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墨書 Inktalez
The death of Wang Mazi echoed in the ears of the villagers like a bomb. Wang Mazi was the first to realize that this terrifying murder seemed to be related to some kind of song, and the villagers appeared to be quite fearful of it; otherwise, they wouldn't have reacted so strongly to Wang Mazi's demise. Now that he was dead, why had the murderer done this?
"What are you standing there for? Let's go," Li Sanhan said, his brows furrowed tightly, his face flushed as if he had just eaten something foul.
The silent villagers followed the messenger up the mountain. It seemed that after fleeing from the cornfield, Wang Mazi had run straight up into the hills.
There were no paths in the mountains, and since few people traveled there, none had formed a trail. After trudging along the rugged terrain for about an hour, they finally reached the spot where the body was discovered. At that moment, seven or eight villagers were gathered around the corpse, looking helpless and unsure of how to handle it.
Some villagers stood at a distance, too afraid to approach the body.
Members of the special investigation team followed Li Sanhan up and began to closely examine the corpse.
It was indeed the body of the villager who had run away earlier; they only knew him as Wang Mazi and did not know his real name.
The body was found next to a fallen tree. Wang Mazi was bent over a thick branch that had split off from the tree. His chest was pressed against the branch, and his arms were stretched out above it, making it appear as though his body was hanging from the branch rather than lying down.
His eyes were wide open, unblinking.
There was a deep wound across Wang Mazi's abdomen, stretching from one side of his waist to the other. The injury was severe enough that his entrails were spilling out through this narrow opening. Sections of intestine flowed from his belly due to gravity, resembling a pink snake slithering out.
Aside from this wound on his abdomen, Wang Mazi's clothing was intact; there were no other visible injuries.
"What the hell happened here?" Li Sanhan cursed angrily and turned to those nearby. "What’s going on? How could he end up like this in such a short time?"
One villager replied, "He was like this when we found him; how would we know?"
It was clear that this villager was also somewhat angry.
Xu Yiman noticed bloodstains on the ground. From examining these stains, it was evident that the amount of blood did not match the wounds on his body, indicating that this was not the original crime scene. Xu Yiman looked back along the path of the corpse and indeed saw a nearly continuous line of bloodstains behind him.
Jiang He naturally noticed this, and he also observed a detail that others had overlooked. The direction of the corpse was towards the village, not into the woods. Wang Mazi had tried to escape into the forest, but the wound on his abdomen had only allowed him to run this far before he could go no further. Otherwise, based on the time, Wang Mazi should have run much farther.
What was this terrifying curse, and why were these people dying one after another?
Xu Yiman carefully examined the bloodstains and wounds beneath Wang Mazi. The time of death was definitely no more than twenty minutes ago; Wang Mazi had just died.
As everyone fell silent, a figure emerged from the woods ahead. In his right hand, he held a machete, its blade gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight filtering through the trees, dazzling enough to make one squint. The machete was long, and importantly, it was covered in blood that had already begun to congeal.
The man wielding the machete stood about six feet tall, broad-shouldered with dark skin that showed signs of years spent under the blazing sun. He wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, but his muscular build was still evident beneath his clothing. His face resembled the mountain itself—steep and silent.
If it weren't for the bloodied machete in his hand, someone might have dared to ask him a few questions.
Jiang He noted that the thickness of the blade matched that of the wound, suggesting that this machete was likely the weapon used to kill Wang Mazi.
Everyone instinctively took a step back. Although he was the only one holding a knife, no one wanted to be the first to confront him.
Li Sanhan retreated several steps until he stood among the villagers before speaking up. "Gangzi, what do you want? Why did you kill Wang Mazi?"
The man named Gangzi glanced at the machete in his hand and then at the body hanging from the fallen tree. As he walked forward, he replied, "Li Sanhan, what do you mean?"
With Gangzi's movements, the villagers continued to back away; he took a few steps forward while they retreated a few steps back.
"What? After killing Wang Mazi, do you plan to slaughter everyone in Desolate Village?" Li Sanhan shouted angrily. "How many people can you kill with just one knife? Put it down!"
