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墨書 Inktalez
Xu Yiman gently spoke to Jiang He, "Those wounds show signs of life; it's clear that they were inflicted while the victim was still alive. Judging simply by the stiffness of the body, he has been dead for less than three hours."
Luo Yu cut the ropes with a machete and instructed the villagers to carry the body back. The task force members had only been in the village for two hours, and already four people had died. Guan Deng would only arrange for the police to search for the task force members later, and by the time the police arrived, it was uncertain how much worse things could get.
The hunters took off their clothes and fashioned a makeshift soft stretcher to wrap the body in and carry it down the mountain. All the villagers remained silent; it seemed they no longer had the strength or will to continue searching for Qiuju Niu.
"Wait." As the body passed by Jiang He, he suddenly spoke to the two hunters carrying it.
"What is it?" Gangzi turned around and asked.
Jiang He pushed aside some clothing, revealing the body once more. He extended his index finger and wiped it across the belly of the corpse, instantly coating his finger in blood. Then, shockingly, Jiang He brought his finger to his nose to sniff it before licking it.
This action disgusted the villagers and stunned the other members of the task force.
"What are you doing?" Gangzi frowned and managed to squeeze out those words.
Jiang He smacked his lips, wiping the blood from his finger onto himself before explaining to the astonished crowd, "Zhang Meng has been smeared with meat sauce."
"Meat sauce?" everyone asked in confusion.
Jiang He nodded, observing the body as he continued, "It is indeed meat sauce. Zhang Meng was not only tied to a tree but also had his mouth taped shut. Additionally, someone smeared meat sauce on his belly and other areas. Both wolves and dogs have very sensitive noses, and meat sauce has a much stronger scent than that of a human."
"The murderer did this hoping that wild animals would quickly consume this person; otherwise, the villagers might discover his disappearance and rescue him," Jiang He stated firmly.
But now, the main issue was that Jiang He did not know whether Qiuju Niu's disappearance was related to the murderer.
“Murderer?” a villager shook his head and said, “This is a curse. Ever since that woman died, our village has been under this curse. Everyone has heard of the Curse Ballad. Once the curse begins, it cannot be stopped unless that woman can find peace. But she has never been able to rest, not even the High Taoist can do anything about it!”
Hearing the villager's words, Jiang He recalled the tall, thin Taoist priest. Since last noon, he had not seen the priest again.
“Doesn’t the High Taoist live in the village?” Jiang He asked.
A villager replied, “A person like the High Taoist naturally cannot live with us; he resides in the woods.”
“In the woods?” Jiang He asked. “Isn’t he afraid of danger?”
“If it’s a curse, he wouldn’t be afraid. I’ve never heard of a Taoist being scared of ghosts,” Luo Yu waved his hand, signaling Gangzi and the others to carry away the body. He continued, “However, there are now man-eating beasts everywhere in the woods. Before our hunters can kill these beasts, it’s better to bring the High Taoist here. Otherwise, if something happens to a villager, we won’t have any way to help.”
“We’ll go with you,” Jiang He said. “I still have some questions for you.”
Luo Yu sheathed his machete and nodded.
The place where the High Taoist lived was halfway up the mountain; they could reach it by continuing along this path.
After walking for more than ten minutes and gradually distancing themselves from the villagers coming down, Jiang He finally spoke up: “Brother Luo, there’s something I’ve always found strange. Why is there not a single dog in your village? Instead, those dogs are hiding in the woods and have become wild dogs. What’s going on?”
“Dogs?” Luo Yu chuckled. “Perhaps the people in the village don’t like keeping dogs.”
Jiang He shook his head and said to Luo Yu, “Brother Luo, we all heard what you said to the village chief earlier; those are definitely not marks made by wolves.”
"That doesn't necessarily mean it's a dog," Luo Yu said.
Jiang He raised his arm and pointed to his wound. "Actually, on my way here, I was attacked by a dog. We're quite sure it wasn't a wolf; it was a dog, one that had tasted human flesh."
Luo Yu stopped, staring at Jiang He, one hand resting on the machete at his waist, as if ready to split Jiang He in two at any moment.
