Chapter 1 A Chaotic Scene

This was a chaotic scene, leaving Zhou Ze somewhat at a loss. The villagers completely ignored the grain and swarmed toward Zhou Ze again.

Zhou Ze's fingernails repeatedly tore apart the villagers in front of him, but they would quickly regroup. This was a seemingly endless massacre, a typical case of ants biting an elephant to death.

There must be something supporting this place, making it a kind of cyclical barrier that kept repeating itself. These vengeful spirits didn't seem as strong as real ones, but their most twisted trait was their ability to reform after death.

The little monkey grabbed Zhou Ze's shoulder, watching Zhou Ze fight his way out. It wanted to help but couldn't. If it were the old days, it could cooperate with Zhou Ze, one demon and one ghost hunter, and they could charge through easily. But now, it could only shiver and pray that Zhou Ze wouldn't run out of strength too quickly.

It knew that if Zhou Ze was done for, it would be too.

It had been eaten once in its previous life; did it have to be eaten by ghosts again in this life?

It didn't want that kind of grand slam.

These villagers seemed intent on blocking Zhou Ze's path out of the ancestral hall, charging forward fearlessly, just to delay Zhou Ze for a few seconds. And they were succeeding. Zhou Ze wasn't far from the entrance of the ancestral hall; if he could just break through, it would be much easier to escape. But now, he was trapped in this narrow area, which was very uncomfortable.

"Squeak squeak squeak!!!!"

A villager grabbed the little monkey's tail, and the little monkey let out a scream. It felt like it was about to be eaten.

Zhou Ze turned around abruptly, his fingernails carrying a wave of black mist, instantly tearing apart the villager. He grabbed the little monkey again, but in doing so, Zhou Ze had moved even further away from the entrance.

The villagers pressed forward with renewed vigor, constantly applying pressure, making Zhou Ze's repeated breakthroughs futile. Now, Zhou Ze was pinned down at the deepest part of the ancestral hall, at the altar where the memorial tablets were placed.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Breathing heavily, Zhou Ze was indeed getting tired, but these villagers didn't give him any chance to relax.

"Crash!"

A crisp sound.

Zhou Ze swept all the memorial tablets off the altar, hoping the villagers would protect their ancestral tablets, giving him an opening.

But unfortunately, the villagers didn't care about the ancestral tablets at all. They were indifferent to the fact that the ancestral tablets had all fallen to the ground and continued to rush toward Zhou Ze.

For the first time, Zhou Ze felt a little aggrieved.

First of all, he really wanted to help people; his conscience was aching!

He could see that they were hungry, but the rice was right in front of them, yet they wouldn't eat it. They still wanted to eat him?

That wasn't reasonable!

Since they weren't being reasonable, he wouldn't be reasonable either!

The anger in Zhou Ze's heart was ignited. A person's kindness and compassion are limited. Zhou Ze charged forward. This time, he didn't actively try to run out but instead killed any wandering souls he could catch. At the same time, as the rage and anger in his heart continued to build, Zhou Ze's skin began to slowly take on a bronze hue.

Clearly, the fatigue and the invasion of anger were slowly awakening Zhou Ze's other side.

"Boom!"

Zhou Ze grabbed two wandering souls with both hands and slammed them hard onto the ground.

"Boom!"

The wandering souls exploded, scattering everywhere to regroup and come back. At the same time, the ground was smashed into another pit, and white rice grains flew and scattered everywhere.

Suddenly, Zhou Ze stood up, somewhat bewildered, because the villagers who had been screaming for food and rushing toward him like madmen had all squatted down, picking up the rice grains on the ground, not even letting go of the grains in the cracks.

Then,

Ze, the darling of the stage, the focus of the spotlight,

was suddenly ignored.

It was a huge letdown.

It left Zhou Ze feeling a little lost. He could only say that these villagers seemed to be sick, starving like this but refusing to touch the food in the ancestral hall.

Were they all misers?

Fortunately, Zhou Ze knew that this wasn't the time to argue. He directly grabbed the little monkey and rushed out of the ancestral hall. This time, no one stopped him. After running back to the ridge between the fields, the bronze luster that had just appeared on Zhou Ze's body slowly faded.

Zhou Ze also breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to enter that state if he could avoid it. The key was that after it ended, not only was his soul in pain, but the paralysis of his body and the resulting long-term inconvenience were something Zhou Ze strongly resisted.

He grabbed the monkey, which was still clinging to his shoulder, somewhat shaken, and threw it directly onto the ground.

"Find a way out."

Zhou Ze didn't want to linger here until the villagers had finished picking up the rice grains and came back to besiege him again.

The little monkey didn't disappoint Zhou Ze. It ran for a while, circled a few times, and then plunged into a pile of thatch and disappeared.

