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We went back to the original building, climbed back through the floorboards, and went all the way down the cliff close to the water’s surface. The current was so loud that we wouldn’t be able to hear any whistles clearly. Fearing that these people might drift past us, Phoenix shot several “pickled seeds” upstream with a slingshot.

This was a ball made of wine trough and a kind of fodder, which had iron beads inside. It immediately fell into the stream and sank to the bottom, and then started emitting a very strange odor. As soon as the people in the water smelled it, they would know that their goal was near, and immediately head towards the cliff.

Although the current was fierce, the “pickled seed” odor could spread in large quantities and wouldn’t fade for several hours.

At this time, Phoenix asked: “You said that foreigners have gone to the deep mountains and forests behind this village in recent years. What are they looking for? What could be back there?”

The huge primitive forest behind this village was actually the border between China and a certain country. Since ancient times, there weren’t a lot of chances for humans to step foot in this area, and only the village Bimo would dare enter it. It was said that there were some paths handed down to the Bimo through the ages, which could enable them to safely travel to places that were about seven days away. But the forest became so deep after that that you would be traveling for half a year. Anything you could possibly imagine about South China’s tropical rain forest could be satisfied here: the mountains were full of obstacles, the vegetation was deep, and there were poisonous insects, gases, swamps, and ferocious beasts.

The only things we knew came from very fragmented oral stories from some of the people who had strayed into it. Apart from the deified legends, there was no historical data that could be analyzed.

Snake Ancestor shook his head. “I don’t know, but it must be related to that bug. Smoker knows the foreign language, but I don’t know if he’ll tell us the truth.”

Given the size and fierceness of this bug, and the fact that it could tear people up and eat them, it couldn’t be widespread in the forest. Otherwise, the food chain would have collapsed long ago. It might be a special species in a certain area, or simply have a more complicated origin.

After a short amount of time, black shuikao appeared in the water, and Smoker and all the others floated downstream. Once Phoenix blew her whistle, they all headed towards us, and climbed up the cliff.

“Where’s Big Brother Zhang?” Iron Chopsticks asked.

Phoenix pointed up above us and Iron Chopsticks frowned.

With more people, one’s courage becomes bolstered. I took everyone up to the building above us, where they all put away their shuikao. I suddenly looked up at the thatched roof and wondered if there would be melted corpses hidden inside

Coincidentally, I saw Smoker and the mountain-like boatman look above their heads at almost the exact same time. The three of us looked down and glanced at each other, immediately understanding that the other party knew more than they thought.

“Brother Meng.” Smoker gave him a look, and the mountain man climbed up the beam, told the people below to get out of the way, and tore open the thatch above his head. Something similar to bird down floated through the air like snowflakes, and a pile of minced meat immediately dropped down and hung there.

It was a child. The little hand didn’t even look like it belonged to a child older than three.

The owner of this house had also been crushed and hidden in the roof.

“It’s fucking amazing. There’s a chance not even wolves could crush people like this.” The big guy said.

“No.” Pampered Guy had put his shuikao away and put his outfit back on. Even though he had gone all the way through the water, his white shirt wasn’t wet at all, and it hung as if it had just been ironed. I didn’t know how he did it. He put oil on his hair and said, “These people weren’t killed by bugs. They were chopped up and hidden to attract them.” At the same time, he stretched out his hand to Phoenix. “Where are the foreigners’ things?”

Phoenix quickly handed the papers to Pampered Guy, who immediately looked at them. He was obviously very familiar with English and said, “All of you, if you don’t have a problem with it, listen to my plan right now.”

“For what reason?” Smoker laughed: “This Little Brother Zhang’s got a screw loose. You’re the one I brought in, so why would I want to listen to your plan? Who do you think you are?” With that said, he went up to grab the papers.

Little Brother Zhang took a step back and kept them out of reach: “If you don’t listen to my plan, you’ll all die here tonight.”

Smoker suddenly turned pale, and was just about to give him a look, when Little Brother Zhang held up a finger: “Listen to me first. There’s something evil documented in these papers: the pieces of dead human flesh on the thatched roof were set up by the villagers themselves. An insect infestation broke out in the village, and people were dying one by one. After the Bimo came forward, he found that these people’s deaths were related to a kind of witchcraft. It says that this village— and the Bimo’s living area— are located here in order to guard the entrance of the forest and prevent the magic from leaving the forest. The Bimo of this village had been taught magic since he was a child and learned about this kind of bug and its habits during that time. They chopped up those who had died, put them in the straw, and placed everything on top of the buildings in order to attract the insects at night and kill them.” He raised his second finger: “The Bimo suspected that the reason why this witchcraft suddenly appeared in the village was related to the foreigners’ previous expedition into the forest. And the only survivor of that expedition—a Bimo—may have been the one who brought this kind of witchcraft out with him. The people who wrote this report were investigators who came to look into the expedition’s disappearance. But they later disappeared in the village. The Americans realized that the village had become hostile to them, so they asked you to try and find any news from the locals. This is partly from the comments on the back of these papers, and partly my own guess.”

Iron chopsticks said nothing, and it became obvious Pampered Guy had guessed right.

“The journey here is very inconvenient, and there’s no mailing system. We can only speculate that the investigators who came here to look into the expedition team’s disappearance weren’t harmed by the villagers. After they came here, they must have immediately discovered the insects and helped the locals with their pest control activities. He recorded these materials while participating in these activities, but unfortunately, this investigator may have been killed. Based on the degree of decay of these corpses and the traces of long-term feeding by a large number of insects, the villagers must have had a huge accident during their pest control activities. They either suffered huge losses, or the entire village was abandoned.” Little Brother Zhang handed over the documents. “To sum it up, it’s a huge feast at night, and we’re all fresh dishes.”

Iron Chopsticks obviously couldn’t read English as fast as Little Brother Zhang, and immediately tried to read and understand it. Little Brother Zhang continued: “There are still four hours before the sun sets. This place has no lighting at night and depends on oil lamps. If you don’t want to listen to me, then tell me, what do you plan on doing?”

<Extra 2.13> <Table of Contents><Extra 2.15>

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I know it’s a little early, but that’s all for today dears. I started reading the webtoon “Solo Leveling” and IT’S SO GOOD. I’ve stayed up til 2 the past 2 nights reading it lol. Plus, tomorrow is my last day of freedom before I have to go back to work (╥_╥) so I’m trying to enjoy it.

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