Lu Yanli spoke a little loudly, and some villagers who were still arguing nearby also heard it. Among them were some smart people who thought more and more that the idea was feasible.
He did it on purpose. Without the villagers leading them, they had no way of entering. Therefore, he hoped to get more villagers to the forbidden area.
More and more people were making a fuss, mostly young people. The older generation all expressed their opposition, and finally the noise reached the ears of the village chief who arrived late.
"Nonsense! This is just nonsense!" The village chief was so angry that he yelled, "Can we just go to the forbidden area? Do you know that every time we go there, we risk our lives? Who said we were going to the forbidden area?"
Lu Yanli and An Xingyu had already slipped away, and the other villagers looked at each other, not knowing where the rumor came from.
After a while, a young man muttered, "It's not even the New Year yet, but the village is haunted, and Lili is missing. Where else can we go if not to the forbidden area?"
"We can't go to the forbidden area!" The village chief coughed heavily, "Do you really think it's a good thing for our villagers to be buried in the forbidden area after they die?"
His eyes were filled with sadness: "That's for atonement! Buried in the forbidden area, people must atone for the sins of their ancestors in every life!"
"We must guard it for the rest of our lives! We cannot leave it even when we die! Otherwise, even after we die, our souls will never find peace!"
"Atonement?" Xie Ziqing repeated the words softly, "What atonement?"
The four of them hid in the crowd and were not noticeable at all.
Honestly speaking, Xie Ziqing didn't want to go to the forbidden area either. He just went there once and could sense the extremely terrifying aura in the forbidden area. If he had to choose between the forbidden area and the evil spirits in the village, he would rather go back to the village. At least Lili would protect them.
Xie Ziqing and Yu Huan were both not very clear about the secrets discovered by others, so naturally they had no idea what the village chief meant by "atonement".
An Xingyu explained simply: "Their ancestors must have been tomb robbers. The forbidden area is the tomb they robbed. Because of the curse, they have to guard it for the rest of their lives."
Wait! He suddenly realized something was wrong.
Since they have to guard the place for their whole lives, why do young people in the village still go out to develop? When the villagers see them coming back from outside to worship their ancestors, they are not surprised at all.
Yu Huan hissed softly, "Oh my goodness, they are actually a group of tomb robbers. They deserved it." He had a relative who was an archaeologist. Although he would read some tomb-robbing novels, he hated tomb robbers. Under his influence, Yu Huan also hated tomb robbers.
Xie Ziqing bumped into him: "Don't gloat over other's misfortune. We are also villagers of Shangxian Village now."
Now Yu Huan immediately frowned in worry again.
The villager who had just raised the question lost his temper. "Then can we just wait to die? I don't know where Lili has gone now. What an ungrateful bastard!"
The village chief had no idea what to do, so he had to emphasize again: "It may not be that bad. Let's all go back first. It's not a big deal to stand next to the reservoir. Lili...she will be back in a while."
He himself said this without confidence. Even when Lili's family was gone, she didn't even care about it, let alone other villagers.
"She said she's coming back, so when can she come back?"
"That's right! Her grandfather and her father were having a funeral, and she didn't even come back to see them?"
"Don't say that. There's a mountain behind his house."
"It will be fine after the ancestor worship is over. Wasn't it like this before? There would always be some trouble before the ancestor worship. It will be fine after the ancestor worship is over."
Lu Yanli always felt something was strange.
Ancestor worship... worshipping ancestors, but their ancestors clearly offended the tomb owner and tomb robbers, so why do they think that ancestor worship can bless them
What exactly are they worshipping when they worship their ancestors
The villagers obviously had no intention of explaining anything. When the topic of ancestor worship was brought up, everyone became more excited.
"Yes, it will be fine after the ancestor worship. It will only take a few days. Just hold on and don't break any taboos."
"If there are young people in your family who are out there, tell them all to come back."
The villagers were actually a little hesitant about whether or not to go to the forbidden area. Since the village chief had said so, everyone looked at each other and finally walked back slowly, complaining as they walked.
Lu Yanli followed the crowd, and a familiar villager patted him on the shoulder: "Hey, Xiao Lu, you have been staying at Zhang Bai's house for some time. Do you know where Lili might go?"
Lu Yanli shook his head: "I only know that she will go to the reservoir."
