Chapter 18: Just hold hands
Xu Xingxing saw his drooping eyelids, half covering his dark pupils. For some reason, she could sense a hint of guilt in his eyes. She was certain he was playing a trick on her, so she scrambled up again. "Do you think I'll believe you? Never mind. I'm not going down. Carry me on your back."
Xiao Hei felt his back burning and shouted angrily, "Get down here right now!"
"No, no," Xu Xingxing hugged her arms and legs at the same time, "I don't dare, I'm afraid of bugs. Please, carry me on your back."
“…”
Xiao Hei saw that the woman on his back had no intention of getting off, and was afraid that she would do something annoying on his back, and he was still unaware of it. He could only suppress the heat in his body and resigned himself to carrying her on his back.
The road from here to the village wasn't very far, but Xiao Hei found it extremely difficult to walk. When he finally arrived, he loosened his hands and said, "We're here, get down."
Xu Xingxing saw that the snow around him was getting lighter and the snow on the ground was no longer as thick as before. Thinking that it was because of the cold-avoiding beads, he landed on the ground with peace of mind and observed his surroundings.
Because it was dark, the village seemed to be covered by a dark curtain. It was difficult to see what was happening two meters away. The surroundings felt gloomy and even colder than outside the village.
The wind swirled between the houses and streets, and the sound was like wailing. The doors and windows creaked and hit the walls from time to time, making loud noises.
Xu Xingxing lit the fire talisman and started searching with Xiao Hei.
According to Cheng Zhidao, at first several families in the village disappeared inexplicably, but the government could not find the reason. Later, they waited for a few days and found that it was a monster that froze the people and ate them directly into its stomach. Therefore, when the government investigated the case, they could not find any trace of the murderer.
After entering several houses, I found that they were all empty. I guess after this incident, some villagers moved away one after another.
After walking forward for dozens of meters, I finally saw some people. There was a small window on the low house, and a faint candlelight was shining through it.
"There's a house! Why does it feel like..." Xu Xingxing paused, then tugged at Xiao Hei's sleeve, "Let's go and take a look."
Xiao Hei looked at the house in front of him, a sneer in his eyes, and knocked on the gate with Xu Xingxing.
The person who opened the door was a child, about seven or eight years old. He only poked half of his head out and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Xu Xingxing bent down slightly, trying to make herself look friendly. "We're just passing by. It's snowing so hard that we'd like to go in for a cup of hot tea. Could you please help us, little brother?"
Zhitong scratched the back of his head: "Wait a moment."
Then he shouted into the house, "Dad, there are guests who want to come in for tea! Dad! Dad?"
"You little brat, why are you calling out to me in the middle of the night?" Footsteps were heard again in the yard, and soon a face appeared from the door. He was about forty years old, with a simple and kind look.
Xu Xingxing hurriedly said, "Brother, we are cultivators from Kunlun, and we are here to investigate a case. It's snowing so hard outside right now, could you please let us in for a cup of hot tea?"
The man was surprised for a moment and quickly opened the door: "It's the Immortal Lord, come in quickly."
The room was relatively clean, and the furniture, though worn, was very neat. When the uncle saw the two of them sitting down, he went to make tea. After handing the tea bowls to them, he also sat down: "The Immortal Lord is finally here. If he hadn't come, the people of Qingzhou would have been unable to survive!"
"We are here for this matter. I heard that a few days ago, there was a monster in this village that harmed people. Do you know about this, brother?" Xu Xingxing was about to drink tea, but Xiao Hei held him down.
The eldest brother suddenly looked outside and then lowered his voice and said, "How could we not know? If it weren't for this, how could so many villagers move away!"
"Then why don't you move?" Xiao Hei ignored Xu Xingxing's questioning look and asked.
"Alas, my wife is seriously ill, and the snow and wind outside are so strong that she can't stand such a bumpy ride."
"Serious illness?" Xu Xingxing asked, "When did that monster start harming people in the village? Which families did it harm?"
"The first incident seems to have happened ten days ago. Er Mazi's family had their doors and windows tightly shut until noon. Villagers couldn't get the door open when they went to return something. It wasn't until the next day that the village chief realized something was amiss. After prying open the door, he found no one inside, but everything inside was frozen solid. Everyone felt something was amiss, so they quickly reported it to the police."
A look of fear appeared on his face when he said this. "But something happened that night..."
"This time it was Gou Shun's family across from Er Mazi. Both families were actually not far from my home, but everyone got scared and moved away one after another."
"Only these two?"
The eldest brother nodded and said, "For some reason, the monsters haven't come since then."
"How many children do you have?" Xiao Hei suddenly asked an irrelevant question.
"One son and one daughter, what's wrong?"
"Where's my daughter?"
"It's late at night and I've already gone to bed."
"Oh?" Xiao Hei suddenly chuckled: "Then who is standing outside the window?"
Xu Xingxing subconsciously looked towards the only window in the room, and saw a pale eye looking towards her through the gap in the window that was not closed tightly.
At this moment, Xu Xingxing's brain froze for a while, but in another moment, her mouth and body reacted in advance. She screamed and hugged Xiao Hei's arms directly, buried her face in Xiao Hei, and dared not open her eyes again.
Ah!!! Give me back my socialist materialistic world!!! What the hell is this!!! I’m scared to death!!!
