здание

Глава 20

She wanted revenge. When she learned of Chen Wen's confirmed wedding date, she thought of the curse, "Ka Beng."

Her gaze fell on her sleeping child.

She was no longer a mother and a woman, but a demon.

Hatred is so terrible!

On her way back from gathering herbs, she finally gouged out her daughter's eyes, tied them to an ancient locust tree, and let the tree suck her daughter's blood. The following year, she dug up the tree roots, used the blood-red sap to dye cloth, and went to great lengths to send it to Chen Wen's wedding as a wedding gift.

The dream was quickly shattered.

Grandma reappeared, and everyone blinked and woke up.

"Now you understand the origin of the 'kabeng' sound, right?" Grandma asked.

Qin Jin said, "After the cloth was delivered, the villagers were massacred. And where did Jinsha go?"

"The one who cast the curse on Kabun then offered her soul to the witch. I don't know where she went, but in any case, she must be living a life worse than death!"

"This is a curse that harms others without benefiting oneself. I really don't know if Jinsha has gone mad to use such a curse," Ke Liang said angrily.

"Alright, you don't need to say anymore. It'll be dark soon, and if you don't leave the village soon, you won't be able to leave. You should hurry up and go!" Grandma urged them.

Qin Jin couldn't bear to part with Xiaoyu, so she said, "Grandma, can we take Xiaoyu away with us and not let him stay here with the dead?"

“No, Xiaoyu is a person of extreme yin. He will die if he leaves this yin place. Don’t worry, I will take care of Xiaoyu. As long as his eyes don’t open, he can continue to have happy dreams.”

"Grandma, what are you going to do?"

"Me? I am the guardian of this dark land, a follower of the witch, and I will not leave here."

The four of them exchanged glances and decided to go to Xiaoyu's place to get their luggage and leave.

When they arrived at Xiaoyu's house, Xiaoyu was already gone. The four dared not wait any longer, as it would soon be dark. They took their bags, put down Heibao, and Heibao led the way like a black sword. As they passed under a tree in the center of the village, they discovered that Grandma was gone. It all felt like a dream.

They walked quickly, and Hei Bao indeed led a path through the grass. The path was winding, and the woods grew thicker and thicker until the sun was almost completely obscured. There hadn't seemed to be this many trees when they came.

Hei Bao moved quickly, and everyone was running. Shi Shi fell down, and Lu Ziming pulled her along and rushed forward.

Suddenly, Hei Bao stopped moving and started backing away. Everyone knew that what was ahead was bad, but they didn't know what was ahead.

A person slowly stood up from the bushes.

It turned out to be a small fish.

The little fish was still smiling.

Qin Jin saw it and exclaimed "Little Fish" in surprise, wanting to pounce on it, but Ke Liang quickly grabbed Qin Jin.

Everyone could see that the little fish wasn't closing its eyes; instead, it was looking at them with a smile, its big, round eyes wide open.

The little fish said softly, "Why are you leaving? Can't you stay and play with me for a few more days?"

A chill rose from behind everyone, and Xiaoyu opened her eyes.

“I’ve always known I’m not blind. The stars and moon I see in my dreams are real stars and moon. But my family is dead, and the villagers are dead. I don’t want to face it, so I keep my eyes closed.”

Shishi said, "Little Fish, it's not that we don't want to take you with us, but your grandma said you can't leave here."

"Yes, I can't leave here, but you can stay and keep me company."

Xiao Yu took a few steps forward, and everyone else took a few steps back. Ke Liang asked, "What exactly do you want?"

The scene was hilarious: several very strong adults were terrified of a child who looked like he was five or six years old.

The little fish said, "I already told you that you should stay and play with me."

"A few days?" That idiot Ke Liang actually tried to bargain with Xiaoyu at this time.

"lifetime."

Just then, a shout came from behind: "Run! Little Fish has opened his eyes. He's not the same Little Fish anymore. Run! He'll kill you!"

It was Grandma Xiaoyu's voice, and everyone was surprised.

At the same time, Hei Bao lunged at Xiao Yu with all his might. Xiao Yu slapped Hei Bao, who was leaping into the air, to the ground. Qin Jin rushed forward without hesitation and picked up the injured Hei Bao.

Everyone turned around and ran as fast as they could.

