Chapter 19

When I walked into the yard, I saw a big yellow dog lying on the ground and sleeping.

The woman outside was making such a loud noise, yet it was still able to sleep.

The big yellow dog heard the footsteps and opened his eyes to look at them, but he had no intention of getting up.

Lan Yi subconsciously walked to the side, but Li Ke came closer in a familiar manner.

"Hey! Puppy! Puppy! Sucking!"

Lan Yi is an absolute cat lover. He himself said that he was chased by a big wolfhound in the village when he was a child, so it is not surprising that he is afraid of dogs.

Li Ke is not only a people-pleaser, he also plays with any small animals that come his way and he sniffs at everything he sees.

The big yellow dog raised his eyes again and changed the direction to sleep.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't hate me, look what happened!"

Before he even touched it, the big yellow dog became impatient.

Xi Siling couldn't help laughing out loud, "You were having a good nap and I pulled you out of bed. Aren't you angry?"

Li Ke could only walk back with regret.

Li Zhiqiang also smiled kindly and said, "Dear guests, please follow me. You have come from afar, so please take a rest first. I will go inside to call my father."

After entering the living room, Li Zhiqiang asked his wife to pour tea for the few people. Compared with the enthusiastic Li Zhiqiang, the woman seemed a little indifferent, but the few people still smiled and said thank you. The well-behaved young man was still very popular.

The woman sighed. "Thank you."

Xi Siling noticed that there were some dark circles under her eyes, so she took the initiative to show concern.

"Didn't you sleep well, auntie? Could it be that the mother-in-law will cause trouble again at night?"

Although the children were dressed like city dwellers, they seemed nice people, so Aunt Li was willing to say a few words to them.

"I always had nightmares at night, so I didn't sleep well. It must be hard for you to come all the way here."

The living dead are something that ordinary people are terrified of. Although she has not seen one with her own eyes, everyone is talking about it, so Aunt Li must be afraid of it.

Liu Huaqi raised his hand in a curious manner, "Can you tell us what the nightmare is?"

Aunt Li looked at the well-behaved and lively boy, as if she saw her own son who was still in elementary school. "I don't remember it very well, but it wasn't a good dream at all."

No one knew where Village Chief Li had gone, and the few of them waited for at least ten minutes.

Aunt Li was peeling garlic nearby, so Lan Yi sat over to help her. His movements were so quick that Aunt Li's eyes widened.

"How skilled! This kid is really troublesome."

"When I was little, I helped with a lot of housework at home. It was nothing more than peeling garlic."

So Aunt Li liked Lan Yi more and more. He was tall and strong with a good figure, a good personality, and was also very capable.

Thanks to Lan Yi, Aunt Li finally started to talk.

"Old lady Chen Ling has a hard life. Her parents have always favored boys over girls. Of course, I don't sympathize with her. It's retribution for her to become like this." What era is this? Aunt Li even hopes to give birth to a daughter. Who would not frown when seeing a foolish and crazy son do this?

Lan Yi also sighed, "We heard something before we came here. Did her son fall to his death?"

Aunt Li didn't care where he got the news from. If there was anything happening in the village, everyone would know about it the next day. It was normal to hear about it. "Yes, it was my husband, the old man, and the second uncle of the Wang family next door who were sent to the crematorium."

Li Ke was standing at the door, still trying to tease the big yellow dog to say hello to him, but dogs in the countryside had never learned how to shake hands, let alone the dog's willingness to pay attention to him.

Xi Siling stood behind him and looked outside. The sunlight was quite good, but a subtle chill was looming.

"Aunt Li, which direction are they sending the body to?"

Aunt Li's face turned pale. "That living dead man couldn't be her son! But they clearly sent him over!"

"Don't worry, Aunt Li, we are just asking as a routine question. We are not sure whether there really are living dead or not." Lan Yi's comfort was very useful, mainly because what he said made sense. Aunt Li felt that she was just scaring herself.

"Don't worry, we will protect you even if there is one!"

Liu Huacu also took the opportunity to move over, but he didn't know how to peel garlic. He took a clove and wanted to learn from him, but this was as difficult as typing for him, and his movements seemed very clumsy.

So Lan Yi began to teach him seriously how to peel it best.

Li Ke finally gave up on the big yellow dog. It wasn't that he wanted to give up, but the big yellow dog couldn't stand it anymore and ran out of the yard.

He could only walk into the house with regret and see two people peeling garlic.

"It means there's a garlic smell coming in. It feels like no matter how many times you wash your hands, the smell will still be there for three days."

Lan Yi gave a wicked smile and then handed the garlic in his hand to Li Ke.

Li Ke ran faster than the speed of light, "Brother Lan! That's too much! You two are not allowed to enter my room after you return to school!"

Liu Huaqi blinked and asked, "Senior Li Ke hates garlic?"

"It's not just garlic. He won't eat any onion or ginger that is visible to the naked eye, and he won't touch any cilantro at all."

