Runner Dog, Donkey-Hide Shadow Puppet

Another person who was dragged out of the line by the Patrol Team along with Cui Zhu immediately collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.

The Patrol Team's ghosts grabbed him by the arm, dragging him like a dead chicken, towards the long wooden table with blurry human-shaped bloodstains.

"I'm not a ghost, I'm not a ghost..."

The man's face was deathly pale, and he spoke in a low voice.

Feces and urine flowed out of his trouser legs.

The ghost holding him caught a whiff of the stench emanating from him, abruptly halting its laughter and slamming it against the leg of a wooden table.

The demon's eyes flickered with fire. "You're about to die, you ghost!"

Even when facing death, a ghost will still try to deceive you!

All eyes turned to the villagers at the wooden table, and they burst into laughter at the sound.

"A ghost is a ghost; it can't pretend to be human!"

"It's still trying to fool us..."

"No ghost can sneak into our village!" Zhou Yang looked at the ferocious smiles on their faces, and then at the two real living people they called ghosts. For a moment, he was in a daze.

Who exactly is the ghost?

Who is a person?

Amidst the laughter of the crowd, the demon who had spoken earlier glared hatefully at the man whose stench of excrement and urine was growing stronger, then picked up a carpenter's axe from the table and shouted at the man, "Sit still!"

The man was clinging to a table leg, like a drowning person grabbing onto a piece of driftwood.

Upon hearing the ghost's shout, it actually let go of his hand, slumped down, and collapsed to the ground.

"Head! Lift your head, head!"

The Patrol Team's ghost shouted again.

The person was completely bewildered by the Ghost Rhyme emanating from the evil spirit, and upon hearing the sound, obediently raised their head, revealing a section of their neck that was covered by their collar.

He had just raised his head when the Patrol Team's ghosts raised their axes and chopped one down on the man's neck!

"Whoosh!"

The axe blade smoothly severed the living man's head, and a spurt of blood gushed from his neck! The fountain of blood, though not particularly vibrant in the firelight, was still vivid in its color.

But once it bursts forth, it's like fireworks in the night for the villagers of Guan Village, instantly drawing all their attention!

Zhou Yang stared wide-eyed at the head that had rolled several times on the ground, his heart pounding wildly.

A nameless sense of desolation lingered in his heart.

He knew full well that his current emotions stemmed largely from a sense of shared vulnerability.

He understood even more deeply the excruciating pain of witnessing a handful of his own kind, like himself, being killed by ghosts right before his eyes in a village where the vast majority of villagers were ghosts.

Zhou Yang kept reminding himself that he must never have any thoughts of rescuing others!

That idea is utterly absurd!

He's barely able to protect himself now, let alone help others.

Thinking of rescuing others at this moment is nothing more than a useless act of foolish courage!

So even if we see our own kind, all we can do now is offer a few more prayers for them in our hearts!

"Ding-dong, ding-dong..." At this moment, the sound of bells that had been drifting from in front of Zhou Yang toward the ranks behind him suddenly circled back from behind, getting closer and closer to Zhou Yang.

The closer it got, the more Zhou Yang could see a long-haired, red-eyed Fanzi dog rushing straight toward him at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!

In a fleeting glance, Zhou Yang saw the black and yellow fur and tiger-striped pattern of the Fanzi!

The fur pattern is exactly the same as that of the "shadow dog" hanging around the neck of the Patrol Team leader!

The dog that appeared in Zhou Yang's peripheral vision was the shadow puppet dog that the Patrol Team leader had tied around his neck!

The Patrol Team relies on this dog to distinguish between what they perceive as humans and ghosts?

"Why are those Fanzi coming at me?!"

Zhou Yang was inwardly anxious, but he kept a straight face to avoid arousing suspicion from the surrounding villagers.

Not far away, the Patrol Team's ghosts carried the headless corpse onto a long wooden table, then took a saw and pressed it against the headless body, pushing and pulling it back and forth.

"Sizzle, sizzle--"

The sight of blood-soaked flesh on the long wooden table, along with the teeth-grinding sound of the saw cutting through blood, violently pounded at Zhou Yang's mind.

The shadowy dog suddenly appeared and landed beside Zhou Yang! All the villagers were watching with great interest as the food was being divided on the long table, and Zhou Yang couldn't look away at that moment.

The barbarian dog rushed close, and he had to concentrate on dealing with it.

Torn between two opposing forces, Zhou Yang was like walking a tightrope, struggling to suppress the fluctuations in his mind and control the Ghost Mouth under his clothes, constantly emitting a Ghost Rhyme aura. The paper clothes on his body added another layer of disguise to this aura!

The faint sheen of oil on his skin now shines even brighter!

His entire face was taut and radiant, and the smile on his face and the light in his eyes were even more striking because he was fully focused.

At this moment, even a living person would mistake Zhou Yang for one of the ghosts from Guan Village!

He had almost lost all trace of human warmth!

It's all about the deliberate aura that comes from ghosts impersonating living people.

This deliberate demeanor is what distinguishes it from a real, living person; it's like an extremely lifelike rubber mannequin!

"Whoosh--"

The long-haired, red-eyed foreign dog pounced on Zhou Yang's feet.

It didn't even stay here for even a moment in Zhou Yang's place! "", "", "", "", "", "hand-type", "update"

Zhou Yang felt ice-cold all over!

The breath exhaled from the Ghost Mouth intensified the chill that permeated Zhou Yang's body.

He was also very fortunate that the aura almost froze his body, preventing him from losing any bodily fluids.

If I sweat, I wonder if that foreign dog will notice anything?

On the long wooden table, the division of the "ghost" is still ongoing.

Blood dripped down the edge of the tabletop, quickly pooling into several puddles on the floor around it.

