There were dozens of people from the two villages who were arrested and brought to the Southern Province Police Station for suspected involvement in a large-scale human trafficking case. When a row of police cars with sirens blaring took them from the villages to the police station in the fading light of the evening, the noise was so loud that it was particularly conspicuous.
After being temporarily detained, some frightened villagers looked worried and lowered their voices:
"Brother Feng, what should we do? These policemen have never arrested us in such a high-profile manner. Did they get any evidence?!"
"Yeah, our village is going to be ruined!"
Wu Feng was also nervous, but after all, he had seen both sides of those big guys.
Judging from their aura alone, those people are much more powerful than Gu Zhisang and those other online contestants. They have a sinister aura all over their bodies, and just looking at them makes one's scalp tingle!
Thinking of this, he felt a little relieved.
He said calmly and robustly, "Don't be such a jerk. What can these cops find out? The 'goods' that were hidden in the village were taken away long ago. They can't even find anything!"
"As for those 'partners' outside, they are all veterans who have worked with us for many years. They know that if they betray us first, they will also be killed. They are much more stubborn than you, the weak ones."
The second-in-command who had been working with Wu Feng and was also the nominal person in charge of the village was previously suspected by the police of luring people from other provinces into the village because he accidentally revealed his identity.
With the help of the formation set up by the top masters in the village, he hid the kidnapped people inside, and finally returned to the village in a swagger without any trouble.
After this experience, the second-in-command has always been contemptuous of the authority of Xia State's laws.
After listening to the nervous or panicked voices of his fellow villagers, he snorted coldly:
"Brother Feng is right. You are a bunch of cowards with no guts. Just wait and see. The master who is protecting us will definitely find a way. In less than two days, these cops will let us go in disgrace."
The villagers who were ridiculed for being timid looked embarrassed and worried:
"I'm not afraid of going to jail. My eldest son has a girlfriend in a big city. She comes from a wealthy family and doesn't like poor guys like us. If I get arrested, his marriage will be ruined!"
Another villager was also anxious. "My daughter is still in college. She has good grades and will soon take the civil service exam. I can't let anything happen to me at this time. Brother Feng, you have to think of a solution for us!"
The detained villagers were in panic, and the police officers on duty outside were also a little worried.
"Captain He, the evidence we have is not enough to serve as proof of arrest and detention. Besides, will it be enough to arrest so many people at once..."
Captain He of the Southern Provincial Police Department said, "It seems that the orders from above are guaranteed by the Provincial Spirit Group. We just need to act."
"Although I don't believe in these monsters, I really hope that this time they can show up and help Nan Province break the haze that has been hanging over its head for many years! Let's go and take the statement now."
…
On the other side, Gu Zhisang was sorting out the information he already knew.
Back to the afternoon
When she and other contestants of the program were in the neighborhood committee of Xiaoyan Village, through Daisy's moment of empathy in retrospect, Gu Zhisang "saw" a picture buried in the crazy woman's memory.
It was a statue of a deity.
A body of gold and bronze, with multiple faces, some happy, some angry, it is none other than the 'Thousand-Faced God' that has emerged in the vicinity of Southern Province in recent years.
Even from the memory of a mentally ill person many years ago, one can glimpse the powerful power of this statue;
The same evil is sticky and touching it is like being stuck in a quagmire.
This is obviously not normal.
Generally, the various gods worshipped by people place a part of their spirit in clay, bronze or gold statues in the mortal world, and use this to receive incense and offerings.
These statues are not their true selves, and the remaining power on them is very weak.
There is only one explanation for why Daisy was attacked and nearly seriously injured after just one look back:
The statue that the crazy woman, Zheng Xiaona's lost sister Zheng Xiaoyan, saw back then was the true body of the Thousand-Faced God!
Gu Zhisang was very lucky and hit the target with one strike.
If she had not directly grasped the true identity of this so-called god, she would not have been able to see through the "black fog" shrouding Zheng Xiaoyan so quickly.
After sorting out the relevant information and making sure nothing was missed, Gu Zhisang handed the transcript notebook to the police officer who was responsible for receiving him.
After getting it, the police officers found that the information was very detailed with Zheng Xiaoyan as the central fulcrum.
Zheng Xiaoyan, born in 1990, is 32 years old this year. She was born in Jiangbei, Xia State.
