Mantra

Chapter 188
I heard the howl of wolves suddenly appearing in Maoshizhai, and I couldn't sleep at all.

I immediately remembered that the village chief of Maoshizhai told me during the day not to go out in the middle of the night. Could it be because wolves often haunt the village at night, and it might kill people?
Thinking of this, my spirit suddenly became tense.

From the distance of the voice, I could tell that at least one or two of these wolves had entered the village, and the black shadow that just passed outside the brigade's office further deepened my judgment.

For the sake of safety, I quickly asked Zhao Hong to lower his voice, and at the same time climbed to the crack of the door of the wooden house, and looked outside carefully, hoping to see the scenery and situation outside.

Outside the wooden house, the shadow seemed to have evaporated, and I didn't see any trace of the wolf outside the village.

But just when I searched and was about to give up, I suddenly found an "incomprehensible" picture.

In the second half of the night, the weather was relatively dark, but even so, I still saw a few villagers walking out of their homes in a few wooden houses not far from the brigade's room.

The villagers walked mechanically and without sound, as if they were afraid of disturbing something, and two of them were carrying a stretcher.

I immediately looked at the stretcher, and found that there was a living person on the stretcher. The person was tightly bound by ropes and quilts, and only a pale face that was almost dead was exposed.

As the sound and frequency of wolf howls continued to increase, these people seemed to be hypnotized by howling wolves. With the bound people, they staggered towards the same place and quickly disappeared in the dense forest behind a house. , as if I were going to meet the wolf...

Zhao Hong and I murmured in our hearts as we watched the strange behavior of the villagers under the moonlit night.

The village chief doesn't let us go out in the middle of the night, but why are the villagers okay?Are you not afraid of wolves?The wolves have entered the village, aren't they afraid of hurting people?

Puzzled, I turned my head and asked Zhao Hong what he thought, should we go out and have a look, or stay in the house as the village chief said.

Zhao Hong thought for a while, but suddenly he asked me: "Do you know 'Gong Hu Lord'?"

I shook my head, not sure.

Zhao Hong was a little nervous and said that when he was very young, he heard the story of "Gong Hu Lord" from his grandmother. At that time, his grandmother said that there were many tigers in his hometown, Yimeng Mountain, because tigers often eat and hurt people, and people can't eat them. It was stopped, so a "tiger plague" was formed for a while, and more than a dozen villages were extinct because of the tiger plague, causing the entire Yimeng mountainous area to be full of desolate villages.

At that time, in order to continue to survive, many villages came up with the principle of "tribute to Lord Tiger".

The so-called "tribute to Lord Tiger" is to make offerings to Lord Tiger. The process is to put an old and weak living person and meat offerings on the altar of Grandpa Tiger God at night, and then go to see it the next day. If people eat it, it means that the whole village is no longer suitable for people to live in. We have to give up a hundred miles to move the place for Grandpa Tiger. If the person is still alive, it means that Grandpa Tiger is kind enough to let the villagers thrive on this land.

At this point, Zhao Hong said to me not without fear: "I feel that the behavior of these villagers is somewhat similar to that of the Hu Lord in our hometown."

It's okay if Zhao Hong doesn't say it, but when I say it, I really feel... there's some truth to it.

Isn't the behavior of these villagers extremely similar to the customs of Yimeng Shangong Tiger Lord?It's just that in Mao Shi Village, the object of sacrifice has changed from a tiger to a mountain wolf.

It seems that there is only one explanation, right?Otherwise, what do they mean by carrying a big living person to the place where the wolves are howling at night, and tied them up so that they might run away?

Thinking of this, from the vague words of the village chief to the bloody reality in front of me, I am sincerely angry at the poverty and ignorance of Mao Shi Village.

When I used to read books, I always saw the book swearing that poverty and ignorance are inseparable "brothers". I used to think it was funny, but now I deeply understand the biting meaning of this sentence.

Filled with righteous indignation, I hurriedly stood up, woke up my brothers, briefly explained the situation to everyone, and prepared to go out to rescue the unfortunate woman who was regarded as a "sacrifice".

During the period, I told everyone that human life is at stake, and the old squad leader has to take care of us even if he doesn't let him, otherwise we are not worthy of the title of people's soldiers.And when we went into the mountains, each of us brought a sapper shovel and a tactical knife, and there were enough guys to deal with the wolves.

I encouraged: "Raise soldiers for a thousand days and use them for a short time. As soldiers, we will always consider the lives and property of the people! We must not bow to feudal superstition."

Under my instigation, everyone was mobilized, and there was no one who did not actively participate.After discussing with each other, we went out with the guy's style, and went straight to the place where some villagers ran away.

Following the sound of "crying ghosts and howling wolves", a group of us quickly walked out of the cat shit village, followed an embarrassing winding path through sparse mountain forests, and saw a bean lit in a nearly collapsed rotten wooden house. Big fire.

From our point of view, the house looked eerie, with thick cobwebs and moss wrapping the wood tightly, adding a bit of bleak spookiness out of thin air.

The howling of wolves has stopped at this moment. In the silence, I asked Baturu, who is the most skilled, to follow me to see the situation first. If the villagers really sacrificed living people to the wolves, I would call everyone to stop it. .

Afterwards, Baturu and I stooped forward one after the other, and soon came to the window of the nagging hut.

In apprehension, Baturu and I stretched out one eye at the same time and looked into the window.

Under the dim butter lamp, another incomprehensible scene was presented in front of us.

In that dilapidated shabby house, the woman who was tied to a stretcher was lying upright, with a black wolf rolling her eyes beside her.

The black wolf was also lying on the ground, unable to get up as if under some spell, but still bared its teeth, sending out a cautious threat.

In addition, seven or eight villagers surrounded her, among them was the old village head with a wrinkled face.

At that time, the village chief's face was painted with some ghostly symbols by cinnabar. His half-human, half-ghost appearance was astonishing, and he was also full of "ghost aura" that made people unpredictable.

The most important thing was that at this moment, the old man was holding a gleaming scimitar in his hand. While chanting some spells, he stabbed the tip of the knife... towards the neck of the unconscious woman.

Seeing that the old village chief who pretended to be a ghost was about to cut off the woman's neck with a knife, Batulu and I couldn't bear it anymore.The two yelled "Stop", kicked open the door of the wooden house at the same time, and rushed in amidst the astonishment of the villagers.

(End of this chapter)