Six Days in a Deserted Village (Part 3)
It was easy to subdue the village chief by force. Xu Wei sat on the main seat with his legs crossed, looking at the exquisite little box in his hand.
Brute force doesn't seem to work.
She glanced at the village chief, who covered his head with his hands and took out a bunch of keys from his waist, and came up to her timidly: "Grandma, we have a deal, this is my thing, you can't take it away..."
"Yeah." Xu Wei spread out his palm and handed it to him.
With a "click", the lacquered red veil popped up, revealing the soft white padding inside.
An old sign that is half the size of a palm.
She picked up the sign while watching the village chief's nervous expression and turned it in front of her eyes.
It was dark black and very old, with some signs of wear on the edges. In the middle was the word "Yue" engraved in bright red, but it was impossible to tell what material it was made of.
"Grandma, please put it back after you've finished reading it. Just in case something goes wrong..." the village chief said with a pained look.
"Very expensive?" Xu Wei supported his chin with one hand and waved the hand holding the sign upwards.
"Hey!!" The village chief rushed out in horror.
He fell to the ground, ignoring the fact that his head hit the table leg, and fumbled around in panic, muttering incoherently.
"Can't throw it away...can't throw it away!"
"It can't be broken..."
“It’s gone… it’s gone!!”
By the end, there was a deep resentment in his voice.
He staggered to his feet, glaring at Xu Wei with poison in his eyes, and dug into the edge of his trousers with his fingers hanging at his sides.
The next second, he suddenly smiled, looking at the sign that reappeared in Xu Wei's hand, with a bright and ingratiating smile on his face.
"I knew my great-aunt wouldn't break my things..."
He raised his hands with a flattering smile, the wrinkles on his face squeezed together, and stared at Xu Wei almost devoutly as he put the black plate into his palm, wiped it carefully, wrapped it in white padding, and placed it in the box.
Xu Wei waited patiently for him to finish all this.
"What's this?"
"It's just a thought. I... really worship the Yuezu God, so I copied his life-guarding tablet and keep it by my side day and night to show my piety." The village chief carried the box to the tall altar nearby, put it in the drawer in the middle of the altar, and locked it.
The statue of Yuezu God stands on the drawer. It is a bright red human-like figure, without clothes and without any gender characteristics. The only specific image is the crooked lines on his face. It looks like a facial depiction, but it does not conform to the distribution of facial features of an ordinary person.
There was a thin rope hanging around his neck, which extended to his chest, with a small tag hanging from it.
Life-saving card.
"It's the one around your neck," the village chief noticed her gaze, "our ancestor wore it when he was buried. It has been buried with his body for so many years and has never decayed."
There was a beast lying at the feet of the statue. Considering the rumors in the village, Xu Wei guessed that this was the fox fairy guarding the "god".
The village chief lit two incense sticks, inserted them into the incense burner on the side, knelt down and kowtowed three times.
Xu Wei had already stood up and looked at the painting on the wall which was not level due to the bump just now: "Is this also the Yue Zu Shen?"
Compared with the statue of a deity, this painting is more specific. Although the facial features are still crooked, the deity is dressed in ancient costume, wearing a gauze hat, and has a relaxed posture, making him look more like a "person".
The village chief hurriedly stood up and stepped forward to smooth out the wrinkles on the painting.
He was proud of it: "The ancestor of our Yuejia Village was a court official favored by His Majesty. He was in a high position but still cared about his fellow villagers, so he retired and returned to his hometown to benefit the people. Later, because of his perfect merits, he was directly ranked among the immortals!"
Xu Wei raised his eyebrows: "Didn't I leave anything for you?"
"The soul of the old ancestor ascended to heaven, leaving behind an untransformed body. It is reborn every fifty years to be worshipped by future generations. The blessed ones will be enlightened and live forever."
"So that's how it is," Xu Wei seemed to understand, "Then how many rounds of this festival have you gone through?"
The village chief was silent for a moment, as if recalling: "According to the family tree, this year is the 21st."
One thousand and fifty years.
This seemingly shabby and remote mountain village actually has a history of thousands of years.
Considering the way they trade in human beings during this "festival", it is estimated that many lives are killed during each festival. If accumulated year after year, the bones buried here might be enough to pile up the stone brick roads in the village again.
Xu Wei also asked about the festival process.
The Yuezu Festival is divided into six days, and the first three days are the preparation stage.
On the first day, the "people and animals" are carefully selected and detained in batches, and they fast until the day of the sacrifice; on the second day, the village is decorated with festival utensils and decorations to welcome the Yuezu God; on the third day, a parade is held in the streets. At the beginning of the parade, the temple where the Yuezu God's body is stored will "appear" and "rise from the ground" by itself. The villagers walk all the way from the stone tablet at the entrance of the village to the temple, and then stay under the temple for a whole night to show their sincerity.
The next three days are the official sacrifice days, during which all villagers are not allowed to leave the temple to receive baptism and food from the gods.
God’s food…is the food shared by “humans and animals” after sacrifice.
The more Xu Wei listened, the more physically uncomfortable he felt.
The village chief gave an ambiguous answer to the story of Mrs. Zhang and Wang Niu, saying that this was a big taboo during the festival and that he would be punished by the fox fairy if he told it out loud.
