Chapter 49: Caught in One Net

Just as the rowing man had said, it didn’t take long for the boat to reach the shore.

Entering the village by water was clearly not the standard route.

There were no houses near where the small boat docked, only a patch of open ground and a majestic-looking ancestral hall. This appeared to be a very important place in the village. The hall was built of brick and stone, looking much more exquisite and sturdy than the other houses in the village.

The rowing man skillfully docked the wooden boat at the ferry landing and jumped straight up. His movements caused the somewhat decayed wooden planks to let out a groan of protest.

The wooden landing looked quite old, creaking underfoot and making one worry if the planks might collapse.

The rowing man tied the boat to a nearby wooden post with a rope and then snapped his fingers.

Upon hearing the sound, Miao Xinyi and the cameraman, who had fainted on the boat, sat up. They stood up with vacant eyes and stepped onto the landing, mimicking the boatman’s movements.

Seeing Liu Wuyong still lying unconscious on the boat without any reaction, the boatman looked surprised and snapped his fingers again.

But Liu Wuyong still didn’t react.

Xie Sui, who was still sitting on the boat, sighed and gently pushed Liu Wuyong, who was slumped beside him.

Only then did Liu Wuyong quietly open his eyes a crack.

Seeing that the other two controlled people had already walked ashore under the rowing man’s instructions, Liu Wuyong scratched his head awkwardly.

He had never been controlled before, so he didn’t know that the finger snap was a command.

Although he didn’t know when Miao Xinyi and the cameraman had fallen under the spell, Liu Wuyong had not been controlled by the boatman like them. Because he had the Blood Curse¹ planted by Xie Sui inside him, any control-type evil arts entering his body would be swallowed by the Blood Curse.

When he saw Miao Xinyi and the cameraman faint earlier, Liu Wuyong felt that if he didn’t fall as well, he would seem a bit out of place, so he had followed suit and lay down.

Even though he could tell this boatman was clearly very wrong… the sky was being held up by the boss, so it wasn’t a mere employee’s turn to lead the charge.

Now that he couldn’t keep up the act, Liu Wuyong lowered his head and silently hid behind Xie Sui, trying his best to minimize his presence.

The boatman looked Liu Wuyong up and down. “I misjudged you. I didn’t expect this one to be a hidden expert. Your technique for masking your aura is so exquisite that you look just like an ordinary person.”

Liu Wuyong really wanted to say ‘I am just an ordinary person’… but he restrained his urge to complain.

In any case, it was best to have as little contact with this eerie boatman as possible. He might fall under a spell just by talking to him. Survival was the priority. In this strange place, Liu Wuyong decided to follow his boss’s instructions in everything.

Liu Wuyong followed behind Xie Sui as the boatman led them toward the village.

Feeling the dense Yin Energy and the lingering smell of blood in the village, Liu Wuyong rubbed his nose, feeling weary.

This place felt too familiar, almost exactly like the feeling he got when he used to work under Zhang Dadao and went to Zhang Dadao’s house to report on missions.

One look and you could tell many people had died here. Countless wronged souls lingered, and the resentment reached the heavens.

This damn production crew was really good at picking locations. Of all the places to film a variety show, they managed to pick an Evil Cultivator’s nest.

He thought he was coming out on a paid vacation with his boss, but he didn’t expect to be out here suffering on the clock… As expected, he wasn’t suited for going out. It was better to stay home and edit videos.

Xie Sui led Liu Wuyong behind the boatman toward the depths of the village. Looking at the surrounding layout of houses, which was clearly meticulously arranged, he suddenly asked a strange question: “Can outsiders stay here for a long time?”

Hearing Xie Sui ask this, the boatman revealed a smile as if he had found a kindred spirit. “The guest indeed has his ways… Of course you can stay. You chose to come at this time just to wait for our sacrifice on April 4th, didn’t you? Don’t worry, there are enough houses.”

April 4th was the Qingming Festival, and also the original filming date set by the production crew.

It was currently the 29th, six days away from April 4th.

Before long, the boatman led them to a large courtyard.

It looked like a rural farmhouse stay. Three single-story buildings and a gatehouse were arranged in a square, with an open space in the middle.

Xie Sui noticed that the tour bus the production crew had driven was actually parked in the center of the yard.

Walking into the courtyard, he saw Wen Yue, Su Caichuan, and their group of ten lying pale-faced on the ground. The producer and other logistics staff, who were supposed to be stationed at the foot of the mountain, stood blankly behind the bus like puppets.

Clearly, the entire production crew had been caught in one net.

Xie Sui suddenly felt a bit helpless.

Mr. Producer… why did you drive so fast? Were you that anxious to get on the road with everyone? You didn’t seek to be born on the same day, but you sought to die on the same day? What touching camaraderie.

“They are…”

Before Xie Sui could finish his sentence, the boatman interrupted him. “Not a single person is missing. Our village won’t be greedy with the sacrificial meat brought by a guest.”

At this point, the boatman paused and said somewhat apologetically, “As for those variety show staff who came here a few days ago… well, didn’t we think they were outsiders who wandered in by mistake? Who knew those people were all brought by you, guest? They’ve gone to help catch ‘rats.’ I guarantee they’ll be returned to you tomorrow.”

The boatman took the dry tobacco pipe hanging from his belt back into his hand, took a deep drag, and said with some emotion, “You have quite the grand style, guest. You brought nearly seventy people here, didn’t you? And living ones at that. Tsk tsk, the value is quite high. But with so many people missing, aren’t you afraid the authorities will trace it back to you?”

From the information revealed in this man’s words, Xie Sui could roughly guess that this village was likely a trading point frequented by Evil Cultivators, and their currency was probably the flesh or souls of ordinary people.

Truly disgusting.

