Chapter 12: Thicket Village (Twelve)

The pressure on his neck forced the red-haired youth’s adrenaline to surge. His head filled with blood, turning his face and neck red and thick-veined.

The scene of Yun Xueqing inserting his fingers into the Man-Eating Ghost’s brain was still fresh in his mind. The red-haired youth had only dared to provoke him because of Yun Xueqing’s good temper. Now that his life was truly in someone else’s hands, he didn’t dare to make a fuss anymore.

He stuck out his neck and said, “It… ran toward the village entrance.”

Yun Xueqing calmly withdrew his hand and said lightly, “Thanks.”

He then left the group behind and walked out of the courtyard toward the village entrance.

Fu Wuxuan followed behind him unhurriedly. “Not going to teach that guy a lesson?”

Yun Xueqing glanced at him and said airily, “His forehead is dark, and ghostly energy clings to his body. He’ll reap what he sows in the end.”

Fu Wuxuan chuckled muffledly. “He already has a death wish?”

Yun Xueqing didn’t understand the reference and just searched along the way for traces of the Man-Eating Ghost.

After circling the village entrance once, they saw the village head’s son holding a drumstick in one hand and the other behind his back, looking at them in surprise. “What are you two looking for? Need any help?”

Fu Wuxuan smiled. “What we’re looking for has delivered itself right to our door.”

The village head’s son was baffled. “What do you mean?”

As he spoke, the hand behind his back shot out fiercely toward Fu Wuxuan!

But the other party was already prepared and easily dodged aside.

He smiled slyly. “No more pretending?”

The village head’s son snorted in dissatisfaction, shoved the drumstick into his mouth in one bite, chewed and swallowed it, then mumbled unclearly, “How did you figure it out?”

Yun Xueqing picked up a wooden branch from the ground and thrust it fiercely at the other. “Behold my sword!”

“The bloody stench on your body was unbearable,” Fu Wuxuan answered as he pulled a knife from his Storage Finger Ring and tossed it to Yun Xueqing. “Catch! Make do with this!”

It was none other than the Big Bone Cleaver that the bald brute had used last time.

Yun Xueqing steadied his mind and caught the large blade.

His frame was slender, but his strength was not weak. The heavy cleaver, weighing over thirty kilograms, whistled through the air in his hands as he slashed straight at the Man-Eating Ghost!

The Man-Eating Ghost stopped pretending. Its originally ball-like fat body stretched upward like rubber. The short, stout figure instantly transformed into a three-meter-tall Man-Eating Ghost!

The Man-Eating Ghost extended its thick, black claws and lunged at Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan!

Yun Xueqing’s injuries from last time hadn’t fully healed. Every movement made his bones creak, and the wounds wrapped in bandages split open again.

His expression turned cold and stern. He wielded the blade like flowing water, breaking through the Man-Eating Ghost’s incoming attacks!

The blade edge wrapped in Spiritual Power glowed with a watery blue light, slicing forward fiercely.

His knife strikes were as fast as lightning, now closing in, now pulling away, changing endlessly. One slash severed one of the Man-Eating Ghost’s arms!

The Man-Eating Ghost cried out in pain and decided to pick on the softer target, turning to attack Fu Wuxuan instead!

This time, it learned its lesson and activated its domain ahead of time.

It wanted to tear the opponent into pieces and swallow them while they couldn’t move!

It was daytime now, and after two major battles earlier, its strength was down to less than a tenth. It had to eat people to slowly recover!

With its plan set, it watched Fu Wuxuan frozen in place, grinned, and opened its mouth wide to swallow him!

Then it heard the other party say calmly, “Oracle: Beast Trapping Cage.”

Golden-red beams of light immediately appeared before the Man-Eating Ghost’s eyes, forming a dense fence that trapped it in a narrow space.

It froze for a moment, realizing it was trapped.

It was surrounded on all sides. Just as it tried to leap upward to escape, more light beams gathered to form a lid, completely sealing the space.

The Man-Eating Ghost: “…”

Fu Wuxuan walked over with a smile. “Your Weird Power is depleted. You sealed my hands and feet, but not my mouth.”

Even though his bandaged expression was invisible, his tone was punchably smug.

Fu Wuxuan smiled and looked at Yun Xueqing. “Send it on its way.”

Yun Xueqing hesitated. “You do it.”

Killing Weirds could enhance Oracle Spiritual Energy. He wasn’t an Oracle, so it was better to give this opportunity to the other.

Fu Wuxuan saw through his thinking and said casually, “Kill it, and maybe you’ll become an Oracle. No need for psychological burdens. Killing small fries like this won’t boost my Spirit Energy anymore.”

The B-Rank Man-Eating Ghost: “…”

Yun Xueqing nodded without asking about Fu Wuxuan’s rank and raised the blade to strike.

A blue light arrow flew in, shattering the golden-red light pillars and piercing the Man-Eating Ghost’s head, killing it in one shot.

The Man-Eating Ghost let out a great shout and dissolved into blue light spots that entered the archer’s body.

Fu Wuxuan turned with a smile, looking at Wu Xue, who held the bow and arrow. “Wu Xue, stealing kills like that isn’t very sporting, is it?”

The white-haired, pale-skinned Wu Xue had demonic light flashing in her red eyes. Her usually cold face suddenly bloomed into a big smile.

She raised her bow and drew another light arrow.

Fu Wuxuan didn’t dodge or evade, just stood there.

Seeing he wouldn’t dodge, Wu Xue lost interest and lowered her bow. “How boring.”

