### Chapter 245: The Eerie Village
The Store Manager was at a total loss. She couldn’t just wander around the village aimlessly for so long, right? It wasn’t that Zhao Mingyue didn’t want to help, it was just that the only place to get started was at a house with no one home.
If it were night, it would be easier—just pick the lock and slip in. But during the day? That was a whole different can of worms.
“Let’s not rush. I agreed to meet my master at 8:30, and we still have an hour. How about we check out that old man’s place? There’s no one there right now, so we can take a good look.”
Lu Liangting parked on the side of the road, and the two got out of the car.
“I want to confirm whether the Store Manager is still alive.”
“That’s doable. But can you pick locks?” Zhao Mingyue glanced around. Qiugang Village wasn’t very big—it looked like a perfectly normal village compared to that eerie Eternal Life Village.
It was morning, and she could see the elderly villagers going about their business: some sat outside their doors with bowls and chopsticks, while others toiled in the fields with farming tools. There weren’t many young people around, but at least the presence of these old folks added a bit of life to the place.
Before coming here, she’d done a little research on Qiugang Village, but there was shockingly little information online. That hinted at one thing: nothing noteworthy had ever happened here.
She had initially thought Qiugang Village would be just as strange as Eternal Life Village, given that the old man who had kidnapped the Store Manager was so odd. Generally, a regular place wouldn’t produce such an Evil Ghost.
“Leave this to me.” Lu Liangting said as he fished something out of his pocket.
“You can do that?”
“I learned it. Sometimes, picking locks can save a lot of hassle on missions.” Lu Liangting walked toward the small path diagonally across from the cement road; the old man’s house was right there.
“Mingyue, you keep watch for me, and feel free to gather some intel while you’re at it. I still feel like something’s off about this village. The villagers seem really hostile toward us outsiders.”
“Alright. How much time do you need?”
“A few minutes.”
Watching Lu Liangting walk away, Zhao Mingyue murmured to herself, “Bai Yu, do you sense anything off here?”
“There’s the grudge of an Evil Ghost, but no sign of an Evil God’s curse.”
“The grudge of an Evil Ghost, huh?” Zhao Mingyue walked toward the village entrance, where a few elderly villagers were squatting, eating and chatting.
“Do normal villages normally have Evil Ghost grudges? I thought Evil Ghosts weren’t that common. The conditions for them to be born are not simple, and once they’re here, they tend to be drawn toward nearby Ghost Gates. So outside of some special settings, they shouldn’t just pop up in normal places.”
Zhao Mingyue felt that Bai Yu’s constant exposure to Evil Ghosts had dulled her sensitivity to the typical ones; to her, they now seemed pretty normal.
In Zhao Mingyue’s mind, it didn’t matter if an Evil Ghost was powerful; wherever one showed up, it certainly wasn’t a simple place—some story had to have unfolded there. Like, what was the grudge of this Evil Ghost? Who did it want to get revenge on?
“And you said there are remnants of an Evil Ghost’s grudge here? From what I know, the remnants of an Evil Ghost’s grudge aren’t easy to leave behind. They have to build up to a certain level and for a long enough time before it can be sensed even in the daytime.”
Zhao Mingyue mumbled to herself, “You saying this reminds me that there’s something lingering over this village, and it doesn’t feel quite like air pollution.”
When she came earlier, she had noticed the sky over the village had a hazy gray hue. It didn’t seem severe at first, and unless you looked closely, you wouldn’t even notice, so she hadn’t given it much thought. Now that Bai Yu had mentioned it, looking closer, that shadowy substance didn’t resemble air pollution at all.
She checked her phone; today, Tianchang City and the surrounding areas had excellent air quality.
“Wow, it really is.”
“No, wait, Bai Yu, from now on, don’t remind me unless it’s absolutely vital!”
Zhao Mingyue finally realized Bai Yu was hinting at something and hurriedly clarified.
She wasn’t just there to save Li Tianan; if conditions allowed, she wanted to put some effort into solving the mystery herself. Of course, she understood that she could hone her skills but couldn’t let personal pursuits affect the bigger picture. If there was a major discovery, she’d still need Bai Yu to mention it.
“Okay,” Bai Yu replied calmly.
“Thanks, little sister Yu~”
As she spoke, Zhao Mingyue arrived at the village entrance. Perhaps due to her looks, the elderly ladies nearby paused their activities and started sizing her up, occasionally whispering compliments about how pretty she was.
Zhao Mingyue knew that these village gossip queens could be quite informative. If she wanted to know what went down in the village, asking them was a sure bet. They knew everything from who was killed or set ablaze in the village to which local girl was still single and which young man was left in the dust.
