Chapter 18 Chapter 17 Peeling the Grass

Three people were squeezed into the small tent, and the space was a bit cramped.But in this situation, naturally, I can't take much care of it.Yue Dongbei was the most exhausted, snoring loudly shortly after getting into his sleeping bag.Zhou Liwei was annoyed by his quarrel, and complained in a low voice several times, but the other party had already fallen into a sweet dream, so how could there be any effect? Luo Fei didn't care about it, he calmed down, closed his eyes and calmed down, tiredness spread all over his body after a while, and he gradually fell into a sleep state. I don't know how long I've been asleep for this sleep, when suddenly there was a "wow" sound from the top of the tent, as if something fell from the air.Luo Fei was alert by nature, and his hearing was sharp even in his sleep. He woke up immediately and sat up from his sleeping bag.

"What's the matter?" Zhou Liwei also got out of the sleeping bag, and judging by his appearance, it seemed that he hadn't fallen asleep the whole time. There was also a commotion outside the tent, and then the beams of flashlights flickered in disorder, but Bai Jian'e yelled in a low voice: "What are you panicking! Keep your eyes on each other." "There is a situation!" Luo Fei hastily put on his shoes, and walked outside the tent in a flash. The three people outside the tent have all stood up.Wu Qun and Zhao Liwen held a knife in their right hand and a flashlight in their left hand. They looked surprised and kept searching the dark places around them. Bai Jian'e stood by the campfire, his eyes gleaming like hooks, staring at the light in his hand. a thing.

Luo Fei stared at it clearly, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.It turned out that the thing was a live snake about two feet long, but the snake's skin had been peeled off, and the tail was still a little bit, hanging limply on the side. The snake twisted its pink body, struggling in pain, and the scene was amazing People are creepy. "What's going on?" Luo Fei stepped forward and asked. Bai Jian'e's expression was a bit weird, he was confused and panicked, and there seemed to be a bit of ferocity that had not faded in time.After a moment of silence, he looked up at Luo Fei, and said in a cold tone: "Just now this thing fell from the sky and landed on your tent."

Zhou Liwei also followed at this time. Hearing the conversation between the two, and seeing the horrific live snake, his expression suddenly changed: "Is there anyone else in this forest?" Bai Jian'e didn't speak, but his next actions answered.With a flick of his hand, he threw the snake into the bonfire, then suddenly raised his head, his eagle-like gaze viciously scanned the surrounding bushes. The poor snake was naked and burned again. The pain was unbearable. It writhed wildly in the flames for a few times, and finally stopped moving. Yue Dongbei had just stepped out of the tent at this time, and saw the scene of Bai Jian'e throwing the snake, he was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed gloatingly: "Haha, Lord Baizhai, I fed two leeches today, you are not convinced , but feed a snake?"

Everyone looked dignified, and no one cared to talk to him.Only then did Yuebei feel that the atmosphere was not right, and he asked in amazement, "You... what's wrong with you?" Suddenly, the beam of light from the flashlight in Wu Qun's hand swept over something, and he immediately called out: "Village Master, look!" Everyone followed the beam of light and looked towards the high place of the bushes in the southwest direction, and saw clothes were faintly exposed between the branches and leaves, it seemed that someone was hiding there. Bai Jian'e wiped his body, and also took out a machete from the back of his waist. He made a defensive posture, then stepped forward, and shouted in that direction: "Don't hide, get out!"

"That man" remained motionless, the beam of light from the flashlight, and Bai Jian's vicious scolding, seemed to "him" as if they didn't exist. At this time, a gust of mountain wind blew past, and the body of "that man" swayed back and forth a few times with the wind, his movements were stiff and strange, as if he was light and unaffected. "Villager, that doesn't seem...not a...living person." Wu Qun said in a trembling voice, and the light beam of the flashlight also trembled with his words. "What are you afraid of? Useless things!" Bai Jian cursed, snatched Wu Qun's flashlight, refocused on the half-hidden target in the branches and leaves, and said sharply: "I don't care if you are a human or a ghost. If you can't hide anymore, don't blame me for being vicious!"

"That person" still didn't respond. The three of Luo Fei looked at each other in blank dismay. They never expected such a strange thing to happen on the first night in the jungle. It seemed that even the experienced Bai Jian'e and the others were defenseless against it, and they were a little helpless in dealing with it. After a moment of stalemate like this, Bai Jian'e seemed to lose his patience. He turned around and nodded at Zhao Liwen with stern eyes. Zhao Liwen understood, stepped forward two steps, thrust his right arm, suddenly swung the machete in his hand into a white light, and went straight to the target hidden in the bushes!

The saber was sharp and fast, and with the sound of "Wu Wu", it accurately pierced "that man"'s heart, only a soft "poof" was heard, and "that man" suffered a lot of force, It stayed unsteadily among the branches, and finally shook off the branches and fell towards the ground. Zhao Liwen didn't wait for the village master's orders, and rushed towards the place where he fell.Luo Fei looked at his back and was secretly surprised: This person usually does not show his face, but he did not expect to be fierce, bold and ruthless, far surpassing Wu Qun who often stands out.

