Chapter 106

At the entrance of the village, several ancient trees are winding and growing upwards. A stone tablet stands under an ancient tree. The mottled marks and smoothed edges symbolize the years it has been stationed here.

Tong Jiajia grumbled to Lu Kai again, "What a small village! It looks old and run-down. Oh my god, I'm going to have to stay here for a week! I'm going to die! Is it too late to tell the professor I have family matters and quit?"

Professor Gao, on the other hand, looked at the quaint little village from afar with bright eyes, and felt that he had come to the right place.

The villagers also noticed Professor Gao and his uninvited guests.

The villagers began to gather toward the village entrance. Before Professor Gao could explain his group's origins, a sinister-looking middle-aged man swung his shoulder pole and said rudely, "We in Wujia Village don't welcome outsiders. Please go back."

Professor Gao's words were suddenly interrupted, and he looked a little embarrassed.

"Hey, we are teachers and students majoring in folklore. We would like to stay in your village for a few days to conduct some research. We guarantee that this will not disrupt your normal living habits. We will leave soon after we have done our research and collected materials."

"Of course, we can also discuss the accommodation fees during this period. We won't bother you in vain."

Professor Gao has also been to other places to conduct folklore research, including some remote villages. Just like the guide took the initiative to invite Professor Gao to take his students to their village for investigation, for these small villages that have difficulty communicating with the outside world, the arrival of foreign tourists is not all a bad thing. Food, clothing, housing and transportation all need to be solved in the village, which means that this will bring a small amount of income to the village, which is a win-win situation for both parties.

Professor Gao originally wanted to appeal to their emotions and reason, but as soon as he finished speaking, the villagers looked at him with disdain. The farmer who had stepped forward earlier took a step forward without hesitation, waving the shoulder pole in his hand and driving them out.

"Let's go, let's go. I've already said that we in Wujia Village don't welcome outsiders."

The guide noticed something was wrong and quietly pulled Professor Gao's sleeve: "Teacher Gao, why don't you go to our village?"

If this continues, let alone entering the village, we won’t even be able to get into the village gate. If we are beaten by these troublemaking villagers, it will be even more disastrous.

The four students who had never seen such a thing stood behind Professor Gao at a loss. Tong Jiajia's face even turned pale. Lu Kai held Tong Jiajia's hand to comfort her.

The professor wanted to make one last effort: "Excuse me, is the village chief or clan leader here? I want to talk to them again. If not, we will leave immediately."

The man smiled mockingly again: "The village chief is very busy. How can he have time to come out and see you? I ask you again, are you leaving or not?"

Professor Gao sighed: There is no other way. Let’s take the students away before anything bigger happens.

"Who is causing trouble in the village?" Then the people from Wujia Village who were surrounding the village entrance quickly dispersed to both sides. An old man wearing a black jacket and with gray hair, who looked energetic, slowly walked out surrounded by the crowd.

The villagers put away their previous bad attitudes, looked at the old man respectfully, and called him "village chief."

As expected and unexpected, the village chief was obviously more reasonable than other villagers who were more difficult to communicate with. He raised his hand to calm the villagers down. Before coming, he had heard the villagers talk about the origins of the group of people at the village entrance.

Pulling the corners of his lips to reveal a polite smile, the village chief said, "It's like this. Our village may be hosting an important wedding soon. At that time, we will also open the ancestral hall to offer sacrifices to the heavens and worship our ancestors for blessings. It is a very important sacrificial activity."

When Professor Gao heard the words wedding and sacrifice, his eyes lit up.

However, the village chief's second half of the sentence extinguished the light in Professor Gao's eyes again, and he politely refused: "Sorry, because the sacrifices are to our ancestors, it is not convenient to have outsiders present, so-"

Just when everyone thought the village chief was going to refuse, he suddenly paused.

His gaze inadvertently fell on Shen Haoran, who was also a little wary and uneasy behind the professor. The pupils of his big triangular eyes, which had been squinting, shrank instantly.

As if he had noticed something, Shen Haoran suddenly turned his head to look at the village chief. However, the village chief had already retracted his gaze, his eyelids drooped again, and he returned to his previous gentle and polite appearance. He started chatting with Professor Gao again, and changed the subject.

"That being said, Professor Gao, you are here to study with your students."

"Although our village is isolated, I know the importance of knowledge and I respect and admire all of you knowledgeable people."

