Chapter 50 - Lonely Village by the River (16)
Five or six o’clock in the afternoon, soon came.
After not waiting too long, after Ye Ming’s expression gradually improved, Jiang Xiuxiu felt that the surroundings had begun to turn dark.
The sun in the distance gradually sank on the other side of the mountain. Half of the sky was still bright, but the other half of the sky was dark.
Before Jiang Xiuxiu left, he picked a tree on the mountain.
She broke off two branches that could be used as weapons, held one by herself, and handed the other to Ye Ming.
Then, she took Ye Ming to the edge of the village in advance, and went to Wang’s house and Wang Xiaoyue’s grandfather’s house to have a look.
There was hardly much to eat at noon, and they wanted to get some food.
Just waiting for them to pass, Jiang Xiuxiu found that there were already villagers there.
It turned out that it was the villagers whose houses were burnt down. They had nowhere to go and their relatives’ houses could not stay for a long time, so they decided to hit these houses that were no longer empty.
It’s a pity that the problem of the house can be solved, but those years of savings, clothing, food, electrical appliances, etc., can never be returned.
Sometimes, shelter is the smallest issue.
On the other hand, in order to prevent similar accidents from happening again, the villagers started to search around for players.
Jiang Xiuxiu and Ye Ming observed for a while longer, and saw that three players had been caught by the villagers.
They didn’t dare to do anything to the players, just locked them in a room and usually delivered meals.
However, there is another player hiding outside, not sure where.
Jiang Xiuxiu glanced from a distance, and found that most of the villagers were either continuing to search for players or helping the villagers whose four houses disappeared to rearrange their new homes.
The rest of the women also went back to their homes and started cooking on the fire.
She and Ye Ming looked at each other, and the two walked around here and set off towards the home of the old man in black robe.
The village chief’s house is a little better than the other villagers, but for some reason, it is also more remote.
The black-robed old man’s house was in the west of the village, far away from the other villagers, but it was a lot closer to the evil temple on the mountain.
They walked all the way, very calm.
Perhaps it was because the villagers were all busy with their own affairs, so that when Jiang Xiuxiu found the neighborhood of the old man in Heipao, he hardly saw anyone and didn’t need to hide much.
When Jiang Xiuxiu came out of the house, she was surprised to find that the old man in black robe did not close the door.
In the darkening environment, there was no light in his room, no light at all.
He seemed to live alone, the house was deserted, and he did not cook like other villagers.
He knelt quietly in the hall by himself, with an altar and some incense candles placed in front of him.
Facing a miniature version of the evil god, he was praying devoutly.
His back was straight, and his figure lurked in the darkness.
Looking at it from a distance, it gives people a feeling of loneliness and strangeness.
“Come on, let’s go in!”
Jiang Xiuxiu no longer hesitated and said immediately.
After speaking, she and Ye Ming jumped down from the mountain and ran towards the black-robed old man quickly.
The moment they entered the house, they closed the door tightly to cut off everything outside.
“Bang!”
With a crisp wooden door closing, the silence in the entire room was instantly broken.
If the old man in black robe felt anything, he stopped praying and turned his head slowly.
“It’s you?” he asked.
He saw Jiang Xiuxiu and Ye Ming appear behind him, his eyes fell on Jiang Xiuxiu, and then on the branches in their hands.
It’s just that he is different from ordinary people. In the face of this situation, he did not show the slightest panic, and his wrinkled face was calm.
The second the black-robed old man turned his head, Jiang Xiuxiu shouted, “Do it!”
She didn’t intend to give the black-robed old man any chance to react, they couldn’t startle the snake!
Ye Ming listened to her words, and before the black-robed old man could react, he waved the wooden stick in his hand and smashed it at the back of the old man’s neck!
Ye Ming’s movements were quite fast. It didn’t take long for the old man in black robe to be hit by a wooden stick and completely fainted.
No matter how cold and arrogant he was before, at this moment, he is just a thin and dry old man.
After confirming that he would not wake up again, Jiang Xiuxiu supported the old man and asked Ye Ming to carry him on his back.
