MLV Ch 25

The group stepped onto the muddy path and entered the village. The path was overgrown with weeds, and the sprawling branches of bushes snagged at their clothes. Jiang Ye looked back and saw Liu Bei, in her red dress, gazing at him from deep within the forest. The village was utterly silent, not even a bird could be heard, only the sound of everyone’s footsteps squelching in the mud.

They entered one of the stilt houses. The doors and windows were locked. Huo Ang called out “Is anyone here?” a few times, and when there was no answer, he broke the door down. The fire pit was cold and desolate. In the corner stood a wooden shrine with peeling gold paint, and the incense burner was filled with long-cold ashes. The stilt house was built entirely of wood, its walls made of vertical planks. They were dotted with black mildew spots, like sores, which were quite unsightly.

Yilale told everyone to put on masks. 

“This house has been moldy for too long. Breathing in too much of this air can be toxic.”

Bai Nianci approached the shrine. The mold spots around it were denser than elsewhere. He took several photos and said, “Look, this shrine is the same as the ones we saw in the forest.”

Jiang Ye squatted down to observe it. The shrine was still empty.

Huo Ang clicked his tongue. 

“What on earth do they worship? Air?”

“Have you ever been to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests?” Bai Nianci asked. 

“It’s the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifices. It enshrines only one deity—the Heavenly Emperor. He is the leader of all gods, the most revered deity in our native religion, equivalent to the emperor among gods. However, the Hall of Prayer has no statue of him, not even a portrait, only a spirit tablet with his name written on it. Even a roadside Earth God has a clay statue, yet as the highest-ranking deity, he only has a tablet.”

Huo Ang played along and asked, “Why?”

Bai Nianci stared at the shrine on the floor. 

“Actually, it’s not just the Heavenly Emperor who has no image; many things from our local classics and legends have no form. When Laozi described the ‘Dao,’ he said, ‘The Dao as a thing is vague and elusive. Elusive and vague, within it is an image. Vague and elusive, within it is a substance. Dark and profound, within it is an essence.’ In short, the Dao is elusive and shapeless; even he didn’t know what the ‘Dao’ looked like. He also mentioned the concept of ‘Taichu,’ or the ‘Great Beginning’: ‘In the Great Beginning, there was nothingness, nothing had a name. The one arose from it, one existed but had not yet taken form,’ representing a formless state of chaos. They all share a common characteristic: they are formless, intangible, and elusive. Little Ye, your mother said in her paper that the mysterious faith of Taisui Village can be traced back more than two thousand years, which means it predates the Heavenly Emperor, the Dao, and Taichu by a long time. The belief in the Heavenly Emperor and the concept of the Dao could very well be variations of it. If that’s the case, it’s not that people didn’t build a statue for the Heavenly Emperor, but that he simply has no image. By the same token, this shrine is the same. It might be for a formless deity.”

“After all that, what god do they actually worship in Taisui Village? Even if it has no form, it must have a name, right?” Huo Ang asked. 

“Don’t tell me it’s called the Air God.”

Yilale gave him an idiotic look. 

“Taisui Village, of course it’s Taisui.”

Huo Ang bowed before the shrine. 

“Oh, Taisui, Taisui, please make me rich overnight!”

Yilale kicked him. 

“Don’t be a disgrace.”

Jiang Ye was looking around when he suddenly noticed Jin Feize was gone. He called out, “Jin Feize!”

Jin Feize poked his head out from upstairs. 

“I’m up here.”

Jiang Ye frowned. 

“Don’t run around. Stay with the group.”

Jin Feize tilted his head. 

“Does going upstairs count as running around?”

Huo Ang patted Jiang Ye’s shoulder. 

“It’s fine. I’ve already checked upstairs and downstairs. There’s nothing strange.”

Jiang Ye climbed the stairs. It was very dark upstairs; the latticed windows were all sealed with wooden planks. Cabinets held pots and pans, covered in cobwebs. Jiang Ye pushed open a wooden door, which seemed to lead to a bedroom. A small wooden bunk bed was against the wall, and the wall was covered with many children’s drawings, depicting two children holding pistols. Jiang Ye pulled open a drawer in the bookcase. Inside was a box of crayons, two worn-out toy wooden pistols, some military magazines, a codebook, and a diary. He opened the diary. The pages were yellowed, the handwriting crooked.