Judging from her expression, she has suffered a lot in her life.
When I was young, I was far away from home and separated from my family;
When she was still a young girl, she was forced into an affair and married a vicious man.
She gave birth to her first child, a boy, at the age of sixteen. Six years later, Zheng Xiaoyan, who was only twenty-two years old, gave birth to her second daughter.
Finally, when her daughter was just three years old, she fell insane because she could not escape, and since then she has been wandering around the village like a zombie for several years.
If Gu Zhisang had not come to this village, had not discovered the abnormality in her, or had not been willing to intervene at that juncture;
According to Zheng Xiaoyan's original life trajectory, she would die when she was less than 40 years old due to mental confusion and difficulty in moving, and she would fall and hit her head on a rock.
She wanted to leave this prison and find her family and hometown all her life, but she died miserably and no one came to collect her body.
Over the next ten years, the Zheng family's elderly couple and Zheng Xiaona continued to search for her, and they had no idea that their daughter was dead.
This is indeed the trajectory of Zheng Xiaoyan’s real life.
From the memories extracted by Gu Zhisang, she interpreted Zheng Xiaoyan's painful and miserable first half of her life.
When she was 7 years old, Zheng Xiaoyan and her sister Zheng Xiaona followed their parents who collected mushrooms to Nan Province. In the summer of that year, Zheng Xiaoyan, who ran to the side of the road out of anger with her sister, was spotted by local human traffickers.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one on the village road at the time, the human trafficker covered Zheng Xiaoyan's mouth and nose with a handkerchief soaked in medicine and abducted her quietly.
The Zheng family stayed here for more than a month, but could not find the whereabouts of the child, and finally returned in despair.
They didn't know that their lost little daughter was being detained like cargo in the next village less than three kilometers away.
At that time, the trafficking chain here had already begun to take shape, and many of the traffickers were poor and incompetent villagers from nearby villages who had no intention of finding a decent job and were only interested in making huge profits.
These people are responsible for the first stage of 'selecting', 'catching' and 'training' the children.
There are several higher-level sales chains further up.
It is said that the people in charge at the top of the chain are not comparable to ordinary people. They are a group of big guys with magic and skills, who can use various magical means to prevent the cops from catching the small shrimps at the bottom.
When Zheng Xiaoyan was first abducted, she was hidden in the village's formation.
Although she was cute at that time, she was only seven years old after all, too young to be sold to the mountains as a new "daughter-in-law".
But as a child she was too old. She could clearly remember that she was abducted and kept clamoring to go home and ask for her parents. It is impossible to raise such a child.
Plus, she wasn't a hot commodity - a boy - so she was almost sold across the border as inferior goods.
Once the money is invested overseas, there is no possibility of getting it back.
It happened that at this time, the mysterious boss who protected the village came in person and wanted to choose a suitable child from the batch of goods and take him away.
The villagers involved in the trafficking chain also don’t know where the top gangsters are taking the children and what they are going to do with them.
All I know is that every three to five months, someone would come to pick the 'right' child, without fail.
After they were taken away, they never saw the children again.
Zheng Xiaoyan was one of those "goods" at that time.
At such a young age, she clearly remembers that a middle-aged man in a long robe and with a slight beard picked her up, looked surprised at first, then after observing her carefully, he threw her back to the ground in disappointment.
She heard the middle-aged man say: "This girl has a special physique, but it is not suitable and useless for cultivation... but it is quite suitable for you ordinary people."
At that time, Wu Feng was not yet the village chief of Xiaoyan Village. He was only 20 years old and was a well-known gangster and hooligans in the village. He would gather a group of brothers to collect protection fees all day long.
After hearing from the mysterious man that Zheng Xiaoyan was the legendary woman who brought good fortune to her husband and family, he immediately gave up the idea of selling Zheng Xiaoyan and kept her at home as a child bride.
In other words, the worst marriage that ruined Zheng Xiaoyan's life was with Wu Feng.
The person Wu Feng mentioned at the village entrance who drove the crazy Zheng Xiaoyan out of the house was exactly himself.
Seeing this, a police officer looked puzzled, "Isn't 'lucky husband' a superstition? Are there really women with such a fate?"
