Chapter 25 Wormhole

After much persuasion, they finally managed to send off Mr. and Mrs. Qian Daguai. The village chief personally saw them off and arranged for them to be put up in the village government guesthouse, promising that they could come back in the morning to see how things were going.

After returning to the courtyard, the first thing the head of the township did was to close the gate to Qian Dagui’s courtyard and rush to the old man Jiang, saying with a rather serious expression, “Master Jiang, tell me about your identity.”

“What’s there to say? They told you to cooperate with me, so you cooperate.” The old man took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, and I knew that the old man would never open his mouth.

The head of the village was stunned for a moment, his expression changing several times. Finally, he sighed and sat down next to the old man, saying, “I’ve been an official for so many years, and I know not to ask questions I shouldn’t. The people who will clean up the dead cow’s body will be here soon, and there isn’t much time. Master Jiang, you have to tell me what happened to the bug, no matter what.”

The old man Jiang glanced at the head of the township and said nothing.

The head of the township said with a heavy heart, “Master Jiang, people my age have no curiosity, but don’t think of me as just a simple official. I’ve been here in the township for so many years, I’ve experienced everything, and I’m still sitting in this position as head of the township. I don’t mean anything else, I just want to say that I have feelings for this land. You say that Guo Er and the others brought up an ancient, hardy insect from the tomb, which is very harmful. The authorities say that this matter must be kept secret and then resolved in a low-key manner. I will do it! But look at that cow, Master Jiang. I am worried about the villagers in this area. Tell me the truth. I promise not to disclose it. I will not tell anyone even if I die. Tell me what it is so that I can rest assured!

The head of the village’s words were sincere, but the old man Jiang didn’t even change his expression, saying, “It’s just an ancient, hardy pest. I don’t need to lie to you. You yourself said that people of this age have no curiosity, so just keep this in your stomach for the rest of your life, okay?”

“But Master Jiang, I don’t know anything else, but in this area, there are many villages that have been declared to be infected with the plague, and the entire village has disappeared. I always know about it, and I’m worried.” The village chief actually got to that position, and he wasn’t a person who knew nothing.

This time, the old man’s face changed a little, and he looked at the village chief and said, “What do you know?”

“I know a lot of rumors, saying that it’s a zombie!” The village chief suddenly said that with a determined look.

This sentence scared me. I have seen ghosts, but I have never heard of zombies.

“Nonsense, what zombies? It’s just a plague, just like the bugs this time. These are all scientific. Haven’t you seen the bugs that have appeared? Is it something that you should say as a township chief? ” Old man Jiang scolded.

“Yes, what’s the fuss about zombies? The last time those villages disappeared was in the 1950s. What living conditions were like then? How many people died in the bubonic plague in Europe at that time? Was it also zombies?” Huijue also spoke.

I looked at the two old men with some confusion, thinking to myself, you guys are charlatans in people’s eyes, and now you’re talking about science?

Are you hiding something?

The village head was speechless, but he couldn’t afford to offend these two masters who had requested cooperation. After a long silence, he said, “I saw a zombie when I was a child. It was dug up from a grave, with claws and teeth growing out, and fur growing on its body. When I threw it into the fire to burn, it squealed and cried. I’m not talking nonsense.”

“I haven’t seen it either,” said the old man Jiang decisively.

“I haven’t seen it either.” Huijue’s response was decisive, matching that of the old man.

“Well, then… okay.” The village head felt that he must have been drunk today, running around saying all this. Could it be that he was confused by his own concerns?

In the end, under the persuasion of the old man Jiang, who said that the matter of the insects would definitely be resolved in the near future, he left Qian Dagu’s courtyard.

As soon as the village head left, I breathed a sigh of relief. I ran to my master, who looked at me and said, “Don’t ask about the vampire.”

I was so full of things to say that I could barely get them out, so I said, “Master, are we staying here tonight? Also, didn’t the village chief know that the bugs were hungry ghosts? I thought he knew.”

