I discovered a world bug.

Chapter 95 The Pendulum

April 2026, 7, sunny.

Huawu Village, Wumeng Mountains, Guizhou Province.

A convoy of four off-road vehicles broke through the morning mist and drove along the newly built asphalt road until they arrived at the small mountain village nestled at the foot of a cliff.

A dozen or so people got off the bus, with a group of two men and two women walking at the front.

The village chief, who had already been notified and was waiting in the distance, hurriedly came forward and shook hands with each of them.

He wore a slightly obsequious smile—for him, the last time he saw an important person in this village was when the poverty alleviation project had just begun.

At that time, leaders from the county and city came, and I heard that several important figures were also there.

However, he did not know the identities of those "big shots" and did not figure it out until they left.

And this time was no different—the county notified them that experts from higher levels were coming, but they didn't specify who these experts were.

"Above" means someone important.

It must be important, no matter what.

The village chief called the villagers forward, some singing, some offering toasts.

After taking only a polite sip of wine, the young man leading the group subtly asked the village chief to dismiss the villagers.

They also declined the village chief's request to "stay for a meal," and instead asked directly about the "route" that they had discussed with the village chief beforehand.

The village chief had no choice but to beckon the guide—a thin, bony man who made a living in the mountains by collecting rock fungus.

A strong and robust man.

He was somewhat shy and remained silent when facing the experts who had traveled a long way.

Fortunately, the experts didn't care—all they wanted was someone to guide them.

The equipment was unloaded from the vehicle one by one. Someone walked towards the man with a map and then handed him a screen.

That's an aerial drone reconnaissance image, and right in the center of the image is a small village hidden among the mountains.

Most of the buildings in the village are dilapidated, but you can vaguely see that there are still one or two houses that are clearly inhabited.

The man pointed and spoke, and a route was quickly formed. After a brief thank you, he received a red envelope that had been prepared in advance.

Holding the red envelope in his hand, the man's face showed a hint of confusion.

But he didn't ask any more questions, and simply obediently stepped aside.

Someone else came up and spoke to him briefly, after which he pointed to the cliff behind the village.

You can vaguely see a path there.

However, the path ended in the middle of the cliff.

"We have to climb over there; there's no other way except by plane."

The man spoke with great certainty, expecting his words to deter these people, but to his surprise, their response was...

"Let's go take a look first. If it's really impossible to get there, we'll take a plane."

"Oh, okay...."

'

The man nodded sheepishly.

Do we really have to go into the old village?

If we can't get there, we'll have to go by plane?

But there's clearly nothing left in there...

Aside from... the legends of ghosts.

The man glanced back at the village chief, who remained where he was. The chief's expression was just as bewildered as his, as if he had no idea what the group's purpose was.

"Just keep walking along this road, and you'll see the road once you pass through the bamboo forest behind the village."

"However, the road is really difficult to travel. If you really want to go, I can take you there."

"It's not safe in there, they say it's haunted—Boss, don't blame me for talking nonsense, it really is very eerie in there."

"People who went in before all came back sick, and now even vendors don't dare to go in."

97

"You don't understand the situation, it's not safe to go there, why don't you..."

"No need, let's go and take a look ourselves first."

The young man still refused and could only shake his head and walk away.

He was still muttering words like "plague demon" and "sick old woman" under his breath. The villager quickly stepped forward to stop him, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed his words.

By this time, everyone in the team was fully equipped. After a simple wave goodbye, they formed a single file and strode towards the back of the village.

Those who remained at the village entrance followed the strange visitors with their eyes until their figures completely disappeared into the bamboo forest.

After a half-hour trek, the group had passed through the bamboo forest and was on the path the guide had mentioned.

In a slightly more open area, the group stopped.

The drone pilot launched the drone to explore the way, while Lin Shu sat on a felled tree stump by the roadside to catch her breath and rest.

"Everyone says you shouldn't sit on tree stumps in the mountains, why aren't you getting up?"

The girl behind him asked in a slightly teasing tone, "What's wrong? Can't climb anymore? Your body isn't up to par either."

"7

'

"...They can't compare to you police academy graduates."

Lin Shu waved her hand, stood up, sat down on another rock, and took out her water glass to gulp down a mouthful.

"I guess I just don't get enough exercise, but there's nothing I can do about it. These days, how many people working in the city are physically fit?"

""

"I already told you not to come."

Chen Zhu chuckled, glanced down at the tree stump Lin Shu had just been sitting on, and said, "Look, a centipede! I told you you shouldn't sit on it!"

A centipede crawled out of a crack in the tree stump. Lin Shu grinned and said, "So this kind of rule has nothing to do with rituals or metaphysics. It's probably just because poisonous insects can easily hide in tree stumps."

""

"That's why I insisted on coming to the scene."

"Rituals are inherently a kind of vague empirical science. If I don't come to the site, I will never know what is right and what is wrong, or what is effective and what is being interfered with or concocted by other reasons."

"Only by seeing it with your own eyes can you recreate it most efficiently."

""

"Actually, video materials are also possible, but there is some time lag."

1

Chen Zhu shrugged.

"Essentially, it's because you can't stay idle."

"It really isn't."

Lin Shu slowly shook her head.

"Just like this tree stump, if you move it back to the lab, it won't just grow centipedes out of nowhere."

"This is the land."

"Many of the things we're looking for have effects that are tied to the environment."

"Once removed from that environment, an effective ritual becomes ineffective."

"In the end, we still need to go to the site to reconstruct, compare, and verify."

"I would have had to come over then, so it would have been better to be there from the beginning."

"oh...

""

Chen Zhu nodded thoughtfully, then changed the subject, asking, "So, is this intelligence reliable? Is there really any clue about the method of avoiding disaster in Huawu Old Village?"

Before Lin Shu could speak, Lu Ran, who was also sitting on a large rock drinking water, interjected, "At least based on the information we've gathered, it's very likely—after all, Xu Changshun mentioned this place in the records of the Master Sword Altar."

"Of course, it can't be guaranteed 100%."

"But this ritual is too important to us, and there are extremely few records of it in ancient books, so even if there's only a slight clue, we have to go and see..."

""

"really."

Chen Zhu sighed, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I just think it's a bit counterintuitive that an old woman from the countryside, who knows the rituals to ward off disasters, could still live a life of poverty."

"Intuitively speaking, it's more like a form of mass hysteria, or 'kitsch,' than a ritual."

"Many masters who are widely revered were fabricated in this way; weren't the previous clues all the same?"

"After investigating, they found a bunch of charlatans."

"To be honest, it's pretty far-fetched..."

""

"This time is different."

Lin Shu put away her water glass, and at that moment, Jin Yue, who had launched the drone to scout ahead, also retrieved the drone, indicating that they could continue forward.

As she followed, Lin Shu continued, "You say she can avert disaster, yet she's impoverished; both the premise and the outcome are wrong."

"First of all, she wasn't destitute, just relatively poor."

"Secondly... she cannot avert disaster either."

"To be precise, she can only eliminate a very limited number of very specific disasters."

"The ritual or sorcery she used was called 'swinging.'"

""

"This ritual, from its inception, was only for warding off plague demons," or rather, for treating malaria.

""

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