Chapter 24 The Banquet of Death
He Huaian really couldn’t understand. He didn’t sleep much until it was almost dawn, and then he fell asleep for a short while.
It was daybreak, but the rain hadn’t stopped, and it seemed like it wouldn’t stop for a while.
Song Qingluo and Lin Banxia woke up very early. They also woke He Huaian up. After a simple wash, the three of them went to the main room and saw the village chief and the breakfast he had carefully prepared.
“Village Chief.” He Huaian said directly, “What were you doing outside our window last night?”
The village chief smoked his dry cigarette, and the faint smoke blurred his face. He said vaguely: “I was afraid something would happen to you.”
That person last night was actually him. He Huaian felt nervous and said, “What can happen to us?”
“Do you remember a few nights ago?” the village chief said, “My nephew and I had a fight, and my nephew hung himself in the yard, right at your door. I was afraid something would happen again last night so I just came over and took a look.”
This made sense, so He Huaian said, “Oh.”
“What are you going to do with the girl’s body?” the village chief said, “Just leave it like this? This is unlucky…”
He Huaian whispered: “When this matter is over, we will take her back.”
The village chief said: “Then you take her away today, otherwise she has to be dealt with according to the rules of the village.” He said coldly, “The dead cannot be left outside. If she is left like this, it will kill the living too.”
He Huaian glanced at Song Qingluo and asked for advice. Song Qingluo casually broke off the compressed biscuits in his hands and put them in his mouth. He said softly: “Then you can send her back, and go outside to replenish some supplies before coming back, then you can leave.”
“Okay.” He Huaian felt relieved.
“Decide whether you want to eat this breakfast or not, otherwise I’ll take it away.” The village chief knocked hard on the table.
There was a sumptuous breakfast on the table, including steamed buns, pancakes, and thick white porridge that exuded the aroma of rice. This was a huge temptation for the three of them who had not eaten well for several days, but because Song Qingluo told them not to eat the food here yesterday, no one moved.
When the village chief saw that they were silent, he collected all the food, turned and left the yard.
Song Qingluo ordered: “He Huaian, go and send Mou Xinsi’s body back. Lin Banxia and I are going to investigate. Please pay attention to your own safety.”
He Huaian nodded: “Okay, Mr. Song, I will be back as soon as possible.”
Song Qingluo said: “No, if you can really get out, you don’t have to come back. Notify the outside and send at least four more people with weapons in.”
He Huaian was slightly startled: “Mr. Song, do you know something?”
Song Qingluo said softly: “It’s just a guess, just to be on the safe side.”
He Huaian said ok, got up and went out.
He didn’t know where Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo were going to investigate. This was not his concern. All he had to do was follow Song Qingluo’s orders and do everything he asked him to do.
Mou Xinsi’s body was still in the quilt. He Huaian put on the rain gear, carried her on his back, and headed towards where he parked with an umbrella.
The parking area was not far from the village chief’s residence, on a flat land behind the yard. He Huaian saw the car parked there through the rain curtain from a distance, and pressed the car key in his hand, but the car lights didn’t come on.
He Huaian’s heart felt cold when he saw this, and he couldn’t help but speed up and walk towards the car. However, when he walked to the side of the car and saw clearly the miserable situation in the car, he understood what Song Qingluo meant when he said: “If you can leave.”
The car was vandalized, a big hole was smashed into the window, the dashboard was completely destroyed, and the steering wheel was violently removed. The entire car was in such a mess that it was impossible to drive.
He Huaian was stunned. He thought that when he came to this village, the biggest resistance he would face was the heresy. However, only now did he realize that Song Qingluo’s idea was right. He had to face it first. Yes, it was the villagers who were full of malice towards them.
He Huaian turned his head and looked at the low building behind him that merged with the rain curtain. At this moment, he seemed to be able to see the vicious eyes hidden in the building through the glass. They wished these foreigners could die quickly and in an irresistible accident.
He Huaian carried the body silently and walked back slowly. The rain blurred his vision, and he could only lower his head and walk slowly on the muddy road, trudging forward. Perhaps because there was no hope of leaving, the way back was much harder than the way there. His legs began to feel heavy, as if cement had been poured into his muscles.
