Chapter 15 Chapter 12 Prosperity and Adversity

I heard a story. It is said that in a church in Northern Europe, there is a crucifix of Jesus crucified, which is about the size of an ordinary person.Because of the responsiveness, there are so many people who come here to pray and worship, it can almost be described as a crowd. There was a gatekeeper in the church who felt that Jesus on the cross had to deal with the demands of so many people every day, and he couldn’t bear it. He hoped to share Jesus’ hard work.One day when he was praying, he expressed this desire to Jesus. Unexpectedly, he heard a voice saying, "Okay! I will come down to watch the door for you, and you will come up to be nailed to the cross, but no matter what you see or hear, you are not allowed to say a word." Mr. Wei felt that this request was very simple.

So Jesus came down, and the gentleman at the door went up, stretching out his arms like Jesus being crucified. Originally, the crucifix was carved almost like a real person, so the crowd who came to worship did not doubt that he was there, and this gentleman followed the previous agreement. , be silent and listen to the voices of believers. There is an endless stream of people coming and going, and their prayers are reasonable and unreasonable, and there are all kinds of strange things.But in any case, he suppressed it and did not speak, because he had to keep his previous promise. One day a rich merchant came. When the rich merchant finished praying, he forgot the money and left.

Seeing this, he really wanted to call the rich businessman back, but he couldn't say anything.Then came a poor man who couldn't eat three meals a day, and he prayed to Jesus to help him through the difficulties of life. When he was about to leave, the poor man found the bag left by the previous rich businessman, opened it, and it was full of money.The poor man was overjoyed. Jesus was so kind and responsive, so he left with great gratitude.The disguised Jesus on the cross saw it and wanted to tell him that this is not yours.However, the agreement came first, and he still held back and couldn't speak.

Next came a young man who was about to go on a long journey to the sea. He came to pray for Jesus to bless him and be safe.Just as he was about to leave, the rich businessman rushed in, grabbed the young man by the skirt, and demanded that the young man pay back the money. The young man didn't know what to do, and the two quarreled. At this time, the disguised Jesus on the cross finally couldn't bear it, so he spoke.Now that the matter is clear, the rich merchant goes to the poor man described by the counterfeit Jesus, while the young man leaves in a hurry, fearing that he will not get a boat.

Jesus, disguised as a gatekeeper, appeared, pointed to the man on the cross and said, "Come down! You are not qualified for that position." The gatekeeper said, "Isn't it right for me to tell the truth and do justice?" Jesus said: "What do you know? The rich businessman is not short of money. His bag of money is only used to go whoring, but for the poor, it can save the family's livelihood. The most pitiful thing is the young man. If the rich businessman keeps Wrapping him up will delay his time to go to sea, but he can still save his life, and now, the boat he was on is sinking into the sea."

This is a fable that sounds like a joke, but it reveals that in real life, we often think that what is the best is the best, but things backfire and make us feel uneasy. So we must believe that what we have now, regardless of good times or bad times, is the best arrangement for us.Only in this way can we be grateful in good times and joyful in adversity. Obviously, though, I'm not one to be grateful for good times, joy and bad times. Early the next morning, the three of them, who hadn't had a good rest all night, turned out of the tent one after another, and Zhang San made a simple breakfast.

After eating, I packed my luggage and set foot on the road to that coordinate again. Along the way, we encountered several stone tire brakes. I broke them silently and buried them. These children who were killed and sealed in stones were all under nine years old, and their hearts were also dug out. Their deaths were so miserable that it was unbearable to watch.Until you encounter one of the tire evil spirits. When Zhang San was burying him, he suddenly froze for a moment, and said loudly to me: "Xiao Ye, this child's eyes seemed to have some faint green light just now." "How is it possible, it's daytime now, you can meet ghosts during the daytime if you're not bad, right?" Lin Zhiyan snorted.

I also had some disbelief, "The eyes of these children's corpses have been sewn up with hemp rope." I squatted down and checked it. The eyes of this young corpse were not tightly sewn, and there was a slight gap , at first glance, there is really a hint of green color reflected. I was taken aback, and suddenly thought of something, I pulled out the knife suddenly and picked all the hemp ropes away.I saw that the eye sockets of the corpse were hollowed out, and there were some granular objects with cold green light in the black eye sockets. "What is this?" Curiously, Lin Zhiyan picked it up and looked at it in front of her eyes. As soon as she saw it clearly, she screamed and threw the thing on the floor.

"It's so disgusting, it's actually the eyeballs of a dragonfly." She was so disgusted that she almost vomited it out. The creature like a woman is indeed very strange. One second, she could hold something in the eye socket of the corpse without changing her expression, but the next second she was scared out of her wits by a certain part of the insect. I also picked up those things to have a look, and confirmed: "That's right, it's the eyes of a dragonfly." "Why did that cult put dragonfly eyes in the eye sockets of corpses?" Zhang San asked with a frown.

