Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 169

The scene recorded by Cui Hao in his diary was now replayed in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

Not in the earthen building, not at night, but in the daytime in the wild.

This once again proves that the old changeling is by no means a small character who can only make some noise in a specific narrow and gloomy environment to scare people. Her home area is very wide.

The tractor was making a lot of noise and was moving towards the village.

On the hillside, Runsheng was waiting for orders from Xiaoyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't say anything for a long time.

The boy is not worried about the safety of Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou. At least, this is not the top priority.

What he was thinking about most was, if he and Runsheng on the tractor were evil spirits, then why could Lin Shuyou sit face to face with them without noticing?

In the system of officials and generals, the White Crane Boy is also called the Guide Boy, who is good at insight.

According to past experience, when encountering evil spirits in reality, Lin Shuyou's vertical pupils will naturally open.

But now, no, they were even talking and laughing.

Even if we ignore the detection function of the vertical pupil, Xue Liangliang is still sitting on the tractor at this time.

Last night, I had clearly told Xue Liangliang that this mission was complicated and would involve some strange situations. Logically, Xue Liangliang should be on edge.

Lin Shuyou may be careless occasionally, but Xue Liangliang is not.

The evil spirit was imitating him and communicating with him at the same time, but Xue Liangliang didn't have any doubts at all?

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan himself began to doubt whether the four people sitting on the tractor were all fake, and whether what he witnessed was just an illusion.
But when the young man raised his head and looked around, he found that the surrounding Feng Shui and weather conditions were normal, which meant that he had not stepped into the range of the illusion, nor was he in any formation.

"Brother Runsheng."

"Ah."

"Follow me."

"it is good!"

Runsheng started running.

Fortunately, the tractor was not driving very fast, and the road was bumpy and difficult to drive on, so the speed was just that. Runsheng was able to easily follow the tractor along the side of the hillside.

However, after getting a little closer, Lin Shuyou, who was sitting on the tractor, seemed to notice something and began to turn his head to look back.

This made Li Zhuiyuan on Runsheng's back feel helpless. If you have the ability to sense long distances, can't you take the time to look more at what's in front of you?
"Brother Runsheng, keep some distance, don't be so close."

"it is good."

Runsheng just pulled back a distance to make sure the tractor was still within their sight.

Just like this, one drives in front with four wheels, and the other follows behind with two legs.

The four people on the tractor just chatted from time to time, but nothing unusual happened.

Finally, Ran Dacheng drove the tractor into the village and stopped.

All four of them got out of the car and after a brief exchange, Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou continued to walk towards the earth building, while "Li Zhuiyuan" was carried by "Runsheng" and headed in another direction. They soon disappeared behind the house in front and were out of sight.

"Brother Runsheng, come on!"

"it is good."

Even after hiking for such a long time on the mountain road, Runsheng still had some strength left. He no longer hesitated and started running quickly.

Ran Dacheng, who was turning the tractor around, saw this scene and scratched his head in surprise.

He had just seen the two of them walking over there, so how come they met here again?
Behind the house was a pile of firewood, but no one was seen.

Runsheng stepped onto the pile, and Li Zhuiyuan sat on his back, looking down at the surroundings, but also found nothing.

The pair of "myself" and "Runsheng" seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.

Li Zhuiyuan patted Runsheng on the shoulder. Runsheng straightened his body and let the boy slide off him.

"Clap!"

The boy noticed a noise coming from the soles of his shoes, looked down, and found a pool of glass powder.

I squatted down and looked down carefully, and found that there was a lot of such powder under the firewood pile.

Reaching out and gently grabbing a little, then letting it slide gently, Li Zhuiyuan noticed that there were also a lot of crystals remaining on a lot of firewood nearby and on the earthen wall on this side. In the sunlight, their traces could be clearly captured.

Just now, there must have been a large piece of glass that exploded and turned into powder.

but……

Li Zhuiyuan once again took out a handful of fine crumbs and placed them in front of him to observe carefully:

Is this really made of glass?
Unfortunately, transportation here is inconvenient, and there are no material analysis institutions in nearby counties. If we want to specifically confirm its ingredients, we have to send it to a big city. By the time we send it there and the results come back, the daylily is already cold.

