The anchor is dying every day [System]

After sitting in the car for a long time, Xiao Yuening continued to run around continuously after getting off the car. Xiao Yuening obviously felt his body was exhausted, but his spirit was still in a state of high alert due to various events after entering the village. How can not sleep.

Lying on the wooden bed, Xiao Yuening held Xiao Huang on his chest with one hand, and held Ghost Blade tightly with the other hand hidden in the quilt, staring at the dark roof with both eyes, constantly thinking about all the information he has obtained so far. .

Outside the window is a dead silence, I have been in this village for so long, but I haven't even heard a dog barking.

He has even begun to wonder, is everything in this entire village dead except for those weird villagers?

Xiao Yuening stared at the ceiling with his eyes open, various thoughts swirling in his mind.

The quilt on his body has not been dried for a long time, and there is a faint musty smell. In the room full of sundries, the smell of various dried vegetables is also mixed together, which is very smoky.I don't know how long the house hasn't been cleaned. Farm tools are piled behind the door, and there are even cobwebs hanging in the corners. It looks really dirty and messy.

If it is sunny tomorrow, he must remind the old man to take out the quilt to dry in the sun, and this house, at least he should tidy it up... Thinking like this, Xiao Yuening's consciousness gradually became blurred, and he was about to sink into depression in sleep.

However, just as he was about to fall asleep, a strange sound suddenly came from his ears.

The sound sounded like something was scratching, or like a joint hitting the window sill, and it was very close to him, almost as if it was not far from the top of his head.

After realizing this, Xiao Yuening's original drowsiness disappeared immediately, his breathing paused, and the hand hidden under the quilt tightly held the Ghost Blade.

At this moment, the weird sound in his ears was still going on, and Xiao Yuening could clearly hear the scratching sound coming from above his head, as if someone was scratching the wood with their hands, and from time to time, there would even be a sound. The ugly sound of fingernails scraping against the glass was extremely ear-piercing.

At the same time, Xiao Yuening also had an inexplicable smell floating from the tip of his nose. Is it the scent of incense emitted by burning incense candles when people burn incense? !

Xiao Yuening's heart skipped a beat, and he clenched the handle of the knife even more. He tried to force himself to calm down, and then quickly remembered the position above his head, which seemed to be a dilapidated window.

...so, the thing was scratching his window?it wants to come in?

After thinking about it, Xiao Yuening paused for breath, and finally opened his eyes slowly, looking at the window above his head.

Under the dim moonlight, a huge shadow shrouded the outside of the glass, blocking the large expanse of moonlight that shone into the house.

Xiao Yuening couldn't see what it was, he could only see a pair of malicious yellow-green eyes looking at him through the glass without blinking in the dark shadow.

The constant scraping and knocking sounds were exactly the sound of this thing constantly using its own hands to try to open the window in front of it.

The monster outside the window soon realized that Xiao Yuening had woken up. It slowly lowered its head, and looked at Jing Jing with its terrifying eyes through the glass... Then, it suddenly opened its mouth, revealing a mouth full of white. Sensen smiled at him with sharp teeth, and then his figure turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared out of the window.

After the monster disappeared, Xiao Yuening sat up from the bed all of a sudden, he came to the window with a knife in his hand, and carefully looked outside the room through the glass.

However, the courtyard was empty, and nothing was seen. The thing seemed to have really gone.

But what the hell is that?

It has a pair of non-human eyes, sharp teeth, and a faint scent of incense... So, he has guessed wrong all this time, the little girl he met outside the village is not his mission this time at all The target, is the monster in front of you the evil god worshiped by the villagers?

Xiao Yuening thought to himself, but why did it come to smash my window?Are you trying to kill me?

Also, the old man in the main house kept reminding him not to go out at night, because he knew that the "gods" they enshrined would wander around in the middle of the night?

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. After hesitating for a while, Xiao Yuening bravely removed the sack blocking the door, held the ghost blade tightly, opened the door and walked out.

The courtyard under the moonlight looks cold and quiet, as if separated by a layer of tulle to the human eye.

In the early hours of the morning, the dew had already fallen, and the skin was wet with a kind of gloomy coldness that penetrated the bones.

Xiao Yuening didn't dare to be careless in the slightest, he had Xiao Huang in his pocket, the handle of the Ghost Blade was tightly held in his hand, and he was always on guard for any danger that might appear at any time.

However, after checking in the yard, Xiao Yuening found no trace of the monster.

"Have you really run away?"

For a moment, he really didn't know whether he should regret it or rejoice.

After standing in the yard for a while, Xiao Yuening planned to go back to the house and continue to sleep, but when his eyes glanced at the still closed door of the main house, he still couldn't help but tiptoe over again, gently twitching his ears. Stick it on the door and eavesdrop on what's going on inside.

