Chapter 53: The Storm Arrives

  "It's so cold here!" The four of them walked dozens of meters along the small path before Fatso couldn't help but say.

  Although it's not yet midsummer, the temperature is already quite high. The mountain valleys are definitely a few degrees lower than outside, so several people prepared autumn clothes, which are more suitable for the wilderness. However, even with that, they still feel a bit cold, especially the fat ones who have more body fat, let alone the other three people.

  Tian Qi let everyone stop for a moment, the chill here is not normal, it's a kind of "yin" cold, as if it can penetrate deep into the bone and stimulate the soul.

  To be on the safe side, Tian Qi prepared to inspect all the equipment he had brought and distribute it.

  Things that can catch ghosts and drive out evil have basically all come this time, although not many, but they are all very powerful. Most of the other things brought are for wilderness survival, such as tents and physical objects, after all, at critical moments without these things may really die.

  Equipment for catching ghosts includes a black stick, a yin-yang mirror, a jade pendant worn by the fat boy's neck to raise corpses, a large bottle of cow tears, ten talismans given by the village head, and a string of Buddhist beads given by the instructor when Yingying arrived, which is said to be a demon-expelling instrument sent by his Buddhist friend.

  At first, a few people shed crocodile tears. Hei Gun Tian Qi handed over the 'Jiao' to Qiu Shen, who was the fastest. The 'Yin Yang Mirror' Tian Qi originally wanted to give to Ying Ying, but she refused, saying that having the Buddhist beads was enough. Pang Zi had the 'Yu' of nurturing corpses, so Tian Qi gave him three talismans, and also gave three talismans to Ying Ying. The remaining four talismans were divided between Tian Qi and Qiu Shen, with each getting two.

  "What is this thing, smoke? I didn't smell any smoke, could it be toxic? Should we put on gas masks?" They had made sufficient preparations before they came.

  After crying out the cow's tears, the fatty saw the surrounding environment, except for the lush trees and seemingly fresh air, there was actually a hint of black gas, and the first thing that came to mind was whether it was toxic.

  "That's not smoke, it's resentment." Tian Qi saw it as soon as he came in.

  It's no wonder, more than 20 households that had lived here for a long time, nearly a hundred people all died, only the old ghost escaped, and so many years of continuous influx of people, resentment took shape who knows.

  The village head said that it's just a few miles away, but the road in the mountain valley doesn't seem to be a wide and flat asphalt road. The so-called road they are walking on now is also bumpy and uneven, and after many years of wind and rain, it's really unbearable.

  Yingying is a Taekwondo practitioner, with quick reflexes and fast movements. However, the fat guy was not doing well, carrying a large backpack and almost falling over several times, complaining loudly from behind.

  At this time, Yingying, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and said: "Don't you think it's strange? If the village chief meant that no one has entered here for a long time, and the road we're taking is also an earth road, shouldn't it have been covered by vegetation already? But look at the road under your feet."

  Yingying said this, and Tian Qi and the others took a closer look. Although the road was bumpy, there wasn't even a bit of green vegetation growing, not even withered grass.

  "There's something weird about it," said Fatso. "Maybe when they were repairing the road, they added something to the soil, like weed killer or something."

  Tian Qi also thought that this might be a bit more 'powerful', but after so many years, even the most potent herbicides would have lost their effect. It was only later that he found out what herbicides were; the reason there was no grass on the road was because people often walked on it.

  After a brief stay, the four continued to move forward and came to a slope, where they climbed up to get a broad view. Although the slope was not very high, it still offered a fairly extensive range of vision.

  "Wow! What a grand momentum!"

  "The scenery is really beautiful, I didn't expect such a beautiful scene to be hidden in this mountain valley!"

  Pangzi and Yingying both reached the top of the slope one after another, and they both let out sighs of emotion.

  Tian Qi and Qiu Shen didn't say anything, but they were also somewhat excited in their hearts. The mountains are heavy and the water is repeated, there is no road to doubt, the willow is dark and the flower is bright again in a village.

  The front is very open and flat, it should be a natural valley, and on the opposite side there is a small waterfall formed by a mountain spring.

