Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
"It's a dog," Jiang He replied. "When that thing knocked me down, I had a chance to observe it. Its snout was shorter, its teeth were sharper, and its tail was longer and curled. If it were a wolf, my hand would probably be broken by now."
Dogs are domesticated species, and the vast majority of them do not attack humans or want to eat them. However, Jiang He could clearly sense that this dog intended to consume him. He also caught a peculiar scent from the dog's mouth.
That scent was unmistakable to Jiang He; it was the smell of decaying flesh. Although he didn't know what animal's corpse this wild dog had feasted on, one thought crossed his mind.
This dog had likely eaten human flesh.
"There isn't a single dog in the village, yet Jiang He was attacked by one that might have tasted human meat. There must be some connection here; I've never seen a village without even one dog."
Old Shao spoke as he looked out through the open door. The night sky was dotted with stars, and faintly, he could hear the distant shouts of villagers from the mountains. The door to Er Dan's room remained unrepaired, and Er Dan was snoring away, completely oblivious to the dangers lurking in the village.
"Er Dan sleeps really soundly," Old Shao couldn't help but comment.
"He probably wouldn't wake up even if we sold him," Wang Chao added.
Just then, commotion arose in the village, the hurried footsteps of about ten people approaching.
"Not good! Not good!" a villager shouted.
"What happened?"
Old Shao stepped outside first, followed by the rest of the project team members.
A villager stood there with a pale face, as if he had encountered something terrifying. His body trembled, supported by two other villagers to keep him from collapsing. Sweat poured from his forehead; it was clear he was frightened out of his wits.
"What exactly happened?" Old Shao asked.
After a moment, the villager finally spoke. "I found a corpse on the back mountain."
Jiang He scrutinized this villager; he appeared to be around thirty years old—a grown man. Moreover, there had been several corpses seen by villagers recently; this man shouldn't be so terrified over just one body.
"What was special about this corpse?" Jiang He pressed for details.
"I know that villager; he's my neighbor, Zhang Meng." The villager suddenly became agitated, nearly breaking free from the support of two others. His eyes were fixed on Jiang He, baring his teeth like a beast on the verge of madness. "He doesn't have a single piece of intact flesh on him, his body is covered in wounds! You can see the bones inside him! His stomach has a huge gash, and there's nothing left inside! Nothing at all!"
Listening to the villager's near-roar, Jiang He asked, "Are you saying that his entrails are missing?"
Seeing Jiang He's calm demeanor only fueled the villager's anger further. He shouted, "Don't you understand? The first person to die was a nobleman, the second was Wang Mazi, the third was Zhang Meng. They were all neighbors, and I'm Zhang Meng's neighbor. Who do you think is next? Can't you see it?"
"You mean the next to die will be you?" Jiang He replied.
The villager's face swelled up, and everyone could see the veins bulging on his forehead. He screamed hoarsely, like a tattered flag flapping in the wind, "Next is me! That woman's curse has come true; I'm next! I won't last much longer; I won't last long at all!"
The word "die" seemed to be shouted from the depths of his soul.
Jiang He suddenly realized that this man was one of those who had defiled Wang Mazi's wife at noon. He clearly remembered what he had said earlier:
"Get lost! I'm first! Wang Mazi and I are good brothers; I have to be first!"
At that moment, he had seemed so excited and happy. But less than an afternoon later, he had become the next cursed one he had spoken of. There is no such thing as empathy in this world; when death befalls others, it is merely a commonplace occurrence for everyone else—just like having a bowl of rice for lunch. Perhaps he had even hoped for Wang Mazi's death so he could defile someone else's wife.
But when such a thing happens to oneself, the outcome is often vastly different.
Sadness and fear intertwined on the villager's face; his rage could not mask the cowardice within him. Soon, tears streamed down his face as he cried out, "I don't want to die! I'm only thirty years old! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
In that moment, he forgot that the woman who committed suicide was only in her twenties.
"Where is the body?" Jiang He ignored his cries and continued to ask.
Another villager pointed up the mountain and said, "Follow the mountain path upwards; where you see people gathered is where the body is."
"Let's go," Jiang He said.
