Chapter 233

Officer Zhou had never thought about this question. He was stunned for a moment, then answered hesitantly: "Villagers occasionally go to the grove to pick some wild vegetables, but young people rarely go there... But Xiao Chen has no relatives. I asked several villagers before, and no one saw him go out with others."

In other words, even though he now suspected that someone had lured Xiao Chen out, he had no substantial evidence. They couldn't possibly hire a supernatural being who could trace the truth for such a case. Such supernatural beings were in great demand, and they were usually too busy to hire them. Unless it was a big case, it would be difficult to hire them without spending a lot of money.

"It's also possible that the Nightmare Beast brought him directly to the grove and killed him." Officer Zhou soon had a new idea.

It was indeed possible. It was normal for nightmare beasts to have the ability to teleport or charm. No one was dwelling on this. Xiao Chen's house also met Jiang Tianming's requirements. They began to inquire about the information of other deceased people on the spot.

A total of three people died this month. Except for Xiao Chen, the first one, the other two were elderly. The former's children had already completed the funeral for her, but the latter's body was still in the mourning hall because she died not long ago.

Tomorrow is the last day of the body keeping, and then the burial will take place.

Without exception, all three people died from bleeding, and what was amazing was that the directions of their deaths were respectively due east, due south, and due north in the village, and their blood was all over the ground.

Such a description made several people look at each other, and they all thought of the same word - sacrifice.

Blood has always been an excellent medium for sacrifices and various magic circles. In the three-school competition, the "Black Flash" organization used the magic circle made from the blood of ordinary people to summon Cyril and Li Xiang directly over despite the protection of the supernatural government.

The unique orientation is also an indispensable part of the sacrifice.

"I have a question." After hearing about the conditions of all the dead, Li Shu suddenly thought of another question, "According to what you said at the beginning, the villagers in the village were unwilling to tell you about the deaths in the village, right?"

Officer Zhou nodded: "That's right."

"It's understandable that you were able to discover the death of the first victim, Xiao Chen, but how did you discover the deaths of the other two people?" Li Shu asked, staring into his eyes.

Everyone soon understood his logic. The villagers were unwilling to talk about this matter, firstly because they believed they could handle it, and secondly because they probably had the idea of ​​"not wanting to make a big deal out of it" that is unique to closed places.

Although Officer Zhou had discovered Xiao Chen's death, it did not mean that they would disclose the deaths of the other two people. You have to know that the attention that one person dies in a month and three people die in a month will attract is completely different. If only one person died, Officer Zhou might not have called them over.

The other two dead were both elderly. Even if Officer Zhou discovered their deaths, they could have been attributed to natural causes. How could he be allowed to know the truth?

Officer Zhou took a moment to react, and after Jiang Tianming's explanation, he understood what he meant. He explained helplessly, "The reason why I know that they died unnatural deaths is because the elderly in our village have always lived long lives."

The unexpected answer surprised everyone. Looking at their expressions, Officer Zhou smiled and said, "If you ask around, you'll find out that our village is known as the 'Centenarian Village'. There are quite a few centenarians in the village."

He explained in one breath when people didn't understand his answer. "Maybe it's the Feng Shui of this place that nourishes people. The young people from our village are all strong, and the old people living here are in their seventies and eighties and are still very active. The two grandmas who died were only in their sixties and seventies, and they died in the same month. I naturally don't believe they died of natural causes."

"Wow." Su Bei sighed with an ambiguous expression, "Village Chief Changsheng, your village really lives up to its name."

“Hahahahaha!” Officer Zhou didn’t sense his weirdness and laughed, “In fact, the name of our village was changed a few years ago because the elderly in the village were very energetic. It was originally called Zhoujia Village.”

Jiang Tianming did not let go of the doubt in his words and asked: "A few years ago"

"More than ten years ago..." Officer Zhou himself had no recollection, but he quickly realized what Jiang Tianming meant by asking this question, "You think this matter is related to the recent case, but that happened many years ago. I don't think there's any need to be so nervous."

Jiang Tianming actually thought so too, but before coming here, Su Bei had said that the name "Changsheng Village" was interesting, and after hearing that the elderly in the village were generally long-lived, he emphasized it again. He knew Su Bei well enough to know that he was not someone who made a random comment. There might really be something strange about this name.

But as Officer Zhou said, in the eyes of normal people, what happened more than ten years ago would not be related to the current case, and it would be unreasonable to ask further, so he temporarily changed the topic: "Do the two elderly people still have relatives now?"