When he was about to arrive at the village chief’s door, He Huaian suddenly felt a little cold. A drop of rain fell on the tip of his eyebrows, along his cheekbones, chin, and finally fell on his chin. He gently shook his head., trying to shake off the drop of water on the tip of his chin. However, when he was shaking his head, he felt a stream of cold air blowing onto his ears. He Huaian’s expression froze. He turned his head and saw Mou Xinsi’s face resting on his shoulder. There was no trace of blood in her face, and it was tinged with purple. This is what a dead person should look like. He Huai thought desperately, he really hoped that the cold breath just now was his hallucination.
Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo didn’t know what happened to He Huaian. They left the village chief’s home and went straight to the residence of Grandpa He’s family.
It was an inconspicuous earthen house. Without the funeral procession, it seemed particularly quiet.
Song Qingluo knocked on the door first, and after a while, an old voice came from inside: “Who is it?”
Song Qingluo thought for a while and said a name: “Jiang Ruonan.”
“Ruonan?” A pair of wrinkled hands slowly opened the wooden door, and the old man of the He family revealed half of his face. When he saw Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo standing outside, he was slightly startled, and immediately said with a cold face: “What do you want from me?”
Song Qingluo stretched out his hand and blocked the door. Although he looked as delicate as a doll, his strength did not match his appearance at all. He said softly: “I want to ask you something.”
“I have nothing to say.” The old man of the He family seemed very resistant.
“I haven’t asked yet.” Song Qingluo said.
The three of them were deadlocked at the door. In the end, the old man of the He family gave in, snorted coldly, let go of his hand and let Song Qingluo enter. Lin Banxia followed behind and also entered the house.
The house looked very messy at first glance. There were herbs everywhere, some that Lin Banxia knew and some that he didn’t recognize. The house was filled with a strong smell of unique herbs, which was not unpleasant.
Even though they entered the room, Mr. He didn’t look at them. He sat down on the chair next to them and said nothing.
Song Qingluo did not rush to ask questions, but walked around the room, looking here and there, with a face full of interest. In the end, Mr. He became impatient. He tapped the crutch in his hand and said, “Why did you come to me? Are you just here to watch and have fun?”
Song Qingluo said calmly: “How many dead people are there in your house?”
Mr. He said angrily: “You have nothing to do with this!”
Song Qingluo said: “Or let me ask you another way, how many more people do you want to pretend are dead?”
Mr. He’s face was ashen. If he hadn’t been old, he would have stood up and started fighting with Song Qingluo, but Song Qingluo seemed unable to see his ugly expression, and said casually: “This rainy day has been going on for a long time. I have read the information before. There was a flash flood here, and it also rained in the village for more than half a month. Tell me, if the rain continues to fall, how long can the people in the village survive before you feed that so-called mountain god with your life?”
Mr. He gritted his teeth and said, “What can you do? If you had your way, would your companions have died so miserably?”
Song Qingluo said: “A dead horse is treated as a living horse. It’s all dead anyway. Why don’t you let us go find our own death? Why do you have to dirty your hands?”
Mr. He didn’t refute. Judging from his expression, he was actually persuaded by Song Qingluo.
“I just want to see the death records of the villagers.” Song Qingluo said, “You should have the most complete ones here.”
Mr. He didn’t speak for a long time. Just when Lin Banxia thought he would refuse Song Qingluo’s request, he pointed to a bookcase placed next to the wall: “The volume on the far right.”
Song Qingluo quickly walked to the cabinet, pulled out the records, and quickly looked through them.
Lin Banxia was beside him and followed Song Qingluo to look at the record. The record recorded in detail the date, specific time, weather, and the cause and location of the deceased’s death.
The first death was on March 11th. The weather was fine. The place of death was near the creek at the entrance of the village. The cause of death was that he accidentally slipped while washing clothes by the river and hit his head on a stone on the roadside, breaking his spine and dying on the spot.
This accident seemed to be the trumpet of death. In the next few days, death began to spread like a thick fog towards the entire village.