This made Zhou Ze wonder if he had raised a monkey or a dog.

Because when the monkey was circling on the ground, its nose was constantly sniffing the ground.

Zhou Ze also circled a few times, but he didn't put his nose to the ground like the monkey did before plunging into the thatch.

He felt a lightness all over his body.

Zhou Ze found himself on the street. At this time, the shops on the street were mostly closed, apparently it was very late.

The old Taoist was squatting on the side, petting the monkey that had come out earlier. Seeing Zhou Ze also come out, he immediately stood up and asked,

"Boss, are you okay?"

Zhou Ze shook his head.

A Nissan was parked across the street, and Xu Qinglang was sitting inside. When Zhou Ze came out, he got out of the car and asked,

"Is the matter resolved?"

"Where were you before? I couldn't get through to you."

"The signal in the basement of the library is probably bad. Let's get in the car first. I've found some other clues here."

After getting in the car, Zhou Ze briefly described what had happened inside.

Xu Qinglang nodded and said, "I went to the city library first and looked up some information. I found a local log from the Republic of China period. Actually, it's not even the Republic of China; this area was under Japanese occupation at the time.

"It was a record book, recorded by the local puppet government, which was preserved. It recorded the massacre of Sanxiang Village. According to the record, it was because the local villagers had hidden wounded anti-Japanese armed guerrillas, which led to the Japanese retaliation sweep."

"Get to the point," Zhou Ze reminded him.

"Then, I checked the borrowing records of this book. This is a very obscure book that ordinary people wouldn't even notice, but in 2009, someone borrowed it, named Li Shi. I suspect that this person and the one who posted the thread are the same person."

Zhou Ze nodded.

During that time, there wouldn't be many people who really paid attention to the affairs of Sanxiang Village.

"I also investigated this person, Li Shi, and found that he died of a sudden heart attack at the end of 2009. However, his trail didn't end there, because when he had a heart attack, he was driving, and the car crashed into a tree.

"The place of death was on a highway in the woods in the suburbs.

"It's very desolate there, it was very desolate in 2009, and it's still very desolate now, but there's a sanatorium there, similar to a nursing home, but more high-end, a public-private partnership."

"So, you think Li Shi was driving there before he died because he wanted to go to the sanatorium?"

"Yes, so I think there should be a clue hidden in the sanatorium, and he discovered it. In fact, I think this person once entered Sanxiang Village a second time. According to what you said, the villagers inside were starving and wanted to eat people, but in 2009, the problem shouldn't have been that serious yet.

"Then, he obtained some information in the village, but those who can enter Sanxiang Village, except for you, who is a special case, are all people who are about to die."

Speaking of this, Xu Qinglang subconsciously looked at the old Taoist in the back seat.

The old Taoist had been feeling very dejected at first.

The monkey had gone in,

the boss had gone in,

but he couldn't get in no matter what he did. He felt like a failure.

Then, when Xu Qinglang came and told him that only people who were about to die had a chance to enter, the old Taoist laughed happily, and two snot bubbles came out of his nose.

"Li Shi didn't have time to solve that problem; he died halfway."

Zhou Ze watched Xu Qinglang drive and talk at the same time and asked, "So, are we going to the sanatorium now?"

Xu Qinglang nodded.

Half an hour later,

the car drove into the sanatorium. Because it was late at night, the sanatorium was already closed, but Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang and others still jumped over the wall directly, entered the office, and began to access the sanatorium's client information.

In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken. If the problem in Sanxiang Village isn't resolved, and a real vengeful spirit breaks loose, the resulting problems will be terrifying.

Zhou Ze, the old Taoist, and Xu Qinglang were all searching together. This kind of search was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Because no one knew

whether the person the poster was looking for nine years ago

was still alive.

After all, many of those who enter the sanatorium are elderly or people in very poor health. Nine years is a long time, and they might not be able to hold on.

Moreover, there was no specific information to search for; they could only rely on their intuition.

This wasn't just looking for a needle in a haystack; it was like groping for a fish in the ocean.

However, a patient's information made Zhou Ze's eyes narrow slightly. He signaled Xu Qinglang and the old Taoist beside him to come over, then pointed to the person in the photo and said,

"Chen Guangnong, born in 1919."

"Damn, boss, this guy is 99, right?" the old Taoist exclaimed, then asked in confusion, "This... it can't be that the person we're looking for must be the oldest, right? I have a few centenarians here."

Tongcheng is a land of longevity, and the number of centenarians ranks among the top in the country.

Zhou Ze shook his head and said, "This one is different. I think I've heard of this person before. He was an official in Tongcheng for a while in the early years."