The crowd also followed, and just a few steps away, Zhao Liwen's voice sounded in the forest: "Master, this is a dummy!" Everyone quickened their pace and came to the front.I saw "that man" on the tree just now lying in a pile of rotten branches and leaves. Zhao Liwen squatted aside, lit up a flashlight and inspected carefully. The machete he threw out just now returned to his hand. Sure enough, it was just a dummy roughly made of dead branches and weeds, but it was wearing a full set of men's clothing, including clothes, pants, socks, and shoes. At first glance, it looked a bit weird.

Suddenly Zhao Liwen leaned over, put his nose close to the dummy, and took a deep breath.While everyone was in amazement, Zhao Liwen raised his head and said in horror: "Village Master, there are bloodstains everywhere on these clothes!" Bai Jian'e stared intently at the suit of clothes on the dummy, and the muscles on his cheeks suddenly began to twitch, apparently unable to conceal the violent fluctuations in his heart. Wu Qun also discovered something at this time, and his expression changed instantly: "These... these clothes, are... are..." Maybe he was too shocked, he only spoke half of his words, and he couldn't continue.

Luo Fei, who has an amazing power of observation, of course saw the clues, he helped Wu Qun complete the sentence: "That's right, these clothes are exactly what Xue Mingfei was wearing before he died!" "Xue Mingfei's clothes?" Yue Dongbei's eyes jumped, and he regained his energy. He also squatted down and looked closely at the dummy, "Well, these large black stains are indeed dried blood, so they must be Xue Mingfei's too. blood?" No one answered, but the same idea was in everyone's mind. "Who did this?" Wu Qun raised his flashlight and looked around in a daze and panic. "Don't look for it!" Bai Jian'e stopped him angrily, "Move this dummy to the camp first." Luo Fei looked at his watch, the time was twelve thirty-five in the middle of the night. The dummy was moved to the campfire, and Zhao Liwen found a large pile of firewood to add to the fire, and the crude camp became much brighter. Everyone looked at the dummy in blood, and they were all silent for a while, each meditating. Zhou Liwei broke the silence first, he frowned, and looked at Bai Jian'e with puzzled eyes: "Could it be that someone has been following us?" Bai Jian'e's face was black and he didn't answer, it could be seen that he was in a very bad mood. Yue Dongbei stood aside, seemingly immersed in his own thoughts, sometimes shaking his head, sometimes muttering to himself, turning a deaf ear to other people's conversations. Luo Fei squatted down at this moment, carefully inspecting the dummy and its clothes.The dummy was crudely made, only roughly shaped like a human being, using dead branches and weeds that can be seen everywhere in the jungle.Due to the large amount of blood stains on the clothes, they have begun to harden and harden, and at the same time exude an obvious bloody smell. Luo Fei groped around on the clothes with his hands, not missing any corner.Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered something, picked something out of his trouser pocket, and brought it to his eyes for careful consideration.After a while, he said, "I know the cause of Xue Mingfei's death." "Oh?" This sentence immediately aroused Zhou Liwei's interest. He squatted and leaned over to see what Luo Fei was holding, "Is this... a leech?" "That's right." Luo Fei nodded, "Although it's just a shriveled and deformed corpse, it's exactly the kind of big leech that bit Mr. Yue." "Then Xue Mingfei was stared and bitten by this kind of leech, so that he lost a lot of blood and died?" Zhou Liwei suddenly realized, "No wonder there are no blood loss wounds on his body." "And there must be quite a lot of leeches. These leeches sucked blood and were killed and crushed, so Xue Mingfei's blood went into the statue of the Rain God and onto the clothes!" Luo Fei said, standing up and putting The leech handed it to Bai Jian'e: "Master Bai, don't you want to take a look?" Unmoved, Bai Jian'e let out a "hey" and said, "Leech, I've known this for a long time." Luo Fei was taken aback for a moment, and then he understood: Yes, yes!After the worship ceremony that day, Bai Jian'e would definitely check the mechanism of the Rain God Statue, most likely the remnant body of the leech could be found there. But Bai Jian'e gritted his teeth and said, "It doesn't matter how Xue Mingfei died, what matters is who did it? What is his purpose?" Zhou Liwei nodded at the side, and said in a deep voice: "The blood-soaked statue, the skinned live snake, and the straw man in blood, his methods are becoming more and more mysterious." "What?" Yue Dongbei, who had been thinking to himself, suddenly became agitated, "What did you say? A skinned live snake?" "Didn't you see it just now?" Zhou Liwei glanced at him, "The snake thrown into the fire by Lord Bai was skinned alive!" "I know! I know what 'he' is doing!" Yue Dongbei shouted excitedly, "Hahahaha, blending the past and the present, I'm really an academic genius!" His laughter was really out of tune with the current atmosphere, Bai Jian'e looked at him coldly: "Then tell me, what is he doing?" "This is a symbol, but also a warning, a warning of vengeance, which comes from the terrifying power that has been sealed for a long time." When Yue Dongbei said this, he stopped on purpose, showing a mysterious