Chapter 19 The Banquet of Death
The heavy rain in the mountains finally stopped.
In spring, the thick ice and snow accumulated on the mountains gradually melted under the burning sun, turning into running water and blending into the stream behind the village, turning the originally thin stream into a surging river. Jiang Ruonan, who was standing by the river to collect water, heard the sound of a car starting.
The village was located in a remote area, and usually no outsiders were seen for several months. However, at the beginning of spring that year, strange things happened frequently in the village. The village chief had no choice but to notify the outside world and ask for help. A few days later, several people were sent from outside to investigate the situation in the village, but it didn’t seem to be going well.
Jiang Ruonan didn’t care much about these things. She carried water and walked slowly along the muddy path to her home. When she passed by the entrance of the village, she saw the group of outsiders.
When they came, there were still four of them, but now only two were left. One was standing in front of the car, opening the hood, and studying something, and the other was sitting in the cab and kept cursing. He saw Jiang Ruonan in the distance and seemed to become even angrier.
“I think there is a ghost in this village!” The cursing man roared without caring about the surrounding situation, “How can we possibly leave?!”
“Stop talking.” The other person had a good temper and was trying to comfort his companion, “I’ll take another look and see if I can think of something else…”
“Look at the car! Look at the car! what’s the use of looking at the car!?” He said, “Who the hell told you not to turn off the headlights? It’s fine now, the battery is dead! How are we going to go? Walk back?!”
“I told you I turned off the headlights!” The other person was a little aggrieved when he said this, “The car turned it on by itself!”
“I don’t give a damn who did it. If you had come to check before, would this have happened?!” The man said, slamming the steering wheel.
Jiang Ruonan was a girl after all, and when she saw the man in such a bad mood, she felt a little scared. Even though she was carrying a heavy bucket, she couldn’t help but quicken her pace. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a tall but dead tree beside the two men. The tree had been standing at the entrance of the village for some years. There were dense crowds of crows in the treetops. The usually noisy birds did not make any sound. They just stood quietly on the branches, their small dark eyes staring at the quarreling humans below.
Jiang Ruonan felt an ominous aura. At this time, the sky gradually became gloomy. It seemed that there would be another heavy rain in the evening, and thick thunderclouds were brewing in the sky.
Jiang Ruonan thought, it seems that the village chief was wrong this time. The old people in the village were right. Outsiders could not calm the anger of the mountain god. After these people arrived, the strange things in the village not only did not end but became more and more intense. Who knew when this would end…
Just as she was thinking this, a bright white line flashed in the sky, and then, a burst of thunder suddenly crashed in her ears, like a mountain collapsing, shaking the earth. Jiang Ruonan was startled by the sound, and a lot of water spilled out of the buckets she was carrying on her shoulders. The sound of thunder was followed by a rumble of heavy objects falling to the ground. Jiang Ruonan turned her head and found that the dead tree standing at the entrance of the village had fallen down, crushing the car and the two people next to it.
Jiang Ruonan’s eyes widened, and she saw a bright red blood stain on the black soil. Raindrops as big as beans fell from the sky, washing the blood into the earth.
***
In the end, Song Qingluo failed to eat the meal proposed by Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia was not surprised. He just said that it was really hard to find serious jobs now, especially those with high wages and good benefits. There were really very few.
Song Qingluo, who had his resume returned more than twenty times, was convinced of this.
After Liu Xi resigned, the unit quickly recruited a new partner named Zhou Jitong for Lin Banxia, who was also a recent college graduate and seemed to not be very good at communicating with others. The first time he worked, he vomited like everyone else. Lin Banxia patted his shoulder comfortingly and said that he would get used to it after seeing it a few times.
Originally, Lin Banxia was going to take the new member with him for a period of time, but his annual leave was about to expire, so he thought that he would wait until he came back after taking leave to let the new member get used to the atmosphere with other groups.
Lin Banxia completed the formalities, returned home, and happily discussed the travel plans with Song Qingluo. Song Qingluo was originally hesitant to take Lin Banxia with him, but Lin Banxia saw Song Qingluo’s hesitation and began to stalk him. The first thing he said when he came home every day was, “When are we leaving?”
