Looking at the direction the wind was blowing from, Gao Ying suddenly had goosebumps all over his body. The wind just now... was it purely accidental? He is highly skeptical about this.
Fortunately, there are no trees around, otherwise it would be terrible if the branches shake and make noise in the strong wind.
"Be careful..." Gao Ying almost uttered these two words with the shape of his mouth, and he hardly heard what he said clearly.
At this moment, Ji Yixuan continued to inhale, trying hard to suppress the pain from his hand. There are three days of exams here, and he has to be patient.
(I must survive... I promised Yixin would protect her forever...)
Along this road, the four of them walked cautiously, not daring to make any noise, and even walked a few steps to look at the ground to see if they would step on stones or branches.
On the left side in front of you is a wall made of stones, with an arch in the center of the wall. Entering through the arch, there is a row of long houses, which looks like a house where several families live together. The row of longhouses was only one floor, and on an old wall, there was still a striking scarlet letter: "Don't make a sound"!
Gao Ying swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and then carefully looked at the longhouse in front of him. Several bamboo poles were hung in front of the door, some clothes were hung, and there were several baskets filled with peppers in the yard.
"We... really want to go in?" At this moment, Hou Mingbo couldn't help retreating a little.
"Yeah... I said, let's go... let's take a look elsewhere..." Shen Junhao was also quite timid and proposed to leave here.
At this time... Gao Ying suddenly noticed that there was a doghouse in the front row of the longhouse. And there were four words written on the kennel: "The dog has been poisoned to death"!
Dogs... Yes, people may be able to speak softly, but... dogs are different. Dogs have always been a common practice in rural areas, and groups of dogs barking at each other will naturally make a lot of noise. Therefore, the dog had to be poisoned to death... But, why poison the dog and write "the dog has been poisoned" on the kennel? All Gao Ying could think of was... Poisoning the dog to death was probably a collective action of the whole village. The purpose of writing on the kennel was to let people know at a glance... Although there was a kennel, the dog was already dead.
"I'm thinking about something, Tall Shadow..."
Ji Yixuan's voice rang softly in Gao Ying's ears: "The people in the village have used so many methods, and they did not hesitate to poison the dogs to death, but... they finally disappeared from the village collectively. Did they choose to escape in the end, or... they Are they all dead?"
Of course, Gao Ying has thought about this issue. But... He didn't dare to draw conclusions lightly. He hoped to find a villager in the village, so that he could get more information. In this exam, intelligence is life!
"Don't think too much about it, let's go in and search for any clues, or if there are any living people."
Gao Ying carefully paid attention to the ground, making sure that the ground was flat and free of any stones, so he took a light step. Behind him, Ji Yixuan, Hou Mingbo, and Shen Junhao also tiptoed along. The row of low houses in front of me looked like a devouring devil. They all clutched their test papers and pens, praying that they would come out alive.
As the house got closer and closer, Gao Ying stepped up the stone steps and came to a wooden door in front of him. He noticed that several pieces of yellow talisman paper with some unintelligible characters were pasted on the door. This thing... what is it? While thinking, he gently stretched out his hand and opened the door slightly to make sure not to make too much noise. Others followed, all with the same light hands
Inside the house... On a dusty Eight Immortals table, there is actually a statue of the Jade Emperor on display, and an incense burner is enshrined, and the portrait of Sanqing is also posted on the wall.
It seems that the villagers are Taoists? Or, being haunted by the evil spirits of the village, he chooses to pray to the Taoist gods to save him? But if you look closely, the statue of the Jade Emperor is also covered with dust, and it seems that it hasn't been cleaned for a long time.
At least Gao Ying became more and more convinced that the people in the village had not migrated collectively. In this way, it looks as if the people in the village suddenly disappeared... Something terrible must have happened in this village. But what exactly is that? The only thing that is certain is... Neither the Bodhisattva nor the Jade Emperor can save human beings. Now it seems that the survival of human beings is unlikely to rely on these external forces. The yellow talisman paper outside should obviously be some kind of Taoist talisman? However, Gao Ying hadn't researched it, and he thought it was more likely that it was a charlatan.
Gao Ying put his hand on his right eye, and slightly opened his fingers. Seeing the devil with your fingers has been proven not to be successful every time, but at this stage there is really no way, it is better to use it than nothing. After scanning it like this, nothing unusual was found.
Ji Yixuan noticed Gao Ying's movements, and quickly thought that this seemed to be a rumored way to see the devil. So, he also started to imitate Gao Ying, but it was the same, he got nothing and saw nothing.
"It seems that no one has lived here for a long time..." Hou Mingbo sighed softly, and then continued to search for clues in the house.
The inside of the room is also quite leaky. Apart from the Eight Immortals table, there is another table next to it, but it is filled with all kinds of sundries, and it does not seem to have any value. Going further inside, there is a kitchen. There is no gas here. Below is a stove, above which are pots, steamers, kitchen knives, cutting boards, and a few towels hanging. There are several clay pots in the corner, which are probably pickled products again.
The level of poverty here seems to be very high... This is Gao Ying's first reaction. Although the agricultural population still occupies a high proportion in Country Z, there are more and more high-income villages now. For example, Hou Mingbo is also a rural person, but his hometown is not poor, and he can recognize most of the car logos. Here, there is no running water, natural gas and electric lights, and telephones and televisions are even more impossible. And this seems to have a lot to do with the surrounding mountains and inconvenient transportation.
Gao Ying also noticed one thing. Obviously there is a stove, but... there is not a single firewood in the whole kitchen. Surrounded by mountains and green trees outside, it is absolutely not difficult to cut firewood. In the absence of gas, it is reasonable to cook with firewood in the kitchen. There are probably two reasons why there is no firewood. First, chopping wood will make a loud noise, and second... burning wood for cooking, the sound is the same, no matter the sound of burning firewood, the sound of boiling water, or even coughing when choked by smoke while cooking sound possible...
People in this village are extremely afraid of making a sound... and this has become a huge taboo recognized by the whole village!
(end of this chapter)