"I don't know if you have heard of some customs in the neighborhood." I said lightly: "For example, children should not eat chicken feet, and their hands will become chicken feet after eating; children's clothes that are hanging outside should not be taken back at night, in case Once contaminated with dew, evil spirits are easy to get on the body; avoid using umbrellas in the house, and umbrellas will not grow taller. Avoid catching dragonflies. Hakkas use dragonflies as thunder chickens, and they will be struck by lightning; avoid blood stains on trees. lest the tree will come back to harass the children after the tree sees the blood into essence. Human beings’ understanding of raising children has gone through a long development process. People do everything possible to start with the children’s bodies, follow and abide by these customs, and hope that the children will be free from disasters and diseases grown up. Although much of it is nonsense from a scientific point of view, it reflects a common and fervent human desire for succession. In a way, though, that cult seems to I have other opinions and views." I slowly picked apart the rest of the corpse that was sewn up with hemp rope.

There was a pair of chicken feet in the mouth of the corpse, and two extremely sharp branches were inserted into the nostrils. It was some specious Hakka witchcraft again, and I became more and more confused about whether the leader of that organization was a genius or an idiot.It seems that his understanding of Hakka culture is really intuitive, and the so-called witchcraft he uses is also changing randomly... No, no, maybe he hasn't changed it, maybe his method is the real Hakka witchcraft.It's just that these witchcrafts have been spread among the people, and they have become customs and have been seriously deformed. You must know that if the so-called custom is to continue, it cannot be too cruel in today's society. After burying the body, we moved on.It didn't take long before they encountered another situation. The corpse of a wolf.In the open space not far away, there were corpses of wolves everywhere, so many that they could not be counted. Some of those wolf corpses were torn apart, some were bitten into several pieces, and some had their brains thrown out. We were all stunned.I squatted down and inspected a corpse nearby. There was a huge claw mark on it. To leave such a large claw mark, the thing that killed the wolf must be at least three meters high. "I'm afraid all the wolves that escaped from us last night died here!" Lin Zhiyan stared blankly at the miserable situation before her, and said for a long time. I made a rough calculation in my mind, we killed more than 300 wolves last night, and more than 500 wolves died in this open space today.The total number of wolves in this pack exceeded nine hundred.This kind of population is so large that it is difficult to appear even in the prairie where there are few people, not to mention in the mountains. What is the reason why these nationally protected animals listed as endangered species gather in the suburbs where humans often haunt?I always thought they were influenced by Xiong's mother-in-law, but now it doesn't look like it. If they were really gathered under the influence of Mrs. Xiong, then what killed them all? Looking at the corpses of wolves all over the place in bewilderment, I feel a little sad. I am afraid that within a few hundred kilometers around Lingshan, there will be no more wolves. For this region, they are extinct. Suddenly, there was a deep roar from not far away.Zhang San raised his gun vigilantly and pointed it straight at the source of the sound. I saw a wolf covered in blood, howling and trying to get up with difficulty, its legs were shaking constantly, its eyes were already blind, the original white fur on its body was mixed with a lot of blood, and most of the fur was covered with blood. There are many scars all over.Those scars revealed again, what kind of tragic battle it had experienced last night. The wound was bloody and bloody, but it still used its limbs firmly, trying to support the weight of its whole body. No matter how painful it would be, it seemed that there was a force, a pride, and a dignity supporting it. "I'm afraid, it is the wolf king of this pack of wolves." I said. Zhang San nodded.Lin Zhiyan yelled in surprise: "Why did it stand up?" "The wolf king is a very dignified creature. He will not allow himself to die like other wolves. Even if he dies, he must die proudly." I explained, in awe of the persistent wolf. Finally, the wolf king's limbs supported its body with difficulty, and it stood on the ground with wolf corpses all over the ground.The wind was blowing, blowing its blood-stained fur, and suddenly it let out a long howl, which was extremely ear-piercing, echoing continuously in the woods, and then it stood like this, never moving again. "It's dead." I sighed softly, "Let's bury it." Facing such a backbone wolf king, most people would feel ashamed.At least I don't want it to be exposed to the wilderness and eaten by other wild beasts. A two-meter-long pit was dug at the edge of the open space, and Zhang San and I lifted the wolf king's body up.As soon as he lifted it up, Zhang San exclaimed in surprise: "Strange, what is this?" I looked down and saw a branch-like claw nearly two meters under the wolf king's body.I've never seen that claw, and I can't even imagine what kind of creature has that claw. The claws are 1.8 meters long, and there are gray-white hairs all over the skin. Those hairs are very rough and prickly, like barbs, and they will get stuck into the skin if they are not careful. The paw has five fingers, and the position of the thumb is much lower than that of a human hand, about where the pulse is. There was a ferocious feeling in the whole palm, as if it could tear apart all objects. The claws are dry, slender and sharp, with extremely long nails.The monster with this claw was at least three meters high. It reminded me of the dream I had in Room 402, and I couldn't help but shudder. Lin Zhiyan's expression also changed when she saw it. She looked strange, as if she had thought of something. "Xiao Ye, apart from being one size bigger, this paw is very consistent with the appearance of the murder weapon in those forty-nine murder cases." She took out her handheld