Shamchu Village

Sleeping in a bunk bed has its drawbacks, Jiang Luo resignedly packed up his hair and used the quilt to separate the people on his left and right sides.

After a rough night, at 6:00 a.m., the contestants were to leave the resting place.

Liao Si moves slowly, and by the time he's cleaned up, there's no one else in the room.

He was not in a hurry at all, he slowly organized his luggage, took out twenty palm-sized plastic bags from them, picked up the hairs on the bedding of all the participants except him into the bags and put them together, and then wrote down their names one by one.

He put the plastic bags into his suitcase and finally pulled out one that he had packed last night.

Inside the small plastic bag, a long, slender strand of hair curls and bends, and of all the contestants, only one has such long hair.

Liao Si looked at it curiously for a long time, muttering to herself, "Hua Li, why do you think Master controlled me to press Jiang Luo's hair yesterday?"

"If you want hair, why don't you just get up in the morning and pick it up?"

There was no one in the room but him, but out of thin air came another grim voice: "How do I know what the master is thinking, your thoughts can be read by the master, why don't you go and ask the master."

Liao Si laughed, "You also know that master can manipulate my body at any time, and can know my thoughts, but I was curious and thought about it all night last night, and master didn't answer me a single word. Isn't this why I wanted to ask you?"

Hua Li didn't want to continue this conversation with him, "If you don't go out, someone will come looking for you."

Liao Si lets out a long sigh and walks out of the lounge.

Jiang Luo is listening to the staff talking about the third level.

The staff said, "In the middle of the dense forest, there is an isolated village called Deep Earth Village. A month and a half ago, the police received an alarm call from Deep Earth Village, but when they drove to Deep Earth Village, they found that not a single phone existed in Deep Earth Village. After investigating Sham Tu Village, the police found that Sham Tu Village had suffered from a number of strange illnesses many years ago, and each time the strange illnesses caused the deaths of half of the people. But even then, the people of Deep Earth Village never left the village. In recent years, no more strange diseases have occurred in Deep Earth Village, but something even stranger has happened-"

"For every person who dies in Deep Earth, a new life is born within the village, and the total population of their village never changes over the years."

The staff said, "Contestants, all you need to do is to unlock the secrets of Deep Earth Village within a week and successfully survive."

The next step was still the familiar signing of the death waiver bit, but the crowd looked much heavier than the previous level.

The road to Deep Earth Village could not be driven in by a sedan, so it could only be traveled on foot. White Birch University and Mountain and Sea University had the largest number of people, and the people from the two schools naturally divided into two teams, while the others who were participating in the competition alone looked at each other and formed the last temporary team.

But there was one person who didn't pay any attention to anyone, picked up the compass alone and walked into the dense forest.

"That man is He Zhi from Wenxing University," Liao Si walked slowly to Jiang Luo's side, "This man is very unique. But I'm not solitary, Jiang Luo, can I come with you?"

Jiang Luo turned to him as Liao Si smiled weakly, "Even though I'm not in good health, at least I'm a zombie chaser and won't slow you down."

The status of a corpse-driver was really popular, and since this was western Hunan, Jiang Luo had no reason to refuse Liao Si. He nodded, and asked as if casually, "Shouldn't a corpse-driver have a good body? After all, occasionally they have to drive corpses back to their hometowns from other places, crossing thousands of mountains on the way, relying only on a pair of legs and feet."

"You're right," Liao Si said calmly, "I learned the kung fu of corpse-catching, but I've never caught a corpse before, because my innate inadequacies don't support me to walk such a long distance. If I could, I would like to try to catch a corpse."

He sighed, "But I guess the only way to put what I've learned to use is to get a new body."

After Liao Si joined the team, their schedule slowed down.

Deep Earth Village is in the middle of a dense forest. It is true that it is located near mountains and water, but it is also true that it is remote and backward. Into the village only a footsteps out of the mountain road, not yet halfway, Liao Si has been tired sweaty, face pale.