"How about this, Professor Gao, if you can guarantee that you and the students will keep the investigation low-key and won't affect our normal lives, then it's not impossible for you to stay."

[Oh? Why did he take one look at our Xiao Shen and immediately change his attitude?]

There is a trick.

Is there something about Shen Haoran that attracts the old village chief? But could he also use the void to search for enemies? Could it be that the old village chief is some kind of spirit in disguise? Wucun, a squid? Hahaha.

"village head."

The man who had taken the lead wanted to say something, but the moment the village chief turned around and met the old village chief's gaze, he suddenly shut his mouth and lowered his head again.

[The old village chief holds a very high status in Wujia Village.]

With the promise of the village chief, the group was finally able to enter the village. After paying the guide and agreeing that the guide would come to Wujia Village again in seven days to lead the way, the guide left alone.

Under the arrangement of the village chief, Professor Gao and his four students lived in a somewhat old and dilapidated courtyard in the village.

Because the yard was big enough, each of us was assigned a separate room to put down our luggage for the time being.

Tong Jiajia took out a touch-tone pager from her backpack. Just as she was about to call her parents to let them know she was safe, she discovered a small x in the upper right corner of the pager's signal area.

"This is such a deep forest, there's not even any signal."

Fortunately, she had anticipated this situation before going up the mountain and informed her parents in advance that she was safe, but it still made her a little upset.

Putting the cell phone, which had become a piece of scrap metal, back into her backpack, Tong Jiajia opened the door and prepared to leave.

[Archaeological research: Did our ancestors' optical computers look like this? They do look very primitive.]

That's for sure. In the early days, even communication was extremely inconvenient. The most primitive optical computer, according to Tong Jiajia, was probably called a "Little Lingtong." It seemed to only have communication functions, and it was even signal-driven. Without the signal, it became a piece of scrap metal.

I don't know when the replica will be released, but it has a small round head and a round brain, and it looks quite cute.

After packing their luggage, a few students gathered again in Professor Gao's room.

Shen Haoran asked uncertainly, "Professor, do we really want to stay?" Perhaps the previous incident of driving them away and even wanting to use force left a bad impression on Shen Haoran. From the moment he entered Wujia Village, slight wrinkles appeared on his brow. He felt not very good and instinctively disliked this secluded village.

Wan Chuhang also spoke up. He looked at the man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he didn't expect him to be so careful at the critical moment. He said with some concern:

"Yes, Professor, the villagers here don't seem very friendly. Do we really want to conduct an investigation here? What if a conflict occurs?"

They were in the other party's territory and isolated from the outside world. If something unpleasant happened and there was no guide to lead the way, they would not know how to leave.

Lu Kai and Tong Jiajia also looked at Professor Gao with some concern.

However, since Professor Gao dared to bring his students here, he was not unprepared.

He first soothed us, "As everyone has seen before in this village, the village chief is the one who has the final say. Since he has agreed to let us stay, even if the other villagers still have some grudges, they will not take the initiative to cause trouble."

"As I promised the village chief, we're only investigating. We can then observe and select some villagers who don't harbor as much ill will towards us to learn some of their stories. As long as we avoid contacting those with greater malice, they likely won't take the initiative to cause trouble for us. After all, this memorial service is a very important matter to them, and they won't easily disrupt it."

"Like Xiao Wan said, if all else fails, if a conflict does arise, everyone's safety must be the priority."

"I don't know if you noticed on the way here, but every time I passed a fork in the road, I would make some marks on the trees."

"Everyone can remember this triangular pile of rocks. I also have a hand-drawn map here."

"Even if there's no guide, we can still get down the mountain easily by following the compass and the route on the map, plus the marks we made along the way up."

After hearing what their professor said, several young students felt a little relieved, knowing that the other party was more experienced than them and had made preparations for both situations.

Professor Gao greeted the group, "We'll all be staying here for the next week, unless something unexpected happens. I just checked the courtyard, and it seems no one's lived there for a while. Even though someone cleans it occasionally, there's a lot of dust in some places."

"I know everyone is tired. Let's work hard a little longer and clean up the courtyard together. We should also clean up the dust in the room. Otherwise, it will be difficult to live in."

When they were putting their luggage away, they noticed that there was a lot of dust in the room and there was no place to step. After a brief discussion, they divided the work clearly and began to prepare to clean up the house.

Some viewers who were watching the video on the barrage also became stunned again.

Yan Tianren was just knocking on his rice bowl: [It’s scary, the scary scene can’t be just the one at the beginning, right? ]

If that's the only one, I'll report it for false advertising.

