Chapter 46.3

Editor: Kat

Proofreader: Junyans

“Let’s get started. My sleeping powder will only last for half an hour.”

Don’t be angry, don’t be angry.

Wang Pengpai tried to pacify his emotions. He went against his heart and put on a pretense to talk to Zhao Hongtu about how Ah Cheng was unfathomable, and Wang Pengpai hinted that they should be careful and vigilant of Ah Cheng. Then they began to search the house separately. Of course, all the things they found had been deliberately placed by Wang Pengpai.

“Brother Wang, I found something here!”

Sure enough, after a while, Zhao Hongtu found a locust wood box in between the seams of the cabinet.

“I found something here too.”

Wang Pengpai raised the thread-bound book he had “found” and reminded him, “We don’t have much time. Let’s withdraw from here first.”

“Yes.”

Zhao Hongtu was somewhat hesitant. What he wanted to find most was the marriage deed between Pingping and Ah Long, but Wang Pengpai knew that the house had been raided by III-9 and there was nothing left. Therefore, he decided not to waste time and controlled the jiangshi village head, making him let out a loud roar as if he was about to awaken. Zhao Hongtu no longer hesitated and slipped away through the back door with Wang Pengpai.

“It’s time for Brother Xu and the others to start preparing the food for the leaving grandmother’s banquet.”

Zhao Hongtu smelled the strong scent of chicken oil. The staple food of the leaving grandmother’s banquet was chicken, but the smell was not pleasant. The scent was mixed with the smell of chicken feathers, chicken excrement, and sticky chicken blood. It was really disgusting.

“Let’s sum up our findings quickly and tell Brother Xu, Leader Miao, and the others.”

Zhao Hongtu showed the locust wood box to Wang Pengpai and spoke with awe, “Brother Wang, this thing is really incredible.”

Wang Pengpai knew what was in the locust wood box. After all, he had found it in the secret passageway. But when he grabbed it, he sucked in a breath of cold air and exclaimed, “Such a thing actually existed?!”

[Name: Statue Containing the Remnant Soul of Ah Long (Cordoned-off Village’s Village Head Version)]

[Quality: Scene (It can only be used in this tour. You can’t bring it out from this tour)]

[Function: It acts as a contact node between the Cordoned-off Village’s village head and Ah Long’s remnant soul]

[Note: After Ah Long died, the village head of Cordoned-off Village couldn’t bear the death of his only son, so he collected part of his remnant soul using this statue and used a secret technique to transfer part of his soul to the statue. Then, he tried to revive his son by allowing his son’s soul to possess him]

“Hongtu, look at this.”

Wang Pengpai gave the thread bound booklet to Zhao Hongtu. As soon as Zhao Hongtu took it, his pupils shrank.

[Name: Cordoned-off Village’s Village Head Diary (2/2)]

[Quality: Scene (It can only be used in this tour. You can’t bring it out from this tour)]

[Function: Obtain some information]

[Note: The diary of the village head of Cordoned-off Village records several major events]

The diary had recorded a [Jiangshi Raising Technique (Remnant Recipe)]. This was a secret technique that could instruct one on how to turn a living person into a jiangshi with consciousness. Jiangshis contain boundless power, have a hard and tough body, and will never die. If a Jiangshi had consciousness, it would be the same as a human living forever. However, because this was a remnant recipe, the person who used the technique would be normal at the beginning, but they would gradually change to have a typical Jiangshi’s behavior and mannerisms.

They wouldn’t be able to go out under the sunlight, would be eager for human flesh and blood, and would be afraid of glutinous rice, cinnabar, black donkey hooves, and other things. Eventually, they would completely turn into a jiangshi.

Zhao Hongtu knew the value of this remnant recipe with just a glance. According to the recipe, one needed a lot of ingredients to raise a jiangshi. Surprisingly, he had heard of many of the ingredients in the recipe and even obtained some of the ingredients before! That was to say, they could use the remnant recipe. Even if it was only a remnant recipe, it could turn humans into jiangshis. The recipe was extremely precious, and people would break their heads to snatch the recipe.

Brother Wang was really lucky.

Zhao Hongtu didn’t have any malicious intentions. He merely sighed and continued to read the recipe. After this [Jiangshi Raising Technique (Remnant Recipe)] was the village head’s diary. They didn’t have the first half of the diary. The diary started with “Ah Long was in a huge amount of pain.”