Gu Zhisang explained, "Of course not. From ancient times to the present, there has never been anyone born to serve others. However, Zheng Xiaoyan's physique is indeed a bit special. Her soul was a sage in her previous life."
"Based on the blessings and good conduct of her previous life, some of them will still remain in her soul after reincarnation, so she was born with a tough and unyielding character.
这样的人如果在和顺幸福的家庭中，可以处理好家庭和工作之间的关系，能够一直陪伴在亲人爱人的身边共患难，可以调和各种矛盾……”
古时候的国师为王朝挑选皇后的时候，总说一个被挑选的女性是“天生凤命”，命中注定会母仪天下，其实选的也是拥有这些特质的女性。
他们认为这一类的女性可以协调六宫关系，协助王朝绵延。
众人听懂了。
不是郑晓艳这样的人‘旺夫’、‘旺家’，而是他们本身的个人魅力可以影响到身边的人，把家庭经营得更好。
警员神情叹惋，“那这也……太可惜了。”
如若不是被拐卖，仅凭着顾之桑的描述都能感受到，郑晓艳的另一种人生一定精彩而幸福。
也正是因为她骨子里的倔强坚韧，才导致她的心里从未放弃过逃离。
一开始来到吴丰家中的时候，吴丰满心觉得她能旺自己，对她还算‘不错’。
尽管她不能随意出门、不能上学，可吃穿用度从不克扣，但她从来不屈从，靠着自学能认不少字。
五年的时间里跑了三次，都被抓回来了。
后来吴丰就经常打她，还故意带她去看有的女性被拐、被卖到更黑暗的地方过得有多惨，但这只会坚定郑晓艳要跑的决心。
等到郑晓艳第二个孩子出生后，包括吴丰的所有知情人都认为她已进彻底放弃了时，她再一次利用要疼爱女儿的假象，和另一个女人偷偷逃跑。
也就是下午被锁链拴住的那个削瘦女人。
只可惜她们再一次被捉住。
整个村子里的人要么是帮凶、要么是没参与但也不会管这些事的，就算看到了也装作没看到，怕惹祸上身。
这一次彻底吴丰彻底被惹恼了。
他决定不再‘怜惜’郑晓艳。
这些年他靠着贩卖人口赚了不少钱，有儿有女有情人不需要郑晓艳来‘旺’了，所以他便对郑晓艳搞疯了。
另一个女人下场也没有好到哪去，要不是她被抓回来时查出了已经怀孕，恐怕下场也不会比郑晓艳好到哪里去。
正是因为郑晓艳的记忆中有一起逃亡的这一段，顾之桑才能精准定位那个女人的位置。
看到这儿，警员再次发出疑问：
“顾小姐，您的意思是郑晓艳不是自己疯的？”
“没错，她心智坚定，若是要崩溃也不会硬撑了十多年。”顾之桑眼神冰冷，说道：
“我说过这些案件的背后，都有玄学推手，郑晓艳的疯也不是正常的精神问题，她是被人下了‘替魂咒’。”
所谓‘替魂咒’是一种下在契约关系之间的咒术，难分好坏。
有的人非常相爱，一方愿意同另一方共享健康、寿命和运气，于是二者便双向缔结咒术。
郑晓艳身上的‘替魂咒’就属于后者，这咒术并非双向而是只下在了她一个人的身上，她就成了一个被献祭的漏斗。
她的气运和健康越差，契约关系的另一方就会越昌盛。
再加上她本身命格特殊自带一些大气运，更是成了吴丰最好的养料。
他找来上面的玄师帮忙，用极其残忍的手段搅碎了郑晓艳的神智，让她变成了一个痴呆，把她赶出家门忍饥挨饿、日渐蹉跎。
为了以防万一，吴丰还要郑晓艳留在自己的眼皮子底下。
这些年借着‘替魂咒’的气运夺取，吴丰才能在南省顺风顺水、如此嚣张。
直到顾之桑等人来到小岩村，揭开了此处的阴暗时，吴丰和郑晓艳依然是夫妻关系，他们的姻缘线还保留着。
他还在榨取郑晓艳身上最后一丝利用价值。
对于郑晓艳来说，神智被扭曲时的痛苦，无异于凌迟，穿着方外服饰的施法者也成了她记忆犹新的、最痛恨的人。
如果不是这些人助纣为虐、扶持吴丰这些人，如果他们视普通人为蝼蚁随意凌虐，她又怎么会被拐卖、会遭受这些苦痛？！
