Chapter 124: Disappearance
“Vige head!” Someone ran in from outside, shouting, “Something happened in town again!”
The vige head’s wandering eyes focused. He turned to Bei Qian, who he assumed to be the travellers’ leader. “Experts,” He asked in panic, “Where is the fat friend among you?”
Bei Qian slowly swallowed the bun and answered calmly, “We don’t know. He was gone when we woke up this morning.” The tanned man, who previously had a dull expression, had his face pale with fear like he just remembered something scary.
The vige head sighed. He waved at the vige who just arrived, “What happened in town?” Clearly, he already knew what had happened. He just wanted to the viger to ry the incident to the travellers.
“A corpse appeared in town again. The body was strung up on the tree. The stomach has been torn open. Internal organs like intestines and heart pour out…” The man’s voice dwindled as fear dominated his eyes.
“Go and figure out if anyone has gone missing in the vige,” The vige head told the tanned man. Before the man could leave, the other vige stopped him. “I’ve done that beforeing here.” He looked at the travellers carefully. “No one from the vige is missing.” Therefore, the victim was most likely Ben Fu.
The vige head’s expression was severe. He hesitated. After all, he was the one who invited the masters over. They had been in the vige for less than a day, and one of them had already gotten a horrible death. He didn’t know what to say. The atmosphere froze with awkwardness.
Thankfully, Bei Qian slowly began, “Vige Head Liu, you don’t need to me yourself. We’ve considered the risks beforeing here. Plus, Ben Fu left on his own without informing anyone. This is not your fault.”
The vige head looked better. “I’m so sorry. It’s our carelessness that causes this to happen to your friend. We… we’ll try to make it up to you?”Yu Man scoffed, “How do you n to do that?”
“Double!” The vige head raised his head with determination, “We’ll double the payment I’ve promised you! The additional money will be consideredpensation for the fat friend’s family!”
Chen Xiaomeng studied the old man over 60. The determination in his eyes was palpable. Zhao Xiangmei had truly driven Little Ravine Vige up the wall. While everyone was distracted, Jiang Cheng shoved the remaining buns into his clothes. It made his chest look everrger than Yu Man’s.
The tanned man looked at the bun in his hand, and his throat wobbled. Jiang Cheng thought about it and took a bun out of his clothes. He slipped it to the tanned man. The man pressed his lips and nodded honestly and thankfully at Jiang Cheng. After doing that, Jiang Cheng turned around and slowly raised his right arm.
“I have a question.” When everyone’s eyes were on him, Jiang Cheng asked, “How did Ben Fu’s corpse end up in town when he disappeared from this vige?
“Did that happen with all the previous cases?”
Zhou Rong was reminded of the woman who ran into the inn, holding the portrait. Based on the elder by the fence, the woman’s husband also disappeared from this vige. However, she went to the town to search for him.
The vige head sighed and nodded. “You’re right. The corpses of the people who disappeared from this vige would always end up around An Ping Town.”
“But… why?” Lee Lu held two buns. The confusion was in in her eyes.
“To be honest, we have no idea.” The vige head frowned. “Perhaps… Zhao Xiangman wanted everyone in town to know what the vigers did and how they treated her so many years ago?”
However, that was not a strong enough reason.
“When can we make a move?” It was Zhou Rong who spoke. He looked at the vige head with judgement. “We want to examine the body.”
When the vige head understood that he meant they were nning to head back to An Ping Town, he looked rather difited. “Don’t worry about that. We’ve sent people to retrieve the body. I believe… they’ll be backter.”
“Will the town police let you im the body? This is a murder case.” Jiang Zhongyi’s question was quite sensible.
However, the vige head didn’t seem to hear him. He ordered everyone to pack up and told everyone to be ready to head to the back mountain pool. They were going to check the cursed message left behind by Zhao Xiangmei.
Jiang Zhongyi, who was ignored, was confused. He took a few strides forward. When he nned to repeat his question, something was stuffed into his mouth. It wasrge and soft. It was a steamed bum.
“Eat more buns.” Jiang Cheng pulled back his hand. “It’s good for brain development.”
Jiang Zhongyi was startled. He didn’t dare to offend someone like Jiang Cheng. There were many who lost their minds in the nightmare realm. However, not many survived despite having lost their minds.
Plus, he had the answer already. Perhaps the town police already knew of the vige. They decided to let Little Ravine Vige handle this mess themselves. Naturally, this couldn’t be revealed to the public.
Since the travellers didn’t have anything, they didn’t need to pack. With the vige head leading the way, they moved towards the back mountain. They followed the pebbled road and headed deeper into the vige.
When they reached the vige yesterday, it was already dark. Therefore, they didn’t have the chance to observe their surroundings. This made them have the misconception that the courtyard they stayed at was in a secluded ce. However, they realised that the courtyard was actually right in the middle of the vige. The green-pebbled road that paved the way out of the yard perfectly split the vige into two sides.
However, the side that was closer to the two houses they spent the night was mostly abandoned. There were empty houses with broken doors. Some had rotten fences and fields. The wind blew, and there was a strange creaking sound.
The original vigers that lived there were probably killed by Zhao Xiangmei, or they had moved. After all, the risk of staying was death.
As if reading their thought, the vige head, who walked in front with a cane, whispered, “After that incident, the police arrested all the men who purchased the kidnapped women. They were judged and sentenced, but…” He paused. “They all disappeared while in prison.”