Translator: Yuzu
“I just walked around the whole village, and I found a strange point. In every house, there is only one old man living there at most,” Hu Bing narrowed his eyes, and his expression was heavy.
Jin Hong nodded, looking a little agitated, “Yes, what’s even stranger is that there are no women in this village at all!!!” Speaking of which, she shuddered as she was currently the only female in the entire team. Not to mention, the last one who died, Zhang Xiaoxian, was also a woman!
In this case, then, she was in a very dangerous position!
Ma Hang nodded and nervously said, “I also found a strange thing when I just went to look around. In common people’s homes, especially in small towns and rural areas, the lobby of every home is supposed to have pictures of their dead ancestors! But there were none in the ones I just went to see! I also noticed that there aren’t even any graves here! So where are those dead people buried?”
Ma Chenggong remained silent from start to finish, not participating in their discussion, and even looked a bit dejected.
Huang Ke came in from the front door with a pale face; cold sweat kept coming out, his hands were trembling. He felt his legs weaken and almost fell to his knees in the next second.
Hu Bing frowned and grabbed his arm to prevent him from falling.
“What’s wrong?” Jin Hong was shocked by Huang Ke’s appearance and hurriedly asked.
Huang Ke’s throat moved; it was as if he was scared silly. He took a couple of breaths before he came back to his senses, and his voice was still a bit weak, “I just saw those people eating…”
His words didn’t come out completely, but the crowd understood what he meant in seconds.
Huang Ke looked like he was about to cry, “And that village chief! I saw it! That village chief’s corpse was eaten by them!”
!!!
That explains it all!
No wonder his body vanished into thin air!
Hu Bing thought about the situation and released Huang Ke. His eyes darted around, and his expression was solemn.
No, no! There’s something else that doesn’t make any sense!
How exactly did the village chief die? Why can’t they get out of this village no matter how far they walk?
It’s too weird! There’s nothing that seems to be man-made about it!
Thinking of this, Hu Bing paused, “I think we’re missing a critical point!”
The crowd looked at him.
“That’s this place we’re living in now!” Hu Bing narrowed his eyes and explained, “This house we’re staying in is the village chief’s house, and the day we arrived, he had clearly assigned us the keys to our rooms and warned us not to go up to the second floor! Right?!”
Jin Hong and Ma Hang nodded hurriedly.
“So we haven’t been observing this house properly at all these past few days! Not to mention, no one has ever been on the second floor!” Hu Bing swept a glance at the crowd’s expressions and said, “I feel that if we want to explore the truth about this village, then we must start with this house!”
Xiao Chen was sitting against the wall, his eyes downcast, and his bangs were half-covering his eyes. His hands were still covered with gloves, and his expression was aloof. He looked like he had no intention of participating in their conversation.
He suddenly felt a bit itchy on his palm, like someone was writing on it with their finger. Xiao Chen was taken aback, carefully feeling the touch on his palm and trying to identify the words.
‘Go.’
Xiao Chen was stunned.
Hu Bing was planning to assign a task and pointed at Ma Hang, but before he could make a sound, Xiao Chen suddenly stood up and looked at him. His expression was still blank, but his voice was clear, “I’m going too.”
Ma Chenggong immediately raised his head when he heard Xiao Chen’s voice, his eyes carrying a complex look that he couldn’t hide. The moment Xiao Chen’s gaze swept over him slightly, he lowered his head in panic.
Hu Bing looked at Xiao Chen and then at Ma Chenggong. Not knowing what to think, he nodded, “Okay, let’s go together!”
The stairs in this house were made of old wooden material with a thick layer of dust piled on top, the handrails even had some mold on them, and the boards didn’t look very strong as they were crooked.
A slight step on it would make a creaking sound.
Xiao Chen walked along behind, the last one was Huang Ke, and there was a safe distance between them.
Xiao Chen turned back and glanced at Huang Ke, not knowing why there was an unexplainable sense of conflict.
There were only two rooms on the second floor, but each room came with a lock, which was one of those very old locks with a chain. The walls on the second floor were also somewhat cracked and even blackened. Before they could put their feet on the second floor, they could already smell a strange moldy odor, which was very unpleasant and a bit fishy, like the foul smell of dead fish.
