Chapter 94
Chapter 94
The village chief gave everyone a brief account of Aurora Village’s origins.
Before 2028, Aurora Village had been called Ping’an Village, and every household in the village had been registered as impoverished.
Back then, the village’s only connection to the outside world was a rugged mountain path that took five hours to traverse on foot, so the little mountain village was doomed to be both poor and backward.
Then came a certain summer night in 2028-twenty years ago-when the village chief back then had still been a young man in his prime.
That night, he had planned to leave the village under cover of darkness and go work on an assembly line in a big city. But the moment he stepped out the door, he saw green light blooming across the pitch-black night sky.
The green glow was like jade, like silk, spreading over the heavens with an indescribable, soul-shaking grandeur.
Everyone saw it that night. They all believed it was a miracle from God, a sign that their village had received God’s blessing and was about to turn its fortunes around.
Sure enough, from then on, every few days they would see that wondrous sight in the night sky. At the time, no one in the village even knew it was called the Aurora.
It was not until a month later, after the village chief reported the matter, that a group of experts quickly arrived at the village. Only then did the villagers learn that it was called the Aurora.
However, after staying in the village for a month, the experts still could not explain how the Aurora could appear in a small mountain village in Sichuan.
Later, another group of people came to the village. They were employees of Ether Group, and they had experts among them as well.
The first batch of experts returned empty-handed, but this second batch stayed for the long term.
Before long, Ether Group sent more people over. This time, they came to discuss a partnership with the village.
Ether Group would fund the construction of a road connecting the village to the outside world, then build a hot spring inn. They would market the fact that the entire Ping’an Village could see the Aurora, turning the village into an internet-famous destination overnight.
After that, the village chief at the time stayed. With Ether Group’s help, he worked with everyone to develop their hometown. Once Aurora Inn was completed, the village’s name was changed to Aurora Village as well.
Tourists streamed into the village year after year. The villagers could share in the inn’s profits and run small businesses in the village. Every household made a fortune thanks to the booming tourism industry.
The previous village chief attributed the appearance of the Aurora to a gift from God, and all the villagers accepted that explanation.
And so, they enshrined Mahakala at the village entrance, thanking him for the wealth and blessings he had brought to the village.
“So did those two groups of experts ever figure out why the Aurora appears here?” Xu You asked.
The village chief smiled, the wrinkles on his face deepening. “Nope! As time went on, everyone gave up investigating. The earliest group of experts left after a month, and later, the people from Ether Group left too after Aurora Inn was built.”
“So the Aurora appearing in the village is still an unsolved mystery,” Chen Lin said.
“No, it’s a gift from God!” the village chief said firmly.
“Do you know of a mountain song in the village that mentions the Mountain God and the Aurora?” Wei Sen asked.
The village chief’s smile froze on his face, and his eyes flew wide open. “What mountain song? Don’t you go listening to those little brats singing nonsense! Our village has never had any mountain song!”
The village chief clearly resisted any mention of the song.
Everyone tactfully stopped pressing him. As for the song, they could only ask the village doctor the girl had mentioned later.
“Village Chief, we’d also like to ask about the Black Buddha at the village entrance,” Xu You said. “When we came into the village, we saw a little girl carrying black soil toward the entrance. She said she was going to repair the Black Buddha’s golden body. What’s that about?”
“It’s a custom in our village.” The village chief took a breath and explained, “Because Mahakala is pitch-black from head to toe, we found a special kind of black soil to shape his body. But since the village is cold all year round, the black soil cracks easily if it isn’t reinforced. That’s why, every so often, we arrange for young girls to go apply black soil to the Buddha’s body.”
Wei Sen noticed something odd and asked, “Are there any particular requirements for choosing who does it?”
“Of course!” The village chief nodded solemnly. “That’s the Buddha. He is the one who bestowed wealth upon our entire village. Naturally, we should be grateful and hold him in awe. So the person chosen to repair the Buddha’s golden body must be a clean young girl. Anyone whose body has been sullied, man or woman, may not touch the Buddha’s golden body!”
When the village chief said this, his expression grew noticeably more serious, showing just how deeply the faith in the Black Buddha had taken root in the village.
The group chatted with the village chief for nearly another half hour.
Aurora Village had thirteen households and fifty-three people in total.
Aside from travelers like them, there was only one outsider in the entire village-the innkeeper, Lili.
According to the village chief, Lili had close ties to Ether Group. After the inn was completed, she had been parachuted in as its manager.
Meiya had not been the inn’s only employee when it first opened, but for some unknown reason, Lili had fired everyone else not long after, leaving only Meiya behind.
Still, that did not affect the dividends paid to the thirteen village households, so no one had cared much about it.
Seeing that they could get no more information from the village chief, the three set down their teacups and rose to leave.
The village chief walked them to the door and waved with a beaming smile. “Take care now. The forest paths are slippery, so watch your step.”
“Thank you, Village Chief. Sorry for disturbing you.” Wei Sen nodded, and the three strode away.
Behind the wooden door, the smile remained on the village chief’s face. It only grew more and more twisted. As he watched their backs recede into the distance, his eyes churned with ravenous greed.
“It’s really strange,” Xu You said, rubbing her chin. “An Aurora appearing out of nowhere-could it really be a gift from God?”
Although she had already seen “God” with her own eyes, Wei Sen still believed in science.
Especially when it came to the Aurora. It was a natural phenomenon with a clear cause. If it had truly been bestowed by “God,” then this particular “God” had to be some kind of physics deity.
“As for why the Aurora appeared, I think there may be one person who knows the answer.” Wei Sen sniffled. This village really was cold.
Xu You looked at her. “Who?”
Chen Lin poked her head over. “Is it the innkeeper!?”
Wei Sen gave Chen Lin an approving look. The girl was reserved by nature, but her mind was extremely sharp.
“Yes. She’s the only outsider in this village, and she has ties to Ether Group. Ether Group funded the construction of Zhihui Primary School back then, and now it has funded the hot spring inn. The basic logic of business is profit, so what kind of benefit could these things bring the group? That’s the core of the problem.”
Xu You said, “Plenty of companies do charity work and build Hope Schools. Public welfare projects bring reputation and goodwill, so that can barely explain the connection between Ether Group and Zhihui Primary School. But building a tiny hot spring inn? A major corporation shouldn’t need that bit of revenue, right?”
Chen Lin added, “And it wasn’t just the inn. They built the road too. If they’re relying on a little inn like this to earn back all the money they spent, the returns are way too low!”
Wei Sen nodded slightly. “Exactly. So Ether Group’s goal definitely isn’t money. Lili is the person Ether Group left in the village. She must know what the group is after.”
“She’s already a ghost, but instead of hurrying off to reincarnate, she’s still here working like a mule. Now that’s loyalty to Ether Group,” Xu You clicked her tongue.
“Do you remember? The village chief said that not long after the inn opened, Lili fired all the employees and kept only Meiya. My guess is that Lili was still alive when the inn first opened. By the time she fired everyone, she had already died and become a vengeful ghost.”
Xu You nodded. “Makes sense. If nothing had happened, why would she fire all the employees? But she deliberately kept Meiya. There must be some kind of history between them.”
Chen Lin sighed. “Too bad Meiya won’t say anything either. And I feel like the village chief is still hiding things from us too. For example, if they’re both wealth gods, why do they worship Mahakala instead of the more common Zhao Gongming, God of Wealth?”
Xu You agreed. “And there’s that mountain song. The village chief’s reaction was way too intense.”
“One thing at a time. We’ll have an answer about the song soon enough.”
Wei Sen stopped walking. They had already reached the village doctor’s house, and at that moment, the door to the doctor’s home was tightly shut as well.
The village chief had clearly said that the villagers had made quite a bit of money from tourism, and whenever travelers came, everyone would run small businesses on the side to earn extra cash.
But what they saw was still door after door closed tight. None of the households looked even remotely interested in doing business with them.
Wei Sen stepped forward and was just about to raise her hand to knock when the door opened from the inside first.
A dark, deeply lined face appeared in the crack of the door. The person behind it had eyes sunken deep into their sockets, and within their cloudy eyeballs were two vertical pupils like those of a feline.
Those eerie eyes stared straight at Wei Sen, as though gazing at some kind of prey.