Little Fish wasn't chasing after them, but everyone felt someone breathing on their necks, as if Little Fish were nestled on their backs. No one dared stop. The path became increasingly chaotic as they ran; the forest was vast, and they quickly lost their way. The four of them darted through the forest like headless flies, Little Fish's breath still lingering around them. Night slowly fell, and the four finally stopped. Running aimlessly like this would only exhaust them.

Ke Liang stopped to catch his breath and said, "Since we're going to die anyway, we should find an easier way to die. There's really no need to work ourselves to death like this."

Lu Ziming said, "How do you know we're definitely going to die? Forget it! Don't you still have some ancestral treasure?"

At this point, Ke Liang suddenly remembered his ancestral treasure and asked Qin Jin, "Quickly take out the earrings; they might hold out for a while."

The moment the earring was taken out of Qin Jin's arms, it emitted a brilliant purple light, and everyone stared at it without saying a word.

The four of them stood back to back and heard a rustling sound coming from underground, like the sound of digging.

Qin Jin said, "Oh no, the little fish has summoned the villagers."

"That kid, if we can't beat them, we'll just call out those zombies to scare people. You think I'm scared?" Ke Liang said, forcing a smile.

"If you're not afraid, why are you trembling?" Lu Ziming mocked him.

"What shivering? I just caught a slight cold from the cool breeze."

Shishi said, "Alright, what time is it? You two are still arguing."

"What do you know? Arguing is a way to relax."

It's rare for these two men to be so in agreement.

Qin Jin ignored them, carefully tending to the injured Hei Bao. This might be their last resort. They had overcome so many desperate situations before, each time thanks to Hei Bao's help. This time, even Hei Bao was injured. Who would help them now?

I still have so many things to do, and we are all so young, full of youth and hope, how can we die?

But many people had already appeared in the forest. Of course, they weren't people, they were corpses. The four of them watched as the corpses surged in from all directions, and they were all surprisingly glad that they hadn't run around aimlessly.

Ke Liang said, "If we had known they had such a large lineup, why did we run so hard just now?"

Lu Ziming actually agreed with this view: "I've discovered that zombies aren't actually that scary."

“I’m so scared I’m numb. I don’t believe anything can scare me anymore,” Shishi said.

Everyone huddled together, watching the dead villagers get closer and closer. The Ke family's earrings and Shishi's bracelet seemed to still have some effect, so they didn't dare to get too close.

By this time, everyone had relaxed and resigned themselves to fate.

"What do you think our chances of escaping are? Should we place a bet?" Ke Liang said, utterly bored.

Everyone exchanged bitter smiles, feeling that their chances of escaping were now zero.

A sharp voice rang out: "I'm betting that you can all escape. I'm betting ten million."

All four were stunned; they hadn't expected outsiders to speak at this time.

Faintly, the sound of scriptures could be heard, and the corpses seemed to be in great pain as they slowly collapsed to the ground. The scriptures grew louder and louder, and many of the corpses slowly retreated and disappeared into the forest.

There were still figures moving about, and someone sprinkled some powder on the trees. For a moment, the four of them didn't know how many people were outside, or who had saved them.

But Ke Liang looked ashen-faced, even more terrified than when he was surrounded by ghosts.

Sure enough, a figure pounced over and struck Ke Liang's face from both sides, so hard that Ke Liang didn't dare to make a sound.

Qin Jin recognized her immediately; she was the mother who had beaten Ke Liang on the highway last time. Lu Ziming also recognized her, but Shi Shi was stunned.

Qin Jin whispered, "Ke Liang's mother, it's alright."

Shishi seemed to find it hard to believe that the beautiful woman actually had such a grown son.

"How does she maintain her youthful appearance? How can she look so young!" Shishi asked Qin Jin softly, but unexpectedly, Ke Liang's mother, Nalan Jing, overheard her and rushed over to Shishi, saying, "You have such good taste! You can tell I've taken good care of myself."

Things changed so suddenly that even Lu Ziming didn't know what was going on.

Surprisingly, another person jumped down from the tree. It was the man who had sprinkled the powder, a fat, middle-aged man with a big belly and a bald head. But Ke Liang seemed even more frightened.

Sure enough, the man walked over and slapped Ke Liang twice more. Ke Liang hid behind Qin Jin, feeling wronged. Nalan Jing, who was discussing cosmetics with Shi Shi, saw this and rushed up to slap the man twice: "Why did you hit my son?"

