Pushing open the dilapidated wooden door, moist air rushed into my nose.
The young man looked at the coffins placed in the yard and was in a daze.
He decided to help Song He.
On the one hand, the reason for Song Paitou's disappearance is still unclear.
If he is dead, Wang Jin must let Song He take him down the river.
On the other hand, this tributary of the Songhua River is connected to Chenjiaweizi.
Since it was something that appeared on this river, Wang Jin had to find out, lest the Mud Dragon King become an obstacle to his next actions.
And the most important thing...
From a personal perspective, Wang Jin wanted to help Song He.
He saw in the other person his former self...the child who stumbled and desperately ran away in the ghost story scene.
Wang Jin never thinks that he is a good person, nor does he think that he can empathize with others.
Good people cannot survive, and empathy will only make them weak.
But when he saw with his own eyes the Lingchi-like wounds on Song He's body, and the moldy coffin that was hastily prepared in the yard...
There will be an inexplicable sadness in my heart.
Wang Jin occasionally uses profiling subconsciously, and he can feel the emotions in Song He's heart.
The young man moved to the terraced house and decided to face the Mud Dragon King with his father.
One morning, Song He woke up and found that his side was empty, but his body was covered with dragons.
The person he trusted the most escaped, and he was infected with a death curse that he could not escape.
The only thing Song He could do was to cover the wound with layers of cloth, then drag his half-broken legs and use all the remaining money to prepare a moldy coffin for himself.
Just thinking about it makes me breathless.
Maybe with a little selfishness...Wang Jin didn't want this to happen.
Not only did he want to save Song He, but he also wanted to find Song Paitou to see what could make a father abandon his child.
"Um?"
The girl looked at the raindrops floating in the air and frowned slowly.
"It hasn't stopped raining lately...and it's a nasty feeling."
Wang Jin murmured softly and put on the coir raincoat that Song He handed to him.
This thing is quite common in fishing villages and can protect you from wind and rain without restricting your movement.
It's just a little difficult to wear.
"Yeah, I feel like I'm going to be moldy."
The girl held a bamboo hat in her hand and threw it at Wang Jin's head from a distance as if she were playing a ring game.
Her windbreaker was specially made by the tune-up department and coated with a layer of hydrophobic material.
As long as you put your hair up and hide it in a hat, you don't have to worry about getting wet.
Snap.
The bamboo hat flew out and hit his head.
"Yeah!"
Hu Xiaobei showed two small tiger teeth and walked closer to help Wang Jin arrange his clothes.
In the rain curtain, two figures were playfully leaning against each other, and there was no hint of tension in the atmosphere.
"That's great."
Song He, who was sitting in the room, smiled and looked away slightly.
He had no objection.
Although this person and the fox seem unreliable, they are indeed his only hope.
It's like the relationship between a terminally ill patient and a doctor.
If they were really sad, Song He would feel unsure.
"What's wrong?"
The young man frowned and asked.
Only he could see that the girl's expression suddenly became serious.
The latter spoke slowly, keeping his voice as low as possible.
"Silly boy, something is not right."
"The smell of the air has changed, it's a bit like rotten fish and shrimp."
The girl took half a step closer again, almost whispering into Wang Jin's ear.
"It should be hard to smell when it rains, unless..."
"Unless the smell comes from the raindrops themselves."
Wang Jin nodded and said the second half of the sentence.
The little fox had a tacit understanding with him, and their suspicions were highly overlapping.
From the moment he stepped into Zhaozhou County, Wang Jin felt something was not right.
Every drop of rain here carries trace amounts of pollution.
It will dissipate as soon as it falls on you, and it won't do much harm to ordinary people.
But its existence cannot be denied.
"Do you think He Song is hiding something from us?"
Warm breath lingered on his neck, Wang Jin did not retreat, but stood there with a solemn expression.
Hu Xiaobei is very smart, she knows what to do to make others look away from her.
A little intimate gesture will make a simple fisherman like Song He take the initiative to look away.
Being so intimate to this level only means that you have overlooked something very important.
"Um?"
Hu Xiaobei was stunned, took half a step back and looked at Wang Jin.
He reached out and pulled his face again.
"That's not true. The only information I need to share with you is the one just now."
"Besides, I feel like I have to make some sad-looking fool happy."
"The beautiful girl throws herself into my arms."
The girl held her chin up and looked serious.
"Aren't you happy?"
"…fine."
Wang Jin was stunned for a long time before he could barely follow Hu Xiaobei's train of thought, and then he smiled helplessly.
He really shouldn't frown and sigh in front of Song He, as this would only have the opposite effect.
It's not something too important, but it's a detail that only Hu Xiaobei can notice.
She could always detect changes in Wang Jin's mood immediately.
"Oh! I know."
"Silly boy likes someone younger, then I..."
"No."
Wang Jin quickly held down Hu Xiaobei with quick hands and eyes, and dragged her towards the courtyard gate.
