Chapter 14 The Village in the Dream

But now is not the time to think about these things. The fake grandpa's movements seem stiff, but his speed is not slow. Jiang Cheng follows behind him, walking outwards.

The moment he steps out of the courtyard gate, Jiang Cheng suddenly feels a palpitation. He feels what Fatty felt. It's not outside the village, but in the direction leading into it!

Contrary to Jiang Cheng's expectations, this time the fake grandpa doesn't head straight out of the village, but instead moves with stiff steps, walking step by step towards the village.

As they delve deeper into Wugong Village, the desolation and dilapidation before their eyes deeply shock Jiang Cheng. In the dream brought about by the fake grandpa, Wugong Village has completely changed. Everywhere are ruins and broken walls. The few remaining intact houses have also been burned by fire, and the remaining half of the wooden door has traces of knives and axes.

Witnessing such a tragic scene, Jiang Cheng's first feeling is that this village has suffered a great calamity, most likely from a large group of bandits.

These vicious and evil people not only looted the entire fishing village, but also set the village on fire. Jiang Cheng guesses that this disaster is likely the reason why the villagers lost their loved ones.

The roads in the village are rugged and uneven. The closer to the village center, the more severe the damage. The road is covered with broken bricks and tiles. Just as Jiang Cheng wonders if this road has an end, a light appears ahead.

It is a courtyard that barely stands. The courtyard gate is gone, and many parts of the courtyard wall have collapsed. But what is truly strange is that this abandoned courtyard is actually full of white paper lanterns.

One lantern after another sways in the night wind, as if greeting the guests.

There is light in a room in the courtyard. The fake grandpa also slows down at this moment, walking one in front of the other with Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng, following the fake grandpa's instructions, looks inside through a crack in the window. He pales upon seeing two people in the room, a man and a woman. The man is sitting in a grand master's chair, and the woman is standing behind him, combing his hair.

The man is the real grandpa from the painting, and the woman is naturally the granddaughter, Xiu Ling!

The comb scrapes against the real grandpa's scalp, making a rough sound that is eerie. It is definitely not the sound that human hair would make, but rather like scraping on tree bark.

Jiang Cheng can't help but feel horrified. No wonder Xiu Ling didn't go back tonight. She is actually guarding grandpa's spirit tablet like this.

Xiu Ling gently lifts grandpa's hair with one hand, and slowly combs it down with the other. The movements look very strange, and even stranger is grandpa's movement. He is shaking his head slightly, as if his head is unstable and may fall off at any moment.

Just as Jiang Cheng is thinking about what will happen next, he suddenly hears a strange sound, like... like the sound of water. The sound of water is muffled, the kind that is deep and vast. Just listening to it makes one feel suppressed from the bottom of their heart, as if their hands and feet are tied, and they are sinking alone into the dark sea.

It's the sound of the lake!

Chun Shen Lake! (Spring God Lake)

Jiang Cheng's heart trembles, but when he recovers, he realizes that the sound of water is actually coming from the center of the village. It is very, very close to him, so close that his back feels cold. But the key is, how could Chun Shen Lake be there!

At this moment, the fake grandpa suddenly moves. He starts running, fleeing away from here at an extremely fast speed, running towards the outside of the village. Jiang Cheng quickly follows him. Through the fake grandpa's back, he can see how terrified he is. Jiang Cheng believes that he has found the root. The secret of this Wugong Village is hidden in the center of the village.

The farther they run, the more sparse the sound of water becomes. Jiang Cheng ultimately can't overcome his curiosity and glances back. But just this one glance makes him unable to look away. Under the cover of the hazy mist, a huge figure looms, dozens of meters high.

There is absolutely no way such a thing could exist in the village. None of these people are blind. The only explanation is that this thing only exists in such a dream, or perhaps only appears at night, while in the so-called daytime, this thing is invisible to them.

He follows the fake grandpa to the entrance of the village. Even now, Jiang Cheng has not completely recovered from the scene just now. That scene was just too shocking.

"Chi--"

"Chi--"

The fake grandpa walking in front makes a strange hissing sound in his throat, and his mouth is still constantly squirming, making one's scalp tingle in such an environment.

"You... are you trying to tell me something?" Jiang Cheng wishes he would shut up immediately. "If it's inconvenient to communicate, you can give me a hint, but take it easy. I'm timid, don't scare me. If something happens to me, then no one will avenge you."

The fake grandpa finally stops in front of an open space at the entrance of the village, his eyes drooping, staring at a patch of bushes in front of him. Strangely enough, only the grass in this open space grows well, looking green and lush at first glance.

This instinctively makes Jiang Cheng think of grave grass.

"Grave grass?" Jiang Cheng suddenly realizes something.

Then the fake grandpa does the same thing as last night. He opens his mouth wide and lets out a painful wail, blood and tears flowing from his eyes. Then he turns around and points to the broken wooden boat at the entrance of the village.

Jiang Cheng remembers this broken wooden boat. They saw it when they first came to this village. The broken wooden boat is upside down on the ground, and the bottom of the boat has a big hole, obviously abandoned.

While Jiang Cheng is looking at the broken fishing boat, the fake grandpa tears the wooden tag from Jiang Cheng's body at an extremely fast speed, throws it on the ground, then sways and jumps into the bushes and disappears.

Looking at the vegetation here, which is obviously different from other places, and combining it with the fake grandpa's actions, Jiang Cheng has a vague guess in his heart. The fake grandpa, and the bodies of the previous victims, are likely buried underneath.

Picking up the wooden tag and putting it away, he doesn't intend to dig immediately, but turns around and slowly approaches the broken wooden boat.

Taking out his phone for light, he shines it through the hole in the bottom of the boat. Sure enough, he finds some digging tools inside. The dirt on the tools is still fresh, obviously they were used not long ago.

Without delay, Jiang Cheng picks out a handy one and immediately returns to the bushes. He pokes a few times with the tool, finds a relatively soft spot, and starts digging.

Before long, he digs up a head. He brushes away the dirt attached to it. It is the fake grandpa's head!

But there is only a head, no body.

Near the fake grandpa's head, he also finds something wrapped in cloth. After opening it, Jiang Cheng is stunned. It is actually another wooden tag, and it is exactly the same as the one in his hand!

His tag was given by the Marquis's mansion, and the old man's tag was too!

Thinking of this, Jiang Cheng immediately picks up the tool and digs hard into the ground a few more times. This time he is completely dumbfounded. Below the fake grandpa's head are buried more heads, one next to the other, densely packed. Some have rotted so much that their appearance cannot be recognized. Next to the heads are cloth packages.