The next morning, as Long Feicheng got up to relieve himself, he saw that the spot in the yard where the sorcerer's head had been buried was now a large pit. The ceramic pot and the sorcerer's head were gone, startling him awake instantly.
He woke Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong, and the three changed their clothes and crouched around the pit to examine it.
Who could have imagined that the method, which had seemed foolproof yesterday, would still lead to an accident, allowing the sorcerer to escape?
Yan Shouyi frowned and said, "This shouldn't have happened..."
Lin Zitong also found it puzzling, "Your sword yesterday clearly severely injured the sorcerer. Even if he wasn't dead, he shouldn't have been able to break free from the ceramic pot."
"Could it be that the sorcerer has accomplices?" Long Feicheng worried.
This was the most believable answer: the sorcerer's accomplices had come to rescue him last night.
But this was also the answer Yan Shouyi least wanted to hear. Last night, they had only faced one sorcerer. If Boss Zhou had several, or even more than ten, sorcerers like the one from last night, things would be much more troublesome.
Yan Shouyi, Lin Zitong, and Long Feicheng could protect themselves and retreat safely, but what about the villagers of Chenjia Village?
What about those villagers who had already been tricked into the mine?
They were all in mortal danger!
Yan Shouyi picked up a small clod of earth and brought it to his nose.
"Did you find anything?" Lin Zitong asked.
Yan Shouyi thought to himself that it was fortunate neither he nor Long Feicheng were virgins, and hadn't urinated in the soil yesterday. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to smell anything now.
At this moment, he said, "It smells of incense."
"Incense?" Lin Zitong was taken aback, "Could it be that the person who helped lit incense before coming?"
Long Feicheng was annoyed, "This clue of smell alone is not enough, is it? Every household in the countryside offers sacrifices to the Kitchen God."
Yan Shouyi nodded, "Indeed."
He dropped the clod of earth, sighed slightly, and then stood up straight:
"With this, it's not enough to make any assumptions or guesses. Rather than guessing here, it's better to go directly into the mountains to take a look, to confront the sorcerer's true form and that Boss Zhou."
This suggestion was met with approval from Lin Zitong and Long Feicheng. They decided to set off for the mountains after breakfast.
Back in Rongcheng, the local breakfast was very rich, with all sorts of pastries.
However, the breakfast customs in Chenjia Village were rather simple. Yan Shouyi cooked some plain congee, borrowed some pickled radish and salted duck eggs from a neighbor, and they made do with that.
Jiang Ting had slept comfortably last night. According to her, she had been having nightmares every day before, but last night, sleeping at Yan Shouyi's place, she slept soundly without any dreams.
Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong knew the reason: it was because the curse placed on Jiang Ting by the sorcerer had been constantly eroding her luck, causing her to have continuous nightmares.
Yesterday, the power of the curse had disappeared, and Jiang Ting could naturally sleep well.
Jiang Ting asked, "Brother, Sister, what are your plans for today?"
Lin Zitong gave Jiang Ting some pickled radish and said, "We plan to go into the mountains to take a look. You don't need to come along, stay at home."
Jiang Ting did not object and directly said, "Then I'll prepare food for you. Will you be back by noon?"
Just as Yan Shouyi was about to answer, a commotion suddenly arose from the village.
Long Feicheng stretched his neck like an old turtle, unwilling to leave his chair but wanting to crane his neck to see what was happening outside the yard.
"It sounds like someone has entered the village," Jiang Ting guessed just by listening.
After all, Chenjia Village was not that large.
At first, no one paid much attention, but after a while, all four of them heard a piercing cry.
At this point, everyone could no longer sit still, knowing in their hearts that something must have happened.
"Let's go, let's go out and see together."
Yan Shouyi put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and led them out.
As soon as they pushed open the courtyard gate, they saw several cars parked at the entrance of the village. The villagers were gathered in front of the cars, and several outsiders were carrying three coffins down from the vehicles!
Jiang Ting recognized the cars at a glance, "Those are Boss Zhou's cars!"
The four of them quickly ran to the village entrance and squeezed into the crowd of villagers.
A total of three coffins were carried down from the cars. The outsiders carrying the coffins wore somber expressions. After reading out a few names, some villagers immediately burst into tears, hugging the coffins and refusing to let go.
At this moment, a thin old man got out of one of the cars.
The old man's face was full of guilt. He was holding a black bag filled with hundred-yuan bills.
"To the families, an accident occurred in the mine last night, which caused the deaths of these fellow workers. This money is the subsidy and compensation from Boss Zhou to the families. Please accept it," the thin old man said.
Having lost their loved ones, the villagers were all immersed in grief and had no time to care about the money.
It was the village chief who stepped forward and accepted the money on behalf of the families.
Regardless, the people were gone, but the money should stay. This money could help the families continue their lives.
Suddenly, Jiang Ting shivered all over and couldn't help but tightly grab Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong's hands.
Lin Zitong turned her head, saw Jiang Ting's face filled with terror, and clasped Jiang Ting's hand back, asking softly, "Little Jiang Ting, what's wrong?"
Jiang Ting covered her mouth and said in a trembling voice, "That old man... the sor-sorcerer..."
Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong immediately stared at the thin old man.
The lighting in the room yesterday was too dim, and coupled with the fact that the sorcerer only had a rotten head, the two of them didn't recognize him as yesterday's sorcerer when they saw him in daylight.
This sorcerer had already escaped death yesterday, and today he dared to brazenly come to the village. What was he trying to do?!
Yan Shouyi suppressed the urge to step forward and deal with the sorcerer immediately, wanting to see what trick this fellow was up to.
The thin old man seemed to sense that Yan Shouyi and the others had recognized him, so his gaze kept drifting towards Yan Shouyi's direction intermittently.
At this time, the village chief couldn't help but ask the thin old man, "Sir, may I ask what happened in the mine? How did people die so suddenly? Are the other villagers alright?"
Hearing the village chief ask about this, the other villagers also quieted down.
Most of them had relatives who had gone to the mine. The longest one had been gone for more than two months with no news.
Boss Zhou's explanation was that there was no signal in the mine, so they couldn't make phone calls, and the villagers who went there were unwilling to come out, wanting to earn more money in one go.
Only this old man would occasionally come out of the mine and give money or food to the villagers, saying it was Boss Zhou's welfare for the miners' families.
This was why everyone had endured and remained silent.
But today was different; people had died today. When the pillar of the family was gone, no one could bear it.
The other villagers also began to worry about their own relatives.
Facing everyone's questioning, the thin old man put on a look of helplessness. He hesitated to speak, and after a long time, he finally managed to say:
"To tell you the truth, some bizarre things did happen in the mine yesterday!"