“Good morning, aunties!” Zhao Mingyue greeted enthusiastically. “Um, could I ask you about someone? I’m from out of town, looking for someone in your village, but I’m not quite sure where he lives.”
Sitting on a little stool outside, a grandma held her bowl of food, giving Zhao Mingyue an up-and-down look, her mind already racing.
This girl’s quite the catch!
Her grandson would be graduating from college next year; maybe she could set something up? She definitely looked like a city girl.
With that thought in mind, the grandma beamed, “Ah, no problem! Who are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for Xia Le’an; his dad’s Xia Dongyao.”
“Dongyao?” The grandma’s friendly demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by wide eyes.
Not just her, but even the other three grannies nearby shared the same reaction, as if a forbidden topic had just been brought up.
Their response said it all. Zhao Mingyue’s heart sank, but her face remained calm. This village really did have issues, and they were absolutely tied to that old man and his family, who were involved in the Store Manager’s abduction.
“I don’t know anything,” the grandma insisted, waving her hands. “Why don’t you ask someone else?”
“But they live right in this village, don’t they? I heard something happened to them recently.” Zhao Mingyue wasn’t about to give up easily.
“I’m a classmate of Xia Le’an’s. When I heard about what happened, I thought I’d come to check it out since it’s the holidays.”
“Don’t worry, I know roughly what happened and won’t cause any trouble.”
“I just wanted to ask if… is it haunted at home?”
Zhao Mingyue leaned in, lowering her voice and darting her eyes around the grannies.
“Aunties, hear me out. Actually, I’m a Daoist. Though I’m still learning from my master, I have some skills. If I can’t handle this matter, I’ll call my master over; he’s incredible. Where he is, the ghosts within a hundred miles are bound to flee.”
“Don’t believe me? Watch this.”
Placing her hand on the grandma’s bowl, Zhao Mingyue began muttering something that sounded like a spell, but in reality, she was just listing off her favorite foods fast—a steamed bun, braised pork, sweet and sour fish—you know, the essentials.
With a flick of her wrist, she lifted the bowl filled with congee and pickles into the air—thanks to a super thin bl**d Thread she had used, making it look like it had levitated magically in the grandma’s view.
Then, she gently put the bowl back down and feigned mystery, “Now do you believe me? I’m a disciple of a great master. I’m here to help you deal with this ghost!”
Villagers were generally superstitious, believing in ghosts and spirits more than the young folks. Zhao Mingyue’s trick was effective. The four grannies’ expressions changed again, torn between hesitation and the urge to share the truth with her.
“Girl, you’ve got skills, but…,” the grandma said, lowering her voice, “but, uh, there’s not just one ghost in that house. You’d better call your master.”
“Yes, they’ve got a lot of ghosts in that house,” another grandma chimed in, her face tense. “We don’t dare step outside at night anymore.”
“Several people have died—bitten to d*ath. The Xia family isn’t decent; they drove their grandma to d*ath. The night before her burial, she came back to life! They say a black cat walked over her corpse.”
“Yeah, the old Li family on the east side of the village—last night, eight old biddies all died.”
“You’re not ready for this. Run and get your master now, girl!”
“This is serious business—it could mean lives!”
With the grannies all chiming in, Zhao Mingyue pieced together some invaluable information. First of all, that old man had more than just one ghost—it sounded like there were many. At midnight, she could hear several voices coming from his courtyard, suggesting there was likely a Ghost Gate in his home.
Secondly, something in the village had been killing people and livestock.
It started with livestock—killing chickens, sheep, and pigs—and gradually escalated to people.
The police had investigated but found nothing useful. Even the province had thrown resources at it, sending experienced detectives to investigate, but they came up empty-handed.
They hadn’t caught the killer and wasted a good half-year, so the focus shifted away from this place.
They had no choice; the police had set up a tight net throughout the village, installing dozens of cameras.
If anything should happen, those cameras would get disturbed and black out, and once they rebooted, people would be dead. All they could do was continue to investigate and patrol the village every night, reminding villagers not to go out until things calmed down.
Recently, it seemed the police had been bogged down in other matters, and could no longer rotate officers to patrol, plus it had been two months since anyone had been attacked, so nighttime patrols were called off.
Just half a month after the patrols ended, the village experienced another round of chaos and panic.
After gathering this intel from the grannies, Zhao Mingyue’s expression darkened.
“Bai Yu, looks like we’ve got some action here.”
Just then, she bumped into a hurried Lu Liangting striding towards her.
Lu Liangting’s face looked no better than hers. “Mingyue, something big has happened!”