Don't worry, family...

Before the audience's comments had died down, the people who were scattered around cleaning the room must have encountered another accident.

Tong Jiajia was in charge of cleaning the rooms everyone was staying in. When she arrived at her own room first, she couldn't help but wonder, "Huh?"

In the dim light, a pair of bright red embroidered shoes lay quietly under the bed.

"Strange, were there embroidered shoes in my room just now? They must have been left behind by the previous owner of the room."

Tong Jiajia didn't think much about it. She picked up the pair of red embroidered shoes, pinched her nose and threw them into the trash can, but the dust still made her sneeze a few more times.

When she opened her eyes again, her hair stood on end, because right where the embroidered shoes had been placed, a pool of blood had appeared, and new blood was still oozing out.

Tong Jiajia wanted to scream, but her voice seemed to be stuck in her throat and she couldn't make any sound.

Cold sweat soaked her back. At this moment, she stared at the pool of blood and kept moving towards the door. It seemed as if time had stopped. The whole world was left with only herself and the pool of blood. Finally, her trembling hand reached the door handle, but the pool of blood suddenly stopped flowing as if it had been waiting for this opportunity.

"call."

Tong Jiajia only felt a cool breeze blowing past her ears, and then the lights in the entire room suddenly went out.

"Ghost!" As if she could no longer hold back, Tong Jiajia opened the door and ran away. When she turned the corner, she saw out of the corner of her eye that the pair of embroidered shoes had returned to their original position.

Those shoes move by themselves!

Tong Jiajia was obviously frightened, and when she turned a corner, she bumped into someone.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Two voices rang out at the same time. Only then did Tong Jiajia realize that the person she had bumped into was Lu Kai.

"Lu Kai, listen to me, there is a strange thing in my room..." Halfway through her words, Tong Jiajia found that her boyfriend was also panting and his face was pale, as if he had been frightened.

"Jia Jia, there's something wrong with this room." Lu Kai swallowed and continued, "Let's go to the lobby to find the teacher first."

When they reached the lobby, they both felt warm. Only then did Lu Kai begin to tremble as he told what had happened to him.

"I was adding wood to the fireplace and I felt a touch on the back of my neck and at first I thought it was sweat dripping down my neck."

"Later, when I was sweeping the floor, I felt my neck being touched again." When he said this, Lu Kai's voice trembled even more.

"I thought someone was joking with me, so I said 'stop it' to the person behind me. Just when I thought the other person had finally calmed down, I realized what was happening."

“There’s a wall behind me.”

"I thought it was Wan Chuhang or Shen Haoran playing a prank on me, so I looked around but couldn't find them until I walked to the window to see if they were lying outside."

"Through the reflection in the window, I saw a woman hanging behind me. The touch on the back of my neck was actually her toes dangling onto me..."

"Stop! Don't say anymore." Tong Jiajia's voice was filled with tears.

"Don't be afraid, the professor will be here soon. He is knowledgeable and will definitely protect us." Lu Kai said affirmatively as if to cheer them up.

[Stop! Stop talking! My scalp is tingling.]

I don't know why this kind of weirdness in everyday life is so scary. I don't dare to think about it too much.

[Is this what you Yan Tianxing usually watch? ]

[We, uh, are usually just ferocious Zerg or bloody and violent interstellar monsters.]

The people of Yantian Star, who are used to big winds and waves, say that small winds and waves like these are the most frightening.

At this moment, the people of Yantian Star also sat up straight: Why doesn't Director Huan play by the rules?

The tension in the film continues.

At the same time, on the other side, Wan Chuhang boasted that he was the strongest and took on the task of cleaning the yard. After clearing the accumulated dust and fallen leaves, he focused his attention on a dry well in the backyard.

[Based on my understanding of Director Huan, if he went there, something would definitely happen.]

As expected, Wan Chuhang, who was active by nature, ran to the dry well and wanted to see what was inside.

Near the ancient well, Wan Chuhang's face was reflected in the calm water. However, the more he stared at his reflection in the water, the more Wan Chuhang became intoxicated by it. It was not that he was narcissistic, but his body was involuntarily fixed on the edge of the well, forcing him to stare at the water, and he did not notice it.

The well water suddenly shook, and then the reflected shadow suddenly changed into a miserable and pale face. The other party murmured softly, as if expressing resentment.