At this moment, Cui Zhu was also dragged to the table by the patrolling ghosts.

His legs were weak, and he tried to stand up, but he couldn't.

Finally, Cui Zhu, like the man who had died before him, was thrown to the ground. Not far in front of him was the head of the previous victim.

The deceased still had his bluish-gray eyes open, staring straight at Cui Zhu.

His face still held that wooden, stiff, lifeless expression, but his darting eyes clearly revealed a lively, genuine energy, making his expression seem particularly incongruous. Cui Zhu slightly opened his mouth, wanting to beg for mercy, wanting to say something.

When people are dying, they always have to say something.

These words were their last cry for help to the outside world.

Just like Lian Dafu killing Zhang Erheng in an attempt to use him as a stepping stone for himself—people who shouldn't die but are destined to die are never willing to accept it and will desperately grasp any possibility of survival.

Cui Zhu slowly moved his eyes, meeting the gazes of the villagers who were also queuing up and staring at him with wide eyes.

He searched among the villagers in line.

"He wants to find Cui He?"

Zhou Yang's heart skipped a beat as he looked into Cui Zhu's eyes.

Could it be that Cui Zhu is planning to follow in Lian Dafu's footsteps and use Cui He's life as a scapegoat?

Cui He's ability to hide among a bunch of ghosts for so long is quite impressive.

It's truly a pity that Cui Zhu singled him out as a scapegoat.

Zhou Yang harbored a vague worry—whether Cui He had discovered some of his secrets during their earlier contact, and whether she had shared this information with Cui Zhu.

Following Cui Zhu's gaze, Zhou Yang quickly glanced at the back of the line.

At the end of the line, a man stood behind another tall, burly villager.

Zhou Yang vaguely remembered that the tall, strong villager was Li Fangzhong.

The person behind Li Fangzhong was extremely close to Li Fangzhong, almost touching his back.

At this moment, the Ghost Rhyme emanating from it also lingered around the person behind it, making that person appear lifeless and sharing a similar temperament with the villagers in the procession.

But Zhou Yang's Ghost Head Averting God's nostrils were contracting, clearly telling Zhou Yang this.

The person standing right next to Li Fangzhong was a living person!

It's Cui He!

Zhou Yang suddenly turned his gaze back to Cui Zhu!

He thought to himself that what happened to Lian Dafu was probably going to happen to Cui Zhu!

At this moment, Cui Zhu suddenly shifted his gaze from Cui He and stared directly at Zhou Yang —a thought that struck Zhou Yang like a thunderbolt! A thought flashed through his mind!

Cui He indeed discovered some of his secrets, and most likely knew that he was a living person!

Furthermore, it's highly likely that Cui He has already shared the information he gathered with Cui Zhu!

"Cui Zhu wants to report me?"

"Trying to use me as a scapegoat?!"

Zhou Yang raised his shiny, oily face and stared coldly at Cui Zhu.

The foreign dog searched several times, but couldn't find him.

In the eyes of these Guan Village, he is Guan Village the "Zhou Yang himself" that they know!

Even if Cui Zhu reports him now, it will mostly only cause him some trouble. It won't be like how Lian Dafu harmed Zhang Erheng and killed Zhou Yang!

Although Zhou Yang's thoughts were clear and he maintained a cold rationality, the slight tension and fear in his heart were also very real!

"Bring it on."

At this moment, he suddenly grinned and mouthed something to Cui Zhu. Cui Zhu saw his mouth, and a dark light flashed in his eyes. Then— Cui Zhu lowered his eyelids, still silent and expressionless, his face still stiff. Behind him, the Patrol Team's ghosts raised their blood-stained axe blades once again.

At the crucial moment, Cui Zhu did not choose to drag Zhou Yang down with him!

He was clearly a dying man.

This person, on the verge of death, voluntarily gave up all possibilities of survival.

He stared blankly as he faced his death.

Looking at him, Zhou Yang felt as if his heart had been squeezed tightly by a hand!

I can't save him!

I can barely keep my own life!

"I don't know him, and I have no reason to save him!"

"By nature, I am actually a rather selfish person. In this terrifying environment, what's wrong with watching unrelated people die?"

I didn't do anything wrong!

"That's it, that's it..." Zhou Yang's fists were clenched under his sleeves as he repeatedly told himself this in his heart.

He knew perfectly well that he couldn't take on this job and couldn't save anyone's life!

To rashly attempt anything is nothing but foolish courage!

He lowered his eyelids, somewhat unable to bear watching the scene of Cui Zhu being beheaded.

Zhou Yang kept repeating it to himself, and all the sounds around him faded away. But at that moment, the string in Zhou Yang's heart, which he had been trying to relax, was suddenly touched by something and tightened up!

He then raised his eyelids, leaned forward, and stepped out of the line with one leg.

But at that moment, another voice, even before him, rang out. "Wait!"

Zhou Yang looked sharply toward the source of the sound and saw Cui He, who had been hiding behind Li Fangzhong, step forward.

Cui Zhu, who had been drooping his eyelids and waiting to die, suddenly raised his eyelids and looked at Cui He in disbelief.

The Human-Skin Ghost that had raised an axe behind Cui Zhu put it down and stared intently at Cui He. All the ghosts were also staring at Cui He with a sinister look!

The breath Zhou Yang had been holding in quietly dissipated.

He withdrew his outstretched leg. Cui He stepped out of the crowd and walked towards Cui Zhu, who was slumped on the ground.

The Ghost Rhyme emanating from Li Fangzhong was wrapped around him like a cocoon, but as the distance between him and Li Fangzhong Li Fangzhong, the Ghost Rhyme wrapped around him began to peel away like unraveling silk.

Before long, once the Ghost Rhyme on his body has completely dissipated, the barbarian dog leading the Patrol Team will be able to sense his true nature.