  In the valley, there are many earth houses scattered among them.

  Is this the old devil's hometown?

  If it weren't for the black air diffusing in the atmosphere, this scenery could really be called a paradise on earth.

  Tian Qi stood on the slope, looking back at the road they came from. He thought that this slope was truly the dividing line, separating the village from the outside world and maintaining its mystery. Why did those who entered never come out? Did all the original villagers really die?

  "Let's enter the village!" Tian Qi said.

  Just as the four of them were going down the slope into the village, the black air that was originally on this side of the slope seemed to have come to life and gathered together, following Tian Qi and the others down the slope.

  Qiu Shen had been maintaining his usual style since he came in, silent and wouldn't say an extra word. However, when going downhill, he turned back to take a look, furrowed his brow, although there was no obvious sign yet, but he knew something was not right here and it was very dangerous, however, what kind of danger he couldn't predict.

  "Withered wisteria, old tree, and dim crow, small bridge flowing water, people's home. Ancient road, west wind, thin horse. Sunset in the west, heartbroken person on the horizon." Fatso surprisingly 'recited' this heavenly pure sand autumn thought.

  "Fat brother is so awesome!" Yingying praised.

  "That's it!"

  Actually, the poem recited by Pongzi really matches the current scene. The waterfall formed by the mountain spring surrounds the village, and small bridges can be seen everywhere in between. And the roads here are the same as those outside, although the vegetation along the road is lush, but there is no weeds on the road. If it weren't for some houses collapsing and walls falling, revealing a desolate scene, people would really think that people still live here.

  "Look, there are fish in the river!" Fatso said, pointing to the small stream under his feet, and at the same time put down his bag and prepared to take action. The spring water flowed slowly, and the fish inside swam slowly too. They didn't seem to be any special species. Tianqi wasn't an expert on fish, but judging from their appearance, they were just ordinary wild fish, gray in color, about as thick as a thumb.

  "Fatty, stop catching fish!" Qiu Shen said suddenly.

  "Ah? Ahh! It hurts to death!" As soon as Ou Shen said that, the fat man's hand, which had already been inserted into the water, stopped moving. But immediately after, he let out a loud cry and pulled his hand out of the water, bringing with it a fish whose mouth was tightly clamped onto his finger, causing fresh blood to flow out.

  The fat man was in great pain and grabbed the fish's body with his other hand, trying to pull his fingers out of the fish's mouth.

  "Little fatty, don't move!" Yingying rushed forward, put down the medical bag, wore gloves and took out tweezers, slowly pried open the fish's mouth, and Fatty's fingers were finally freed.

  "Do you feel uncomfortable?" Yingying asked while using alcohol to disinfect the fatty's finger.

  Chubby's face contorted in pain, cold sweat dripping down, "It just hurts, but there's no other reaction."

  "Well, that's it, then you shouldn't be poisoned, otherwise you might feel itchy or dizzy and nauseous." Learning their profession often requires going out, so they must understand some medical knowledge. Tianqi and Chou Shen also learned it, but not as diligently as Yingying.

  Baozi temporarily had nothing to do, Tianqi also put down his heart and observed the fish that fell on the ground with Qiu Shen.

  At least five minutes had passed, and the fish, which was only as thick as a thumb and no more than ten centimeters long, surprisingly still hadn't died, struggling towards Pàngzi with all its might.

  Qiu Shen took the chopsticks from Yingying and made a simple move, and the fish was finally completely dead.

  "What kind of fish is this?" Chou Shen had taken biology as an elective course, and Tian Qi knew that he was definitely more knowledgeable about it than him. The fish looked so ferocious, with its jaws open wide enough to bite a person, and yet it still seemed to be full of life. Tian Qi thought that it must be some kind of shark, but it was strange that there would be sharks in this place.

  But Qi Shen shook his head, thought for a moment and said: "This is just an ordinary old fish we usually call, look at its color, whiskers and living water environment, it's confirmed to be correct, but there is actually a row of sharp teeth in the fish's mouth, which I have never seen before."