Xie Sui mimicked his tone and said with a fake smile, “Like you said, I have my ways. As long as our cooperation is pleasant, I can bring you a hundred people next time if you want.”

“But whether you’ll live to see the next time is another matter.”

The boatman raised an eyebrow, the joy on his face plain to see. “Easily done, easily done. For a big client with your kind of connections, our village always provides top-tier service. You can rest in this courtyard for the next few days. Pick any room you like. When the time comes, we’ll send someone to fetch you.”

He had actually started using honorifics, showing just how rare it was to see a ‘big client’ like Xie Sui bring over seventy sacrifices at once.

Feeling the restlessness of the Ghost Infant within his body, Xie Sui pulled a cigarette from his pack and lit it, saying as if casually, “Can I take a look around the village?”

It wasn’t yet clear what exactly in this village attracted those evil cultivators like moths to a flame, nor did he know what this ‘sacrifice’ the boatman spoke of actually was. He had to investigate thoroughly before it would be convenient to make a move.

Furthermore, there were seventy people in the production crew in total. How to get all these ordinary people out of the village safely was a major problem… Forget it, why overthink it? Once he figured things out, he would just level the entire village. They weren’t good people anyway.

“Of course,” the boatman agreed readily. “You can look wherever you like. We don’t restrict our guests’ freedom.”

Without Xie Sui even needing to ask, he continued to explain, “As for that ‘sacrificial meat,’ we only control them to keep the fellows from running all over the place.”

The boatman curled his lip toward the sluggish production crew members. “You are very generous, guest, but letting these things roam free is a bit problematic. It would be a huge mess if they called the police and lured the Law Enforcement Team here.”

Speaking of the Law Enforcement Team, he looked like he had a bit of a headache. “By the way, it seems one of your ‘sacrificial meat’ pieces is actually from the Law Enforcement Team… That fellow and a woman have been scurrying around the village for two days now.”

Though his tone was somewhat helpless, he didn’t show the slightest intent to blame Xie Sui.

“But since you’re a big client, don’t worry, we’ll make sure to catch them all for you. They might be a bit damaged when we find them, though. After all, the people doing the hunting don’t know their own strength.”

The hand Xie Sui used to hold his cigarette trembled slightly. He never imagined that the ‘rats’ the boatman mentioned earlier were actually Captain Yan and Nie Pengpeng… For two ordinary people to evade capture for two days in this dangerous devil’s den, they were actually quite impressive.

“Mm, I can’t let you go to so much trouble. I’ll look for them myself while I’m touring the village.”

“Certainly. As you wish, guest. There’s no need to report your movements to us.”

A limestone cave beneath the village.

When the estimated time arrived, the Red-clothed Female Ghost withdrew her eyes from Nie Pengpeng’s.

The images before her eyes vanished instantly. Nie Pengpeng felt a wave of icy chill travel from her eyes straight into her brain, as if two ice picks had been driven into her sockets and were relentlessly churning her brain matter.

Nie Pengpeng clamped her hand over her mouth, forcing down a cry of agony.

She collapsed to the ground, her muscles convulsing uncontrollably from the pain. Cold sweat instantly soaked through her clothes.

It was only with the Red-clothed Female Ghost’s help in gathering intelligence that Nie Pengpeng and Yan Nanxing had been able to escape the villagers’ pursuit. Because the Red-clothed Female Ghost could not speak, they could only communicate through this method of ‘implanting eyeballs.’

Though it looked terrifying and the aftermath was physically agonizing, Nie Pengpeng had grown used to it for the sake of survival.

No matter how scary this was, it wasn’t as terrifying as those maddened villagers.

Nie Pengpeng curled up on the ground, taking a long time to recover.

In the past, she would have cried for ages over a small papercut on her finger. After the surreal experiences of the last two days, she felt she had become much stronger, even to the point of being fearless in the face of pain that felt like her brain was being hollowed out.

Nie Pengpeng sat up and looked at the unconscious Yan Nanxing. Her hand trembled as she touched his forehead.

It was burning hot.

Nie Pengpeng felt like crying again.

She forcefully wiped her face, which was a mess of tears, cold sweat, and grime, struggling to maintain her composure.

She couldn’t delay any longer. Captain Yan’s situation was critical. She had to reunite with Xie Sui as soon as possible and get him to come save him.

Since Xie Sui was a good spirit(?) who saved people, he surely knew healing techniques, right?

Recalling Xie Sui’s invincible state back at Shao’s Restaurant, Nie Pengpeng’s panicked heart settled significantly.

Xie Sui was already in the village. She just had to follow the Red-clothed Female Ghost’s guidance to find him. This was a matter of Captain Yan’s life and death; she absolutely had to succeed!

Nie Pengpeng took off her jacket and draped it over Yan Nanxing. She gave him one last look, then walked toward the cave exit without hesitation.

This was a gamble for life or death. Captain Yan had been protecting her for the past two days; this time, it was her turn to protect him.

Nie Pengpeng crawled out of the cave, picking up a wooden stick from the grass to use as a weapon, and cautiously moved toward the village.

However, before she had gone far, she encountered a familiar person.

The man was wearing his perennial white shirt, a very gentle smile playing on his doll-like, exquisite face. He looked at Nie Pengpeng and said with deep affection, “Are you alright? I was so worried about you.”

Nie Pengpeng froze.

Xie Sui?

No! This wasn’t Xie Sui!

Nie Pengpeng instinctively took a step back, but then she remembered that the entrance to the cave where Yan Nanxing lay was not far away, and she quickly steadied her footing.

She gripped the wooden stick tightly, pointing it at the man with a trembling hand. “Xie Sui would never have such a disgusting, greasy smile… No, in all the time I’ve spent with him, I’ve never even seen him smile! What on earth are you?!”

Translator’s Notes