The village chief naturally saw the confusion in everyone's eyes, and explained: "It's really not those hard-working women, although they have suffered a lot of crimes, but ...... But after all, none of them died," he spread out his hand and said with a bitter face, "It is impossible for this person who is not dead to become a ghost." ”

Zhou Rong stared at the side face of the village chief, and after a while, he said cautiously: "Are you sure that none of them are dead?" ”

"I'm sure," the village chief nodded vigorously, "The police came to count back then, and a total of 29 women were abducted, in addition to the 21 who were locked up in the village, there were 6 who were resold to other places, and 2 who lived in Wen's mother-in-law's house to give birth, all of them were quite a few, and all of them were alive." ”

Later, he explained with a strange expression: "After all, in the eyes of the people in the village at that time, they were also an asset, and it took a lot of money to ......."

After hesitating for a moment, Penfolds asked, "The ghost...... When did it appear? ”

The village chief saw what he was thinking at a glance, sighed and said: "After the people in the village found out that people had been killed one after another, they immediately suspected that it was a woman who couldn't think of committing suicide after being rescued because she couldn't bear this painful memory, so she turned into a ghost and came back to take revenge. ”

"But we later confirmed that they were all alive," the village chief looked at everyone and nodded, "All 29 of them." ”

"So the ghost can only be the only woman who died, the main culprit Zhao Xiangmei," Zhou Rong said.

The village chief seemed to think of something, and his voice gradually quieted down, "This can already be confirmed," his eyes kept flickering, and the occasional sound of the wind outside would make him nervous, "We ...... We found a stone tablet where we finally found Zhao Xiangmei's body, and a line of blood characters was written on the back of the stone tablet......."

When he said this, he suddenly stopped talking, Su Zhiyuan tilted his head, slanted at the swarthy man who looked particularly strong, and found that he didn't feel like he was slumped, and his expression was very frightened.

"That's a curse on it?" Su Zhiyuan hung his triangular eyes, and opened his mouth with a chirp, "It's like slaughtering you all over the village without leaving chickens and dogs, opening instant noodles without seasoning packets, and giving birth to a son without a little Ding Ding or something......"

The village chief, who was immersed in fear, didn't keep up with Su Zhiyuan's brain circuit for a while, but when he heard the word curse, he began to nod, "That's right, it must be a curse!" Definitely! ”

Others were already immune to what Su Zhiyuan said, and even Penfolds was looking forward to Su Zhiyuan's few harassy words from time to time, which led him to open the door to a new world.

"Where's the stele?"

"On the edge of the deep pool in the back mountain," after a pause, the village chief added in a low voice: "Zhao Xiangmei's body was also thrown into the deep pool in the end. ”

Dui Shiyu stared at the village chief and asked coldly: "I remember you said that Zhao Xiangmei was snatched by the parents of the angry women and then beaten to death, since this is the case, how can she have the opportunity to leave a curse on the stone tablet?" ”

Everyone's eyes converged on the village chief's face, waiting for his explanation.

The scene was cold for a while.

"Zhao Xiangmei was snatched away," the village chief spoke, with some inexplicable pathos in his tone, "but she was not killed on the spot, she was just seriously injured and passed out." ”

"After the angry parents left, she struggled to wake up."

In the evening, some villagers found out that she was still alive, she stretched out her severed hand, trembled, and begged the villagers to save her, but no one was willing to have anything to do with her, everyone just watched coldly, although ...... Although some people have just bought women from her. ”

"It is said that her wails of pain continued all night, and she did not breathe until the next morning," the village chief pursed his lips, "she died with her eyes open, her pupils almost bulging out, one eye was blinded out like a bloody hole, her whole face was scratched with broken tiles, and her limbs were broken by a great force." ”

"No one knows how she wrote that line of blood, her arm...... The arm was obviously broken, but she did it, and ......" The village chief suddenly raised his head, his pupils trembling violently, "The curse has been fulfilled!" ”

Listening to the whole story, the ins and outs of the matter are already very clear, from Zhao Xiangmei's point of view, the people in the village who don't save them are really hateful, and it's not an exaggeration to say that they should die.

When the people in the village needed her, they greeted her with a smile, but at the most critical time, they resolutely abandoned her, and even feared that she would bite out of herself if she lived, and chose to watch her die of pain.

"Her corpse ......," Li Lu bit her lip.

"Her body was thrown into a deep pool by the villagers the next day," the village chief said, looking at Li Lu, who asked questions, "She was completely dead by then." ”

"By the way, there is also a name for the deep pond in the back mountain, which was handed down very early, called Hanzhentan, and before liberation, it was a place in the village where women who did not abide by women's morals were executed."

"Once such a woman is found, she is stuffed into a pig cage, and then tied to a stone in front of the whole village and sunk to the bottom of the pool."

"Shentan......" Pei Qian thought for a while.

Although everyone is a modern person, thanks to TV series and movies, they still have some knowledge of the cold torture and punishment of this feudal society, so they don't show a very surprised look.

"As the main culprit, even if she is dead, I think the police will come to look for her body," Zhou Rong looked up at the village chief and said, "Otherwise, who can prove that she is really dead?" ”

At the same time that Zhou Rong asked this sentence, his gaze seemed to inadvertently sweep over Su Zhiyuan's face, as if he was expecting the latter's response.

But he was clearly overthinking.

Su Zhiyuan squinted his eyes while roasting the fire, comfortable like a lazy cat.

Zhou Rong reluctantly withdrew his gaze, he originally thought that the village chief's description of Zhao Xiangmei would make the latter think of a person, that ....... His eyes changed slightly, and the face of the terrifying woman hiding in the dark room of the Anping Hotel came to his mind.

