Chapter 5: All the Dogs Are Dead

  Second Uncle fell silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled and said, "With Second Uncle around, no evil spirits dare to come here."

  At that moment, his voice sounded icy and powerful, seeming very unfamiliar, my heart skipped a beat, watching him speechless. Second Uncle suddenly smiled warmly at me, patted my shoulder and said: "It's okay, don't worry."

  After finishing this sentence, he continued to tear down all the talismans in the house. When tearing off the door god image, Second Uncle suddenly sweated profusely, his whole body trembling inexplicably, and it seemed a bit difficult. After barely tearing off the left door god image, he panted heavily and looked at me saying: "Help me tear down the right door god."

  I didn't say much, tore off the door god picture on the right. My second uncle saw this, as if he had let out a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his face: "The house looks much better now."

  I didn't know what he meant, and I felt a bit down in my heart, so I didn't respond.

  As one person walked out of the house, I started to have doubts about my second uncle. I felt that his behavior was becoming more and more abnormal. However, immediately after that, one of my second uncle's actions suddenly dispelled my concerns again. My second uncle came out and said, "It's going to get dark soon, and Second Aunt and Little Sister haven't returned yet. We should go pick them up with a flashlight."

  I nodded heavily, fetched a flashlight from the house, and set off with Second Uncle to our grandmother's house in the neighboring village. The village where Grandma lived was called Longbao Village. As soon as we entered the village entrance, a large wolf dog suddenly rushed out, baring its teeth and growling at us. I was startled, but Second Uncle remained calm, shielding me behind him and staring quietly at the big wolf dog.

  I found that the big wolf dog, although fierce and menacing, only dared to stand one meter away from us, barking wildly. After a few barks, it jumped back in fright, looking quite comical. Just then, I heard a cold voice ring out, shouting: "Damn you, rotten dog, get out!"

  The voice was so venomous that it made me feel like the speaker would strangle the big wolf dog in front of him at any moment. I found out that the voice came from my second uncle, and I felt a chill run down my spine.

  That big wolf dog, after hearing Second Uncle's scolding voice, was like it had been struck by a fatal blow, and suddenly fell to the ground, its whole body trembling, wailing incessantly. Second Uncle let out a cold snort, no longer paying attention to the big wolf dog, and continued walking forward with me. I don't know if it was because of the influence of the big wolf dog, but wherever my second uncle and I passed by, the dogs barked loudly, shaking the entire Longbao Village.

  When I arrived at my grandmother's house, Erniang and Xiaomei were speechless about the commotion caused by me and Ershu. Then when we left, not a single dog in Longbao Village barked loudly again. They made low, suppressed whining sounds, as if they were crying.

  Second sister said that all this must be my fault, I think it's not, but I understand second sister's meaning, and hurriedly admit. Little sister has seen my strange behavior since childhood, and is not surprised by these things, instead she says with envy that I am very powerful.

  Not yet home, the sky suddenly changed, the original clear night sky was shrouded in dark clouds, strong winds howled, blowing the leaves on the roadside rustling. In the darkness, the swaying tree shadows seemed like ghosts with sharp teeth and claws. Then came lightning and thunder, the whole world was suddenly bright and then dark again. My little sister was so scared that she tightly grasped my hand, saying she was afraid. I comforted her repeatedly, but I was also very anxious. A heavy rain is coming, we must hurry back home, otherwise we will get soaked.

  We hastened our pace and just as we returned to the yard, the storm arrived on schedule, pouring down with a loud patter, causing the tiles on the roof to clatter. We rushed into the house from the yard, and at the moment when we closed the door, a wave of raindrops hit it like bullets from a machine gun.

  It's okay, we finally made it back home just in time.

  As long as we have a home, no matter how strong the storms and rains are outside, we will not be afraid.

  The heavy rain poured down with a loud noise, and the whole sky was dark and bright.

  We had just sat in the house for a while when the lights suddenly went out with a pop. My sister and I quickly went to the kitchen to find matches and candles, and by the time we lit the candles and walked back into the room, illuminating it, we found that only my aunt was left in the room, my uncle was nowhere to be seen. My aunt seemed just as surprised as us, saying that when my sister and I went to look for matches and candles earlier, my uncle had clearly been sitting with her in the room, although it was dark, she hadn't heard any sound of him leaving, and she thought he had been sitting there with her all along.

  I was shocked in my heart, and hastily poked my head out of the window to look out, only to find a figure standing quietly under the eaves of the gate, with flashes of lightning illuminating him in an intermittent bright and dark manner.

  "My second uncle is outside," I muttered, and immediately walked out of the house to find him.

  The wind was strong and the rain was heavy, I had just walked out of the gate when a wave of raindrops hit my face. I used my hand to block the front and walked stiffly to my uncle's side, saying loudly: "Uncle, what are you doing standing here? Your clothes are getting soaked."

  My second uncle quietly turned his head to look at me, and under the flash of lightning, I saw a mysterious smile on his face. In this stormy environment, it looked very eerie. My second uncle looked at me for a while, then turned his head again, looking out into the night sky beyond the eaves, and lightly sighed, saying: "It's good that it's raining." As soon as he finished speaking, he let out another mysterious laugh.

  I don't know what he meant, but loudly said: "Second Uncle, go inside, the lights are on."

  My second uncle calmed down and followed me into the house.

  That stormy night, no one could have imagined what was going to happen.

  The next day dawned bright and clear, the heavy rain had stopped, and the whole world was wet. My little sister and I were planning to put on our long rubber boots and go cut grass, but before we even left the house, we heard some shocking news.

  All the dogs in the village have died!

