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墨書 Inktalez
Wang Chao had not yet pulled Qiuju Niu away when he suddenly heard footsteps outside. Startled, he quickly looked out, wondering if someone had noticed something unusual about Qiuju Niu.
"Heart!" Wang Chao called out.
He hid inside the house, peering outside.
Someone pushed open the door and walked in. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Yuan Jun and Xu Yiman. Wang Chao was overjoyed and hurried to greet them.
"What are you doing back? Didn't Old Shao come with you? Where's Jiang He?" Wang Chao asked as he stepped outside. "We almost got exposed just now, but thankfully at the last moment, Qiuju Niu kept her cool. Otherwise, your return would have been walking into a trap."
Hearing Wang Chao's description, Xu Yiman understood that Luo Yu had not yet returned to the village. However, it was now getting bright outside, and Luo Yu would likely be back soon. Xu Yiman glanced outside and immediately shut the door.
"This situation is quite complicated," she said. "Luo Yu is not a good person. In any case, we have already been exposed, but before Luo Yu returns to report back, we might still have a chance to leave. We need to fill our cups with water right now and take some dry rations with us. We may have to hide in the mountains for a while until Guan Deng comes to find us."
Wang Chao's mind was in chaos upon hearing Xu Yiman's words; he hadn't expected that Luo Yu was also not a good person. "Luo Yu isn't a good person? Didn't he have some conflict with the village chief? Those hunters seem out of place in this village."
As Xu Yiman packed their things, she replied, "Those hunters aren't going up the mountain to hunt wolves; they're looking for those adventurous Travelers. After killing them, they steal their belongings. The forest is so vast that it's normal for search and rescue teams not to find any bodies, so these people are classified as missing persons, unaware that they were already killed by those hunters."
"My guess is that the stolen goods should belong to the village collectively, but those hunters certainly won't be honest about it; they'll stash away some for themselves. This is why there seems to be tension between the villagers and the hunters. But ultimately, they are all from the same village, while we are merely fish on the chopping block."
Upon hearing Xu Yiman's words, Wang Chao quickly added, "By the way, the one pretending to be a High Taoist isn't really one; it's someone named Song Xiangmei. She was originally trafficked here and escaped six months ago but didn't know how to get down the mountain afterward. So she resorted to pretending to be a spirit around the village. She told Qiuju Niu that the High Taoist isn't a good person either and advised her to stay away from him."
"High Taoist?" Xu Yiman exclaimed in surprise. "No wonder he's always been at odds with us."
Everyone felt confused; there were only a few people in the entire village, and they had no idea whom to trust at this moment. Meanwhile, Er Dan, who was sound asleep, was actually one of those sent by the village chief to monitor them.
Realizing this, Xu Yiman urged urgently, "Let's go! If we can't take everything, then leave it behind. Food is important, but our lives are even more important. This should be enough for us to last for a while—let's move!"
Wang Chao nodded and stuffed some dry rations haphazardly into his pocket.
"Let's go."
But at that moment, a sudden commotion erupted outside the door, accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps. A few of them thought to themselves that it was bad news; could it be that Luo Yu had returned and revealed their knowledge of the village's secrets to the others?
In such a narrow space, how could they possibly escape?
"The roof!" Yuan Jun suggested.
However, before they could climb up, the door was kicked open. Xu Yiman had not secured the internal latch of the door, knowing they would soon need to flee. Little did she expect that the villagers would arrive so quickly, leaving them with no place to run.
It was indeed Luo Yu who had kicked open the door, holding a bloodied machete in his hand.
"I didn't expect to have an unexpected harvest."
The speaker was Wang Daifeng, who looked at the four people in the courtyard and smiled. "I didn't think you already knew our village's secret. If that's the case, we can't let you go. You two acted quite well; if it weren't for Luo Yu telling us what happened, you might have actually escaped."
With a fierce expression, Wang Daifeng continued, "You people are truly malicious. Are you trying to get the police to arrest all of us? Since you want our entire village to perish, then perhaps it's better for you to die first."
As he spoke, a crowd of villagers had already surrounded them, sealing off the large courtyard completely. The yard was filled with villagers armed with ropes and sticks, resembling those they had encountered in the first task force.
"Tell me honestly, how many women have been trafficked from your village?" With no chance of escape left, Xu Yiman found herself surprisingly calm after losing all hope.
"You don't need to concern yourself with that," Li Sanhan stepped forward. "Tell me where that old man and that skinny guy went."
Hearing this from Li Sanhan, Xu Yiman realized that the villagers had not yet captured Jiang He and Old Shao. They were the only hope for the task force members. If they were caught, it would mean certain death for her group, and the filthy secrets of this village would remain buried forever. Such evil would continue to be passed down through generations until eternity.
