It is said that last time Zhang Fan despised the thief, so that the maid was captured, and she couldn't find it, she was in a bad mood, and she couldn't sleep all night.

The next day, almost noon, Zhang Fan woke up. He opened his tired eyes, still thinking about Xue'er in his heart, looked up at the blue sky, and found that he didn't wake up until noon, so he immediately got up from the ground, quickly found a stream, washed up, and then brought the black wind, turned over and got on the horse, and went forward again, trying to find a family to inquire about the whereabouts of the nearby bandits, and quickly rescue Xue'er.

Zhang Fan walked through the mountains and forests alone, walked through the trails, and walked for several miles, but he didn't see anyone, and he felt a little sad.

Approaching evening, seeing that the sun was sinking heavily on the horizon again, Zhang Fan, who was full of empty stomachs, rode his horse to a valley. He mechanically opened his eyes and looked ahead, and vaguely saw a hut in the valley ahead, and thought, "Damn the mountain forest, I have finally found a place where there are people." Then his face showed a long-lost joy, and he immediately sat down, and shouted, "Ride!" and rode merrily into the valley.

As soon as Zhang Fan entered the valley, he found that there was a large area of plains in the valley, and a small village was located in the middle, and many trees and thatched huts in the village were intertwined, quietly sitting on the earth, a little vague and hazy. However, what is incomprehensible is that the sky has not yet completely darkened, and the whole mountain village is quiet, there is no cooking smoke, no dog barking, and no fire or village people. If it weren't for the fact that the thatch on the thatched roof in the mountain village didn't look like it had rotted, Zhang Fan would have thought that there had been no one living here for a long time.

Although Zhang Fan couldn't believe what he saw, he had to accept the reality that he didn't see a single villager from beginning to end.

Zhang Fan felt the need to step forward and ask, so he turned over and dismounted, and walked to the nearest family. He found that the family had four or five thatched houses, a small courtyard, and seemed to be quite wealthy, and thought, "I hope I will not be so unlucky and encounter the situation that the master is not at home." Hey, in fact, although I am not small, I haven't even seen a single figure in such a village, but I am a little depressed and scared. He walked quickly into the courtyard, came to the door of this house, and asked loudly, "Is there anybody?" No one answered, and then he shouted again, but found that there was still no one to answer, and his mood was even more depressed, so he naturally said to himself: "Hey, it is a pity that such a good thatched hut has been abandoned! I am also tired for a day, and I don't want to run anymore, so I am wronged and wronged myself, and I can barely live." After Zhang Fan finished speaking, he was about to push open the chai door and enter the house to rest for the night.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem"

Suddenly a cough came from the room, and then the closed door creaked, and it was opened, and then the head of an old man dressed in coarse linen came out of the crack in the door. Zhang Fan was startled when he saw this, and immediately planned to explain the situation to the visitor, but before he could speak, the old man asked: "Little baby, where are you from, it's dark, how dare you stay outside, aren't you afraid of being cursed by the devil?"

When Zhang Fan heard this, he was stunned for a while, and his heart was reborn with doubts, and he thought: "What kind of demon, I don't think there is anything wrong with this valley except that it is a little gloomy, this old man is talking nonsense, what's going on?" He smiled and replied: "Uncle, I was passing by here, and now it's getting late, can I borrow a night at your house?" The old man was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then his face showed a look of sudden realization, and said: "It turns out that you want to spend the night, please come in!"

Zhang Fan followed the old man into the hut, the old man first lit a small pine oil lamp, and then pointed to a chair placed on the side of the table and said to him, "Young man, please take a seat." I see that your face is not good, you must be hungry. The old man will make you something to eat, and you will wait a while. After the old man finished speaking, he went to the next room to get busy. Zhang Fan came to a wooden table and sat down, looked around, and found that this thatched hut was a little simple, but it was quite spacious and tight, the walls were made of wood, the roof was covered with thick thatch, and the furniture in the house was almost all wood products, but the number was not much.

