The platoon leader heard Old Man Jin’s words and shouted, “How could it be suicide? Did all eight of them conspire to commit suicide together?”
Old Man Jin snorted, “Then do you think this group of old, weak, women, and children could kill eight well-trained soldiers all at once, with so many people present?”
As Old Man Jin spoke, the platoon leader calmed down.
He was right. Among the villagers present, only a few were men; the rest were old people, women, and children.
He knew the quality of his own soldiers.
Let alone taking down eight of them at once, even one or two, if they wanted to make a move, they couldn’t deliver a fatal blow in a single strike. These men would at least hear the commotion.
Moreover, the boy Gawa who came to report said that nine of them were resting in the room at the time.
When he woke up and opened his eyes, he saw eight people hanging from the rafters.
If they were murdered, why was Gawa still alive?
At this moment, a person wearing glasses, who was older, walked out from the courtyard. Seeing the platoon leader still grabbing the village chief by the collar, he quickly stepped forward to pull them apart and said, “Lao Liu, this matter is not that simple. I’ve taken a look, and they were indeed not killed by anyone.”
In fact, after listening to Old Man Jin, Battalion Commander Liu had already found the answer in his heart, but he hadn’t let go due to face.
This bespectacled person was the instructor of their platoon, and his family had been coroners for generations.
When he was young, his family all died in the turbulent times. Although he hadn’t studied under his ancestors, his family had left behind a pile of his ancestors’ manuscripts.
It was nothing, he just liked to study them, and he had indeed figured out quite a bit.
He had been examining the bodies in the courtyard just now, and now he said these words to Battalion Commander Liu.
“Lao Zhang, are they really suicides?” Battalion Commander Liu asked in a low voice after releasing the village chief.
Instructor Zhang opened his mouth, hesitated, then looked at Old Man Jin and said slowly, “I only said they were not killed by anyone.”
Upon hearing this, Battalion Commander Liu thought to himself: If they weren’t killed by anyone, doesn’t that mean suicide? Could they have been killed by ghosts?
Killed by ghosts…
Thinking of this, his heart sank, and he looked towards Old Man Jin as well.
Could it be related to the seven knife marks on the rafters that Old Jin mentioned?
At this moment, something even stranger happened.
The people sent by the platoon leader to check the well returned, carrying eight sets of military uniforms.
The names on the clothes were those of the eight soldiers who had hanged themselves.
Moreover, the person who returned said that the clothes were not thrown into the well but were dug out from the soil within the well. They had also checked the soil, and it had not been disturbed.
It was as if these clothes had been buried in the ground for a very long time.
Battalion Commander Liu was momentarily bewildered. What was going on? Eight people were found hanging from the rafters, shirtless.
Their clothes were buried deep underground. Upon comparison, the eight dead men were precisely the eight who had been cleaning the silt in the well and had been screaming hysterically in the past few days. However, even more horrifying and bizarre things were yet to come.
However, no one knew what exactly happened later.
The transparent Xu Duoduo paused at this point in her narration.
Chu Tian and the others were very curious. Since Xu Duoduo said that what happened later was even more horrifying and bizarre, but also said that no one knew what exactly happened, what was going on?
Xu Duoduo seemed to know their thoughts and said, “The witness’s memory stopped here, and they couldn’t remember anything else.
It took us many years, piecing things together from the only survivor, Old Man Jin’s daughter, to learn about these events.”
“The only survivor? Did everyone else die?”
Xu Duoduo nodded and recalled, “Back then, when Xu Chen and I were still ordinary members of the Ninth Bureau, we received orders from our superiors to carry out this rescue mission in the abandoned village.
But when we arrived, there was only one person in the entire village, and that was Old Man Jin’s daughter: Jin Lülan.
The entire village had a population of 126 original inhabitants, plus the platoon and the drilling team personnel, totaling 47 people. All of them had disappeared.
We stayed in the abandoned village for three days without any clues, and finally brought the insane Jin Lülan back to the Ninth Bureau.
Jin Lülan was arranged for treatment, and later, through her fragmented accounts, we obtained the information I just told you.”
She said no more.
Everyone fell silent. After a while, Chu Tian asked, “Then why is it called the Ye Limiao Incident?”
“Because, for the three days Xu Chen and I, along with other team members, were in the abandoned village, we saw a wildcat appear every night.
At that time, we planned to catch it, but just as we were about to catch it, it seemed to disappear into thin air. The next day, it would appear again.
So, after we returned, this event was named the Ye Limiao Incident, and this nameless abandoned village was also named the Ye Limiao Abandoned Village.
But after so many years, Xu Chen and I, whom you call Old Xu, have always believed that the entire incident must be related to this wildcat that appears at night.”
After speaking, Xu Duoduo looked at Chu Tian and continued, “I know you’ll say, can’t spiritual sense detect it?
I can tell you that neither Xu Chen nor I can detect it. This is probably why Ye Ling brought you here this time!
The soul strength of Xu Chen and I is not strong enough. My rating is 13.2, and his is only 5.1. Neither of us has reached the level where we can project our spiritual sense.
Little one, I heard you can release your spiritual sense, and I’m truly curious. I’d like to witness it someday.”
Xu Duoduo giggled.
After she finished speaking, she stood up and yawned, “Alright, I’m old and get sleepy easily. I’m going to bed.”
With that, her body slowly faded until she completely disappeared.
Zhao Lei shivered, “Do ghosts need to sleep too?”
Whoosh… A branch flew over and pierced the stone in front of him.
The fragile branch, like a steel nail, was driven more than two inches into the stone.
Zhao Lei was so scared that he sat down on the ground and looked in the direction from which the branch had come, but there was nothing.
Ye Ling chuckled, “You’ll eventually suffer because of your big mouth.”
Zhao Lei dared not speak again. Staring at the branch, which was no thicker than a chopstick, he thought: If this hit someone, it would probably be no less powerful than a sniper rifle! It could directly penetrate flesh and bone.
Chu Tian was also astonished. Can soul practitioners control objects?
As Chu Tian was thinking, a faint voice sounded in his ear, “Controlling objects is just the most basic operation for soul practitioners. Little one, do you want to learn? If you take me as your master, I’ll teach you!”
This voice was actually Xu Duoduo, who had already disappeared.
Is she still by my side? Chu Tian looked around.
“Hehe, telepathy is also a basic operation for soul practitioners. Consider taking me as your master. Master is going to sleep now.”
After hearing this in his ear, Chu Tian heard rustling sounds from the tent behind Ye Ling.
Everyone looked over. The zipper of the tent was slowly being pulled shut, but no one was seen.