look. Zhou Liwei couldn't understand his attitude, so he snorted impatiently: "What symbol? Tell me directly." With a strange smile, Yue Dongbei spit out four words one by one: "Peel-skin-squeeze-grass!" "What?" Luo Fei didn't understand, and the others were also puzzled. "This is a form of torture invented by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty." Yue Dongbei explained, "It is to peel off the entire skin of the prisoner, then fill the skin with straw, and stir it up with a bamboo pole to show off to the public." In this situation, when they suddenly realized such a cruel punishment, everyone couldn't help but lower their heads, looking at the dummy made of branches and grass under their feet, their hearts trembled. Skinned snakes, dummy stuffed with grass——skinned and plucked grass!Is it really such a horrible meaning that these weird behaviors want to express? After a moment of silence, Zhou Liwei questioned Yue Dongbei: "Zhu Yuanzhang's torture. How does this have anything to do with the devil theory you have always preached?" "You only know one thing now, but not the other." Yue Dongbei was prepared and replied calmly, "The torture of peeling and pulling weeds was first invented by Zhu Yuanzhang, but it doesn't mean that only Zhu Yuanzhang used it. So did Li Dingguo. One of the preference of this kind of torture, and in Li Dingguo's army, the punishment of skinning and weeding has a specific target, that is, those traitors who betray their masters and turn to the enemy." When he said the last sentence, Yue Dongbei suddenly accentuated his tone, and at the same time he rolled his eyelids and looked at Bai Jian'e, obviously implying something. Luo Fei's heart moved: the ancestors of Bai Jian'e and others were all subordinates of Li Dingguo. When Li Dingguo was defeated and killed, these people chose to surrender to the Qing soldiers instead of fighting. Bai Jian'e's eyelids twitched suddenly, then he calmed down and suppressed his emotions, and said in a dark voice: "Mr. Yue, do you think we will be interested in what you said?" Yue Dongbei smiled "hehe": "It doesn't matter if others are interested or not, but you, Lord Baizhai, should pay extra attention." Bai Jian's face changed viciously: "What do you mean?" "For this sake, I don't think so much about face matters. I'm sorry to say some things." Yue Dongbei said carelessly, "Li Dingguo was suppressed and killed by many forces back then. Among all his subordinates, the last The one who is qualified to be the word 'traitor' is his right-hand general Bai Wenxuan. If my prediction is correct, the Lord Bai Village should be the descendant of Bai Wenxuan, right?" Bai Jian'e looked at Yue Dongbei coldly: "Yes, I am a descendant of Bai Wenxuan. However, Li Dingguo is dead, and there is nothing abnormal about his subordinates surrendering in defeat. The word 'traitor' is a bit heavy Bar?" "Surrender?" Yue Dongbei retorted unceremoniously, "Historical records show that after Bai Wenxuan surrendered to the Qing court, he was immediately granted the title of Duke Cheng'en. How could such treatment be given to those who surrendered? People in history can see that Bai Wenxuan's surrender must have been before the defeat of Li Dingguo, and judging from the rewards of the Qing court in the future, Bai Wenxuan probably made great contributions to the Qing army!" Neither Luo Fei nor Zhou Liwei knew much about history.When Yue Dongbei's words came out, they were somewhat unexpected.Could it be that Bai Wenxuan, the ancestor of Bai Jian'e, and Li Dingguo's confidant general Bai Wenxuan, really betrayed his master and surrendered to the enemy? Bai Jian'e's expression was complicated, but he did not argue angrily. It seems that Yue Dongbei's analysis is probably true.After being silent for a while, he said grimly: "So, according to Mr. Yue, is this 'resurrected demon' deliberately trying to trouble me, Bai Jian'e?" "First, a close friend died in a strange way, and then your Bai family's prestige for hundreds of years was almost destroyed when you worshiped the Rain God. Now there is a metaphor of 'peeling the grass'. Who do you think these will be aimed at?" Yue Yue Dongbei said more and more vigorously, "It is certain that these are just the beginning, 'he' will follow us all the way to the uncanny valley, and the terrible power will reappear step by step. 'He' wants revenge, although we can't see 'him' , but there is no doubt that 'he' is by our side!" A gust of night wind blew by, bringing with it a faint "woo-woo" sound, which seemed to echo Yue Dongbei's words.The bonfire was erratic, everyone's faces flickered, and the atmosphere was eerie and eerie. After the wind died down, there was silence in the forest, and the cold air seemed to freeze. Suddenly, Bai Jian'e raised his head, looked at the vast night sky, and burst out laughing wildly: "Hahahaha..." The laughter continued, loud and clear at first, then hoarse, and finally revealed a bit of ferocity. It took more than ten seconds for his laughter to stop abruptly, then he gritted his teeth, paced around in the dark jungle around him, and said viciously loudly: "Come on! No matter who you are, you can No matter what you are, I, Bai Jian'e, will be right here waiting for you!" The shout stretched away in the jungle, seeming to penetrate every dark corner. "……waiting for you……" The lingering sound lasted for a long time.Is this an echo, or a mysterious response from the dark world?