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墨書 Inktalez
"Don't worry," Old Shao said, noticing Xu Yiman's concern.
Xu Yiman's worries were not unfounded. She had just escaped from this village, and now she was about to return with Old Shao and Jiang He. This made her heart, which had just begun to relax, flutter with anxiety once more.
Old Shao gently patted Xu Yiman's shoulder. "There's no need to worry. Guan Deng knew we were in danger at three o'clock this morning. He arranged for the police to be at the helicopter landing site two hours before we arrived. It’s already nine o'clock now; the police should be nearby."
Hearing Old Shao's words, Xu Yiman finally felt reassured. "There’s an officer named Officer Hao. I don’t know where he’s from, but he colluded with the villagers and tried to kill us."
Upon hearing this, Old Shao couldn't help but curse, "A bad apple! It's people like him that give outsiders a bad impression of us. Don't worry; when we get back, none of these people will escape."
With that, the three of them headed into the village.
However, when they actually arrived in the village, the scene shocked all three of them. The dirt roads were now a muddy mess, each step leaving a deep imprint. Strangely enough, it hadn’t rained; the mud was soaked with a large amount of fresh blood.
As they stepped down, blood was squeezed out of the soil, still liquid and clearly having flowed there not long ago. Along the roadside lay villagers in pools of blood, motionless and appearing lifeless. The entire village was filled with a stench of blood so thick it hit them in the face, suffocating and overwhelming.
"Did Yuan Jun do this?" Old Shao couldn't help but ask.
Xu Yiman had left Yuan Jun behind to deal with the villagers who had chased them, but Old Shao never expected that Yuan Jun would resort to such brutality.
"I... I don't know..." Xu Yiman was clearly stunned.
Despite being a professional Forensic Doctor who dealt with various corpses in her line of work, Xu Yiman had never witnessed such a scene—bodies scattered everywhere and rivers of blood flowing.
"This wasn't done by Yuan Jun," Jiang He shook his head. "If you look closely at the wounds on those bodies, they were clearly inflicted in different ways. Some have crushed skulls, some have bitten necks, some were stabbed with knives, and others were slashed. Yuan Jun has no reason to kill in such varied methods; I believe there's a ninety percent chance he didn't do this."
Hearing Jiang He's words, Xu Yiman took a closer look and then said, "That's right, it shouldn't be the same person."
"Mutual slaughter," Old Shao sighed. "So it's obvious that the people in the village are killing each other; we just don't know why they are doing this."
Jiang He replied, "A curse."
Old Shao turned to look at Jiang He and said, "A curse? I thought you never believed in curses."
Just as Jiang He was about to respond, several blood-soaked figures staggered out from a distance. Upon closer inspection, they recognized a few of them: Li Sanhan, Luo Yu, and one of them was Yuan Jun, who was supporting Wang Chao.
Xu Yiman didn't expect Yuan Jun to go back and fight again instead of choosing to leave.
The figures staggered and collapsed to the ground, leaving only Yuan Jun standing.
"Yuan Jun?"
The group hurried over to Yuan Jun's side.
This was right at the entrance of Er Dan's house. In the yard, the dirt path was filled with people—some lying down, some sitting, some with their eyes closed and motionless, while others were rolling on the ground in pain and groaning.
"What on earth happened?" Old Shao asked.
Jiang He and Xu Yiman rushed to support Yuan Jun.
At that moment, Yuan Jun was covered in blood. He coughed a few times and said, "I'm fine. Wang Chao is still alive; we need to get him to the hospital immediately, or he will die."
Xu Yiman trembled all over, unable to face the impending deaths of those around her. Yet she knew that if she didn't take the first step, she would never escape from that incident. She clutched Wang Chao's arm tightly, but could not stop her body from shaking.
Jiang He, however, paid no mind to Xu Yiman's inner turmoil. He turned his attention to the two people beside him, Luo Yu and Li Sanhan, both of whom were now collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
"What exactly happened?" Old Shao asked again.
Yuan Jun shook his head. "I'm not sure. I told Xu Yiman to leave first while I dealt with the villagers chasing us. Just as I knocked a few of them down, I suddenly heard shouts and cries for help coming from Er Dan's house. Before long, a group of people rushed out from the courtyard and onto the road, all of them gone mad, slaughtering each other without mercy..."
Although Old Shao had not witnessed the scene of hundreds of people hacking at one another, just looking at the aftermath—the blood-soaked earth and the writhing villagers in agony—made it clear that it was a hell on earth.
