Chapter 72: The Secret of Guidaowan (4)

After describing this scene, there was a moment of silence in the cabin. I felt strange listening to it, and Yu Lin Jianguo must have recalled the beginning of the disaster as too painful.

It wasn’t until a long time later, when the bloody boat turned the corner and entered the repetitive path again, that I asked with some difficulty, “What happened to the snake?”

“What happened? Nothing happened. It was covered in blood, circled around the people in our village, and then crawled away and disappeared. Does that sound ordinary? In fact, if you had experienced that scene, you would never think that way… First of all, the snake’s eyes were full of emotions that you could not guess, but they were cold and ruthless. I looked at it once and dared not look again. I always felt that it was not a snake at all, but a devil looking down on us. This feeling, even if I tell you in words, is something that people who have not seen it cannot understand. In addition, do you remember the copper basin? The one that was filled with the blood of the villagers? Lin Jianguo asked me.

I nodded slightly to indicate that I remembered.

“Before the snake crawled out, it swam around in the blood in the copper basin, and after it came out, it crawled around us. There were direct bloodstains on the ground, which looked shocking. I was very surprised at the time. Why were there so many bloodstains on the ground? Could it be the snake’s own blood? But it didn’t look big, so there couldn’t have been that much blood… Later, after the snake disappeared, I discovered that there was only a thin layer of blood left in the copper basin, and on the ground…” Lin Jianguo seemed to have forgotten what to say.

I thought for a moment and couldn’t help but ask, “Actually, shouldn’t it have been crawling around? What do those bloodstains represent?”

“I didn’t know before, but later everyone in our village knew that it seemed to have crawled around unintentionally, but in fact it had enclosed everyone in our village in some kind of formation. It should be a formation, I don’t really understand, but later I learned from someone that from the first time he appeared, he had familiarized himself with the bloodline of our village, and had used secret methods to control the people of our village. That was a curse, I don’t know.” Lin Jianguo smiled bitterly.

However, I think that the order of his words is completely wrong, because it was clearly a snake that crawled out, so why did it turn into the shape of a person and tell Lin Jianguo what he did the first time he appeared? This is completely… I was confused at first, but then I thought about it carefully, and I suddenly raised my head in shock. My heart trembled and asked, “The person you are talking about couldn’t be… your eldest son?”

“I didn’t think you could think of this! Yes, it’s my eldest son.” Lin Jianguo said with a sigh, then said with some exhaustion: “After the snake disappeared, the people in our village began to dream, dreaming of a vague figure telling us that he was our god! He will return in fifteen years to personally perform great miracles, and now there will also be small miracles to make us believe in him.”

My hands were trembling slightly. I seemed to be able to connect all the events in the Holy Village, except for why Wu Tian would appear here.

“Can you believe it? I can’t even talk about that time. To put it simply, our village really experienced all kinds of miracles, just like the ones in your town… But miracles always come at a price, and that price is that we have to sacrifice a living person. At first, the village didn’t trust the so-called god, but later, the people in our village began to use their money to sell people as sacrifices… Because the best miracles happen to one person, the people in the village became more and more convinced of the so-called god.”

“One person? You mean the village chief who opened the box?”

“That’s him. Before I tell you this story, I forgot to tell you that the village chief was already in his 70s, and before he dug up the tidal flats, he was seriously ill… He advocated digging up the graves because he just wanted to do something big before he died, so that he could leave more money for his descendants. But this is the same person who, after the god appeared, his serious illness disappeared and he lived a vigorous life. He claimed to be the one who received the greatest grace from the god and would forever worship our god, and that he would also live forever! He was crazy, and his madness began from the inside. But everyone in the village was already confused, thinking that he was normal. He was a man who loved his children and grandchildren very much, but after living like this for a long time, feeling that he had a long life ahead of him, he sacrificed his favorite grandson to the gods. When Lin Jianguo talked about this, he closed his eyes… as if this pain could never be quelled, and this was the only way to ease his emotions.

“Then, he must have gone crazy. When a person only sees himself, nothing in this world is important. But what’s the point of living like this? No matter how many people there are, it’s still a world for one person, and that’s very cold.” I couldn’t help but comment.

Lin Jianguo suddenly opened his eyes and said, “You’re right, that’s exactly how I feel! It really is like that… In the past, the things we did in our village were not very bright, but because it was an almost isolated place, everyone in the village was always very warm. I never thought they were bad people. When I was a child, my parents went out to eat and I felt that it was a matter of course. I could also feel the faint warmth of the village, like that of a family member. But after that, everything changed! Everyone is concerned about how much grace they can get, because of God, couples are not like couples, brothers are not like brothers, and even mothers and children are not like mothers and children… In this village, human selfishness is brought to the extreme! What’s wrong with trafficking in human beings? God’s favorite is young children under the age of 15, and there are certain requirements. He said he likes vigorous vitality!