It was very quiet in the main room. Xiao Yuening didn't hear a single sound after listening to it for more than ten seconds. Even the old man's soft snoring sound had disappeared when he eavesdropped last time. This is obviously not normal.

He guessed that this old man might be the same as him. He was awakened after hearing the movement, but because of his fear, he could only curl up in the bed and dare not make a sound. He even slowed down his breathing deliberately, for fear of being alarmed. The monster outside the door.

After Xiao Yuening was sure that what happened just now was not a trick played by the old man, he turned around and returned to his hut again.

He still blocked the door with a few sacks, and after making sure that the door would not be easily pushed open, he lay down on the small wooden bed again thoughtfully.

Was the monster just now really his mission target "Cthulhu" this time?

Then when he entered the village, who was the little girl he met outside the village?Could it be the soul of a child who died young in the village?

But why did she appear in front of him?He remembered that the child had told him at the time that those outsiders who had lived in their village would disappear inexplicably in the end, and all of them would become idiots when they were found...

I didn't think so, but thinking about it now... Could it be that the little girl was deliberately reminding him?

The more Xiao Yuening thought about it, the more confused he became. After a long time, he gradually fell into trouble again.Before completely losing consciousness, he warned himself that he must try to find more information in the village the next day, and then fell into a deep sleep.

When Xiao Yuening woke up the next day, the old man had already gotten up and was cooking. When he saw Xiao Yuening coming out of the house, a trace of panic and uneasiness flashed in his eyes.

Xiao Yuening thought that he would remind himself something, but unexpectedly, the old man just looked at him complicatedly for a while, and then asked him what he wanted for breakfast.It seems that he hasn't forgotten the food expenses that Xiao Yuening promised him last night.

Xiao Yuening said "whatever", and then went to wash up.After he came back from the wash, the uncle's breakfast was ready—it was really casual, rice porridge with pickles, and when the porridge was cooking, the warmed yellow-faced steamed buns were placed on top of the porridge.

Xiao Yuening didn't dislike him either, he was thinking about the mission, and after a hasty breakfast, he went out on the pretext of looking at the scenery.

I don't know if the old man ran out to tell the villagers before he woke up in the morning.When Xiao Yuening was wandering around the village, the villagers didn't show too much surprise when they saw him, they just looked at him with complicated eyes mixed with vigilance.

After Xiao Yuening walked away, these people gathered together in twos and threes, muttering non-stop, and pointing their fingers at his back from time to time—obviously, the main target of their discussion was him who suddenly appeared outsiders in their village.

Xiao Yuening felt that their attitude was very strange. He wanted to find someone to ask what was going on, but every villager he asked all chose to avoid him directly with a face full of secrecy, and ignored his questions. , this is too strange.

Is there any mystery in it?

Xiao Yuening touched his chin thoughtfully, and decided to go to the mountain temple to see the situation first.

Following the memory of last night, Xiao Yuening came to the temple in the center of the village.

When viewing this temple during the day, it lacks the eerie atmosphere at night, but it still makes people feel very uncomfortable.

After Xiao Yuening walked to the entrance of the Mountain God Temple, he found that there were still paper money sprinkled by the funeral people last night, and it seemed that the villagers hadn't had time to clean it up.

There are several carved pillars at the entrance of the mountain temple, which can't be seen clearly at night, but after looking at them during the day, Xiao Yuening realized that the carvings on them were all strange-shaped beasts.Some have a human head and a tiger body; some have a sheep head and a human body;

Xiao Yuening looked at these reliefs one by one, and felt that the carvings on them looked like magical creatures from "Shan Hai Jing", but he couldn't say what they were, he just felt that these reliefs were very delicate and lifelike. The magical creature, whether it is expression or posture, is very vivid, it looks like it is alive.

This also makes these pillars look more like works of art that should be displayed in museums, rather than products of this small village.

Xiao Yuening carefully observed these reliefs and found that there was nothing unusual about them, so he let go of them and turned his attention to other places.

When he reached the gate of the temple that was opened wide, Xiao Yuening didn't go in hastily, but stretched his head to look inside.

This temple is not big and very ordinary.

At the innermost position opposite the gate of the temple, there is a huge clay statue.

It was an image of an Orion mountain god wearing armor, holding a knife and fork, and with horns on his head. At first glance, it looked very normal. It was similar to the related mountain god pictures that Xiao Yuening had seen on the Internet before, and it didn't look special. .

However, it inexplicably gives people a weird sense of disobedience, which makes people feel uncomfortable for no reason.

After Xiao Yuening stood at the door and stared at the squatting statue for a while, he slowly stepped over the threshold and walked in.As soon as he came in, he smelled a strong smell of incense, the same as he smelled last night.