After taking a few steps, Old Shao turned back and said, "By the way, keep an eye on this villager. It's best to watch him twenty-four hours a day. Although we can't be sure if the curse follows a sequence or if it's random, he is indeed very likely to be next. If we can prevent one more person from dying, perhaps the curse won't continue."
A villager nodded, "The village chief is just like us; he wants us to keep an eye on him. But if it really is a curse, what good would it do to watch him all the time? This is our village's curse; we will all die, it's just a matter of time."
"The village chief has some sense. As long as no one dies, the curse will break on its own," said Shao the Elder. "Think about it."
Another villager snorted, "Because if Zhou Qiang really dies, the next one will be him."
There was little conversation as the project team made their way along the path.
The first to die was the Nobleman, his head severed. The second was Wang Mazi, whose belly had been cut open. The third was Zhang Meng; according to Zhou Qiang's description, he had almost turned to bones.
Just like the song sung by Brother Luo, could it really be a curse?
Following the mountain path upward, they saw a gathering of light ahead; that was where Zhang Meng's body had been discovered.
The project team squeezed through the crowd surrounding the area and reached the corpse. At that moment, only two people stood beside the body: Brother Luo and Li Sanhan. Everyone's flashlights illuminated the corpse, making the area around it as bright as day.
Jiang He and Xu Yiman approached the body, carefully examining it.
The corpse leaned against a large tree, with a thick rope passing in front of him and wrapping around the tree behind him, tightly knotted after three loops around his body. It was impossible for the deceased to have done this himself; clearly, the murderer had tied him to the tree.
From the condition of the body, there was indeed not a single piece of intact flesh left; large chunks had been torn away, revealing segments of white bone. Especially in his soft abdominal area, almost nothing remained; his entrails were gone, leaving only bloodied ribs.
The inner thigh was nearly stripped bare as well, leaving deep blood-stained bones.
Around the corpse lay pools of blood and bits of flesh; a strong metallic scent filled everyone's nostrils. Within a radius of four or five meters, it seemed to have turned into a blood pool. The villagers had never realized that a person could bleed so much.
It was evident that everyone could see the uneven wounds on the body; jagged cuts with evenly spaced gaps were clearly made by some beast. Jiang He suddenly recalled the wild dog that had attacked him earlier; the wounds on the corpse were remarkably similar to those on Jiang He's arm.
If it weren't for the project team noticing Jiang He was missing and coming to look for him, he might have suffered a similar fate.
Li Sanhan slapped his forehead and said to Brother Luo beside him, "Luo Yu, it's obvious even to a blind man that this was caused by wolf bites. Look at those bloody paw prints on the ground; there’s clearly more than one wolf. How did you manage this? After so many years of hunting wolves, they've come right to your doorstep."
Luo Yu crouched down and observed for a moment before saying, "I have hunted wolves for many years, and I can assure you that these are definitely not marks made by a wolf. Wolves are much fiercer than this."
"Not a wolf?" Li Sanhan questioned Luo Yu. "If it's not a wolf, then what else could it be?"
"You should know what it could be," Luo Yu replied.
"Impossible!" Li Sanhan suddenly exclaimed as if he had thought of something.
After a moment, Li Sanhan continued, "Get his body back. You all come with me!"
With that, Li Sanhan led his few loyal followers away, leaving the remaining villagers behind.
Jiang He was still examining the corpse, which had its mouth completely taped shut. For a dead person, taping the mouth seemed unnecessary. Jiang He had a ninety-nine percent certainty that Zhang Meng was alive when the Evil Dog attacked him.
Perhaps he had fallen into a coma and was tied to the tree by the Murderer while unconscious. When he woke up, he saw several dogs with glowing green eyes in the dark forest. The dogs finally pounced on him. He felt like a massive steak, enduring unimaginable pain as the dogs tore into his body.
He struggled continuously but couldn't break free from the tightly bound ropes. He wanted to scream but was silenced by the tape over his mouth. The wild dogs began to eat him starting from his soft abdomen, then moved to his thighs—areas that were tender and easy to tear apart. Driven by their instincts, these wild dogs chose the best parts to feast on.
He died from being torn apart; it was an excruciatingly long and painful way to die.
Comment 0 Comment Count