Chapter 233

Officer Zhou hadn’t considered that question. He paused, then answered hesitantly, “Villagers occasionally go to the grove to dig for wild vegetables, but indeed, fewer young people go… However, Xiao Chen has no relatives, and I asked a few villagers before; no one saw him leave with anyone.”

In other words, even though he now suspected someone lured Xiao Chen out, there was no substantial evidence. It was also impossible for them to hire an Ability user who could ‘trace back the truth’ for just this one case. Such Ability users were highly sought after, usually too busy with their regular work, and difficult to hire without a hefty sum unless it was a major case.

“It’s also possible a Nightmare Beast directly took him to the grove and killed him,” Officer Zhou quickly offered a new idea.

Such a possibility indeed existed; it was normal for Nightmare Beasts to possess teleportation or charm abilities. The group didn’t dwell on it further. Conveniently, Xiao Chen’s house also met Jiang Tianming’s previous requirements, so they began to inquire about other deceased individuals on the spot.

Three people had died this month in total. Besides Xiao Chen, the initial victim, the other two were elderly. For the former, her children had already completed the funeral arrangements. For the latter, having died recently, the body was still in the mourning hall.

Tomorrow was the last day for the body to lie in state, after which it would be buried.

All three had died from exsanguination. What was remarkably strange was that their deaths occurred in the exact east, south, and north parts of the village, and in each case, blood flowed everywhere.

This description made the group exchange glances, and they all simultaneously thought of one word—‘sacrifice’.

Blood had always been an excellent medium for sacrifices and various arrays. During the Tri-School Competition, the Black Flash Organization had directly summoned Cyril and Li Xiang past the Ability Government’s defenses by using an array made from ordinary human blood.

And specific cardinal directions were also an indispensable part of sacrifices.

“I have a question.” After hearing about all the deceased, Li Shu suddenly thought of another issue. “According to what you said initially, the villagers in this village were unwilling to tell you about the deaths, right?”

Officer Zhou nodded. “That’s right.”

“It’s understandable how you discovered the death of the first victim, Xiao Chen, but how did you find out about the deaths of the other two?” Li Shu asked, staring intently into his eyes.

Everyone quickly understood his logic. The villagers’ reluctance to speak about it was, first, due to their belief that they could handle it themselves, and second, likely influenced by the ‘don’t want to blow things out of proportion’ mentality unique to secluded places.

Although Officer Zhou had already discovered Xiao Chen’s death, this didn’t mean they would fully disclose the deaths of the other two. It was well known that the level of attention garnered by one death in a month versus three deaths in a month was vastly different. If only one person had died, Officer Zhou might not have called them over.

The other two deceased were elderly; even if Officer Zhou discovered their deaths, it would be easy to dismiss them as natural causes. How then would he know the truth?

Officer Zhou thought for a moment, then, with Jiang Tianming’s explanation, understood his meaning and reluctantly explained, “The reason I knew they died unnatural deaths is because our village’s elderly have always been very long-lived.”

His unexpected answer surprised everyone. Seeing their expressions, Officer Zhou smiled. “If you just ask around a bit, you’ll know our village is known as the ‘Centenarian Village.’ We have several centenarians here.”

Without waiting for their reply, he explained in one breath, “It might be that the geomancy of this place is nurturing. Young people who leave our village are relatively strong, and the elderly who live here, even in their seventies or eighties, are still spry. Those two deceased elders were only sixty or seventy years old, and they died in the same month. Naturally, I didn’t believe they died of old age.”

“Wow,” Su Bei exclaimed with an ambiguous sigh. “Longevity Village, Longevity Town. Your village truly lives up to its name.”

“Hahahaha!” Officer Zhou didn’t catch his sarcasm. He scratched his head and chuckled, “Actually, our village’s name was only changed a few years ago because we saw how spry all the elderly in the village were. It used to be called Zhou Family Village.”

Jiang Tianming didn’t miss the suspicious point in his words and pressed, “A few years ago?”

“More than ten years ago, I guess…” Officer Zhou himself had little memory of it, but he quickly realized the implication of Jiang Tianming’s question. “You think something like that is related to the recent case? That was so many years ago; I don’t think we need to be so overly suspicious, do we?”

Jiang Tianming actually felt the same way, but before coming, Su Bei had mentioned that the name ‘Longevity Village’ was interesting. After hearing about the village’s universally long-lived elderly, he emphasized it again. Jiang Tianming knew Su Bei well enough to know he never spoke without purpose. This name might indeed hold some strangeness.

However, just as Officer Zhou said, events from over ten years ago wouldn’t typically be related to a current case in the eyes of normal people. Pushing further would be unreasonable, so he temporarily changed the subject. “Do those two elders still have family members?”