Kuang Zheng and Lu Youyi took turns supporting him, and it was only after three hours that the group arrived at Shamtu Village.

At the head of Deep Earth Village is planted a large, leafy acacia tree, under which the yellow soil is leveled and a large shadow covers the underside, and the breeze blows the leaves.

The group walked to the shade of a tree, and a refreshing coolness came over them. Liao Si rested against the tree, breathing heavily, Lu Youyi teased him, "Liao Si, you're even more useless than the old Jiang Luo."

Jiang Luo smiled and tilted his head to take a sip of water, but suddenly saw a pair of bare, greenish-purple feet appear on Lu Youyi's head.

He paused in his movements and gazed upward. The rotting corpse of a man who had been hanging for an unknown number of years was hanging by a rope from an acacia tree, directly above Lu Youyi.

Jiang Luo: "Lu Youyi ......"

In the next instant of his voice, the male corpse instantly disappeared into thin air.

In broad daylight, the scene of hideous corpses just now seemed like Jiang Luo's illusion.

Lu Youyi looked at him sideways, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Luo licked his dry mouth, "Come here, don't just stand there."

Lu Youyi although not understand, but still obediently walked to his side, and so on after drinking half a bottle of water, he rare: "You do not say, I just stood there always feel scalp itchy, as if there is something scratching my hair, standing here is much better."

Jiang Luo didn't have the heart to tell him the fact that it was a pair of dead man's feet that touched his hair.

When they had rested enough, Jiang Luo urged them to get up and leave the acacia tree.

At the entrance of the village, the village headman is receiving the participants with his son Wang Qian.

The two of them were nonchalant, and the village chief told them that Jiang Luo was the slowest of the three groups of participants.

But Jiang Luo realized that the village chief didn't seem to know that they were contestants who had come to explore the village's secrets, and instead treated them as an ordinary group of college students on a trip.

The tournament organizers should have given a lot of money to Deep Earth Village, and the room that Deep Earth Village vacated for them was a bit better than the resting place prepared by the tournament organizers.

After sending them to the room, the village headman said indifferently, "Our village has a ritual tonight, you may attend, but you can only follow at the end without making a sound. If you attend, then remember that unclean people are not allowed to attend, that you cannot speak foul language at the ritual, that you cannot point your fingers at the offering table, and that you cannot touch things on the case table with unwashed hands."

These were the basic rules during the sacrifice, which they naturally understood, and they nodded at the words without any questions.

The village chief nodded with satisfaction, and his attitude eased slightly, "We have a lot of snakes, insects, rats, and ants here, don't go up the mountain if you're fine, and after you're bitten, hurry and come find me."

Only after the instructions were given did the village chief and his two men leave.

The rooms in this area were occupied by the contestants, and apart from He Zhi, who was the first to enter the village, the other twenty-one people were all present.

Xu Yan from Shanhai University hesitated and came over, "Did you meet any villagers when you entered the village?"

Jiang Luo nods, "Met a few people."

"I just inquired with the village chief, there are 311 people in their village," Xu Yan said, "It's the same as what the staff said, and the village chief said that this number hasn't changed for several years."

311, if we analyze it from the perspective of the numbers corresponding to the Eight Trigrams of the First Heaven, then it is Burgundy, which is a mountain, signifying barriers and obstacles.

Jiang Luo narrowed his eyes, "Why did you give us this information?"

He looks at anyone with suspicion now, who would share information during a game for no reason?

Xu Yan whispered, "We want to thank you, the last level, thanks to your information we can advance ......," he looked gloomy, "or you found out that Bai was possessed by an evil spirit, fortunately Bai was saved back. Otherwise we wouldn't have the face to continue in the competition."

After making sure that his demeanor was not faked, Jiang Luo said atmospherically, "Small matter, no need to be polite."

Xu Yan shook his head, "If we obtain any clues afterward, we will come and tell you, thank you for helping us advance, and even more thank you for saving Bai's life."

When he finished speaking, he turned around and left without waiting for Jiang Luo's reaction, fearing that Jiang Luo would reject him.