He hesitated for a few seconds, but still asked: "Wouldn't Lili go to the forbidden area? Why don't we go to the forbidden area to look for it?"
The villager looked at Lu Yanli suspiciously, thinking that he had just come back from outside and might not be very clear, so he explained to him: "You don't know, Lili never goes to the forbidden area. Even the guardian deities invited by the village cannot go there. If they go there, terrible things will happen."
"What terrible thing?"
When questioned further, the villagers just shook their heads and kept silent.
Now Lu Yanli was also a little worried.
After a few days of observation, he could see the pattern that Lili never went to the forbidden area, and Lin Chu was the same, so Lin Chu would not come up with the idea of using himself as bait to lure the other party into the forbidden area. If simply entering the forbidden area would result in death, the villager would not describe it as a "terrible thing".
So, what happens
Lu Yanli was a cult member, and he had long known that Lili had known about his unknown origins, and had kept him around just to lure out the person behind the scenes. In addition, the Pisces jade pendant had ended up on him, and for Lu Yanli now, Lili posed a much greater threat to him than the forbidden land.
This is also the reason why he took the initiative to cooperate with Lin Chu.
… What will happen when Lili enters the forbidden area
There are still two days until the first day of the Lunar New Year. Can they hold on for two days
Two days later, the ancestor worship...
The village chief was still speaking loudly in front of the team: "These two days may be difficult, everyone go home and stay at home, don't visit other people, don't walk around, wait two days, and then everyone will come out together to worship the ancestors. In short, no one should sneak into the forbidden area! Otherwise, it will definitely kill everyone!"
An Xingyu quietly asked the villagers around him: "What will happen if we sneak into the forbidden area?" He didn't know that Lu Yanli beside him had already sneaked in several times.
Lu Yanli pricked up his ears and eavesdropped.
The villager who was asked shook his head: "I don't know, but I always feel that...something terrible is going to happen. It's scarier than death."
Many young people have never participated in a funeral and do not know how terrifying the forbidden area is, so they clamor to go. Those who actually enter will understand the fear.
It was a fear that welled up from the depths of the soul and penetrated deep into the bone marrow. There was no escape, no control. It was the deepest fear and despair.
All of this cannot be expressed in words. The villagers who were questioned were speechless for a long time and could only describe it as "more terrifying than death."
Is it scarier than death
It was hard for Lu Yanli not to care about this sentence. He had long realized that there were too many things more terrible than death. If a person simply died, it might be a happy thing.
When people gather together, they can magnify everything, including fear and courage. Just now, a group of people were still afraid that the village was haunted. Now that everyone is gathered together, the fear in their hearts has decreased a little, and gradually, they began to talk and laugh.
"What about Lao Zhang's family?"
"What can we do? We can deal with it together on the day of the ancestor worship. Who dares to come and make trouble now?"
"Wait a minute, when we just came out, was his door closed?"
"Who came out last?"
Some people turned their eyes to Lu Yanli, who said, "I was the last one to come out and closed the door."
"That's good. That's good."
After all, this is the place where the real body of Grandma Hu Santa is enshrined, so closing the door will be of some use.
At this moment, in the village.
A little girl walked slowly from the entrance of the village. She had fair skin, black hair and a delicate and pretty face. It was already deep winter and the mountains were cold, but she was still wearing a bright red dress.
She walked step by step to the door of Zhang Bo's house, looked up, and then pushed open the door.
Everywhere was dressed in plain clothes and decorated with white cloth, but the little girl's red skirt added the most beautiful color to the entire courtyard.
A cold wind blew past, the mourning hall collapsed, and three portraits fell to the ground with a thud.
The paper man placed next to the coffin was blown high up by the wind, swaying in the air, just like someone flying a kite.
After a while, the paper man was blown away by the strong wind and disappeared.
In the woods, the villagers were still on their way.
On the way here, we rushed forward out of fear, but now we are back and find that the road is long. As we walked, someone found something wrong.
"Have you noticed..."
"What did you find?"
“It’s at the back, at the back… where are the people at the back?” A villager’s legs went weak.
He was walking in the middle of the crowd, slightly to the back. He clearly remembered that there were about thirty people behind him, but why now... there were fewer people
Falling behind or...
About a few hundred meters behind them, two paper dolls slowly walked towards them.
