Chapter 5
Chapter 5
I was taken to the Village Chief’s house.
They locked me in a room, then a group of them sat in the main hall, discussing something.
They weren’t exactly quiet. I could hear them perfectly.
“Could that old bachelor really have been killed by her?”
“Does she look capable of that to you? It was probably just dumb luck!”
“Not necessarily…”
I had heard that voice before.
It belonged to Zhang Xiaolong’s father.
He coughed, his voice lowered. “My Xiaolong refuses to go to school now, no matter what. He says Teacher Yun is a ghost, that she’s come back for revenge.”
“He also said Yun Ruyi is Song Lanzhi.”
The moment the name Song Lanzhi came out, the entire main hall fell silent.
Only after a long while did someone ask in a trembling voice, “Why bring her up all of a sudden…?”
Zhang Xiaolong’s father was named Zhang Jun, and in Shanglian Village, his words clearly carried some weight.
Instead of answering, he said, “Ever since this Teacher Yun came to our village to volunteer as a teacher, has there been a single peaceful day here?”
“First, Zhang Xu’s wife at the village entrance had a difficult labor and the baby didn’t survive. Then Xiao He went up the mountain and broke a leg. After that, those kids were so scared they cried and screamed that they wouldn’t go to school anymore.”
“I keep feeling like something isn’t right about this Yun Ruyi.”
At that, the others started to panic.
“Then what do we do?”
“It can’t really be Song Lanzhi coming back for revenge, can it…?”
“Hmph! She’s dead. What trouble can a dead woman possibly stir up?”
The main hall was getting noisier and noisier.
Just then, the Village Chief knocked on the table.
“Enough!”
His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, grating on the ears.
“A little girl of unknown origin is enough to scare you all like this?”
“In any case, since she’s connected to Song Lanzhi, we can’t let her leave Shanglian Village anymore.”
Zhang Jun asked tentatively, “You mean…?”
The Village Chief let out a long sigh.
“Our village hasn’t made an offering to the Mountain God in years. This year, we just so happen to have a ready-made sacrifice…”
I hadn’t expected them to be this bold. They were actually planning to silence me by killing me outright.
And with not a shred of evidence to justify it.
They tied me up tight and took me into the mountains.
It had just rained, and the mountain path was hard to walk. After stumbling along for nearly three hours, we finally arrived in front of an abandoned, dilapidated little temple.
This was the Mountain God Temple worshiped by Shanglian Village.
But who knew how many years it had been since anyone came here? The place was practically on the verge of collapse.
I looked up. There wasn’t the slightest trace of spiritual energy in this Mountain God Temple. It was nothing but an empty shell.
Zhang Jun shoved me in front of the Mountain God Temple and looked at me coldly. Then he suddenly smiled. “Teacher Yun, don’t blame us for this.”
I ignored him and simply raised my head to look at the sky.
Maybe it was about to rain, because the sky was gray and overcast, without a hint of sunlight.
A yin year, a yin month, a yin day, and a yin hour-the fourfold yin moment, when demons and monsters roam.
The Village Chief was leading several villagers as they dug at the ground.
Suddenly, I spoke. “Listen. Something’s coming.”
Zhang Jun froze. “What trick are you trying to pull now?”
He casually grabbed a clod of mud from beside him and moved to stuff it into my mouth.
Just then, a fierce wind rose, and the sky suddenly darkened.
“What’s going on?”
“Is it going to rain?”
“Damn it! What rotten luck!”
Everyone looked around, irritable and uneasy.
Thump, thump, thump-
A strange sound came from inside the Mountain God Temple.
It drew closer and closer, clearer and clearer.
The Village Chief raised a hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet, his cloudy eyes fixed nervously on the Mountain God Temple.
I looked that way too.
They couldn’t see anything, but I could see it clearly.
There was a monster inside, and it was coming this way…