“Shh…” the village head raised his index finger to his lips, signaling everyone to just watch and not speak, as it would be a grave disrespect to the spirits. As soon as the villagers saw the village head’s expression, they immediately stopped whispering and fell silent, focusing intently on the actions of Master Zhang.
In no time at all, the apple was eaten, and he seemed a bit tired, sitting on a chair yawning. Suddenly, with a “whoosh,” all the oil lamps and candles went out. At the very moment the lights in the house extinguished, plunging everyone into pitch darkness, Master Zhang spoke: “The beast has killed.” Everyone in the room froze, trying to understand what was meant, but Master Zhang said no more. The room was deathly quiet. One minute passed, then two… still no sound. Just as everyone was anxiously waiting, the lights in the room came back on, lit by Master Zhang’s assistant. At that moment, everyone noticed that Master Zhang was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, and both the candles and incense had already burned out. With a soft “mmp,” Master Zhang shook his head, stood up from the chair, and turned around. He knelt before the spirit altar and bowed. Then, he took a slip of paper from a bowl that had been overturned on the altar. Everyone was stunned, watching Master Zhang’s every move. Everyone in the room had clearly seen that the bowl had been completely empty just moments ago, yet now there was a slip of paper inside. Everyone was eager to see what it said—could it reveal the identity of the murderer? Master Zhang glanced at the village head, who understood immediately and hurriedly stepped forward from the crowd.
“Here!” Master Zhang handed the slip of paper to the village head.
The village head smiled, took the slip of paper from Master Zhang, nodded, and said, “Alright,” before holding it in both hands very respectfully and unfolding it. On the paper was a single, neatly written character. The village head cleared his throat and announced, “The beast has killed!” As soon as those words were spoken, everyone was stunned—wasn’t that exactly what Master Zhang had said when he was possessed by the spirit? To convince everyone, the village head passed the slip around for the villagers to see. Most of the villagers couldn’t read, so they just glanced at it, whether right-side up or upside down, as if they were just joining in the excitement.
“Don’t embarrass yourself if you can’t read it,” another villager snatched the slip away, “Xuantian Niusheng, what…?”
“You’re no better!” someone else grabbed it.
“Ai, ai, ai!” The village head waved his hands, signaling everyone to stop fighting over the slip. “Give it back, give it back!” He snatched the slip from the villager and said, “You’ll tear it to pieces if you keep passing it around like that!”
The villagers chuckled…
“What does the village head mean?” one villager asked.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t get it. Can you explain?”
“This… this…” the village head looked at the characters on the slip.
“What does the village head mean? What ‘Tian’ and ‘Niu’?” another villager asked.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t get it either. Can you explain?”
“This… this…” the village head kept staring at the characters on the slip.
“You don’t understand either, do you, village head?”
“Yeah?”
“You brats don’t know anything!” the village head pointed at the younger villagers. “You just like to talk nonsense!”
“The village head doesn’t know either!”
Heh, heh, heh, they laughed.
“Stop fooling around!” The village head clapped his hands, and the room finally quieted down a bit. He walked up to Master Zhang and asked, “What does this mean?”
“It’s a clue,” Master Zhang took the slip, furrowed his brow, and said, “Look closely at its meaning!”
“Xuantian Niusheng,” the village head repeated, “This refers to the murderer.”
“I get it now. It must be either someone surnamed Tian or someone surnamed Niu. Since everyone’s here, whoever did it should come forward and confess!” The village head loudly accused.
“I’m not surnamed Niu, and I’m not surnamed Tian.”
“Me neither.”
“You’re in trouble—you’re surnamed Niu!”
The villagers whispered among themselves…
“Village head, village head,” Master Zhang quietly tapped the village head on the shoulder and said, “These four characters should be read together.”
“What? Read together?” The village head turned around in surprise and looked at Master Zhang. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I thought you already knew,” Master Zhang said, looking at the village head.
