Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Many people would be intimidated by the name Skinpeel Village, but it’s actually quite mundane in origin.

Guangxi is home to dense jungles and a thriving timber trade. In the past, this village specialized in stripping the bark off trees.

Skinpeel Village was once a large settlement with a steady source of income. It was considered wealthy compared to the surrounding villages, and with people constantly coming and going, it was always bustling. That lasted until twenty years ago, when a strange occurrence struck the village.

An Old Man was taking an afternoon nap at home. When he woke up, he suddenly started foaming at the mouth and passed away before he could be rushed to the hospital. From that day on, it was as if Pandora’s box had been opened; several people died every month.

Some said there was something wrong with the village’s river water, while others claimed the soil was unclean. The villagers didn’t dare stay any longer and moved away one after another, leaving only a few elderly residents who insisted on remaining.

Since then, all sorts of eerie stories have circulated about the village. Drivers passing through would encounter ‘ghost walls’ that trapped them in loops, and some claimed to have seen coffins inside the abandoned houses. With all the talk of ghosts and gods, no one dared to visit anymore.

It was now nearly nine o’clock, and the village was pitch black. There weren’t even any streetlights. Sun Liang began to have second thoughts.

Brother Chen glared at him.

“What are you afraid of? You’re a cop; why are you worrying about superstitions? We have things to do tomorrow. What if that murderer changes his mind and refuses to confess?”

“Keep moving!”

Brother Chen switched on his flashlight. Sun Liang didn’t dare say another word and pushed the two of us to walk in front.

The road into the village was wide, flanked by the massive shadows of trees. In the darkness, they took on grotesque shapes, making it feel as if something was hiding behind them.

As for the lizard, ever since we entered the village, it had been lying motionless in the bag as if it were asleep.

Under Brother Chen’s urging, Wen Yan began to point randomly.

“Over there, in the bushes.”

Just as he spoke, a white shadow flashed through the grass at high speed and vanished.

Wen Yan let out a scream and pressed close to me.

“Ah-there’s something there!”

I rolled my eyes in disgust. “Seriously? With your courage, how did you become a Jiangtou Sorcerer?”

“I… my uncle said if I couldn’t get into college, I had to join him in the trade. I was forced into this.”

Brother Chen swung his flashlight around and walked ahead of us, then suddenly came to a halt.

Sun Liang asked cautiously, “Brother, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. That white shadow just now was a dog.”

Sun Liang visibly relaxed. He walked over and crouched down to look at the dog.

“Phew, I thought it was something else. Whose dog is this?”

“Holy crap-”

Sun Liang gasped, his face turning deathly pale as he fell backward onto the ground. I leaned in for a closer look and realized it was a white Samoyed.

The dog wasn’t large, only reaching knee-height. It lay on the ground with its eyes open, motionless.

The eerie part was that the dog had been dead for a long time. There was a large gash on its neck, and it looked as if every drop of blood had been sucked dry. Its body was like an empty, tattered sack, sprawled flat on the ground.

Wen Yan and I exchanged a look, silently reaching an understanding.

Wen Yan’s uncle had definitely been here. While on the move, a Jiangtou Sorcerer will drink the blood of animals to maintain their energy. This dog had almost certainly been drained by him.

Furthermore, after consuming animal blood, a Jiangtou Sorcerer retains the habits of that animal for a few minutes. Therefore, he was very likely at this dog owner’s house.

I picked up the dog.

“How many households are still living in the village? Let’s go find out who this belongs to.”

Brother Chen frowned. “Don’t meddle in things that don’t concern us. Finding the head is the priority. Why do you care who the dog belongs to?”

I explained the situation. “If we find this dog’s owner, we’ll find the head.”

Brother Chen scoffed. “Heh, can you stop making things up? You’re a college student; can’t you use some scientific reasoning?”

“You want scientific reasoning? Then explain this to me: this dog is already dead, so why was it running around just now?”

Brother Chen fell silent.

“Maybe… it was the wind?”

“Brother Chen, maybe we should just listen to them this once,” Sun Liang interjected, trying to smooth things over. Wen Yan also insisted on finding the dog’s owner first. Helpless, Brother Chen could only nod in agreement.