Blood Repayment (I)

Someone had died.

Qin Manjiang pushed through the crowd and went closer for a look. The dead man was a young man he had never seen before.

From the conversations around him, he learned that the man was the Zhang Family's son. The woman hunched beside him, crying, was his mother.

Liu Jingqing couldn't squeeze through and could only fret outside the crowd.

Fortunately, someone had gone to notify the village chief. But the person who arrived wasn't the chief; it was Wang Ju, the head of the Wang Family.

"Make room! Stop crowding around! Move!" The young man beside Wang Ju dispersed the villagers gathered around, but Qin Manjiang stayed where he was, crouching on the ground and staring at the corpse.

Wang Ju frowned at Qin Manjiang, then looked at the corpse. "Everyone, get back to the preparations. You all know how important the Sheep Transformation Festival is. We can't let something like this interrupt it. We'll report Zhang Yang's death to the police after the festival is over. Move along, everyone. Move along."

The dead man's name was Zhang Yang?

Qin Manjiang glanced around. To his surprise, that explanation actually persuaded the villagers. It seemed a human life really mattered less than keeping the Sheep Transformation Festival running smoothly. Apart from the dead man's mother, everyone left with perfectly normal expressions.

Liu Jingqing took the opportunity to hurry over to Qin Manjiang. One look at the corpse on the ground turned her face pale.

The corpse was a horrific sight. Scraps of Zhang Yang's own flesh and skin filled the gaps beneath his nails. He had peeled off most of his own face, leaving a terrifying, bloody mess.

But the actual cause of death was in his head.

A chopstick had pierced his left temple, its tip protruding a short distance from his right. An injury like that had probably killed Zhang Yang instantly.

And although Zhang Yang's pupils had already lost focus, the terror before his death was still plain to see. In that instant, he had seen something utterly horrifying.

The sight of Zhang Yang's corpse sent a chill through Wang Ju, too.

He couldn't help saying, "Take him away first. Move the body to the Ancestral Hall."

"Wang Ju! What are you doing? My son is dead! Where are you taking him?" When Wang Ju gave a meaningful look and people stepped forward to carry away the Zhang Family's son, his mother refused to let them. She pointed at Wang Ju's nose and unleashed a torrent of curses.

Wang Ju was no pushover either. He immediately glared at Zhang Yang's mother. "What am I doing? The village chief put me in charge of making sure the Sheep Transformation Festival runs smoothly. What do you think I'm doing?"

"No! Until we find out how my son died, I won't let you take him anywhere!" Tears streamed down the mother's face as she spoke, but her resolve was firm.

"Could you tell me what happened just before he died?" Qin Manjiang suddenly asked.

Wang Ju and Zhang Yang's mother both turned toward him. The former frowned. "Who are you?"

"I'm a student. I heard there was a festival here and came for a visit. I'm staying at the inn."

Qin Manjiang looked at Wang Ju as he spoke.

"Someone said five outsiders came to the village yesterday. That was you?" Wang Ju looked at Qin Manjiang, his tone carrying a clear threat. "Listen, college boy. If you're here to have fun, stick to that. This is none of your business."

"Take him away!" Wang Ju ordered, leaving no room for argument. Zhang Yang's mother couldn't stop them even if she tried.

He said five people? Qin Manjiang grew thoughtful.

Watching all this, Liu Jingqing was helpless, too. As far as they were concerned, this mountain village was already sealed off. There was no way to seek help from the outside world.

"Is that a good idea?"

Qin Manjiang suddenly spoke.

Wang Ju, who had been about to turn and leave, looked at him. "What did you say?"

Qin Manjiang stood up and looked at him expressionlessly. "I said, if you move him, you'll be the next to die."

His utterly emotionless gaze made Wang Ju's scalp prickle. "Wait!"

The people who had been fighting down their fear and disgust to handle the corpse hurriedly stopped.

"What do you mean by that?"

Wang Ju already had a guilty conscience. Qin Manjiang's words only made him more anxious.

"Isn't it obvious?" Qin Manjiang pointed at Zhang Yang's face. "He clawed his face into strips with his nails and tore them off. Look closely. What character do the places where he tore off the skin resemble?"

A chill gripped Wang Ju's heart, and he immediately looked at Zhang Yang's face. There was certainly more than one wound. He had torn off a great deal of skin with his own nails, leaving wounds packed densely together.

Yet... when Wang Ju looked, one horizontal stroke... another... another... three horizontal strokes and one vertical. Wang-Wang!

The wounds formed the character for Wang.

Wang Ju's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees. His back went cold. Unlike the others, he knew exactly what had happened. Two younger members of the Wang Family had already died in the Ancestral Hall before dawn. He had thought the Wang Family was safe now, but what had just happened told him it wasn't that simple...