As for the fox fairy, he only replied that it had only appeared in recent years. When asked again, he became nervous, as if saying it out loud would be disrespectful to his ancestors and the fox fairy.
Xu Wei still wanted to keep him to advance the copy process, so he didn't force him.
The bracelet has not yet updated the message, and the players have not yet triggered the key information. If the situation is disrupted now, it may be counterproductive.
She pushed away the tea she hadn't even taken a sip of, stood up and walked out. The village chief followed her, wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed and walked her to the gate.
Finally, this evil spirit was sent away.
Before I could catch my breath, I saw the evil spirit step over the threshold and stand still at the door.
The village chief looked bitter.
Xu Wei turned around and stared at his face carefully for a while.
"How old are you?"
The sweat he had just wiped off started flowing again: "Grandma, I am fifty-three years old this year."
Xu Wei said "Oh": "You mean you have celebrated the festival twice?"
Then he changed the subject: "I can't tell. You look only about 30 years old, and there are not many elderly people in the village. Could it be that worshipping the ancestors can really bring back youth?"
His tone was natural, as if he had become a villager.
"That... is natural."
"But..." Xu Wei moved closer, his eyes seemed to be glued to the village chief's face, scraping it inch by inch.
"You have more wrinkles, village chief."
＊
After bidding farewell to the frightened village chief, Xu Wei was in a good mood. She walked back humming a song and ran into Lu Fanye waiting for her under a tree.
He was still wearing the white coat with blood on the corners.
"You checked so quickly? What about the others? Haven't they come back yet?" Xu Wei stepped forward quickly and lifted up his right hand to check.
A piece of cloth was hastily tied around the palm, blood soaking through to the outermost layer.
"Why don't you take care of it? There are still five days left. Doesn't it hurt if you do this?"
"There is no gauze, this is the cleanest cloth." Lu Fanye looked indifferent and let her hold his hand.
"Why do I feel like you..." Xu Wei looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Next time if I can't find you, I'll hide first."
There is a one to two day difference in the timeline for players to enter the dungeon. Lu Fanye was sent to the village yesterday.
He had intended to release the other prisoners to facilitate his escape, but he was reported by his cellmates before he could get to the second step. The villagers chased and blocked him, and he searched for Xu Wei for a long time.
In the end, I didn't find it.
Lu Fanye looked down at her and said nothing.
Xu Wei felt that something was wrong with him, but he didn't know what.
It seemed that he had been looking worried ever since he came out of the last copy.
In the past, the two of them were inseparable whether they were training at the transit station or investigating intelligence, but recently he had been training alone, spending all day and night in the simulation training room. Even the training fanatic Shaya felt inferior to him, and she didn't even go with him to the player night market.
However, this seemed to be only her personal feeling. Other members of the organization did not notice any changes in Lu Fanye, but she just felt that he seemed to have encountered something very troublesome recently.
But this guy didn't say anything on his own initiative, so Xu Wei didn't even have the chance to ask.
The two of them were silent under the tree for a while. The cicadas in the tree were chirping loudly, which made Xu Wei a little annoyed.
"You go back first?" She frowned unconsciously, "I... still need to visit other villagers."
When the tasks were divided just now, he chose to do other tasks alone.
Maybe he just wants to be alone lately?
When this thought came to his mind, Xu Wei felt a little uncomfortable and felt that there were signs of division within the team.
She hesitated for a moment, swallowed the anger in her heart, and decided to make her words clear.
"You have recently..."
“It hurts.”
Xu Wei looked up in surprise and met Lu Fanye's eyes.
He lowered his head. There was a small wound on his clean face, which was caused by the villagers yesterday. His usually bright eyes were a little dim, but he still looked at me intently.
Looks a bit pitiful.
His injured hand moved unconsciously, as if he was not used to showing weakness like this, and the tips of his ears turned red.
Xu Wei suddenly shifted his gaze and looked at his hand: "It hurts, but you still don't take care of it. Let's go to the village chief's house and ask if they have gauze and iodine."
Lu Fanye said nothing more and let her drag him forward.
It was almost dusk, the scorching sun had become much milder, the wind was blowing in the shade of the trees, the branches were swaying, the leaves were fluttering, and the cicadas' chirping gradually died down as the footsteps faded away.
"I wanted to hide yesterday, but they didn't catch me," he said suddenly.
"So," Xu Wei looked up at him, "Why were you locked up in there today? And you were tied up so tightly. If I had come later, the old man might have eaten you."
The temperature at the tip of Lu Fanye's ear had dropped. He was about to speak when Xu Wei suddenly said, "Are you worried that I won't be able to find you?"
"……Um."
"Are you so worried about me?" Xu Wei laughed, patted his shoulder, and said seriously, "Remember to hide next time. The copy is only this big, I can always find you."
Seeing that he didn't answer, she emphasized again: "Remember? This is what you told me before. The copy is always dangerous. You can't let your emotions dominate your rational judgment."
"I know," he replied, "I know my limits."
He didn't look very happy, but Xu Wei was relieved.
"You have a big mouth. Next time, just say what you need to say. Do you understand?"
"Um."
"Okay, take care of the wound and tell me what you found out."
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