What are you doing?"
Jiang Chuyan felt like he was going crazy.
He instinctively wanted to scream, but the moment he opened his mouth, a strange cold wind blew, and the white smoke from the burning Xima Spiritual Pagoda was directly poured into the depths of Jiang Chuyan's lungs.
Jiang Chuyan coughed heart-wrenchingly, unable to utter a single word. Through his tearful eyes blurred by the smoke, all he could see was the pool of fresh blood on the ground.
Viscous.
scarlet.
Disgusting.
The baby just lay limp on the ground, with its chubby arms and legs hanging down.
A sharp buzzing sound continuously seeped out from deep inside Jiang Chuyan's head, and he had tinnitus.
It was not until the buzzing sound gradually faded away that Jiang Chuyan heard the strange whispers that became clearer and clearer in his ears.
He turned around in panic and looked around, and found that every villager in Longzhao had a smile on his face that was exactly the same as Budacuo's. They stared at the dead baby in the red circle and kept chanting ancient songs that Jiang Chuyan could not understand.
The song sounded like some strange aquatic creature uttered at the bottom of a deep pool. Each syllable sounded like an unclear "gurgling" sound. Jiang Chuyan's head got worse and worse after hearing it, and the scenery in front of him gradually began to distort.
At this moment, a face suddenly appeared in front of him.
Jiang Chuyan faced the village witch's strange mask, which was covered with many densely packed protrusions.
The villagers drew many spiral patterns on those protrusions. For some reason, Jiang Chuyan was very sure that the patterns represented eyes.
Many, many eyes crowded together.
And now, not knowing if it was because of the smoke, Jiang Chuyan actually felt that the eyeballs on the mask were moving slightly, staring at him.
He felt that sticky gaze again. It was exactly the same as the gazes the villagers had cast on him along the way.
Jiang Chuyan flinched, not understanding what was going on. But he soon realized that the village witch wasn't really looking for him, but He Yuan, who was beside him.
"&&…￥@#!"
The village witch emitted a series of buzzing sounds from behind his mask.
He Yuan was stunned for a moment, while Budacuocuo diligently began to translate. Unfortunately, no matter how carefully Jiang Chuyan listened, he could only grasp a few words like "noble person," "remove evil spirits," and "exorcise evil spirits." However, He Yuan seemed to fully understand the village witch's intentions.
Because the next moment, he nodded to the village witch, then suddenly stepped forward into the red circle—
Jiang Chuyan stared blankly at his classmate who picked up the baby's body from the ground so nonchalantly.
The tall, handsome boy placed the baby's body on the red cloth that had been prepared in advance, and then, in front of Jiang Chuyan, he suddenly cut open the body's abdomen with a sharp knife in his hand.
"Puff—"
It was like puncturing a plastic water bag.
More blood gushed out of the corpse, and a few drops of blood splashed onto He Yuan's cheek. The boy standing behind the corpse wiped his face casually, leaving a long bloody mark on his face.
As if he had noticed Jiang Chuyan's gaze at this moment, He Yuan opened the incision on the corpse's abdomen, raised his head, and said something to him with a wry smile.
Jiang Chuyan's ears started to tinnitus again.
The illusory sound of rain in his head washed away He Yuan's voice and turned it into an illusory muttering.
"Are you afraid of blood... If you are, then don't look at it... Chu Yan..."
As they spoke, the village witch and Budacuocuo came up behind He Yuan. The tall boy now looked vaguely unfamiliar. Under their guidance, the boy frowned slightly, but without hesitation, he reached out and pulled the baby's body apart. As the boy fiddled with the body, some white internal organs flowed out from the wound, and He Yuan's fingertips and wrists were also dyed bright red.
It's like a dream.
Jiang Chuyan thought.
He even hesitated for a moment, wondering if he was really dreaming.
"Wow, that's disgusting."
Then he heard the voices of his companions beside him.
"He Yuan is really capable of doing this! This is too freaking scary..."
"Fortunately, I wasn't asked to come..."
"These mountain folk customs are truly barbaric..."
…
Jiang Chuyan slowly turned his head, his eyes sweeping over the faces of Xu Yuanzhou, Bai Ke and Liu Tianyu, and then he was extremely horrified to find that they did not look afraid at all.
Yes, the young male college students all frowned when they saw He Yuan cutting open the corpse's belly and turning over the internal organs. However, their surprise and astonishment were as if they had watched some bizarre and bloody movie. While they kept muttering "so scary" and "so disgusting", there was a glimmer of curiosity in their eyes.