Zhuo Zhongqiu sighed, "In the last level, this one called Xu Yan was still very defensive towards us."

Jiang Luo said in a serious manner, "It's called a good deed goes unpunished."

They went back to their rooms, dropped off their bags, and took a hasty look around the Deep Earth village before it was too late.

Deep Earth Village was even bigger than they had imagined, and right next to the village were the two high mountains enclosing Deep Earth Village in the center. They split into five groups to see if they could figure out the layout of Deep Earth Village today.

Together with Lu Youyi, Jiang Luo saw many villagers from Deep Earth Village along the way. These villagers were no different from any other villagers, on the contrary, they looked happy, and a large part of them had smiles on their faces.

Green mountains, green water, old men and young children, at first glance, this place is like a paradise from the world.

Lu Youyi said, "People here seem to be living well."

While talking, they had already reached the edge of the village. Both sides were overgrown with weeds, Jiang Luo suddenly said, "Something's not right."

Lu Youyi asks, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Luo pointed to the vegetable fields among the weeds and said, "Look at these fields, wilting and withered crops, clearly not tended for a long time."

Lu Youyi scratches his head, "Are the people who planted this piece of land too lazy?"

"In the countryside, especially in this kind of isolated village, most of the food, clothing, housing and transportation are done by oneself," Jiang Luo shakes his head, "When frying vegetables, I just go out and pick a green onion or pull a vegetable, so the vegetable field is usually planted in my own yard or in front of my house. People who can go to the edge of the village to plant vegetables are because the vegetables they grow at home are not enough to eat, so they will only work harder, not lazier. Otherwise, if you plant and don't care, then why bother?"

Lu Youyi also thought it made sense, "Let's go back and take a look?"

This time they went back, they looked more carefully. In front of each house, there was indeed a vegetable patch, but some of them had tended the patch in a particularly spirited manner, while others had a single withered plant, and the grass was sparse.

It's not as if there's no one in the homes of those whose biased fields have withered, but someone who doesn't care about the vegetable patch seems to have laziness as the only reason.

The two returned the way they came and were about to arrive home when a little girl in red suddenly rushed out from around the corner and crashed straight into them.

The two of them were knocked backward and stumbled a step, Jiang Luo held the little girl steady in time, put on a kind face dedicated to deceiving people, and said with a smile, "Little sister, what are you running so fast for?"

The little girl in red was about eleven or twelve years old, just below Jiang Luo's waist. She had the same long black hair as Jiang Luo, her bangs were dirty and stuck to her forehead, her face was covered with dust and withered grass leaves, and her eyes were big, but they were empty and lifeless, as inorganic as a doll.

The little girl said, "I'm going to Mommy and Daddy."

Lu Youyi enthusiastically said, "Where do your mom and dad live? We'll send you there."

The words just fell, behind the little girl ran a couple. The woman was still wearing an apron on her body and the man was wearing slippers, their faces were as anxious as one, they saw the little girl and their faces were happy, "Xiao Ya, it's almost time to eat, what are you running for?"

The two of them had features that were vaguely similar to the little girl's, allowing people to instantly see the kinship between them. Lu Youyi said to the little girl, "Your mom and dad are here."

The little girl, however, ignored the call from behind her and said dully, "I'm going to find another mommy and daddy."

Another mom and dad?

Jiang Luo did not have time to think, the couple had already run to the little girl, they carefully and gently coaxed the little girl. The mother gently patted down the dead leaves on the little girl's body, the father lovingly touched the little girl's head and forehead, and after a few words, led the little girl back to walk.

Their love for the little girl was obvious, if not a little overwrought.

Jiang Luo frowned as he watched their fading figures and returned home with Lu Youyi.

Soon, the others returned as well. None of them gained any useful information, so they could only wait quietly for the evening ritual.

At six o'clock in the evening, Wang Qian, the village chief's son, brought them a cloth mask that covered the lower half of their faces.

The mask had a red smiling lip embroidered crookedly in needle and thread, the fabric rough, with four thin threads sewn on either side to tie into a knot at the back of the head.