After all, Ah Long was a human being. He had died due to a serious illness, so he had been very happy to be resurrected at first. But after that, he had lived a bitter life. His soul had been too weak to be completely unaffected by the nature of the flying fox, and he had begun to eat all kinds of insects and branches. When flying foxes were young, they were very weak. One time, Ah Long had been hit on the head with stones by children from the village and had almost fainted from the pain.

All kinds of hardships had made it unbearable for him to live as a flying fox. When Ah Long had learned that his father was going to attach the other half of his soul to the dog at home, Ah Long objected crazily.

Flying foxes would eat worms, but dogs would eat shit!

The Cordoned-off Village’s village head wrote that he was in a dilemma. He hadn’t wanted to see Ah Long embroiled in so much pain, but the remnant soul of Ah Long had been weakening rapidly and he had to make a decision as soon as possible. In the end, the Cordoned-off Village’s village head made his final decision.

He transferred the other half of Ah Long’s soul to himself.

Although Ah Long’s remnant soul was too weak and would be suppressed if it was transferred to a human body, Cordoned-off Village’s village head thought that he could sleep occasionally so that Ah Long could come out and breathe. In fact, the best choice was Pingping. After all, Pingping was still young and a child’s soul was weak, so maybe Ah Long’s remnant soul could overwhelm Pingping’s consciousness.

However, the soul transfer technique was an evil technique that their ancestors had warned them about repeatedly, cautioning them that it must not be used. Additionally, the village head of Cordoned-off Village did not trust Pingping. He had also been afraid that the fact that he used the technique would be exposed, so he finally made such a choice.

“Hiss, a soul transfer technique!”

Zhao Hongtu was shocked. He almost wanted to run back to the village head’s house and do everything he could to find the other half of the diary. He had a hunch that the other half of the village head’s diary had recorded the soul transfer technique!

If this technique could be brought back to the Travel Services, it would be much more precious than the raising jiangshi technique. One might even be able to rely on it to directly enter a tour party! After all, that was a secret recipe that could transfer a remnant soul to another entity. If someone could have collected Yu Hehui’s remnant soul with the soul transfer technique before it had disappeared, Yu Hehui would not have had to disappear.

This was a recipe that could save lives!

“The diary doesn’t say how the village head turned into a jiangshi.”

Fortunately, Zhao Hongtu could restrain his greed and understood that the most important thing they should focus their attention on was the second cry that was approaching. He took a deep breath, calmed down and analyzed, “Ah Long’s soul is divided into two parts: half with the village head of Cordoned-off Village and half with the flying fox.”

“The village head of Cordoned-off Village was indifferent to his daughter. If he could, he even wanted Ah Long to replace his daughter.”

“This netherworld marriage, was it Ah Long’s or the village head’s idea?”

“Ah Cheng and Ah Long were born in the same year…”

Zhao Hongtu murmured, “Ah Long doesn’t want to stay in the flying fox, and most likely doesn’t want to stay in a jiangshi’s body. What is he going to do with Ah Cheng? Does he want to use the soul transfer technique again?”

“Brother Wang, we have to find Leader Miao and the others immediately!”

Zhao Hongtu spoke with an ugly expression, “Ah Cheng may have been controlled by Ah Long!”

“Come on, let’s go.”

Wang Pengpai did not object, as this was exactly what he planned. Following this line of thought, they would think that Ah Cheng was controlled by Ah Long. Therefore, the other tourists wouldn’t have a problem even if he constantly monitored Ah Cheng or even controlled Ah Cheng using some means.

This was all to break the trust between Ah Cheng and the other tourists!

.

“Say, did Pingping like the silver bracelet?”

Outside Pingping’s house, Wei Xun’s eyes lit up when he heard the news. He didn’t care about how Miao Fangfei and the others’ attitudes had completely changed, and the vigilance in their eyes. His eyes were red as he muttered to himself, “That night, I almost did something wrong. Fortunately, Sister-in-law Wang scolded me in time and woke me up…”

“Sister-in-law Wang?”

Shi Tao interrupted Wei Xun and asked, “What do you mean by Sister-in-law Wang?”

“It’s the Sister-in-law Wang who lives in the same house as Sister-in-law Hou.”

Wei Xun was surprised. Confused, he said, “The night that we met with the village head, I thought it was impossible to meet with Pingping. I was very sad at this time, Fangfang came to me, and I almost… Fortunately, Sister-in-law Wang scolded me at that time, so I woke up. The only person I love is Pingping.”