所以哪怕她疯了傻了，几乎所有事情都忘记了，但当看到的荀以顷和禾芈涂身上的服饰时，还是激起了她内心最深切的痛恨，促使她扑了上来。
至此郑晓艳身上背负的谜团也就彻底解开了。
从她的记忆中，顾之桑还看到了几个玄师的面孔，以及一些和小岩村合作的、贩卖条链上的一环的人和姓名。
她将这些信息整理出来后，都交给了南省警署。
“我们能做到的只有这些了，后续的勘破和抓捕我们属实帮不上什么忙了。”
何队长看着纸上一条条精简却重要的信息，神情动容：
“多谢顾同志倾力协助！”
……
后续勘破进度非常快。
尽管一些听到风声动静的人早早躲了起来，但仍有反应慢的没有接到消息，被警方布局抓获。
顺着这些人继续顺藤摸瓜，等了这一天不知道多少年的南省警方激动不已，不眠不休地展开行动，最后斩落近百名相关罪犯，整理出近二十年来数千名被拐受害者的信息。
尽管这个数据已经相当庞大，但仍有不少被害者是没有信息留存的。
这条犯罪链上有拐卖妇女、销售儿童，其中还有数额不小的一部分，是人体器官贩卖……
这一部分人已经尸骨无存，难以追寻。
抓获的人中其中不乏有一些不是夏国本国的边境犯。
他们手中的境外名单，更是一份宝贵的资料，或许不久之后那些流离失所在国家外的人，也能够被重新接回这片土地。
至于这桩涉及到南省以及周边地区的特大案件的背后推手，也在调查中浮出水面。
其中主要的几名玄师中有邪修、从境外进入夏国的异士，以及南省玄门分部的副部长。
他们犯下的罪恶，更是罄竹难书。
这些‘高高在上’自命不凡的玄师们之所以愿意屈尊降贵，和一群蠢钝的凡俗之人打交道，甚至还设下阵法，帮助、扶持他们的拐卖事业，让两村民众短短十来年就缔结出一个庞大的犯罪团伙。
全因他们令人不耻的私欲。
通过灵组调查发现，这些玄师会从拐卖的人口中选取拥有特质、拥有灵觉或是天赋的孩子和男女，通过秘术剥夺他们的灵觉，用来加快自己的进阶速度。
还有一些人直接被拿来试蛊、炼药人……如此等等令人毛骨悚然、不寒而栗的阴毒手段一经灵组公布，便引起了整个玄学界一片哗然。
不用号召，所有玄学界的派别都在自发地通缉那些玄师。
又因这批人中有干清门中的一名玄师，对于灵组在南省动土，他们才难得一见地保持了沉默。
至于吴丰和陈向彪这样的主犯，几乎可以断定他们会被判死刑。
其余买卖方也将进入量刑评定，这将是一个漫长、却充满喜悦和希望的过程。
——
顾之桑临走之前，专门去看了一眼吴丰和陈向彪。
对于她这个害了村子的‘罪魁祸首’，两眼双眼通红恨得牙痒，要不是有手铐锁着，他们恨不得扑上来拼命。
看着神情阴狠的吴丰，顾之桑不为所动。
吴丰冷笑一声：“顾大师好手段，这是来看我这个手下败将的笑话啊！你这个毒妇！”
顾之桑语气淡然：“比不得吴村长，别把你们说得多无辜，你们村子里的所有人都有罪。”
不愿意狼狈为奸、接受不了拐卖人口的村民们，早就带着一家人都搬离了这个罪恶之地。
剩下还在村里的，要么是参与者同犯，要么是心知肚明却不检举、任由事态发展。
他们这些人在漫长的罪恶中捞够了钱，把自己的兜装得鼓鼓囊囊。
口口声声说着亲属无辜，但却没想过亲属挥霍的钱财是一个个无辜生命的血和泪。
最可笑的是他们声称自己爱南省、爱大山，说外省那些辛辛苦苦读出书、有学识教养的女生心思野了不纯粹了，要她们花一样的鲜活的人生的葬送在山里。
可轮到自己的孩子，又要费尽心力把他们送出大山。
这何其可笑？
顾之桑不会去评判这些罪犯的亲人有没有罪责，但她也不会改变自己做的决定。
因为真正可怜的人，是拐卖案中的被害者。
吴丰恨恨说道：“你别得意，你坏了那些大人们的辛苦谋划，他们不会放过你的！”
顾之桑微微勾唇，说道：“我来只是想告诉你一件事情，你在郑晓艳身上下的‘替魂咒’已经被我破解了，很快你就能感受到身体上的变化，是你下咒的反噬。”
“一开始是皮肤溃烂，身体肿胀，紧接着你的内腑会剧痛难忍，宛如刀割，最后要么浑身溃烂而亡，要么活活痛死。当然了，到死亡会是一个很漫长的过程，你应该等不了那么久，就会被枪毙了。”
她稍稍俯身，笑及眼底，“不过为了让你有个更好的体验，我用了一点小手段，可以催化反噬的速度。你放心，直到你死之前，你一定会好好感受的。”
Wu Feng was shocked and angry, and his heart was chilled by the scene described by Gu Zhisang.