Going forward, I feel that the incense seems to be mixed with other smells, faint, a little smelly, and a little fishy, ​​and it is not easy to smell after being covered by the strong smell of incense - if it is not Xiao Yuening's His nose was sharp enough that he almost ignored the smell.

What exactly is this smell?It always feels a little familiar... While thinking, Xiao Yuening pulled out the Ghost Blade attached to his waist, and slowly checked everything in the temple.

The temple is not big, and the furnishings in the temple are also very simple: an incense table covered with a red cloth is placed in front of the statue of the mountain god; an incense burner and melon and fruit offerings are placed on the incense table; beside it is a red merit box with " In front of the incense table, there are three futons for people to use when visiting.

It looks very ordinary.

Xiao Yuening walked around the temple several times, even the space behind the statue and under the incense table, but he didn't find anything special, let alone sensed the existence of the gate of time and space.

It seems that the Gate of Time and Space is really not in the temple.

Xiao Yuening was slightly disappointed in his heart. Although finding the gate of time and space meant danger was coming, but not being able to find the gate also meant that his mission might not be completed smoothly, and he would still be dead.

After checking around the temple again, after making sure that he did not miss anything, Xiao Yuening turned around and left the temple, and continued to wander around the village to inquire.

Because the villagers didn't pay much attention to him, he could only go around the village and around the village, trying to sense the location of the gate of time and space, but unfortunately he didn't get any special results in the end.

Instead, when he walked around to a piece of wasteland to the west of the village, Xiao Yuening saw an artificially trampled path in the weedy field.

Out of curiosity, he walked along the path, and after walking for about ten minutes, he saw neat rows of dirt bumps at the end of the path.

The surroundings of these soil bags have been deliberately cleaned, so they appear relatively flat and clean.Although there was no tombstone erected in front of the earth bag, Xiao Yuening knew it was a cemetery almost at the first sight of seeing these things.

And it is a cemetery that occupies a huge area and many dead people are buried.With just such a hasty sweep, there are at least three or four hundred grave mounds in his sight.

"Is this the cemetery of the villagers?" Xiao Yuening walked among the cemeteries thoughtfully, and he found that there were many tall weeds growing on the mounds of these graves, and some even had low shrubs, which looked like Very desolate and obviously not well cared for.

Even on the newest grave from inside, a lot of weeds have begun to grow, and it must have been at least a year and a half by visual estimation.

Xiao Yuening quickly realized something was wrong: "These graves don't look new, they've obviously been there for a while. But didn't the village just hold a funeral last night? The graveyard of the deceased doesn't seem to be here, could it be Besides here, do they have other cemeteries? Speaking of which, the direction of the funeral procession yesterday was not here at all..."

Xiao Yuening walked around the cemetery and noticed that next to the latest earth bag, there was a large open space, which was obviously reserved for a new grave in the future, and it didn't look like it was because of the size of the cemetery. It's not enough, and it looks like it's being discarded.

The more I think about it, the more confused I become. There are too many strange things in this village, whether it is the strange villagers or their strange customs.

After all, he still couldn't figure it out. When it was close to noon, Xiao Yuening returned to the village. He was just about to go back to the old man's house for dinner, but suddenly he heard an extremely mournful cry from a villager's house.

Startled by the sudden cry, he followed the cry without thinking about it.

In a yard not far from him, a middle-aged woman was holding a child about five or six years old, crying bitterly, with snot and tears all over her face, looking extremely embarrassed.

And in her arms, the little boy was closing his eyes tightly. There was a big hole in his forehead for some reason, and countless blood flowed out from the wound continuously, staining his immature cheeks red and soaking most of the clothes on his body. , as if trying to drain all the blood in his body, it couldn't be stopped.

When Xiao Yuening saw this terrifying scene, he suddenly couldn't recover.When he came to his senses and saw that the woman was still holding the child and crying bitterly, but there was no first aid, he rushed up, trying to seal the wound on the child's head: "Don't you just cry? Hurry up!" The wound is blocked, do you have a clean towel at home? Go and get it!"

When the woman heard Xiao Yuening's shout, she was not in a hurry to get a towel, but still hugged her child tightly, looking up at him with a blank expression.

Seeing that she still didn't seem to react, Xiao Yuening didn't count on her anymore.He didn't have anything at hand, so he could only take off his coat casually, and blocked the wound with his clothes, hoping to slow down the flow of blood through this method, and at the same time raised his head and said to the dazed woman: "Is there a doctor in your village? He has to go to the hospital immediately to have his wound stitched up."

Only then did the woman come to her senses, she looked at Xiao Yuening in a panic, and was about to get up to call for someone, but many villagers rushed over after hearing the sound outside the door.

