novelsite Chapter 9 Where is the body?
Chapter 9 Where is the body?
They didn't have time to hesitate for long. Following the winding trail of blood, they silently followed the group in front of them.
Footsteps landed on the still-unmelted snowdrifts, making a soft sound.
Several children followed behind, but worried that their voices might give them away, so they waited a while and then stopped following.
Instead, they used the firewood piles by the roadside to conceal their figures.
But that was enough—the distance was long enough for the children to see what was in front of them.
The girl, her mouth covered, wept silently as she was pressed against a tree stump. Her uncles, without mercy, swung their knives down and severed her neck in one stroke.
The children took a step back in terror, unable to utter a word, tightly covering their mouths, wanting to scream and cry, yet afraid that they would be the next ones sent to the slaughterhouse.
Jie Yangping's hands trembled as he took out the phone that the girl from the same village had just handed him, slid it to unlock, and then a call came in.
His hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't press the call button even after several attempts. It was Zhou Shengnan next to him who took a deep breath and answered the phone.
The girl from the same village found a car for this group of children.
"We're going to the village entrance now, there are several children there!" Xie Yangping tried his best to suppress the sobs in his voice and spoke as calmly as possible.
They skillfully took shortcuts, reaching the village entrance from the hillside path, then eagerly awaited the car that would escape.
But they saw nothing but a thick fog. The dense fog engulfed the entire village. If the children hadn't been holding each other's hands tightly, they had no doubt that the moment they let go, they would have been swallowed by the fog and lost their way.
"Where are you? What do you look like?" The car owner's voice could still be heard on the other end of the phone.
But naturally, the children saw nothing within their field of vision.
"It seems to be fogging up," Xie Yangping said, forcing a smile.
Noticing the choked-up tone in his voice, Zhou Shengnan didn't speak, but simply tightened his grip on him slightly.
"Fog? Who are you trying to fool? There's no fog here!" However, the voice coming from the other end of the phone extinguished their last glimmer of hope.
There was no fog; it just meant they couldn't leave the village.
Just as Zhou Shengnan was about to say something, the cell phone signal disappeared, and they were completely cut off from the outside world.
*
"How pitiful." Xiao Jiming sighed softly after listening to their story.
Dark eyes stared at a group of trembling children, who silently moved closer together, almost huddled together.
—It was as if they could gain some sense of security through this posture.
"Then why are you here?" But their story was problematic, failing to explain what information Xiao Jiming most wanted to know.
"Because it's safe here... at least for now," Zhou Shengnan replied. "After nightfall, it will be dark outside, and this will be the only place with light, so we have no choice but to stay here."
However, they still haven't explained why the book is connected to their ancestors.
He Jingtong clearly wasn't very interested in the grudges and feuds in their village, and didn't pay much attention as the two children, Jie Yangping and Zhou Shengnan, stumbled over each other's stories.
Even now, after the story has been told, he remains indifferent and aloof.
"So just destroy the book." He Jingtong pinched a talisman and squinted at the book.
The topic has successfully returned to its starting point.
"You promised me you wouldn't destroy this book!" The child stared wide-eyed in terror.
Jiang Xingni had been listening to the two sides argue until now, when she finally spoke up with a hint of helplessness: "How can you be so sure that this book is related to your ancestors?"
Zhou Shengnan lowered his head and explained reluctantly, "Because of that older sister, we saw her."
The children wouldn't stay hidden in the ancestral hall forever; the food there wasn't enough to sustain them for several days, so they had to risk going out to explore.
Once outside, they saw a familiar face in the crowd: the girl from their village whose head had been severed with a single blow.
She walked along the main road of the village with a stiff smile on her face, just like all the adults in the village.
Her figure also appeared on the wordless book suspended in mid-air above the ancestral hall—her figure as a shadow puppet.
Children exposed to the internet made a bold guess.
Perhaps the dead are living on in this wordless book, as shadow puppets. Does that mean that those who were killed did not truly die?
They've simply changed their mode of survival.
Despite the fantastical nature of the story, children still can't help but indulge in such fantasies.
Zhou Shengnan looked at Jiang Xingni pitifully and explained their thoughts.
Even though Jiang Xingni didn't know much about their behind-the-scenes behavior, she couldn't help but curse Zhou Shengnan's thoughts as absurd in her heart.
Death is death, and no excuse can change the fact that you are dead.
The expressions of the people around him were even more telling.
Xiao Jiming had her back to Jiang Xingni, so she couldn't see the other person's expression—but perhaps because of the comic book world, she seemed to be able to see a row of question marks floating up behind the other person.
Pei Zhaoye, who had been idly fiddling with his earrings, stopped moving after hearing this and stared at Zhou Shengnan with suspicion, his face saying, "Are you crazy or am I crazy?"
He Jingtong clicked his tongue in obvious response.
Song Juexiao didn't react that strongly; instead, he let out a light sigh.
Seeing their reactions, the hope that had been on Zhou Shengnan's face completely faded.
"Is this book a ghost?" He Jingtong's talisman was already eager to be used. He asked, but it was unclear whether he was asking Jiang Xingni or Xiao Jiming.
Jiang Xingnian narrowed his eyes slightly. After receiving the information, he once again examined the wordless book floating in the air.
She didn't speak, but kept the concept of "strange creature" in mind, planning to look up information on the forum after she left.
"It's obvious." Xiao Jiming turned around, ignoring the group of children who were crying sobbing.
His eyes curved slightly, carrying his habitual smile, but the words that came out of his mouth were very calm.
"Bewitched by a strange creature, he turned into a monster and is now beyond dead," Xiao Jiming said.
Golden sparkles flickered in Jiang Xingni's eyes. She first memorized these two concepts before asking, "Since you saw her beheaded, what about your kind sister's body?"