Even so, Li Zhuiyuan took out a plastic bag from his bag and put some crumbs in it.

He had a hunch that this thing should be a key point.

After taking samples, Li Zhuiyuan and Runsheng returned to the earth building together. At the door, they met Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng who had returned at the same time.

Lin Shuyou happened to come out with a bucket, intending to fetch water from the well outside.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, you found Brother Bin and the others so quickly."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Did I say I went to look for them?"

Lin Shuyou was surprised and said, "Yes, you asked me and Brother Liang to come back and cook first, and you and Runsheng went to find Brother Bin and the others..."

Facing Li Zhuiyuan's serious questioning gaze, Lin Shuyou became a little unconfident as he spoke.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Go back to the house for a meeting."

Everyone sat together in the yard, and Li Zhuiyuan described what he had seen earlier.

Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng were just extremely surprised.

Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou stood up directly.

Lin Shuyou: "Brother Xiaoyuan, do you mean that we rode the tractor back with two evil spirits that turned into your appearance?"

Xue Liangliang: "How can you prove that you are the real Xiaoyuan?"

"Oh, yes!" Lin Shuyou immediately stood in front of Xue Liangliang, lowered his center of gravity, and prepared to attack at any time.

In his understanding, what he could be sure of was that Xue Liangliang, who had been with him today, was definitely real.

Xue Liangliang's question and Lin Shuyou's action did not make Li Zhuiyuan angry. Instead, he was quite relieved about it.

Li Zhuiyuan took out the plastic bag sample and threw it in front of everyone.

"I suspect that the evil spirit finally collapsed into this."

Lin Shuyou picked up the sample bag, touched it himself, and handed it to Xue Liangliang. Xue Liangliang poured out some, observed it carefully, and said:

"Glass?"

“I don’t know if it’s glass, but it’s necessary to find a testing agency to confirm the specific composition.”

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out a delicate dagger from the side of his boot, burned it on the campfire, and then cut his left palm with it. A cut appeared and blood flowed out.

The boy picked up a bowl from the ground, let his blood drip into the bowl, and then began to treat the wound.

"Use the most primitive method to verify the identity, and then exchange the blood bowl for others to confirm."

Runsheng immediately did as he was told, first running his finger across the edge of the Yellow River shovel and then dripping the blood into the bowl.

Xue Liangliang nodded, took out a knife, cut his finger, and let blood drip.

Lin Shuyou raised his foot, swung his arm downward, and took out the dagger from the side of his boot, and then stabbed his own hand in a very coherent manner:

"hiss……"

The cut was too deep and blood gushed out immediately.

Li Zhuiyuan subconsciously felt that there was no need to test Lin Shuyou's blood again, as it should be real.

But he immediately dismissed the idea and decided to check it out anyway, because the fake one seemed to be able to act just as well as the real one.

After the four of them had their blood dripped, Li Zhuiyuan looked at Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng and asked:

"You two, what are you hesitating about?"

Tan Wenbin shrugged and said, "Ah, are we going to do this too? I thought we didn't leave the village today, so our identities would no longer be in doubt."

Yin Meng: "I thought so too."

Li Zhuiyuan smiled.

Runsheng raised the Yellow River shovel and Lin Shuyou grabbed the trident.

Two people, one on the left and one on the right, sandwiched Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng in the middle.

Runsheng and Lin Shuyou both noticed that something was wrong because Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng, rarely, actively responded to Xiaoyuan's orders.

Even if Yin Meng doesn't need to do it, she will do it, even if she gets criticized afterwards: You don't actually have to do it.

Tan Wenbin will cooperate with this behavior more actively.

In any case, if you resist and do nothing at this time, it means that there is a problem with your identity.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Are you still suspicious of us? Okay, Mengmeng, let's verify our identities as well."

"Ah."

Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng both pulled out the daggers from the sides of their boots.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Do it.”

Runsheng didn't hesitate and shoveled over!

Lin Shuyou hesitated for a second and then stabbed forward with the trident.

Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng let out a sharp roar and rushed towards Li Zhuiyuan together.

But their sneak attack was too late.

Tan Wenbin's head was smashed by Runsheng's shovel, and Yin Meng's neck was pierced by Lin Shuyou's trident.

The two men screamed, and then their bodies quickly shrank and flattened, gradually becoming transparent, and at an extremely fast speed, they turned into a glass-like existence, and then... exploded.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

Broken glass flew everywhere. Runsheng stood in front of Li Zhuiyuan, opened the valve, and used the air wave to sweep away the glass fragments.

Lin Shuyou stepped back and grabbed Xue Liangliang, and the two fell to the ground together, avoiding the affected area.

This kind of glass shards do not have much lethality, but if you are not careful, it can cause many cuts on your body. If it is embedded in the skin, it will be troublesome to deal with.

There were crystals everywhere all around, and there were two piles of broken pieces and powder under the place where Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng were originally standing.

Li Zhuiyuan turned on the kettle and drank two sips of water.

He now finally understood why Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou failed to recognize that the people riding the tractor together were fakes.

Because ever since they met at the door, until the other party did not respond immediately by cutting his finger and dripping blood, Li Zhuiyuan himself did not realize that Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng were fake.

The two of them, whether in terms of appearance, expression, action, language, etc., were flawless. But this was impossible.

Appearance is easy to imitate, but how do you imitate the reactions during conversations?
Li Zhuiyuan didn't believe that this old witch could be omniscient and omnipotent.

The boy lowered his head and began to recall all the conversations after he met Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng at the door.

In other words, in the end, under their own coercion, their language began to change. Before that, it was all... no, not at all.

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly discovered something, that is, although he had conversations with Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng during the previous period of time, there was no information in these conversations.

I arranged for the two of them to stay in the village today for an investigation, and they should have gained a lot of information. Moreover, during previous meetings, when I spoke, Tan Wenbin would also cooperate and try to draw inferences from what he had heard.

None of these things were manifested in the contact just now.

Is it because I was the one who gave the speech just now, and I didn’t give them the opportunity to speak?

Li Zhuiyuan went over what he had said earlier in his mind.

No, when I was telling the story, I was actually passing the conversation to Tan Wenbin as I had done in the past.

Because of Tan Wenbin's presence, I can speak less, and Tan Wenbin can help me explain some things to others after understanding them first.

This time, Tan Wenbin did respond to the words I put forward, but he just brushed it off in a very normal way.

But I didn’t feel anything strange at all. Was it because the other person’s acting skills were so good?
Or maybe the other party isn't actually acting.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang and asked, "Brother Liangliang, please recall what you and that 'me' talked about on the tractor when you came back."

Xue Liangliang: "I told you, no, I told the fake you, a lot of things I discovered on the construction site, and then the fake you also said a lot to me."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Did that 'I' tell you about what happened in the Miao village?"

Xue Liangliang patted his forehead gently and fell into thought.

Lin Shuyou said: "It seems that he said something..."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Lin Shuyou and asked, "What did you say?"

Lin Shuyou frowned: “I said a little bit, and then I’ll tell you in detail when I go back.”

Xue Liangliang stopped patting his forehead, opened his eyes wide, and said in a serious tone: "You said a lot to me, but not much of it was useful!"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhuiyuan nodded, it was indeed true.

Xue Liangliang was puzzled and asked, "It shouldn't be like that. Now when I think about it, it feels very strange, but at that time, I really didn't feel anything wrong. I didn't even suspect that you were fake at that time. How did he deceive me?"

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at the broken glass on the ground and said, "It wasn't it that deceived you, but you deceived yourself."

The boy stood up, picked up the fire tongs, and picked up the broken glass on the ground:
“I don’t know how they were made.

But they are really like a mirror, except that an ordinary mirror reflects yourself, while this mirror actually reflects the person you think of in your mind.

For example, take me.

The best imitation effect is not to become an exact copy of myself.

Instead, I just need to imitate the image of me in your eyes, and then it will be the real me, even more real than me.”

Xue Liangliang: “No wonder.”

