When Anne asked this sentence, Lin Shuo kept observing the old man's expression.
The old man's face was full of wrinkles, and although his squinted eyes were small, they were shining brightly.
As soon as Anne asked this question, the light in the old man's eyes seemed to froze.
He was startled, then sighed and said, "Hey, those foreigners are ignorant, so they will be punished."
"Outsiders? Aren't they from the same village as you?" Anne asked.
"It's a long time to talk about it." The old man took two puffs of dry tobacco and said, "More than 70 years ago, the Japanese occupied the Northeast. My grandfather and the villagers fled here and saw that there are mountains here. There was water, so I settled down.
But when I first settled down, life was difficult. A group of peasants, whose hunting skills have long been returned to their ancestors, have run out of food, and seem to be unable to survive the first winter.
Then every morning, everyone found that there were always dead animals by the river.
The meat of roe deer, wild boar, and deer is all fresh.
In the winter of that year, there were about thirty people in the village, and they lived on these things.
My grandfather was curious, so he didn't sleep one night, squatting by the river for a night, and finally saw the old man's real body, the Black Water Dragon King.
It turned out that it was the old man who delivered meat to our village one after another at night.
Later, my grandfather found out that not only our village, but the thousands of people who fled from the south at that time and settled here for hundreds of miles, all received relief from the elderly.
Since then, we have been here for hundreds of miles, and we all remember the kindness of the Dragon King.
We have a saying here, as long as you see the old man of the Dragon King, he will remember it and bless him for a lifetime of safety.
Speaking of it, I was actually lucky. I met him when I was a child, and nothing happened to me while I was on the mountain all my life.
However, Lord Dragon has a taboo. That is, things in the water cannot move. If anyone moves, the old man will be unhappy. "
Having said that, the old man stopped, picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat.
Anne glanced at Lin Shuo and nodded slightly.
The mystery of the chain bridge on the river seems to be solved. The sturgeon was untouched, probably because of the Blackwater Dragon King.
However, the two then thought of Jalinda, which was only five kilometers away. The residents did not seem to have this taboo, and the two had seen many fishing boats.
It seems that once you leave the shore of Heilongjiang and enter the Waixing'an Mountains, the rules are different.
"You mean, the village next door was turned into this by the Black Water Dragon King because something in the water was moved?" Anne quickly asked again.
"That's right." The old man spat the tea in his mouth back into the cup, nodded and said, "This group of people only moved here in the last two or three years. The part-time workers cut wood on the nearby mountains.
They saw that our place was good, so they settled down on the other side of the river.
These people are disgusting!
We warned them not to touch anything in the water. If they don't believe it, they catch fish in the river with one net after another. If you say this, can the Dragon Lord agree
This is almost a hundred years old, and I have never heard of the Dragon Lord being so angry.
In the past, if someone moved something in the water, Lord Dragon would come over in the middle of the night to eat some of their livestock, that would be fine, and it would not hurt anyone.
As a result, this time, you also saw that the whole village was crushed and everyone disappeared.
Hey, listen up, you young people, it’s okay for you to eat and drink the things on the mountain to survive, but you must take the idea of the water.
Lord Dragon, your temper is not very good recently. "
Anne nodded again and again: "You don't have to worry about that, those of us from the city can choke after a few splashes in the water, who would touch things in the water?"
"That's good." The old man seemed a little tired, yawned and said, "Okay, tomorrow morning, we still have a big job to do in our village. You have to hurry tomorrow, so go to rest early."
"Old man, what's going on in the village tomorrow?"
"The envoy of the Dragon King is coming to preside over the Dragon King Sacrifice in the village." The old man said,
"The envoy of the Dragon King? Who is that?"
"He is the one who can deliver a message to the Dragon Lord for us."
"Is there such a person?"
"Of course there is. The snake statue at the entrance of our village is for the envoy of the Dragon King to pray for blessings. This matter is more important than the New Year in our place." The old man said, "When I get busy tomorrow, I may not be able to take care of it." you guys."
"It's okay, old man, you are busy with your work, don't worry about us."
"Okay, go to bed early."
…
That night, Lin Shuo and the others slept in the guest room of the old man's house.
It is said to be a guest room, but it is actually the room of the old man's youngest son. The old man wanted to keep a guest, so he went to sleep in the second brother's room.
Yang Tuo and Liu Qing also came back after inquiring about the news at other homes. Four people squeezed into one room, two women slept on the bed, Lin Shuo and Yang Tuo slept on the floor.
The four of them combined the news they had inquired tonight, and found that it was basically consistent with what the old man said before.
"According to this, this Blackwater Dragon King is the goal of our trip?" Liu Qing said softly.