Then, the two of them slipped away quietly along the back door of the house.
Before leaving, Jiang Xiuxiu thought about it and decided to let Ye Ming go first.
She stayed in the house, looking for the candle in the black-robed old man’s house.
After lighting the candle, she threw it on the straw in the yard, hoping that the fire in the black-robed old man’s house could attract the attention of some villagers.
However, when searching for candles, the inexplicable unease in Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart became more and more intense.
All this is really smooth.
She knew that she shouldn’t guess, but her heart was beating very fast, as if something dangerous was lurking around her, eyeing her, but she didn’t know anything about it.
Where is the problem?
When Jiang Xiuxiu threw the burning candle into the straw, he still couldn’t figure it out.
But she trusts her intuition, and even if she doesn’t, there’s nothing wrong with being cautious.
From the very beginning, she would think of alienating the villagers and the black-robed old man, and then throwing the black-robed old man into the water, which were all instructions from Wang Xiaoyun in her dream.
Both Wang Xiaoyun and Wang Xiaoyue died in Xu Bai’s hands. She was friendly and should not deceive players in this regard.
Later, she was caught by Xu Bai in her dream, and in reality she was changed into clothes by the villagers and carried to the river.
It was Ye Ming who came to save her at the risk of sequelae.
After that, she and Ye Ming went back to the Wang’s house, and after resting, they began to burn down the house and provoke the villagers’ plan.
This journey has indeed been smooth sailing, but it is also interlinked, and there is basically nothing wrong.
So, what’s wrong?
Jiang Xiuxiu stood on the mountain, watching from a distance that the old man’s house in the black robe was lit by a fire.
She watched the straws gradually burn, from a small fire to a big fire, and at the end, there was even a clear and thick black smoke, which attracted the attention of other villagers.
“The village chief’s house is on fire?!”
“Come and put out the fire!”
“Where’s the village chief? Where has he gone, will he be in there?”
She watched other villagers gather around the black-robed old man in panic. Some of them believed Jiang Xiuxiu’s words and began to cry regretfully, while others were worried about the black-robed old man’s comfort.
“When the village chief is dead, will the river **** get angry?” some villagers asked anxiously, “without the village chief, what else can we do?”
Hearing this, Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly startled.
The next second, her body trembled violently.
She got it! She finally figured out what the problem was!
Just now, when the black-robed old man saw them breaking into the house, his expression was too calm…
It was as if it had been expected!
Facing the sudden arrival of Jiang Xiuxiu and Ye Ming, who would obviously bring danger to him, he didn’t shout, and he didn’t even show too much panic.
He turned off the lights, drove away the other villagers, and opened the door again. These details were clearly opening the door to welcome them!
Among them, what surprised Jiang Xiuxiu the most was that the old man in black robe was kneeling in front of the small evil **** statue and praying before the accident.
For a **** like Xu Bai, the Evil God Statue should be like a clone of him, or an eye.
To a certain extent, the small evil **** statue should also contain a part of Xu Bai’s energy because he enjoyed the offerings and incense from the black-robed old man.
Seeing that the only believer who could communicate with him was arrested, why didn’t he help?
It doesn’t matter if you don’t save it, he didn’t even remind him!
Seeing the house in front of him vanish into nothingness in the fire, Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart gradually sank.
She didn’t think Xu Bai would be soft on her, Xu Bai was just that kind of person.
All his warmth is a disguise, and he still wants to keep her in the game.
When he began to obey her, Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart was not joy, but fear.
Recalling everything in the past, she had a worst guess.
That is, her behavior… may have been intentional by Xu Bai!
What is the source of these behaviors?
It was Wang Xiaoyun who found her and told her the details of how to deal with the river god.
But at that time, besides these things, what else did Wang Xiaoyun say?
“…After I appeared last time, I don’t know why, but I was discovered by the river god.”
When Jiang Xiuxiu heard this sentence at the time, she only regarded it as the reason why Wang Xiaoyun, as an important ghost, appeared for so little time.