Song Qingluo was so annoyed that he gave Lin Banxia a contract. The contract stipulated various terms in great detail, including salary, time, possible dangerous situations, matters that need to be paid attention to, and content that needs to be kept confidential. It even included the beneficiaries of the insurance.
Song Qingluo asked Lin Banxia to read the agreement before making his final decision.
Lin Banxia read it carefully, his eyes lingering on the numbers behind the salary for a moment, and then he signed his name and fingerprints on the agreement without hesitation, and asked Song Qingluo if he needed a copy of his ID card.
Song Qingluo shook his head, took the agreement, looked at it, and said, “Who did you fill in as the beneficiary of your insurance?”
“My sister.” Lin Banxia said.
Song Qingluo glanced at Lin Banxia: “Sister?”
Lin Banxia said: “Not really, it’s my cousin.”
Song Qingluo said oh and did not continue to ask why.
Lin Banxia was quite indifferent. He talked about some things about his family and said that his cousin was a very nice person. Unfortunately, his aunt’s family was too patriarchal, so her life was not very good. If something happened to him, he would only worry about her.
Song Qingluo hummed, put away the agreement, and informed Lin Banxia that they would set off in three days, asking Lin Banxia to prepare his luggage.
Lin Banxia nodded happily. He didn’t know where his destination was or what he needed to do, but he didn’t really care. In other words, he didn’t care about anything.
Ever since Li Su had supper with them that day, he had become a regular visitor, either coming to deliver things or have a meal, and occasionally he would bring Li Ye with him.
Under Li Su’s supervision, Li Ye shaved off his thick beard, revealing a purely Western-style face with sharp lines and angular contours, which when paired with his emerald eyes, made him look good no matter where he went. He often attracted a lot of attention. It was a pity that he didn’t like to smile very much, so he seemed to be difficult to get along with. Even so, many girls still came to him for his contact information.
Song Qingluo was so annoyed by these two idlers that he almost took action. Fortunately, he and Lin Banxia were about to go on a long trip, so he could barely bear it for a few days.
Ji Leshui didn’t know why Lin Banxia was going out with Song Qingluo. He just thought he was going on a trip and asked Lin Banxia to bring him some special gifts.
“So, are there any specialties there?” Lin Banxia asked Song Qingluo.
Song Qingluo said: “Yes.”
Before Ji Leshui could smile, he heard Song Qingluo’s next sentence. Song Qingluo said, “I’m afraid I’ll bring it back, but you won’t dare to ask for it.”
Ji Leshui: “…Forget it, I don’t want it.” He thought of the large and small boxes in Song Qingluo’s house and decided to give up on asking.
Lin Banxia waved to him. After going downstairs, he put his luggage in Song Qingluo’s car and asked, “Where are we going?”
Song Qingluo said: “You don’t even know where you are going, yet you are still coming with me? Aren’t you afraid that I will sell you?”
Lin Banxia: “Hahahaha I’m not worth anything.”
Song Qingluo looked at him expressionlessly.
Lin Banxia fell silent for an instant and said carefully: “We won’t do anything illegal there, right?”
Song Qingluo: “Heh.”
Lin Banxia: “…”
Song Qingluo said slowly: “Of course you can’t break the law.”
Lin Banxia thought to himself, boss, what did you mean by saying “Heh”?
Song Qingluo: “I’m just kidding.”
Lin Banxia hugged his small luggage tightly in fear.
Joking aside, Song Qingluo explained where they were going, saying that it was a relatively remote mountain village with underdeveloped transportation and that it would take more than ten hours of driving to get there.
Lin Banxia said: “Just the two of us?”
Song Qingluo said: “There are two colleagues who I work with that are already over there. We can just go there.”
Lin Banxia said: “Then… what do we need to do?”
Song Qingluo casually took a book of information and threw it in front of Lin Banxia: “You should read it first.”
Lin Banxia snorted, took the document, and looked through it carefully. The document recorded the situation of that village in detail.