Vigorous vitality? Huh… I think I have seen through the essence, because it is not an existence belonging to this world, but uses the vitality of innocent people in this world to ‘live’. The remnants left in the corners of the mouth have cultivated a group of ruthless people who have almost lost their humanity.

This is the essence of this village.

My heart began to grow weary. I was weary of people’s lack of firmness. At the slightest temptation, they would unconsciously drift towards the evil side. But what about myself? A gentleman should examine himself three times a day. I suddenly found this saying extremely painful, because examining oneself is inherently a difficult thing.

I only discovered myself. If it involves something I care about, I might also lose some principles… No wonder the sages have always wanted to cut off their seven emotions and six desires, and finally cut off their “three corpses” (selfishness, appetite, and sexual desire), thoroughly cleansing themselves, leaving only a clean heart, and finally being able to prove the way and return to the way of heaven.

However, if that is the case, does it mean that there is no hope for human beings? Perhaps not, because God has also given human beings something, and that is restraint. If you cannot cut it off, then restrain yourself, and use restraint to temper yourself. After suffering, a heart will also be clean.

My thoughts were in a mess, because I was shocked by the madness of this village. In fact, what else was there to be shocked about? Didn’t that town show me? The difference is that that town also had a group of people with important guardians, but this village seemed to be completely crazy.

After a moment of calm, I asked, “What happened after that? What happened after that?”

“After that? After that, it was already fifteen years later. At that time, I was already twenty-eight years old. I forgot to tell you that at that time, I was already married. My wife was the kindest girl in the village. At that time, I also had a son… I never thought that the return of the god would have anything to do with my son.” Lin Jianguo was even more distressed when he said this, and he couldn’t help rubbing his face. Then he said, “Do you think I’m a sober person? In fact, I wasn’t at first. I didn’t receive the so-called grace of God, but I didn’t resist it either. I just thought that when I got old, I would always offer sacrifices to God in exchange for the life I wanted and continue to live. I just didn’t think about the method of sacrifice…”

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t help but ask.

It means that the people in the village are like animals, being ‘raised’ by the gods, selling foreign people while desperately giving birth… Children become sacrificial offerings, because children under the age of 15 are the best offerings, understand? Although the gods have given us a long life, there is one thing you must know. A person’s ability to give birth is limited. Whether you give birth to him or not, the number of children you can have in your life is predetermined! Before I got married, I had a dark thought, hoping that my descendants would have a strong affinity, so that I could live longer. Lin Jianguo smiled with a hint of sarcasm on his lips when he talked about this, and he was mocking himself.

“Why did you change your mind? Why did you even escape from this village?” I couldn’t help but ask. In fact, I don’t think Lin Jianguo is despicable or terrible now, only because it is rare for him to struggle and awaken in the mud.

“Have you forgotten? I said I had the kindest wife… My wife was an orphan in the village. Her parents died in an accident, and naturally, there was nothing glorious about it. She grew up eating food from many different families. You remember I said before that before the gods appeared, the village was always warm… Just as there are two sides to everything, there is always good and evil. If it develops to an extreme, it is either sublimated or goes to the extreme. My wife grew up under the care of everyone, so she is exceptionally grateful and kind. After we got married, I was able to appreciate her qualities and was influenced by them. She told me a lot, including her nostalgia for the old village, and hoped that we would not follow the path of sacrifice in the future. Isn’t it also a way of life to live a stable and happy life? Under her influence, in fact, both she and I have become “heretics,” “heretics” who quietly exist in this village. Do you understand what I’m saying? Lin Jianguo looked at me, his eyes shining with memories.

“I understand.” I was also moved. It turns out that goodness always exists, even in the source of evil.

“We lived happily, and my heart gradually became clear. We had our first son, then our second son, and our youngest daughter was growing in my wife’s belly…” At this point, Lin Jianguo’s mouth curled into a happy smile, and he was immersed in these memories, unwilling to return to reality for a long time.

I couldn’t bear to interrupt him. After all, happy times are so precious, why should I cruelly remind him to come back to reality? Even though I really wanted to know the answer.

“But the return of fifteen years was like a nightmare. I never thought it would happen to my eldest son! My wife is so kind, it shouldn’t be like this!” Lin Jianguo came back to his senses on his own. When he said this, he painfully held his head in his hands.