She didn’t take this sentence to heart, but now, after recalling this sentence, she acutely realized that it was wrong.
Since Wang Xiaoyun said so, then, Xu Bai has always known about her existence!
Not only does he know, he even knows her movements like the back of the hand!
If Xu Baizhen wanted to keep Wang Xiaoyun locked up, how could she have a chance to escape as a kid who had to leave in a hurry after a few words?
Unless, Wang Xiaoyun’s appearance was intentional by Xu Bai.
Wang Xiaoyun may not mean to frame the player, but Xu Bai needs to use her, and then indirectly, use Jiang Xiuxiu to help him achieve a certain purpose.
Jiang Xiuxiu didn’t know this purpose, but she knew that it would definitely be aimed at her.
And she, under the circumstance of being deceived, step by step, seems to be taking the initiative to break the situation, but she is making a wedding dress for others…
Jiang Xiuxiu thought of this, only to feel that his hands and feet were cold.
The more she thought about it, the more she noticed that there were flaws everywhere.
For example, why do players suddenly start burning houses?
It’s okay to burn it, why are they able to say things like “how do they deal with the river god” when confronted by the villagers’ questioning?
Are their actions spontaneously carried out by themselves, or are they deliberately guided by someone?
Jiang Xiuxiu wanted to figure it out very much, but when she thought about what was wrong with other players, she found that she was not familiar with players at all.
It was Ye Ming, not her, who spent a lot of time with the players.
To know the situation on the player’s side, she must ask Ye Ming!
Thinking that Ye Ming had taken the old man in black robe to the river, Jiang Xiuxiu panicked.
No, it can’t go on like this!
Without the slightest hesitation, after figuring out all this, she immediately ran towards the river bank.
She must stop Ye Ming as soon as possible!
Jiang Xiuxiu ran so fast that she almost used up all her strength.
She could feel her breathing getting slower and slower, her legs getting heavier and harder to move.
But she wasted a little too much time at the end just now.
When she ran to the bank of the river, Ye Ming was already carrying the old man in the black robe, standing by the river.
Seeing Jiang Xiuxiu rushing over, Ye Ming smiled at her and waved at her.
But Jiang Xiuxiu saw that the old man in black robe, who was lying on Ye Ming’s back with his eyes closed, opened his eyes!
He wasn’t knocked out at all…he was pretending to be knocked out!
Jiang Xiuxiu watched this scene, her heart skipped a beat, and an unpleasant premonition occurred spontaneously.
In the next second, after opening his eyes, the old man in black robe jumped off Ye Ming’s back.
“No! Quick, stop him!”
Seeing this, Jiang Xiuxiu hurriedly called out.
But when she said it, it was too late.
“Lord River God, I am willing to sacrifice my life for you!”
After saying this in a hoarse voice, the black-robed old man laughed twice, and threw himself into the river resolutely.
Do not! !
At the same time of despair, Jiang Xiuxiu seemed to hear a chuckle from someone in the tumbling river.
“Don’t worry,” the voice was light, with an indescribable deceitful taste, “I always take your sacrifice in my eyes.”
It was Xu Bai’s voice.
Accompanied by a sudden huge wave, the black-robed old man was swept into the icy river!
What caught Jiang Xiuxiu even more was that, after hearing Jiang Xiuxiu’s words, Ye Ming turned his head hastily.
Seeing that the black-robed old man was about to jump into the water, he actually stretched out his hand to hold the old man!
Likewise, before he had time to pull the black-robed old man back, he was also involved in that river!
“Ye Ming!?”
Jiang Xiuxiu only saw a slight blister appearing on the river surface. After a while, the entire long river fell into a dead silence.
Whether it was the black-robed old man or Ye Ming… all sank into the river.
Jiang Xiuxiu stared blankly at the calm river in front of her. She couldn’t imagine that just now, it could still roll up so high and raise such a violent tide.
A icy, damp wind blew up on the surface of the river, coating everything around it with a hazy mist.
Under the dark river, there seemed to be something that Jiang Xiuxiu couldn’t see tumbling.