Wang Qian repeatedly instructed, "You must wear a smile during the rituals, and if you can't smile, put on a mask and go out. This is a custom in our village, so please respect our customs."

Wang Qian said the important words three times, but he said them five times, and before he left, he looked back three times as if he was afraid that they would forget.

When he was gone, Jiang Luo looked into the mirror and put on a mask. In the mirror, a distorted smile unfolded on his lips, grinning all the way up to the base of his ears. At a glance, it was extremely uncomfortable, and if one looked at it for a few more moments, one could even vaguely feel that the person in the mirror had become unfamiliar and distorted.

Jiang Luo took off his mask and turned around, snapping into another twisted face with a wide grin.

Liao Si stood behind him with a smile on his face, the mask over his mouth fit perfectly on the bridge of his nose, the mask trembled when he spoke as if his red embroidered lips were also opening and closing, "The embroidery on this mask is not good."

A good and sickly beautiful man, but after wearing a mask, he was like a perverted murderer, Jiang Luo's eyebrows twitched, "Can you take off the mask?"

Liao Si took it off obediently, "There seems to be music playing outside."

Jiang Luo listen carefully, there is indeed the sound of music outside, they took the mask out of the door, they saw the villagers also came out of the house, the crowd soon became a long line, wobbling to follow the sound of music.

There were children laughing and waving toys in their hands, and adults talking about interesting things in twos and threes, everyone without exception wearing a smile.

The participants were at the back of the crowd, and Jiang Luo, not wanting to wear the somewhat oozing mask, smiled perfunctorily as the corners of his mouth curled up and he blended in.

The crowd arrived in front of the shrine as the sky dimmed and burned with a purplish-red cloud of fire.

The offering table was placed in front of the shrine, and there were many tributes placed on the shrine. Fruits, pig's head and noodle cakes, and looking at the protocol, some god should be being worshipped.

The village headman was walking around anxiously in front of the offering table when he asked his son, "Has the Godfather not come yet?"

Wang Qian wipes his sweaty head, "Not yet."

The village chief's expression twisted for a split second, extremely deep fear causing his pupils to tighten, "Is it possible that we prepared less?"

Wang Qian's voice shook, "No way, we put everything up."

He hurriedly looked at the offering table, "Incense burner, candlestick, vase, eight kinds of tributes, tea bowls a ...... one no less."

The village chief looked over one by one, and after making sure that nothing was missing, he felt a little relieved, and said to himself, "It should be that God Gong is delayed by something, so let's wait a little longer."

At the back of the crowd, Jiang Luo's face was frozen with laughter, and the ritual hadn't even started yet. He smiles and maintains his expression, glancing around him to see that most of the participants have already put on masks and are rubbing their faces.

Liao Si also put it on, he looked at Jiang Luo curiously, "Aren't you going to wear it?"

Jiang Luo immediately put the mask on his face, "Everyone is so ugly, so I don't have a psychological burden."

Liao Si laughed a few times, then coughed low and breathlessly, "It's starting to cool down."

Suddenly there was a cheering sound from the front, Jiang Luo looked up, but it turned out to be a man with a black coat and a black hood coming out of the shrine.

This person walked to the side of the village chief and whispered a few words to him. The village chief nodded his head repeatedly, his face reddening the more, and he was overflowing with joy and eagerness.

When the man in black had finished speaking, the village chief turned to face the villagers, pressed his hands downward, and said solemnly, "The sacrifice begins."

This ritual ended surprisingly quickly, and before the moon had risen in the middle of the day, the village headman announced that it was time to be dismissed, and before he did so, he said something.

"Tomorrow is the day of the shrine's selection," the village headman said in a loud voice, "Whether we are selected or not, it won't affect God's favor on us! If you are sincere, the gods will reveal themselves. I say these words once a year, and this year is no exception, so don't be in a hurry! There must be no disputes! Tomorrow, at 6:00 p.m., still gather here, do you hear me?"

The villagers said in unison, "I hear you!"