The moon hangs high in the sky.
The dagger in my hand reflected the cold moonlight as I plunged it into Xiao Zhou's body.
The moment the blade pierced my body, I felt like I wasn't stabbing a person, but rather a down pillow.
My knife pierced Xiao Zhou's body easily, without any resistance.
"Come with me!"
Xiao Zhou didn't react at all after I stabbed him; his hands were still tightly gripping my neck, pinning me to the ground.
"Xiao Duan!"
Seeing this, Song Laosan also drew his knife and slashed at Xiao Zhou's back.
As a result, Song Laosan's slash also had no effect.
As if he felt no pain, Xiao Zhou tightened his grip, saying, "It's time to go, let's hit the road!"
The sudden feeling of suffocation made my vision go black, and I grabbed Xiao Zhou's wrist, trying to push his arm away.
The moment I touched Xiao Zhou's wrist, I felt as if I were holding a block of ice.
His body was not only cold, but also soaking wet, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
"Big brother!"
When Manjing saw me being pinned to the ground by Xiao Zhou, he rushed over with two members of the Wei family. One of them pressed down on my shoulder, while the other two grabbed Xiao Zhou's arms, trying to pull him aside.
Surprisingly, the three burly men were not as strong as Xiao Zhou alone. I felt like my shoulders were about to be crushed, but Xiao Zhou's hands did not budge.
A few seconds later, due to lack of oxygen, my vision went black and I felt as if all my strength had been drained.
"If this continues, Xiao Duan will be strangled to death. Get out of the way!"
Seeing that they couldn't pull Xiao Zhou away with brute force, Song Laosan raised his knife and began to slash at Xiao Zhou's arm.
The blade flashed in front of me, and I clearly saw Song Laosan's knife land on Xiao Zhou's arm, but no blood flowed out.
This thing isn't human!
Realizing this, I rolled my eyes, reached for my waist, touched the hilt of the peach wood sword, and thrust it out with all my might.
"roar!"
After being hit by me, Xiao Zhou let out a shrill roar and released his grip as if he had been electrocuted. Then, Manjing threw him off me.
"Cough! Cough cough!"
I was finally able to catch my breath and lay on the ground coughing violently.
It took me a while to recover. I sat up, panting, and saw Manjing and the Wei family members blocking my way. I asked in a deep voice, "Where is Xiao Zhou?"
"Xiao Duan, look at this."
When Song Laosan heard my voice, he quickly walked over and showed me a paper figure the size of a palm: "After that thing ran away, I chased it for a distance, but it disappeared into the bushes. I only saw this thing."
Looking at the paper figure in Teacher Song's hand, I had a bad feeling: "Do you think this is what we've encountered?"
"I've been traveling the world for quite a while and have seen some crooked and unorthodox things, but I don't know much about shamans. Whether this is their method or just a charade, I can't say for sure."
Song Laosan paused for a moment: "But my knife just now really hit that thing, so I can be sure that it's not a person."
"Cough cough!"
I still felt a terrible itch in my throat. After getting up, I gripped the peach wood sword tightly in my hand: "Let's go back to that rock. I need to make sure we didn't really bump into something, or if we were under some kind of illusion."
Seeing that my peach wood sword was useful, Song Laosan and the others also drew out their own weapons made of lightning-struck wood.
We had only run about twenty meters, and we were in front of the rock in just a few steps.
The monkey looked ahead and immediately bristled: "Damn it, they're here again!"
Upon hearing this, everyone gathered together and stared in the direction of the stone.
I looked over there and saw a person leaning against a rock, as if asleep.
The monkey was startled because the person was Xiao Zhou.
Driven by malice, the monkey grabbed his peach wood axe and charged forward, shouting, "You dare to play tricks on me? I'll make you pay today!"
"Wait, this doesn't look like the previous one."
In the dim light, I saw that the person in front of me had a rosy complexion. I took two more steps forward and, mustering my courage, touched his neck: "There's a pulse, there's warmth, and there's a shadow beside him. This person really is Xiao Zhou."
Old Song frowned: "Then why is he still sleeping here? Could it be that the paper figure from earlier has possessed his soul?"
"It's hard to say exactly what happened, but he's definitely been infected."
I patted Xiao Zhou's face, but he didn't react at all. I turned to Man Jing and said, "Try peeing on his face and see if you can wake him up."
"Will urinating help?"
After hearing what I said, the monkey chimed in, "If I had known it would be like this, when you were being held down by fake Xiao Zhou, I would have just had Manjing piss on him. That would have saved us so much trouble."
"Are you an idiot? I was being choked, how could I let Manjing piss on me?"
I rolled my eyes at the monkey: "Just like Song Laosan said, I know nothing about shamanism, and I don't know if this method will work. We can only try our method."
Manjing's main trait was obedience. He loosened his belt and urinated on Xiao Zhou's face.
After about ten seconds, Song Laosan kicked Xiao Zhou with his foot: "Why do I feel like he's sleeping even more soundly than before?"
"It seems my method is not working."
Looking at the unconscious Xiao Zhou, I sighed and said, "When Xu Le left before, she said we should meet here after dark. Xiao Zhou is probably waiting here because of her. But for some reason, he's been targeted by the Huang family. Since we can't wake him up, we can only wait here. Hopefully, Xu Le will come back to check on him when he doesn't move."
"Waiting like this isn't a solution. Move aside and let me try."
Old Song waved to me, then squatted down next to Xiao Zhou and picked up a twig.
Seeing Song Laosan's actions, I was somewhat surprised: "You know about this?"
"Even if I've never eaten pork, I've still seen pigs run. I've had friends who went to Northeast China to find a fortune teller before, and I've seen some things."
Song Laosan pulled up Xiao Zhou's left hand, broke the wooden stick, and pinched his left ring finger: "My friend encountered some trouble at the time, and this is how it was resolved. I don't know if it will work for him."
As Song Laosan spoke, he used a wooden stick to clamp down on Xiao Zhou's fingers.
"Snap!"
Three seconds later, the branch snapped, but Xiao Zhou's eyes remained closed, showing no sign of waking up.
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