Officer Zhou nodded and gave them a positive answer while giving them a shot of precaution in advance: "Of course, their families still live in the village. I can take you to find them later. But because the elderly in their family have passed away, their attitude may not be very good."

After they had asked almost all the questions, it was already past two in the afternoon. At this time, the villagers usually woke up for their afternoon nap, so they walked out together. Officer Zhou had already said before they left that they had to report to the village chief's house first.

Unlike the previous trip, this time when walking in the village, everyone met many villagers. The village was small and everyone was familiar with each other. Suddenly seeing a few unfamiliar faces, the villagers showed great vigilance.

Seeing so many people, Su Bei naturally activated his special ability. However, after just one glance, he felt numb. There was no other reason. At this moment, everyone present had a large needle above their heads below the compass.

This means that everyone must die!

Su Bei: "..."

His face suddenly turned ugly, and he just wanted to leave this broken place as soon as possible. The whole village had died, so something big must have happened.

What kind of thing would cause the death of an entire village?

Su Bei quickly came up with two ideas:

The first possibility is that the aura of the Life Stone is exposed, and the Nightmare Beast razes the village to the ground.

If there really is a Life Stone here, then this speculation is very reasonable. From their rampage in the past month, it can be seen that they attach great importance to the Life Stone. After finding it, they will not think that less trouble is worse than more trouble, and will definitely slaughter everyone in the village.

But there is a problem here. Jiang Tianming and his men are all here. If there is a danger that threatens the whole village, how can they just sit back and watch and let the villagers be killed by the nightmare beast?

The second guess is that the whole village is related to those dead people. As I said just now, the location and method of their death are very similar to a sacrifice. If someone secretly sacrificed the whole village, it would be possible to kill them all in one go.

But the question is still the same as before, why didn't Jiang Tianming and his friends take any action? Logically speaking, if there is such a plot in the comics, the final result must be that the protagonists successfully resolve the crisis and save everyone.

What went wrong?

"Xiao Jian, are these all your friends?" A middle-aged woman in simple clothes came up and asked with a smile, glancing at Su Bei and the others from time to time.

Officer Zhou was not wary of the villagers who had watched him grow up. "Yes, they are..."

Before he finished speaking, he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. Officer Zhou looked back and saw Jiang Tianming holding his stomach: "Old Zhou, my stomach is not feeling well. Can I go to the toilet later?"

He also learned the trick of feeling stomachache from Su Bei, which is indeed a good excuse.

"Ah! Of course you can." Officer Zhou was stunned for a moment, if not because Jiang Tianming said that his stomach was uncomfortable, but because he actually called himself "Old Zhou". You know, they all called themselves "Officer Zhou" before.

After all, they are policemen, and they have experience in this area. Jiang Tianming's change of address made Officer Zhou realize something quickly. It was obvious that he didn't want him to tell the truth. It was understandable. If they said directly that they were here to investigate the cause of death of Xiao Chen and others, the villagers would probably deliberately obstruct them given their feudal superstition. It was better to tell a white lie so that Jiang Tianming and others could investigate smoothly.

With this in mind, Officer Zhou turned around and continued to introduce the teacher to the old lady: "This is a teacher from my high school, and the other children are my juniors. The school said that students should study under the guidance of teachers. I invited the teacher to our village because our village is beautiful. If we have a good time this time, maybe the school can make our village a fixed study site, so that everyone can make money in the future!"

If his lies were spread out in the open, they would be exposed immediately. What high school would allow teachers to take students to investigate a study site? But this was a mountain village with little information access. In addition, there was only one college student, Officer Zhou, in all these years. Naturally, the other villagers believed his words without a doubt.

When she heard him say that if Jiang Tianming and the others had a good time, everyone in the village would be able to make money in the future, the grandmother looked at them eagerly: "Well, we have to treat them well! Do you have a room for the guests? If not, I have an empty room for you to stay in."

Other villagers around also said that they had vacant rooms and only wanted to keep these big money holders. Just looking at the looks of Su Bei and others, you can tell that they are definitely rich people. If they stay here for one night, maybe they can charge a lot for accommodation.

Officer Zhou was in charge again, and he quickly stopped everyone: "Let's go to the village chief's house to report first. There are a few empty rooms in the village, so we won't bother you."

"Those two rooms are occupied by dead people. It will be inconvenient for the guests to stay here." The grandmother was unwilling to give up this hard-earned opportunity to make money.

Hearing her words, Su Bei raised his eyebrows. Among the three dead people, isn't it only Xiao Chen's room that is vacant? Whose room is the other dead person's?

