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墨書 Inktalez
Human Sacrifice
In the dead of night, the villagers of Futu Ridge were sound asleep, unaware that a great crisis was quietly approaching.
I rode my motorcycle with my mother, speeding along the road behind the village towards Winding Mountain Road.
Winding Mountain Road was the only route from Futu Ridge to the county town. Although there was another way out to the west of Futu Ridge, it was a rugged wasteland for dozens of miles in between, making it impossible for vehicles to pass.
My mother sat silently behind me. I turned back against the wind and said, "Mom, it's going to be fine. Once we reach the county town, we'll stay at a hotel. First thing tomorrow morning, I'll look for a place to rent. I know of a spot nearby with cheap rents."
She nodded and replied, "Alright!"
The motorcycle soon reached the intersection below Winding Mountain Road, and I stopped at the highest point of Reed Marsh.
My mother asked, "Why did you stop?"
I replied, "I just saw some lights flashing ahead; there are people over there. Let's get down and see what's going on."
She murmured in agreement and followed me as I crouched low and moved through Reed Marsh towards where I had seen the lights. I could faintly hear a lot of chatter.
"When Widow Li came back, she saw military trucks blocking the mountain outside, and they were all armed. Li the Village Head and Captain Liu have already left. At that moment, I didn't realize anything was wrong until I noticed my phone had no signal."
"Why would they want to kill us? We're just ordinary folks," a villager's voice said.
"Surely it's because too many high-ranking officials have died. They see us Futu Ridge people as a mob. I once heard a rumor about a village where a fugitive entered, but for some reason, the villagers insisted on protecting him and wouldn't let the police in. One officer went in to negotiate with them and ended up not coming out for half an hour. Then they sent in two more officers, and soon after, one officer's head was sent out."
"What happened next?"
"The result was that the army arrived, conducting a carpet bombing, killing everyone—men, women, and children—without sparing even pigs and dogs."
"They were affecting public order. Our village hasn't killed anyone; back in the old society, people were ignorant and committed murder. Nowadays, who kills just for the sake of it? That female driver was just bullying us; who would dare to touch someone sent by the Provincial Capital? If anyone's to blame, it's the people from Bright Moon Village!"
"What have we done? The murders are by others, not us!"
"Village Chief, what will you do? We can't just wait to die!"
"Someone has already gone up to scout. They should be back soon; let's wait a little longer."
I looked at the crowd of people gathering at the foot of the mountain and squatted down to speak to my mother. "Several villages have come together. It seems many from Futu Ridge have noticed something wrong. The army is surrounding Futu Ridge now; let's see what they find out before deciding how to get out."
My mother nodded in agreement as we sat on the ridge of Reed Marsh. I suddenly remembered a long time ago when I used to plant rice with her in the fields. When we got tired, we would sit on the ridge to rest. Back then, I would watch her laugh heartily, and she would gently smile at me while wiping the mud off my face.
Not long after, two young men ran down from the mountain. One of them said, "Village Chief, there’s no one on the mountain. The military vehicles down here have their headlights on; it seems like someone is on guard. I didn’t dare go closer."
The man referred to as the Village Chief replied, "Then let’s go together. Surely they can't kill hundreds of us!"
The villagers then set off towards Winding Mountain Road in a determined manner.
Only a few had noticed something amiss; not everyone believed they could suffer calamity without reason.
My mother and I followed far behind these people, winding along Winding Mountain Road until we reached the road leading to the county town.
The outskirts of Futu Ridge were lined with many military vehicles, seemingly surrounding Futu Ridge completely. The headlights on the vehicles illuminated everything, making it impossible for anyone to escape unnoticed from the mountains to the county town.
I followed my mother closely behind the villagers, who were moving cautiously ahead. Futu Ridge had a population of nearly twenty thousand, but only a few hundred were here. If everyone could pass through safely, the people of the village might still have hope; perhaps the army did not intend to massacre the villagers. The note left for me by Huzi contained no such intentions; everything was merely speculation on our part.
"Comrades, I am the village head of Guancun. My father fought against the Devils when he was young. I don't know what you comrades are doing blocking the way outside the mountain, but it has frightened us terribly. We are just common folk and have never dared to act recklessly," said the Village Head of Guancun.
However, amidst the blinding lights, the soldiers standing beside the military vehicles remained completely still. The village head continued, "I know you comrades have good hearts; it must be tough working late at night. Our villagers from Guancun need to pass this road to get outside the mountain, so we kindly ask you to let us through."
Yet, no one responded. Seeing this, the village head turned back to signal the crowd below to come forward. But as soon as he raised his hand, a bullet pierced through his skull, and he collapsed onto the ground, blood pooling around him.
The villagers erupted into frantic screams and turned to flee up the mountain. A barrage of gunfire erupted, and in an instant, more than ten people fell. I grabbed my mother's hand and ran toward Winding Mountain Road, followed by a group of panicked villagers.