“Xuantian Niusheng—read them together,” Master Zhang pointed to the slip and explained, “The character ‘Xuan’ with ‘Tian’ beneath it, and ‘Niu’ with ‘Sheng’ on its right side clearly form the word ‘chusheng’ (beast).”
“So what does Master Zhang mean?”
“Just that the beast killed someone. Probably a wild animal from the mountains. Everyone should be careful recently,” Master Zhang laughed.
“Oh, I see!” The village head nodded.
“Let’s go…”
“Let’s go…”
One by one, the villagers left Sister Hu’s house…
“Thanks for your hard work,” the village head patted Master Zhang on the shoulder.
“No problem at all!” Master Zhang smiled.
“Come to my place tomorrow, and we’ll have a drink together,” the village head said while putting out the lamp.
“Alright,” Master Zhang replied while packing up the altar.
“Village head, Master Zhang, thank you both for your trouble,” Sister Hu came over. “You’ve both gone out of your way for my sister’s matter.”
“It’s nothing. We’re all neighbors,” the village head said.
“Yeah!”
Soon, everything was packed up, and the village head and Master Zhang left Sister Hu’s house.
“Village head, Master Zhang, take care on your way back.”
“No need to see us off. Go back inside!” The village head waved his hand.
“Poor those two children…”
Master Zhang sighed with a soft “Ah.”
As they spoke, the oil lamp in the village head’s hand suddenly went out, blown by a gust of wind.
“I’ve got matches,” Master Zhang pulled out a box from his pocket.
“The wind is too strong. Lighting it is useless—it’ll just go out again,” the village head waved him off.
“I’m going in,” Master Zhang opened his front door.
“Come over for dinner tomorrow,” the village head shouted toward Master Zhang as he entered the courtyard.
Master Zhang responded with an “Okay” and went inside…
The next morning early.
“Help! Village Head Zhao, Village Head Zhao, come quick!” Zhang Shan, the young village guard, vaulted over the fence into Village Head Zhao’s yard.
“You scared me,” Village Head Zhao came out in his robe, and as soon as he opened the door, he saw Zhang Shan outside. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s… it’s terrible!” Zhang Shan said, his face pale. “Something’s happened!”
“What happened?” The village head’s wife came out from the inner room.
“Something’s happened, something’s happened!” Zhang Shan said in a panic.
“Go take care of your business,” Village Head Zhao glanced at his wife and said.
The wife went back inside…
“What’s happened?” Village Head Zhao asked.
“It’s… my brother…”
“What happened? Tell me quickly!”
“He… he was attacked by a wolf!”
“A wolf?” Village Head Zhao was stunned. “Where would a wolf come from around here?” (Nowadays, villagers often go hunting, and wolves have long been wiped out from the nearby mountains. However, wolves are still occasionally seen deep in the distant mountains.)
“Yes, right at the front hill!” Zhang Shan grabbed Village Head Zhao.
“What, the front hill?” Village Head Zhao was momentarily stunned. The front hill was just in front of the village, not far from his home. Not even a snake would be found there, let alone a wolf. He quickly snapped out of it and said, “Are you sure?”
“Hurry, Village Head Zhao, or it’ll be too late!” Zhang Shan tugged at the village head.
“Let’s go!” Village Head Zhao rushed out, but after taking a couple of steps, he suddenly stopped. “Wait!” He turned back, grabbed a hoe leaning against the wall, and shouted, “Xiao Zhou, Xiao Zhou!”
“Coming!” Xiao Zhou poked his head out.
“Hurry up! Something’s happened. There’s a wolf at the front hill!”
“A wolf?”
“Hurry up!”
Xiao Zhou responded and ran out. Zhang Shan led the way, and within minutes, they reached the front hill. As soon as they arrived at the hillside, they noticed some bloodstains near the grass and trees. As they moved further in, the bloodstains became clearer and more numerous. “Ah!” Xiao Zhou couldn’t help but cry out. A head, with wide-open eyes, lay in the bushes. Village Head Zhao, Zhang Shan, and Xiao Zhou were all horrified by the sight.
“Little brother…” Zhang Shan cried and ran forward.
