Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I didn’t have time to think too much. I had to find Dashun first.

I walked through the village, calling his name as I went.

Then, all of a sudden-

“Help! Help me!”

I heard an unfamiliar voice crying for help from behind an abandoned house.

I circled around and saw that someone had dug a huge pit in the ground.

When I walked over and looked down, I found a young man trapped at the bottom.

The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up. “Bro! Hey, bro, save me! Give me a hand, I can’t get out!”

“What’s your name? And what are you doing here?”

I didn’t pull him up right away. Out here in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t afford to trust anyone that easily.

“My name’s Zuo Hao.”

The man gave me an ingratiating smile. “We’re all here for the same reason, aren’t we? But I didn’t see you yesterday. Are you new?”

“I’m looking for my buddy. He’s in his thirties, about two heads shorter than me, and his name is Dashun. Have you seen him?”

I crouched beside the pit and kept questioning him.

Zuo Hao scratched his head, looking a little confused. “I did see a few men yesterday, but I don’t know if any of them were your friend. Aren’t you here for the ritual? Wait, the seven spots were already filled. Why is there an extra person today?”

“What ritual?” I asked, frowning.

Zuo Hao hesitated. “Well… I don’t know if I’m allowed to say…”

“Then you can stay in that pit.”

I stood up and made as if to leave. Zuo Hao hurriedly called after me.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t! Come on, bro, let’s talk this out. It’s getting dark soon. I really don’t want to be stuck here by myself.”

I walked back to the edge of the pit and looked down at him.

Zuo Hao seemed helpless. He raised his head and asked, “Bro, have you ever heard of a Scapegoat?”

As it turned out, this abandoned village had once practiced a mysterious ritual.

Using certain special methods, the villagers had raised strange black goats.

Those goats all had dark red horns and human pupils.

The villagers believed that by performing a ritual and slaughtering these goats, they could transfer away their illnesses or sins.

In other words, those “Scapegoats” would suffer in a person’s place.

Later, that ancient and isolated village had been forced to relocate into civilized society.

The ritual had also gone through all sorts of changes, becoming a mysterious legend passed down to this generation and quietly attracting quite a few “customers” who had a need for such things.

“But not just anyone gets the chance. Besides having enough money, you need the right opportunity too.”

Zuo Hao actually looked rather proud. “I waited four years for this spot. Those goats are extremely hard to raise. The ritual can only be held once a year, and each time there are only seven spots.”

As he spoke, Zuo Hao raised his left hand toward me.

His sleeve instantly slid down to his shoulder. Unlike his normal right arm, the exposed left arm was withered like rotten wood. Beneath the wrinkled skin, there was almost no muscle or tendon to be seen.

“It’s a hereditary disease. The hospital can’t cure it. I’m almost thirty, and I’ve never even held a girl’s hand.”

Zuo Hao shrugged at me. “Sure, people can call it feudal superstition, but I still wanted to give it a try. What if it actually works?”

“So this ritual of yours is just slaughtering seven goats?” I didn’t quite believe him. It felt far too simple.

“It’s not that easy. You have to catch a goat first. And it’s not seven goats, it’s four. There are seven people, and whoever catches one first gets it.”

At that point, Zuo Hao let out a defeated sigh. “I don’t think I’ve got much of a chance. The villagers only gave us four days. It’s already the second day, and I haven’t even seen a goat’s shadow.”

I reached down and pulled Zuo Hao up. The pit had been dug by him specifically to catch a goat, only for him to fall into it himself.

“Bro, what’s your name?”

“My surname is Long. Long Changdong.”