This village was located on the border of a certain province, surrounded by mountains, and transportation was extremely inconvenient. It was only in the past two years that a dirt road was opened. Because of the inconvenient transportation, the village was also very isolated and rarely interacts with outsiders.
However, at the beginning of spring this year, the tranquility of the village was broken.
People began to die one after another in the village. At first, everyone thought it was an accident, but more and more people died, and the way they died became more and more bizarre. The villagers finally realized that something was wrong and began to seek outside help.
They called the police, who also sent people to conduct a preliminary investigation, but soon realized that they could not solve the matter, so they reported it layer by layer, and finally reached Song Qingluo and the others.
The information showed that Song Qingluo and the others had sent the first batch of personnel there, but the situation was not very good. All four people had lost contact. It was currently speculated that there was a high possibility that they had been killed.
With no other way, Song Qingluo could only go there in person.
Lin Banxia pinched the information and felt like he was reading a horror story. He said, “There are only slightly more than 500 people in that village, and one-tenth of them are dead?”
Song Qingluo glanced at him: “This is the information from a week ago.”
Lin Banxia asked: “Could there be a murderer hiding there?”
Song Qingluo said: “I don’t know.”
Lin Banxia said: “This doesn’t make sense. Can a murderer kill so many people quietly? What are your guesses?”
Song Qingluo said: “It may be something that affects human consciousness, but that’s just a blind guess. We won’t know until we see the situation.”
Lin Banxia nodded.
The car got on the highway and drove forward. Song Qingluo drove for a long time. Lin Banxia was afraid that he would become tired of driving, so he insisted that he drive for half a night.
Song Qingluo agreed, but he didn’t sleep either. He was sitting in the passenger seat, chatting with Lin Banxia.
Around five or six in the evening, they arrived at their destination. Song Qingluo was not in a hurry to enter the village but rested for a night in a hotel in a small town outside the village.
The next morning, while Lin Banxia was still asleep, Song Qingluo quietly brought in a man and a woman. Both of them were wearing regular clothes, but they treated Song Qingluo with unusual respect. When the man saw Lin Banxia, who was still sleeping, he asked in a low voice: “Mr. Song, is this your surveillance partner?”
Song Qingluo glanced at them and said lightly: “Yeah.”
Half asleep and half awake, Lin Banxia also heard the special word “monitor”. He woke up immediately, but was too embarrassed to sit up, so he pretended that he was still sleeping.
Song Qingluo started talking quietly with the visitor. The two briefly introduced themselves. The man’s name was He Huaian and the woman’s name was Mou Xinsi. Both of them already had rich work experience.
“What’s going on now?” Song Qingluo went straight to the topic after knowing their names.
“We can only confirm that two are dead.” He Huaian said, “The information that the remaining two sent includes news of their deaths.”
“How did they die?” Song Qingluo asked.
“One died of severe allergies, and the other drowned.” He Huaian said, “The one who died of allergies seemed to be an accident. He was bitten by a poisonous insect, which caused allergic symptoms, and he just disappeared.”
Song Qingluo pondered: “Where is the one who drowned?”
He Huaian said: “This is rather strange. It seems that one day when he was acting alone, he suddenly disappeared. When they found the body, it was by the water, face down. There were many signs of struggle near the body, but there were no clues…”
Song Qingluo said: “Were these two people monitors or recorders?”
“One is the monitor and the other is the recorder. Because two people died, the other side felt that something was wrong, so they planned to call the remaining two people back. However, they suddenly lost contact and are now in a state of radio silence. As usual, judging from the situation…” He Huaian sighed. He was a recorder himself. Naturally, he also knew that usually the recorders were ordinary people like them. It was normal for the casualty rate to be high, but if a surveillance officer died, the situation was different.
Song Qingluo asked: “What was the last message they sent?”
He Huaian said cautiously: “The last information said that this village has a big problem. It may not only be the influence of heresy, but there may also be human traces…”
Song Qingluo nodded, indicating that he understood, and then agreed to enter the village tomorrow morning. The two nodded and retreated quietly.
