Chapter 21

Fortunately, he was the ultimate winner. As a reward, Yao Shunyu also received a dead infant.

The girl with half her face ruined and the woman who had previously caused trouble stared at Yao Shunyu with murderous eyes, but no matter how unwilling they were, they didn't dare to act presumptuously in front of the Zhusheng Niangniang (Goddess of Childbirth) and the village chief.

Grasping the dead infant with his right hand, Yao Shunyu endured the stench and stuffed the dead infant into his arms.

As the procession got closer and closer to the Blackwater River, the frequency of stops also increased. About 20 minutes after Yao Shunyu, the procession stopped again.

When he saw his former opponent walk out, Huang Jun's face turned ashen.

Another cycle began.

The village chief on the sedan chair still had that half-dead expression, "Who will be the first to receive joy?"

"I... I, Huang Jun, will be the first to receive joy!" Huang Jun hurriedly responded, "I beg the Niangniang to grant my wish!"

This was completely beyond the expectations of Yao Shunyu and Luan Lihui. It was clear that the later move had the advantage; as long as they did something more ruthless than their opponent, they could win the dead infant.

But Huang Jun had his own ideas. It was true that the later move had an advantage, but it only meant he could win the dead infant. But who said this thing was definitely useful? The dead infant looked eerie to him, and if it came to life, wouldn't it claw his stomach open?

Of course, there was also a very important point: he was afraid of pain, really afraid. These strangely dressed villagers were too crazy; he couldn't stand it.

Being the first to appear only meant enduring that beating, and then he could decide the extent of his self-harm.

Sure enough, after Huang Jun responded, he gained the right to be the first to appear. Elder Sun and the others beat him even harder than before.

"Cough... cough cough..."

Huang Jun was beaten until his head was bleeding, and he felt his throat was full of the taste of blood.

Taking the knife from the hands of a law enforcement old woman, Huang Jun hesitated for a moment, tentatively only making a cut on his arm.

After a while, the old woman saw that Huang Jun didn't make any further movements, so she took the knife back. Huang Jun finally breathed a sigh of relief, unexpectedly this hurdle was so easy to pass.

Yao Shunyu cursed inwardly. He knew that such petty cleverness was not advisable; Huang Jun was going to suffer a big loss, but it was too late to say anything now.

Huang Jun's opponent also got a big advantage because of this. He easily won the victory by simply cutting off a little finger with a knife, and retained the dead infant in his arms.

Huang Jun walked back to the procession feeling very fortunate. He wanted to talk to Luan Lihui, but after realizing that Luan Lihui's gaze was not quite right, he gave up.

Before they had walked far, the procession stopped again, this time less than 15 minutes after the last time.

Luan Lihui took a deep breath; he knew it was his turn.

"Who will be the first to receive joy?"

Luan Lihui didn't say anything, and the opportunity to be the first to appear fell into the hands of his opponent.

The villager dressed as a man received a solid beating with sticks. It had to be said that these law enforcement old women were still fair; they didn't show any favoritism towards the villagers in the village, and every blow was very forceful.

But when Luan Lihui saw the instruments of torture prepared this time, he was stunned.

Elder Sun took out a hemp rope from the black pocket around his waist, and there was a noose at one end of the hemp rope.

The woman being punished first gave Luan Lihui a cruel smile, then put her head into the noose, and threw the other end of the rope high up, looping it over the top of a bamboo pole tied with a large red lantern on the leftmost side of the sedan chair.

"Raise!"

"Raise!"

Amidst the shouts of the fanatical villagers, several old, old women grabbed the other end of the rope with all their strength and slowly pulled, actually hanging the woman up.

The woman's feet left the ground, the noose tightened, tightly constricting the woman's neck. Huang Jun opened his mouth wide and didn't know what to say. This... this was clearly hanging!

The woman kept struggling, veins popping out on her face, and coupled with the makeup she was wearing, she didn't look human at all, but like a ghoul crawling out of the underworld.

And even more terrifying was the time. The woman actually persisted for several minutes before being let down. Although the woman was so weak that she couldn't even walk after coming down, she had survived after all, and the task had to continue.

After enduring a beating, Luan Lihui struggled to get up. The first thing he did was to snatch Elder Sun's scissors. He would rather give himself three stabs and six holes, or even something more ruthless and bloody, but he absolutely couldn't be hanged.

He knew very well that if he was hanged for so long, he would probably die directly.

But this time, Elder Sun pushed him away, then grabbed the hemp rope in his hand, staring at him with a gloomy expression.

"No, I don't choose this!" Luan Lihui began to slowly retreat, the development of events had exceeded his imagination, "I... I can choose other methods, other weapons, knives, axes, and... and scissors and wooden sticks, I can do anything, I will definitely satisfy you, better than the previous person..."

But before he could finish speaking, four old women rushed up and pinned him down. These people looked old but were very strong, and no matter how Luan Lihui struggled and begged for mercy, it was useless.

Elder Sun walked over and put the noose around Luan Lihui's neck.

"Raise!"

"Raise!"

Amidst the cheers of the surrounding villagers, Luan Lihui was hung high with his neck tied. He grabbed the noose tightly with both hands, constantly kicking his legs and struggling in mid-air, his two eyeballs bulging out exaggeratedly, his face twisted beyond description, and he kept making "ho ho" sounds in his throat.

This scene was especially heartbreaking for Yao Shunyu, but he couldn't do anything.

Just when Yao Shunyu and Huang Jun thought that Luan Lihui would be hanged to death, the dying Luan Lihui suddenly reached into his clothes with one hand, and after trying a few times, he seemed to finally grab that thing, and then pulled it hard.

Yao Shunyu and Huang Jun's pupils suddenly shrank, and the two of them turned around and ran backwards, then quickly fell to the ground.

A few seconds later, a deafening explosion rang out, and the swift shock wave scraped away a layer of soil from the ground, which also contained bloody pieces of corpses.

Yao Shunyu and Huang Jun got up covered in dirt. When they turned around, the scene in front of them was like arriving in a bloody hell.

The power of the explosion was not small. Luan Lihui was blown to pieces, and many villagers around were affected, with arms and legs falling off everywhere. There were also people who were thrown out by the shock wave generated by the explosion.

However, soon, the injured villagers stood up one after another, kowtowing to the Zhusheng Niangniang as if nothing had happened.

Huang Jun watched with his own eyes as a strong woman whose skull had been lifted off and half of her face had been blown away staggered to her feet, the only remaining left face still smiling.

Suddenly, Huang Jun understood. He understood why these villagers were so brutal before, because they... they were not human at all!

Humans cannot survive such injuries at all. They are ghosts, they are ghosts!

He knew before that the Blackwater Village was haunted, but he never expected that all the villagers in the entire village were ghosts.