“This…”
Not far from the head was a body. The clothes were torn to shreds, the belly ripped open, and the intestines scattered everywhere, leaving only a few bones…
“Little brother…”
“What happened?”
“Little brother…” Zhang Shan knelt on the ground, wailing.
“This…”
“I was walking here with my little brother…” Zhang Shan sobbed. “As soon as we got here, I saw a shadow in the woods. When the shadow saw us, it hid behind a tree. Zhang Mao thought it was strange and followed it. Suddenly, there was a strange sound.”
“What kind of sound?” Village Head Zhao asked, looking at the terrifying scene.
“I… I’m not sure,” Zhang Shan’s face turned pale as he spoke, his body trembling with fear. “But it sounded really creepy. Then, I heard a woman’s voice.” As he mentioned the woman, Zhang Shan became even more frightened…
“A woman?”
“Yes, a woman’s voice,” Zhang Shan stopped sobbing and stared blankly at Zhang Mao’s corpse. “We both heard it clearly!” Suddenly, Zhang Shan jumped up from the ground, screaming wildly, “It’s a monster! It’s a monster!”
“What nonsense are you talking in broad daylight?” Village Head Zhao patted Zhang Shan’s shoulder. “Don’t panic, don’t panic. Take your time and tell me everything. I’ll help you, I’ll help you!”
“It was a monster, really a monster. I heard it clearly.” Zhang Shan grabbed Village Head Zhao’s arm tightly and shook it. “He’s coming! He’s coming!”
“Don’t panic?”
“Take your time and tell me everything?”
“Who’s coming?”
“The monster is coming!”
“Weren’t you two attacked by a wolf?”
“Yes, it was a wolf. It seemed like a wolf.” Zhang Shan’s expression was terrified, his words incoherent.
“It’s okay now. Don’t panic.” Village Head Zhao looked at Zhang Shan and then turned to Xiao Zhou. “Go back to the village and bring some people to…”
Xiao Zhou said “Okay” and returned to the village.
“It wasn’t a wolf, it wasn’t…” Zhang Shan mumbled, still in shock. “Yes, when we heard that strange sound, we were both very frightened and didn’t dare to move forward. We turned back immediately. Just as we turned around, we heard a ‘哗哗哗’ sound from behind. We both sensed something was wrong and quickly looked back. At the spot where we had just seen the shadow…” Zhang Shan gasped. “Yes, that place. Suddenly, something jumped out and came directly toward us. My brother and I were so terrified we immediately turned and ran downhill. That thing chased us relentlessly, as if it knew us. When we ran here, yes, right here,” Zhang Shan pointed at the ground, trembling. “My brother was suddenly knocked down, and I ran back to the village alone.”
“Hurry, it’s just ahead.”
At that moment, Xiao Zhou returned with some villagers…
“You few go and check,” Village Head Zhao pointed at the path Zhang Shan described where the wolf had chased them, telling the younger villagers to investigate. Then he pointed at some older villagers and said, “Take care of Maizi…”
“It wasn’t a wolf, it wasn’t…” Zhang Shan seemed to be going mad. “It was a wolf, it was a wolf, it was a monster…”
“You two help Dashan go back first.”
The two villagers nodded.
“Village Head Zhao, judging from the severity of the bite marks, this doesn’t seem like a wolf attack.”
“I’m also puzzled. How could a wolf have such strength to bite through the neck?” Village Head Zhao took a deep puff from his pipe.
“But judging from the tooth marks, it should be a wolf,” one villager said.
“Ai, you guys, where would a wolf come from around here?”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen a wolf in years.”
“Yes…”
At this time, several villagers had already wrapped Zhang Mao’s body in white cloth.
Village Head Zhao tucked his pipe into his waist and said, “Let’s go back to the village…”
“Village Head Zhao, we couldn’t find any wolf!”
“Yeah, we couldn’t even find a shadow of a wolf.”
Village Head Zhao murmured an “Oh,” furrowed his eyebrows, and turned to look at Master Zhang, who was lighting incense.