Although it feels a bit strange, the faint sadness has indeed disappeared.
squeak——
Before Wang Jin stretched out his hand, the courtyard door slowly opened to both sides.
thump.
The slightly thin figure fell to the ground, scarlet blood spreading in the water.
The blood stains continued from next door to here.
Wang Jin could recognize who the other person was without him raising his head.
Ergouzi, whose name is Liu Shuisheng.
"call…"
Liu Shuisheng used his hands hard, as if trying to lift his body up from the cold muddy water.
But he lost too much blood and was unable to do so.
"Ahem..."
Liu Shuisheng raised his head slightly, and a figure appeared in his blurred vision.
He didn't care to check who the other party was, so he cried with all his strength.
"Xiaohua...Xiaohua was taken away."
——
Village entrance.
Several bamboo rafts were placed crookedly on the riverside, swaying gently in the wind and rain.
There were stones on the bamboo raft, and tied to the stones was a dirty little girl. It could be seen from her red and swollen eyes that she had just cried.
Beside the bamboo raft was a crooked willow tree, and hanging from the willow tree was a half-dead man.
The clothes are similar to Song He's, and he seems to be a resident of the village.
With the willow tree as the dividing line, two groups of people stood.
One group was a dozen villagers wearing commoners with sunken eyes. They looked at the little girl on the bamboo raft and didn't know what they were thinking.
From time to time someone wanted to speak, but held back.
There were about forty people in the other group, and they all had guys in their hands.
The leader was a pale man, and there was also a man in a suit who was silent and making strange gestures.
"Shut up, everyone!"
Hong Shan shouted sharply and glanced at the villagers in front of him.
The younger brother behind him waved his hand and was hit with a knife, and the bright blade shone coldly in the rain.
The villagers who were still quite critical at first shrank their necks and hid things like sickles and bamboo poles behind their backs.
"Master, can this really work?"
Seeing that he had intimidated the villagers, Hong Shan turned to look at the man in the suit, his voice was so soft and disgusting.
"It's too complicated and you won't understand it even if I tell you, but there's one thing you should know."
"Sacrificing boys and girls can solve most problems."
"You can stand here and talk to me, don't you use this method?"
The man in the suit didn't even look at Hong Shan. He stared at the little flower tied to the bamboo raft, with a flash of greed in his eyes.
"…Understood."
Hong Shan frowned, obviously thinking of something he didn't want to recall.
Sacrificing his daughter in order to survive for a year or two made him extremely unbalanced.
He desperately wanted to get rid of everyone in the village, especially the boy named Song He.
As if aware of Hong Shan's emotions, the man in the suit looked at the figure hanging on the tree, thought for a moment, and spoke again.
"This man's soul seems to be a little incomplete and has no effect."
"I also need a strong man to hang from a tree."
"This tree is a fine lightning strike tree. It can exert considerable effects when nourished by the yang energy of a strong man."
"The Song River you mentioned is just right."
"Really...really?"
Hong Shan's eyes widened and his face looked happy.
He was also worried that the Song family would survive after the Mud Dragon King was gone, which would be just what he wanted.
The villagers were in commotion again.
It's not because of any friendship with fellow villagers, but because I'm worried about my own safety.
The one hanging on the tree is the fool in the village.
According to their plan, this fool will live in a terraced house next year.
But this group of people hung him from the tree without saying a word, and even wanted to drown Xiao Hua and find Song River again.
One more death means that it will be your turn a year earlier.
One became three.
Anyone with a little bit of brains will understand that this is not cost-effective.
"With them, I can completely eliminate the evil spirits here."
The man in the suit narrowed his eyes and spoke again.
He held the magic weapon in his hand, and there was a faint black energy rising from his body.
This time the villagers stopped talking.
Although they have seen the Mud Dragon King, they have also seen the leader performing rituals.
But I have never seen someone with such black energy coming from his body.
If the other party is capable, he might really be able to defeat the Mud Dragon King.
Gradually, some people took the initiative to stand up and walked towards the terraced house with a sickle in their hands.
Anyway, Song He is going to die sooner or later, so he will die in just a few days.
Maybe it's all over.
"That's great, you deserve to be a master."
Hong Shan grinned and smiled.
He originally thought that he would have to spend a lot of time to win over these villagers, but he didn't expect that the master would let these people take the initiative to find Song He with just two words.
Although I don’t know if the Mud Dragon King will really disappear after sacrificing these people as the other party said.
Maybe if he could kill the boy from the Song family, he would have one less henchman to worry about.
"What are you doing standing still?"
Hong Shan roared twice and asked his men to follow the villagers to the row house to get someone.
Soon, he discovered something unusual.
Except for a few villagers who were still walking forward, his younger brother stopped moving.
He even stepped back.
"Grandma...what are you afraid of? Is there a tiger ahead?"
Hong Shan cursed in a low voice, pushed away the crowd, and walked forward.
Before he took two steps, he saw a villager flying out backwards and landing behind him.