"you..."
Jiang Chuyan's lips moved, and it took a long time before he managed to squeeze out a thin whimper.
"Didn't you see it?"
He asked tremblingly.
"What did you see?"
Xu Yuanzhou looked towards Jiang Chuyan. After a moment of hesitation, the boy leaned towards him nervously.
"Chu Yan, what's wrong with you? Are you fainting from blood?"
He asked.
Looking at Xu Yuanzhou's caring face, Jiang Chuyan felt himself getting colder and colder.
My chest and throat felt tight, and the blackness in front of my eyes grew thicker.
Jiang Chuyan suspected that he would faint in the next second.
"It was a baby... He Yuan... they... they killed..."
He muttered incoherently.
They killed a baby!
But why do you all look so normal?
Hearing Jiang Chuyan's words, Xu Yuanzhou opened his eyes wide in surprise. He stared at the young man in front of him with some hesitation, whose face was pale and covered in cold sweat, and hesitated to speak.
Bai Ke suddenly poked his head out from behind Xu Yuanzhou. He raised his eyebrows, his eyes fell on Jiang Chuyan's face, and a surprised smile appeared on his lips.
"Wow, Chu Yan, did you forget to wear contact lenses?" He shouted crisply, "You can see flowers from such a close distance... How can you mistake a fish for a baby?"
"He was just too timid to take a closer look, right?!"
Xu Yuanzhou coughed lightly and shook his head at Bai Ke.
Then he turned to Jiang Chuyan and added, "You didn't sleep well last night. How could it be a baby? This isn't ancient times...it must be a fish."
fish?
Jiang Chuyan turned around in panic and looked at He Yuan.
He Yuan seemed to be staring at him at this time, his face full of worry.
And under He Yuan's palm, the "baby" that was dripping with blood was indeed... just a giant salamander with a round shape and slightly pink skin.
*
"To support the development of impoverished villages, the government built a giant salamander breeding base near Longzhao a few years ago... However, perhaps due to the local minerals, albino giant salamanders frequently hatch at the breeding base. Due to historical reasons, the local villagers believe that albino giant salamanders possess miraculous properties, and they often use them in various traditional rituals..."
A few minutes later, He Yuan washed his hands and returned to the team.
He lowered his head and explained to Jiang Chuyan, who was still pale.
The giant salamander that He Yuan had previously stripped open was now a mass of soft flesh, held by the village witch wearing the strange mask. When Jiang Chuyan looked at the giant salamander's corpse again, it was difficult to see any resemblance to a baby.
Just now...
It must be because he inhaled too much smoke that caused his brain to be dizzy, which made him mistake a giant salamander for a newborn baby.
Jiang Chuyan slowly breathed a sigh of relief, but his body still retained that indescribable feeling of tightness. It was as if an invisible hand was still lurking deep within his body, mercilessly tightening his internal organs.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of smoke from the burning Xima Spiritual Pagoda and the stench of giant salamander blood. Jiang Chuyan felt like vomiting.
It was at this time that Budacuocuo, while mumbling an incomprehensible ballad, took out several balls stained red and white with blood from the giant salamander's belly.
"Great! The exorcism was successful! Yuan, you are amazing."
Budacuocuo carefully held the spherical objects and came to Jiang Chuyan and the others.
Jiang Chuyan then saw clearly that what he was holding in his hands were actually four eggs.
Jiang Chuyan was a little confused - why were there eggs in the giant salamander's stomach?
But he soon realized that it was probably for the so-called ritual to put the eggs into the giant salamander's body in advance.
At this time, the village witch suddenly shouted a few words in local dialect at the few people.
Budacuocuo opened his eyes wide and spoke with a smile.
"Only one last step left, my distant guest."
He motioned for each person to take an egg from his hand.
"Spit on the egg and smash it - your evil spirit will disappear."
This particularly strange ritual in the ancient village made the male college students look at each other, feeling helpless but also curious.
"Wow, I feel something."
I don't know who muttered this.
It can be seen that no matter whether it is Liu Tianyu, Bai Ke, or Xu Yuanzhou... they actually don't seem to take the so-called evil spirit to heart.
But after some laughter, everyone still obediently followed Buddacuo's instructions.
"Pah--"
"Pah--"
"Snap—"
…
The eggs in the hands of the other three were smashed.
