Translator: Cinder Translations
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"Help!" Jiang Cheng shouted without hesitation.
The peaceful atmosphere was shattered, and several footsteps immediately drew closer.
The burly man, having only just walked a short distance away, was the first to arrive.
His eyes widened, staring at the man and woman in front of the pond, his face filled with a puzzled expression.
At this moment, Jiang Cheng slowly turned around, locking eyes with Chen Xiaomeng, whose gaze was filled with unspoken frustration. She had already retracted her leg and no longer seemed to be planning on kicking Jiang Cheng into the pond.
"What's going on?" The village chief and the others finally arrived, panting heavily. Seeing the two people by the pond, their faces turned pale with fear.
He began to regret bringing everyone here; it looked so eerie, and he hoped nothing bad would happen.
"It's nothing," Jiang Cheng calmly replied. "I just thought I saw a woman's face in the center of the pond, but now that I think about it, I might have been mistaken."
Although he said it casually, the village chief obviously didn't think so. He became tense, his lips quivering. "A face?"
"Yes, a woman's face," Jiang Cheng said, then turned to look at Chen Xiaomeng. Gradually, his expression changed, his pupils shrinking, and his face began to contort.
Everyone noticed Jiang Cheng's strange behavior and mirrored him, staring at Chen Xiaomeng.
But they couldn't see anything unusual.
In the moment that Chen Xiaomeng froze, Jiang Cheng suddenly screamed, "My god! Her face is identical to the one in the water!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was a brief silence in the crowd, followed by an eruption of panic.
The two closest to Chen Xiaomeng, the burly man and Jiang Zhongyi, instinctively jumped back. The village chief reacted even faster. Throwing his cane aside, he turned and ran.
When he reached behind Pei Qian, he seemed to regain a sense of safety.
He took the cane handed to him by the burly man, gripping it with one hand and turning his back to them, his body slightly leaning forward. His expression returned to its calm and composed state, as though he were once again the village leader.
"Little highlander!" The village chief's pupils contracted as he suddenly realized something. He lowered his voice and asked, "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? That face in the pond really looked like this young lady's?"
"Heh," Chen Xiaomeng scoffed. "If you want to believe this madman, go ahead. Where is the stone tablet with the curse? I want to see it."
The composed Pei Qian seemed to sense the delicate relationship between Jiang Cheng and Chen Xiaomeng. He didn't press the issue any further and instead turned to the village chief, signaling him to lead the way to the stone tablet.
Carefully stepping on moss-covered stones, the group proceeded with caution. In just a few minutes, they arrived beneath a massive tree.
The tree was towering, its trunk so thick that it could have required four or five people to encircle it.
Looking up, the canopy was so dense that it blocked out the sun, leaving everything beneath it cloaked in a dim, shadowy hue.
Vines, thick as ropes, wrapped around the tree's trunk like a massive net.
The village chief swallowed nervously, stepping forward alone. He used his cane to prod at the ground beneath the tree. After a moment, several long-dead plants were pushed aside, revealing a corner of the stone tablet.
Though the tablet was in shadow, it emitted a strange bluish glow. As the group neared, they all felt an unusual sensation, one they were familiar with from past tasks where significant clues also carried a similar ominous feeling.
It seemed they were on the right track.
Zhou Rong's gaze grew intense.
After clearing the plants, the blood-red characters on the stone tablet were exposed, sending a chilling shock through everyone.
The handwriting was messy, and some parts overlapped, indicating that the writer had no strength left to proofread. According to the village chief, Zhao Xiangmei was nearly blind by that time.
The bloodstained characters on the stone were still fresh, vivid as if they had just been written with a brush dipped in blood. Staring at these characters, one could almost feel Zhao Xiangmei's despair and hatred at the time of writing.
Looking at them too long caused dizziness.
"Zhao Xiangmei's body was found in front of the stone tablet. When she died, her hand was still pressed against the tablet," the village chief stood to one side, unable to hide the expression on his face.
Jiang Zhongyi stood a little farther away from the tablet. The oppressive feeling hadn't faded, and one of his hands went inside his clothes, drawing a cross over his chest.
He was a devout believer.
But his devotion hadn't been long—only recently, more precisely, since half a month ago when he barely survived his last task, did he become so devout.
He clearly remembered that his last task had been at a Catholic church.
During the final moments of being chased by a ghost, a huge cross fell from above, slightly delaying the ghost's movements, and that's what saved him.
It was from that moment on that he felt like his lost soul had found a home. He entered the Lord's temple and received the protection of holy light.
Human power was limited. Only through the light of salvation could one resist the forces of evil.
Chen Xiaomeng kneeled on one knee in front of the stone tablet, her hand brushing against it. From top to bottom, her face was cold, and it was hard to tell what she was thinking.
Suddenly, Chen Xiaomeng's face changed.
"Village chief," she turned her head and asked, "Has anyone in the village ever tried to destroy this stone tablet?"
The village chief was stunned for a moment. After a while, he finally spoke, "Yes, after the curse spread, the men who were still alive in the village became fearful. They selected seven or eight strong men, waited for a sunny day, and brought tools, black dog blood, and a rooster to the mountain to destroy the stone tablet."
"They thought if the tablet was destroyed, the curse would be broken." At this point, the village chief choked up, his eyes reddening. "The leader of that group... was my older brother."
"What happened to them?" Li Lu asked in a whisper.
"They disappeared," the village chief rubbed his red eyes, his wrinkles deepening. "Their bodies were later found near the town, and the scene was horrific."
"Where were their bodies buried?" Jiang Cheng suddenly asked.
Zhou Rong's mouth opened slightly and then closed again, as he too had thought about this. It seemed that over the years, the number of people Zhao Xiangmei had killed in the village wasn't small.
Yet, no burial sites had been discovered near the village.
Upon hearing this, the village chief's face grew darker.
At this moment, the man who had accompanied them suddenly spoke. He looked upset, like a scorned wife. "Who would dare to make a burial site? Everything was burned in one big fire."
"If anyone dared to collect the bones and bury them, the next day, not only would the grave be dug up, but the bones would be scattered everywhere, and then..." His face turned cold, "The living people in that family would suffer greatly."
(End of the Chapter)
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