Chapter 8: The Legend of Guidaowan (7)

“What else can we do? No one wants to go near that broken-down shack… just leave it to the higher-ups? If we can find the family, we’ll do that, but if we can’t, we’ll just find a place to bury it. It’s just that this time it was a bit scary.” Niu Dazhuang still seemed to be in a state of shock.

Liu Ershao was about to say something, but was interrupted by the second in command, who waved his hand and said, “Well, I asked you to come and tell me in detail about this matter because I wanted to tell you that this matter is just an ordinary discovery of a floating corpse, but because it was at night and you were frightened, it caused a very bad effect, so I asked you to tell me in detail about the circumstances. Of course, we are not saying this without reason. This Mr. Liu Er is the one in the town who knows a little bit about, well, how should I put it, things passed down from our ancestors. He can make a judgment on this matter. We called him here today to hear his version of the story so that you can rest assured.

After saying this, the second-in-command avoided the gaze of the crowd and gave Liu Er a hard wink. Liu Er didn’t really want to, but he felt that it would harm others to appease Niu Dazhuang in this way, but he still said, “Well, this is the case. Backwater Bay is prone to gathering a little bit of negative energy. After all, there are many dead people here. You work during the day and at night, so you are easily affected. You, this is being affected, so you have hallucinations. You see, others are fine, right? Nothing serious, go home and rest for a few days, everything will be fine.

“So, don’t go around spreading this, okay? It’s the New Year, don’t make everyone feel uncomfortable! We have to believe in science, and one day science will be able to explain what yin energy is, okay?” The second in command said seriously.

Niu Dazhuang had little education, and after being so ‘fooled’ by the two of them, he really believed it, and his expression on his face relaxed.

However, Liu Er had already made up his mind, so he didn’t say anything at the time.

After being questioned, Niu Dazhuang left the office. As soon as he walked out of the office, Liu Er knew that the rest of the office was “his own people,” so he put down the teapot, slapped his thigh, and shouted, “This is terrible. How could you leave the corpse there alone for a whole night?”

“So what?” As soon as Liu Er’s words were finished, the first person to react was not the second-in-command, but the first-in-command. He was so excited that he suddenly stood up.

“The body was found in the middle of the night (not according to the 12 o’clock clock, but according to the pure day and night clock). Has anyone been near the broken house this morning?” Liu Er asked with a serious expression.

“Not yet. Who would want to go near there?” The first person in charge was a bit surprised, but he still answered seriously.

“Then come with me and let’s take a look. If there’s nothing unusual, it’s fine. If there is, give the workers a holiday. Just say it’s an early holiday for the Spring Festival. This is a hassle.” Liu Erye sighed.

It was already noon when he came out of the office. The sky had turned a strange leaden gray, and the snow that had been depressing all morning finally fell. First, it was a fine, dense snow that hit people’s bodies with a ‘popping’ sound, and after a short while, it turned into a flurry of goose feathers falling from the sky.

At noon, the workers all went to the canteen not far away to eat. The whole construction site looked deserted, and the small wooden hut where the corpse was kept was in a corner of the construction site, over a small hill, at the edge of the backwater bay.

There were eight people in the group, including Liu Er, five leaders, and two workers. There were no women, all men, but when they saw the small, desolate wooden house in the snow, they all felt goose bumps all over their bodies.

“Are you going to go over?” one of the cadres with glasses said.

“Then you’re not going over?” The boss’s face was ugly, as if he was telling him not to go over, and it seemed like a rhetorical question.

The cadre with glasses probably didn’t want to offend the boss, so he kept quiet. Although he was a little scared, he still followed the others’ footsteps!

The one walking in front was a worker named Wei Dahan, and Liu Er was right behind him. It took everyone more than ten minutes to walk from where they saw the cabin to where it was.

In fact, the distance is not that far. It was just a long, drawn-out process to get here, and then everyone stopped ten meters away from the cabin.

“I’ll go take a look,” said Liu Er, after all, taking money to help people is the most important rule for a wandering magician to follow, otherwise the consequences will be twice as bad as for ordinary people. Liu Er dared not break this rule, so he had to go even if it was dangerous! Just like the Taoist priests in the movie, once they have taken money from people, even if it is a fierce ghost or a zombie, they have to be in the front row, otherwise they are a fake Taoist priest who has no status and doesn’t understand the rules.

