Chapter Forty-Five: The Young Girl

  I had a faint feeling that something was off, the voice that just came from the crowd below, although it was squeezed out of his throat, seemed to be slightly different from the one that reminded the village chief to search for the Three Steps to Soul-Stabbing Stance on Xiao Ge's body last night. If I hadn't been careful to distinguish, it would have been impossible to tell them apart!

  But just as the mysterious woman was about to be killed by my little brother and me, she revealed the secret of the ancient well's evil rumor and asked the village chief to let "him" go. Who is the "him" in her mouth? Is it me or my little brother?

  If it was Xiao Ge, then why did she remind the village chief to search Xiao Ge's body last night? What exactly did Xiao Ge go to Feng Huang Town for yesterday? And how did the Three Steps Soul Piercing Stab appear on his body?

  The faces of three women gradually became clear in my mind, would this mysterious woman be one or two of Jinxiangyu, Qiuyan and Yaotou?

  I felt as if I was in the midst of a vast and endless swamp, surrounded by dense and disorderly aquatic plants that resembled my own chaotic and disordered thoughts, without any thread to cling to.

  The village chief quickly led me to a house made of stone, less than ten square meters in size, at the foot of Duanhun Mountain.

  He opened the large lock of the stone house, gave me a cold look, "Get in! If you don't want your little brother to be cut into pieces by knives, don't even think about escaping. Someone will bring you food at noon!"

  After finishing speaking, he pushed me into the stone house and locked the big lock before leaving.

  The surroundings suddenly became extremely quiet, and a few bird calls came faintly from the Broken Soul Mountain behind the stone house.

  To be honest, I've thought about escaping from this stone house to Ga Ba's medicine hut to find Xiao Ge and leave with him this village full of traps and death, but the doubts in my mind made me change my mind.

  Things have come to this point, and I want to see what kind of earth-shattering secrets are hidden in the ancient well rumors in this village?

  That mysterious woman invited the village chief and me to go to Duanhun Cliff tonight, will she really tell us the secret that has been passed down for thousands of years?

  Since entering Huanglong Village, I haven't had a moment of rest. Now sitting on the cement floor in the stone house, my muscles and bones ache severely, my whole body is soft and weak without any strength.

  The only window in the stone house was sealed with iron bars, and I noticed several shallow brown stains on the cement floor, as if they had been left behind after being washed away by water.

  I immediately confirmed that it was blood, and it should have been left by Xiao Ge last night.

  Last night, the village chief who has lost all sense of conscience must have subjected Xiao Ge to inhuman torture!

  Thinking of the village chief with a human face and a beastly heart, I couldn't help but shudder all over. He appears dignified in front of the villagers, but actually harbors evil intentions, spying on the secrets of the ancient well! Unfortunately, the ignorant villagers are deceived by him and still think he prioritizes the greater good!

  I helplessly shook my head, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and stood up, sticking to the window edge looking out.

  Outside the window, it's lush and green everywhere, with big trees all over, and shrubs under the trees, making it impossible to see the road. I'm certain that villagers normally don't dare to enter the Soul-Breaking Mountain, so there are no roads in the mountain at all.

  How come the village chief didn't send anyone to watch me? Where did he go? Tonight at midnight, does he really dare to take me alone to the Soul-Breaking Cliff?

  Just as I was lost in thought, the door suddenly opened.

  Who? I was stunned for a moment, turned my head to look, and found that the girl was holding up a very large iron lock at the door, staring at me with a silly smile!

  What's with her? Remembering the two knives she used to slash Little Brother's forehead and philtrum, I couldn't help but yell at her, "What are you doing here? Get out of here quickly!"

  The girl suddenly collected the silly smile on her face, threw the iron lock to the ground and stepped into the stone house. Her expression changed, and she smiled, "Big brother, why are you so angry? Can't I come see you?"

  "I'm not dead yet, don't worry about me!"

  The girl didn't seem to mind my terrible attitude at all, and chuckled, "Does this need to be said? You're standing in front of me right now, so obviously you're not dead."

  "Who are you? What do you want to do? Why do you pretend to be crazy in the village?" I couldn't bear it anymore, rushed over and grabbed her shoulder, shaking it violently.

  The girl struggled free from my grasp and said, "Big brother, you're hurting me... Didn't I already tell you that I'm a tomboy? Why are you still asking?"

  This girl? I was tongue-tied for a moment, and couldn't say a word.

  The girl smoothed out the clothes on her shoulders that I had messed up earlier, and she looked like a person who loved cleanliness, carefully patting off some dust from her body. She said to herself, "Big brother, haven't you ever thought of leaving this stone house, leaving the village?"

  "Not yet! I don't want to leave until I figure out the truth behind these strange things happening in your village!" I replied firmly.

  "A glimmer of disappointment flashed in Ya Tou's eyes. 'If knowing the truth about these things would cost you your life, would you still persist?'"