After finally getting rid of the villagers' entanglement, Jiang Tianming also asked the same question: "Of the 'two dead rooms' that the old lady mentioned just now, one belongs to Xiao Chen, and whose is the other one?"

"It's our ancestor's." Speaking of this person, Officer Zhou's eyes flashed with sadness. "Our ancestor was over 150 years old and passed away more than a month ago. I didn't tell you because he died of natural causes."

A key figure, the ancestor, who suddenly appears, can still make people feel his extraordinaryness even though he is dead. Apart from anything else, the fact that he lived to be over 150 years old is amazing enough.

Moreover, his death was very recent. Although it was due to natural causes, it still makes people wonder whether he had any relationship with the later deaths.

"Let's talk about this ancestor." Jiang Tianming said decisively.

Officer Zhou thought for a while. As he had been away from the village for many years, he had a vague impression of this man. "The old ancestor is the most respected elder in the village. He has always lived alone in the room at the east end of the village and rarely appears. But when there is any major event in the village, he is the one to be looked for. The old ancestor is much more important than the village chief."

After talking about his basic impression of the ancestor, he talked about his relationship with the ancestor: "When I finished junior high school, the villagers didn't want me to continue my studies. It was the ancestor who suddenly appeared, overcame all objections, and firmly supported my going to school. After I passed the police exam, I wanted to take him out to live, but the ancestor refused, and said that he hoped I could come back to live when I was older. In the past few years, I have been working hard to make money outside, thinking that I would come back when I saved enough money for my retirement. Unfortunately, before I came back, the ancestor..."

Su Bei thought for a moment and took the initiative to speak: "We want to live in our ancestor's house. Please talk to the clan leader later."

There must be something about this ancestor. There may be relevant clues in the room where he lived before his death. If the village chief can directly agree to their request, it will be nothing. If he disagrees, it will only show that there is something wrong with the ancestor's room.

Of course, this request was fine, and the others thought so too. But what surprised them was that Su Bei would take the initiative to ask for this. You know, he is not the kind of person who would take the initiative to look for clues.

Noticing their gazes, Su Bei simply pretended not to notice. He knew what they wanted to ask, but he couldn't tell them the truth. The reason why Su Bei wanted to ask this was because he had never forgotten that this incident was likely related to the Life Stone.

Among the people we know so far, this ancestor is the most likely to have clues about the Life Stone. Of course, he has to fight for the opportunity to go to the other party's house. Although even if he doesn't mention it, others will probably mention it. But in a word, if it's not too ooc, he would rather take his fate into his own hands.

Moreover, if the Life Stone could really be found in the ancestor's room, then what he said at the beginning would be a precaution in the eyes of the readers.

The most important thing was that once he found the whereabouts of the Life Stone, he could immediately find an excuse to leave this dangerous village. Although it was definitely impossible to run away with the Life Stone, he would be caught by the Nightmare Beast before he could reach the academy.

But who said that Su Bei was going to take the Life Stone from the village away? He just needed a proof that he had indeed manipulated the Life Stone, otherwise it would definitely arouse suspicion if he took out the Life Stone out of thin air. He had the Life Stone himself, and even if it was just a fragment, it was enough for Wu Bai to verify the material.

When I arrived at the village chief's house, as soon as I reached the door, the melodious opera music came out from behind the door. But it was followed by an elderly and slightly out-of-tune singing voice, which should be the village chief and the head.

“Boom boom boom!”

As the knock on the door sounded, the opera music stopped abruptly. The wooden door was quickly opened, and a rural woman in floral clothes opened the door, wiped her wet hands on her apron, and asked in confusion: "Xiaojian, why are you here?"

Officer Zhou nodded to the other party: "Sister-in-law, I'm here to see the village chief."

"Xiaojian is here, let him in!" The village chief's voice rang out in the room.

When everyone walked into the room, they saw a skinny old man in a white vest sitting on a rocking chair. The old man looked to be in his 50s or 60s, puffing on a pipe. Although he was old, he was full of energy and seemed to be more energetic than young people.

When the village chief heard the footsteps of a group of people, he felt something was wrong. He turned around and saw that there were several strangers besides Officer Zhou. He was stunned at first, then put down the cigarette holder in his hand and asked, "Xiao Jian, who are these people?"

Officer Zhou repeated his previous explanation to the villagers, then smiled and said, "So I'm here to register with you, the village chief. Please take good care of my juniors in the next few days."

"Hey, if there is anything that can bring benefits to the village, I will definitely be happy." The village chief looked at Jiang Tianming and others with expressions as if they had seen a big fat sheep. Like everyone else, he did not doubt the truth of Officer Zhou's words.