It had been snowing for almost half an hour, and a thin layer of snow had already covered the small patch of ground in front of the cabin.

Liu Er looked carefully in front of the courtyard, but after only a few minutes, the feeling of fear rushed back to his heart. He glanced at the other people and finally beckoned, calling the second-in-command over. Although they were all his own people, this kind of thing should not be done with a big fanfare.

“What’s going on?” The second-in-command walked over to Liu Er.

“Look at the ground and follow me.” Liu Er didn’t say much, but simply explained.

The second in command looked at Liu Er with suspicion, but in the end he looked at the ground. At this time, Liu Er pointed to a certain place on the ground and coughed.

The second-in-command’s gaze happened to follow the place where Liu Erye’s finger was pointing. After taking a look, the second-in-command couldn’t help but let out a “ah” sound, because there was a clear footprint on the ground… to be exact, it was a woman’s footprint! I don’t know when it was stepped on, and it feels a bit damp.

You have to know that this is the Yellow Earth, and it is somewhat sandy. If you step on it with wet feet, the imprint will be very clear! How can a thin layer of snow cover these footprints?

The second in command didn’t dare to look, and he didn’t dare to follow Liu Er. But Liu Er was a very “professional” person. Since he had an idea in his mind, he felt that it was better to give a clear explanation to the person involved. He simply walked a few steps, grabbed the second in command’s arm, and walked a dozen steps all the way to the door of the broken wooden house before stopping.

“Did you see clearly?” Liu Er said to the second-in-command.

The second-in-command didn’t see anything clearly, but he felt a cold sweat dripping all over his body, sticking to his skin. He couldn’t tell if it was cold or hot outside, but he was afraid that Mr. Liu would make him walk again, so he could only take out a handkerchief and wipe the sweat while saying, “It’s clear, I can see clearly.”

Liu Er sighs, pulls the second-in-command to a secluded place far from the wooden house, spreads his hands, and says helplessly, “I’m not afraid that you’ll say I’m promoting feudal superstition. It’s not just a ghostly thing, but a living corpse. Living corpses eat people. I’ve only seen this in an ancestral book, and it’s more troublesome than a zombie. But I can’t deal with either ghosts or zombies, let alone this thing. There’s no way.”

The second-in-command was suddenly at a loss. The timber transportation office was arranged by the state to be here, so could it be moved at will? The workers could not take an indefinite holiday either, so was it…? Thinking of this, the second-in-command knew that this was no longer a matter that he could decide on his own, so he simply called the first-in-command over.

Compared to the second-in-command, who had no idea what to do, the first-in-command was much calmer. He smoked a cigarette and thought for a long time before saying, “Mr. Liu, are you really at a loss? If this matter cannot be resolved, I am afraid that the only solution is to report it to the higher authorities and have the army come.”

“Does the army work? It works if you use human lives to fill it.” Liu Er shook his head and sighed.

“Don’t worry about it. There have been other bad things that happened at other timber distribution offices. However, it’s almost the end of the year, and there are still some problems with reporting this. Can you think of a way to keep the guys inside calm for a few days? It always takes time to report this.” Compared to the second-in-command, the first-in-command’s thinking was clear.

“What can I do?” Liu Er said in a dissatisfied tone, but the boss didn’t seem to intend to let him off. He just stared at him with a gleaming gaze, as if he was forcing Liu Er to think of a solution.

Liu Er was helpless, and could only pace back and forth in the snow with his arms crossed. After a long time, he finally made up his mind and said, “A Taoist with real skills is a master, but you can’t ask for it! I’m only half a master, and I can’t deal with this stuff. But my ancestors’ Taoism was not without a little luck. There were also two old talismans that had been passed down, and I don’t know if they can calm it down…”

“This is the only way to do it.” The first person sighed. It was useless to play the official now. He was a man of many experiences and connections, and had seen and heard many things.

“No, it’s not safe… evil things must be suppressed by something with a strong yang energy, two talismans are not enough… if it spreads to the town, that would be a big deal, you’d have to send ten strong men to guard this house.” Master Liu sighed again.

The head of the department was silent… and said after a long time, “At most, there will be ten people. I can’t guarantee that there will be too many people talking. You know that some things can’t be told outside, and they’re quite sensitive.”

“For the time being, let’s do it this way.” Master Liu quickly decided on a plan with the head of the department.