"After this incident, the whole village was in an uproar. Everyone was terrified during the day, and at night every household kept their doors and windows tightly shut. They even had able-bodied men take turns keeping watch, but it was no use at all!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Tianhe, Li Huai, and I exchanged a glance and swallowed hard.
Dr. Sun paused for a moment, then continued his story:
"The third one who went missing was a ten-year-old boy. That night, it was his father's turn to guard the village, and his mother was at home with him. In the middle of the night, his mother got up to use the bathroom and went back to the house to find that the child was gone."
"The village elder had no choice but to take the offerings and paper money and risk entering that forbidden area. He went to the abandoned courtyard to see what was so strange about it. When he returned, his face was as white as a sheet, and he locked himself in the house for a day and a night."
"After he came out, he gathered the whole village together and said only one sentence: the Ghost Cry Vine has awakened and wants blood offerings and the essence of young boys and girls."
"Ghost withered vine?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Yes." Doctor Sun nodded, his eyes still filled with deep apprehension. "Although I was young at the time, I remember very clearly the village elder's terrified expression..."
"He said that was the dead guy, a kind of demonic vine cultivated with evil magic. It grows by sucking blood and eating flesh. At first, it was fine; you could just feed it some chickens, ducks, geese, and other livestock. But later on, it would eat people!"
Dr. Sun emphasized the words "cannibalism," and I could hear the fear in his voice.
"So what happened next? How was this resolved? We can't let this monster really eat people, can we?" Li Huai was so engrossed in listening that he forgot the pain in his hand and hurriedly asked.
Dr. Sun sighed: "What else can be done? The village elder managed to concoct a kind of powder according to the notes of the sorcerer he found, and then painfully held a cruel sacrificial ceremony. Well, let's not talk about that. In short, we managed to keep that thing quiet."
A cruel sacrificial ritual?
I suddenly remembered hearing about blood sacrifices and human sacrifices before.
Could it be that in Dr. Sun's village, they still use that kind of method to appease this monster?
Dr. Sun glanced at me, seemingly understanding what I was thinking, and said with a wry smile:
“That’s right, just like you think, but the village elder had no choice. If he didn’t do it this way, perhaps all the children in the village would die. The village elder is very pitiful. His son and daughter-in-law died early, and he only had one grandson, whom he raised with great care. And the one he sacrificed was his grandson. After that incident, he went crazy.”
Hearing this, I felt incredibly conflicted.
For the sake of the village, the village elder actually sacrificed his only grandson.
He himself went mad.
I really don't know how to evaluate him, whether he was cruel or great.
After Dr. Sun finished speaking, he looked at us again with a complicated expression, as if he had something difficult to say.
My heart skipped a beat, and I tentatively asked, "Dr. Sun, that thing, it hasn't been acting up again lately, has it?"
Dr. Sun nodded with difficulty.
“A few days ago I received a letter from my nephew. He was being very cryptic in the letter, but I could understand what he meant.”
He said that Old Wu's family at the east end of the village lost a cow last month. The cow did not die from disease or from a fall.
When it was found, it was standing stiffly in the cattle pen, its fur shriveled and stuck to its bones, and its eyes were two large holes.
The strangest thing was that there were no wounds on the cow's body, only some withered, blackened vines wrapped around its four hooves and muzzle.
The scene he described was so vivid that I couldn't help but shudder.
The sight of a robust domestic animal being silently drained of its life force is more chilling than any bloody scene.
"The village elder, who is also my cousin, has always been a bit eccentric, but recently he's been muttering strange things, saying that the things in the earth are hungry, but it's not time yet, and the blood of young boys and girls is the most nourishing..."
At this moment, Luo Tianhe, Li Huai, and I all understood the implication in his words.
"Dr. Sun, you want us to help you go to your village and take a look, right?"
I didn't want to beat around the bush, so I went straight to the point.
Dr. Sun looked conflicted, hesitated for a long time, and finally nodded slightly.
“I’ve been advising you all to stay away from these dangerous things, but when it happened in my village, I…”
Dr. Sun looked ashamed.
I laughed, "Dr. Sun, you did advise us not to get involved in these dangerous things, and you also told me not to have blood drawn so frequently."
"But I've never heard of it!"
Putting everything else aside, Dr. Sun has been kind to us, and unless we are heartless, we cannot refuse his request.
When Dr. Sun heard what I said, his eyes even reddened a little:
“I read that letter three times. Each time I read it, a chill ran down my spine. I know that place is dangerous, but it is my root!”
He suddenly took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind, and turned to look at the three of us:
“My cousin, who is also the village elder, sacrificed his own grandson, and then he went mad.”
"But the madman's words are the most hurtful. He's now muttering that the blood of young boys and girls is the most nourishing, and these words are like poisoned nails stuck in everyone's heart! Old Wu's cow is dead. No one really saw what sucked it dry, but everyone believes it's a sign that the ghost is hungry. What will it eat next?"
At this point, Dr. Sun leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice even further:
“What I’m afraid of isn’t that thing reaching out from the forest to grab people. What I’m afraid of is that if someone is driven to desperation, they might believe his crazy talk, or think that sacrificing one or two people to ensure the safety of the whole village is a worthwhile deal?”
"My uncle made this mistake once before, and we can't let him make it a second time! But I'm just one person, and there's really nothing I can do about it!"
A chill ran down my spine.
What Dr. Sun was worried about was the human sacrifice, not that evil spirits would do it, but that people would take the action themselves under the torment of fear.
"So I beg you to help me. I will go with you. I will make sure you die before I die!"
Dr. Sun said harshly, clearly indicating that he had no intention of coming back alive.
“Dr. Sun, you’re exaggerating. This is what we do! Besides, you’re Li Huai’s master. How could he, as the apprentice, stand up for his master? You don’t need to go this time. The three of us can go.”
I know that what Dr. Sun said is true.
Li Huai, who was standing to the side, also stood up: "It's Master. Although you always torment me, I know you do it for my own good!"
"And me, Dr. Sun, I haven't paid you for treating Old Dao yet. Now it's time to pay back the debt!"
Luo Tianhe said.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com