Song Qingluo lowered his head and continued to check the information to see if there was anything missing. He said, “You can get up now.”
Lin Banxia popped up and said, “Good morning.”
“Morning.” Song Qingluo said, “I didn’t want to disturb your sleep, but this town is too small, and I was afraid that talking outside would arouse suspicion.” He turned to look at Lin Banxia, ”Did you sleep well?”
“It was pretty good.” Lin Banxia slept well wherever he went.
Song Qingluo said: “Let’s have breakfast together and take a look around.”
Lin Banxia nodded. He quickly got dressed and went to the town with Song Qingluo to have something to eat. The location of this town was also very remote. Song Qingluo looked around, bought some things, and casually asked about the village. It must be because he looked good, the lady selling the goods was very enthusiastic and said with a smile: “Young man, why are you asking about that village? That village is poor and remote, and no one wants to go there.”
Song Qingluo asked: “Has anything happened in the village recently?”
“Has something happened?” said the aunt, “It seems that something happened, but we don’t know what happened.” After saying this, she looked around and lowered her voice, “I’m telling you. Don’t tell others, I have an eldest nephew who works in a funeral parlor. I heard that their village seemed to have suddenly ordered dozens of coffins more than a month ago…it’s very evil.”
Song Qingluo said: “Oh, so that’s it.”
“I don’t know why you are going there, but I still have to advise you.” The aunt said, “That place is not easy to get to, and it’s not easy for those who go there to get out. If you are just curious, you better not go.”
Song Qingluo smiled and thanked her, before he turned and left with Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia thought about it: “What is the situation that would cause so many people to die suddenly in a month? It’s either a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, but even a murderer can’t do something like that. Could it be possible that he can make people suddenly die from allergies?”
Song Qingluo said slowly: “That’s not necessarily the case.”
Lin Banxia became more and more curious.
After resting in the town for a day, buying all the necessary necessities, and filling up the car with gas, the four of them set off into the mountains early the next morning.
However, when leaving the hotel, Song Qingluo took out his two dice, one black and one white, handed them to the two of them, and said softly: “Go through the process.”
The two people didn’t feel strange at all. He Huaian picked up the dice first, then shook them with ease and threw them on the table. The nearly round dice spun on the table and soon stopped. One was black and the other was white. The numbers were 3 and 4 respectively. Song Qingluo nodded upon seeing this and motioned for Mou Xinsi to continue. Mou Xinsi was a little more nervous than He Huaian. She took the dice, took a deep breath, and gently threw the dice on the table. After the dice stop spinning, the black one is 4 and the white one is 5.
“What’s going on?” Song Qingluo seemed a little dissatisfied with this number and frowned at Mou Xinsi.
Mou Xinsi said nervously: “I, I’m a little nervous, I didn’t sleep well last night…”
Song Qingluo said: “You just didn’t sleep well?”
Mou Xinsi smiled bitterly and said, “Well…it’s really just that I didn’t sleep well.”
Song Qingluo took the dice back and said nothing.
Mou Xinsi seemed to be afraid that Song Qingluo would not want her, so she quickly said a series of words. Song Qingluo didn’t say anything but looked at He Huaian coldly.
He Huaian whispered: “Mr. Song…” He couldn’t say Song Qingluo’s name. “She is my new partner. Her last partner had an accident not long ago… so her mental state. There may be some impact.”
Song Qingluo said softly: “Aren’t you afraid that something will happen to her in the village?”
He Huaian was speechless.
“Let her go back.” Song Qingluo said, “I’m doing it for her own good.”
He Huaian looked at Mou Xinsi, who whispered: “Mr. Song, please let me go. I really need this money.”
Song Qingluo glanced at her, turned around and left without saying anything. Lin Banxia was left looking at these two people. Lin Banxia was afraid that they would come to beg him, so he quickly got into the car. However, before getting in the car, he kindly reminded her that money can be made at any time, but life is more important. Even though he said this, it didn’t seem to be convincing.
Finally, Mou Xinsi got into the car.