“When was this?”

Hou Feihu asked in a deep voice and looked at Miao Fangfei with a grim look in his eyes.

“Do you mean what time it was…it should have been at one or two in the morning. I can’t remember clearly.”

Wei Xun was deep in thought. Suddenly, he seemed to realize something. He smiled, and spoke with chagrin, “You guys probably couldn’t leave your houses at that time. Don’t worry, I won’t tell the others about this.”

When he finished speaking, even Shi Tao reacted and had an ugly expression. He gazed at Hou Feihu and was shocked to see him nod slightly.

How could this happen!

Miao Fangfei’s scalp felt numb. She didn’t doubt Ah Cheng’s words much. After all, Miao Fangfei had long since thought that Ah Cheng had changed his mind regarding Pingping. There must have been a tourist involved in changing his mind, but she wasn’t clear who would do so. This had caused her to grow suspicious a long time ago. Now that Ah Cheng said this, she finally understood.

Indeed, there was really someone involved who made Ah Cheng change his mind.

But how could that person be Wang Pengpai? And why would he scold Ah Cheng at around one or two a.m.!

“At that time, we were all in the house,” Hou Feihu whispered.

Ah Cheng thought they were trying to match his testimony with theirs. He nodded without hesitation and said with a simple and honest smile, “Yes, all of you were sleeping in the house.”

However, Miao Fangfei and Shi Tao understood what Hou Feihu meant. Wang Pengpai had been in their house that night. It was impossible to go out without permission!

There were only two possibilities. Either Ah Cheng was lying, or the Wang Pengpai in their room had not been not a “real person.”

Miao Fangfei trusted her teammates, but she always thought that logically, someone should have influenced Ah Cheng that night to make the decision to snatch the silver bracelet back.

If Wang Pengpai did it, why didn’t he tell everyone? What was he hiding?

Miao Fangfei was in a state of confusion. They should avoid saying anything that would incite disharmony in the tour group and particularly in this tour, since they were currently experiencing the hardest attraction in the third scenic spot of an Intoxicating Xiangxi series tour.

As the leader, Miao Fangfei must be clear on what happened!

Noticing the serious expressions of Miao Fangfei and the others, Wei Xun smiled in his heart. When they had gone  to the meeting hosted in the village head’s house, he had long since suspected that Wang Pengpai may have a prop that created a dummy. Since Wang Pengpai had also been following him outside that night, Wang Pengpai’s dummy should have been in Hou Feihu and the others’ house.

After seeing the expressions of Miao Fangfei and the others when they met Ah Cheng, Wei Xun had been afraid that Wang Pengpai had spread some rumors against Ah Cheng. In that case, Wei Xun didn’t mind giving Wang Pengpai eye medicine.

“Leader Miao!”

Just then, an anxious voice came from behind. It was Zhao Hongtu and Wang Pengpai who had hurried back. Miao Fangfei and Ah Cheng were standing so closely that Zhao Hongtu opened his mouth and spoke without thinking. He wanted Hou Feihu and the others to keep a distance from Ah Cheng. However, he didn’t notice Miao Fangfei and the other’s slightly suspicious and alert eyes looking at Wang Pengpai.

“Hongtu, come here,” Hou Feihu stepped forward and said in a deep voice, reaching out to Zhao Hongtu. Zhao Hongtu became keenly aware of the unusual atmosphere, and his gaze was confused. He didn’t know what had happened, but he instinctively went to Hou Feihu’s side. Wang Pengpai noticed that the looks in Miao Fangfei and the others’ eyes were wrong. He silently cursed “fuck” in his heart, and his sharp eyes swept across Ah Cheng.

Wei Xun’s gaze met his, and he even raised his lips and smiled a little provocatively.

In the next moment, the ethereal and melodious bamboo pan flute sounded again. It was the song, <<A Sorrowful Farewell to Grandmother>>. The people from Cordoned-off Village began to gather at Pingping’s house. Although they had worn the tribal costumes worn during grand festivals and appeared jubilant, they looked stiff and strange, like a group of paper people pasted in the scene of the village.

The second cry was about to begin!

The author has something to say:

The nutrition fluid is a whooping 60k. Why are you guys so capable, sob, sob!

I’ll slow down today, and update an extra chapter tomorrow. Mua, mua (づ￣ 3￣)づ

T/N: Paper people/figures in a village.