Chapter 520: 520 Surrounded! (Fifth update)
Chapter 520: 520 Surrounded! (Fifth update)
Chapter 520: Chapter 520 Surrounded! (Fifth update)
At this moment, Ji Yanxue composed her surging emotions, stepped tremulously into the village, and greeted those “warmly welcoming” villagers. “Hello everyone, I’m sorry for the intrusion.”
Xia Jian and Ouyang Lingling, not forgetting their duties as bodyguards, flanked Ji Yanxue on either side.
Huang Xiaolong silently followed behind.
After entering the village, Huang Xiaolong noticed that it was unusually quiet, eerily so. There were no dogs barking, no insects chirping, no birds tweeting. To exaggerate a bit, there weren’t even the buzzing of mosquitoes. Behind the village lay a mountain with an original appearance. The wind blew and the forest on the distant mountain rustled, accentuating the dead silence of the village.
This place… no longer had any human energy left!
Huang Xiaolong had long noticed that the lifelines of these villagers in front of him had ended. In other words, they were all dead. However, some of the spirits of the dead had been sealed inside their corpses, allowing them to continue controlling their bodies, although with intelligence far inferior to when they were alive. Moreover, they feared sunlight, for under the scorching sun, their bodies would rot faster and emit a foul smell.
This situation was exactly the same as those “corpse ghosts” in the morgue of the First People’s Hospital.
In short, these villagers… They had become corpse ghosts!
The one who brought out the corpse ghosts in the morgue of the First People’s Hospital, attempting to kill Ji Yanxue, was the same person who massacred the villagers of the village.
“Hehehe~~ Welcome, welcome.” Under the chilly shade of a tree, a pale-faced middle-aged man in plain clothes smiled with his mouth wide open. “Welcome to our village.”
As this middle-aged man stood in the shade, grease seeped out from his forehead and face constantly.
Ji Yanxue asked with concern. “Uncle, are you feeling hot?”
The middle-aged man wiped the grease on his forehead and murmured. “Yes, yes, it’s hot. The weather is indeed hot.”
The substance seeping out from his forehead and face was not sweat at all, but corpse oil!
Huang Xiaolong observed that these corpses were relatively “fresh”. They probably died yesterday during the day, so their bodies hadn’t decayed much and didn’t show any flaw at first glance.
“Eww~~ Why is there such a strange smell on the people in this village?” Ouyang Lingling wrinkled her eyebrows and covered her nose.
Actually, Xia Jian also found these villagers weird, but he couldn’t not specifically point out what was strange.
Lowering his voice, Xia Jian moved closer to Huang Xiaolong. “Mr. Huang, why does this place emanate such a weird aura? And these villagers, they’re all bizarre.”
“Hahaha~~” Huang Xiaolong chuckled but didn’t reveal anything.
At that moment, an eager-to-find-her-mother Ji Yanxue couldn’t wait any longer and asked the villagers. “I’m sorry, I’m looking for Lady Long Lan. Can you take me to her?”
“Sure, sure, looking for Long Lan, right… We’ll take you to her right away.” The villagers nodded in union.
“Fantastic! Thank you so much!” Ji Yanxue was overjoyed, clapping her hands in exuberance!
Then, the crowd of villagers led Ji Yanxue deeper into the village.
Huang Xiaolong, Xia Jian, and Ouyang Lingling followed closely.
On their way, Huang Xiaolong saw that near some pagoda trees, chilling winds were gushing. A closer look revealed some ghastly hanging ghosts, swinging on the trees with their blood-red tongues hanging out. Whenever a cold wind blew, they would swing back and forth like hung laundry, their resentful eyes staring fixedly at Ji Yanxue, sometimes white, sometimes black.
There were many such hanging ghosts in the village.
But Ji Yanxue, Xia Jian, and Ouyang Lingling couldn’t see them as they hadn’t opened their Heavenly Eyes.
Hanging ghosts were an extremely fierce type of ghost, filled with intense resentment. They could even hang on trees and swing in broad daylight. If ordinary people were entangled by a hanging ghost, it could spell certain death.
On their journey, Huang Xiaolong had spotted at least 40 or 50 hanging ghosts!
It appeared that these hanging ghosts were not originally from the village, but were brought here by a Taoist who raised ghosts elsewhere and placed in the village.
‘Ahem… Now the village has turned into a trap filled with a myriad of corpse ghosts and quite a few hanging ghosts, creating a scenario of trapping people in a well. Soon, these corpse ghosts and various ferocious spirits shall launch a concerted attack to kill Ji Yanxue.’
In short, someone had targeted Ji Yanxue and set up a serial killing trap.
Starting from the time-bomb at the entrance of Binhai Paradise Palace, then the sniper attack, followed by the corpse ghost riot in the First People’s Hospital’s morgue, and finally, the meticulously laid trap in the village.
