Chapter 6: Corpse Puppet

  "Just call me Xu Man. The mobile phone's first launch address was: Xu Man glanced at me and said, "I'm not from Xucun, I just went to Xucun."

  "It was just a coincidence, have you been to Xucun?" Xu Man didn't seem like a very cold person either, but because we weren't particularly familiar with each other, she would naturally hide some things, and I didn't dare to pry further, so I had to change the subject.

  "No, what are you going to Xu Village for?" Xu Man said, lifting up her pant leg and inserting the dagger into an empty knife sheath on her calf. Apart from this one, there was also a red dagger that looked particularly eye-catching. The black curved knife was also put away by Xu Man in her backpack, as if her bag had a special place for it, without needing to use a pouch to hold it before putting it directly into the backpack.

  And Xu Man's backpack looks very heavy, I don't know what he has packed in it, but even if it were all gold, I wouldn't dare to covet a single bit of it, this is an undead one after another role.

  I roughly told Lanxi about the situation, without intending to hide anything. In fact, I also had some personal thoughts. After all, I didn't know how things would go in Xucun, and before we even got there, we encountered this life-threatening situation. If I wanted to travel with Xu Man, I'd better be honest and let her know everything from start to finish; then she might agree to it more easily.

  Xu Man listened and just nodded, but said with some surprise: "That Lan Xi didn't hurt you, your luck is really good."

  "Yes." I also don't know why Lan Xi didn't hurt me, so I think it's just my own good luck.

  "By the way, can you tell me what's going on with those zombies in the car just now?" I asked, unaware that I had slowly begun to take these creatures for granted as a natural part of life.

  "That's not a zombie, it's a corpse puppet, a dead body that has been manipulated by someone, also a kind of evil technique." Xu Man said, "These corpse puppets somehow broke free from their seals and may have escaped, hiding in this mountain. These corpse puppets survive by sucking the flesh and blood, but generally don't like human flesh and blood, with strong yang energy, they prefer some cold-blooded wild beasts or ordinary wild beasts' flesh and blood."

  "How did we end up meeting?" I asked, and Xu Man just shook her head.

  We rested for a while and didn't continue walking, first because it was getting dark, second because we didn't know where to go. So Xu Man and I walked to a small path that seemed to be frequently used by people, gathered some firewood on the side of the road, hastily ate some dry rations, and rested early. Because I had been rushing for two days, I was extremely tired, and as soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.

  When she opened her eyes again, it was already dawn, and Xu Man was still sitting there, unsure if she had slept at all the night before.

  I didn't dare disturb Xu Man's rest either. I took out my phone and looked at it, but there was still no signal. It seemed that this place really had no mobile phone signal at all.

  "A vehicle is coming." After I woke up, I dozed off again and then woke up again, dozing off once more. Then I vaguely saw a few peasants riding old broken bicycles on the road ahead, with sickles and bamboo baskets behind them, looking like they were going to work in the fields.

  We asked for the direction of Xu Village, and a peasant who was leading the way told us to go forward, take the fork in the road once to the left and once to the right, and we would see a stone tablet. After he finished speaking, those people rode their bicycles away.

  At this time, Xu Man also stood up. I originally wanted to help Xu Man carry the bag, but when I grabbed the bag, I was stunned.

  Because I didn't mention it earlier, I thought maybe I just woke up in the morning and had no strength. But then I gripped it tightly and lifted it twice, that backpack was like a piece of iron stuck to the ground, all my strength went into it, finally the backpack left the ground, but even lifting it to knee height was impossible, let alone putting it on my back.

  "Heh heh......" I suddenly heard Xu Man's laughter and looked over, she immediately put on a serious face again.

  I'm so embarrassed now, I said: "This bag is quite heavy."

  Xu Man smiled and looked good, with a wheat-colored complexion, neat and white teeth, and said with a smile: "Well, it's a bit heavy, but I'm still used to carrying it myself."

  Xu Man is giving me a way out, I must hurry down the stairs, this is really not the time to show off.

  Xu Man was like showing me, one hand holding the backpack, very relaxed, just like when we were in school and carrying our bags on our backs, both hands casually slung over the shoulder, carrying it steadily and effortlessly.

  All I can do is pretend I didn't see it and quicken my pace.

