The whereabouts of Uncle Qi's body are unknown, and Wei Shengnan has also disappeared, making our well-planned scheme full of uncertainty.
I didn't tell anyone about Wei Shengnan's disappearance. When I got back to my place in the afternoon, I kept staring at the tiger beetle in the jar, but the little bug didn't react at all.
With a mix of trepidation and excitement, I waited until nightfall before leading my team away from the village and heading towards the agreed-upon location.
The night was dark, and we walked through the woods by the faint moonlight, with visibility of less than twenty meters.
Jiang Man looked at the empty woods around her and muttered, "Didn't we all agree to meet here after dark? How come those people have no sense of time at all?"
"Ping'an Village has a curfew. Perhaps the terrain of their dwelling is so unique that they couldn't escape smoothly."
I didn't mention Wei Shengnan's disappearance to Jiang Man, but comforted her, saying, "Let's wait a little longer. Maybe something has delayed them."
In the mosquito-infested forest, hunters lurking in the trees emerged one after another, and every now and then, the pitiful cries of small animals could be heard.
Although I sprayed insect repellent on myself, I still got bitten all over by mosquitoes while waiting, and the itching and pain were unbearable.
The monkey squatted under the tree, waving its paws to shoo away the mosquitoes around it: "Young Master Duan, when you were studying pharmacology with Wang Qing in Fengmen Village, didn't you learn how to prepare any insect repellents or anything like that?"
“We spend all year locating and searching for burrows in the deep mountains and forests, how could I not ask about this! But Wang Qing told me that there are too many kinds of insects in the world, and each kind of insect is afraid of different drugs, so the preparation of insect repellent is very complicated. He also said that this would consume my energy, and that I should learn more practical poison formulas first.”
I swatted a mosquito and saw that Wei Shengnan and her group hadn't appeared for a long time. I felt that their chances of keeping the appointment were slim, so I said, "Everyone, wait another half hour. If Wei Shengnan and the others still haven't shown up, we'll take care of today's operation ourselves!"
The monkey knew the inside story, and upon hearing what I said, he sneered, "Young Master Duan, I think we're wasting our time. Let's just set off!"
"Let's wait a little longer."
Jiang Man shook her head: "When we entered the corpse pit in the willow grove yesterday, everyone witnessed how dangerous it was there. When doing things in a place like that, the more people there are, the greater the chance of success. It's a matter of life and death, so it's better to be cautious!"
The monkey, unable to bear the mosquitoes any longer, lit a cigarette to repel them: "Young Master Duan, since the people of Ping'an Village can make wax corpses, is it possible that they also manipulate wax corpses like the Jiangxi corpse-driving technique?"
We were actually quite well-prepared for our entry into Ping'an Village, but I hadn't anticipated that such a place could harbor evil spirits, which is why we suffered a loss.
Hearing the monkey's question, I used a whetstone to sharpen the edge of the Two Realms Blade and cautiously replied, "We do need to be careful about this matter. If we have a choice, we should try to capture the person in the Buddhist hall and avoid entering the corpse pit area."
Lin Que interjected, "Brother, when you were chatting yesterday, didn't you say that the Buddha statues in the Buddhist temple might contain substances that would frighten the wax corpses? If we take some fragments from the Buddha statues and put them on our bodies, is it possible to defend against attacks from those wax corpses?"
I pondered Lin Que's statement for a moment and shook my head: "I don't recommend this method because it's just a speculation. We can't guarantee that what can suppress the wax corpse is definitely a Buddha statue. What if those Buddha statues are also set with traps? We're just making trouble for ourselves."
Hearing our discussion, Manjing said in a simple-minded way, "Don't those wax corpses need to have their wax shells broken before they can be resurrected? And as long as you hit their heads, you can kill them. Why don't we smash all the wax corpses' heads before the chieftain and the others arrive? Wouldn't that solve everything?"
The monkey was shocked when he heard Manjing's plan: "Brother, we came to Ping'an Village to investigate the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, not to vent our anger. No matter what, that village is the ancestral burial ground of Ping'an Village. You come here and want to blow the heads off all their ancestors. Do you think we can still get out of these mountains after doing that? Do you think we risked our lives to play whack-a-mole with you?"
The others were amused by Manjing's idea.
Just when I was certain that Wei Shengnan and the others would not show up tonight, I suddenly heard the sound of leaves rustling in the bushes ahead.
I gripped my pistol tightly in the darkness and asked in a low voice, "Who goes there?"
A response came from within the bushes: "It's me, Qu Ruilin!"
I didn't expect Wei Shengnan and the others to actually come. I got up to ask them questions, but then I realized that Qu Ruilin had come alone.
Although Qu Ruilin and I fought side by side in the mass grave the day before, we have a long-standing grudge, and it is definitely not something that can be resolved with such a small matter.
Just as I was pondering how to phrase my words to Qu Ruilin, he suddenly cried out in alarm, "Duan Shenxing, help!"
I thought I was hallucinating, and looked at him in surprise: "What did you say?"
"We're in trouble! This afternoon, we found out where Uncle Seven's body was kept, so we followed it to investigate. But as soon as we entered the woods outside, we got lost and were attacked by paper dolls. We all got separated."
I searched the woods for a long time but couldn't find anyone else. So I tried to break the formation using my own understanding, and surprisingly, I actually managed to find my way out. But when I tried to go back, I couldn't. I've been searching there all afternoon, but I haven't found any trace of Sheng Nan and the others. I have no choice but to ask you for help!
Qu Ruilin looked at me anxiously: "The situation we encountered today is very strange. I have a feeling that if we don't find the person soon, Shengnan and the others will be in grave danger. So we have no choice but to come to you for help. If you agree..."
"Stop talking, lead the way!"
I gave my answer before Qu Ruilin made any promises.
According to my original plan, if Wei Shengnan and the others did not appear, I would abandon the cooperation and choose to kidnap the clan leader myself to interrogate him about the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace.
Qu Ruilin told me that Uncle Qi's body was not sent to the willow grove, so even if we went there, we wouldn't find anything.
Since the plan has been forced to stop, I can't just stand by and watch Wei Shengnan be in danger. Besides, if we launch a rescue operation for her, we might even find Uncle Qi's body, or even capture the clan leader over there.
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