Gangzi's dark face turned an angry shade of red as he shouted back, "Li Sanhan, clarify your words! What do you mean I killed Wang Mazi?"
Li Sanhan glared fiercely at him. "You don’t even know what you’ve done? Look at the wound on Wang Mazi’s abdomen; isn’t it from your machete? Who else in this village besides you hunters would use such a weapon? Now we have you caught red-handed; are you really going to deny it?"
Gangzi's expression darkened as he approached Wang Mazi's body and bent down to examine the wound. After a brief observation, he said, "The wound on Wang Mazi’s abdomen is indeed from this type of machete, but this machete is not mine. While hunting in the mountains, I found this machete next to a pool of blood. Curious, I picked it up and followed the blood trail until I found all of you."
"You hunters are always armed," Li Sanhan sneered as he fixed his gaze on Gangzi.
Everyone turned to look, noticing that Gangzi had a hunting rifle slung over his back and a blood-stained machete in his right hand. There was nothing else.
There was no second machete.
Yuan Jun's eyes were locked onto the hunting rifle behind Gangzi and the machete in his hand. The rifle was a homemade one, capable of firing both bullets and iron pellets. At that moment, Yuan Jun had no idea what was loaded in the gun. If it was bullets, he could only fire one shot at a time, and if that shot hit someone, that person would surely die.
If it contained iron pellets, although the lethality would be reduced, it could fire dozens or even hundreds of pellets at once. While it might not be instantly fatal when hitting someone’s skin, it would still cause significant injury, especially in this difficult-to-aim forest. In a confrontation with these dozens of villagers, it could indeed be quite dangerous.
The question was whether Gangzi was the murderer. If things escalated, would he pull the trigger?
Yuan Jun felt confident he could subdue him, but there were too many villagers around; collateral damage was inevitable. It was entirely possible that someone unlucky could die from the iron pellets.
He glanced at Old Shao, who subtly gestured for him to hold back.
"My machete was lost before; I haven't made a new one yet," Gangzi explained.
"Just lost it and that's that?" Li Sanhan retorted. "Are you saying I can’t kill anyone?"
Gangzi raised an eyebrow and slammed the machete into a tree, embedding it several centimeters deep into the trunk, demonstrating his strength. "Li Sanhan, what do you mean? You’re accusing me of killing Wang Mazi. But why would I kill him?"
"Why would you kill him? Don't you know?" Li Sanhan gritted his teeth, the words almost bursting from between them. "Isn't it because of your wife? Others might not know, but as the village chief, what can escape my notice? You killed Wang Mazi because..."
Before Li Sanhan could finish, Gangzi roared in anger. He yanked the rifle off his back and aimed it at Li Sanhan. "Li Sanhan, even if you're the village chief, don't act like you own this place! If this is about murder, then you'd be the first on my list! Nobleman was my best brother; everyone in the village knows what you've done! Nobleman is an honest man who kept quiet about it, but now I'm coming for your head in his name!"
With that, Gangzi pointed the gun at Li Sanhan, who trembled in fear and ducked behind a tree. "Gangzi, what are you doing? Are you disregarding the law?"
"The law?" Gangzi laughed heartily. "In this village, the villagers' thoughts are the law. You all step aside; I don’t want to kill innocents!"
Gangzi walked towards Li Sanhan.
The villagers slowly parted to form a circle, and for the first time, the usually surrounded Li Sanhan truly experienced what despair felt like.
"Be ready to act," Old Shao said, looking at Yuan Jun.
The reason for finding Yuan Jun was to prevent such situations from occurring.
Tension filled the air, and not a single bird chirped in the forest. Everyone held their breath, only the sound of Gangzi's footsteps crunching on the dry leaves and twigs was piercingly clear.
As Gangzi approached Li Sanhan, Yuan Jun had already drawn a dagger, prepared to intervene at a critical moment, even though doing so would expose his identity.
However, before Yuan Jun could make a move, a confident and loud voice called out, "Gangzi, put down the gun."
Everyone turned their heads to see another man appearing, carrying a hunting rifle and a machete.
"Nobleman is dead," the man said.
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