He didn't know if it was due to psychological reasons, but he always felt his skin was itchy.
Gu Zhisang stood up straight, his eyes cold, "You must pay back for all the things you stole from Zheng Xiaoyan and the suffering that the victims have endured over the years."
After the 'soul-replacing curse' was lifted, Bai Ci also helped Zheng Xiaoyan sort out her mind several times.
Although her mental state is still not fully recovered, it is improving. The Zheng family's old couple and Zheng Xiaona have already taken her and Erya away with many thanks.
In about half a year, her consciousness will become clearer and clearer, and there is a great possibility that she will return to normal.
At that time, it will be up to Erya to decide what to do with the child and whether to let her go or stay.
When Zheng Xiaona left, Erya was only three years old, and she left without any regrets.
After being caught, Erya was the only person in the Wu family who still recognized her. Although she heard many people talk about her mother abandoning her, she did not hate her mother. She understood and supported her mother in her heart, but she did not dare to say it. She only dared to go to see her mother secretly without telling her father and stepmother.
Because of this, Zheng Xiaona's family did not have too many grudges against her.
Before leaving, Gu Zhisang glanced sideways:
"By the way, don't you admire those outsiders so much that you even sent your son to learn from them?"
Wu Feng's face changed: How did she know? !
He always felt that this line of work was not a promising one and wanted to retire. He thought that the boss was very powerful and could make things happen at will, so he asked his son to study metaphysics.
Not many people know about this.
Gu Zhisang smiled with pity: "I forgot to tell Village Chief Wu one thing, your son does have some spiritual talent, but it's a pity..."
Those masters of the mysticism who regarded ordinary people as ants were worried about not having a good way to deprive their spirits, so Wu Feng delivered people to their doorstep.
As for morality and conventions, would those mystics who are worse than animals follow them?
After she turned and left, bursts of heart-wrenching screams of pain erupted in the house.
"No! Impossible!! I don't believe it!"
When Gu Zhisang turned and entered Chen Xiangbiao's room, he was not as arrogant as Wu Feng next door. It was obvious that he had accepted his fate.
After looking at him for two seconds, Gu Zhisang said, "Chen Xiangbiao, your son and daughter have been found."
Chen Xiangbiao raised his head suddenly, "Found it?! Have they been sent back?"
Gu Zhisang shook his head slightly: "They probably won't be able to come back in a short time, because they have already merged with the cross-river bridge at the border."
What Chen Xiangbiao didn't know was that the border partner had cheated him.
The other party did not take the twins away accidentally, but did it on purpose.
The construction of the new cross-river bridge was not going smoothly. The local master said that this was because the river god needed living people as sacrifices, the so-called "bridge keepers".
According to the master, the "Bridge Keeper" needs a pair of twin boys and girls, but no suitable candidates have been found.
In order to build the bridge smoothly, the local master gave the border partner a very generous reward and asked him to help find the right candidate.
After searching in vain, this person turned his attention to Chen Xiangbiao's children.
In fact, when Chen Xiangbiao called the border partner, the two children had already been taken away by the bridge builder.
That night they were poured into cement and turned into clay sculptures alive.
By the time Xia Guo police found the bodies, the foundation of the bridge had already been built. Now it was very difficult to even remove the bodies of the two children...