"What place did they go to?" Xu Yiman asked with a smile. "From the very first incident in this village, we discovered the secrets hidden here, so we called the police. It's been about three hours now; if we calculate the time, the police should have arrived. I think they must have gone to find the police."
"Called the police?" Li Sanhan frowned. "You reported it right away?"
"That's right," Xu Yiman replied firmly, making it hard to tell that she was merely bluffing.
"You have satellite phones in your backpacks. Ever since we discovered that, we've been debating whether to take action against you. If we did, it would definitely bring trouble," Li Sanhan said, glancing at Luo Yu. "If I had known earlier, I would have listened to you and dealt with these people directly to avoid complications."
Luo Yu looked at the project team members and said, "Now that things have come to this point, it's too late for anything else. These few can't be left alive. The two men should be killed, and as for this woman, I'll keep her as my wife. In the future, anyone I catch, no matter how rich they are, I won't take a single cent from them."
Luo Yu stared at Xu Yiman, nearly drooling; she might be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
"No way!" another hunter protested. "Why should she go to you? Why can't she come to me?"
"Why do all the good things go to you hunters? What about us?" one of the villagers chimed in.
"Then go up the mountain and kill someone! If you're too scared to do it, stop whining here!" Luo Yu shouted.
Li Sanhan yelled out, "What time is it? Why are you still talking about this? Have you forgotten about Xinyue? Last time, because of one woman, so many lives were lost. Now there's a curse on us, and more people are dying. Can't you learn from this?"
Li Sanhan's words silenced the villagers; the curse in the village had yet to be resolved, and no one knew who would be next to die.
"I would rather die than let you insult me, and if I die, I will curse your village to never know peace!" Xu Yiman declared fiercely.
"I'm not afraid of your curse," Luo Yu replied. "Give her to me."
"I'm not afraid either," another voice shouted out.
"Motherf***er!" Li Sanhan roared, "For the sake of fairness, whether you're married or not, everyone can join in! We must find out the whereabouts of the other two. As for these two men, chop them into meat paste to feed the dogs. Anyone who hesitates and doesn't dare to act will have no part in this."
Upon hearing Li Sanhan's words, everyone was eager to participate, slowly surrounding Yuan Jun and Wang Chao, ready to devour them alive.
At that moment, Qiuju Niu stood in front of the three, pointing at Li Sanhan's nose. "What are you doing with all those kids? I saw you using children's things to brew liquor. Tell me, is my grandson Zhang Wenhua with you?"
The crowd murmured at Qiuju Niu's words, and a few even heard snickers among the villagers.
This was the most important privacy of a man, and Qiuju Niu had called it out on the spot. Li Sanhan could no longer contain his fury: "Kill her! Chop this old woman into meat paste too!"
"At least she's a woman; you all have wives, but I don't," someone muttered.
"F***ing old woman, you want her too!" Li Sanhan shouted. "Whoever kills this old woman will get ten thousand bucks!"
"Kill her!"
The crowd surged forward like a dark tide. The villagers swung their clubs and knives wildly, and Qiuju Niu was the first to bear the brunt. Almost instantly, she was overwhelmed by the mass of bodies. Lying on the ground, she was covered in blood, her fate unknown.
Ten thousand bucks for a life; to the villagers, it was worth it.
"I killed her!"
"No, I did!"
"Bullshit! I took her down."
Shouts rose and fell as villagers' eyes turned red, resembling a pack of Evil Wolves. One person might hesitate to kill, but when a large group gathered together, their collective cowardice transformed into an evil force capable of destroying everything in its path.
The individual is weak, but hidden within the collective, the malice of these people is fully unleashed.
“Xu Yiman, stay hidden.”
Wang Chao glanced at Xu Yiman and then at Yuan Jun, saying, “Hold on for as long as you can.”
“I won’t hide,” Xu Yiman replied firmly. “I’ll stay with you.”
Wang Chao patted his belly and said, “This is the only chance in my life to save a damsel in distress. Do me a favor and hide later. I know it might be futile in the end, but unless I’m dead, I won’t let them touch you.”
“Gangzi.” Yuan Jun spotted Gangzi in the crowd. “Didn’t you want to fight me for a long time? Now that it’s out in the open, let’s settle it under the sun.”
Gangzi pushed through a few villagers and stepped forward. “Both of you are going to die today, but before that, I want to have a match with you to see who takes down whom. The rest of you stay out of this; this one is mine. If anyone else interferes, I won’t hold back!”
The two squared off.
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