the forest was barren: no grass on the ground, no leaves on the trees, and some trees even stripped of their bark.

To the left were large fields, all abandoned, with brittle dry weeds that shattered underfoot, scattered across the fields; the water wheel once used for irrigation lay toppled at the edge of the dirt road, half-buried in the weeds.

Not far from the village entrance were simple barricades, and some chimneys in the village emitted smoke, indicating people still lived there.

After a moment of contemplation, He Buning said, “The Sickness Ghost might still be lurking near Meishu Village. Once we enter, be cautious. If anything feels amiss, use the Substitute Death Grassman immediately.”

The Substitute Death Grassman needs to be wrapped with hair and smeared with blood to maintain a ready state and can only last one day. If no deadly attack occurs within that day, it will fail.

Xiao Liu hurriedly retrieved four Substitute Death Grassmen from the saddlebags; this was all they had received.

Xiao Liu handed one to He Buning, who said, “I don’t need it; give it to Sang Er and Xia Chan.”

Xiao Liu nodded, gave one to Xiao Wu, and approached Sang Que, handing the remaining two to her.

Sang Que thought for a moment and still accepted them. She already had one Substitute Death Grassman herself, and Xia Chan didn’t need it. If Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu ran out, she could return it later.

After preparing, He Buning told them to put on their masks, spurred his horse, and led the way into the village.

The Black Donkey was reluctant to move until Sang Que stabbed a dagger into the cart shaft, causing it to bray and pull the cart forward, its eyes watery.

Sang Que donned the Night Traveler mask and had prepared a plain ghost face mask for Xia Chan earlier.

At the village entrance, Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu moved aside the barricade, allowing them to enter.

The village itself was vast yet uncannily silent and desolate. Many houses had white lanterns hanging from them, and wild grass grew both inside and outside the courtyards. Some even had coffins and mourning halls set up, creating an eerie atmosphere.

As they proceeded further into the village, Sang Que noticed fleeting eyes observing them from behind tightly shut doors.

There were intermittent coughs, which initially made Sang Que’s scalp tingle with unease, but realizing the Recovery wasn’t consumed, just ordinary coughs, she relaxed a little.

Soon, their commotion drew the attention of the villagers, and an old man with white hair, hunched and emaciated, came running first, followed by five or six sallow, emaciated women with farm tools in hand, all at least in their forties or older.

Seeing He Buning and the others on their tall horses, the old man suddenly burst into tears and knelt down to worship.

“Night Traveler, you’re finally here!”

As he kneeled, the women behind followed suit, kowtowing and crying out.

“Please, Night Traveler, help us!”

“There’s a ghost in the village, a fierce one. Our villagers are all going to die!”

“Please, Night Traveler, you must deal with this ghost.”

He Buning and the others dismounted, and Xiao Wu stepped forward to help the old man up, “Get up and speak, take your time to explain clearly.”

“Alas! Night Traveler, please come inside, let’s go in and talk, go in and talk.”

The old man wiped his tears as he led them inside, and at the same time, he said to the women holding farming tools, “Hurry and go to each household, see if there’s any food, and properly entertain the Night Travelers.”

The group of women looked embarrassed, glanced at each other, and stood still.

He Buning said coldly, “No need, we don’t eat outside food.”

He Buning had a strong presence, so the old man didn’t dare defy him. He could only make faces to drive the women away, and led the group to his courtyard.

This old man was Yang Jisheng, the village chief of Meishu Village, who lived in the center of the village. He had everyone tie their horses and carriages at his doorstep.

The Black Donkey was restless and fidgety, as Sang Que scanned the surroundings, noticing that at the doors of the main houses on either side and opposite the village chief’s house stood a few dirty and thin children, staring at the sesame cake in Xia Chan’s hand, swallowing hard.

Sang Que frowned slightly, quietly telling Xia Chan, “Don’t eat anything here yet, listen, Xuan Yu, stay and watch the donkey cart.”