It must be said that Jiang Tianming and his companions' age did give them a great advantage. No one would have thought that among this group of people, the ones responsible for investigating and solving the problem were actually these students. And there was no need to doubt the driver, Brother Wang. If he really came to investigate the case, how could he bring a group of children with him? That would only cause trouble!

As the head of a village, the village chief naturally welcomes this great opportunity that can lead the whole village to prosperity. Only when the people in the village live well can he live better.

Thinking about Su Bei's previous request, Officer Zhou asked tentatively: "You know my house is relatively small and has not been cleaned for a long time. It is not appropriate to let them live in my room. Aren't there two houses in the village? Why not arrange for them to live there? What do you think?"

There are a limited number of houses in the village, and usually no extra houses are built. When Officer Zhou mentioned the "two vacant houses", it was easy to tell which two houses he was talking about.

"Those two rooms..." The village chief was stunned at first, then looked embarrassed, "People have died in both rooms, it's not suitable for guests to stay in them."

"It's okay, they don't mind." Officer Zhou said quickly.

However, the village chief still rejected him: "It's not like they don't have other rooms. Many villagers have empty rooms in their homes. Well, don't worry, I'll talk to them later and arrange a few empty rooms for you. As for these two rooms, don't think about it. No one would arrange such rooms for guests."

But he was determined, so Officer Zhou was very tactful and said nothing more: "Then we will leave first and come to see you later."

After leaving the village chief's house, Officer Zhou shrugged helplessly: "I tried my best, but you also saw the attitude of the village chief."

"It doesn't matter. It's okay if we can't stay here. Just find us a room." Jiang Tianming said politely, but several people were thinking that since they didn't let them investigate openly, they could just investigate secretly.

There was still plenty of time, so the six people were divided into two teams and went to the homes of the two deceased elderly people to investigate. At Jiang Tianming's strong request, Su Bei and Li Shu were in the same team, and they went to Grandma Wang's house with driver Wang.

Grandma Wang was one of the victims.

Because Officer Zhou was going to follow another team, he told them about the situation at Grandma Wang's home before they went. There are still two and a half people in her family, her son and her pregnant daughter-in-law. Because the daughter-in-law is pregnant, she counts as one and a half people.

Grandma Wang lost her father at an early age and raised her son alone, and then got him married. Unexpectedly, she encountered this misfortune before she could start to enjoy her life.

Following the route that Officer Zhou had pointed out, everyone quickly arrived at Grandma Wang's house. The house with the white cloth hanging on it was very conspicuous among the row of houses, and everyone knew what had happened in this house without having to guess.

The person who opened the door was a thin adult man. If there was any disturbance in the village, everyone would know about it soon, so the man knew the existence of Jiang Tianming and others.

As soon as he saw them, he thought that this extremely wealthy man was coming to his home, and he immediately smiled like a flower: "You must be the new guests in the village, why are there only two children here? Come in and sit down."

After saying that, he shouted into the room, "Wife! There are guests coming. Make dinner for three more people."

"What guests?" The woman, who was also skinny but had a big belly, came out of the kitchen. The moment she saw Su Bei and the other two, her eyes suddenly turned and she became enthusiastic. "Okay, okay, I'll do it right away. Let the guests sit at home for a while, and we can have dinner later."

"Don't bother, we just want to understand first." Knowing that they had misunderstood something, Su Bei had no intention of explaining. Instead, he went along with what they meant.

Sitting on the sofa, Su Bei looked ready to leave without saying a word. Li Shu gave him a fake smile and then said, "We think this house is good, but we heard that an old man in your family passed away some time ago."

This is pure nonsense. This house is not good, but it is hard to even call it "ok". It is a dilapidated mud-brick house. The roof even looks a bit leaky. It feels like it has not been repaired for a long time.

However, Su Bei noticed something very strange. The cigarette box on the table was the same type his father used to smoke. I remembered that it was quite expensive. And the makeup on his wife's face looked very natural. Based on Su Bei's understanding of cosmetics, the more natural it looked, the more expensive it was.

They clearly look like a very poor family, but why are the things they use so luxurious? And not all of them are luxurious, only a small part of them.

Su Bei was certain that there must be something wrong.

Hearing what Li Shu said, the man was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly explained: "The first seven days have passed, and we are ready to take down the white cloth in this house. If you are worried about any problems, I will tear down the white cloth now. And sprinkle some sticky rice at the door to ensure that all poisons will not invade."