Yuan Jun watched Luo Yu's hand, preparing himself as well.
The others also focused on Luo Yu, unsure of what he intended to do.
After a moment, Luo Yu continued walking and began telling everyone a story:
Long ago, deep in the mountains, there was an isolated village. It was a time of turmoil, and most of the villagers had fled from outside dangers to find refuge in this place. The older generation discovered this paradise and settled down, leading to an increasing population.
But with more people came trouble. Robberies, assaults, murders—various problems arose incessantly. In those days, there were no laws; the strongest ruled. If things continued like this, the village would be no different from the outside world.
They had come here to escape war, murder, and crime.
Yet where there are people, there is evil. The darkest aspects of humanity lurked nearby, waiting for the right conditions to reignite.
Thus, all the villagers united and established their own set of laws for the village. The rules were simple: if two-thirds of the villagers deemed someone an Evil Person, that person would be sentenced to death. There were no formal laws; the villagers' consensus was law.
It was easy to want to kill someone; perhaps everyone has had that fleeting thought at some point. But wanting to kill and actually killing are fundamentally different.
The First Villain was chosen, and everyone tied him to a post at the village entrance.
"How do we kill him?" one villager asked.
"Killing is easy; those soldiers outside are killing everywhere," someone replied.
"Then you do it!" the villager shot back.
These kind-hearted villagers had no idea how to kill someone. If they knew how to kill, they wouldn't have fled to this remote mountain forest. Killing had never been an easy task. Even though the man before them was a despicable person, no one could bring themselves to do it.
To be precise, everyone wanted him dead, but no one wanted to be the one to do it; no one was willing to be the first.
Sometimes, the simple-minded villagers' imaginations were boundless. Since no one wanted to kill, why not use something else to do the job? Wolves were indeed a good choice, but wolves were too dangerous; one careless move could lead to their own demise. So why not choose an animal that resembled a wolf?
The villagers thought of using dogs for this purpose, but domesticated dogs would never attack humans on their own, let alone eat them.
Then someone came up with a brilliant idea. They dug a pit about seven or eight feet deep and three or four meters wide. This pit had no ladder; it was impossible for anyone to climb out from below. They tossed several dogs into the pit. The dogs tried to climb out, but the pit was too deep for them to escape.
So these dogs were left hungry for five or six hours.
In truth, the villagers could have starved the man to death, but no one mentioned it because they had never seen dogs eat a human; it was an unspoken understanding among them.
After being hungry for five or six hours, the dogs' eyes turned bloodshot. They began to howl—a sound they had never made before. Their stomachs growled with hunger, and their teeth seemed sharper than ever. The dogs looked at each other, ready to attack at any moment.
This reminded Old Shao of the tale of Nine Dogs and a Mastiff. To obtain the finest Mastiff, people would place nine young puppies in a pit, providing only enough food for one dog. Thus, these nine dogs had to endure brutal competition, even resorting to cannibalism to survive. The last one standing would be the King of Mastiffs.
It was evident that just as these dogs were about to turn on each other, a person was pushed down from above the pit.
This was fresh meat.
What would happen when starving dogs, having gone five or six days without food, saw a living person? The outcome was predictable. Soon, the person was torn to shreds, becoming a feast for these Evil Dogs.
This was an excellent form of punishment. After witnessing the scene of the Evil Dogs devouring someone, no villager would dare commit wrongdoing. The mangled cries of the victim echoed painfully in every villager's mind. If there were truly reincarnation, this would be the visage of hell.
One by one, Evil Persons were chosen by the villagers. They dug pit after pit, placing dog after dog inside. After an unknown amount of time, all the Evil Persons in the village were finally consumed. The villagers no longer needed these pits; they needed to release the dogs.
However, once certain things begin, there is no turning back. The watchdogs that returned from hell had their eyes turned red, and their mouths emitted a foul stench of decay. These dogs that had tasted human flesh could no longer eat scraps or anything else.
But in those times, even humans could not afford meat; let alone a dog.
Thus, the first dog lunged at a person.
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