Chapter 98 Harvest Time (2)
"Did you see Third Sister go out? She's not in the house." Dong Xian suddenly rushed out. The old village chief had just been murdered, and Dong Xian and Dong Qi quickly thought of something bad. Their faces darkened as they pushed the door open and rushed out.
Their movements quickly alarmed the others. Because this was a matter concerning the three Dong siblings, even though everyone was still feeling uneasy, a large number of villagers were willing to go out in groups to search for the missing Dong Zhu. However, this seemed unnecessary, as the murderer had no intention of hiding Dong Zhu's remains.
The first villagers to find the altar vomited instead of exclaiming. Then came the others who had heard the news, and then Dong Qi and Dong Zhu. No one immediately recognized whether this was the same beautiful girl. Everything they saw was too bizarre. It wasn't a human body, but something constructed from cleanly picked bones and processed red. Only the rich, sickening smell of blood reminded anyone that she had once been a living being.
Finally, Luo Xuanyi arrived late. She picked up the crushed, shapeless yellow flowers on the ground, lowered her eyelids in sorrow, and said, "This is the flower I gave to Dong Zhu."
Dong Qi knelt on the ground, retching and sobbing. It was as if he had returned to the day when all his teammates were killed. He was powerless, unable to control himself. The only thing he could do with the strong arms that he had been proud of for a hundred years was to hold up their corpses. He was almost crying blood, and he kept shouting paranoidly, "What on earth is this for!"
Luo Xuanyi's voice came faintly: "The altar formation has been destroyed."
It was like a thunderbolt that struck everyone's mind. Luo Xuanyi hadn't explained the cause and effect, but it naturally surfaced in everyone's mind.
"There's no way to find the murderer who killed the old village chief..."
Someone murmured to himself, and because the crowd was so silent, his words were clearly heard by everyone.
The murderer among them, fearing that he would be found out, destroyed the altar, and Dong Zhu, who witnessed this, unfortunately became a victim.
The process of restoring the old village chief's spirit was then repeated. Since their soul could not rest in peace without a hair, Dong Qi and Dong Xian personally knelt on the ground where Dong Zhu had died, searching. The earth, once as hard as frozen soil, had become as soft and swampy as a swamp. A slight push of the palm left a print that slowly filled with overflowing blood. They pressed their palms together, digging through the blood and soil handful by handful, but they could not find a single strand of that beautiful black hair.
Finally, Ling Yong, his eyes red from crying, handed over a wooden box. Inside was a small bundle of hair, its black hair tinged with yellow at the ends. "Here, this is from sister Zhu, hers, the one she left me when she said she'd marry me when we were little..." He couldn't go on at all, tears streaming down his face as he hugged the wooden box.
Naturally, the search for the murderer was fruitless again. Luo Xuanyi set up the formation again, but there was a problem—this time, the formation would be completed in three days, but the two formations had already depleted the cold frost fruit supply, and it was not yet harvest season. They would have to wait three days in hunger, under the murderer's watchful eyes.
"If we're just looking for the murderer, we'll have to set up the formation all over again after leaving. But we'll have to wait another half month for the next harvest!"
"The dead are important, but...right?"
Dissenting voices grew louder, and those who had been wavering wanted to leave the village. The remaining faction denounced them for disregarding the old village chief's wishes, and the conflict with the departure faction intensified. Dong Xian, unwittingly thrust into leadership, initially sought help from the elders, but the responsibility was simply placed on him. With no other options, he summoned Ling Yong and Luo Xuanyi to discuss countermeasures. Fortunately, he had like-minded teammates who had previously decided to stay with him, helping to maintain order in the village. As for Dong Qi, he locked himself in his room, ignoring anyone's calls.
Dong Xian still refused to leave, but if they didn't eliminate the murderer hiding in the village before Luo Xuanyi left, they would never be able to live their lives again. Now, with the second crime occurring, and this one so brutal, everyone panicked. Everyone began sharpening their bone knives, and all the tools in the warehouse were looted. Even the long needles on the looms were removed for self-defense.
Coupled with the problem of food shortage, he was almost overwhelmed.
"So, staying in the village is a dead end. Why don't we leave together?" Ling Yong pounded on the table. He had become increasingly irritable lately, sometimes tearful, sometimes furious. "Of course I want to avenge Sister Zhu and the village chief, but the living are the most important!"
"This isn't just for them, it's for ourselves." Dong Xian remained eerily calm. If one hadn't seen the pain on his face as he silently shed tears, anyone would have thought he didn't care about his family at all. "Leaving would bring too many uncertainties. As long as we catch the murderer here and get through this period of food shortages, our lives can return to normal."
"Who do you think can still live in the village after something like this happened?!"
"Yes, time will always take away everything. Even if we can't forget, the next generation will forget, just like when our parents died of old age twenty years ago. We cried so hard at that time, but now we just feel sad when we think about it. In the long run, this is the best option." Dong Xian said lightly.
"What about the food? Fellow Daoist Yi said there's no more food. With just the one or two Frost Fruits we each have at home, we can't even last three days! What if the murderer kills others for food?"
Dong Xian thought for a moment, then bowed his head to Luo Xuanyi: "Fellow Daoist Yi, could you please patrol the village?"
Luo Xuanyi readily agreed: "But what about the altar formation? Be careful not to be destroyed by others again."
"I'll arrange for people to go. Three people will be assigned to monitor each other."
After discussing other matters for a while, they dispersed. However, things still developed in a direction they did not expect.
First, the three guarding the altar suddenly shouted that the other side was going to destroy the altar, and they killed each other. Then, someone tried to steal the food from others, but was apprehended by Luo Xuanyi and imprisoned in the warehouse, where he was unexpectedly killed. The factions that left and stayed clashed repeatedly, with each clashing to use the formation to leave and not look for the murderer, and it finally developed into a melee...
Everyone's emotions seemed to suddenly explode, like a gas stove with the switch turned off. Evil thoughts could not be restrained and poured out, turning into violent behavior. The more people were hurt, the hotter the evil wave became, burning everyone's heart and itching, and then they did more and worse evil things.
As the situation spiraled out of control, the formation was destroyed once again. This time, there was no need to find the culprit. A group of people who stayed behind ignored Dong Xian's warnings, jumped onto the altar, and easily destroyed the fragile formation.
The melee between the two sides broke out uncontrollably, and no one could stop it this time. Dong Xian was about to go find Luo Xuanyi, but he got even worse news from Luo Xuanyi who hurried over.
"The Chuxia trees surrounding the village seem to be starting to move into the village."
Second update~
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