After reaching Reed Marsh, I rode with my mother toward the west side of Futu Ridge at full speed. The army had silently executed a group of people; they clearly no longer cared about the lives of Futu Ridge's villagers.
Futu Ridge was mountainous and heavily forested, with many caves scattered throughout. They feared that if they didn't eliminate everyone at night, some might escape and they would have to conduct a thorough sweep by day.
But when my mother and I climbed up the western mountain of Futu Ridge, we discovered that even down below on that side was heavily surrounded.
I looked at the collapsed temple in the distance and suddenly understood the helplessness Old Scholar must have felt when surrounded by thousands.
He had skills, but he was ultimately not a deity.
I pulled out my Spring Knife from behind me and looked at my hands. My mother noticed and hurriedly asked, "Son, what do you plan to do?"
I replied, "As long as I cut myself, it will trigger something within me. The army here is relatively smaller; I will go and kill them all."
"No! They all have guns; you can't defend against them," my mother urged anxiously.
I said, "How will we know if we don't try? Otherwise, when the time comes, we'll just be waiting to die. When the enemy army arrives, we won't have any chance to escape."
"Who said we can't escape?" A familiar voice came from the darkness. A slender figure emerged from the foot of the mountain; it was Guo the Blind, who had been missing for some time.
Guo the Blind clutched his chest, his face pale, blood dripping from his hands.
"It's you?" I frowned as I looked at Guo the Blind.
"It's me. You must hate seeing me, right?" Guo the Blind replied.
I ignored his self-deprecation and asked, "How did you get hurt?"
"Li Fugui tried to kill me before he left, but I managed to escape," Guo the Blind said.
"You're so powerful, yet you couldn't defeat Li Fugui?" I scoffed.
Guo the Blind smiled. "My Dao Body was destroyed by Old Scholar. I've only learned a few techniques for survival, and using one costs me months of my life. Now I'm old and frail; I don't have much time left."
I looked at Guo the Blind in confusion, unsure if he was telling the truth. He was not only severely injured but also appeared aged and weak, struggling to breathe.
"You've always been planning for revenge, haven't you? Now that the army is here and your plans are ruined, you're about to die here too. You must feel very unwilling," I said.
Guo the Blind nodded. "Yes, I'm very unwilling. The people from Futu Ridge killed my entire family. There isn't a single person in Bright Moon Village worth pitying, including Old Man Wang. If he hadn't betrayed me out of fear for his own life and handed over my hidden Dao Body to the Village's Militia, I wouldn't have ended up in this situation. When I saw my only son brutally murdered by the villagers' schemes, I vowed to take revenge and kill them all. But I'm too weak on my own. People can never fight against fate; isn't that right, Yang Hao?"
I replied, "What good does it do to reminisce about this now?"
"Guo the Blind said, 'You and I are unwilling, but in reality, you are even more unwilling!'
I replied, 'What do I have to be unwilling about? It's just a worthless life. I've avenged Zhou Manman, and being able to die alongside my mother is enough for me.'
Guo the Blind laughed heartily. 'Yang Hao, oh Yang Hao, you speak tough words, but deep down, you don't truly believe that. I've watched you grow up; your ambition surpasses anyone else's, even exceeding my son Guo Huaiyi. You've always shown yourself to be different. You can't stand the ignorance of the people in the mountains or the way others bully you when you're weak. Even when you were young, I could see a strong killing intent in your eyes. Do you remember when your mother was selling vegetables on the street and some thugs knocked over her stall? Do you recall the impulse to kill that surged within her? And how about when Huang San'er slapped you in public? The uncontrollable rage that boiled inside you?'
I said, 'Those are all past events.'
Guo the Blind replied, 'Past events reveal much about a person. If it weren't for the years of restraint from you and your mother, you might very well be dead by now. You despise your current weakness and realize that even lowly people like Chen Coffin can bully you.'
'You were following me?' I asked, wide-eyed.
'Not following you,' Guo the Blind said. 'At that time, I was hiding beside Ancestral Grave after being injured by Li Fugui and happened to overhear everything. The reason I'm here is also coincidental; I wanted to leave this place as well.'
'What a coincidence!' I scoffed.
Guo the Blind continued, ' Futu Ridge is not that big; such coincidences aren't rare. You could interpret it as fate bringing us together again; we should share a common enemy.'
'I'm sorry, but I can't ally with you,' I stated firmly.
Guo the Blind coughed lightly and said, 'Then you'll just have to watch as the villagers of Futu Ridge, including your mother, are killed before your eyes. You carry something within you left by your father Yang Sanqian; it's not easy to die in a short time. You'll witness Futu Ridge being slaughtered by the army and unleash the darkness sealed within you in a fit of rage, ultimately killing a few people before meeting your own demise. What a pity for someone who could have become a Daoist Grandmaster! What a shame for an idealist crushed by a swarm of ants—this is your fate!'"
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