After a while, the old man brought Zhang Fan a soup and a dish and a bowl of small rice, the soup was wild vegetable soup, and the vegetable was a little oily wild vegetables. The old man apologized to Zhang Fan and said, "Young man, there are only these dishes in the old man's house, please don't dislike them." Zhang Fan was already hungry, and thanked the old man: "Thank you old man, you are such a good dish, I can't be grateful, how can I dislike it?" After he finished speaking, he picked up the dishes and chopsticks, took a bite of rice first, and felt that this little rice was very flavorful, and then picked up a wild vegetable and put it in his mouth, chewed it, and suddenly a bitter and astringent taste filled his mouth, and he wanted to drink some soup to relieve it, so he immediately took a sip of the soup, and another strange smell wrapped his tongue. Zhang Fan was overwhelmed by the taste of the people here, and thought: "I have never eaten such an unpalatable dish since I was a child, it's really terrifying! But I can't refuse the kindness of others, so let's eat it." So he frowned, gritted his teeth, and quickly finished his meal.

After the meal, the old man cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, returned to the hall, and said, "Young man, our ancestors have lived in the mountains for generations, and there is really not much to eat. If you wait until dawn and the villagers come back from hunting some wild beasts in the mountains, you will be able to have a meat meal. ”

When Zhang Fan heard this, he thought: "Son, I'm just busy looking for Xue'er, and I'm hungry all day, and when I wait until tomorrow, even if you don't say it, I won't be able to eat your strange dishes anymore." However, he did not talk to the old man about this, but wanted to know about the situation in the village, so he asked, "Uncle, when I came just now, it was not yet dark, why didn't I see anyone coming out of the village?" What's going on?"

When the old man heard this, his face showed sadness and emotion, and he said quietly: "Over the years, strange things have happened in the village, the villagers can often hear strange sounds at night, and the children will inexplicably get strange diseases, and the villagers who get up at night often disappear inexplicably, and nearly 100 people have died in our village in just a few years. It is rumored in the village that these dead villagers were either eaten by brute beasts or received an inexplicable curse, and everyone is very worried. Therefore, at night, no one in the village comes out to walk around, even the chickens and dogs in the family must be well hidden, otherwise they will disappear inexplicably the next day. ”

When Zhang Fan heard this, he thought to himself: "This deep mountain and wild village can't be so weird, right?" But there are really not many things I know about this world, and it seems that I have to explore it slowly. He couldn't help but ask, "Uncle, haven't you tried to find out the reason, maybe you can find out the reason for the disappearance of the villagers." ”

"Hey, who said we weren't looking?" said the old man, feeling a little complicated and helpless, "As soon as these things happened, several hunters in our village kept vigil together to investigate, but unfortunately they disappeared inexplicably the next day. In the ensuing years, people from the village disappeared one after another, men, women and children, but most of them were women and children. Sometimes, the villagers will find some blood stains on the side of the village, but they can't take the demons. We had to stay at home at night and didn't dare to go out. ”

When Zhang Fan heard what happened in the village, he also wanted to help this kind old man, so he said: "Uncle, don't worry, I have some martial arts, and I will solve this matter for you." ”

When the old man heard this, his face was full of worry and fear, and he hurriedly persuaded: "Young man, you must not provoke the man-eating demon, or you will die." ”

Zhang Fan smiled and said, "It's okay, uncle." It's a piece of cake for me, so don't worry. ”

The old man looked at the young man's sworn appearance, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and at the same time hoped that the villagers would no longer disappear inexplicably, so he said earnestly: "Young man, I know that I can't stop you, but you must be careful." Otherwise, how can the old decay be worthy of this emperor's thick earth. ”

Zhang Fan assured again: "Uncle, you can rest assured." 一qiē has me. Then the old and the young talked about other things in the village. Maybe it was because the old man hadn't talked to anyone about his depression for a long time, or maybe Zhang Fan had too many doubts about the mountain village, so the two of them became interested, forgot their previous worries and fears, and chatted in the hut.

In the middle of the night, the mountain village was sleeping soundly, and it was deeper and quieter than the evening, but in a thatched hut in front of the village, there was still an oil lamp on.

Suddenly, there was a sound of anxious neighing of horses in the silent mountain village, and Zhang Fan, who was talking to the old man, heard the wailing of his horse, and immediately said to the old man: "Uncle, I'll take a look!" After he finished speaking, he hurriedly carried his sword out of the chaimen. When the old man heard this, his face was full of astonishment, and then he sighed and said, "The old man is really dizzy, why didn't he persuade the young man." He even brought a horse, I should have seen more, hey!" he wanted to go out of the room to see what was going on, but then the cry of his granddaughter came from the next bedroom: "Grandpa! Grandpa! I'm so scared!" The old man hurriedly walked towards the next room.

At the same time, the sleeping people in the entire mountain village were awakened by the sound of horses.