Lin Shuyou agreed with a guilty conscience: "Oh, that's how it is~"

Runsheng took out the compressed biscuits and started eating. He didn't like to participate in the brain-stimulating sessions, and he was really hungry.

Xue Liangliang: "So in my opinion, how the real you will respond to me is how the fake you will react. In fact, I am deceiving myself.

There is such a bizarre existence in this world?"

"There are so many bizarre things in this world, such as..."

"Okay, no need for examples." Xue Liangliang quickly raised his hand, "Then what is her purpose in doing this?"

Lin Shuyou continued, "Yes, Brother Xiaoyuan, this thing doesn't seem to have much attack power. I just poked it with the trident and it shattered."

Li Zhuiyuan said:

"I suspect that while we are investigating her, she is also investigating us."

At this time, footsteps were heard outside the house, and the figures of Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng appeared at the door.

Tan Wenbin's face was red and he reeked of alcohol. He must have drunk a lot, but he was not drunk and his mind was still clear.

"Hey, everyone is back. Brother Xiaoyuan, I have an important discovery to report!"

Lin Shuyou threw his dagger over and said, "Let the blood flow first."

"What?" Tan Wenbin caught the dagger and looked at everyone with some confusion. Finally, he set his eyes on Li Zhuiyuan.

The boy nodded and pointed to the bowl of blood beside him.

"Okay." Tan Wenbin used a dagger to cut a hole in his fingertips, found a bowl, and asked while dripping blood into it, "Did that filthy thing impersonate us, just like what Cui Hao said in his diary?"

After dripping the blood, Tan Wenbin handed over the bowl and then sucked the wound on his fingertips.

Yin Meng's place was also easily done.

After confirming their identities, everyone sat down again and Lin Shuyou began to recount what had happened before.

But Ayou spoke haltingly and his logic was not clear. Tan Wenbin had to ask two questions for every three sentences he spoke. Finally, Xue Liangliang took over and began to tell the story.

After listening to this, Tan Wenbin smacked his lips and said, "This is a really weird trick. Does that thing want to find out everything about us? What happens after that?"

Lin Shuyou said as a matter of course: "After knowing ourselves and the enemy, we will attack us."

Tan Wenbin spread his hands: "Since we have divided our forces today, why doesn't she take advantage of this opportunity and take action directly?"

Lin Shuyou was stunned for a moment and said, "Maybe she is more cautious?"

Tan Wenbin lit a cigarette and said, "But if it were me, I would take the opportunity to find the lone couple and try to kill them first."

Lin Shuyou was convinced and nodded, "Yes, I will try it first to see the effect."

Tan Wenbin took out the Zhuiyuan Talisman Paper and stuck it on the broken glass on the ground. The Talisman Paper did not change color. "The Talisman Paper can't detect it?"

Lin Shuyou: "The formations set up by Brother Xiaoyuan had no reaction to them. Fortunately, they have little attack power and even pose little threat."

Tan Wenbin: "Then what is her purpose in going through so much trouble to do this? Killing people is not enough. Is she showing off her skills to us?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's first summarize the information that each group has collected today. Maybe her real purpose is hidden in it."

Next, the three groups began to report their investigation results.

Xue Liangliang went to check the construction site, and found that it was generally normal. Of course, since the site was still in a state of suspension, it was difficult to see anything.

However, Xue Liangliang and Lin Shuyou discovered some details. In many corners of the construction site, there were altars and incense burners, and some places had talismans pasted on them.

This means that the construction company was not without suspicion about the frequent accidents on the construction site. They should have tried to ask some master nearby to perform rituals and exorcise the evil spirits, but it was obvious that it had no effect.

Tan Wenbin obtained a lot of useful information through his visit to the village.

On New Year's Eve, some villagers seemed to have seen Cui Hao and Li Ren in the nearby mountains because they were wearing work clothes. The only people wearing such clothes in the whole village were the technicians in the construction team.

However, after calling out to them, the two men ran away immediately like frightened animals, which made the villager wonder if he was seeing things.

Another villager said that on the second day of the Lunar New Year, he took his wife back to her parents' home. When he came back the next day, he found that a lot of New Year's goods left in the house had been stolen, but there was money left on the table.

