Chapter 26: The source of the terror 鈥� the old village chief (1)

I looked at Qinhuai’s disdainful eyes and felt a twitch in my heart. I wanted to beat the kid to the ground, but that would show me to be too unrefined. I could only look at the master and listen to what he would say next, hoping that Qinhuai wouldn’t be right.

The master didn’t notice my little emotions, but just sighed that this Wuliangye is good.

Qin Huai immediately smiled and said, “Master Jiang, I stole it from my grandfather and I’m just using it to show my respect for you.”

My master was very satisfied and said with a wave of his hand, “Qin Huai is very good at handling things, much better than Chengyi, who is so wooden! Qin Huai was right. The people’s hearts need to be stable. Some things are better not to be known to the people, so let them live a happy and peaceful life. This matter is indeed not a plague.”

My face turned red and then green. I glared at Yang Qinhuai angrily. The kid was very proud and shouted, “Following the gray trajectory, there are far-reaching water shadows…”

This kid was crazy about BEYOND, and when he was pleased, he couldn’t help but yell. After yelling, he looked at me and said, “Buddy, the latest cassette tape. Wasn’t that song good just now? Don’t be angry with me. I’ll give you this cassette tape, and I’ll get another one.”

I listened and endured. I was also very fond of BEYOND at the time, but unfortunately I didn’t have the same connections as Yang Qinhuai, and I was never able to get the latest original cassettes as soon as they came out.

Yang Qinhuai whistled proudly, took me in his arms and said, “Buddy, who is with whom?”

My master looked at us with a puzzled expression and said, “What are you singing? It’s so loud and scary. It’s better to listen to some Peking opera.”

After a while, I said, “Master, what is the reason? You went around in circles, so why don’t you tell me?”

My master thought for a while before saying, “There is a story behind this. In fact, only the people of one village died in the ancestral hall. The other three villages moved away because they were afraid of being near there. Later, the relevant departments came forward to eliminate the impact. At that time, it was the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and there were some epidemics. Later, the impact was eliminated, and it was forgotten. This time, because the road is being repaired, this matter is being brought up again.”

“Is there a connection between road construction and abandoned villages?” Yang Qinhuai couldn’t wait to ask. He was a person who liked to explore the strange.

“There was no connection originally, but this time it involves a key issue, so there is a connection.” My master’s expression began to become serious.

I also became serious, knowing that things were not simple.

“Because of what is the connection?” Yang Qinhuai asked impatiently.

“Because the culprit who killed the entire village was not found at the time, and there were many other things to deal with across the country at the time, thinking that the area had become a deserted village, there should be no more casualties, so it was just left alone. But now that the road is being repaired, we must go to that area to find the murderer, capture him, and eliminate him. That’s it,” said the master solemnly.

“Where did this murderer come from? Killing an entire village? I say, Master Jiang, it’s been more than thirty years. Can you find him? Catch an old man? And then we have to get involved?” Yang Qinhuai’s face turned pale.

I guess he was thinking the same thing as me, that it was unbelievable that one person could kill an entire village! To be precise, I have been educated in metaphysics since I was a child, and I don’t think ghosts are more terrifying than people. The most terrifying thing is a murderer who has no humanity.

My master held a wine glass in his hand, silent for a long time, and then put down the glass after half a day. He took out a pipe and lit it. This old man Jiang had no rules. He loved to smoke in the private room, and no one could control him.

As the smoke rose, Yang Qinhuai and I were both almost driven crazy by curiosity, and the old man said, “There is a story in here. It was told by the people who moved away from the neighboring village. You know, because of marriage, there are always a lot of relatives in neighboring villages. Before the incident, the villagers in that village had already said this! At that time, those who could leave had already left. Those who couldn’t leave were because they didn’t believe in evil spirits and wanted to take a chance. There were also those who really didn’t want to leave the land where their ancestors had lived for generations, and they also wanted to fight.

“So they were all killed? So the murderer practiced the Nine Yin Manual?” Yang Qinhuai let out a gasp. He and people like Su Rou loved reading martial arts novels. In his eyes, the Nine Yin Manual was the most powerful martial art.

Only I know that it’s nonsense to be able to walk on the walls and cross the river on a leaf. Martial arts are not like that. There are no martial arts masters who can kill everyone under siege by hundreds of people! This is impossible!