Things around began to change, the candlelight went out, the walls collapsed, everything became tattered, the skin of the big brother opposite and the child next to him began to peel off, large pieces of flesh fell to the ground, eyeballs fell out of the eye sockets, until it became a pile of dry bones scattered all over the ground, and finally even the dry bones turned into powder and were blown away by the wind.
Looking outside again, the ghost girl had disappeared.
Xiao Hei looked at Xu Xingxing who was hanging on him and said helplessly: "Should I chase her or not?"
"Chase, chase, chase!" Xu Xingxing secretly plucked up his courage, straightened up, took two steps forward and warned, "When you're about to catch up, tell me in advance."
"Why?"
"I'd rather close my eyes."
“…”
Xiao Hei had a keen nose, so it wasn't difficult for him to catch up with the ghost. When Xu Xingxing saw the white clothes floating in front of him, his legs felt weak, so he said to Xiao Hei, "You should go catch her. Please cover her face."
"..." Xiao Hei was speechless for a moment, "How did you cultivate to the state of Divine Transformation?"
Xu Xingxing's eyes widened. "WTF?"
"How do you know?"
Xiao Hei was surprised by her surprise, but seeing that the female ghost was getting farther and farther away, he did not answer her. He flew forward and summoned fire to surround it.
Xu Xingxing took out the demon-suppressing rope and threw it over. The rope automatically tied up the female ghost. Xiao Hei saw that the female ghost could no longer escape and tried to disperse the flames, but was stopped by Xu Xingxing:
"Leave it on. It's not so scary when it's on."
The female ghost in the center of the fire circle was dressed in white and had a pale face. At this moment, her eyes without pupils were bleeding and she was crying very miserably.
Xu Xingxing moved closer to Xiao Hei and grabbed his sleeve.
Actually I want to hold hands more, but I’m sorry…
Then she thought about how on the way here today, he took the initiative to hold her hand in order to tease her, so what if she pulled it back now to comfort him?
Thinking of this, he became more rational and confident, and directly put his hand into Xiao Hei's hand.
Xiao Hei immediately turned his head to look at her, his eyes full of surprise.
She chuckled cheekily, "Well... it was really too scary, so I just pulled it out."
Xiao Hei was a little at a loss for a moment, but when he remembered how calm he was during the day, he suppressed his emotions, pursed his lips lightly, and said nothing more. He just uncontrollably held that hand tighter.
Xu Xingxing, the coward, finally gained some courage because of the warmth in her hand. She asked the crying female ghost, "What's your name? Why are you acting like a ghost here?"
Does the idiom "playing tricks" seem to be used incorrectly? Whatever!
The ghost girl's cries suddenly became sharper. She opened her mouth wide and wailed shrilly and miserable. Blood and tears flowed onto her white clothes, making her look even more terrifying.
"She seems..." Xu Xingxing's voice trembled slightly, "She doesn't have a tongue..."
Xiao Hei nodded: "We can only take him back for interrogation."
Xu Xingxing hurriedly took out the demon-catching bottle, put the female ghost into the bottle, and the two of them hurried back.
The snow on the road was not as strange as when he first arrived. Xu Xingxing understood immediately that it was probably a spell cast by the female ghost to prevent people from approaching the village. However, her magic power was very weak, and she could only rely on this useless little trick to prevent others from coming here.
Still having to walk back, Xu Xingxing felt a little tired, but suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked Xiao Hei, who was clearing the road, "How did you know I was a spirit?"
Xiao Hei threw the fire in his hand into the distance: "Is it difficult to find?"
"Of course you know it yourself!"
"That's probably because of the beast contract. I knew it from the beginning," Xiao Hei said disdainfully, "What kind of secret is this?"
"Yes!" Xu Xingxing said in an exaggerated tone, "You know another secret of mine! Don't tell anyone else!"
"Why is this a secret?" Xiao Hei didn't understand.
"Because my ascension to the Spiritual Transformation stage wasn't something I achieved through my own cultivation, and I was possessed by demons during my retreat, so I shouldn't have reached this level."
"And was it given to you by the god you mentioned?"
"Yes."
Xiao Hei looked at her and suddenly fell silent. Although they were very close at the moment, he felt that she was extremely ethereal, as if she was thousands of miles away from him.
For some reason, he felt a subtle panic in his heart. When he reacted, he had already held her hand in his palm. It was not until he felt the warmth in his palm that he suddenly felt relieved.
Seeing Xu Xingxing looking at him, he pretended to be calm, raised his eyebrows and said, "Want to go back quickly?"
*
Half an incense stick later, the two of them arrived at the Qi Mansion. Xiao Hei looked calm, but Xu Xingxing was panting heavily. Xiao Hei couldn't stand it anymore and started to instruct: "You should breathe from your Dantian, not directly from your chest."
Sorry, she seems to be a fake deity.
Fang Zhiming and the others had not yet fallen asleep and were still waiting for them in the lobby. She threw the monster-catching bottle to him, recounted what had happened today, and then took Xiao Hei back to the house.
She would not participate in the interrogation. Her san value dropped sharply tonight, so she needed to get a good sleep to recharge her energy.
When she walked into the house, she realized belatedly that Xiao Hei had not followed her, so she went out to look for him. She saw that Xiao Hei had already walked into the next room. She didn't think much about it, thinking that he wanted to sleep in this room, so she followed him in yawning.
Xiao Hei was slightly surprised: "Don't you like sleeping alone?"
Xu Xingxing, who was extremely sleepy:???
Isn't it a bit late to ask this? We've been sleeping together for months, roommate!
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