There were two red circles painted on their faces, the white paper was pale, and the paper was made into two pairs of hands, with blood dripping down.
Right behind them, there fell a bloody corpse, with the skin completely peeled off, revealing blood-red flesh. In some places, the skin was not peeled carefully enough, and even the yellow fat under the skin flowed out.
In winter, many animals could not find food. Two bloody corpses were placed here. After a while, the excited barking of wild dogs was heard.
"There are fewer people again." An Xingyu's face was solemn. "There must be something in the woods. Now, it's best for everyone to gather in the center of the team and not fall behind easily."
Obviously, other villagers also realized this problem. Those walking at the back kept pushing forward, while those walking in the front refused to take the lead and tried to shrink back. The team moved slower and slower, and a long line gradually shrank into a circle of people, and everyone wanted to squeeze into the center of the team.
"I don't want to walk behind. Those who walk behind will die."
"Don't young people know how to respect the elderly and love the young? Why are you squeezing in with us old people?"
"What do you mean by crowded? I was standing here originally. It was you who insisted on cutting in line."
This forest, which everyone is very familiar with, is now filled with murderous intent.
Lu Yanli, on the other hand, walked in the front. It was hard to tell whether he was squeezed out or did it on purpose.
Seeing this, An Xingyu tried to get through the crowd, and Yu Huan and Xie Ziqing quickly followed. In short, with someone leading the way, the team began to move forward slowly.
However, the center of the team is not that safe.
A villager did not sleep well last night and yawned. The moment he raised his head and opened his mouth, the green grass covered the big tree above his head, and suddenly a branch fell down!
Before the villager could dodge, the branch went straight into his throat through his open mouth.
Blood splattered.
"ah-"
The villagers surrounding him dispersed quickly. There was still some disbelief in that villager's eyes, but the life in his eyes quickly disappeared, and with a bang, the body fell to the ground.
"Ghost... It's a ghost!"
The villager walking in front looked back and was so frightened that he ran forward screaming. The other villagers didn't dare to look up, and some of them even ran forward holding their heads with their hands, for fear that a branch would fall and pierce their throats.
Therefore, they did not see that under the towering tree, there sat a little girl in a red dress. Her eyes had turned completely black without a trace of white, and her expression was ferocious and resentful. Rather than being an ordinary person, she was more like a ghost in the skin of a little girl!
The branch that just killed the villager was thrown by her. Otherwise, an ordinary fallen branch would not fall accurately into a person's mouth in this way.
Unfortunately, the villagers didn't think much about it and just rushed forward, making the already narrow forest path even more crowded.
"What happened next?" Yu Huan was curious.
Xie Ziqing quickened his pace: "Maybe someone died again."
As soon as he finished speaking, the village chief, who was walking behind them, cried out and fell to the ground.
The village chief was the village chief after all, and the people around him immediately helped him up. However, as soon as he stood up, the villager was so scared that he immediately let go of his hand.
The village chief was tripped by a sharp stone, and the moment he fell, his throat landed on the top of the stone. As soon as he stood up, a large amount of blood spurted out of his neck.
It turned out that the village chief had died the moment he fell.
Everything happened very quickly. The people walking near the village chief stopped, but the villagers behind them didn't know and kept pushing forward, people pushing and shoving each other, and soon several of them fell down.
"Stop pushing! It'll kill people!"
"Stop pushing! Hold on! The village chief is dead!"
"Don't you guys behind me understand what I'm saying? Stop pushing!"
The villagers began to quarrel and push impatiently, but their voices were too loud and distracting for the people behind to hear them. They still tried to squeeze forward, pushing the entire team forward.
Some of those who fell were not dead yet, and the people around them were unable to help them up, so they lost their lives in the trampling of the crowd. As they moved forward, several more fell down.
There were several elderly people among them. They were old and hurriedly followed to the reservoir to look for people. Their bones were brittle and they could not withstand the fall. They were supposed to be taken home to recuperate for a few days, but now...
"Crazy, really crazy." Yu Huan ran forward while muttering. He finally understood why An Xingyu and the others had to run to the front of the team. Otherwise, with the crazy energy of the villagers, if he accidentally fell, he would probably never be able to get up again.
