Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 124: Deserted Village 119

Wang Jian’s understanding of his master deepened. It seemed that calling in Feng Yan and the others wasn’t solely a matter of connections.

Wang Jian and Xu Changqing sat in the back seat of the car.

"Be careful this time," Xu Changqing said. "That place is a real dragon’s den now."

Wang Jian couldn’t help but ask, "Then why not bring more people?"

Xu Changqing clearly had some understanding of the situation and wasn’t acting on impulse. At his age, he was far less reckless than a young man. "If this were a problem that numbers alone could solve," he said, "the tragedy in Shanghai City thirty years ago would never have happened. This time, bringing more people would be useless."

"This Gao Yang isn’t the main target. The one behind him is very likely one of the fish that slipped through the net after the tragedy thirty years ago."

"That’s because the location he chose was also listed as a severely afflicted area in the documents from thirty years ago."

Xu Changqing’s brows furrowed slightly, his tone filled with recollection. He hadn’t personally experienced the events of thirty years ago; he was merely recalling the files he had reviewed recently.

After hearing this, Wang Jian had a bad feeling.

The car quickly arrived near the location where the signal had disappeared. As they approached the village intersection, Xu Changqing had the driver stop far from the entrance.

"Let’s walk from here," Xu Changqing said, getting out of the car. He didn’t forget to tell the driver, "You should park the car even farther away. Since our target was able to ensnare Feng Yan’s team, he must have set up defenses on the perimeter."

After speaking, he took out three clay pellets.

The moment he produced them, Wang Jian clapped a hand over his nose with a look of disgust, and even the driver’s expression soured.

"That stinks!"

Wang Jian’s sense of smell was particularly sharp. When Xu Changqing took out the clay pellets, the stench was so overpowering he nearly fainted.

"This is for repelling insects. Everyone, take one."

Xu Changqing’s expression remained unchanged. Seeing the horrified looks on their faces, he quickly explained, "The smell is strong, I know, but the person we’re after is formidable. If the stench weren’t this powerful, the insects would get too close and we wouldn’t be able to move freely."

"Hurry up and take it."

Without waiting for a refusal, Xu Changqing stuffed a pellet into Wang Jian’s pants and tossed another into the car.

This time, only Wang Jian and Xu Changqing would be going in.

Wang Jian wasn’t worried about his master’s skills in the slightest. Nor was he concerned about his experience in the wild. If something were to happen to his master, he’d likely be long dead himself.

The two said goodbye to the driver and started walking along the mountain path. They soon found tire tracks—four distinct lines, indicating two vehicles had passed through. The presence of any car in such a godforsaken place was strange enough, let alone two arriving at once. Wang Jian followed his master, tracking the tire prints.

Before long, they arrived at the same village Feng Yan’s team had found.

"This is... Ma Village."

"What?" Wang Jian recognized the village; a former high school classmate of his had lived in this area. Hearing Xu Changqing’s question, he began walking forward and explained, "I had a high school classmate who used to tell stories about this village being haunted."

"Haunted?" Xu Changqing gave a rare roll of his eyes. "There are no such things as ghosts in this world. This old man has lived a long time and has never seen one. If this village actually has one, I’d honestly love to meet it. I could die a happy man."

It was between three and four in the afternoon, still the hottest part of the day.

Wang Jian, who had felt a chill from recalling the ghost stories, began to mutter when he heard his master’s words, "Master, can you please stop talking about death all the time?"

"What’s the matter?" Xu Changqing laughed. "You’re a doctor. Haven’t you seen through the trivial matter of life and death by now? No matter how well I’ve trained my Martial Arts, I’m bound to die sooner or later."

Xu Changqing sighed. "After all, I’m already seventy. My old friends with poor health have long since passed away. In a few more years, I might be the only one left. If ghosts are real, that might actually be a good thing for me."

"Hahaha."

Wang Jian couldn’t laugh. In a world without ghosts, isn’t death the ultimate end?

When they reached the village entrance, they saw the tire tracks leading into the woods.