  What exactly does she want to say? Remembering the doubts in my mind, I couldn't help but shout again, "Tell me, what do you know? Why did you go to the Phoenix Inn entrance to send white chrysanthemums? How did you know about the village head and Yang Zheng's conspiracy? And why did you bring me to that dead village? Also, was it you who had the three-step soul-stabbing technique on Xiao Ge's body and knew the secret of the ancient well's evil rumors?"

  The girl didn't answer me, her face turned red and white alternately, the stone house suddenly fell into a terrible silence!

  After a long while, the little girl looked at me and murmured, "Big brother, some things are not what you think they are. I have nothing to tell you!"

  Since she didn't say anything, I really had no way to deal with her. The two of us fell silent and got stuck in an impasse.

  "Rustle, rustle......" Suddenly, footsteps came from afar, and the girl exclaimed in surprise, "Someone's coming!" Her eyes scanned around, but there was no place to hide in the stone hut!

  She immediately resumed that silly expression, clapping her small hands and singing, "The bronze bell warns of disaster, the old well is dead; The back mountain is haunted by ghosts, chickens and dogs are restless; Birthday guests come, the whole village is desolate, the whole village is desolate..." As she sang, she jumped and ran out of the stone house.

  Looking at her departing back, I couldn't express what I was feeling in my heart. This girl, how long would she continue to play this role?

  Who will come?

  The sound of "patter patter" footsteps came to the door in an instant. I saw that the servant girl who had just left was thrown into the stone house by someone. A familiar figure walked in - it was the village head!

  Why did he bring Ya Tou back? I was shocked and stunned!

  The girl cried out in pain and sang foolishly, "Bronze bell warning, ancient well dead people..."

  "Enough! Stop pretending to be crazy in front of me! I'm asking you, did that dead old man of yours leave behind any secrets?"

  "What secret? What...secret? Village chief, I don't understand..." The girl's eyes were bewildered, staring straight at the village chief, her face showing extreme fear.

  Isn't it because Lü'er's mother jumped off the Cliff of Broken Souls and into the wolf's den that her father left nothing behind for her? How could he have left any secrets for her? Could things not be as Gaba Uncle told me? My heart skipped a beat, I quietly watched the village chief continue.

  The village chief sneered, "In those years, your father took your mother to the Soul-Breaking Mountain for half a month. When they returned, only your father came back! He said your mother was eaten by wolves, haha, who would believe that? In the village, who doesn't know that your father is the best hunter, able to take down a pack of wolves alone?! Moreover, rumors say your father jumped off the Soul-Breaking Cliff in the end, but no one in the village saw it with their own eyes. There must be some trickery involved! Tell me, did your father find the secret to breaking the ancient well's curse back then? Speak up!" The village chief suddenly raised his voice.

  The girl looked at the village chief in horror, her body trembling and shaking, struggling to get up and drill behind me.

  She looked like a frightened little rabbit, and I couldn't bear it, so I said, "Village chief, even if her father had really cracked the ancient well riddle at that time, she was only a child of several years old back then. How could her father have told her such a heavy secret?"

  The village chief's sharp eyes turned to me, "If her father were still alive? Would he sneak back into the village and tell her this secret?"

  This is a problem I didn't think of! But thinking carefully again, it doesn't seem right. If her father were alive, how could he leave his own biological daughter to live a lonely and helpless life without caring? This doesn't make sense! However, this girl is sometimes normal and sometimes crazy, and there are many suspicious things about her body. I'm also unclear whether the situation is really as the village chief said!

  The village chief walked towards us with a cold smile and stretched out his big hand like a fan to grab Xiao Hong from behind me.

  Before I could react, the girl suddenly pushed me away, pulled out the dagger that Uncle Gaba had given me from my waist, and stabbed it deep into the shoulder of the village chief, who was smiling sinisterly and had no defense, pinning him in place.

  The village chief cried out in pain, turned around with a dagger and pushed the servant girl to the ground by the wall, stumbled a few steps, and finally leaned against the door to catch his breath.

  It happened suddenly, and I rushed to see Yaotou in a panic, only to find that she had been knocked unconscious by the village chief's powerful blow!

  The door was suddenly kicked open and the village chief who was standing by the gate was knocked to the ground. Yang rushed in, laughing loudly.

  I propped the girl against the wall and quickly went over to help the village chief sit up. Although this guy wasn't anything good, Yang Zheng was walking in, I didn't want Yang Zheng to take any action against the girl or me again.

  I reached out to pull the dagger from behind the village chief's back, but he knocked my hand away and croaked, "Can't be pulled out, or it'll be over..."

  To my surprise, Yang Zheng had been curiously watching my movements all along, and only burst out laughing after the village chief opened my hand, saying "Village Chief, are you alright?" Soul Forbidden

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