Xia Chan nodded in a daze, quickly finished off the sesame cake in her hand in a few bites, and adjusted the mask on her face.

Everyone in the village was sallow and emaciated, and the fields were abandoned, clearly indicating famine. It wasn’t that Sang Que was heartless or unwilling to part with the food on the donkey cart, but rather the unclear situation made her fear that scarcity would lead to chaos.

Previously, when fleeing with the people from Black Mountain Village, they had encountered Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu outside Tangyuan County. The villagers of Black Mountain Village had tried to hold Xiao Liu back from leaving.

At that time, she felt that Xiao Liu’s direct action was excessive, but later realized that Xiao Liu wasn’t a bad person and was possibly acting out of desperation.

Sang Que didn’t want to be forced to act against these villagers as Xiao Liu had done, out of sheer necessity.

“Grandpa… I’m hungry…”

When Yang Jisheng returned to his courtyard, a particularly small girl, about five or six years old, stood by the door, gazing at Yang Jisheng with longing. She was so thin that her head appeared overly large, and she was wearing Yang Jisheng’s top, standing barefoot on the ground.

With a face full of heartache, Yang Jisheng rushed over to pick up the little girl, “Xiang’er, be good, Grandpa will get you some water.”

“Sister, can Little Chan…”

Xia Chan wore a face of empathetic sorrow, clutching at her jacket, under which she had hidden a cake. She had experienced hunger before and knew what it felt like.

Sang Que took Xia Chan’s hand and followed behind He Buning into the house. After closing the door, Sang Que signaled Xia Chan to take out the cake for the little girl.

The little girl’s eyes lit up at the sight of the cake and she reached out eagerly to grab it, only for Yang Jisheng to snatch it away.

Yang Jisheng gulped as he smiled apologetically, “Thank you, kind girl. The child has been hungry for too long and can’t eat too fast. I’ll feed her myself, I apologize for the embarrassment.”

After speaking, Yang Jisheng sat the little girl on his lap, by the table, and with his calloused hands, he carefully pinched off a small piece of cake and fed it to the little girl.

Xiao Liu sighed deeply, while He Buning and Xiao Wu remained expressionless.

He Buning sat down opposite Yang Jisheng, “Speak, what is the situation in the village?”

Yang Jisheng, while pinching off pieces of cake to feed the little girl, swallowed hard and said, “Fengning City is being rebuilt, and all able-bodied men and women from the village have been taken to Shikeng Village for forced labor, even children as young as twelve have been taken. Only the old, the weak, and women and children are left in the village. The fields are untended and have long been barren, and the grain from each household has been completely consumed…”

Tears welled up in Yang Jisheng’s eyes, and He Buning frowned, suddenly interrupting Yang Jisheng.

“Tell us about the ghosts.”

Xiao Liu, seeing this, hurriedly whispered an explanation to Sang Que and Xia Chan beside him, fearing they might misunderstand He Buning.

“The boss isn’t heartless; it’s just that we’ve seen too many of this kind of situation and simply can’t help everyone. The only hope these people have is if we resolve the ghost problem quickly.”

Yang Jisheng wiped away his tears and nodded, “The ghost appeared in the village the night before last. Old Mrs. Yao at the village entrance and her simple-minded daughter-in-law were home. They were fine the day before, but ended up dead at home by morning.”

“I know that such sudden deaths should have their bodies cremated quickly, but with no one in the village, we couldn’t chop enough wood. We thought to leave them for the time being, but by afternoon, they had turned into something else. We had to struggle to chase them out to the forest outside the village.”

“Then last night, the household next door to Old Mrs. Yao’s, with just one old woman and two half-grown kids, also all died. The neighbors across the street say they saw a thin man standing at their door for a while before vanishing.”

“There are no men in our village now, so what else could it be but a ghost? The bodies from last night’s deaths I’ve had thrown into the dried-up well at the village’s edge, with something covering the wellhead, yet by afternoon, they too had turned. And those who came into contact with the bodies are now sick, coughing incessantly, and likely won’t last a few days…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep