Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Before I could finish investigating, something happened in Shanglian Village.

Li He’s uncle was dead.

His body had been found by the women who went up the mountain at dawn to pick tea leaves.

They said that when they found him, he was hanging from an old locust tree, his body already cold.

It was a gruesome way to die.

The old bachelor was carried down the mountain, and half the village went to have a look.

I was passing by the village entrance and happened to run into them.

Among the crowd, I also spotted Li He and Zhang Xiaolong, who had taken several days off from school.

Their faces were pale, their expressions dazed as they trailed behind the adults. They looked as if they were afraid of something.

I stood on the ridge between the fields and glanced from afar at the straw mat they were carrying.

There was some distance between us, but the demonic aura coming off it was still terrifyingly thick.

The old bachelor had been killed by a monster.

I frowned, took my phone out of my pocket, and called Jiang Shaotian.

“Get over here, fast. I need you to help me look into something.”

Jiang Shaotian was a junior member of the Jiang family, one of the Ten Great Spirit Sects.

His grandfather had tossed him over to me so he could follow me around and gain experience subduing monsters.

I had arrived at Shanglian Village ahead of him this time. Judging by the time, he should be here soon too.

After reminding him of a few more things, I hung up.

When I looked up, my eyes met Li He and Zhang Xiaolong’s.

They stared at me in terror and instinctively took a step back, only to slip on the muddy ground and fall flat on their backsides.

“It’s her! She came back for revenge!”

“She’s the one who killed my uncle!”

They pointed at me and started shouting incoherently.

“What are you yelling about? Shut your mouths!”

The Village Chief smacked them with his pipe, and the two boys instantly fell silent.

But their eyes stayed fixed on me.

I jumped down from the field ridge and walked up to the group.

Looking down at Li He, I asked, “Why are you saying I killed your uncle?”

He grabbed a stone from the ground and hurled it at me.

“It was you! My uncle went to find you last night to get even for me! But this morning he was dead! If it wasn’t you, who else could it be?”

The moment he said that, the entire group erupted in an uproar.

The old Village Chief’s cloudy eyes slowly turned toward me, his gaze settling on my face.

I acted as if I hadn’t noticed and only said in surprise, “In the middle of the night, your uncle was coming to find me to get even for you?”

“If he hadn’t died, would I be the one dead instead?”