Chapter 140 Living Human Stake (Four Updates for Tickets!)

Without Hu Ma reminding him, Master Zhao, who had been guarding all night and understood the whole story, rushed up furiously.

He raised his hand to slap the man in the room on the head, shouting, "I'll beat you to death, you little bastard! What blew away?"

"I specifically told people to check last night to see if you had spread the lime… How come every household has lime, but yours doesn't?"

The man took the slaps from Master Zhao without daring to fight back, just holding his head and saying nothing.

The woman holding the child was also frightened and said in a trembling voice, "He, he swept the lime away…"

But before she could finish, the man suddenly turned his head and glared at her fiercely, and she immediately fell silent.

"Still dare to be defiant?"

Master Zhao, being the wealthy man of this village, was no fool. Seeing this look, he had already guessed something and became even angrier.

He hit him a couple of times, but his hand hurt, so he stopped. He directly shouted to the people behind him, "What are you all standing there for? This little bastard is going to ruin the lives of our entire village! Come on, hit him, all of you, until he spits out the truth…"

Hearing Master Zhao's words, especially the part about harming the entire village, the villagers were immediately roused to curses.

In this area of dozens of miles, there was already less and less water, and even the cooking water was mixed with mud. With less water, everyone felt a sense of燥热 (zao re - dryness and heat) building up inside. This was now ignited, and their eyes turned red.

The fear of the famine, the anger at what he had done, and the terror of the hanba (drought demon), all came together, and they surrounded him fiercely.

Hu Ma just watched coldly from a distance, signaling Zhou Datong and the others not to get involved.

They were outsiders who were there to handle things, but they had to be mindful of boundaries. They could deal with the hanba, but they would never interfere in the village's internal affairs, otherwise, it might lead to unexpected trouble.

Seeing the villagers surrounding him, the man was immediately frightened and trembled, shouting, "I don't know, I really don't know…"

"Maybe the master you invited isn't effective, what does it have to do with me?"

"…"

"Still saying it's not effective?"

Master Zhao took the lead and kicked him, "If it's not effective, how did your sheep die?"

"If it's not effective, why did you sweep away the lime?"

"If it's not effective… if it's not effective, what the hell were you planning to do with my great-grandfather's grave before?"

"…"

Master Zhao had always been kind and amiable, a great person in the village. He had lived his whole life without letting anyone see him harm others.

But even this respectable master had gotten his hands dirty, and the young men in the village were even more impolite, giving him a beating.

The man knew that the villagers could beat someone to death, and he was immediately frightened and yelled, "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, I'll talk…"

"It was, it was… it was my cousin…"

"…"

The villagers stopped, but upon hearing this, they just looked at each other in confusion.

Especially the woman holding the child, upon hearing this, was stunned, and then jumped up and started hitting him on the head.

Master Zhao stepped forward and questioned him, while Hu Ma and Zhou Datong just watched from the outside, waiting for the people around to start discussing before they understood.

It turned out that the cousin he was talking about was originally from the same village as him, but a few years ago, the two of them went to the city to do business together and made a small fortune. This man was honest and brought the money back to live his life, but his cousin ran off with a prostitute in the city.

In other words, the woman in the room was not his wife, but his cousin's wife.

However, with no man in the house, life was difficult, so he often came to take care of her and gradually moved in.

Not only did the villagers not say anything about this, but even the cousin's parents-in-law didn't say anything.

After all, someone had to work in the fields, and someone had to raise the children. In the village, the tradition of a younger brother taking over after the death of his older brother had always existed. With the cousin running away, it was no different from being dead, and people had to live on.

"Your, your cousin, Da Lengzi, didn't he run off with a prostitute?"

"How could he… how could he come back at night?"

"…"

At this time, Master Zhao, panting, had also finished the interrogation.

It turned out that the story of the cousin running off with a prostitute was something he had made up. The two of them went out to do business together, but to put it bluntly, it wasn't a legitimate business, it was theft.

Fortunately, the two of them were quite skilled, and they actually stole from a wealthy family. He became envious and killed his cousin on the way back to the village, burying the body in a hidden place and piling up dirt.

And he killed his cousin not only to take the money for himself, but also because he had always coveted his beautiful cousin's wife. So after returning, he spread rumors and then kept running over there, spending money generously, and gradually got his way.

However, because he was worried about his cousin coming back, his cousin's wife had never officially settled things with him.

He often regretted it afterward, thinking that he shouldn't have said that his cousin ran off with a prostitute, but should have said that he died somewhere unknown.

…

…

"No wonder."

