Chapter 754 The Disappearing Villagers
"Impossible, if everyone stays at home, what do they eat?" Fang Ye shook his head. "I've seen the kitchen, and there's not much food stored there. And there's no takeout here, so the villagers must go out. Besides, have you ever seen a village where there's no one in the daytime and you can't go out at night?"
"Of course I haven't seen it, how about we knock on a door and try?" Ye Yarong suggested.
"Whatever you want." Fang Ye nodded.
Ye Yarong then found a bamboo building, and just when she was about to knock on the door, she found that the door was ajar and not locked at all.
"Fang Ye, look, the owner of this house should be at home, the door is not locked!"
"Let's go in and take a look."
The two pushed the door and entered the bamboo building. At a glance, there was no one inside. Ye Yarong tried to call a few more times, but still no one responded.
She looked puzzled: "It's strange, if this family wants to go out, why don't they even lock the door?"
"There is an old saying in our country that you should not lock your door at night, but it is obviously not appropriate to use it on Mu Liang, because it is even more uneasy here at night." Fang Ye said, "Let's go and take a look at other houses."
He had a vague hunch that all the villagers in the village seemed to have disappeared without a trace except for his group!
As expected, the two checked four or five bamboo buildings in succession. The situation was exactly the same as the first one. The door was not locked, but there was no one in the building.
In the last bamboo building, Fang Ye went all out and climbed the stairs directly.
"Fang Ye, what are you doing?" Ye Yarong was frightened by this action and quickly grabbed his hand, "There are many dead people upstairs, aren't you afraid?"
"Everyone will have such a day sooner or later, what's there to be afraid of?" Fang Ye said casually, "If you are afraid, stay downstairs, I'll be back soon."
"No, I'd better go up together!" At this time, it is of course better to stay with a man who makes you feel safe.
It was not appropriate to let a girl stay alone in such a strange house, so Fang Ye had to let her go: "You can come with me, but don't get startled by what you see, stay calm, okay?"
Ye Yarong nodded seriously: "Yes, I will be very calm!"
"Then please don't hold me so tightly, my arm is almost numb."
Ye Yarong smiled awkwardly and loosened her grip a little, but still held him tightly.
After Fang Ye came to the second floor, he found that the layout here was exactly the same as Song Mutica's house, even the number of rooms was the same, four rooms in total, east, south, west and north.
Ye Yarong was a little confused: "Strange, why does this staircase disappear at the second floor? How did they get to the third floor?"
"Maybe it's set up in a room. Let's look for it." Fang Ye came to the south room, pushed it with his hand, and found that the door was locked.
Ye Yarong was also very curious about what was inside, so she urged: "This door lock is old-fashioned and doesn't look very strong. Why don't we just kick it open?"
"No, breaking into the door, wouldn't that make you a robber?"
"Then what do you think we should do?"
"Be polite, watch me." Fang Ye took out a thin piece of iron from his pocket, bent down and pounded it for a few seconds, and the door opened with a click.
Ye Yarong was stunned: "You...you are..."
"Don't let your imagination run wild. I'm not a thief."
"Impossible. If everyone stays at home, what do they eat?" Fang Ye shook his head. "I've seen the kitchen. There's not much food stored in it. Besides, there's no takeout here. The villagers must go out. Besides, have you ever seen a village where there's no one in the daytime and you can't go out at night?"
"Of course I haven't seen it. How about we knock on a door and try?" Ye Yarong suggested.
"Whatever you want." Fang Ye nodded.
Ye Yarong then found a bamboo building. Just when she was about to knock on the door, she found that the door was ajar and not locked at all.
"Fang Ye, look, the owner of this house should be at home, the door is not locked!"
"Let's go in and take a look."
The two pushed the door and entered the bamboo building. At a glance, there was no one inside. Ye Yarong tried to call a few more times, but still no one responded.
She looked puzzled: "It's strange, if this family wants to go out, why don't they even lock the door?"
"There is an old saying in our country that you should not lock your door at night, but it is obviously not appropriate to use it on Mu Liang, because it is even more uneasy here at night." Fang Ye said, "Let's go and take a look at other houses."
He had a vague hunch that all the villagers in the village seemed to have disappeared without a trace except for his group!
As expected, the two checked four or five bamboo buildings in succession. The situation was exactly the same as the first one. The door was not locked, but there was no one in the building.
In the last bamboo building, Fang Ye went all out and climbed the stairs directly.
"Fang Ye, what are you doing?" Ye Yarong was frightened by this action and quickly grabbed his hand, "There are many dead people upstairs, aren't you afraid?"