"But what was this all for?" Xu Yiman exclaimed as she gazed at the hellish scene before her.
"Aside from a curse, I can't think of any other explanation," Xu Yiman added.
"It's not a curse," Yuan Jun asserted firmly.
"What do you mean?" Jiang He asked Yuan Jun.
Yuan Jun pointed to Gangzi lying in Er Dan's courtyard. "Before the villagers attacked us, Gangzi challenged me to a duel. When he swung his machete at my waist, do you know what I thought of in that moment? I suddenly recalled how we saw Wang Mazi's disemboweled body in the woods. The method was exactly the same; in fact, Wang Mazi was killed by Gangzi, but he won't admit it."
"Understanding this made me realize there’s definitely no such thing as a curse," Yuan Jun said.
Jiang He nodded. "Exactly. Curses don't directly kill people, but some individuals will use curses as an excuse to commit murder. He Caiqie, also known as High Taoist, and Song Xiangmei—neither of them killed anyone; they had no need to. He Caiqie poisoned all the villagers; they will die off within a decade."
"The toxins have affected the villagers' bodies. I believe these physical effects have made them increasingly irritable and enraged, ultimately influencing their mental state."
“Hahaha!” Luo Yu suddenly burst into laughter. “I never believed in curses either, because I killed the Nobleman myself. I’m the boss of the hunters; whatever I catch should belong to me. But that Nobleman insisted on burying a Gold Necklace with that woman. She was just a bought woman, meant to accompany him in death.”
“I dug up the Gold Necklace, and when the Nobleman saw it, he attacked me. I had no choice but to kill him. Afterward, I cut off his head and placed it on her body, pretending it was the curse at work.”
“Who would have thought Gangzi would pull the same stunt? He had long wanted to have Wang Mazi’s woman, but due to village rules, he didn’t dare act on it. So, he figured if he killed Wang Mazi, that woman would be his without anyone daring to contest him. He called Wang Mazi out and then stabbed him to death, pretending it was a curse.”
“Haha!” Luo Yu laughed maniacally. “When I saw that wound, I knew it was Gangzi’s doing. The ridiculous Gangzi! To avoid suspicion, he didn’t even touch Wang Mazi’s wife, and as a result, she hanged herself at night. Haha! He never got a chance with her.”
“But who knew Zhang Meng would die too?” A flicker of fear crossed Luo Yu’s face. “Those dogs wouldn’t just be released for no reason; they couldn’t have crawled out of that pit. Especially that night when a woman who had been dead for over six months appeared—I realized there really is a curse.”
Even now, Luo Yu believed Song Xiangmei was already dead, but who knew things would turn out this way?
“If there were no curse, why did the Nobleman happen to see me digging up the grave? If there were no curse, why did Gangzi suddenly kill someone at this time? If there were no curse, how did Zhang Meng die?” Luo Yu trembled. “It’s the curse! If it weren’t for the curse, why would things end up like this? We’re all going to die; everyone is going to die!”
“Curse your grandpa!” Li Sanhan suddenly shouted. “There’s no way I’m dying here! I’m not done living yet! Even if there is a curse, it won’t land on me!”
“I have an answer!” Jiang He suddenly declared. “I need to check on someone!”
Without caring about the others, Jiang He ran off into the distance.
Jiang He arrived at Zhou Qiang’s house—the very person who discovered Zhang Meng’s body and also Zhang Meng’s neighbor. Zhou Qiang wasn’t home; he had long been lying dead on the dirt road in the village. Jiang He didn’t know whether Zhou Qiang was dead or not, but that didn’t matter.
Zhou Qiang’s house was a complete mess; it was clear that he lived in poverty with nothing of value.
However, after Jiang He took a look around Zhou Qiang’s house, he discovered a crucial piece of evidence. On the table sat a jar of meat sauce. Three-quarters of the sauce had been eaten; only a thin layer remained at the bottom of the jar.
Jiang He poked a finger into the sauce, bringing it to his mouth. It was a taste he was very familiar with.
The truth was revealed.
In fact, there was no order to the so-called curse; it was merely a coincidence. Moreover, there were no real curses in this world; all curses were just manifestations of human wickedness.
As Jiang He walked out of Zhou Qiang's house, he saw familiar uniforms—police officers.
Guan Deng shyly walked in front of them.
"Save the people first!" Old Shao shouted. "Arrange for a helicopter to take the injured back."
"The rest of you, search the entire village thoroughly, especially every household's cellar. That's where all the abducted women are kept."
"You few come with me to the hillside..."
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