Now that the villagers had eaten such a big melon, Hu Ma finally understood the whole story.

No wonder he couldn't find the Xingzi (a type of zombie)!

There was no grave at all, but he had buried him in some corner, and his cousin had died with resentment. Moreover, the place where the body was hidden must have been wrong, so wouldn't it gradually turn into a corpse and become something else?

And this guy had a guilty conscience, so he didn't want to be found. Therefore, he secretly swept away the lime at night. Even that hoe he gave himself before…

…wasn't out of fright, he really wanted to kill himself.

If he, the "master," died, no one would continue to care about this matter, and it would be possible to cover it up, right?

This is really…

He came to help people deal with things, but he wasn't killed by the Xingzi, but almost killed by someone else.

"Forget it, these are matters for your village, it's not time to talk about it yet. Let him take us to see the body first!"

After the angry interrogation was over, Hu Ma stepped forward and said to Master Zhao, "Since he buried it, he must know where it is. While it's already dawn, dig up the body and expose it to the sun, and this matter will be over."

Master Zhao was trembling with anger, but when he heard this, he finally reacted.

He kicked the man on the ground hatefully, "Aren't you going?"

"Going, going…"

The man hesitated for a long time before getting up, his head lowered, his eyes only seeing the villagers' hateful gazes around him.

He didn't dare to look at anyone, just pretending to walk out. When the people around him made way, he suddenly grabbed at the crowd with both hands and ran outside.

He knew in his heart that since this matter had been exposed, the villagers would not spare him afterward. He figured that he couldn't escape being hanged from a tree, so he didn't care about finding the body anymore. He seized the opportunity and wanted to run away quickly.

But he didn't expect that there were also villagers outside the door, rushing over anxiously. When they saw him running, some people hurriedly held up their pitchforks and hoes to block him.

But he had been scared half to death last night, and he had been kicked and beaten by the young men in the village, and his legs were no longer working properly. Moreover, he didn't know if there was something invisible influencing him, but he stumbled and fell down, and the hoe pierced into his chin from below.

The villagers scattered in a hurry, and then suddenly remembered and surrounded him, asking where he had buried it.

But he opened his mouth, unable to speak, and his eyes gradually dimmed.

The chaotic surroundings suddenly fell silent.

Everyone looked at each other, and the anger on their faces slowly turned into panic.

The only person who knew where the body was buried had died so suddenly. How could the problem be solved?

No one had a solution and was at a loss.

Blankly, their gazes had to focus on Hu Ma.

At this time, Hu Ma also came to the man's side, looking at the hoe that had firmly nailed into his head from his chin, and felt a little helpless.

It was clearly just a matter of following the footprints of that thing and exposing it to the sun…

Solving this Xingzi was not difficult, but because of human affairs, it had become such a troublesome situation.

"Now that things have come to this, there's no other way."

He pondered for a while, and could only step forward, look at the woman in the room who was crying even harder and was about to pass out, and said in a low voice, "We can only find someone to take advantage of the daytime and look for it in more remote places to see if we can find it. If we can't find it…"

"…then we have to use a living human stake."

"…"

"Ah?"

Master Zhao and the surrounding people were shocked and hurriedly asked what a living human stake was.

Hu Ma was actually still a novice. His understanding of the hanba only came from the rumors told by Second Uncle, some explanations in the Zhen Sui Shu (book of suppressing evil), and some tips and principles pieced together from chatting with Wu He-meizi and Shopkeeper Wu Hong.

But now, facing the villagers' respectful and fearful gazes, knowing that causing panic was the most terrifying thing, he could only remain calm, look at the baby in the woman's arms, and slowly say:

"When a person dies, they don't know anything anymore. That Xingzi came back last night and hurt the livestock, and it will definitely come back tonight to hurt people."

"When alive, people naturally prioritize their relatives and care about their bloodline, but when a person dies and becomes an evil spirit, they start harming their relatives first. Enemies and creditors are the same principle."

"Now, this baby is the closest person to him in this world, so he will harm him first when he comes back tonight."

"And daring to do it at night, no one can guarantee whether they can protect this child's safety while fighting that Xingzi. They can only use his Bazi (eight characters of birth date), take some essence and blood, and make a substitute."

"Taking advantage of this substitute to attract its attention, and gathering manpower to eliminate it, can truly solve the drought in this village."

"But…"

"…"

As he spoke, he looked at Master Zhao, who was listening with his heart in his throat, and subconsciously said:

"What?"

"…"

Hu Ma took a long breath and said, "We need more money!"