Chapter 41: Forcibly entering the village (Part 1)

All the mysteries cannot be solved by mere speculation.

The next morning, after learning the contents of the letter, Brother Chengxin said only one thing: it seems that our risking entering that holy village is inevitable.

I remember that it was still dark that day, but Cheng Xin was already packing up and ready to go. It would have been easier if we hadn’t discovered that the cell phone signal was almost non-existent in the town the first night.

I don’t want to think back to the tragic day when we left the town. At the entrance to the town, we were met by the so-called town police, who were all armed!

In the end, Brother Chengxin still left the town, and under the protection of the elderly, or under the strong influence of Uncle Wei Jun, he was able to leave the town smoothly.

In fact, I suspect that they didn’t care about us leaving the town at all. This town used to have many visitors from the outside, and they probably stopped us to vent their anger at us for standing with the old people. The more depraved a person is, the more they want to be recognized by others. Maybe that’s the psychology?

When I returned to the apartment building, my head was broken and I was bleeding, and Uncle Wei Jun had a little more hidden illness somewhere on his body.

But I was very happy, because the oppression and pain in this town made me especially crazy when I argued. At least three of the so-called lunatics in the town were beaten up by me, and I vented my emotions once.

The days of waiting were somewhat long, but accompanying these miserable people and being able to bring them some comfort, Ru Yue and I didn’t find the days difficult to pass.

We learned a lot about the town, such as the existence of the so-called “elite” who could participate in the sacrifice. The youngest of them were in their 60s, but most of them still looked like middle-aged people, not old, and they lived without illness or pain, as if they were very happy and happy.

Another thing that is against the grain in this town is that there is still a quota for births every year. In other words, the people here are like livestock that must constantly produce children for the Holy Village.

“Human relationships are all messed up. Once you fall, it’s like there’s no bottom line. I can’t talk about those things. In short, the deeper you believe in that existence, the deeper you fall. There are no fixed husband-and-wife relationships anymore. It’s all messed up.” This is what Grandpa Liu told me. I thought of the man and woman who had been lingering on that street that night. Is that what it was like?

The more I heard, the more irritated I found myself. If it weren’t for the fact that I was still waiting, I would have wanted to leave here every moment and go to the so-called Holy Village.

But Chengxin didn’t make me wait long. Three days later, he came back, and with him came all of our friends.

They all came. When they arrived, the old man who went to find out the news every day discovered them in advance and notified me. I went to the alley at the entrance of the town to pick them up. I will never forget it. As soon as I saw Xiao Chengqian walking in front of me with an arrogant look, I laughed.

He was carrying a stick and looked like a gangster, strutting down the streets of the town, shouting, “You still have the face to hit people? You bunch of animals are worse than anything! Do you know how to write the character for human? Come out and let me beat you all up, until you can’t stand it anymore. You don’t know what it means to be a man.”

Tao Bai walked behind Xiao Chengqian with some shyness, and kept asking Xiao Chengqian, “Brother Chengqian, is this okay?” He also carried a stick, trying to look fierce, but he was naturally shy, and he kept lowering his head, looking like a big girl.

“Okay, you have to show some character, okay? Wait a minute, you go in front, you have the strength of a bull, but you’re the number one thug.” After saying that, Xiao Chengqian waved his stick again, roared ferociously, but his appearance was originally that of a gentle and handsome man, and he had no fierce momentum at all. He and Tao Bai were a complete comedy duo.

Chengqing and Lushan were embarrassed in the back, Chengzhen and Chengyuan held hands and ate melon seeds, as if they were a tourist group. As for Huigen, he yawned out of boredom, put his hands on his head, glanced at Xiao Chengqian and Tao Bai, and then cursed in his Shaanxi accent: “Porcelain horse idiot.”

The last one to arrive was Chengxin. He just smiled at me gently and said, “Now that everyone is here, we can set off.”

No one here knows where Shengcun is. I’ve been in town for a few days, and I know that the so-called management of this town should be the people in the town government. They should know something, but for special reasons, I don’t want to make things difficult.