Then two pale arms suddenly jumped out from the well water, tightly hugged Wan Chuhang's head, and pulled him underwater. Wan Chuhang also reacted, struggling frantically, trying to call for help, but in the blink of an eye he was dragged underwater by the two arms and could not breathe.

"Woo woo" a miserable cry came from his ears. Wan Chuhang tried his best to escape, but the two pairs of arms were so strong that they wrapped around him tightly. He felt that half of his body was immersed in the well.

"Chu Hang, what are you doing by the well? Come and help me."

Shen Haoran's voice beside his ear woke Wan Chuhang up from his dream. He felt the blood in his body resumed flowing. After a long time, it seemed like only a moment. Wan Chuhang moved away from the well. Before leaving, he glanced at the ancient well, and his back was instantly wet with cold sweat.

There is no well water here. It is clearly a dry well that has been dry for a long time.

As if suppressing the fear in his heart, Wan Chuhang always followed Shen Haoran. No matter what, having someone by your side was much better than being alone.

[Strange, why didn't the old professor and the male protagonist encounter any strange things? ]

[The Ancient Research Institute has arrived to report. It is said that people who do good deeds throughout their lives have great merits, and little ghosts dare not bother them.]

[What about the male protagonist? Doesn't he have a physique that attracts Yin? ]

[Look carefully, what's that on the male protagonist's clothes? ]

When the audience looked closely, they were shocked to find that there were two small black handprints on the back of the male protagonist's shirt at some point.

【hiss--】

The four-star audience gasped in unison.

On the other side, several villagers who had previously taken the lead in driving away the male protagonist and his party gathered here at the village chief's house and did not leave.

Although the man listened to the village chief's words, he still had some thoughts in his mind. The village chief glanced at a few people and sat down on the old yellow rosewood chair: "I don't understand why I kept them here?"

Several villagers nodded.

The burly man followed suit in a muffled voice, "The sacrifice ceremony and the wedding are just a few days away. What if those people cause some trouble..."

The village chief once again put on a kind smile.

"If I'm not mistaken, the most handsome young man among them, surnamed Shen, must be an extremely yin person born on a yin day in a yin year. He is simply the chosen husband that God has sent to Xiao Cui!"

What does this mean? The old village chief has taken a fancy to Xiao Shen and wants to force him to marry that girl named Cuicui.

"Hmm, let me think this through. The village chief did tell Professor Gao that there would be a wedding celebration in the village. The question is, will there just be a bride but no groom? What if Xiao Shen doesn't come?"

The village chief's next words explained the audience's doubts.

The village chief said to the other villagers, "Go back and tell Shuanzi's family that the groom has been chosen and their Zhuzi is no longer needed."

【It turns out there is a groom.】

[It's too casual to just change it like that, and they didn't even ask Cuicui and Zhuzi, the two people involved.]

[Maybe we should also add Haoran as the mistress, just kidding, don't mind.]

[Oh my god, the village chief can't even be called a one-man show anymore, he's more like a local tyrant. And what's wrong with these villagers? Why do they look so self-righteous? Why don't you guys refute them?]

So, is this about the theme of abducting a bride and opposing feudalism? With Xiao Shen's help, Cuicui and Zhuzi finally marry, escape the control of their feudal patriarch, and leave the mountains with them in pursuit of freedom.

However, audiences familiar with Director Huan know that things are definitely not that simple. Didn’t they see the frequent “situations” that the protagonist and his group encountered before?

Professor Gao and Shen Haoran are still unaware that Xiao Shen is already very lucky in love and has been targeted by the people of Wujia Village, who are planning to arrange a marriage for him.

After listening to everyone's strange stories, Professor Gao simply clapped his hands and smiled: "Everyone must be too tired. When people feel tired, they are prone to hallucinations."

"Xiao Lu, this might be caused by 'muscle twitching'. Often times, muscle twitching can make people mistakenly think they're being touched by someone."

"We have to believe in science, kids."

They had finished cleaning the house, but they also experienced all kinds of frightening hallucinations caused by the debuff of fatigue. Still frightened, they simply made a bunk bed in the lobby to catch up on their sleep and didn't get up until the evening.

"Better?"

"Thank you, Professor. I feel much better."

"That's good, let's go out for a walk then."

Led by Professor Gao, a group of five people came out of their courtyard and began field investigation and research in the village.

Not far away, there was another villager following behind them. It was the man Wu Dajun who had spoken rudely before.