Officer Zhou nodded, giving an affirmative answer while also preparing them. “Of course, both of their family members still live in the village. I can take you to them shortly. However, due to the death of their elderly family members, their attitudes might not be very good.”

After finishing most of their questions, the time was around two in the afternoon. At this hour, villagers typically awoke from their afternoon naps. The group walked out together. Before leaving, Officer Zhou had already said they needed to report to the Village Chief’s house first.

Unlike before, walking through the village this time, the group encountered many villagers. A village was only so big, and everyone knew each other. Suddenly seeing several unfamiliar faces, the villagers showed great vigilance.

Seeing so many people, Su Bei naturally activated his ability. However, with just one glance, he felt completely numb. Nothing else mattered; every single person present had a Major Destiny Pointer below the compass.

In other words, everyone was going to die!

Su Bei: “…”

His expression instantly turned grim; he just wanted to leave this terrible place as quickly as possible. If everyone in the village was going to die unnatural deaths, then something major was definitely happening.

What kind of event would cause an entire village to perish?

Su Bei quickly came up with two possibilities—

The first possibility: the aura of the Life Stone was exposed, and Nightmare Beasts razed the village.

If there truly was a Life Stone here, then this speculation was very reasonable. Their month-long rampage earlier showed how much they valued the Life Stone. Once found, they wouldn’t hesitate to avoid trouble; they would inevitably slaughter everyone in the village.

But here lay a problem: Jiang Tianming and the others were here. If a danger truly threatened the entire village, how could they stand by and allow the villagers to be killed by Nightmare Beasts?

The second theory was that the collective fate of the entire village was linked to those few deceased. As mentioned earlier, their death locations and methods strongly resembled a sacrifice. If someone secretly used the entire village as a sacrifice, they could indeed kill them all at once.

But the same question remained: how could Jiang Tianming and the others not take action? Logically, if such a plot occurred in the comic, the protagonist group would surely resolve the crisis and save everyone, right?

Where exactly had things gone wrong?

“Xiao Jian, are these your friends?” A simply dressed auntie came over, asking with a smile, occasionally glancing at Su Bei and the others.

Facing a villager who had watched him grow up since childhood, Officer Zhou had no guard up. “Yes, they are—”

Before he could finish, he felt someone tug his sleeve. Officer Zhou turned around to see Jiang Tianming clutching his stomach. “Old Zhou, my stomach isn’t feeling well. Can I use the restroom later?”

He had learned this ‘stomachache’ trick from Su Bei; it was indeed a good excuse.

“Ah, yes! Of course,” Officer Zhou paused, not because Jiang Tianming said his stomach wasn’t well, but because he had actually called him ‘Old Zhou.’ After all, they had all been calling him ‘Officer Zhou’ before.

As a police officer, he had experience in such matters. Jiang Tianming’s change in address made Officer Zhou quickly realize something: clearly, he didn’t want him to tell the truth. It was understandable; if he directly said they were there to investigate the deaths of Xiao Chen and others, given the villagers’ superstitious nature, they would likely deliberately obstruct them. It was better to tell a white lie to allow Jiang Tianming and the others to investigate smoothly.

With that thought, Officer Zhou turned back to the auntie and continued his introduction. “This is a teacher from my high school alma mater, and the other children are my junior classmates. The school mentioned letting students conduct field studies under the guidance of teachers, and I thought our village, with its beautiful mountains and rivers, would be perfect, so I invited the teacher to our village. If they have a good time this trip, maybe the school will even make our village a permanent field study location, letting everyone earn money in the future!”

His lie would surely be exposed immediately outside; no high school would send teachers with students to scout field study locations. But this was a secluded mountain village with limited information, and Officer Zhou was the only college student to come from it in many years. Other villagers naturally believed his words implicitly.

Hearing him say that if Jiang Tianming and the others enjoyed themselves, the entire village could earn money in the future, the auntie’s gaze immediately became eager. “Oh, then we must entertain them well! Do you guests have housing yet? If not, I have a spare room at my place you can stay in!”

Other villagers nearby also chimed in, offering their spare rooms, eager to keep these big spenders. Just looking at Su Bei and the others, it was clear they were wealthy. If they stayed for a night, they might even collect a good amount in accommodation fees.

Officer Zhou, ever responsible, quickly stopped everyone. “We’ll first go report to the Village Chief’s house. Aren’t there a few empty rooms in the village? We won’t trouble everyone.”

“But those two are ‘death rooms’; it wouldn’t be good for guests to stay there, would it?” The auntie was unwilling to give up this hard-won opportunity to earn money.

Upon hearing her words, Su Bei raised an eyebrow. Among the three deceased, wasn’t only Xiao Chen’s house empty? Whose was the other ‘death room’?

