I Went Crazy Killing in the World of Gods and Demons - Chapter 79

Chapter 79

The newly planted white funeral banner on the grave mound, untouched by wind and rain, still faintly revealed its cut-out coin patterns as it fluttered gently in the mountain breeze.

Grave soil slowly slid downward, toppling the banner.

Then, a pair of hands shot straight out from within the grave.

“Ah! Aaaah!! Ghosts! Ghosts!!”

“Help!!!”

“Run! Run away!! Ghhooosts!!!”

Villagers who had come armed with hoes, sickles, and shoulder poles to support the Village Chief instantly scattered like frightened birds, crying for their parents as they fled, each outrunning the other.

The Village Chief wanted to run too, but he couldn’t.

He had already collapsed weakly before the grave, his limbs trembling abnormally, his pupils contracted violently from extreme terror, his face frozen rigid in a horrified expression.

Rustling sounds continued emerging as the pointed grave mound completely collapsed – those hands were indeed emerging from within the tomb, having pushed aside both the coffin lid and the burial soil.

Next, a head emerged from the grave.

It belonged to a man with sunken eye sockets devoid of eyeballs, his skin rotten and bluish-black, revealing skeletal features beneath.

He carried a backpack and wore long pants and shirt, the fabric tattered but clearly indicating an outdoor hiker’s attire.

The man’s head turned stiffly toward the Village Chief, his nearly fleshless eye sockets devoid of any living spark seeming to nail themselves to the Village Chief’s body.

After staring intently for several seconds, he climbed out of the grave.

“Aaaahhh” the Village Chief screamed, his pants already wet from overwhelming terror.

But this wasn’t the end.

Then came a second, and a third.

Three figures actively climbed out from the grave.

Using their decayed and fallen-out eyeballs, their half-rotted skulls, their limbs barely hanging onto flesh, they stared at the Village Chief, watched the Village Chief, crawled toward the Village Chief.

Surrounded by these three stinking bodies, the Village Chief’s fear quickly reached its breaking point, his eyes rolling back as he prepared to faint.

However, just as he was about to lose consciousness, his body suddenly underwent a change

As if a refreshing breeze had swept through his Spirit Platform, carrying away the fatigue in his limbs and impurities within his body, leaving him feeling remarkably clear-headed. Simultaneously, gentle hands seemed to massage his temples, sharpening his senses and clarifying his mind.

Not only did he fail to faint, his consciousness instead became even more acute.

He feared, he trembled, he plunged into greater panic!

If only he could retreat into unknowing darkness, if only he could briefly lose consciousness, he could escape this horrifying scene before him, escape these vengeful spirits coming to claim his lifeyet he simply couldn’t faint!

“How could I let you faint?” Ye Anran murmured softly, holding her Silver Needle as she looked contemptuously at the Village Chief cowering at her feet. “It would be such a waste if you didn’t remember this scene until your dying day.”

“Healing and saving livesmy duty. No need to thank me.”

The Village Chief let out a painful scream, overwhelmed by immense panic as he prostrated himself on the ground. He couldn’t even control the muscles around his eyes to shut them, and his body involuntarily regressed into primal behavior.

He no longer resembled a man past his fifties but rather a helpless, wailing infant, desperate to retreat into the safety of a mother’s embrace.

Meanwhile, the hands of the three figures that had crawled out from the graves finally reached the Village Chief. Three hands, all at once, clamped down on his shoulders.

Half-rotted yet still recognizable, the hands dripped with foul-smelling mucus, drop by drop, staining the sleeves of the Village Chief’s clothes.

“AhhhI’ll talk, I’ll say anything! Spare me, spare me!!!” The Village Chief scrambled and writhed frantically, struggling with all his might to escape the place.

Finding no way out, he clawed at his own face, leaving deep bloody scratches.

His expression was deranged, like a madman’salternating between weeping and howling, his sanity clearly slipping away.

Ling Fang spoke softly into his earpiece, “That’s enough.”

Xie Qingling heard the command and directed the three corpses to lie back down.

The hillside fell silent once more, save for the Village Chief’s agonized cries.

He clung to Ling Fang’s leg, holding on desperately, avoiding even a single glance at the three corpses lying nearby. Between sobs, he cried out, “Don’t come for me, don’t come for me… I had no choice, I didn’t want to, I never wanted to…”

Ling Fang and the others turned their attention to the Village Chief in unison.

“Calm him down,” Ling Fang instructed.

Ye Anran nodded, drawing several Silver Needles from her Needle Kit. She inserted them into the Village Chief’s head, forcibly settling his nerves.

The Village Chief’s face was deathly pale, and he remained silent.

After a few minutes of quiet, the Village Chief lowered his head and said, “I’ll confess. I’ll tell you everything.”

“I killed them. I was the one who did it.”

Ling Fang signaled to Dai Xingyu to start the recording device and begin documenting.

“About a month ago, five people came to our village, claiming they were here for an adventure. Of course, we didn’t welcome them and tried every way to drive them off.”

The Village Chief trembled as he recounted the events.

“But they paid no mind. They set up tents on the hillside, saying they planned to stay for a while. They took photos of the children and the elderly, and soon they were on friendly terms with everyone in the village. I was terrifiedafraid they would bewitch the villagers and cause some disaster!” The Village Chief’s eyes widened with fear.

“And sure enough, what I feared came to pass. Those five people learned that our village worships the River God and still upholds the tradition of Sacrifice. They grew even more curious. One of them, some kind of scholar, said he wanted to gather material and conduct research. He started going door to door, trying to uncover the secrets of this village!”

“No, that couldn’t be allowed! The River God would be furious! Our village would suffer! We would all die!”

