Zhang Shitou was an outsider, one of the few villagers in Kaoshan Village with a different surname.
According to the old village chief, Zhang Shitou had lost both parents as a child and had always made his living by hunting. Because of his violent temperament, he often clashed with the villagers; Zhang Xiaoqi's family was far from the only one he had quarreled with.
That was why the old village chief had not thought of him right away.
Zhang Shitou's home was not in the village either, but deep in the woods some distance away. There were no other homes within several hundred paces, only a lone wooden hut.
Shunned by the villagers, Zhang Shitou rarely interacted with the others. He usually handed his pelts and cured meat to traveling peddlers in exchange for daily necessities.
Though his household registration was in Kaoshan Village, he actually lived a solitary, isolated life.
When Wang Chen and the old village chief arrived at Zhang Shitou's home, the wooden hut's door was tightly shut, and there was no sign of movement.
Wang Chen twisted off the bronze lock hanging on the door and barged straight in.
Zhang Shitou's home was not much different from those of most villagers. There were several crude pieces of furniture inside, and cured meat and dried goods hung from the beams.
But the instant he stepped into the room, Wang Chen felt the Demon-Identifying Talisman in his robes grow faintly warm.
Without giving anything away, he searched the room from top to bottom.
He found nothing.
At that moment, a member of Kaoshan Village's guard team said, "Zhang Shitou must have gone hunting at Tiger Head Mountain. He goes there often and even built a small hut there. Sometimes, if it gets late, he stays there overnight!"
Wang