She tossed her head, showing a girlish liveliness. “I tracked and wounded this Man-Eating Ghost all the way. You’re the ones stealing the kill!”

She remembered clearly: after the night the Man-Eating Ghost attacked people, Yun Xueqing had injured its head.

But the next day at noon, Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan hadn’t come. When the village head’s son came to the courtyard to tell them the village head wouldn’t come and they’d have to make their own food, she happened to notice the wound on his head.

After that, she’d been watching the village head’s son closely and finally found the chance to strike today.

Fu Wuxuan thought for a moment and smiled. “Fine, if that’s the case, we’ll step back.”

Wu Xue, who had been expecting him to get angry and start a big fight, felt disappointed. “You’re just letting it go like that? How spineless.”

Fu Wuxuan smiled without retorting and looked at Yun Xueqing. “Let’s go.”

The two walked back toward the courtyard. Shoulder to shoulder on the road, Yun Xueqing suddenly asked, “Wu Xue feels a bit different from usual.”

Fu Wuxuan made up nonsense on the spot. “Yeah, Wu Xue has mental issues. They flare up anytime, anywhere.”

“Mental issues?”

“Yes,” Fu Wuxuan held back a laugh and said seriously, “She has schizophrenia.”

After saying that, he added softly, “This secret is known only to me. Don’t tell anyone else, okay?”

Yun Xueqing nodded as if he understood. “I didn’t expect the village head’s son to be the Man-Eating Ghost.”

“Yeah, the village head hasn’t shown up for so long. Who knows, maybe his good son really ate him,” Fu Wuxuan curled his lip. “But if his son is the Man-Eating Ghost, a lot of clues connect.”

Several years ago, the Man-Eating Ghost appeared in Thicket Village. The villagers became its food, and everyone lived in fear. The village head couldn’t stand it and went to the temple on the mountain to beg for a Six-Armed Bodhisattva statue, hoping to use it to suppress the Man-Eating Ghost.

But perhaps due to some twist of fate, he accidentally learned that the Man-Eating Ghost was his own son.

The village head couldn’t bear to kill his son, so he asked Hong Niu for a method to raise Paper Men, wanting to satisfy the Man-Eating Ghost with them.

But Paper Men weren’t real people after all; they lacked true flesh and blood. So the village head brought outsiders into the village to feed to the Man-Eating Ghost.

As Fu Wuxuan shared his guesses, Yun Xueqing asked, “If what you say is true, and the Six-Armed Bodhisattva was meant to suppress the Man-Eating Ghost, then the village head shouldn’t have placed it in the courtyard.”

“You have a point,” Fu Wuxuan pondered. “Maybe the Six-Armed Bodhisattva served some other purpose.”

Yun Xueqing nodded. “Let’s check the village head’s house again. Maybe we can find some clues.”

This time, they didn’t just search the village head’s room; they combed through the entire courtyard, as if they wanted to flip over every inch of ground. Finally, they found something in the woodshed.

Yun Xueqing moved aside the firewood used as cover, revealing a hidden lid beneath.

Fu Wuxuan sneered. “A basement. This old coot really had secrets.”

Their searching had made too much noise, and the others in the courtyard had been watching them closely. Seeing they’d actually found something, they hurried over.

Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan had no intention of hiding it.

They didn’t know what dangers lay below. If the others had the guts to follow, let them.

He lifted the lid, exposing the tunnel underneath, and walked down openly.

The basement was cold and damp, with rats and cockroaches scurrying by now and then. The female students screamed in fright repeatedly.

The basement space was large. Fu Wuxuan groped around and found the light switch.

The dark basement was instantly filled with dim yellow light.

Even though he’d encountered electric lights before, Yun Xueqing couldn’t help glancing at the ceiling, unable to hide his novelty.

The red-haired youth thought he’d spotted a clue and looked up too. His eyes caught something stuck in the beam, and he screamed, “Ahh! A corpse!”

Everyone followed his gaze and saw the village head’s head stuck in the wooden beam.

His head was jammed in the beam, his expression stiffly smiling. His entire body looked like dried jerky, swaying in the air.

The red-haired youth felt chills. “Who… who killed him?”

Everyone looked at each other.

Fu Wuxuan sneered and cracked a cold joke. “Maybe the Man-Eating Ghost wanted some dried jerky, so it hung its old man from the beam.”

“Oh my, so many of you are still alive? Looks like you all have potential.”

Everyone turned toward the voice and saw San Zhi holding a kerosene lamp as he emerged from the darkness.

The red-haired youth flew into a rage at the sight of him. “You fucking tricked us into this B-Rank Weird Domain—what the hell do you want!”

“You’re wrong about that,” San Zhi said with a sly smile. “It’s not a B-Rank Weird Domain. It’s an A-Rank one.”

One Man-Eating Ghost had already taken out half the group, and the even stronger ones hadn’t made their move yet.

The red-haired youth’s eyes bulged in fury. “You want to kill us all! Bastard!”

He angrily grabbed San Zhi’s collar, raising his fist high to smash into his face, when he heard the other say eerily, “Want to turn into dried jerky too?”

The red-haired youth’s eyes widened. “You killed the village head?!”

“Of course,” San Zhi said casually. “No, it was the Six-Armed Bodhisattva.”

In the lamplight, his face was half-shadowed, half-lit, looking extremely eerie.

He chuckled lightly. “Before this kerosene lamp goes out, none of us can leave this basement. We’ll all die.”