After finally escaping the villagers’ persistent offers, Jiang Tianming asked the same question. “Of the ‘two death rooms’ the auntie mentioned just now, one is Xiao Chen’s. Whose is the other?”

“It’s the Old Ancestor’s.” Speaking of him, a hint of sadness flickered in Officer Zhou’s eyes. “The Old Ancestor was over 150 years old and passed away a little over a month ago. Since it was a natural death, I didn’t mention it to you.”

They had unexpectedly gained a key figure. The Old Ancestor, this suddenly appearing character, even in death, still made one feel his extraordinariness. Setting aside everything else, simply living to over 150 years old was impressive enough.

Moreover, his death also occurred recently. Although it was a natural death from old age, it still made one suspect if there was any connection between him and the subsequent deceased.

“Tell us about this Old Ancestor,” Jiang Tianming said decisively.

Officer Zhou thought for a moment. Having been away from the village for many years, his impression of this person was actually somewhat vague. “The Old Ancestor was the most respected elder in the village. He always lived alone in the room at the east end of the village and rarely appeared. However, for any significant village matters, everyone would seek him out. The Old Ancestor’s presence was much higher than that of the Village Chief.”

After recounting his basic impressions of the Old Ancestor, he spoke about his own relationship with him. “When I finished junior high school, the villagers didn’t want me to continue my studies. It was the Old Ancestor who suddenly appeared, went against all opposition, and firmly supported my schooling. When I got into the police academy, I wanted to bring him out to live with me, but the Old Ancestor refused, saying he hoped I would return to live here when I was older. These past few years, I’ve been working hard to earn money outside, planning to return once I’d saved enough for retirement. Unfortunately, before I could come back, the Old Ancestor… he…”

Su Bei thought for a moment and then proactively spoke. “We’d like to stay in the Old Ancestor’s house. Could you please mention it to the Village Chief later?”

This request was, of course, no problem; the others thought the same. However, what surprised them was that Su Bei would proactively make such a suggestion. He wasn’t known for actively seeking clues.

Noticing their gazes, Su Bei simply pretended not to see. He knew what they wanted to ask, but he couldn’t tell the truth. Su Bei spoke up because he had never forgotten that this incident was likely related to the Life Stone.

Among the known figures, the Old Ancestor was the most likely to have clues about the Life Stone. Of course, he had to seize the opportunity to go to his house. Even if he didn’t bring it up, others would likely do so. But for a single sentence, as long as it wasn’t too out of character, he preferred to take fate into his own hands.

Moreover, if they genuinely found the Life Stone in the Old Ancestor’s room, then his initial statement would be seen as foresight by the readers.

Most importantly, once the Life Stone’s whereabouts were discovered, he could immediately find an excuse to leave this dangerous village. Although running away with the Life Stone would definitely be impossible—he’d be caught by Nightmare Beasts before reaching the academy.

But who said Su Bei intended to leave with the village’s Life Stone? He only needed proof of having actually interacted with a Life Stone; otherwise, suddenly producing one would surely arouse suspicion. He already possessed a Life Stone himself; even a fragment would be enough for Wu Mingbai to verify its material.

Arriving at the Village Chief’s house, as soon as they reached the doorway, melodious opera music drifted from behind the door. But accompanying it was an elderly and slightly off-key singing voice; it seemed the Village Chief was singing along.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

As the knocking sounded, the opera music abruptly stopped. The wooden door was quickly opened by a rural woman in a floral dress, who wiped her damp hands on her apron and asked with some confusion, “Xiao Jian, what brings you here?”

Officer Zhou nodded to her. “Sister-in-law, I’m here for the Village Chief.”

“Xiao Jian’s here! Let him in!” The Village Chief’s voice called from inside the room.

The group walked into the room together and saw a lean old man in a white undershirt sitting in a rocking chair. The old man appeared to be fifty or sixty years old, puffing on a dry pipe. Despite his age, he was spry and seemed even more energetic than a young person.

When he heard the footsteps of a group of people, the Village Chief felt something was off. He turned his head and saw several strangers besides Officer Zhou. He paused, then put down his pipe. “Xiao Jian, who are these people?”

Officer Zhou repeated the explanation he had given to the other villagers verbatim, then smiled and said, “So, I’ve come to register with you, Village Chief. Please take good care of my junior classmates these next few days.”

“Hah, no problem at all! If it brings benefits to the village, I’m certainly happy to oblige,” the Village Chief said, looking at Jiang Tianming and the others with an expression like he’d spotted a flock of fat sheep. Like the others, he didn’t doubt the truthfulness of Officer Zhou’s words.