computer and called up the pictures of the murder scene for comparison. "Also, it happened on the slope of Lingshan Mountain. The five young people who were killed because they watched the moon also had the same scars. At that time, the citizens thought that they were killed by bears. In my opinion, the real murderer was the one who had the blood in front of him. A monster with only one arm. Could it be that the murders and the disappearance of children's bodies were not man-made?" "It must be man-made." I shook my head. "This arm may be the right hand of a creature like Mrs. Xiong. When fighting with the wolves last night, it was bitten off by the wolf king desperately. I'm afraid that cult organization has more or less I can use the power of Grandma Xiong!" Gradually, he began to outline the whole incident in his mind, just as he had guessed before, the Xiong family really did exist, and the arm in front of him could prove it.I just don't know whether the cult organization raised some Xiong's mother-in-law, or the Xiong's mother-in-law herself possessed some supernatural powers. From the previous literature data, we can draw a conclusion that no matter how the name of Xiongjiapo is spread and changed in the human world, its basic description is also consistent.It is a monster, ever-changing, with mystical powers, and never dies. It likes to eat the fingers, toes, and hearts of children, and it prefers to eat unformed fetuses.This monster has been out since the prehistoric era, and it has been lurking in human society. Although no one has seen its appearance for some reason since thousands of years ago, ancient documents and folk tales have been passed down. That cult is probably trying to use it to achieve a certain purpose.But what is the purpose of using Xiong's mother-in-law?The creature is bloodthirsty, cruel, and probably not under anyone's control.They used a lot of Hakka witchcraft, for what?Aren't they afraid of being backlashed? It seems that we must rush to the coordinates given by the old man as soon as possible, and hope that there will be answers to all doubts there. The three of us accelerated the speed of climbing the mountain. The more we walked towards the mountain, the more we could feel a weird atmosphere. The atmosphere was very weird, as if it permeated deep in the bottom of my heart like substance, making people unstoppably terrified. Finally entered the inner circle of Lingshan.We feel more and more strange. According to the data, the inner circle of Lingshan Mountain is a paradise for birds. There are 218 species of birds living here all year round, and there are even national second-class protected animals such as the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant. But we didn't see any birds or other animals along the way, and we didn't even hear the chirping of insects at all. Although it's not yet spring and the weather is a bit abnormal, there are no animals looking for food in the woods, so it shouldn't happen. The inner circle of Lingshan Mountain is also called Wushan Mountain, with an altitude of 1,900 meters, 69 kilometers away from Lingshan City, and not far from the main peak of Lingshan Mountain, Langya.The Wushan Mountain is majestic, surrounded by clouds and mist, and densely forested. It was named after a large number of Taoists practicing here in ancient times. The violent orogeny made Wushan stand out from the Lingshan Mountains after undergoing several changes from ocean to land to ocean and then to land. The main peak is surrounded by high mountains and deep valleys, and the topography is peculiar. Due to the poor traffic, there are not many traces of ancient Taoism left here, and the matter of building it as an open area may not be able to be settled in a certain year. The coordinates given by the old man are just under the Wolf Cliff. According to the current speed of progress, it may not be until the evening. The more we walked forward, the more oppressive the atmosphere became, and we always felt as if there were a pair of eyes behind us watching us without blinking.After walking under this weird pressure for a long time, suddenly some strange trees emerged from the woods. It is not without reason that they are strange. All the branches of these trees were cut off with a knife, leaving only the trunk bare.A pocket was nailed to the same position of each trunk, and it was bulging inside, and I don't know what it contained. I counted carefully, and there are forty-nine trees of that kind in total.Suddenly, a bad premonition rushed into my heart. "What are these?" After seeing a lot of strange and inexplicable things in the past few days, Lin Zhiyan was a little tired of aesthetics.She asked softly, as if she didn't want to know. "It's a soul tree." I looked at those trees and explained: "In the traditional concept of human beings, a human being is composed of two parts, the body and the soul, which are unified and coordinated with each other to form a living person. However, the soul sometimes drifts away from the human body for some reason, so it is necessary to call the soul and summon the soul to return the wandering soul to the human body. The soul summoning is used on living creatures, and the soul tree is used on dead ones. " "Soul tree? What's in the hanging pocket?" "I'm afraid you don't really want to know what's in it." I smiled faintly, with an ugly face, walked over and cut open one of the linen pockets with a knife, and a lot of white and white things poured out with a "crash" Suddenly, a rotten stench filled the air. Lin Zhiyan and Zhang San only took one look, then each gasped. "Guts!" they both shouted in unison. "That's right, it's the internal organs." I squatted down and picked up those internal organs with a knife. The smell was very strong, and I don't know how long it had been left there. "These are human internal organs?" Lin Zhiyan leaned over to have a look, and asked uncertainly. "I'm afraid they all belong to the missing children." I took a deep breath. "It's so cruel, what do these people want to do!" She said through gritted teeth. "Do what they want." I shrugged. "Bury all these sacks in the ground and bury them. We can only do these things for them." Throw all the entrails into the pit and bury them, and we move on.At 5:15 in the evening, I finally arrived at the coordinates given by Yang Junfei.