Chapter 23 The Crumpled Note

"Any other clues?" After a moment of thought, Jiang Cheng continued to ask.

This time, Yao Shunyu's voice turned strange, and the question he asked also puzzled Jiang Cheng and Fatty. "Do you remember the notebook the painting teacher always carried with him?"

"I remember." Jiang Cheng was a little excited. "Did you find the notebook? What's written on it?"

Yao Shunyu had mentioned that the painting teacher brought paper and pen into the temple, which was arranged by Yao Shunyu and Li Bai. The painting teacher promised to record everything he saw in the temple.

"No, it's not what you think. We searched the entire temple but couldn't find the notebook, but… but who would have thought that someone would send the notebook to us this morning." Yao Shunyu's voice was full of disbelief, and some fear hidden deep inside.

"Who is it?" Jiang Cheng on the other end of the phone also became nervous.

"It's a few villagers. They asked us if we had lost something, and then they took out the notebook for us to see. We recognized it as the teacher's notebook at a glance, and the notebook… was stained with blood."

"I asked them where they found the notebook, but they said they didn't find it. It was the village chief, the village chief asked them to ask. If we asked any further, they wouldn't say anything."

Hearing the words "village chief," Jiang Cheng subconsciously frowned. "Have you met this village chief?"

"No, but it's certain that this village chief must be a very key figure." Yao Shunyu stiffly changed the subject. "Also, I opened the notebook and looked at it. The painting teacher didn't leave any useful information, only a few fragmented bloody handprints."

"It seems that the painting teacher was attacked in an instant and didn't have time to react at all," Yao Shunyu continued.

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but he was also a little puzzled. It was strange in itself that these villagers had specially sent a notebook that didn't contain any clues.

In response, Yao Shunyu spoke again, his voice adding a bit of caution. "The painting teacher didn't leave any clues, but we found a piece of paper in the notebook. It was stuck inside."

After a pause, Yao Shunyu added: "No, to be precise, it's a piece of paper that was torn off, leaving only one-third. This paper is very different from the paper in the notebook. Some words were written on it, but the handwriting is very messy, as if it was written in a state of great fear, and… this isn't the painting teacher's handwriting. Judging from the handwriting, it looks more like a child's."

"A child?" Fatty, who was standing next to Jiang Cheng listening to the phone, was stunned.

"Yes, the handwriting is very childish, it should be a child. There are also a few bloody handprints on this piece of paper. The handprints are much smaller than those of an adult, but they are incomplete. Judging from the handprints, this child is likely to be injured, and the index finger of his right hand is also missing. There are only 4 fingers on the handprint."

"By the way," Yao Shunyu suddenly said, "There is also a black frame on the edge of this piece of paper. I don't understand these things very well, but Li Bai said it's a bit like the medical record paper used in hospitals."

Things were getting weirder and weirder. Jiang Cheng calmed his mind and asked in a low voice: "Can you make out the handwriting on it?"

"Yes." Yao Shunyu explained as he recalled the contents of the scrap of paper. His narrative tone also changed: "The moment I opened my eyes, I came here. I don't know why, but luckily my mom and dad are with me, but they seem to be afraid of something. They don't say a word all day…"

"I had a terrible dream. In the dream, my dad was taken away by a nurse in red high heels, but when I opened my eyes, my dad was really gone. My mom cried terribly, but the doctors here told us that there are no nurses in red high heels here at all, because it's not allowed…"

"Mom! Mom said she was going to find Dad. She said Dad must be hidden, he's here!"

"Boo hoo, Mom… Mom is also gone. I heard a knock on the door in my dream. Mom put me in the closet and told me to hide and not make a sound. Then she went to open the door. It was two o'clock in the morning! Two o'clock! A hunchbacked doctor dragging large scissors, I saw it, I saw it!"

"The lame grandpa in the bed next to mine secretly told me that if you want to live safely here, you have to follow the rules here. He said my mom and dad are still here. They are on the floor below me. The stranger the patients are, the lower they are locked up…"

"This is my third day here. I've decided to go find my mom and dad. Wish me luck."

Parents who disappeared strangely, a nurse in high heels, and a hunchbacked doctor dragging large scissors… such descriptions left Fatty completely confused. He couldn't imagine what kind of bizarre world the child who left the note was facing.

But Jiang Cheng was obviously thinking more. While he was curious about this bizarre world, he was more concerned about what connection this so-called bizarre world had with Heishui Village, where Yao Shunyu was, or with his and Fatty's current situation.

There would be no unprovoked clues in the mission, but as of now, they had no clue at all.

Without wasting any more time, Jiang Cheng asked Yao Shunyu and Li Bai about their next mission. This time, Yao Shunyu answered very simply, and his voice was also lowered. "Our mission tonight has been determined. Li Bai will draw a card. The person drawn will go with us. The three of us will choose three tasks to perform. Each of us will perform one task. The decision is in Li Bai's hands."

Jiang Cheng frowned upon hearing this. "What, are you and Li Bai going too?"

"Yes, we don't know what's going on, but that's what the villagers said, that is… the villagers who came to deliver the notebook." Yao Shunyu seemed to be worried about something, and his voice was even lower. "By the way, they are right outside the door now, waiting for our reply."

"What are the three tasks?" Jiang Cheng wanted to help them analyze it.

"Not three, there are a total of 4 tasks. We need to choose three of them to perform," Yao Shunyu explained. "The first is to go to the east end of the village and repair the broken bridge that was washed away by the flood. The second is to go to the west end of the village, where there is a mass burial ground, and repair the road outside the mass burial ground. Third, there is a house in the village that is said to be quite evil. They want someone to go and set the house on fire. The fourth…"

Yao Shunyu paused, his tone a little strange. "They want us to kill someone. It's not clear who it is, only the location is known, in the barren mountain in the west of the village, not far from the wild temple, the temple where the painting teacher disappeared."

Halfway through listening, Jiang Cheng seemed to suddenly realize something. He reached into his pocket and took out the crudely made paper figurine.

"Killing and arson bring wealth, repairing bridges and roads bring no corpses." The two lines of crooked words on the back of the paper figurine made one's scalp tingle.