  "Could it be that they have mutated? Tian Qi thought of the black gas floating in the air, could it be that the influence of the resentment has caused the fish here to change as well?"

  Chou Shen took another close look at the fish and said, "Hmm, it's possible." He furrowed his brow.

  Tian Qi knew the reason for Ou Sheng's frown, and he and Yingying both felt a pang in their hearts, except for Baozi who was still concerned about his own fingers.

  If it's really because of the influence of resentment, even the most ordinary fish in the spring water have mutated, what about other animals, such as spiders and snakes?

  Tian Qi couldn't imagine how many species existed in this mountain valley far from the city, and if they all underwent mutations, how would they adapt?

  "Maybe it's not as serious as we thought, and we didn't see any animals on the way here," said Yingying, who was trying to comfort others as well as herself.

  Yingying helped the fatty boy to remove the poison and applied a band-aid, after which he didn't feel much pain anymore. It was only then that he realized the atmosphere of the scene seemed a bit off, with all three people looking worried.

  "What's wrong? Weren't you fine just now? Won't it be because I was bitten by a fish? This fish is so fierce, it must taste great, let's catch more later and stew some fish soup for dinner!"

  "Little fatty, you eat the fish soup, I don't dare to!" The atmosphere became lively again after being said by Fatty, Yingying couldn't help but laugh out loud. At this time, he still thought of eating.

  Actually, everything is speculation now, because except for the fish in the water that seems a bit abnormal, they haven't encountered any other types of mutated animals, otherwise they should have come out already, and this deep-sea fish can't be 100% guaranteed to be mutated either.

  Tian Qi reminded everyone to be more careful from now on, not to use their hands to touch anything casually, but to observe the terrain of the village first and see if there were any other unusual places.

  Tian Qi still remembered what the old ghost said, that there was an ancestral hall in the village, and everyone in the village went to the ancestral hall that night, except for him because he was sick with a fever.

  Later, he was in a daze and heard various shouts in his sleep, extremely tragic. Later that day, the old ghost went to the temple and saw that all the villagers were dead, with very tragic deaths. Some had their heads smashed, some had their chests hollowed out, and many were missing limbs. The scene at the time was something he could never forget for the rest of his life, and it's a wonder he didn't go mad from fear.

  His first reaction was to run, so he ran and never came back until he became a lonely ghost after death.

  Tian Qi had always had a guess in his heart, he didn't know what thing came out and killed so many people at once, but why did it leave the old ghost as a child at that time? Was it just because he didn't go to the ancestral hall and wasn't discovered? Or was it that the thing deliberately left the old ghost's life to let him go and tell others?

  If what the village chief said is true, there really is a large tomb here. Were these mysterious people who came here at first the builders of this mausoleum and the guardians of the tomb for generations?

  But since it's like this, there's another point that doesn't make sense. The people guarding the tomb would definitely be protected, although after who knows how many generations, the old ghostly man, who was a child at the time, didn't know about the situation, but some of the village elders must have been clear about it. Why were they all killed? Was it someone from outside or something that was originally here?

  Was it that they had violated some taboo and thus suffered the slaughter? And also, now that they have come here, they haven't encountered any danger, except for the fat man being bitten by a fish in the river. Why is it that over the years, no one who has entered here has come out, including some of his fellow practitioners like him?

  Perhaps Tianqi used to think that many of the so-called masters among the people were mostly fake and had no real skills, but after experiencing so many things, he found that the saying "high hands in the folk" was not false at all.

  But they all came in and didn't go out. Were they left here forever or did they find another way out through other exits?

  There are also villagers, if they went out alive, they must have returned to the village, where their families and friends are, but not a single one has come back.

  This is a pit, a big pit, the pit is filled with all sorts of mysteries, Tian Qi can't think it through now, nor can he ever think it through, because everything is unknown. He has a hunch that here, he will encounter things that he will never forget in his life, and may even change the trajectory of his life from then on. Not just him, but also his friends will follow him into this mystery. From the moment they enter, there's no turning back, only moving forward, no matter how difficult or perilous it is ahead, he can't stop. This is his destiny.