"S-sister-in-law, tell us what happened before Zhang Yang died."

As Wang Ju spoke, he glanced guiltily around. Although the morning sun hung just above the mountaintop, it offered him no warmth at all.

Zhang Yang's mother ignored Wang Ju completely and looked straight at Qin Manjiang. "I don't know either. Just after daybreak... Yang went out with his dad. When he came back, he didn't look right. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he didn't want to stay in the village anymore. He wanted to leave."

"It's all my fault!" Zhang Yang's mother suddenly began to break down. "I told him he should at least stay for the Hundred-Meter Banquet before leaving, for good luck... If it weren't for me, Yang would already be gone. None of this would have happened!"

"Then what?" Qin Manjiang remained unmoved and simply continued asking, "Did he inflict all these wounds himself?"

Zhang Yang's mother slumped on the ground, looking at her son's horribly mangled corpse. She nodded through her tears. "Yes... He had just reached this spot when he suddenly stopped moving."

She pointed at a slab of marble.

"Then Yang seemed to see something that terrified him. He kept flailing his arms and legs, gesturing at me over and over. He kept opening his mouth as if he were possessed, but he didn't say anything..."

"He slapped himself hard and started sobbing, but I... I couldn't hear him at all!"

"Boo-hoo..." Zhang Yang's mother covered her face and wailed, choking out, "I watched him claw through the skin on his face and keep tearing it off. I tried to pull him away, but I couldn't stop him... He was too strong..."

"Yang... It's Mommy's fault. It's all Mommy's fault..."

Qin Manjiang looked at Zhang Yang's eyes, still wide open in death. "Then he rushed over to the Hundred-Meter Banquet table, grabbed a chopstick, and drove it into his own temple. Is that right?"

Zhang Yang's mother was no longer able to answer that question.

Liu Jingqing couldn't bear to watch. She tugged at Qin Manjiang's sleeve. "Classmate Qin... Let's stop questioning her for now..."

Qin Manjiang turned to look at Liu Jingqing, a trace of puzzlement in his eyes, but he still nodded. "All right. That's pretty much everything anyway."

"Hey, you asked all those questions. Did you figure anything out?" Wang Ju had already retreated among the people he had brought with him, as if only having more people around could make him feel safe enough.

Qin Manjiang didn't answer. He simply walked to the marble slab Zhang Yang's mother had pointed out-the spot Zhang Yang had reached-and stopped.

He didn't know which direction Zhang Yang had been facing, and his mother couldn't answer any more questions right now. He could only turn his head little by little to determine the direction.

This way was toward the Wang Family, this way the Sun Family, the Chen Family, the Zhang Family, the Li Family, the Xie Family... None of those directions produced any unusual reaction.

Until... he faced the final location-the Ancestral Hall.

Bzzzz-

A roar erupted in his mind!

In an instant, Qin Manjiang felt the world plunge into darkness. A pair of black, elongated pupils flashed before his eyes and vanished!

He jerked his head down. The village's central square was paved with tiles, but this particular slab might have been laid to replace a broken one. The marble was clean and bright, polished enough to reflect light.

As he looked down, the reflection in the marble should have shown his own face. Instead, it had become a bizarre black sheep's face!

Qin Manjiang immediately closed his eyes, avoiding the eyes of the sheep's face in the reflection.

He stepped off the marble and, without looking back, grabbed Liu Jingqing and left.

"Hey! You..." Wang Ju called after him, but Qin Manjiang turned a deaf ear.

Liu Jingqing felt bad for him and asked, "Isn't he the next one? If we found something... wouldn't it be better to tell him...?"

Qin Manjiang shook his head. "It isn't him."

"Huh? But on the dead man's face... there was clearly the character for Wang..."

Qin Manjiang stopped and looked at Liu Jingqing. "I lied to him."

"With that many wounds packed together, it isn't hard to pick out a simple character like Wang."

"That man has a guilty conscience."

Liu Jingqing's mouth slowly fell open. Before she could speak, Qin Manjiang continued with another question.

"The writer. Did you see where she went?"

"What?" Liu Jingqing was having trouble keeping up with Qin Manjiang's train of thought.

Qin Manjiang slowly turned his head, sweeping his gaze across every corner, but he couldn't find that figure anywhere in the village's central square.

"Her. The woman who guided us here... Miss Xiao Ran."

Thank you to Yi Yu Zhi Qi for the tip, and to Su Luo Zhan, Xiao Zhi Li, Lao Wu Meng, Hua Qing Li, Bao Zi, Book Friend 2017, Xia Qiu Bu Ke Sou, Wu Rao A, Kao Ya, and Book Friend 2018 for their tips! Thank you, everyone!

(End of chapter)