Tan Wenbin suspected that Cui Hao and Li Ren might still be alive, but they hid in the mountains and dared not show up in the village.

They should be the ones who stole things and left the money. After all, as technicians from outside the village, their ability to survive in the wild must be worrying, and they are not even as good as the teenagers in the village.

In addition, villagers generally reported that in recent years, stories of child traffickers have frequently spread not only in their village, but also in nearby villages and even towns.

There is a child who, while playing, will meet an old woman in tattered clothes, who will hold his hand and ask him questions.

The braver children broke free and ran away, while the timid ones just started crying loudly, attracting the adults.

But no adult has ever seen this woman, and there has been no news of any child being abducted in recent years.

Children have short memories. They may forget about something after a few days of sleep, or their stories may become more and more outrageous.

The adults just thought that the children were naughty and made up stories on purpose. Or it could be that someone’s story about the “old woman changer” was told to the children so vividly and profoundly that the story spread among the children, and when they saw an old woman, they thought they had run into an old woman changer.

This kind of thing would not have been mentioned by the villagers, but there happened to be an adult in the village who firmly believed that his child was not lying and had really seen the old woman.

Also after the New Year, their daughter, who had married in another province, her son-in-law and grandson returned to the village to visit them.

Their grandson couldn't even speak the local dialect, and couldn't play with the other children in the village. He arrived at night, and the next morning he said that an old woman dragged him out of the house last night and touched him all over the dam. The old woman even said to him, "No, I'm not satisfied."

The grandson was so frightened that he had a fever, so his daughter and son-in-law took him away from the village early.

The guy who was drinking with him said that his daughter and son-in-law couldn't get used to living in the mountains. He said unconvincedly that his daughter was fine and his son-in-law also helped with the housework of chopping firewood and they were not at all spoiled like city people. It was just that his grandson was simply unlucky and ran into the old hag as soon as he got home.

Li Zhuiyuan also recounted his experience in the Miao village.

Tan Wenbin shook off the cigarette ash and couldn't help laughing:
"So the story of this old woman is a Grimm fairy tale that belongs exclusively to children in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan."

Runsheng, who had been eating compressed biscuits, breathed a sigh of relief after drinking a large can of water. He worked as a tractor during the day and now he had finally filled up his tank.

When he was eating before, he had actually been listening with his ears perked up. Although almost the same amount went into his left ear and out of his right ear, at least some of it remained in his brain.

Runsheng burped and said:
"Why does she seem to be picking on the children?"

……

In the damp underground cave, thick liquid oozes out from the surrounding rock walls from time to time, and finally flows downwards, fading away its color to form crystal clear inverted cones.

Below, there is a small temple.

The runes that should have been shining clearly around the temple are now mottled and falling off.

On the central circular platform, the originally thick and heavy iron chains were broken and rotten.

A dishevelled woman sat there. Her skin was rough and cracked. In many places the cracks were so deep that one could even see the bones.

She lowered her head and patted her belly with her hands.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Amid the slapping sounds, her belly grew bigger and bigger, and her belly became more and more transparent, until it almost became a piece of glass, and one could clearly see inside her belly.

Inside, there was a baby lying with his eyes closed. The baby's body was dark and dead silent.

The woman's hands kept stroking her transparent belly. Her left eye showed fierceness and ferocity, while her right eye showed kindness and compassion.

"My child, after so many years, mother has finally found someone you are satisfied with.

Mother will continue to look at him in the mirror, looking at him clearly and carefully, so that you can become him.

You will like his appearance and everything about him, because he is handsome and smart, hehe..."

As the woman spoke and caressed, the dark skin color of the baby in her belly slowly faded, gradually revealing the texture of an ordinary, normal child. At the same time, the child was also growing up, from a baby to a child, eventually forming an extremely inharmonious feeling.

Because of his size, he should be similar to a five-year-old child in real life, but he is still in the woman's belly and has not been born.

and,

The child's appearance has become 50% similar to Li Zhuiyuan.

---

This chapter has few words, don't panic, there will be another chapter during the day to make up for today's word count.

(End of this chapter)