“That’s my son too. Why can you hit him but I can’t?” The bald, middle-aged man was actually Ke Liang’s father.

"No one but me can hit my son." Nalan Jing was indeed very tough.

The man felt a little wronged, but there was nothing he could do. He could only glare fiercely at Ke Liang. Ke Liang, backed up by his mother, wasn't so afraid anymore. He said to his parents, "Dad, Mom, there are so many people here. Can't you just come home and beat me? At least give me some face!"

The man seemed to have regained his composure. He nodded and greeted everyone, saying, "Hello everyone, my name is Ke Jiakuan, and I am Ke Liang's father. Although I am not very good-looking, I am indeed his biological father. Ke Liang looks like his grandfather."

Everyone was secretly holding back their laughter, feeling that the Ke family was truly a strange family.

Shishi suddenly snapped out of her daze and exclaimed, "Ke Jiakuan, that's the business genius in our city, the chairman of Feihong Group! My God! Ke Liang, you're rich!"

Nalan Jing was even happier, and holding Shi Shi's little hand, she wanted to say a million times: "You have such good taste!"

Ke Liang said from the side, "Mom and Dad, why are you showing up at this time?"

Ke Jiakuan seemed very unhappy: "Do you think I wanted to come? If it weren't for your grandfather's sake, I would have let you die in this poor, remote place."

"Grandpa?" the four of them said in unison.

“Yes, Grandpa appeared to me in a dream last night, saying that you were in danger and gave me directions to come and rescue you. Humph, Ke Liang, didn’t I tell you to study hard and not play these ghost stories? Why don’t you listen?” Ke Jiakuan seemed very angry.

"But none of you will let me learn Taoist arts!" Ke Liang almost roared.

"We don't want you to learn Taoist arts because of what happened to your sister!"

"What? I have an older sister?"

Ke Jia-kuan now seems willing to tell Ke Liang everything: "Our Ke family has been catching ghosts for generations and considers it our duty. But catching ghosts is a very dangerous thing. Sometimes it can lead to revenge from evil spirits. Your grandmother, who is my mother, was an ordinary woman who didn't know anything. It was because I witnessed her being killed by an evil spirit that I desperately tried to learn how to kill ghosts."

Ke Jiakuan sighed: "After your grandfather retired, I took over the family business and began to focus on catching ghosts. In order to prevent your grandmother's tragedy from happening again, I married a woman who could exorcise demons, namely your mother. She was a princess in the exorcist clan. We fell in love at first sight and worked together to catch ghosts and rid the people of evil. Those were truly a time of great pride and joy."

Nalan Jing wiped her eyes, her expression turning sorrowful, indicating that those days were still fresh in her memory.

"Later, we had your older sister, Xiaoru. She was an exceptionally talented child. If she hadn't died, she might have become the Ke family's best exorcist. But she was still killed by an evil spirit. We encountered a powerful enemy and almost killed all three of us. Fortunately, we had good resistance, but Xiaoru, who was only two years old and had just learned to walk, died."

The atmosphere became heavy.

"Your mother was in unbearable pain, and so was I. We devoted ourselves to retaliating against the evil spirits until she became pregnant with you. Your mother then became unwilling to perform exorcisms anymore. We had already lost a daughter and couldn't afford to lose a son as well. After you were born, your mother and I gave up our work of exorcising ghosts and started working in the business world. In the end, we were afraid of repeating the same mistakes. So I tried every means to prevent you from learning Taoist arts. I don't know if it's hereditary, but you are so interested in exorcising ghosts. Alas, if I had known you would like exorcising ghosts so much, why would I have given up my responsibilities to the Ke family and suffered retribution, letting the ancestral master take away my good looks?"

With red eyes, Ke Liang said to his father, "I'm sorry, Dad, I've always caused you so much trouble." He never imagined that his chubby father, who always bickered with his mother, would have the courage to abandon his family responsibilities for his own safety.

However, Ke Liang still couldn't help but ask, "Dad, were you ever handsome?"

Ke Jiakuan slapped Ke Liang on the head, then said seriously, "Luckily, Grandpa called us to rescue you yesterday, otherwise you would really be in danger today."

"Dad, are there only two of you coming to save me? What was that powder you just sprinkled?!"