Now everyone realized that it was not safe to walk at the back or in the middle, and they should walk at the front! Therefore, the team's forward speed increased again. Everyone wanted to run to the first place, so Lu Yanli and others had to speed up.
At the rear of the team, several bodies that had been trampled beyond human shape were scattered in a pile of body parts, with white and black hair mixed together, drowned by the slowly spreading blood.
Behind the crowd, a little girl walked slowly.
She was folded-handed, still playing with origami.
She was folding a paper airplane with the ghost money. The paper was a little soft, and it seemed a bit difficult to fold it while walking. The little girl thought about it, squatted down, soaked the ghost money in blood, and finally folded it after the whole paper was soaked.
The girl blew a breath at the top of the paper airplane and flew it out with force.
The paper airplane flew and slowly fell apart, slowly turning from a paper airplane into a blood-soaked ghost banknote. Just a few seconds before it completely fell apart, it landed on the face of a villager who looked back.
Then, it stuck to the villagers' faces like a piece of super glue.
The villager's mouth and nose were covered, and the strong smell of blood went straight into his nasal cavity. He wanted to tear the paper apart, wanted to scratch it, but the paper was made of something and he couldn't tear it off no matter how hard he tried.
"Xiao Li! What's wrong with you?" The people nearby were shocked. When Xiao Li turned around, he was immediately frightened.
"ghost!"
The villagers shouted and ran forward to help him, and soon Xiao Li was left behind.
"It's not a ghost... Help me! Help me!"
Xiao Li wanted to speak, but he couldn't. No matter how he tore the paper, it stuck to his face. The pain of suffocation had made his head swell. He suddenly remembered that he had a bunch of keys in his pocket, so he quickly took them out and scratched his face.
The tip of the key was very useful and it cut a hole in it. Xiao Li was overjoyed and tore along the hole, peeling off a bloody red paper.
But his nose and mouth were still blocked, so he decided to go all the way. After touching the rolled-up edge of the noodles, he also pulled hard towards the mouth.
There was a slight hissing sound.
The paper was peeled off.
However, his face was still red.
Because when he tore off the paper, he also tore off his leather. If he lowered his head and looked carefully at the paper in his hand, he would find that there was a layer of soft leather on the back.
He never saw it.
"Wait for me!" Xiao Li ran forward excitedly, waving the bright red paper dripping with blood in his hand.
A villager not far from him looked back and was immediately frightened out of his wits. Xiao Li had clearly turned into a ghost! He didn't even stop, but ran even faster.
The group of people finally ran out of the woods. When they saw the familiar houses in the village, many of them were already out of breath from exhaustion. The sense of relief at having escaped death made some of them sit down on the ground and sob.
"Don't cry, now everyone count, how many people are there?"
When the farce just happened, not everyone ran to the reservoir. Some elderly people could not run and simply went home to sit down. Some people did not hear it in the fields. When these people came back from the reservoir, they did not show up either. They were just curious about why there were fewer people in the village today.
Some people thought their family members had gone to Uncle Zhang's house to pay their respects, so they went to his house and ended up dying there as well. The entire village lost nearly one-fifth of its population in just one day!
Even... even the village chief died.
The village chief is different from other villagers. Each term of the village chief will learn the village's secrets from the previous term, and these secrets can help him retain more people in Shangxian Village. However, these secrets are definitely not known by ordinary villagers.
Now, the village chief is dead, which means that some secrets in the village will remain secrets forever.
“What should I do? What should I do…” A middle-aged woman became more and more sad as she thought about it, and she sat on the ground and cried loudly.
She cried so loudly that the sound of other people crying was drowned out. The villager who was trying to persuade others was named Yan Guangyao. He immediately turned around and comforted her: "Aunt Zhao, don't cry. There is nothing we can do. Let's just follow what the village chief said before and go home first."
"You're just kidding. The village is haunted right now! Wouldn't it be a death wish if I go back?" Aunt Zhao quickly got up from the ground. "I was tricked into marrying into your village. My husband is long gone. Now I want to go back. My daughter is still in the big city..."
"Aunt Zhao!" Yan Guangyao shouted, "Do you really think you can escape this? You are already a member of our Shangxian Village. Even if you run abroad, it will be useless. You will still be cursed and killed!"