“Can he know? Those of low rank cannot know. There is a certain amount of top secret information buried underground, and only a dozen people can see it. Some things, the fewer people who know, the better. Just do your job and cooperate. As long as you don’t say anything, even if some things become legends in the folk tradition, there is no evidence. This is for stability, understand?” Old man Jiang avoided the important issues and said lightly, not mentioning at all whether they would stay here tonight.

I asked again. To be honest, that bug really made me feel uncomfortable. I didn’t want to stay here, even though I knew I had to.

“Live, live my ass. That bug sucked the blood of a cow and had a feast in its stomach. Do you want to catch it?”

“Well, Master, the cow is so big, isn’t the bug very powerful?” I was very worried.

“It’s average. The blood of a cow is more powerful than that of a human, but its spiritual energy is far inferior. Without human blood, it can’t take on a form. It’s just a bigger bug. Once it’s lured out, it’ll be easy to deal with. What I’m worried about is the other one.” Old Master Jiang frowned and said.

“Why worry? Master, you said the other one was also cast on an animal, right?” I said disapprovingly.

“Hungry ghost worm, do you think it’s not intelligent? It’s a hungry ghost that lives in its body! Unless a master of the art of bewitching has taken away its intelligence, I don’t understand the tricks of these people who play with worms. I only know that they have a sense of perception. So many “brothers and sisters” have disappeared, so can it not be careful? Just like this worm, why didn’t it come out of the cow’s body and show its ferocity? That’s because it was being careful. At night, its arrogance was even greater, so it came out to eat people! This is still a manifestation of incomplete enlightenment. If it had fully opened its mind, it would have disposed of the Qian and his wife first, then hid itself, and the consequences would have been…

When my master said this, I got goosebumps. The couple still had some luck. If the village hadn’t been treated for worms first, they would have been finished. If the worms hadn’t been in the stage of not fully opening their spiritual intelligence, they would have been finished.

This kind of thing is their luck, and it happened to be at this point.

“Master, is the bug in this room?” I asked, and Su Rou also came over. He was concerned about this issue.

“If you want to know, follow me!” After the old man Jiang finished speaking, he walked to the cattle pen with his arms crossed. I and Su Rou hurriedly followed, but Hui Jue did not move. He did not like to see these scenes, just as we disposed of the bodies of the worms, he absolutely would not do it, and he would not even appear. This is a taboo in Buddhism.

When we entered the cattle pen, the cow’s corpse was still there. Someone would come to dispose of it in a while. It was the one called by Old Master Jiang, but by now, after being left there for so long, the corpse had a faint stench, and flies were flying around. If it weren’t for my curiosity, I really wouldn’t have come back here.

Su Rou wanted to throw up again, but Old Man Jiang looked at him and said, “You’re useless.”

As a result, Su Rou held back his vomit. I clearly saw him swallow hard, which made me feel sick. Son of a bitch, why didn’t you just throw it up? Why swallow it?

The old man opened a stack of hay and suddenly saw a hole the size of a thumb. He said, “You only noticed the trail. When you saw the trail was broken, you didn’t look carefully. Think about it. It crawled through the haystack, so it couldn’t leave a trail. You have to be careful. Look, it’s gone into the ground. Don’t forget how good they are at burrowing.”

I held my breath and nodded repeatedly. The truth is, it wasn’t that I wasn’t careful, it was because first, I couldn’t bear the sight of the cow’s misery and didn’t want to stay any longer. Second, I was afraid of the worm, afraid that if I turned it over, it would attack me.

But I didn’t dare say it, or else Old Master Jiang would have given me a useless label.

After I came out of the cattle pen and sat down in the courtyard, I was about to ask, “Master, do you know where the bug is hiding?”

But then, the sound of knocking on the door suddenly came from the courtyard. Old Jiang looked at me and Su Rou, meaning that you two should go and open the door.

Su Rou said, “Sanwa, don’t make me move. I’ve been running all day. Besides, if I move, the things in my stomach will sway and come out.”

I gave Su Rou a look and ran to open the door. There were more than ten people standing outside the door, and I recognized several of them.