There was suddenly a pool of yellow and white on the ground.
If there is any difference between this so-called egg that has absorbed "evil spirits" and an ordinary egg, it is that the yolk looks particularly red. Against the backdrop of the soil on the ground, the yolk strands sandwiched in the sticky egg white look almost red.
Considering that the chickens here are free-range, this is not surprising.
Jiang Chuyan should have been the one most interested in traditional ancient folk rituals. If he could record everything that happened this morning, even without photos and image data, he was sure he could write a good paper.
But at this moment, he suddenly lost his enterprising spirit.
The nausea was getting worse and worse, burning his stomach.
His head was getting more and more dizzy, and Jiang Chuyan had no way to think carefully anymore. Without much hesitation, he spat on the egg, and then smashed the egg, which still had fishy blood on it, to the ground.
But this time, what overflowed from the broken eggshell was not egg liquid.
It's a red ball of flesh.
"Chi——"
Jiang Chuyan didn't know if it was his illusion, but in that moment of horror, he vaguely heard a tiny scream.
The lump of red flesh squirmed on the ground for a moment and then stopped moving.
It was obvious that those people did not choose the eggs well when feeding them to the giant salamander. There was a fertilized egg mixed in with the ordinary eggs, and this egg already contained a chick that was about to hatch.
However, even if this chick can survive until it hatches, it may not survive.
Because it has very obvious developmental deformities.
There were a few sparse feathers on the blood-red skin, and the abdomen was translucent. Due to the previous fall, the underdeveloped internal organs were squeezed out of the stomach.
There was no beak or hair on its head, only a single round, black eye.
…
Except for the villagers of Longzhao Village, the male college students who had never seen such a thing all gasped and scattered screaming.
"Wow wow wow, what the hell is that!"
"Holy shit, it's moving!"
"So disgusting!"
…
Jiang Chuyan also let out a short scream.
He retreated uncontrollably until he was embraced by someone.
"Hey, don't be afraid—Chu Yan! It's okay!"
It was He Yuan who grabbed him.
Perhaps it was because he had killed the giant salamander before, even after washing his hands, there was still a faint smell of blood on the boy's body.
He Yuan's hands were a little cold, but very strong.
Jiang Chuyan tried to break free from the other person several times in panic but failed at all.
At the same time, the atmosphere around him began to grow strange... Jiang Chuyan heard the whispers erupting from the villagers. The wind carried more smoke towards him, and he was breathing rapidly, becoming increasingly short of oxygen due to the smoke.
"whee--"
"*&&…%￥%——Hee——"
…
The only thing that is certain is that more and more villagers have that strange smile on their faces.
Everyone's eyes were focused on Jiang Chuyan.
"He Yuan, what's going on?"
Jiang Chuyan felt helpless for the first time in his life.
The habit he had developed over the past two days made him subconsciously grab He Yuan.
But when Jiang Chuyan looked up again, she felt that He Yuan looked strange too. There were still traces of blood on his cheeks, and his mouth was wide open. Because his pupils were dilated, only a thin edge remained of his light-colored pupils.
He Yuan had a bright smile on his face, but his eyes were gleaming with a cold light like a wild beast.
Bloodthirsty, greedy, tyrannical... twisted.
Jiang Chuyan seemed to be frozen and unable to move.
Fortunately, the feeling of incongruity on He Yuan only lasted for a very short moment.
"Wait, don't be afraid. It sounds to me like, well, in this kind of ceremony, being able to smash a hairy egg here is a very good thing."
Jiang Chuyan blinked.
The tall boy in front of him suddenly turned into the familiar He Yuan in his memory.
The scene that Jiang Chuyan just saw seemed like an illusion.
At this time, the boy was slightly tilting his head, patiently facing Budacuocuo, trying hard to translate the latter's words for Jiang Chuyan.
Because of excitement and joy, Budacuocuo spoke much faster than before.
The villagers' whispers gradually turned into cheerful folk songs.
"Well, to put it simply, you have been blessed by... the Dragon God."
After listening to Budacuocuo's explanation, He Yuan translated it to Jiang Chuyan.
"This is a great honor and... grace... Okay, actually, I don't quite understand it."
He said with a smile.
"Just understand it as the Dragon God likes you."
The noises around were too loud, so He Yuan had no choice but to lower his head and whisper in Jiang Chuyan's ear, speaking word by word.
The author has something to say:
He Yuan: That's it, the Dragon God likes you!