Song Qingluo could read ten lines at a time and he could think very quickly. Before Lin Banxia could react, he watched Song Qingluo take out the map of the village drawn by He Huaian, and began to mark the map with the pen he carried.
The black dots were marked on the map one by one. They were densely packed and chaotic. At first glance, there was no order.
Song Qingluo seemed to be dissatisfied with this answer. He frowned and stared at the map in his hand, his burning eyes seeming to poke a hole in it.
Lin Banxia was confused: “It seems there is no pattern. Why do you have this expression?”
Song Qingluo said: “It feels like something is wrong.”
Lin Banxia thought for a moment and felt that something was strange…
The two stared at the map for a while, and Song Qingluo suddenly started drawing on the map again. Lin Banxia said, “What are you doing?”
Song Qingluo replied: “I’m looking at rainy days and sunny days separately.”
Lin Banxia suddenly realized that when the signs of rainy days and sunny days were replaced by different symbols, the signs of sunny days formed a strange pattern. It is difficult to describe it in words. If he had to say it, it seemed to be the eyes of a reptile. The erected pupil was the only stream in the village. Wherever the pupil touched, there was death represented by the pattern.
The patterns formed by the rainy day symbols are not so regular. They were scattered in every corner of the village, and there was nothing unusual about them.
“Why? Why is this happening?” Lin Banxia frowned, “Is it because the rain has weakened the effect of that thing?”
Song Qingluo muttered: “No, it’s not weakening, it’s strengthening.”
Lin Banxia glanced at Song Qingluo and understood what he meant.
Indeed, the rain did not weaken the effect of the thing, but strengthened it, because the thing had always existed in the water. When the rain carried the unknown thing and sprinkled it on the entire village, death became irregular, but when the sky was clear, death would visit you only if you are near a stream.
However, no matter what, there was a secret that could save the village hidden in the turbid stream.
When Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo were talking, Mr. He had been listening. It wasn’t until the two of them came to a conclusion that he changed his expression slightly and said, “Is it a problem with the stream?”
“It should be.” Song Qingluo said, “If I remember correctly, your village uses it as drinking water, right?”
Mr. He said: “Then why did everyone drink, but only those people died?”
Song Qingluo said: “The specific reason must be found and studied again.” After saying that, the two of them put down the things in their hands and planned to go to the stream to have a look.
When Mr. He saw them leaving, he whispered: “The stream flows down from the mountain, and its source is in a cave. It has rained too much recently, and the cave is full of water. You can’t enter… “
Song Qingluo said: “Then we’ll have to go and have a look first.”
Mr. He hesitated to speak.
Lin Banxia saw his expression and said, “Master, do you have anything else to say?”
Mr. He felt a little uncomfortable: “Isn’t it true that the mountain god is angry?”
Song Qingluo said coldly: “How can there be so many mountain gods?”
Mr. He’s voice lowered: “Are you living in the village chief’s house?”
Lin Banxia was stunned: “What do you mean?”
Mr. He stopped talking. He kept shaking his head and muttering something that Lin Banxia couldn’t hear clearly.
Song Qingluo was quiet for a while and then considered, “Go to the stream to find the things first, otherwise everyone will not be safe.”
Lin Banxia thought about it. So many people had died, and they still didn’t know what that thing was. It was best to control that thing first and stop the deaths in the village. In this way, the villagers would not do extreme things, and their following work would be easier to carry out.
After asking Mr. He about the way up the mountain, Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo set off directly towards the cave.
The rain had subsided a little now, but the road up the mountain was still very difficult. Under the erosion of the rain, the road was very muddy, and the steep mountain made every step very difficult.
Fortunately, Lin Banxia usually likes sports, so it was quite easy to climb up the mountain. However, Song Qingluo didn’t like getting wet and refused to hold on to the wet grass next to him. When he got to a relatively steep place, Lin Banxia saw Song Qingluo couldn’t come over, so he wiped his hands on his clothes first, and then stretched out towards Song Qingluo: “Come on, it’s not easy to walk here.”
Song Qingluo hesitated for a moment, but still grabbed Lin Banxia’s hand. Lin Banxia immediately pulled Song Qingluo over. He originally thought that Song Qingluo would be quite heavy. After all, he was very strong. Who knew that he would be light and soft when he pulled him over? Before Lin Banxia could react, he was already in front of him.