Wang Jian glanced at his master, and they followed the tracks. Just as he stepped into the woods, he saw the car that the hefty Cai Kai had left behind.

Its door was hanging open, and the grass beside it was clearly matted down where people had been.

"Something’s wrong up ahead."

Wang Jian had only taken a few steps before he noticed something was amiss. The color of the grass beneath his feet had changed.

As he moved forward, the patch of grass he stood on turned a lighter shade. It was then he saw it clearly: the entire area was swarming with insects, but because he was carrying the clay pellet, the terrified creatures were actively avoiding him.

The sight made Wang Jian’s scalp tingle.

"Master, we’re in the right place!"

"Mm."

Xu Changqing was right behind him and had clearly noticed it as well.

"You really wouldn’t notice them if you weren’t looking carefully. No wonder Feng Yan and his team were taken down here." Xu Changqing now understood, sighing. "The missions they’ve handled in the past may have been unconventional, but this is just too bizarre. Even the scriptures in our own monastery have no record of anything like this, let alone them."

"Let’s go. We’ll head deeper inside. I want to see for myself what kind of dragon’s den or tiger’s lair this really is."

Wherever the two of them walked, the color of the ground shifted before quickly returning to normal. The area was teeming with tiny insects that were nearly invisible if you stood still. They completely surrounded the village entrance. Unsurprisingly, anyone entering without some means of insect repellent would be taken down. Forget finding clues; they wouldn’t even escape with their lives.

Once Wang Jian was inside the village proper, he saw clear signs of habitation, yet the village was eerily quiet.

The two stayed close as they inspected several houses. The interiors were all well-preserved, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. There were no traces of Feng Yan or his team, either.

"Where is everyone?"

"Nothing seems out of place."

Wang Jian was truly not skilled at searching for people. Everything he had learned from his master had been in service of his Medical Skills. After making a full circle through the area, he still hadn’t seen a single person. The furnishings in the homes were all arranged normally, with no signs of a struggle or disturbance. Everything was covered in a layer of dust, suggesting no one had been tidying up recently.

Just as he was about to find his master, he froze. He had spotted a very strange medicinal herb.

Then it hit him: every single household here was growing similar herbs, all planted in pots in their courtyards.

Saffron, red spider lilies...

It wasn’t strange for people living in the mountains to grow some medicinal herbs. It was a way of survival, living off the land. But for every single household to be growing red spider lilies, an uncommon flower, was exceedingly odd.

After noticing the flowers, Wang Jian discovered something else.

The courtyard of one house had been dug up. In the hole sat a stone tablet engraved with bizarre runes. Though Wang Jian couldn’t decipher all of it, he recognized the character for "fire."

As he was about to leave, he spotted a scrap of clothing beneath the stone tablet. Wang Jian quickly used a tool to pick away the loose dirt, finally revealing what was buried underneath.

"A corpse."

Wang Jian immediately ran back to his master and relayed what he had found.

Xu Changqing merely frowned. Aside from a grim look, he showed no other reaction. Just as Wang Jian was feeling puzzled, he heard his master say, "I found one, too."

"This person has grand ambitions... but he’s clearly not thinking straight, to actually believe in that sort of myth."

"If I’m not mistaken, besides the representations of water and fire we found in the northeast, the four cardinal directions of this village should represent four of the Five Elements."

"Furthermore, when we entered, I noticed the surrounding terrain and feng shui suggest the possibility of buried gold. If things are as they seem, the mastermind is likely hidden underground."

"As for the people who lived in this village, they certainly didn’t just vanish. Since we haven’t seen anyone, it’s very likely they have already... been killed."

Although Xu Changqing said it was "likely," Wang Jian knew his master’s personality well. His grim expression meant he was almost certain that everyone here was already gone.

A relatively large village, even with many people away for work or school, would still have about a hundred people left. The villages here in Jianli County were smaller. This one had just over fifty households. Even excluding those working elsewhere, there should still be at least fifty people remaining. The thought that all fifty of them might be dead sent a chill down Wang Jian’s spine, and he felt a knot of fear tighten in his stomach.