It had to be said that Jiang Tianming and the others’ age indeed gave them a great advantage. No one would have suspected that among this group, the ones responsible for investigating and solving the problem were these students. And there was no need to suspect Driver Wang; if he were truly here to investigate a case, how could he bring a group of children along? That would just be creating trouble!

For such a great opportunity that could lead the entire village to prosperity, as the Village Chief, he naturally welcomed it enthusiastically. Only when the villagers lived well could he live even better.

Recalling Su Bei’s earlier request, Officer Zhou cautiously asked, “You know my house is quite small and hasn’t been tidied up in a long time, so it wouldn’t be very suitable for them to stay in my room. Aren’t there two empty houses in the village? How about arranging for them to stay there, what do you think?”

The number of houses in the village was fixed; they usually didn’t build extra. It was obvious which two ‘empty houses’ Officer Zhou was referring to.

“Those two rooms…” The Village Chief first paused, then showed a difficult expression. “Both of those rooms… people have died in them. It wouldn’t be appropriate for guests to stay there, would it?”

“It’s fine, they don’t mind,” Officer Zhou quickly said.

However, the Village Chief still refused him. “It’s not that your group doesn’t have other rooms; many villagers have spare rooms. How about this, you don’t need to worry. I’ll talk to them later and arrange a few empty rooms for you. As for those two houses, don’t even consider them. Who would arrange such rooms for guests?”

But his attitude was firm, and Officer Zhou, being tactful, didn’t press further. “Then we’ll be going now. We’ll come see you again later.”

Leaving the Village Chief’s house, Officer Zhou shrugged helplessly. “I did my best, but you all saw the Village Chief’s attitude.”

“It’s fine, if we can’t stay there, it’s no big deal. Just find us any room,” Jiang Tianming politely said. But what everyone was thinking was, if they weren’t allowed to investigate openly, then they would just investigate covertly.

There was still plenty of time. The six people split into two teams to investigate the homes of the two deceased elderly individuals. At Jiang Tianming’s strong insistence, Su Bei and Li Shu formed one group, heading to Grandma Wang’s house with Driver Wang.

Grandma Wang was one of the deceased.

Because Officer Zhou was going with the other group, he had already explained Grandma Wang’s family situation before they left. Her family now consisted of two and a half people: her son and his pregnant daughter-in-law. Because the daughter-in-law was pregnant, she was counted as half a person.

Grandma Wang had lost her father early in life, raised her son alone, and then saw him marry. Unexpectedly, before she could enjoy her later years, she encountered this calamity.

Following the path Officer Zhou had indicated earlier, the group soon arrived at Grandma Wang’s house. Among a row of houses, the one draped in white cloth was very conspicuous; there was no need to guess what had happened inside.

The door was opened by a somewhat thin adult man. In a village, any slight rustle of leaves was quickly known by everyone, so the man was aware of Jiang Tianming and the others’ presence.

Upon seeing them, he thought that immense fortune was about to descend upon his family. He immediately beamed, smiling like a flower. “You must be the new guests in the village, right? Why are only two children here? Quick, quick, come in and sit.”

Then he called out to the room, “Wife! We have guests! Make dinner for three more people!”

“What guests?” A similarly thin woman, but with a very swollen belly, came out of the kitchen. The moment she saw Su Bei and the other two, her eyes darted, and she instantly became enthusiastic. “Alright, alright, I’ll go make it right away. You let the guests sit for a bit; dinner will be ready soon.”

“No need for all that trouble, we’re just here to understand the situation first.” Knowing they had misunderstood, Su Bei had no intention of explaining. Instead, he simply played along, speaking in a way that fit their assumption.

Sitting on the sofa, Su Bei adopted a posture of utter nonchalance, not saying a word. Li Shu gave him a fake smile, then spoke. “We think this house is quite nice, but we heard an elder in your family passed away recently, right?”

This was pure nonsense; far from ‘nice,’ this house would struggle to even qualify as ‘decent.’ It was a dilapidated mud-brick house, with the roof even looking a bit leaky, clearly not having been repaired for a long time.

However, Su Bei noticed something very strange: the cigarette box on the table was the kind his father used to smoke, and he remembered it being quite expensive. Moreover, the wife’s makeup looked very natural, and from Su Bei’s understanding of cosmetics, the more natural it looked, the more expensive it usually was.

It appeared to be a very poor family, yet how could they use such luxurious items? And it wasn’t that everything was luxurious, only a small portion of things.

Su Bei concluded in his heart that there was definitely something amiss here.

Hearing Li Shu’s words, the man paused, then quickly explained, “The seventh day after death has already passed, and we were just about to take down the white cloths here. If you’re worried about anything, I’ll tear down those white cloths right now. And I’ll sprinkle some sticky rice at the entrance; that’ll guarantee immunity from all evils.”