“Let’s go.” Song Qingluo said softly.
Lin Banxia glanced at him, said nothing, and continued climbing.
Mr. He said that you can find the cave by following the stream from the foot of the mountain all the way up. Because the stream was the only water source in the village, it was usually well taken care of. However, in the past month or so, the stream had surged and the cave had been flooded. Most of the time, no one was there. They were young and it would only take them more than an hour to climb up, but even if they found the cave, they might not be able to find what they were looking for.
Lin Banxia didn’t think much about these things. He wouldn’t know what the situation was until he got there.
Along the way, both of them were silent. When the cave mentioned by Mr. He appeared in front of them, Lin Banxia looked at the phone. They spent about forty minutes, slightly shorter than planned. .
As Mr. He said, the cave has been filled with water. The shallower water level was about the crook of the knee. The water quality was not bad, but there were also many branches and residual leaves floating in it.
When Song Qingluo saw the water, he frowned again. Lin Banxia knew that he didn’t like water, so he said, “How about you wait outside and I go in first to take a look?”
“No.” Song Qingluo did not agree, “It’s too dangerous for you to be alone.”
Lin Banxia said: “Don’t you dislike water?”
Song Qingluo pursed his lips: “I just don’t like it…” He hesitated for two seconds and made a decision, “Let’s go in together.”
Lin Banxia wanted to persuade him again, but when he saw the determined expression on his brows, he had no choice but to give up.
So the two of them rolled up their trouser legs and walked into the cave carefully.
The further inside they went, the darker the light became. Song Qingluo took out a waterproof flashlight from his backpack to use for lighting. Lin Banxia walked behind, observing the surroundings as he walked.
This is a very ordinary-looking cave with a river in the middle and repaired paths on both sides. However, due to the rising water, the paths were also flooded, so they could only walk inside with the water flowing. At first, the bottom of the stream could still be seen, but it became darker and darker, and the water under their feet turned into an uncomfortable deep black by the darkness.
Song Qingluo’s breath was lighter than usual. He lowered his head and seemed to be searching for something in the water. Lin Banxia joked: “Fortunately, this is a creek, otherwise what if there was some scary snake or something in it.”
Song Qingluo looked back at Lin Banxia and said calmly: “Maybe there is, but we just didn’t see it.” His skin was white as snow, seeming to glow in the dark, but his hair and pupils were pure black, as if he could absorb all the light around him. He was such a contradictory person… Lin Banxia looked at his face and was stunned for a few seconds.
Song Qingluo didn’t pay attention to what Lin Banxia was looking at. He still stared at his feet attentively and took a few steps forward. He suddenly paused and said, “We can’t go any further.”
Lin Banxia said: “Huh?”
Song Qingluo said: “The water inside is too deep, it seems like a pool.”
Lin Banxia shined a flashlight and discovered that the road was cut off in front of them, and there was something like a reservoir, which should be the source of the stream. Although it was still clear, the light of the flashlight could only penetrate part of it.
Lin Banxia shone the flashlight for a while and said, “Could the thing you mentioned be inside?”
Song Qingluo said: “It’s possible.”
Lin Banxia thought for a while and said, “Let me dive down and take a look.”
Song Qingluo looked at him and said nothing.
“You can’t tell anything by looking at it this way,” Lin Banxia said. “The water wasn’t very deep, so I’ll dive in to look for anything special…”
Song Qingluo was silent, seeming to be considering the danger of letting Lin Banxia dive in. There might be some danger here, but other than that, there seemed to be no other good way.
“Okay.” In the end, Song Qingluo agreed to Lin Banxia’s proposal. He handed the flashlight to Lin Banxia, “Just take a look. Even if you see something, don’t do anything.”
Lin Banxia smiled and said yes. He bit the flashlight with his teeth and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his well-proportioned upper body. He handed the shirt to Song Qingluo and said vaguely: “I’m going.”
Song Qingluo said: “Aren’t you going to take off your pants?”