  I thought it wasn't far, but I walked for a full hour and a half before reaching the fork in the road that those farmers mentioned at first. I was already feeling quite tired, but looking at Xu Man, she seemed as refreshed as if she had just finished a sauna, her spirit was high. My gaze swept over the bag behind her back.

  Other girls can carry such heavy things without getting tired, but you're exhausted just like that.

  My miserable strong heart is acting up again, but I'm also much less tired.

  The second fork in the road isn't as far as I imagined, it looks like we should be there soon.

  But the weather was not good at this time, and it changed suddenly. The sky had already turned dark and gloomy, looking like a heavy rain was coming. There were no shelters around, and the air began to feel stifling, with the sultry heat that comes before a storm.

  Xu Man and I both unconsciously quickened our pace, and finally, after turning over a small slope, we saw a stone tablet in the distance, and beyond the stone tablet were some houses. The stone tablet was engraved with the words "Xu Village", but for some reason, as soon as I entered Xu Village, I felt a sense of unease in my heart, which was due to a kind of quietness, or rather, a kind of deathly stillness.

  I walked with Xu Man along the road, and as we went further in, I felt a strange fluctuation in my heart, an extremely uneasy feeling. Moreover, I increasingly felt that my body was getting colder, and the dark clouds appeared at this time, accompanied by several faint but muffled thunderclaps, making me feel suddenly oppressed.

  Xu Man took two steps, seemingly lost in thought. She picked up a handful of dirt from the ground and sniffed it, then put it into her bag. I had heard before that some people who lived outdoors for a long time could use the dampness and smell of the soil to prevent getting lost, but seeing Xu Man do this still made me feel incredulous.

  But at the same time, she also realized that Xu Man doing so meant that Xu Man herself also thought this village was very strange.

  "Xu Man, you said there's not a single soul in sight." Xu Man and I had already walked to the first house at the village entrance, but looking down the road, there was still no one, not even an animal.

  Xu Man's expression also became somewhat solemn, apparently also sensing that something was off about this village.

  This Xu village should be a village where Han people and ethnic minorities live together, because the architectural style of the village is still very different. Some are our common brick-tiled eaves and cement walls, and the door is also Huanggang rock or some large stone doorsills. Others have a flavor like Siheyuan, but the difference is that the surrounding walls are rounded and surrounded, like an ancient castle without a roof, and it doesn't look small.

  After walking for a while, I was really sure that something was off about this village because there wasn't a single person.

  Even as Xu Man and I walked to the front of a house, there was still a stool and a table in front of it. On the table were some peanuts that had already been shelled, but they had all sprouted a thick layer of mold. On the ground were some peanuts that were still connected to their roots. At first glance, it seemed as if the family had just finished shelling peanuts the second before.

  I walked in with Xu Man and found that the inside still gave us the same feeling, the exercise book spread out on the living room table looked like a child's book, but it looked a bit old. The kitchen still had the original cooking traces, the pot still hadn't been touched but the rice was already inedible, and there were sliced potatoes and radish strips that had just been cut and placed on the chopping board.

  Xu Man and I are both at a loss as to what is going on.

  Then Xu Man and I walked through several more houses, only to find that they were all like this. It was as if people had been doing things in them, but those people suddenly vanished at some point in the past. According to the calendars in their homes, it was half a month ago.

  It's clear that it wasn't something at home that made these people leave here, and even if they did leave, it wouldn't have been in such a hurry.

  But what astonished me was that the wind chimes in these people's homes were all pointing to twelve o'clock, and they didn't move again. All households were the same, which left me at a loss.

  "The aura of death is very heavy around these circular buildings." Xu Man said solemnly as she walked past a circular building.

  "Corpse energy?" I asked in confusion, walking to the entrance of one of the circular buildings, only to find that the large gate was tightly locked. The gate itself was a common double-leaf wooden door, but the door gods pasted on either side were different from the usual Guan Yu and Zhang Fei - on the left was an ox-headed man with human hands and cow hooves, holding an iron pitchfork, while on the right was a horse-faced man with a human body, holding a spear.

  "This isn't... Ox Head Horse Face, what kind of family would stick this up, it's really... I don't dare comment on Xu Village's customs, but Ox Head Horse Face is something I've never seen anyone put on their door before."