Professor Gao reassured the other students, "He must have been sent by the village chief, fearing we might cause trouble. Since he's not coming near, we should just ignore him."

Anyway, we don't have any bad intentions, so if you want to monitor us, then go ahead and do it.

"Professor Gao, you're overthinking it. He's not here to monitor you, but to prevent you from escaping."

Is that something you can say? Actually, Professor Gao and the other three are just incidental. The most important thing is that Xiao Shen, the groom, doesn't run away.

However, they had not gone far before they met a slovenly beggar.

Without saying a word, the beggar poured the bucket of dirty water in his hand onto everyone. Professor Gao and his group had just dodged the dirty water when the old beggar waved his hand and threw a big green caterpillar towards Tong Jiajia. Fortunately, fitness expert Wan Chuhang was quick to catch it. Tong Jiajia was obviously very afraid of insects and hid behind Lu Kai.

Several people looked at the slovenly beggar with indignation.

The sloppy beggar was still there clapping his hands and laughing foolishly.

He was still yelling, "Go away, get out of the village, get out now."

The Wu army, who was chasing behind from a distance, twitched their eyelids and spat, "Fuck! Who let this idiot out?"

Rushing forward, Wu Dajun kicked the slovenly beggar: "What nonsense are you talking about? Go back now."

The slovenly beggar rolled on the ground, dodging Wu Dajun's punches and kicks, yet he stretched his neck to look at the male protagonist and his group, grinning foolishly, as if he felt no pain. He said with a vague, foolish smile, "Let's go. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to leave."

"Shut up, or I'll kill you."

"Ah, be gentle, it hurts."

Seeing Wu Dajun's attacks getting harder and harder, and the sloppy beggar curling up in pain, Wu Dajun had no intention of stopping, and his eyes became colder: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll beat you to death."

Although she was frightened before, Tong Jiajia felt a little bit reluctant when she saw the sloppy beggar being beaten to death by Wu Dajun, and closed her eyes in fear.

"Stop fighting, or someone will die." Shen Haoran was the first to step forward and try to stop Wu's army.

Professor Gao and several others also came forward and tried to separate the fight.

Wu Dajun raised his hand and tried to drive a few people away: "This is our village's business. If you don't care about it, how can you care about this idiot? He's wandering around and talking nonsense everywhere. I'm going to beat him to death today."

After everyone had a lot of trouble pulling the Wu army away, the beggar looked at a few people again, quickly got up from the ground, limped and jumped as he ran in another direction, clapping his hands and humming a weird tune crazily.

"If you don't do anything wrong, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door. If you are upright and your shadow is straight, you will feel at ease at night!"

"Hehehe, I won't do anything wrong..."

Having just encountered some strange things this afternoon, and now hearing the gloomy style and inexplicable music of the sloppy beggar, Tong Jiajia poked Lu Kai's arm again, feeling a chill on her back, and couldn't help muttering:

"What's going on? Everything that happened this afternoon was just an illusion."

Wu Dajun's ears twitched, and he keenly sensed something. He turned to look at Tong Jiajia, frowned, and asked, "What happened this afternoon?"

After exchanging a glance, Professor Gao briefly explained the situation to Wu Dajun. Wu Dajun's expression grew even uglier upon hearing this, but surprisingly, he even comforted them in a harsh tone, "Don't overthink it. There are probably still people in the village who don't welcome you. They'll pull some pranks, just like that lunatic just now. You saw it."

Wu Dajun raised his hand and pointed at his head: "He's not doing well here. Maybe he was the one who did all this in the afternoon."

After hearing this, everyone felt that what he said made more sense, and their uneasy hearts calmed down a little.

[Ha, I told you, there must be someone messing with those things.] The Yantian starman finally straightened his back again, saying that the film was not scary at all.

[That still doesn't make sense. Could someone be hiding under the bed and constantly moving the embroidered shoes?]

[There was also an ancient well, but there was no water in it at all. How could the fitness guy almost drown? I couldn't breathe during that scene.]

Yantianren: Stop making unreasonable associations!

[Ahhh, I'm starting to feel someone kicking me in the neck! ]

The film continues.

Professor Gao squatted beside a white wall, looking at the pictures and texts drawn on the wall, pushing up his glasses to explain to the students. Lu Kai was also listening, but when a gust of wind blew by, accompanied by the sound of wind chimes, he subconsciously looked towards the woods next to him.

A figure in white clothes and long hair with an unclear face quickly passed through the treetops.

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