Lin Banxia thought for a while, shook his head to indicate that he would not take it off. When he turned around and was about to jump into the water, he was pulled by Song Qingluo. Song Qingluo pointed to the flashlight in his mouth: “Don’t bite it, take it in your hand, the water here is not drinkable, so try not to swallow it.”
Lin Banxia said, “Oh” and obediently did as Song Qingluo said.
He held the flashlight, jumped forward, and entered the cold water. The small pool was not too deep. Lin Banxia quickly dived to the bottom. The light was very dim, and he could only feel around with his hands. There was a layer of fine sand at the bottom of the pool, with dead branches and stones on top. Lin Banxia touched for a while and found nothing, so he floated to the surface to take a breath.
“I didn’t find anything yet, I have to look again.” Lin Banxia wiped his face.
“Okay.” Song Qingluo stared at him.
He dived into the water again. This time, Lin Banxia searched more carefully. Disappointingly, he still found nothing. When he floated up this time, Song Qingluo saw that he still couldn’t find it, and thought: “You might not be able to touch the most likely place in the pool. That thing must have been here for more than a month, and may have been covered by sand.”
Lin Banxia nodded and dived into the water for the third time. He listened to Song Qingluo’s suggestion and began to rub his hands deeply into the fine sand. After a while, he made a new discovery. His fingers touched something soft, different from the cold and stiff sand and stone around it. It had a texture more like…meat. Lin Banxia exhaled and pushed the sand and stone to the side with his hands. Soon, the thing buried inside was exposed, and it was really a ball of flesh.
To be precise, it was a rotten torso belonging to an unknown creature.
This thing was huge, almost covering the entire pool. It had been soaked for an unknown amount of time. Its color had been turned into a terrifying pale color by the water, and its appearance had become deformed and swollen. It looked extremely terrifying in the dim water. This was what Lin Banxia touched just now. If it were an ordinary person, he would have been frightened and choked to death immediately, but fortunately, Lin Banxia was steady and his movements froze for only a moment. Then, he floated to the surface and gasped: “I found it. There is a very large mass of rotting meat below. Is it causing trouble?”
“No, it’s definitely not rotten meat.” Song Qingluo said in a lighter tone. It would be nice to have something, but he was not afraid of not finding it. “Look for it, there must be something special.”
Lin Banxia hummed, took another sharp breath, dived down again, and went straight to the carrion he just found. He dug vigorously for a while, and soon most of the carrion was exposed. Strangely enough, carrion usually floats, but the mass sank to the bottom of the water, maybe because it was too heavy. Lin Banxia groped on it carefully, trying to find the special thing that Song Qingluo mentioned. He had to say that the touch was really bizarre, sticky and soft, and even Lin Banxia felt a little uncomfortable. He tried hard to suppress the strange discomfort, and after touching for a while, he finally touched something hard in the soft flesh. Lin Banxia took a closer look and realized that it was a strangely-shaped stone.
Is this a stone? When Lin Banxia saw the appearance of this thing with the dim light of the flashlight, a question popped up in his mind, how could there be such a strange stone? Its appearance was hard and cold, shaped like a coiled snake, and it had a scale-like texture, which felt very strange to the touch. The moment Lin Banxia touched it, he had an indescribable feeling. All the cells in his body seemed to be screaming, warning him to stay away from this strange object.
The next moment, Lin Banxia let go, spitting out a series of bubbles from his mouth, floating awkwardly to the surface of the water, and coughed loudly.
The author has something to say:
Lin Banxia: I want to eat grilled sausage
Song Qingluo: Eat, eat big sticks, are two sticks enough?
Lin Banxia: Enough. It’s enough.
Ji Leshui: I suspect you two were driving but there is no evidence.
Translator’s comments:
Hey, Guys. Sorry that the chapters were locked past the time they were supposed to be. I’ve recently gotten a new job and things have been hectic. I will try my best to not let it happen again.
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. Thanks so much for reading Phantom Skeleton Painting, I hope that everyone enjoys the novel. If you are interested in fluffy BL novels, consider giving the other novels that I am translating a try. They are ‘I’m Really a Dragon’ and ‘The Leader’s Warpet Hamster’. New chapters released everyday.
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