Because if I were to get rid of these people, it would definitely alert Jiang Yi, and I have mixed feelings about Jiang Yi. If I could avoid alerting him, I would try my best not to alert him! Although I am sure that the people who are maintaining the so-called everything here have basically betrayed the department.

So how do we get to the Holy Village? After discussing it, we found that there was only one way! It was through a sacrifice… Only through a sacrifice could we get to the Holy Village.

The large-scale sacrifice here is held every two years, and unfortunately, we encountered it before. That time, several children were sacrificed. Grandpa Liu told me that if the person sent to the holy village is an adult, it will be a small sacrifice, but if it is a child, it will be a large sacrifice, and the strange large boat will appear.

The time of the large-scale sacrifice is fixed, once every two years, and at least four children must be sent, with no limit to the number of children sent.

The time for the small sacrifice is not fixed. In short, it depends on whether or not it is necessary to sacrifice adults to the holy village. When it is frequent, there will be a small sacrifice almost every day, but when it is not frequent, there may not be one for several months.

We were in a hurry and obviously couldn’t wait for a few months. At this time, Uncle Wei Jun spoke up. He assured us that within three days at most, he would fight for us to have a chance at a small sacrifice. He told us not to ask any more questions about how to do it.

“I will fight for you to have a chance to participate in the sacrifice, but you said you want to get on the boat, but I can’t do that because the boats in the Holy Village won’t let capable people like you get on. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any tragedies where people try to break into the Holy Village and die. You have to figure it out yourself! Maybe the small sacrifice is much less dangerous than the big one, but I haven’t seen the messenger’s hand, you…” At this point, Mr. Liu stopped talking. He was actually talking about the danger of the first step.

Unfortunately, Xiao Chengqian, who had never seen a sacrifice, didn’t care at all. He had recently become addicted to playing with sticks. After hearing what Mr. Liu said, he said with no concern at all, “Not allowed to board the ship? Then I’ll knock the so-called messenger unconscious.”

Grandpa Liu was stunned, and Hui Gen and I both yawned. It was truly helpless.

Uncle Wei Jun said that a sacrifice would be arranged for us within three days, and he really did it. On the third night, the entire town was once again shrouded in mist, and the wandering spirits appeared again that night.

Grandpa Liu woke us up from our sleep, and said to us with a sad look, “Tonight, there will be a sacrifice, and a boat will definitely appear to guide us. Let’s go, or it will be too late.”

I didn’t understand why Grandpa Liu was so sad, but I still woke everyone up and put on our black cloaks, ready to head to the lumber yard.

Our plan was to blend in with the group of black-robed people and force our way onto the ship before they noticed us… Walking in the cold alley in late autumn, I wished everything would go well, but I didn’t understand why none of the poor old people had followed us, but instead let us act alone.

Soon, we arrived at the timber transfer station. Under the cover of the cloaks, no one paid attention to us at first. I’m afraid this kind of headcount is something that the higher-ups will do when everyone is gathered.

But we didn’t make a move easily, instead waiting in a hidden place at the timber transfer station. It was close to the shore of the backwater bay, and the distance was suitable for us to suddenly break out and forcefully break through.

Compared to the large-scale sacrifice, this time the sacrifice was much quieter. After all, on the gentle slope, we couldn’t hear anything, except for the faint screams in the night wind. My heart inexplicably began to feel sad and uneasy… I only hoped that I was affected by the illusion.

After waiting for more than half an hour, the so-called sacrifice was already over, and the faint sounds of joy came again. The crowd began to descend the mountain, and the one walking in the front was the bound sacrifice.

I only had to take a look and my heart began to ache violently, because the sacrificial offerings were four of the elderly people I had been living with for a few days.

What made my heart ache was not just this, but because in front of me, several people were carrying trays, and on the largest tray carried by two of them, I could faintly see a corpse.

I couldn’t see who it was, but tears were already falling uncontrollably.

“Human struggle is always accompanied by sacrifice. Without the blood and flesh of sacrifice, how can we walk towards the bright future? Don’t ask me why there is sacrifice, because this is the collision between the bright and dark sides of human beings, a war against human’s own inferiority… Every struggle is a war!”