Song Qingluo drove, and Lin Banxia sat in the passenger seat. He Huaian and Mou Xinsi felt guilty and did not dare to say a word. The atmosphere in the car was a little dull for a while. Lin Banxia thought for a while, quietly took out a bottle of Coke from his backpack, unscrewed the cap, and held it to Song Qingluo’s lips.
Song Qingluo glanced sideways at Lin Banxia, then held the mouth of the Coke bottle in his mouth, took a few sips, and said, “Why did you think of buying this?”
Lin Banxia said: “I saw it in the canteen, so I bought it by the way.”
Song Qingluo said: “Didn’t you buy sausages for yourself?”
Lin Banxia took a sip himself: “The canteen doesn’t have sausages.”
The coldness in Song Qingluo’s eyes lessened a lot.
The road leading to the village was a dirt road, only large enough for one car to drive on. Because it rained a few days ago, the road had become incredibly muddy. Fortunately, the car Song Qingluo drove was a high-chassis, off-road vehicle, otherwise it really would have been a bit troublesome.
According to the information, the village was a four-hour drive from the town, and this was assuming the weather and road conditions are good. It seemed that at present, it would take more than four hours to reach the destination. The road was winding and narrow, and you had to concentrate on driving. Lin Banxia did not dare to disturb Song Qingluo and sat quietly playing with his mobile phone. As he was playing, he suddenly remembered something: “Is there signal in that village? ”
“Signal?” He Huaian answered, “There is signal, but it’s not very good when the weather conditions are bad.”
Lin Banxia said: “Those two people have been missing for four days, right? You haven’t received any more news?”
“No.” He Huaian said, “Actually, the village chief had been in contact with the outside world before, and he was the one who reported to the police, but then the signal got worse and worse, and the village chief couldn’t be contacted… and now no one can contact him anymore to communicate the situation with the outside world.”
Lin Banxia asked curiously: “You go to places like this? Aren’t you afraid?”
He Huaian glanced at Song Qingluo carefully and said, “Actually, following Mr. Song… I feel at ease.”
Lin Banxia smiled and said: “So you are actually still afraid?”
He Huaian nodded.
Lin Banxia comforted: “Sometimes it’s good to be afraid.”
Fear is the most basic defense mechanism of human beings. Fear of the dark is just an instinct inherited from ancestral genes. The ferocious beasts that lurk day and night were enough to tear the weak human body to pieces, so humans have engraved the fear of darkness into their DNA.
Lin Banxia also got afraid, but by the time he was afraid, everything would be over. This was a good thing. He did not need to indulge in fear. It was also a bad thing, since he could not tell where the danger was.
Lin Banxia was thinking when he heard Mou Xinsi in the back seat of the car say timidly: “Mr. Song, did this Mr. Lin forget to throw the dice? We haven’t recorded it yet…”
Lin Banxia was stunned when he heard this.
Song Qingluo said: “He doesn’t need it.”
Mou Xinsi said: “Is it really unnecessary?”
Song Qingluo said: “No need.”
Mou Xinsi looked a little surprised, probably thinking that Mr. Song, who had always followed the rules, would make an exception.
Lin Banxia sat beside him without daring to make a sound, holding a Coke bottle, and sitting like a wooden man, fiddling with his cell phone from time to time. About an hour or two later, Lin Banxia noticed that the sky outside was gloomy, and it looked like it was going to rain again.
“Song Qingluo, it seems like it’s going to rain again.” Lin Banxia said, “Would you be able to drive faster?”
Song Qingluo glanced out the window, hummed, and stepped on the accelerator heavily.
The author has something to say:
Song Qingluo: I am very worried about my colleagues.
Lin Banxia: What’s wrong?
Song Qingluo: It’s cold. I wonder if their coffins can keep them warm.
Lin Banxia:…………
Translator’s comments:
Hey guys, I’m the translator for this novel. If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to comment and I’ll do my best to answer everything. If you notice any inconsistencies or errors, drop a comment and I will fix it. I am new to this, but I want to learn and give the best translation that I can to the readers. Thanks so much for reading Phantom Skeleton Painting, I hope that everyone enjoys the novel.
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