“Dashan said he heard strange sounds and saw a dark figure in the woods. What do you think…” Village Head Zhao leaned close to Master Zhang and whispered.
“No way. Don’t you believe in my powers?” Master Zhang inserted the incense and turned around. “Besides, didn’t the gods’ answer from last night come true today? It was a beast that killed—yes, a wolf!”
“This…” Village Head Zhao wanted to say something but stopped.
“Just relax!”
“I heard that the neighboring Xiushui Village had a zombie problem recently. Could it be that kind of evil thing?”
“Impossible! It’s broad daylight. Besides, Maizi was clearly attacked by a wolf. Now Dashan’s mind is all confused, talking nonsense. You actually believe what he says?”
“That’s true,” Village Head Zhao nodded.
After dealing with Zhang Mao’s matter, everyone dispersed…
Life in the mountain village continued peacefully. Three days quickly passed. At this time, everyone noticed that Zhang Shan had disappeared. Since the night his brother’s incident happened, he had vanished and hadn’t shown up ever since. Everyone knew he had gone mad and didn’t know where he had run off to.
One day, Xiao Zhou from the village was returning from cutting firewood on the mountain. When passing a steep slope, his foot slipped, and he immediately tilted toward the slope. His instinctive reaction made him step back, but his hand slipped, and the firewood he was holding immediately rolled down the slope. It kept rolling until it reached the bottom, where it was stopped by some weeds. Xiao Zhou quickly bent his body and slowly slid down the slope, pulling the firewood with his hands. He pulled hard a couple of times, and the firewood finally came loose from the weeds. As Xiao Zhou walked up the slope, he gradually felt something was caught. He turned around and saw a piece of rag. Looking more carefully, something was wrong—the cloth had bloodstains on it. He quickly dropped the firewood and looked again, his heart suddenly sank with a “thump.” He couldn’t help but cry out, “Oh my God!” There was a leg, a leg caught in his firewood. More precisely, the shoelace on the leg was caught in the branch of his firewood. Xiao Zhou screamed and ran up the slope as fast as he could, dashing back to the village in a flash. Soon, everyone in the village came. In the patch of weeds, everyone saw a corpse. The body was torn apart, with hands and feet separated from the body…
“Isn’t this Dashan?” one villager said.
“Yeah, it’s Dashan!”
“How did he end up here?”
“It’s a wolf. He must have been attacked by a wolf,” Village Head Zhao said, glancing at the corpse.
“What should we do?”
“In just a few days, two people have been eaten by wolves.”
“Village Head, think of a way.”
“Yeah…”
“Alright, alright,” Village Head Zhao stamped his feet twice, signaling everyone to stop arguing. He loudly said, “First, take Dashan’s body away and bury him properly. Tomorrow, I’ll ask the village head of Xiushui Village for the militia team, and then every household should send one person. We’re going to hunt the wolf. Tonight, everyone should go home and prepare weapons. We’ll set off early tomorrow morning. We’ll search every inch of this forest until we kill this hateful wolf…”
“Alright…”
“Kill this evil wolf…”
“Yeah…”
“Hunt…”
The next morning early, everyone climbed the mountain together, all carrying the weapons they had prepared in advance. They formed a long line, spaced about ten meters apart, and began searching the front hill in a grand procession. Soon, the entire front hill had been searched thoroughly. Not even a wolf hair was found…
“Village Head Zhao, what should we do now?” one villager asked.
“Keep searching!” Village Head Zhao waved his hand, and everyone quickly continued forward.
The sun soon tilted, shining diagonally on the ground. The whole day passed like this. Everyone searched up and down several valleys but still saw no sign of a wolf. Everyone returned home discouraged…
“Village Head Zhao, something’s wrong!” As soon as they returned to the village, a villager ran over.
“What happened?” Village Head Zhao hurriedly asked. “What’s going on?”
“Sun Yinnong, he… he’s had an accident.”
“Where?” As soon as Village Head Zhao heard someone was in trouble, he immediately asked, “Quick, take me there!”
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