Zhu Qiuyu and the others remained expressionless, glancing indifferently at the boy. Zhu Lin followed the direction Xingxing pointed and whispered, "Let's go take a look."
It seems we can't leave today; we still need to find the villagers, otherwise this matter won't be over.
Seeing that the village chief and his family were still standing there without moving, Zhu Qiuyu called out to remind them, "Why aren't you following us? What are you standing there for?"
Before the village chief could react, seeing that they had stopped, he seemed to have discovered something and quickly called his wife, son, and daughter-in-law to follow.
It took a full half hour to walk from the village to that barren slope. Xingxing led everyone around in circles, and finally stopped in front of a clump of weeds.
"I'm exhausted, this place is so hard to find," Xingxing muttered to herself.
"Is it in this thicket? Are you sure?" Zhu Qingruo squatted down and looked around, feeling that there was no way anyone could hide there, as it was all weeds and stones, and she couldn't see anyone.
Xingxing said confidently, "This is it. Let's clear away the weeds, and the person is down there."
"Leave this job to us, we'll move these weeds." The village chief led his family forward quickly. He had no other choice; as long as he could find villagers, he would do anything.
"Step back, don't get in the way." The boy's voice wasn't loud, but it was firm and resolute.
The village chief was taken aback, but instinctively obeyed the boy's words and quickly retreated.
With a whoosh, the white-robed youth channeled his inner energy, and all the weeds that had covered the well were blown away, revealing the well opening.
"How come there's a well here?" the village chief exclaimed. People from their village often came to this barren slope to collect firewood. There were many low shrubs and weeds here, and occasionally they could catch mountain rats or wild rabbits. People from the village often came here.
But no one noticed that there was a dry well here, so how did those female demons find it?
"The villagers are in the well. If we don't rescue them, they'll either starve or be crushed to death!" Xingxing shouted a warning.
"What? The villagers are all in the dry well? Yes, saving them is the most important thing." The village chief was both overjoyed and worried, and his words were incoherent.
In his panic, the village chief actually wanted to climb into the well to rescue the person himself, but fortunately his son stopped him in time, saying, "Dad, what are you doing going down the well? We still need to save you first. This is not how you save someone."
"Oh, right, Dad's confused in his panic." The village chief quickly pulled his leg back and leaned over the well, shouting loudly into it.
"Big Dog, Er Mao, Si Tou... are you down there? If you hear me calling, at least answer so we can figure out a way to get you up."
After a short while, a faint response came from down the well: "Help, help, help me!"
"Village chief, village chief, we're in the well! Please save us! We're going to die! We can't hold on any longer!"
"There really are people! Quick, quick, lower the rope down and tie them to your bodies, then we'll pull them up." The village chief was pacing around frantically, muttering to himself, but he didn't move for a long time.
The village chief's son said to his younger brother, "Second brother, go back to the village and get a rope, otherwise we won't have anything to pull people up."
The village chief's youngest son nodded vigorously, took off running into the village, and disappeared in no time.
“You can use rattan to pull people up too,” Xingxing said softly, tilting her head.
The village chief and his eldest son's eyes lit up. Yes, a good vine could also be used as a rope. However, they didn't bring a knife, and besides, they couldn't find a good vine nearby. So, their hopes were dashed, and in the end, they could only wait for their second son to bring the rope.
An hour later, the village chief's youngest son, exhausted like a dead dog, finally brought the rope from the village. He threw the rope to the village chief and his companion, then collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
He can't take it anymore, he needs to catch his breath, his lungs are about to burst out of his throat.
"What is this? Isn't this the red ribbon of that female demon? Why did she bring this too?" The village chief and his eldest son were still shaken. Although the Red Maiden hadn't used any witchcraft on them, she had strangled people with this thing before, and they had seen it with their own eyes. It was terrifying.
Fortunately, there were other ropes, and the village chief, his eldest son, and his two daughters-in-law worked tirelessly to pull people out of the well.
More than fifty people were thrown into a dry well that was only two meters in diameter. Luckily, they were all adults; if they were children, they would have suffocated long ago. However, even among the adults, eight people were suffocating from the pressure and their faces turned purple. If they had been any later, they would have been doomed.
After exhausting themselves rescuing the people, the village chief didn't dare rest. He immediately counted the number of people, but there were only fifty-three. The village chief jumped up and down, "How come there are only these people? Where are the others?"
Er Gou got up from the ground, his voice barely audible, and pointed in a direction. "When I was thrown into the well, I heard the female demon say that she was going to lock the rest of the people in that cave over there."
The village chief's son thought for a moment. There was only one cave on the barren slope, and the cave was very narrow. There were at least thirty people left. How could they possibly squeeze in?
"Stop standing there, hurry up and save them!" The village chief patted his eldest son's head, clutched his chest, and shouted with difficulty.
Please, no more people are dying. There aren't many people left in the village; less than half are still alive. Sigh, what kind of world is this?
The village chief's son ran away, but soon returned, his face contorted with worry as he shouted anxiously, "Dad, the entrance to the cave is blocked by a big rock. I don't have the strength to move it!"
"Big Dog, Er Mao, Si Tou, have you recovered yet? If you have, come with me to move the stones at the entrance of the cave." The village chief stamped his feet anxiously.
"No, I have no strength, my legs are weak." Si Tou and Er Mao said weakly, waving their hands feebly.
The big dog simply pretended to be dead and refused to speak. It was barely able to save itself, let alone help others.
"What should we do? Let's go help." Xingxing's heart tightened, and she also wanted to save the person as soon as possible.
Zhu Lin remained as steady as Mount Tai, standing there motionless, only slightly parting his thin lips, "Third Senior Brother and Fifth Senior Brother, go and help."
The two senior brothers who were called out chuckled and instantly teleported to the cave entrance. Each of them moved one of the two boulders blocking the entrance.
"Is Hong Niangzi also very strong? Did she also lift the stone and move it to the cave like Third Brother and Fifth Brother?" Xingxing had already pulled Zhu Lin to a place not far from the cave entrance, her big, watery eyes fixed on that side.
"Hong Niangzi is quite skilled, so it's not surprising that she can move huge rocks. But she's a real madwoman; nothing she does is normal." Zhu Qingruo also came over and made a few speechless comments.
The cave was even more crowded than the dry well. Dozens of villagers stood close together, but even standing like that, they were so crowded that they could hardly breathe because there was no extra space.
So when the boulder was moved, those near the cave entrance fell straight down, followed by the people behind them, piled on top of each other. Those crushed underneath couldn't withstand the weight and died instantly.
So of the forty people in the cave, three couldn't hold on and died, including two young women and one weak adult man. The others were tortured to the point of wishing they were dead and only managed to hold on until now.
"Let Fourth Senior Brother come and rescue them; these people are about to collapse," Zhu Lin whispered, gesturing to Zhu Qingruo to fetch Zhu Chumo.
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