— 𝓜𝔂 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓲𝓼 𝓵𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓷 𝓫𝓮𝓭. 𝓗𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓼𝓷’𝓽 𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓴𝓮𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮. 𝓘 𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓾𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓪𝓼𝓱 𝓶𝔂 𝓶𝓸𝓵𝓭𝔂, 𝓭𝓲𝓻𝓽𝔂 𝓬𝓵𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓼. 𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓼𝓸 𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓰𝓮𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓵𝔂. 𝓜𝓪𝔂𝓫𝓮 𝓘 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓰𝓮. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸 𝓰𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓭𝓸𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓼 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮.

—𝓜𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓸𝓵𝓭𝔂. 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓵𝓭𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼.

—𝓜𝔂 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻’𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓭𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓯. 𝓜𝓸𝓶 𝓼𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓱𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓣𝓪𝓲𝓼𝓾𝓲 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓾𝓹 𝓼𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓻 𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻. 𝓜𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓸 𝓼𝓾𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼. 𝓜𝔂 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓲𝓼 𝓭𝓮𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓴. 𝓦𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓜𝓸𝓶 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓓𝓪𝓭 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓲𝓶𝓸, 𝓘’𝓶 𝓰𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓮𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝓭𝓸𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓾𝓽𝓼𝓲𝓭𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓼.

—𝓣𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽’𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽. 𝓘’𝓶 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓼𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵. 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝓰𝓾𝓷, 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻

Jiang Ye flipped further, but the pages were blank. The diary ended there.

Jin Feize walked up beside him. 

“Find anything?”

“A pair of brothers lived in this room. The fungal disease swept through the village, the younger brother died, and the older brother fled the mountains with his body,” Jiang Ye said, stroking the diary. 

“I don’t know if they succeeded.”

“They failed,” Jin Feize said.

“How do you know?”

Jin Feize picked up the toy pistol from the drawer. 

“The gun is still here. A child running away from home wouldn’t leave his most important possession behind.”

“Maybe he had more than one gun.”

After saying that, Jiang Ye also fell silent. The brothers in the drawings each had a pistol. Now, both were in the drawer, covered in cobwebs. They probably really had failed. He had guessed they had more than one gun only because he was unwilling to believe two young boys had perished in these lonely mountains. They went up to the fourth floor, where there was a locked room. Jin Feize picked the lock, and they went inside to look. It was filled with miscellaneous items and smelled of rotting wood.

They went to check another stilt house. Bai Nianci was constantly taking pictures everywhere and walked slowly. Jiang Ye, still having found no trace of his mother, felt a growing impatience. He clearly remembered seeing his mother walk into this village after he was injected with the black water. And it wasn’t just his mother; there were also many unfamiliar, heavily armed men. Where were those men?

Huo Ang kicked open the door of the fifth stilt house and shouted, “Found something!”

Jiang Ye rushed over and saw six backpacks lined up against the wall inside. Huo Ang was opening one to inspect it. It was filled with compressed biscuits, water bottles, blankets, and some unwashed dirty underwear. The backpacks were covered in dust, looking like they had been there for some time.

“Why would they leave their backpacks behind?” Yilale guessed. 

“Could they have encountered the same kind of monster we did in the forest? They couldn’t fight it and chose to run, dropping their bags to reduce weight?”

“No,” Huo Ang shook his head. 

“These backpacks are arranged very neatly. It doesn’t look like they were dropped in a rush to escape.”

“Only two days’ worth of rations have been eaten. It’s about a two-day journey from Mo Jiang Village to here,” Jiang Ye’s expression grew grave. 

“They had just entered Taisui Village when they abandoned their bags here, took nothing with them, and went somewhere.”

“There are no first-aid kits in the bags,” Yilale’s face also darkened. 

“For these bags to be abandoned here, it’s highly likely their owners are already dead.”

Bai Nianci called out to them, “Come look at this. Is this a bullet hole?”

Everyone walked over. He pointed to a section of the wooden wall where there were several small, dark, round holes.

“It is indeed a bullet hole,” Yilale said. 

“We guessed right. Xiao Jiang’s mother’s team most likely ran into something.”

“No, no,” Huo Ang shook his head, taking out a magnifying glass for a closer look. 

“This bullet hole isn’t recent; it’s at least several years old. Look, there are signs of wood decay on the mark. The degree of decay is similar to the surrounding area, which would take some time to develop after the hole was made.”

After finding this one, they found many other old bullet holes in other places. Some stilt houses even had damage from a shotgun. Based on the distribution of the marks, a fierce battle must have taken place here, but they found no bodies.

