Chapter 5 Blood Orchid of the Breath of Earth ③ - Those involved thought they weren't plotting against her...

Wu Yang waited anxiously on that secluded and hidden path into the village. When he looked up and saw Lan Shuyin appear, he felt as if he had seen his pillar of support, and his eyes lit up with excitement.

"Sister Yin! You're finally here! Uh..." His urgent voice paused, his gaze quickly sweeping over her, "Why are you still wearing yesterday's clothes? Didn't you go home to rest?"

Lan Shuyin was dressed the same as yesterday: a light gray quick-drying long-sleeved T-shirt, comfortable jeans and hiking shoes, with a magic scarf covering half her face, revealing only her calm eyes. She carried a small, lightweight bag on her back.

He looked like both a seasoned adventurer ready to venture into the mountains at any time and a lost tourist who had wandered onto the wrong set.

Lan Shuyin smiled and said, "You can still notice what I'm wearing, so you're not in a big hurry."

Wu Yang smiled wryly, "At this critical juncture, please stop making fun of me."

As he led Lan Shuyin quickly toward the village, he explained what had happened, “There are two roads to get into Qigu Village, but this one is particularly difficult to walk. Last night, we were afraid of running into those two forest rangers again, so we sneaked in through this road.”

"Everything was going smoothly at first, but for some reason, I was sleeping very soundly. In the middle of the night, I vaguely heard some wrestling and struggling noises. I thought I was having a nightmare... When I woke up, Zigui was gone."

“At first I thought he had gone out for some fresh air, but he didn’t answer his phone or reply to his texts. When I went out to look for him, I found bloodstains outside the ancestral hall, dripping intermittently all the way.”

“I immediately called the police, but…”

Wu Yang's brows furrowed as he spoke, a strong sense of unease appearing on his face. "They arrived incredibly quickly, as if they had been watching nearby the whole time. Their questioning was also very perfunctory; they didn't seem like they were there to investigate a case at all. They just kept urging me to leave."

"The more I think about it, the more something feels off."

He turned to Lan Shuyin, his expression filled with worry, "Sister Yin, you're experienced. Do you think Zigui will be alright?"

"Don't scare yourself unnecessarily, let's see first."

As they spoke, they passed through a collapsed roof structure.

The daylight barely penetrated the thin clouds, illuminating the gentle slope leading to the ancestral hall.

The entire village was eerily quiet, with only the sound of the wind, the soft thud of footsteps on piles of dead leaves, and the crisp snapping of dry branches echoing in the desolate mountain valley.

Along the way, Lan Shuyin felt that something was strange. It wasn't until she stood in front of the gloomy ancestral hall again that she suddenly realized it was the sound.

In this desolate wilderness, overgrown with weeds, there wasn't a sound, not even a chirping of insects, let alone any small animals.

"Sister Yin, it's this pool of blood!"

At this moment, Wu Yang pointed to a patch of blood that had already darkened in color in front of the ancestral hall and said.

Lan Shuyin went over to take a look and felt that the stain was more likely left by the four people from last night—one of them had fallen in this spot.

However, she glanced at Wu Yang, whose face was pale, and swallowed back the words she was about to say.

This baby boy is so timid; he gets scared and it takes a lot of effort to soothe him, which is really troublesome.

Lan Shuyin said no more and stepped into the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall, in its mess, appeared even more dilapidated and gloomy during the day, with traces of someone having stayed overnight scattered around—torn compressed biscuits, half-empty bottles of water, and cigarette butts tossed in the corner.

After carefully scanning the area and finding no signs of fighting or struggle, Lan Shuyin asked, "Do you have Chen Zigui's contact information?"

“Yes, there is.” Wu Yang clutched the folded tent fabric, looking troubled. “But his parents’ health has never been very good. I think… unless it’s absolutely necessary, we shouldn’t disturb them. I want to try my best to find them.”

Lan Shuyin nodded in understanding, then turned and walked out of the ancestral hall.

The only clue at the moment seems to be the dark-colored bloodstains that drip intermittently into the distant weeds.

Seeing her follow the trail of blood without hesitation, Wu Yang panicked, grabbed her backpack, and hurriedly followed, "Sister Yin! Don't leave me behind! I'm going too!"

As Lan Shuyin walked, she noticed something strange—the bloodstains from the beginning had long since dried and turned black, embedded in the soil and gravel, clearly indicating that they had been left much earlier.

But the deeper you go, the fresher the bloodstains become. The red blood that finally drips onto the narrow path becomes glaringly red, sticky and damp, clearly indicating that it has just flowed out.

This is really not right.

A strong sense of unease slowed her steps, alarm bells ringing in her mind: How could someone bleed so much and not collapse? It didn't look like someone was injured at all; it was more like…

They were being deliberately led there.

The thought had barely crossed Lan Shuyin's mind when she suddenly lost her footing.

In the midst of the dizzying spin, she had no time to grab onto anything. She tumbled down the slope, withered branches and sharp rocks grazing her arms and waist, bringing a burning pain.

Fortunately, the slope wasn't too steep, and she fell heavily onto the ground under a crooked old locust tree, the shock sending shivers down her spine.