"Everyone will have such a day sooner or later, what's there to be afraid of?" Fang Ye said casually, "If you are afraid, stay downstairs, I'll be back soon."
"No, I'd better go up together!" At this time, it is of course better to stay with a man who makes you feel safe.
It was not appropriate to let a girl stay alone in such a strange house, so Fang Ye had to let her go: "You can come with me, but don't get startled by what you see, stay calm, okay?"
Ye Yarong nodded seriously: "Yes, I will be very calm!"
"Then please don't hold me so tightly, my arm is almost numb."
Ye Yarong smiled awkwardly and loosened her grip a little, but still held him tightly.
After Fang Ye came to the second floor, he found that the layout here was exactly the same as Song Mutica's house, even the number of rooms was the same, four rooms in total, east, south, west and north.
Ye Yarong was a little confused: "Strange, why does this staircase disappear at the second floor? How did they get to the third floor?"
"Maybe it's set up in a room. Let's look for it." Fang Ye came to the south room and pushed the door with his hand first, and found that it was locked.
Ye Yarong was also very curious about what was inside, so she urged: "This door lock is old-fashioned and doesn't look very strong. Why don't we just kick it open?"
"No, breaking into the door, wouldn't that make us robbers?"
"Then what do you think I should do?"
"Be polite and watch me." Fang Ye took out a thin piece of iron from his pocket, bent down and pounded for a few seconds, and the door opened with a click.
Ye Yarong was stunned: "You...you are..."
"Don't let your imagination run wild, I'm not a thief."
Fang Ye was also a little depressed. Every time he used his lock-picking skills, he had to explain to others.
Ye Yarong asked curiously: "If you are not a thief, are you a locksmith?"
"No, in fact, this is just my hobby." Fang Ye said perfunctorily, and then pushed open the door. He saw that the house was empty, with tables, chairs, beds and other furniture placed in it. It looked no different from ordinary houses in the countryside.
The two walked to the bed and saw that the quilt on the mat was neatly stacked, and there were even a few strands of long hair on the pillow. It was obvious that the owner of the room should be a single woman.
Fang Ye looked up at the ceiling, trying to find the hidden staircase. Ye Yarong beside him suddenly shouted: "Fang Ye, look, there is actually a Buddha statue enshrined here!"
"Oh?" Fang Ye looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ye Yarong lifting the curtain at the head of the bed, revealing a hidden Buddha shrine on the wall.
The Buddha statue placed in the shrine looked very familiar, obviously a smaller version of the clay Buddha statue in Chachai's house!
Fang Ye frowned slightly: "Why does this thing feel like it's everywhere? Is it the belief of the whole village... Let's go and take a look in other rooms."
After repeating the same trick, the two entered the room on the north side again. Judging from the furnishings, an elderly couple should live here. Fang Ye pulled back the curtains and found an identical Buddhist shrine. The Buddha statue inside had angry eyes and held a weapon similar to a spear in his hand.
The other two rooms also had Buddha statues hidden, and Fang Ye finally found the secret door leading to the upper floor. There was also a simple bamboo ladder on the wall next to it.
The secret door was also locked, but it was no problem for him. He opened it in a few seconds, and another pungent salty smell came to his face.
Ha... Yawn!
Ye Yarong, who was caught off guard, sneezed loudly and almost knocked down the bamboo ladder. Fortunately, Fang Ye stabilized it in time.
"I'm sorry, the smell is too stimulating, I can't help it..." She felt that she was not ladylike at all and apologized quickly.
"It's okay, let's go down."
Ye Yarong was puzzled: "Huh? We went down so quickly, I haven't seen the situation up there clearly, are there a lot of dead bodies?"
"You think too much, there is nothing in the attic, it's empty." Fang Ye said lightly, and then jumped directly to the ground.
"Empty? This shouldn't be!" Ye Yarong was a little unconvinced, but she still climbed up to the attic. When she looked closely, there were no dead bodies, not even a cockroach corpse.
Fang Ye sighed, "The attic in Song Mutica's house is also empty. It seems that the bodies of the ancestors have been moved away long ago. Where did they go..."
Thinking about it, Ye Yarong shuddered suddenly. She stammered, "Fang Ye, do you think the footsteps we heard last night were made by them?"
"I don't know, maybe." Fang Ye shook his head, "It seems that the situation in other bamboo buildings is not much different from here. There will be no results if we continue to search. Let's go back first and see if others have found anything."
"Okay."
Not long after the two returned to Song Mutica's bamboo house, the other two groups also came back. As expected, they also did not meet even a single villager. The whole Muliang was like a deserted village with no people...