A hypothesis emerged in Zhou Rong's heart: Could it be that Zhao Xiangmei did not die in reality, but survived through some unknown way, and finally came to Anping Town and hid in the Anping Hostel.

Although it sounds fantastical, Zhou Rong, who has experienced 5 missions, knows that the abyss is an extremely strange place, and no matter how nonsense it is, it can happen here.

The only thing that matters is whether evidence can be found to support the hypothesis.

Or rather, clues.

"Zhao Xiangmei is really dead," the village chief sighed, "I can guarantee you this, because ...... Because I was at the scene when the body was thrown, her body was cold and cold, and I touched it and went home and had nightmares for several days...... That can't be the temperature of a living person! ”

Zhou Rong seemed a little aggressive at the moment, "So...... What about corpses? ”

"At the bottom of the back mountain pool."

"Didn't the police organize people to fish it up later?" This time it was Penfolds who spoke, holding his knees and looking like a child listening to a horror story.

The village chief shook his head slowly, and said with a calm gaze: "You don't know the deep pool in the back mountain, it is very strange there, and the water temperature is extremely low all year round. Whether it's a person or something, as long as you fall into it, it will disappear without a trace. ”

He licked his lips and suddenly lowered his voice, "The old man in the village said that there is a netherworld. ”

Dui Shiyu sneered when she heard this, she didn't know if she could understand the netherworld, but there was always a problem.

"Tomorrow we will go to the back mountain and deep pool to have a look," Zhou Rong said, and then, as if he remembered something, "Is the stone tablet with the curse written on it still there?" ”

"It's still there," the village chief nodded.

After saying this, the swarthy man, who had never said a word, suddenly came over, said to the village chief with an embarrassed face, "Village chief," and then gestured out the window with his eyes.

Everyone looked out the window, and it was already completely dark.

Seeing this scene, the village chief instantly became nervous, he thought he was hiding it well, but where could he escape the eyes of the people in front of him.

"Maybe it's because the village isn't safe at night," Zhou Rong first looked out the window, then turned his head and stared at the village chief with a smile, observing his reaction.

"Ladies and gentlemen...... Rest early, and we won't bother," the village chief quickly stood up and glanced at the swarthy man, who immediately began to lean over and pack his things.

When the things were almost packed, the two pushed the door and left.

Before leaving, the village chief promised to take everyone to the deep pool in the back mountain early tomorrow morning, and at the same time warned everyone not to walk around at night and stay in the house.

The reason he doesn't say, everyone knows.

After the two village chiefs left, everyone had a brief meeting, and Zhou Rong was very obsessed with the deep pool in the back mountain, thinking that there would be clues there.

Pei Qian was still relatively conservative, and he proposed to inquire around the village first, and when the time was ripe, it would not be too late to go to the deep pool in the back mountain.

Later he came up with a terrible, but somewhat plausible hypothesis.

"Maybe coming to the deep pool, or witnessing the stone tablet with the curse written on it, is the condition for triggering the curse." He swept his gaze over everyone, and his voice was deep and steady, making people feel very reliable.

"Yes...... Will it be so? ”

Penfolds was so frightened that his face turned white, and he was already in a state of swaying, and he was immediately ready to fall to Pei Gan's faction.

Just when everyone was arguing about whether to go tomorrow or not, and when to go to Houshan Shentan, Su Zhiyuan suddenly raised his right hand upright.

From the first person noticing him to the time everyone stopped arguing and looked at him, it was only 10 seconds.

Zhou Rong's face was strange for a moment, but he still asked, "Mr. Yin, do you have anything to say?" ”

"Actually, it's nothing," Su Zhiyuan put down his hand, then looked left and right, and said, "I just think this courtyard is quite strange, it looks like people often come to live there, but it also looks like it has been abandoned for a long time." ”

There are a lot of smart people here, and almost instantly, someone reacted to the meaning of his words.

From the outside, this magnificent courtyard is really dilapidated, not to mention the gate, and some places that originally seemed to be planted with flowers and plants have also been overgrown due to the fact that they have not been tended for many years.

But in terms of the environment in the room, this is not the case.

There were remnants of cinders in the stove, and several large bamboo baskets were piled up next to the corners.

Lift the lid and there is charcoal inside.

When he came, the swarthy man came empty-handed, but after a while, he brought in a bundle of firewood, indicating that there was a place to store firewood near the courtyard.

All this suggests that it should be inhabited all the time, and that it should be ...... Zhang Cheng stood up and pushed open the door on one side, the room was dark, but he could still see a few plain quilts on the clay kang with mats.

The quilt is neatly folded.

Although it is shabby, it is still clean and smells good.

Yu Man lowered her head, the light of the fire in the furnace reflected her face flickering, "In other words......" she said slowly, "The people who live here don't help clean the yard, they just live here, and they are not ready to live here for a long time." ”

As soon as these words came out, Pei Gan, Zhou Rong, and Dui Shiyu's eyes lit up at the same time.

What does this say...... Aren't they the ones who are?

They are here to investigate the case, so naturally they will not live here for a long time, let alone go to great lengths to help clean up the courtyard and take care of the grass and trees, all they need is a place to rest.

Zhou Rong looked at everyone and lowered his voice: "Do you remember what the innkeeper said?" ”

"Those...... Those missing exorcists? Jiang Zhongyi's eyes widened, he was a believer, and he was more accustomed to using the devil to describe those inexplicable and terrible existences.

Everyone's eyes became frightened.

According to their reasoning, the talented people and strangers who were invited by the village should have lived here and then ...... They disappeared in a strange way.

Never again.