Chapter 60 Shanyin Village
◎Then it burst open like a ripe watermelon◎
The paper figurine in the sedan was dressed in a bright red wedding gown, with exaggerated makeup on her face, clearly dressed as a bride. Just as Gu Nian was about to take a closer look, the curtain had already fallen.
She raised her eyebrows slightly. She didn't expect that there was actually someone getting married, but the bride was a paper doll.
The banging and hammering continued in the front, and the wedding procession was working diligently, seemingly undeterred by the paper bride sitting in the back. The sedan chair swayed unsteadily as it moved forward, apparently being carried by someone. It was unclear whether these people were real, or, like the bride in the sedan, also made of paper.
If it was the former, perhaps they could actually find a way out this time. After all, getting married in the middle of nowhere, regardless of the reason, would most likely be done by a local. But if it was the latter, that was another story.
After figuring this out, Gu Nian didn't rush to check the situation in the sedan, but reached out and pulled the rope in his hand to inform others that he had made a discovery.
The rope swayed in the mist.
Wei Chuan, who was following behind, was on full alert, fearing that he would encounter something dirty. Suddenly, he felt the rope in his hand shaking. He froze and looked ahead with horror.
The rope moved twice, it wasn't a human!
But then, it shook again. According to the previous agreement, this meant that there was no danger for the time being.
Wei Chuan was a little confused. The person he met wasn't a human, but was there no danger? What was going on?
The others were also a little confused, but at this time they were almost at the center of the sound source, and were afraid that they would accidentally bump into something, so they didn't dare to speak.
After a brief "communication", everyone decided to proceed as planned. If they found other "people", if possible, they would not alert them first, but follow them to see where they were going.
Even if I can't get out, such a strange thing happening at this time and place must be related to the pollution core, and maybe I can find key clues.
Ultimately, they came in to solve the core of the pollution and they certainly cannot escape.
Gu Nian had slowly moved to the front row, following closely behind the swaying sedan chair that was heading nowhere.
If the fog cleared, you could see a rickety line of people following behind her, and next to them, a festively dressed wedding procession. The people in the procession played music with all their might, lifted the sedan chair with all their might, their lips straining to create curves, yet panic and fear were evident in their eyes.
After walking for a while, Gu Nian noticed that the group seemed to be starting to go up the mountain. Although they were walking in the fog, the road under their feet was barely flat. In other words, they must be walking on the road going up the mountain.
The one who leads the way is someone who is familiar with the mountain road.
Gu Nian had some guesses in his mind and was thinking about what to do next when the sedan chair beside him suddenly shook violently, as if the people carrying the sedan chair had slipped.
Then, a trembling voice of apology came from not far behind: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Master Mountain God, please be magnanimous. I didn't mean to do that. I didn't mean to do that."
The next second, a stern reprimand came from the front: "Tian Sheng, you are asking for death! Shut up!"
The accusing voice stopped immediately.
The sedan continued to sway unsteadily, silent except for the suona and the clatter of drums. However, the psychics who had been accompanying the wedding procession for a while breathed a sigh of relief. It was a human, that made things easier.
Since they were human, they must have done this for a purpose, and they were able to find their way in the thick fog, which meant they must know the way out. All they had to do was continue to follow.
After walking for who knows how long, the fog finally thinned out, and a temple loomed ahead. The temple was extremely tall and massive, its dark door wide open, like a giant beast ready to devour anyone.
At this time, the figures of Gu Nian and others could no longer be concealed. They were discovered almost as soon as they walked out of the thick fog. The sounds of suona and knocking stopped, and several screams were particularly obvious in the night.
“Who are you?!”
A figure hurried toward the front of the procession. It was a skinny old man, seemingly in his fifties or sixties. Gu Nian recognized him as the same man who had previously scolded the sedan bearers for being quiet. She also noticed that, while the others looked more frightened, the man before her was more likely to be angry.
Gu Nian was walking in front and took the initiative to greet them when he saw this: "We are from the Special Affairs Bureau. You should have noticed that something is wrong. We are here to help you."
The skinny old man glanced at everyone, then snorted heavily and said, "We don't need your help. Just don't harm us. Let's go!"
Gu Nian said, "How can you say that? How could we harm you? Besides, there's a pollution outbreak here. Unless the problem is resolved, we can't leave even if we want to."
Wei Chuan, who had followed, was no longer afraid when he saw that they were human beings. He stepped forward and showed his ID to the people in the wedding procession: "We are really people sent by the country to rescue you."
Other people with special abilities also proved their identities.
The people welcoming the bride looked at each other, their expressions clearly shaken. The skinny old man's face darkened, "Have you all forgotten what happened before?"
The people who had just wavered had a flash of fear on their faces, and then they closed their mouths tightly, obviously not intending to speak anymore.