It seems the antagonist is determined to kill Ji Yanxue at all costs, using every means necessary.
One can’t say the antagonist’s plan wasn’t thorough. In fact, without Huang Xiaolong’s protection, Ji Yanxue would have been long dead, her body cold.
‘Hehe~~ This trap is so idiotic. Just relying on a group of corpse ghosts and a few dozen hanging ghosts. I could kill them all with just one finger…’ A disdainful, playful smile appeared on Huang Xiaolong’s lips.
As they walked, a number of “villagers,” or rather, walking corpses, surrounded Huang Xiaolong, Ji Yianxue, Ouyang Lingling, and Xia Jian, trapping them in the center.
The walking corpses were chuckling with mirth, the resentment and hate in their eyes becoming more unguarded.
In no time at all, there were around a hundred of these walking corpses crowding around them like stars surrounding the moon.
These walking corpses led the way, heading directly towards the mountain behind them.
Gradually, there were no more houses for them to see on the road, only old trees and stubborn stones, a desolate scene indeed!
Ji Yianxue was no fool. In fact, she was quite intelligent. She quickly realized something was not right and stopped. “I want to find Lady Long Lan… Why… Why are there so many of you? Where are you taking me?”
“Hehehe~~ Of course, it’s where you’re supposed to go…” A child of about ten years old turned around and smiled at Ji Yianxue.
This smile was too terrifying. It lacked any trace of a child’s innocence, and only bore a dreadful undercurrent of insidious malevolence. The indifference, sarcasm, madness, cruelty in his eyes were spine-chilling…
It seemed like he wanted to tear Ji Yianxue to shreds with his teeth!
“Little Long…there’s something wrong with this village!” At last, Ji Yianxue, with a pleading look, turned to Huang Xiaolong. “There’s something wrong with these people!”
“Of course there’s something wrong,” Huang Xiaolong said with a mocking smile. “These aren’t people. They’re all dead. Their souls are sealed in their bodies, turning them into walking corpses.”
Upon hearing Huang Xiaolong’s words, Ji Yianxue, Ouyang Lingling, and Xia Jian felt chills running down their spine!
The hundred or so people in front of them were not living beings, but walking corpses!
“Then…then what about my mother!” The next second, Ji Yianxue panicked. Tears welled in her eyes as she meticulously observed each corpse.
“No need to look. Your mother probably hasn’t turned into one,” said Huang Xiaolong, smiling. “Looking at the size of the Dragon’s Village, there should be at least a thousand villagers. A few hundred corpses have already poured out, which means there must still be many villagers who were spared death and didn’t turn into walking corpses. Maybe they escaped before the disaster struck. Most of these walking corpses here are male and children, few women, even less of your mother’s age. Moreover, your mother’s excellent insect-taming skills and knowledge, it won’t be easy for her to be killed. Don’t worry.”
Upon hearing Huang Xiaolong’s words, Ji Yianxue breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, all of the walking corpses turned their resentful gazes towards Huang Xiaolong, their teeth chattering in anger, barking like wild animals.
The eyes of these walking corpses turned green, their backs arched as if preparing to attack!
“Mr. Huang, be careful! Lingling, protect the Lady!” Xia Jian shielded Ji Yianxue as if ready for battle.
At this point, one of the gloomy walking corpses spoke. “Who would have thought…that you’d find out…However, you are already where you’re destined to be…”
Meanwhile, they saw in the near distance, a gigantic locust tree. Thousands of vines, as if serpents, wildly fluttered in the wind. With a distant glance, it looked as if the tree was covered with a woman’s hair.
As a gust of eerie wind blew, the leaves of the tree rustled, emitting a sound that was eerily similar to a woman weeping. It was spine-tingling.
Shocking everyone, a dense fog arose near the locust tree. It revealed a few female ghosts, dressed in red, hanging on the branches of the locust tree. These female ghosts hung by their necks, their deep red tongues hanging out! The sight was horrendous!
Next to the hanging female ghosts, there hung a hundred human heads on the branches! An utterly chilling sight!
Bloody!
The bright red blood still oozed, staining the entirety of the gigantic locust tree, reflecting an eerie bloody hue.
It came across as a monstrous tree!
At the same time…
Whoo~~ Whoo~~ Whoo~~~
All the hanging ghosts in the village drifted towards them.
In the half-empty sky, successive, ghostly shrieks echoed resoundingly!
“Die~~ You all should die here~~~~”
At this point, the hanging ghosts no longer hid themselves, allowing Ji Yianxue and the others to see them clearly.
Ji Yianxue and Ouyang Lingling, being fragile young ladies, were too terror-stricken to move, their bodies shaking uncontrollably.
“Mr. Huang…this village… it’s a trap! We…we are surrounded…” Xia Jian’s voice was hoarse with fear.