"It should be." Yang Tuo said, "But I didn't expect this strange creature to have such a good mass base in the local area. It seems that it is impossible to get the support of the local people for this hunting operation."
"Should we still hunt it?" Liu Qing asked, "It sounds like this creature is more like a guardian of humans."
"The local villagers with a radius of hundreds of miles are human beings, but the one hundred and eighty-two lumberjacks who disappeared are not human beings?" Yang Tuo said in a deep voice, "When will the fate of our human beings be determined by an animal? Dominated?"
Anne said at this time: "Dr. Yang is right. If the Blackwater Dragon King really caused the disappearance of the 182 lumberjacks, then it should pay the corresponding price."
"But the one hundred and eighty-two people are just missing." Liu Qing said, "There is no evidence that they are dead. Should we find out?"
"That's right." Anne asked, "However, where do we start?"
"I think the top priority now is to find the so-called Blackwater Dragon King." Yang Tuo said, "It's not easy to find someone in this barren mountain, but it's easier to find such a big guy."
"But don't talk about us, even if the locals want to see the Black Water Dragon King, it will be even more difficult." Liu Qing said, "Didn't we ask about Dr. Yang? Even they don't know where the Black Water Dragon King is usually."
"I heard from the old man here that tomorrow, the envoy of the Dragon King who can communicate with the Black Water Dragon King is coming. This may be a clue." Anne said, "Mr. Lin, do you think there are really people in this world who can communicate with the Black Water Dragon King?" Can this strange creature communicate?"
"Since you know something about the hunter circle, why bother to ask?" Lin Shuo said flatly.
Anne smiled: "Indeed, we heard that the Zhang family, one of the six hunter families, has the secret skill of communicating with wild beasts. Moreover, the range of activities of the Zhang family is also near the three eastern provinces. You mean, it is possible that the Zhang family Is it related to the envoy of the Dragon King?"
"I didn't say that." Lin Shuo said in a deep voice, "The Zhang family is the toughest among the six families. In previous years, their family had the most deaths in hunting.
They will never have anything to do with the Black Water Dragon King. Once it is involved, either they will die, or the Black Water Dragon King will die, there is no third possibility. "
Lin Shuo's words were so loud that the room fell silent for a while.
After a while, Anne asked: "Then this matter must have nothing to do with the Zhang family. Mr. Lin, let me tell you the truth, we originally planned to invite other people from the contemporary Zhang family besides you for this event." The owner, Mr. Zhang Lianhai.
On the one hand, it’s because the Zhang family is close to here. On the other hand, we heard that the Lin family and the Zhang family cooperate the most tacitly. If the two masters act together, it will be safe.
However, Mr. Zhang seems to have disappeared, we really can't find him. "
When Anne mentioned Zhang Lianhai, Lin Shuo fell silent.
At night in the Outer Xing'an Mountains, there is no light pollution in the city, and the house is pitch black.
In the darkness, a small ball of flames illuminated Lin Shuo's face. He struck a match and lit a cigarette.
It was the guest cigarette that the old man's second son handed to Lin Shuo during the day, and he stuck it to his ear and didn't smoke.
The small flame was quickly extinguished, and the brightness of the cigarette butt flickered in the darkness.
"Brother Zhang and sister-in-law Zhang died on Kunlun Mountain six years ago." Lin Shuo took a few puffs of cigarettes and said calmly.
"What?" Anne's voice sounded an octave higher.
"I know you're playing tricks on me." Lin Shuo said, "But it's okay to talk about it now, after all, I've been gone for more than six years."
Anne was silent for a while, and then said: "You said earlier that our target this time is that strange creature on Kunlun Mountain back then?"
"Um."
"This Black Water Dragon King, is it really so powerful? Even your father and Mr. Zhang Lianhai teamed up..."
"The Kunlun Mountains six years ago was not just about a strange creature, it was not that simple." Lin Shuo interrupted Anne's words, and then brought back the topic that had been dragged away, "The Zhang family has the ability to talk to wild beasts. It's true, but this craft is not their unique skill at the bottom of the box.
In our hunter circle, this ability is not uncommon. Half of the six families know how to do this. Outside of the six families, and even outside the hunter circle, there are people with similar abilities. "
"At the same time, we don't rule out that this envoy of the Dragon King cannot communicate with the Black Water Dragon King." Yang Tuo interjected at this time, "He may use some deceptions to use the relationship between the local people and the Black Water Dragon King to defraud and seek profit. "
"En." Anne responded, "It seems that we have to stay here for another day. Tomorrow, we will meet this so-called envoy of the Dragon King together."