The Village Chief became agitated, waving his hands violently in front of him as if trying to ward off some terrifying presence. He said in terror, “In the end… in the end, that folklorist still managed to find clues.”

“It seems he discovered our secret.”

“I knew I had to do something to stop them.”

The Village Chief continued, “I invited them to my home and drugged them. I originally… I only wanted to detain them while I figured out what to do. I never intended to kill them!”

“But for some reason, one day a voice suddenly echoed in my mind: Kill him, kill them, eliminate them all!”

“I… I don’t know what happened. When I came to my senses, three people were already dead.”

“I was terrified. Looking at the remaining man and woman, I didn’t know what to do. That’s when the woman said I would face retribution for this, that I would die, that I would go to prison! I don’t want to! I don’t want to go to prison! I don’t want to go to prison!”

“Soon I came up with a better idea.”

“After discussing with Wang Laodian, we decided to have the woman marry the River God. As for the man… we lost track of him momentarily… he escaped, he ran away.”

The Village Chief covered his face and broke down in tears, his emotions filled with fear and terror.

“From that day on, I couldn’t sleep at all, night after night. I was afraid he would go to the police, afraid of what he might do to me. But after a few days, Wang Laodian came and told me not to worry, that everything would continue as normal. The escaped man was already dead.”

“I felt relieved, thinking everything was over, but I never expected… you would come.”

The Village Chief’s eyes were bloodshot, appearing both exhausted and terrifying. He looked at Ling Fang and the others – whereas he had previously viewed them as mortal enemies, now he looked at them as if they were saviors.

“Take me away, I’m willing to go to prison. If I’m in prison, they won’t come for me anymore, right? I’ll go to prison, I’ll turn myself in. I killed people, I killed them.”

“This is too absurd…” Ye Anran couldn’t help but say, “Too ridiculous.”

So ignorant, so foolish, so absurd.

After a moment of silence among those present, Ling Fang let out a deep sigh and said to Dai Xingyu, “Contact Captain Chen later and have his team take over. Find all the accomplices.”

“Accomplices? There are no accomplices!” the Village Chief shouted loudly, “I did it all! I did everything alone!”

“Alone? You’re over fifty years old. Neither your physical strength nor mental capacity would be sufficient to handle such a large-scale murder case alone.” Ling Fang crouched down, his cold eyes fixed on him. “Don’t think about protecting others. When the experts arrive, none of your crimes will escape their notice.”

The Village Chief’s body trembled uncontrollably. As if suddenly remembering something, he shouted, “I… I forgot earlier! Of course I had help, the helper… the helper was Wang Laodian! I was just following his orders! It was him, him! The two of us!”

His eyes suddenly shifted, and he cried out, “You need to find him quickly, or he’ll escape! You’d better all go together – he won’t be easy to deal with!”

Ling Fang snorted coldly, “Don’t think about luring the tiger away from the mountain so you can escape. Wang Laodian is full of suspicious points, so naturally he’s involved. I’ve already sent someone to find him. He won’t get away.”

“Speak. Who exactly is Wang Laodian? Why do you consult with him and always follow his orders? Was Wang Laodian the mastermind behind the River God’s marriage? What does he want?” Ling Fang continued questioning.

“Wang Laodian… he’s the Village Guardian,” the Village Chief swallowed with difficulty before continuing. “He didn’t used to be hunched or bent over. About twenty years ago, one day suddenly a young man who was about to get married became hunched and bent over. That person was Wang Laodian. He said it was because he took on the village’s misfortune that he became like this. From that time on, he never straightened up again and remained a lifelong bachelor.”

“He can see deities and communicate with them. His eyes can see things ordinary people can’t. It was he who proposed the village’s sacrifices to the River God. All the River God’s demands and those strange rules came from Wang Laodian. If you have questions, go ask him!”

Dai Xingyu sneered, “You just blindly follow whatever Wang Laodian says? You’ve really wasted all these years living.” He swallowed back the word “idiot” that nearly escaped his lips.

The Village Chief retorted loudly, “What Wang Laodian says is true! He really can see deities! If we don’t listen to him, we’ll become hunched too, with back pain and soreness, and not a single part of our bodies will feel good! This is the curse brought by the River God, this is the sign of the River God’s anger! If we don’t obey, everyone will suffer! You young brat, how many years have you lived? What do you know!”

Wang Laodian’s hunched back had nothing to do with taking on misfortune – he was keeping a Little ghost, worshiping something evil that clung to his back, sucking his yang energy and feeding on Incense Offerings.

Now it seemed clear why Wang Laodian kept the Little ghost: to control these villagers, make them obedient, establish his authority through minor punishments for major offenses.

This Wang Laodian needed thorough investigation.

Since he was involved with the mystical world, he fell under Ling Fang’s jurisdiction. The Little ghost behind him had to be dealt with.

They left the Village Chief with Chen Yinghui, while Wang Laodian needed to be handled by Ling Fang’s team personally.

Ling Fang instructed Ye Anran and Dai Xingyu to guard the Village Chief properly, then stepped aside to communicate with Yu Wei, who had been sent to find Wang Laodian.

“Lao Yu, how’s Wang Laodian? First restrain him, then”

Before Ling Fang could finish, he heard Yu Wei’s shocked and angry voice through the earpiece.

“Minister, something terrible has happened.”

The air was thick with the strong smell of blood, mixed with the odor from pickle jars, creating a sticky, nauseating, stomach-churning stench.

Yu Wei’s face was dark and gloomy as he said, “Wang Laodian… he’s had an accident.”

Inside the room, Wang Laodian, who had been tied to a pillar, now lay in a pool of blood.