Lan Yi was very clear about Li Ke's dietary restrictions.

"He said he would rather eat rotten fish and shrimp than touch those things."

It seemed to be true. Liu Huaqi remembered that when they went out for a hotpot dinner, Li Ke's dipping sauce was filled with chili powder and sesame seeds.

I thought it was just a personal hobby, but I didn't expect that he really didn't eat it.

Lan Yi shook his head. "It's tasteless."

Such strong aggressiveness, it seems that Senior Lan Yi is a fan of coriander, Liu Huaqi thought in his heart.

Aunt Li also chuckled twice, "Just like my son, he can't eat any coriander. It's like asking him to die if he tastes it."

At this time, Li Zhiqiang finally brought Old Man Li, the village chief of Louli Village.

However, Li Zhiqiang had originally entered the house, but now he was coming back from outside.

It seems that this house has a back door, Xi Siling observed it subconsciously.

"Oh, I've been looking forward to seeing you here for a long time. I was just working in the fields. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time!" Village chief Li came to Xi Siling and stretched out his hands.

Xi Siling also clasped his hands back, "It's just what we should do. Please explain this to us in detail."

"Okay, Zhiqiang's wife, go prepare dinner and entertain us later."

Aunt Li also knew that he didn't want her to listen, so she nodded in agreement.

She took the garlic from Lan Yi and Liu Huaqi and said, "Thank you for helping me peel the garlic."

——

The two of them went to wash their hands and then came back to start to formally understand what had happened in the village.

The wrinkles on Village Chief Li's face became deeper because of this. "It all started two months ago. The pigs of a household in the westernmost part of Louli Village suddenly disappeared. The pigs were not young pigs, so it would take a lot of effort for several strong men to drive them away. It was impossible for the pigs to be taken away by force without making any noises. But there was no sound at all. They just disappeared out of thin air! The pig pen was intact, and there were no footprints of the pigs leaving. Everyone thought it was strange, but no one paid much attention to it."

"Then, about a month ago, something happened to the neighbor of the house where the pig disappeared. He was attacked not far from his home when he was returning home from the fields after sunset. He said he heard some noise in the grass by the roadside, and before he could see clearly, he was knocked to the ground by something, and he ran away, rolling and crawling. When he got home and looked in the mirror, he saw that his back was covered in blood."

It sounds a bit weird, but at most it's close to science.

Xi Siling took a quick look and felt that the three people's ideas were probably similar to his own, so he continued to listen to what Village Chief Li said.

"That time, only one person was hit, and it wasn't serious. But then we finally realized something was wrong." Village Chief Li's expression became more serious. "Two weeks ago, Aqiang, the second son of the Wang family next door, drove out of the village to pick up his son. On the way back, he saw a figure suddenly appear in front of him. He stopped in time and was about to get out of the car to see when the figure suddenly clung to the windshield with blood all over his face. He punched the glass and shattered it. Aqiang said he was so scared that he stepped on the accelerator and knocked the monster out, and he was lucky to escape, but the glass still scratched his and his son's faces."

Xi Siling raised an eyebrow.

Normal people don't have that kind of power, but...

"That's roughly the situation. Our village is worried all day long. You guys are sent by the management office. You must help us!"

Village Chief Li's face was full of pleading, and it was impossible for anyone to remain indifferent.

Xi Siling nodded immediately, "Of course this is what we should do. I have a few more questions to ask. Village Chief Li, please tell us."

Village Chief Li was very grateful, "Of course! I will tell you everything I know."

"Can you give us a list of all the people who have died here and in nearby villages in the past six months?"

"Yes, young people don't want to stay here. Most of them are elderly people who have worked hard all their lives and now they have died of old age. We have also reported to the government and obtained death certificates."

Village chief Li immediately urged his son Li Zhiqiang to find the death certificate and make a copy for everyone to take.

Xi Siling said he understood, "Besides what you just said, is there anything else that you find strange?"

Village Chief Li seemed to think about it carefully, and finally shook his head regretfully, "Sorry, there really is no more."

Really gone? Village Chief Li did not mention a word about the cornfield in the village or the son of Shen Ling's family.

Xi Siling looked at the three people beside him calmly, signaled them to leave, and then stood up.

"Village Chief Li, we won't have dinner. Let's go out for a walk before it gets dark."

"Hey, we have dinner after all!"

"Thank you for your kindness." Xi Siling smiled and shook her head, and Village Chief Li did not try to keep her.

Several people walked out of the door one after another, and Li Ke saw that the big yellow dog came back again.

Xi Siling was walking at the end. He turned back as if he suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, Village Chief Li, the most recent person to pass away was the son of the grandmother-in-law named Chen Ling, right?"

"Ah? Ah! Yes, yes, it's him. Sorry, I'm old and can't remember it for the moment."

Village Chief Li waved his hands embarrassedly, but Xi Siling's smile did not change at all.

"Really? Thank you."

Oh, you lie.