The skinny old man turned to Gu Nian and said, "Stranger, listen to my advice. Don't interfere in our affairs here, otherwise you will only hurt yourselves. Go away!" After saying that, he was about to leave, but was blocked by the psychic next to him.
He said coldly: "What do you mean?"
Gu Nian said, "Don't worry, we just want to ask if you have encountered people like us before. They came in the day before yesterday. Have you seen them?"
The skinny old man frowned at first, then waved his hand and said, "There's no such person in our village. You should look for him somewhere else."
After saying that, he ignored them and began to direct the wedding procession to play the suona again, and carried the bridal sedan into the dark temple with the banging of the drums.
After everyone entered, a psychic said angrily, "What kind of thing is this? We risked our lives to come in, and they don't even appreciate it. Brother Chen and the others have been here for days, and I don't know how they're doing now. And Captain Li, they're still stuck in the fog."
Gu Nian glanced into the temple, then turned to Lu Yan. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly noticed something was wrong. After looking around, he asked, "Where is Jiang Yuyuan?"
Only then did everyone realize that one person was missing.
But then Lu Yan said, "She said she was going to look for He Wenyu and won't be traveling with us anymore."
Gu Nian asked, "Did you let her go?"
Lu Yan: "Yeah."
Gu Nian nodded and said, "Okay, we're looking for someone anyway, so let her do it first." He then continued, "I think these people are from Shanyin Village. Judging from their behavior, something must have happened in the village recently, possibly related to the pollution core. We need to go check it out."
Lu Yan: "Okay."
Wei Chuan at the side couldn't help but say, "But how are we going to get there? It looks like those people won't cooperate. The fog at the foot of the mountain hasn't dissipated yet, and we can't find the way."
Gu Nian patted his shoulder: "You are right, so we must follow them. In addition to finding the contaminated core, we must also find other psychics who came in before." If these psychics were to die here, it would be a huge loss.
According to those people, the previous psychics hadn't even made it to Shanyin Village, and were probably still trapped in the fog. Luckily, those who entered this time were all highly mentally strong. They could probably hold out for a while, but not much time left.
She turned and walked towards the temple. "Come on, let's go in and have some wedding wine." They couldn't just throw a smiley face at someone; those people couldn't just kick them out. Besides, it depended on whether they had the ability to kick them out. Over ordinary people, people with special abilities still had a significant advantage.
The group followed him into the temple.
After entering, Gu Nian noticed the villagers gathered in front of the main hall. Approaching, he saw a solemn ceremony taking place. However, only one person was performing the ceremony: the paper bride, who was being supported by someone. The groom, on the other side, was a bronze statue that looked almost identical to the mountain god statue in the main hall.
Seeing this scene, Wei Chuan murmured: "It turns out that it is not the mountain ghost who is getting married, but the mountain."
"shut up!"
His words were discovered by the skinny old man who followed the others in and shouted at him: "Who let you in?"
Gu Nian stepped forward and took over the conversation, saying, "Marriage is a happy event. We've come across it and want to join in the fun. Isn't that okay?"
The skinny old man frowned, perhaps realizing he couldn't get rid of the person, and finally said in a cold voice: "Then tell your people to mind their mouths. There are some things that cannot be said casually. If you offend the mountain god, you will not be able to bear the consequences."
Gu Nian smiled and nodded: "Thank you for the reminder."
After the ceremony, the villagers brought a burning copper basin, bowed before the mountain god statue, and then placed the paper bride in her wedding dress in it. In a moment, the grinning bride turned to ashes.
When the paper in the copper basin finally burned out, the atmosphere in the hall lightened considerably. The wrinkles between the brows of the skinny old man, who had been sullen all this time, relaxed a little. He reached out and called someone from the back of the crowd, saying, "Come and kowtow to the mountain god and burn some incense."
A man in his thirties walked out of the crowd with obvious fear on his face, but he still obeyed the skinny old man's words and took a stick of incense and walked forward.
The skinny old man handed over a lit candle. The man took it and, after successfully lighting the incense, his expression relaxed. He respectfully stepped forward and inserted the incense into the incense burner. Then he stepped back a few steps and knelt down.
Just as he was about to get up, a gust of wind suddenly blew by and the burning incense suddenly went out.
"Not good!" roared the skinny old man.
However, it was too late. The bronze statue, standing silently beside the kneeling man, collapsed without warning. With a loud bang, it landed squarely on the man's head, who hadn't even had time to stand up. His head exploded like a ripe watermelon.
Bright red blood, grayish-white brain matter, terrified screams, the hall with the wedding characters pasted on it was in chaos.
Gu Nian didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt that the corner of the mountain god's mouth seemed to bend slightly. When she looked at it again, it had returned to its original shape.
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