  Last night, on a stormy night when people were sleeping soundly, all the dogs in the village were bitten to death by some kind of wild animal.

  My little sister and I went to my uncle's house, his grey dog also didn't survive, died in the grass nest beside the cowshed. According to my uncle, last night there was a heavy thunderstorm and power outage, they all slept very early and soundly, didn't hear any noise. In the morning, they just saw their own grey dog dead.

  That grey dog didn't know what terrifying thing it saw before it died, its eyes were wide open and wouldn't close, the fatal wound was on its neck, with two rows of bloody tooth marks, as if it had been bitten to death by something. Everyone was discussing it, I carefully looked at the tooth marks on the grey dog's neck, suddenly my heart skipped a beat, I found that those tooth prints seemed not to be from an animal, but rather... human!

  This discovery left me stunned instantly.

  Why would it be a human's tooth print, and who could kill all the dogs in the village overnight? Not to mention that just the fact of a person biting a dog to death is already terrifying.

  I didn't dare to tell everyone about my discovery, but just this morning, when I and my little sister were carrying the green grass back to the village, we heard people discussing that the dog was bitten to death by someone. Moreover, we saw two men in police uniforms appearing at my uncle's house, asking questions from the gathered villagers. These two men are police officers from the police station, I guess maybe my uncle reported the case and they came to investigate.

  I and my little sister stood by and watched for a while. I saw two police officers listening to the villagers' account, frowning, as if they felt the case was difficult to handle. Just then, suddenly, Li Ma Zi, the notorious bachelor from the village, stumbled over, drunk, shouting loudly: "These dead dogs, died well! Haha!"

  Two police officers were stumped by the case, but when they heard Li Ma Zi's words, which seemed highly suspicious, they shouted and rushed forward to grab him, asking if he was the one who had bitten all the dogs in the village to death. Li Ma Zi was drunk and fearless, so even when caught by the police officers, he smiled and said it was him, what of it, those dogs died for good reason.

  Li Mazu was once bitten by the vicious dog of Chen's family in the village and had a deep grudge against dogs. Now that all the dogs in the village are dead, he must be the happiest person. I suspect that he got drunk to celebrate this matter, but I don't think the village dogs were killed by Li Mazu. Not to mention that Li Mazu's behavior is not bad, just saying that killing so many dogs without being discovered is an impossible task for him.

  However, the two police officers didn't think that much, they thought Li Ma Zi was very suspicious and wanted to take him to the police station for questioning. Some villagers nearby spoke up for Li Ma Zi, but it was no use, Li Ma Zi was still taken back to the police station for questioning. In the afternoon, Li Ma Zi was brought back to the village by the police officers. In front of all the villagers, Li Ma Zi bowed his head and admitted that he was the one who had bitten the village dogs to death, and said he was willing to compensate everyone.

  Everyone thought it was unbelievable, and someone asked Li Ma Zi why he did this. Li Ma Zi hesitated and said it was because the barking of dogs at night annoyed him. Since the person involved had already admitted it, what else could anyone say? After the two police officers left, the old village chief personally confronted Li Ma Zi, who immediately changed his words again, saying that he didn't do it, and he was forced to do so under duress.

  Then the matter was settled, and the villagers were willing to believe what Li Ma Zi said. The death of the dog seemed like a shadow looming over everyone's heads. At the request of the old village chief, my second uncle took me to sprinkle talismans in the village again. This time, he also had me bring his peach wood sword. After sprinkling the talismans at the entrance of the village, the village chief standing beside us sighed and said that he didn't know if the dog's death was an ominous sign or not. My second uncle asked me to hand over the peach wood sword to him.

  The second uncle had just taken over the peach wood sword and inexplicably bowed slightly, as if the peach wood sword was too heavy.

  I saw him holding the peach wood sword, his hand shaking non-stop, and his face looked terrible. The old village chief asked him what was wrong, and Second Uncle shook his head and said it was nothing, then with some difficulty swung the peach wood sword to start the ritual. After finishing the ritual, Second Uncle was drenched in sweat, his face pale, his whole body shaking, and he threw the peach wood sword on the ground, looking at me and the old village chief saying: "Nothing will happen from now on."

  I and the old village chief thought that Second Uncle was so exhausted because he had spent too much energy on his spell, and we didn't suspect anything else. And Second Uncle seemed to be taking his spell so seriously, which also reassured the old village chief. On our way back, I carried the peach wood sword for Second Uncle and asked him if he knew what kind of creature had bitten the dog to death. Second Uncle's face turned solemn as he shook his head, looking towards the direction of the mountain behind us, without saying a word.

  The next morning, Erniang suddenly had a severe fever and couldn't get out of bed.

  My little sister and I were anxious, my second uncle asked us to stay at home to take care of my second aunt, he went out to the street to ask a doctor. Not long after my second uncle left, my second aunt suddenly woke up, saw us, and hurriedly asked where my second uncle had gone. I told her that my second uncle had gone to the street to ask a doctor for her, my second aunt was stunned for a moment, then ordered my little sister to go cook ginger soup for her, intentionally leaving me alone.

  I think Erniang seems to have something to say to me alone, looking at her and waiting for her to speak. Erniang, however, hesitated and ultimately didn't say anything. I asked Erniang what was wrong, and she turned her head to quietly look at the floorboards above, saying softly that it's nothing, just a bit of chill.

  Actually, I had noticed that there was a kind of inexplicable chill in the bedroom of my second uncle and aunt. Previously, my aunt said it might be due to dampness rising from the foundation, but I didn't think much of it. Now it seems that my aunt has also become aware of something being off.