Snap—

Snap—

Before she could catch her breath, Lan Shuyin heard the sound of liquid dripping and hitting the fallen leaves beside her.

A nauseating smell of rust lingered in the air.

She looked up despite the pain.

The next second, my breathing stopped abruptly.

On the thick horizontal branch of the locust tree hung a huge black shadow, like a wild boar or a cow... Its size was terrifying. It was brutally pierced and held up by some indescribable force, and blood dripped down its fur, staining the soil below a deep red.

However, she couldn't see what the dark figure was.

The moment she looked up, several warm, fishy-smelling drops of liquid, by sheer coincidence, fell straight down onto her forehead and splashed into her eyes!

In an instant, my vision was covered in a scalding crimson, and a burning pain pierced my eyes, spreading wildly.

"--ah!"

Lan Shuyin trembled all over and let out an uncontrollable cry of pain.

"Sister Yin!!!"

Wu Yang's panicked shouts came from the top of the slope.

Lan Shuyin couldn't speak and could only keep her eyes tightly closed.

Thick blood mixed with cold tears kept sliding down her cheeks, leaving shocking marks.

"Sister Yin! Sister Yin, what's wrong!"

Soon, a series of hurried footsteps rushed forward. Then, a bottle of ice-cold mineral water was shoved into someone's hand. The cap had already been unscrewed.

Almost instinctively, she held the bottle to her eyes and poured the contents down her throat.

The cool water rinsed his burning eyes, temporarily suppressing the terrible scalding sensation. The bottle was quickly emptied.

"Is there anything else?" Her voice was terribly hoarse.

"Yes, yes!" Wu Yang quickly handed over another bottle of water.

Then came the third bottle.

Finally, the burning sensation subsided considerably.

Lan Shuyin tried to open her eyes; they were still a little stinging, but she could barely focus.

"Sister Yin, how are you?" Wu Yang was a little frightened.

At this moment, she was in a very sorry state; her clothes were torn, and she had a bleeding cut on her arm.

What's most frightening are her eyes, which are covered with dense, spiderweb-like red blood vessels, and the whites of her eyes are almost soaked in blood. At first glance, they look like a demon resurrected, and one dares not look directly at them.

Lan Shuyin helped herself up by the old locust tree. "It's a trap." Her voice was still hoarse. She took a deep breath to suppress the fear in her chest. "But it shouldn't have been set for us. We were just unlucky enough to run into it."

"Huh?" Wu Yang looked bewildered, not yet fully recovered from the shock.

“Those bloodstains are bait.” Lan Shuyin wiped her face, enduring the discomfort in her eyes, and slowly raised her head.

My gaze passed over the branches and landed on the hanging object—

This time, the view was clearer, and the outline of the thing was even more terrifying.

It wasn't a cow or any other common wild animal, but an old badger with an unusually large body and almost pure black fur.

Or it could be some kind of mutated giant weasel.

Its body was impaled in an extremely twisted posture by a sharpened, rough wooden stake piercing its chest and abdomen, nailing it to the thickest horizontal branch of the locust tree. Its limbs hung limply, its long, pointed snout was split open, revealing fine, sharp teeth, frozen in an extreme pain and ferocity.

What was most chilling was that, amidst its jet-black fur, one could vaguely see twisted runes drawn with some kind of cinnabar or mineral pigment, gleaming with a dull luster in the dim light. Dark red blood continued to drip slowly, drop by drop, down the wooden stake and its stiff fur.

This was by no means a natural death or the result of ordinary hunting.

The symbols painted all over his body, deliberately hung on an ancient locust tree, exuded an indescribable sense of evil sacrifice.

Wu Yang followed her gaze, his face turned deathly pale, and his stomach churned as if he was about to vomit.

"What, what is this?! Who did this?!"

Before the words were finished, a series of hurried and noisy footsteps, mixed with stern reprimands, suddenly came from above the slope:

"What are those two doing down there?!"

The two were startled and looked in the direction of the sound.

Two policemen appeared at the top of the hill, their eyes sharp as hawks beneath their hat brims, their scrutinizing gaze lingering on Lan Shuyin's face for a moment longer.

Before they could even form a sentence, the older police officer spotted Wu Yang and exclaimed in surprise and anger, "It's you again? Didn't I tell you to leave immediately? Why are you still wandering around? This place is complicated; it's not a place for sightseeing!"

Wu Yang instinctively tried to explain, "No, we..."

Another policeman abruptly interrupted him, "Your companion, Chen Zigui, has been found."

"Zigui?!" Wu Yang's attention was immediately diverted, and he asked anxiously, "Where is he?"

"The person found at the bottom of the north slope was unconscious. The ambulance has already taken him to the hospital," the policeman said, his gaze inadvertently sweeping behind Lan Shuyin.

The old locust tree, its branches gnarled and twisted, cast long, dark shadows. Something indescribable hangs suspended in a contorted posture, dark red liquid slowly, drop by drop, splashing into the mud.

Upon seeing that bizarre scene, the man's pupils contracted slightly, and a fleeting hint of tension quickly vanished from the depths of his eyes.

When he spoke again, his tone became more serious, almost like a warning: "This is not something you should meddle in."

"For your safety, now, immediately, come down the mountain with my colleague."

A note from the author:

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