"What are you doing!" After seeing Xiao Yuening's actions, an old man at the head became angry, "You stranger! What have you done!" It seemed that Xiao Yuening had been treated as an injury The child is the culprit.

Xiao Yuening was about to explain, but the terrified woman next to him burst into tears at the old man: "Village chief! Didn't you say that my baby will grow up safely as long as I worship the mountain god devoutly? My baby is better than anyone else." They are all devout, and even if they touch a small fish in the ditch, they want to give it to the mountain god! But now they can wrestle while walking on the road, and they just hit the top of the rock!" An inconspicuous pebble on the ground in the distance.

Everyone followed her movements and looked over, and they saw a small stone on the ground. The stone was only the size of an egg, and the shape was very irregular, but the edges were very sharp. There was even blood on the top corner. , it is the culprit that made the child become what he is today.

The old man called the village chief by the woman was the last old man that Xiao Yuening saw in the funeral procession last night.

After hearing the woman's words, his face darkened, and he scolded: "What nonsense! You are disrespectful to the mountain god, do you want to be punished!"

The woman sat down on the ground and cried to the village chief: "Isn't this called retribution? Isn't this called retribution? I have never done anything bad in my life, but first my man abandoned us orphans and widows. Run away, and now even the child is dying! Didn’t it say that the mountain god will bless the pious believers? Am I not pious enough these years? Isn’t he going to bless me! Why doesn’t he bless now? Why doesn’t he come out ah??"

After hearing the woman's disrespectful words to the mountain god, the surrounding villagers all looked at each other with fear, and their expressions were very disturbed.

The old face of the village head was full of ditches, and it became hideous because of fear. He stared fiercely at the crying woman sitting on the ground, wishing to put a cloth on her mouth: "Shut up! Shut up!" ! Ignorant fool! If you offend the mountain god, our entire village will be ruined! Are you trying to kill us!"

The woman sat on the ground, pointing at the village chief in front of her, crying and laughing, looking almost crazy.

Xiao Yuening looked at the farce in front of him. Although he wanted to find out more information from their conversation, the aura of the child under him became weaker and weaker, and he couldn't wait any longer: "Can you please stop now?" Arguing? The most important thing now is to send this child to the doctor quickly, and let him bleed like this, I'm afraid it will be really dangerous!"

Only then did the woman recover from her crying, and hurried to hug her child.

But the village head stood there with a sullen old face, and said sullenly: "What's the use of sending it? This child is destined to have a short life, and he won't survive."

Xiao Yuening didn't expect that at this point, this old man would even curse, and he looked at him in astonishment.

The woman was also so angry that her lips trembled at the village chief's words, but she still cared about the child in her arms, so she could only swallow her breath through gritted teeth, and struggled to run out of the yard with the child in her arms.

Among the villagers who were watching the excitement, a few soft-hearted saw her as a woman struggling to hold the baby, so they quickly picked her up and walked towards the village together.

Xiao Yuening also followed, but before he left, he observed the expressions of the rest of the people present, and found that except for the gloomy face of the village chief, the rest of the people were either panicked, or showed sympathy, and some of them looked The face is numb as usual.

The child was sent to the village doctor, but in the end he couldn't be saved. Due to excessive blood loss, he stopped breathing halfway through the transport.

The child's mother cried so much that she pouted twice on the spot, and was rescued again by the village doctor pinching her. However, she became dumbfounded because of this, and just held her son's little hand that had gradually become stiff and remained motionless. Seeing her like this, the villagers who brought their children couldn't help but also look sad.

When a group of people were in a daze, they saw the village head leading a few young and strong men over.His face looked very flat, as if he was used to this kind of thing, he even held a bong in his hand, and he would take two puffs from time to time.

After a group of people entered the small consultation room of the village doctor's house, his eyes first glanced at Xiao Yuening, a stranger, before looking at the other people crowded in the room.

"Since the child is gone..." The village head looked at the stupid woman, and exhaled smoke, revealing a mouthful of teeth that had been blackened and yellowed by the smoke, "Then, according to the village's practice, we will remove the child tonight." Let’s get things done, so that he can go on the road early, and he will have a good pregnancy in the next life, and he will not suffer in the next life.”

The woman who was in a daze came back to her senses when she heard the village chief's words. She stared at the village chief's old face full of resentment, with a ferocious posture of wanting to fight him desperately: "No! No way! Since the mountain god didn’t protect my child and took his life! Then my child can’t be buried in that field either! Whoever wants to be buried will do so, anyway, my child won’t go!”

The village head glanced at her, and said flatly: "The rules passed down in the village, can they be broken because of you alone? It doesn't matter whether you like it or not. Tonight, the funeral will be held on time."

When he said the last sentence, he raised his eyelids and glanced at the tall and strong man standing beside him, obviously confessing to him.