Zhou Ze opened a webpage and started searching on it. Baidu Encyclopedia directly brought up the specific life of this person, Chen Guangnong.

"He defected?" Xu Qinglang noticed something.

The record stated that this person was a battalion commander in the Huaihai Campaign during the Liberation War, led his troops to defect, and also participated in the Korean War. Later, he returned to his hometown, Tongcheng, and served as a local official for a period of time before retiring."

"I think it should be this person. Li Shi was looking for this person," Zhou Ze said.

A legendary person must have a legendary life to match. This person's life has been exciting enough.

Zhou Ze first found his ward, but Zhou Ze, Xu Qinglang, and the old Taoist were dumbfounded to find that Chen Guangnong had fallen into a prolonged coma several years ago, similar to a vegetative state. Now, his body had simply not died yet.

"Damn it, what do we do?" the old Taoist asked, at a loss.

Zhou Ze opened the door to the ward and walked in. Xu Qinglang signaled the old Taoist and the monkey to keep watch outside, then followed him in.

The ward was a bit oppressive. This old man, who was only one year away from completing his century-long life, had truly entered the stage of running out of oil.

At this time, he was lying there, unconscious.

You could say he was alive, but it was no different from being dead.

Zhou Ze sat down in the chair beside the bed and glanced at the various instrument data around the old man. The old man's condition was not optimistic.

"Is there any way to wake him up?" Xu Qinglang asked.

He knew that Zhou Ze used to be a doctor.

Zhou Ze shook his head. If that person from Rongcheng hadn't been taken away by Tang Shi, it would have been easier to ask him to come. That guy was said to be a psychologist, and his hypnosis was terrible; he could even hypnotize and control ghost messengers.

"Now, it seems there's only one way left," Zhou Ze said.

"What way?"

"Kill him now and then grab his wandering soul and ask questions."

"............" Xu Qinglang.

Zhou Ze shook his head, indicating that he was just joking. The old man had lived to ninety-nine, which was already very difficult. He couldn't just kill him for an uncertain reason to ask a few questions.

Moreover, looking at his condition, his life had been full of ups and downs and excitement, and he had been lying here for so many years. He might have already seen through everything. If he killed him, his soul might go directly to hell, and he wouldn't even be able to ask him anything.

"There's a book in the drawer."

Xu Qinglang said, opening the drawer.

"What book?"

"An autobiography. It should have been written by his descendants or others, self-published."

Xu Qinglang took out the book and flipped through it.

"Look at the early life," Zhou Ze reminded him.

"I know."

Soon, Xu Qinglang found a record and said, "Before the Anti-Japanese War, he was a company commander in the Tongcheng Security Regiment."

The Security Regiment was a local armed force, similar to what was shown in the anti-Japanese dramas, with basically no combat effectiveness.

"Did they encounter resistance when the Japanese devils invaded Tongcheng?" Zhou Ze asked.

"I've checked. The Japanese devil's Iizuka unit, I think it was the 101st Division, I'm not very sure, but it's said that the Japanese devil divisions after 100 didn't have very high combat effectiveness. This division seemed to have been beaten pretty badly in Jiangxi.

"However, there were no regular Chinese troops in Tongcheng at the time. It was entirely the resistance of the local armed organizations in Tongcheng. They fought with the Japanese devils, but no matter how inexperienced the rookie division was, it was still much stronger than the local armed security regiments, so Tongcheng fell pretty quickly at the time."

"So, he participated in the resistance against the Japanese army in Tongcheng at that time?"

"He should have. He shouldn't have been a traitor and surrendered, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to become a battalion commander in the Kuomintang army."

Zhou Ze frowned.

The sleeping old man with age spots in front of him and all the villagers of Sanxiang Village gave him a feeling of powerlessness. He had a lot of strength, but he could only punch cotton.

He and Xu Qinglang had been talking here for so long, but the old man just kept his eyes closed and didn't react at all. He had obviously lost consciousness of the outside world.

But Zhou Ze was a little unwilling to leave like this. So, Zhou Ze bent down, leaned close to the old man's ear, and slowly asked,

"Old sir, do you still remember... Sanxiang Village?"

Suddenly,

a miracle happened.

The old man's fingers suddenly trembled,

followed by his eyelids, which began to tremble incessantly.

He seemed to have heard it, or been stimulated by it. His lips opened slightly, as if making a very small sound:

"Folks..."

"What did he say?" Xu Qinglang asked.

Zhou Ze shook his head; the voice was too soft.

Xu Qinglang pushed Zhou Ze away and put his ear next to the old man's mouth, listening carefully.

After a while, Xu Qinglang straightened up, his expression serious.

"What did he say?" Zhou Ze asked.

"He said... he wants to kiss you?"