Chapter 43 The village head led me and Wang Jue to the main room, carefully closing the door behind us and gesturing for us to sit down. It was clear that his family was much more affluent than Knife Scar's, with light yellow wall paint, pale brown marble floors, crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, and three large air conditioners standing in the corners. The furniture was all solid wood. We sat properly in the main room, and the village head poured us each a cup of tea before beginning to speak. "I've spoken with Wu Zhuang over the phone, and you two aren't from Wu Zhuang. You're from somewhere else, and then came to Wu Zhuang before arriving here." He paused for a moment before continuing, "Where are you from? Why do you want to find Hua Jinlan?" Seeing that he asked this question, I didn't need to hide anything anymore, so I told him the whole story about my sister, explaining that our true purpose in coming here was to rescue someone and hoping that he could help us find Hua Jinlan. After listening to our story, he didn't show any suspicious or incredulous expressions, but instead remained calm and said, "We were going to look for Hua Jinlan anyway, so you can rest assured about that. However, last night's events have some connection to you two, so I'd like to invite you to come with us to the mountains tonight." I suddenly thought of Li Xiao Hao - would he be the same as Knife Scar? The village head seemed reluctant to discuss last night's events further, but I still wanted to ask, "That's settled, but what exactly happened last night?" The village head lit a cigarette, took a long drag, leaned back in his chair, and began to speak after a while: "You'll see tonight when we go. This story starts from many years ago... One time, a family was holding a funeral, and several people were playing mahjong together at night. In the middle of the game, one person got up to use the restroom and saw a black cat darting past the mourning hall. Afraid that the cat would steal the offerings, he chased after it to scare it away. However, the black cat was very agile and led him on a wild goose chase around the mourning hall without leaving. The man became enraged, grabbed an apple, and threw it at the cat. The cat dodged to the side, then approached the apple and sniffed it with its nose. The man quickly took advantage of the opportunity to grab the cat, but didn't realize that the cat had a fierce temper. As soon as he grabbed it, the cat became enraged and scratched his hand. He let go in pain, and the cat took advantage of the momentary distraction to jump out and land on the coffin. From there, it jumped onto the ground and ran off into the distance." "After that, he returned to the mahjong table. Before they could even start shuffling the cards again, a commotion broke out in the mourning hall. They heard the sound of the coffin lid falling to the ground, and when they turned around, they saw the person inside holding a sickle and slowly standing up from the coffin. Step by step, he climbed out and began to walk towards them, using the sickle to slash at everything in sight. The people were terrified and prepared to flee, but the door slammed shut behind them. They saw the zombie walking towards them with increasing speed, its sickle rising and falling faster and faster. With each swing of the sickle, the mahjong table was split in two, and the four chairs became splintered fragments. After finishing its rampage, the zombie looked up and saw the four people cowering in the corner. It charged towards them, and with one swing of the sickle, the first person's head rolled out from the corner; another swing, and the second person was cut in half at the waist; a third swing, and the third person's hands and feet flew off simultaneously as they crouched on the ground; and finally, just as it was about to strike again, the fourth person fainted..."