Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 438 437 Blocking the News
Does Master Ma not know whether something is evil or not?

Even if Master Ma didn't know, has Master Feng ever misjudged someone?

So as long as Feng Xiuhu didn't give in, Shunzi resolutely wouldn't stop. It was because he wanted to leave someone alive that he held back a bit of his strength; otherwise, if the spiked butt of the gun had hit him, it would have cracked the head open on the priest of the Church of the Night.

Even so, the priest, who did not cultivate his physical strength, could not withstand it.

One rifle butt smashed the shadow, revealing its true form; two rifle butts knocked out a mouthful of broken teeth and blood; three rifle butts smashed it, leaving the skin torn, the nose crooked, and the eyes slanted.

Before the fourth rifle butt could fall, the priest could no longer make a sound, groaning as if he was only breathing.

Feng Xiuhu stopped Shunzi and lifted the priest off the ground.

The priest was delirious, unconsciously muttering the words "Spare me."

I doubt I'll get any information out of him looking like that.

Feng Xiuhu complained to Shunzi, "You went too far."

Shunzi lowered his head in guilt—because he was holding back his anger, which is why he accidentally hit someone too hard.

Besides, he hadn't expected the priest to be so easily beaten.

Shunzi asked Feng Xiuhu in a low voice, "Brother, what do we do now?"

"What else can be done?"

Feng Xiuhu threw the priest to the roadside: "Bury him before anyone sees him."

Upon hearing this, Shunzi immediately perked up—he was very familiar with this job.

Unexpectedly, the priest suddenly perked up and sat up from the ground like a spring: "We can't bury him!"

Shunzi looked at Feng Xiuhu, who glanced at the priest and said to Shunzi, "It's a last flicker of life, let's bury him."

The priest trembled with fear and tried to make a final defense: "I feel there's still a chance to save him."

puff!
The cane pierced his eye socket, and the priest fell backward without uttering a sound.

Feng Xiuhu pulled out his cane and shook it, then shook his head at Shunzi: "I already said it was a final burst of energy before death, why won't he believe it?"

Shunzi scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Big Brother always has a good eye for people."

After saying that, Shunzi walked to the side, found a place where the soil was relatively soft, squatted down, and prepared to dig a hole to clean up the mess.

Just then, a blinding light flashed in their peripheral vision.

Feng Xiuhu reacted quickly and immediately turned his head to look—he saw a shadow so fast that its shape was indistinct rushing towards the city, with faint flashes of lightning around it as it ran.

boom!
Shunzi fired decisively, but unfortunately it was a shotgun, and the man had already run out of range.

"What kind of evil spirit is that?"

Shunzi asked Feng Xiuhu in surprise, "How can you run so fast!"

Feng Xiuhu sneered: "I think it's most likely an evil spirit from the Jingzhe Temple."

He looked at the priest's corpse on the ground, a shadow falling over his eyes: "We were careless. Since it was a joint effort by the temple church, we should have realized they were working in pairs."

Everyone's run away, what else can we do?
Shunzi squatted down again to dig a hole: "Bury this one first, then find that one and bury it together, so they can have company."

Feng Xiuhu kicked Shunzi in the butt: "Everyone went back to report, what's the point of burying it?"

That makes sense. They buried people to avoid alerting the snakes. Now that the snakes have been alerted, there's no need to bury people anymore.
Shunzi stood up sullenly: "Then let's hurry back and tell Fang Youliu to run away."

Feng Xiuhu gazed at the distant tower—that's where the monk from Jingzhe Temple had gone.

His fingers traced the tiger head at the end of the staff, his eyes slightly narrowed: "We haven't done anything shady, so why should we run?" "If you ask me, they're the ones who should run."

……

The two went back underground first, at least to inform Fang Youliu so that he could be prepared.

Just as I came down the stairs, I heard Granny Song's voice: "Dalang? Is Dalang back?"

Seeing the two of them come down, Fang Youliu, who was sitting at the table, gave a wry smile: "The old lady woke up as soon as you left and kept asking to see you."

"Before I could even say a couple of words of advice, the lamp ran out of oil again, so I simply borrowed some from the wall lamp in the outside corridor."

Granny Song walked over with small steps and grabbed Feng Xiuhu: "Brother, I advised him that it's public oil, he can't take it, or his hand will be chopped off!"

Feng Xiuhu patted her shoulder to comfort her: "So what if they chop it up? It's not like they're chopping yours, what are you worried about?"

Granny Song was taken aback and slapped Feng Xiuhu's arm: "You brat, what nonsense are you talking about? You can't just chop off a hand like that! That would hurt so much! Tell him to give the oil back, before anyone finds out."

Feng Xiuhu nodded perfunctorily: "Okay, I'll return it when it gets dark."

Granny Song said anxiously, "How can you tell day from night in the tunnel? If you wait until nightfall, the oil will all be gone!"

Feng Xiuhu was eager to get down to business with Fang Youliu, and was already getting impatient: "If you're full and have energy to burn, go out and do some square dancing. If that doesn't work, chat with other old ladies about gossip to pass the time. I don't have time to argue with you right now."

Grandma Song stood there, stunned. Although she couldn't understand what Feng Xiuhu was saying, she could hear the impatience in his tone.

Unconsciously, she loosened her grip on Feng Xiuhu's sleeve, her tone carrying a hint of ingratiation that she herself didn't realize.

"Don't worry, Dalang. You have important matters to attend to. I won't hold you back..."

Granny Song silently sat back down on the straw mat, leaned against the wall, and tried to open her eyes wide to see the outline of Feng Xiuhu.

Shunzi felt a little sorry for him and whispered, "Brother..."

"Shut up."

Feng Xiuhu glared at him, then beckoned Fang Youliu over and briefly recounted what had just happened at the city gate.

Fang Youli quickly grasped the priorities and made a rational analysis: "Putting everything else aside, they wouldn't force the people to the point of not even being allowed to cultivate their fields for no reason. So they must have something in mind, and this benefit must be big enough to make the temple church join forces to do this."

Feng Xiuhu nodded and said, "That's what I think too. Whether it's forcing people underground or prohibiting them from leaving the city, it's all for the same purpose."

Fang Youliu also thought of it and looked up: "Block the news."

"So here's the question."

Feng Xiuhu gently stroked his stubble: "What exactly is the benefit—I think that's the key."

Fang Youliu was deep in thought, and no one spoke for a moment in the cellar.

"...that tower."

Grandma Song suddenly spoke up.

The three of them looked over.

Grandma Song whispered, "I can't see it clearly... but I know that the tower didn't exist before. It was only after the gods came that the tower gradually appeared in the conversations of the neighbors."

"They call that tower the Evil-Suppressing Tower, but I don't understand. If you want to exorcise evil, you can just drive it away. Why suppress it in a tower?"

The three of them looked at each other.

Feng Xiuhu licked his lips: "The Evil-Suppressing Tower... I want to see whether the thing inside is evil, or the person suppressing it is more evil."

(End of this chapter)