"Impossible! I don't believe it." The person called Aunt Zhao was devastated. "My daughter has bought a house in the city. She said she would take me there to live happily. My husband is dead. I am no longer a member of your village."
"Your name is on the family tree," Yan Guangyao said, "and if the real reckoning begins, you won't be able to escape."
Aunt Zhao was stunned and burst into tears, covering her face.
Yan Guangyao's words caught Lu Yanli's attention.
Curse... What kind of curse has the villagers been cursed by? What will happen if they leave the fairy village
Why are so many young people able to leave the village
After the death of the village chief, Yan Guangyao seemed to have taken on the responsibility. He was originally the one designated by the village chief to be the next village chief. Now he was commanding everyone with a calm face, which gradually stabilized the morale of the troops, and many people also calmed down.
An Xingyu signaled to Yu Huan, who was a little reluctant, because he knew that if he continued to do nothing, he might really be abandoned. So he pretended to be curious and moved closer to Yan Guangyao.
"Well, let me ask you, since no one can leave the Immortal Village, why can we go outside?"
Yan Guangyao looked incredulous and sized him up and down: "Why are you asking this? Are you trying to escape?"
Yu Huan: "How can that be possible? I came back to pay respect to my ancestors. I just want to ask for clarification."
However, no matter how he asked, the other party didn't say anything. They just arranged for everyone to go home. If their residence was close to Uncle Zhang's house, they could stay at a friend's house first.
In this way, he persuaded most of the villagers to return home.
Lu Yanli and others didn't need his persuasion and left after everyone else left.
As for how many people will die tonight... Who knows
After so much trouble, the sky had gradually darkened. Yan Guangyao quietly gazed at the dense forest not far away, shook his head, and walked towards the village chief's house.
He needs to get the treasure map from the village chief's house.
"Don't you think Yan Guangyao's attitude is strange?" As soon as the four of them sat in the living room after returning to their residence, Yu Huan couldn't wait to say, "He asked everyone to live separately. I don't know what he wants to do."
"In fact, living together won't do any good, right? They can't stop the ghosts either." Xie Ziqing said, "It's better to disperse a little. If they gather together, won't they be wiped out all at once?"
An Xingyu said: "It's late now. It's best not to go out at night. Let's check it out tomorrow."
Lu Yanli nodded and added, "Now people in the village are killing people randomly, there is no pattern at all. I suggest that you do not go back to your rooms today, but rest in the living room, and take turns to keep watch. If you encounter danger, wake up the others and run away immediately."
"Are we really not going to sleep?" An Xingyu was a little worried.
Lu Yanli shook his head: "A few days ago, I fell asleep and still experienced sleep paralysis." So sleeping can not prevent the invasion of ghosts, but will instead lose the initiative.
The real crisis has arrived, and there is no way to sleep peacefully, as a ghost might hide in the bed and kill people. His words were unanimously agreed by others.
The four of them quickly arranged themselves in order, with Yu Huan and Xie Ziqing guarding the first half of the night, and An Xingyu and Lu Yanli guarding the second half.
The two men had already considered Lu Yanli as a tasker, and Lu Yanli did not refute and agreed to everything. On the contrary, An Xingyu was a little nervous, fearing that they would say something they shouldn't say and make Lu Yanli suspicious.
They lived in a building. Before going to bed, they turned on the lights in all the rooms on the second floor and locked the doors and windows. Later, they went to the lobby on the first floor, closed the doors and windows, and turned off the lights. Only a little light coming from the second floor could illuminate the room clearly.
Lu Yanli and An Xingyu lay on the sofa with their clothes on, closing their eyes to rest.
Xie Ziqing and Yu Huan sat together and chatted in low voices.
Although they were told to sleep first, An Xingyu couldn't sleep. He always felt that he had overlooked something in this mission. Until now, he had not met Luo Ying, and the gods had not given any instructions either, which made him very uneasy.
Lu Yanli closed his eyes and breathed slowly.
He hadn't slept seriously for many years, and had already developed a habit of light sleep. Sometimes, if necessary, he could even rest with his eyes open.
He was also thinking about the forbidden area.
There is also the omniscient god, the Pisces jade pendant...
What is the relationship between them? Why is the so-called resurrection of that "god" so similar to the function of the Pisces jade pendant
Also, the painting in the village chief’s house…
In the silent night, the sound of dripping water was heard suddenly.