So, I already have a feeling that this is not the work of a human being.

My master spat out a puff of smoke and looked at Yang Qinhuai and said, “There are no martial arts masters, and there is no “Nine Yin Manual.” I was also involved in that year’s incident. The scene was probably one of the most horrible scenes I have ever seen in my life, and I don’t want to recall it. There were broken limbs and flesh everywhere. None of the people in the ancestral hall that night survived.

Yang Qinhuai and I tried to imagine the scene. In many villages in the countryside, there is a ancestral hall, which is used to house the ancestral tablets. The hall is not very big, and with the courtyard, it can probably hold a hundred people.

But if a hundred people died in the ancestral hall, the scene… would be no different from a slaughterhouse!

“After that night, the people in the neighboring village were worried about their relatives. The next day, they took advantage of the good weather and brought a dozen people to the village to look for someone. As a result, the dozen people who saw the scene were scared crazy on the spot! This is not an exaggeration! Later, we did some research and barely pieced together the entire incident. We also searched the area like a net, but we didn’t find the murderer. At that time, there was another crisis to deal with, and we…” The master said with some heaviness.

Yang Qinhuai slammed the table and said, “I know what you did. You let the legend spread on purpose, not in a hurry to deny it, and even helped fuel the rumor by getting the people in the neighborhood to move away, and then you started to eliminate the impact, right?”

My master looked at Yang Qinhuai in surprise and said, “Well, kid! How did you know?”

“Haha, this, I yield, I yield.” Yang Qinhuai bowed with clasped fists like a show-off, and then said, “It’s very simple. How could a plague make those stubborn villagers leave the land they have cultivated for generations? There must be something more terrifying. You didn’t find the murderer, and you had urgent matters to deal with. Of course, you were afraid that the murder would happen again. The best way was to let them go. This wouldn’t be a problem for me.”

“Huh, it seems that you didn’t waste your time having a government official for a grandfather and father, and you still learned some skills. Hmm, I used to think that you were ignorant.” My master smiled and said with a smile.

Yang Qinhuai was embarrassed. People said he was a rascal, a naughty kid, and a good-for-nothing. He was quite happy when he was praised. This was no wonder. He was a fool because he was used to being scolded.

My heart was lifted by this story, and I was too lazy to see Yang Qinhuai there, looking like a shy young lady, so I asked my master, “Master, you tell me, specifically, you see I’m anxious. Who was the murderer?”

My master, perhaps blinded by the rising smoke, squinted and said, “That area has been famous for its corpse-raising since ancient times, and there have been many zombies since ancient times, but the specific reason is unknown.”

“Master, I’m talking about the murderer. Who is the murderer?” I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Oh, the old village chief!” Master said indifferently.

“The old village chief?” Qin Huai and I exclaimed at the same time. Is it possible that the village chief killed someone in this village? And then killed the whole village? This world is too crazy, isn’t it?

“Yes, the murderer is the village chief, a highly respected old village chief.” Master has now calmed down, and has finished smoking a pipe of tobacco. He pats the tobacco bowl, and compared to the fuss I and Qin Huai are making, he is very calm.

“Master, are you sure you’re not mistaken? A village chief, okay, aside from his identity, an old man, how could he kill the whole village? Are you kidding?” I was very disappointed. It turned out to be a village chief who did it? I had already judged that this was definitely not human, but just now the master said that it was a place to raise corpses?

“I know!” Qin Huai slammed his hand on the table and shouted, “To kill the whole village, you can only poison the well water!”

Qin Huai’s idea was good. It was indeed the only way to do it, but I thought of another possibility: “No, how can poisoning work? Didn’t you hear my master say that? The scene was so bloody, obviously there was a fight! If you were poisoned, wouldn’t you just die silently?”

My master looked at us and said, “Chengyi is not stupid after all. Poisoning the well? Qinhuai, you must have read too many novels. How much poison would it take to make the well water poisonous enough to kill people? Even if the amount of poison is enough, the water would have already changed in flavor. Do you think it would be as colorless and odorless as it is described in real novels? That kind of poison is very rare. Where would an ordinary person get it?”

“Master, we know, so you’d better tell us quickly.” I was anxious.

“I said it was a place to raise corpses,” the master said calmly.