Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Excited shouts rang out from the villagers behind us.

“Catch them! Don’t let them get away!”

“She’s got an evil spirit on her! She’ll get us all killed!”

Several knives came flying at me. I had no attention to spare for the claw on my arm anymore, so I could only let it keep scratching me while I ran for my life, screaming miserably as I went.

“Aaaah-aaaah-aaaah-”

Up ahead, Lu Lingzhu slammed on the brakes and stopped. She turned around, took one look, and cursed, “Are you insane? From the way you’re screaming, I thought you’d been hit by dozens of knives!”

I raised my hand in fragile despair.

“I’ve been scratched dozens of times. It hurts like hell.”

I might be afraid of pain, but I wasn’t exactly delicate. Back when I used to fight all kinds of demons and monsters, getting hurt every now and then was perfectly normal.

But this pain was different. It was the kind that caught you completely off guard-like you were having a perfectly normal conversation with someone, and then Nanny Rong suddenly charged out from the side and stabbed your arm with a needle. It was unexpected, sharp, and so painful that it was almost impossible not to scream.

The few of us slowed down, and the people behind us drew even closer. Fortunately, several stilted houses soon appeared ahead.

The village’s stilted houses were clustered together. Beneath many of them, families had piled firewood and all kinds of random junk, making them perfect hiding spots.

We split up and looked for places to hide. Under one household’s house, the ground floor was packed tightly with all sorts of cardboard boxes. Jiang Haoyan and I crouched behind two boxes as tall as a person, shrinking ourselves down as much as possible.

The space was so narrow that I was practically curled up in Jiang Haoyan’s arms.

Jiang Haoyan’s cheeks flushed. He suddenly lowered his head and leaned close to my ear.

“Qiao Moyu, why did you save me just now?”

“Don’t talk!”

I reached out and covered his mouth, then carefully poked half my head out and looked outside.

The villagers were searching everywhere for us. At first, only the bereaved family members had knives, but now even the other old men and women had gone home to fetch shovels and hoes. They struck here and smashed there, talking to each other in the local dialect as they drew closer to our side.

The sky gradually darkened, and cooking smoke began rising from several homes.

The wooden stilted houses were tucked among the lush green mountains and forests. From time to time, the distant roar of a waterfall drifted over, along with the rushing sound of water crashing against rocks.

It should have been a peaceful, idyllic scene. But the villagers, each holding a weapon, were pounding around beneath every house and sweeping through the place like bandits raiding a village. Yet their expressions were both tense and terrified, making the atmosphere extremely bizarre.

I couldn’t understand it. From the moment we entered the village, that old man hadn’t wanted anything to do with us.

And just now during the Ox-Cutting, they had suddenly attacked us. No matter what the things on Lu Lingzhu’s arm and mine were, why wouldn’t they listen to a single word of explanation? They weren’t giving us any chance to communicate at all.

If Wei Wuyang was among the villagers, how could he possibly help us drive off the ghosts? If things really didn’t work out later, maybe we should just tie someone up first and try threatening them with force.

I was lost in thought when a scream suddenly rang out in the distance, interrupting me.

I quietly poked my head out to look, only to see that idiot Lu Lingzhu jump out from behind a pile of firewood. She was screaming while flinging her hand around like a lunatic.

Song Feifei stood beside her, so anxious she was spinning in circles.

“Lingzhu, are you okay?”

“They’re over there!”

The villagers immediately rushed over with their weapons.

Song Tao charged at the front, gripping that sharp knife as he stabbed straight toward Lu Lingzhu. Lu Lingzhu, however, seemed not to see him at all. Pale-faced, she stood rooted in place, frantically shaking her hand.

Song Feifei tried to rush over and help, but two other villagers blocked her with hoes, holding her back with all their might.

At that critical moment, I snatched the backpack in front of Jiang Haoyan and flung it hard.

The backpack was packed with so much stuff that it smashed into Song Tao’s head like a brick.

Song Tao let out a miserable cry and instinctively waved his knife around wildly. The bag was sliced open, and the Peach Wood Sword, Seven-Star Sword, and Dragon-Seeking Ruler all fell out.

I let out a grief-stricken howl.

“My eight-hundred-and-eighty-eight-yuan canvas bag-Lu Lingzhu, how are you going to pay me back?!”

Lu Lingzhu finally snapped out of it. She quickly backed up a few steps, then sent the villagers beside Song Feifei flying with two punches.

“What are you howling for? When we get back, come to my place and pick one out. I’ve got plenty of hiking backpacks.”