Tick.
Tick.
Coming from the lower floor, it was particularly obvious.
Yu Huan was already a frightened bird, and his scalp suddenly went numb. He immediately thought of many things, such as the sound of a ghost turning on the faucet, the sound of blood dripping after a ghost killed someone, etc. He couldn't shout out loud, so he could only hold it in.
Ghost... It's a ghost!
His heart was beating so fast that it almost jumped out of his throat.
The sound of dripping water came from the second floor. Maybe the ghost has already reached the second floor!
Where will it go next? It will definitely go downstairs, right? Then, it will definitely be discovered.
His eyes flickered to the sleeping faces of Lu Yanli and An Xingyu, and Yu Huan's chest heaved violently.
Do you want to…
No, no, no. If a man does not care for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. If we wake them up, wouldn’t we also alert the ghosts
But, if there was no An Xingyu, could he really survive? He had been reminding himself of the way to survive these days.
He gently pushed Xie Ziqing who was sitting behind him.
"Dude..."
Xie Ziqing didn't move, and an ominous cold aura emanated from him.
Almost instantly, Yu Huan thought of something. He turned around stiffly and saw Xie Ziqing's face.
But they... were clearly sitting back to back.
The ghost is not on the second floor! It is in the living room on the first floor!!
Yu Huan was so scared that he didn't even know where he got the courage to hold back the scream that was rising from his throat. He quietly stood up little by little and retreated towards the door.
He opened the door gently, then turned around and ran out without looking back.
Yu Huan's heart was beating very fast. His mind was full of doubts and he didn't know if what he did was right or not. The strong feeling of palpitations that came over him just now made him subconsciously make such a decision.
It was not until the damp and cold night air invaded his mind that he began to regret it.
I ran away without looking back. An Xingyu and Lu Yanli were still sleeping. Would they...
But another faint voice told him, isn't this just perfect
It just so happens that they can protect themselves from the disaster.
As he thought about this, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Is this road... so long? Under the moonlight, I can't see the end of it.
Yu Huan broke out in a cold sweat.
He now remembered that when he ran out just now, it seemed that... he did not close the door
He turned back to see how far he had run, but he forgot the experience summaries posted by countless predecessors on the website, one of which was most often mentioned: Don't look back.
He was so scared, the cold wind was biting and made him shiver all over, he had no time to think about anything else. He turned around and found that behind him was exactly the same as in front of him, a long road that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Yu Huan will never be able to get out of this.
In the room, Xie Ziqing accidentally dozed off. When he woke up, he was horrified to find that Yu Huan, who was sitting right behind him, was gone!
He immediately woke up An Xingyu and Lu Yanli. The latter two had not slept yet. When the three of them opened their eyes, they immediately found that the door to the living room was open.
There was no way to confirm whether it was Yu Huan who opened the door. After they hurriedly searched for a few rounds, they confirmed that Yu Huan was indeed missing.
Now they were no longer in the mood to sleep, and they sat together in the yard, keeping their eyes open until dawn.
The sun rises as usual, dispelling the darkness in the room.
The villagers got up one after another. They were terrified by what happened yesterday. As long as they were still alive, they had to go on with their lives. Before those whose families lost someone had time to cry, they heard the village broadcast.
The new village chief Yan Guangyao asked everyone to gather in the square because he had something to say.
"What's going on?"
"Has he thought of something? Or has Lili come back?"
"Why don't we just go hide in the forbidden area? We only have one or two days left..."
Lu Yanli and others also went out, gathered in the crowd, listened to the villagers chatting, and tried to extract some useful information.
Yan Guangyao was already waiting in the village square. He was wearing funeral linen clothes, a mourning hat on his head, and holding a scroll in his hand.
An Xingyu recognized at a glance that it was the scroll hanging in the village chief's house.
His heart suddenly rose: Did Yan Guangyao also discover the secret in the painting? No, that's not right. As the next village chief, it's normal for him to know the secret in the painting, but it's unclear how much he knows.
Lu Yanli also noticed the scroll and raised his eyebrows slightly.
He originally planned to trick Luo Ying into going to the village chief's house to take it away, but he didn't expect...
When Yan Guangyao saw everyone gathered, he cleared his throat, shook his hand, and unfolded the scroll to all the villagers.