Hu Bing and Ma Hang looked at each other and pushed hard on the door. The result was obvious; it couldn’t be opened.
Hu Bing waved his hand, gesturing for the crowd to back off, intending to break down the doors and enter.
Although these doors were old, they were surprisingly solid. No matter how much they kicked or even smashed them with a chair, they couldn’t damage them in the slightest.
“Damn.” Ma Hang cursed lowly, looking a little uneasy.
Jin Hong and Huang Ke were also a little anxious.
Hu Bing frowned, his brain started to scour for clues.
Just when the crowd was at their wit’s end and even planning to find another way out and leave, Xiao Chen felt as if something was tugging at his hand to walk towards the door.
Xiao Chen complied with the feeling and walked to the door.
He looked at the anxious crowd, then at his own palm, blinked, and tried to put his hand on the door handle.
“Clack.” The chains instantly fell apart.
The door opened.
“….”
“….”
For a moment, there was silence.
Ma Hang, who looked in disbelief, strode forward, picked up the chain that had fallen to the ground, and tugged on it. He even moved his mouth directly to bite it but only managed to bite out a layer of rust.
He opened his eyes wide, looking at Xiao Chen like he was a monster.
Jin Hong opened her mouth, apparently still not having recovered from the images she had just seen.
Hu Bing, however, reacted quickly and walked straight in. He glanced at Xiao Chen and intended to open the door.
Xiao Chen didn’t make a sound and stepped back to the side.
He felt something leaning on his shoulder, affectionately rubbing against his neck.
Jin Hong followed Hu Bing’s footsteps intending to go in. When she reached the door and got a good look inside, she instantly squealed in fear.
Ma Hang, who was standing next to her, was shocked by her screams and trembled.
Hu Bing was the first person to see what the inside looked like, and his face was a bit ugly, even pale, to say the least.
The room was devoid of any furniture, the floor was covered with straw mats, and the walls were covered in mildew. The stench was even stronger when the door was opened as there were four corpses on the floor!
The remains weren’t complete; they were mostly in bits and pieces. It was rather like someone had deliberately put together the shape of the bones to make a human shape, and the corpses were nearly thoroughly corroded.
Jin Hong forced herself to calm down and patted her chest in an attempt to get her heart rate down. She tugged on Hu Bing’s sleeve and followed in, observing the corpse and said, “It’s a man, a woman, an old woman, and an old man.”
Hu Bing raised his eyebrows and looked at her.
Jin Hong didn’t hide anything, “I’m a medical student!”
“This, this wouldn’t be that village chief’s family, would it?” Ma Hang covered his nose and mouth and was a little alarmed to hear Jin Hong’s words.
The answer was obvious.
“Were they killed by the village chief?” Ma Hang raised his head, his pupils shook, and he looked at the crowd as if searching for recognition.
Jin Hong calmly analyzed, “The village chief might have eaten them!”
Hu Bing was silent and seemed to agree with Jin Hong, but his frustration could be seen in his eyebrows. Finally, he turned back to the crowd, “Have you guys heard of the Werther Effect?”
Xiao Chen’s footsteps stopped at the door. Surprisingly, he, who has always been silent, spoke out when he heard Hu Bing’s words. “The Werther Effect is taken from the German writer Goethe’s work, “The Sorrows of Young Werther”. This one ends with the main character committing suicide. After it was published, it triggered a wave of suicides throughout Europe, so this effect was called the Werther Effect. “Xiao Chen’s voice was faint, and his eyes met Hu Bing’s.
Hu Bing nodded his head and calmly said, “Robert Cialdini’s “Influence” book mentioned the “Principle of Social Identity”, which distinguishes between the individual consciousness and the collective consciousness. That is to say when people are in an environment where they share the same beliefs, values, and behavioral orientations, their collective behavior will influence the way individuals behave. This principle is consistent with the Werther Effect!”
He paused, his expression solemn, “Based on this principle, we can go ahead and analyze these unreasonable behaviors in this village. In their collective consciousness, cannibalism has become a normal part of their lives!”