The longer they stayed, the stranger the place felt. Jiang Ye followed Huo Ang and Yilale, looking around for a long time, but found not a single footprint. The paths here were all mud; if anyone had passed through, there should have been some traces. Yet both Jiang Ruochu’s and Shen Duo’s groups seemed to have vanished into thin air, without leaving the slightest clue.

Huo Ang reminded everyone, “It’s best if we all stick together and stay within each other’s line of sight.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Feize went up to the third floor by himself.

Huo Ang: “…”

Yilale patted Jiang Ye, pointed upstairs, and threw up his hands with a helpless look on his face. Jiang Ye knew at once that the bastard Jin Feize was acting on his own again. He had always done as he pleased, and Jiang Ye was speechless as well.

Jiang Ye went upstairs. 

“You shouldn’t leave everyone’s sight. Yilale and Huo Ang are good people and won’t say anything to you, but you should have some self-awareness.”

“Moving as a group is such a hassle,” Jin Feize smiled. 

“Why don’t we just act on our own?”

Jiang Ye refused flatly. 

“No.”

“But I don’t want to listen to them,” Jin Feize said with a mournful look. 

“Why should I follow the orders of some idiots?”

Jiang Ye: “…”

He subconsciously glanced at the stairs. Luckily, the others hadn’t come up yet and couldn’t hear the man’s vile words. He knew this guy’s true nature: seemingly gentle and polite, but actually mentally ill and malicious at heart.

Jiang Ye took a deep breath and asked, “What will it take for you to cooperate?”

Jin Feize smiled gently. 

“You know how to make me listen.”

His words were suggestive, and Jiang Ye instantly knew what sort of filthy thoughts were hidden in his mind. Jiang Ye’s eyes turned cold in an instant, as if covered in frost. 

“Following orders is for your own safety,” he said coldly. 

“Since you’re so determined to court death, I won’t stop you.”

With that, he turned to inspect the floor and suddenly froze. This place seemed to be a sacrificial altar. In the center stood a headless wooden puppet, the size of a human, tied to a wooden pillar as if being tortured. Its body was covered in intricate patterns and some very ancient-looking characters.

Bai Nianci climbed up and saw the altar, his expression becoming very excited. 

“It seems this is the sacrifice your mother mentioned in her paper. Look at these symbols; this is the ancient Yi script.”

Yilale also came up. Upon seeing the puppet, his face instantly turned pale.

Huo Ang cursed, “Fuck, it’s this damn evil thing again. Yilale and I ran into one in Burma before. Professor Bai, stop taking fucking pictures, this thing is bad news.”

“Tell me about it,” Bai Nianci said, very curious.

“Back then, Yilale and I entered the Hukawng Valley in northern Burma. To escape leeches and ants, we happened upon a small wooden cabin and spent the night there. It had this same kind of puppet inside. We’re guys who risk our lives for a living, so we didn’t have any taboos and just took it down to use as firewood. Who knew that when we woke up the next morning, the puppet had become a real person, hanging bloodily on the pillar. Damn, it scared the hell out of us. I burned the cabin down on the spot, corpse and all.”

Huo Ang’s account differed slightly from what Yilale had said. Jiang Ye frowned and looked at Yilale. His face was pale, his amber eyes fixed on the headless puppet, his expression extremely complex.

Jin Feize stood by the window, shading his eyes with his hand to look into the distance. He suddenly spoke up, “Is that the scarecrow from before?”

Jiang Ye looked in the direction he was pointing. In a nearby stilt house, the silhouette of a scarecrow stood behind a window. Jiang Ye nodded. 

“That’s it.”

“How strange,” Jin Feize blinked. 

“I clearly remember it being on the third floor before. Why is it on the second floor now?”

Jiang Ye was stunned. 

“Was it on the third floor before?”

Bai Nianci came over with his camera and also saw the scarecrow in the distance. 

“Xiao Jin must have remembered incorrectly.”

Jin Feize shrugged and said nonchalantly, “I probably remembered wrong.”

Everyone crowded around the window, looking at the scarecrow from afar. Huo Ang patted Jin Feize’s shoulder. 

“Alright, all the stilt houses look the same, and there isn’t much difference between the second and third floors. A drone is in motion, so judging the height from the screen can be off. I also remember it was on the second floor. No need to scare ourselves.”

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone saw the scarecrow slowly move away from the window and disappear into the darkness of the stilt house.

Everyone fell silent.

Jin Feize blinked again. 

“Ah, did I see wrong again? It looked like it just moved.”