Volume 3: Evil Ghosts Eat People Chapter 171: The Ghost
At noon, Xu Zun and his party entered Yonghui City through the East Gate.
The so-called city gate is just a long wooden fence.
Although guards were arranged, they were sleeping soundly with their spears in their arms. No one cared about them and they could come and go as they pleased.
After entering the city, what I saw was indeed a world of difference from the prosperous Shangyuan City, especially near the city gate, which was full of dilapidated houses and even some particularly primitive thatched houses.
There were quite a few people coming and going, but most of them were dressed poorly, with unkempt hair and dirty looks, and each of them looked like a beggar.
Because of this, when they saw Xu Zun and other well-dressed people entering the city, many children in rags immediately gathered around them, holding food bowls and begging.
Seeing these poor children, Xu Zun wanted to share some food with them, but when he looked around, he found that pairs of hungry eyes were staring at them.
At this time, once you show your kindness, it will inevitably bring more trouble.
So, at Xu Zun's signal, the guards coaxed the begging children away, and Liu Dong raised his whip and sped up.
Walk along the road until you reach a stone bridge. After crossing the stone bridge, the surrounding buildings gradually become upgraded.
Going deeper, you can finally see some taller buildings and courtyards.
Although there is a river running through Yonghui City, the city is still dusty and many places are covered with thick dust.
The dust and the unmelted ice and snow mixed together to form an extremely ugly mud.
Xu Zun did not stay for long. Following the guidance of Hou Zhen and Ashuzi, they soon arrived at the bank of a wide river.
This river is called Ku River, and it is one of the three rivers flowing through Yonghui area.
Because the water of the river is bitter, it is called the Bitter River.
Ku River is the only source of water for Yonghui City, and people living here have long been accustomed to the taste of the river water.
For some unknown reason, the Ku River never freezes no matter how cold the winter is.
It is the same at this moment. The river is rushing and the river surface is wide, bringing a touch of vitality to this lifeless city.
The tavern where the accident occurred was located in the best location of the Kuhe Wharf.
Since a murder had occurred in the tavern, and it was done by the feared macaque ghost, the tavern had been closed long ago, with a seal on the door and several officials from the county government guarding it.
Seeing this, Xu Zun simply found the largest restaurant opposite the tavern and went in.
It was lunchtime and he was a little hungry.
There were not many customers in the restaurant, only two tables, but the diners at both tables were discussing the human-eating case of a macaque ghost happening across the street.
Xu Zun's group consisted of more than ten people. If they all went in at once, it would be too conspicuous, so Xu Zun asked the guards to separate and he only took Zhao Yu, Huo Anu, Hou Zhen and Ashuzi in.
As for Liu Dong, A Ni and Ku Niang, they simply stayed in the car and someone would bring them food later.
After all, this Ani is too beautiful to appear in public.
Xu Zun had plenty of money, so he ordered the most expensive dish in the restaurant, which made the shopkeeper very happy. However, due to the incident of a ghost eating a man across the street, his business also plummeted and was greatly affected.
"Sir," Hou Zhen continued , "There are many people in Yonghui who believe in primitive religions. In their religion, there are six evil spirits transformed from wild beasts. People need to offer sacrifices to them every year to ensure safety!"
"Yes," Ash added, "猄鬼 is one of them, and the other five are獜鬼,猑鬼,狪鬼,犽鬼 and苻猊鬼!"
Since Ah Xiu's pronunciation was not loud to begin with, to Xu Zun it sounded as if these ghosts were all calling out the same name.
"Local residents have pictures of these six evil ghosts," Ah Xiuzi continued, "and witnesses said that the one who attacked Yan Sen and Tao Lang was the legendary ghost!"
"Humph," Xu Zun smiled faintly, "Put aside the question of whether it's a ghost or not for now. The only thing that puzzles me the most right now is just one thing!"
"Oh?" Hou Zhen and Ah Xiu asked, "What's the matter?"
"Ahem..." Zhao Yu cleared his throat and said, "There were so many people in the tavern at the time, why did this ghost only attack Yan Sen and Tao Lang?"
Seeing Zhao Yu express what he was thinking, Xu Zun gave him a thumbs up.
"Oh..." Hou Zhen and the other two nodded, "Indeed, it is said that there were many witnesses at the time, including the people who drank with Manager Yan, the waiters in the wine shop, and later the officials from the county government. They all saw the ghost!"
"Anuche," Huo Anu suddenly said with emotion, "If it was really a ghost, why did it come out of the water? Wouldn't it be better to just appear directly?"
"Then..." Ashurai muttered, "Maybe it's a water ghost?"
"I understand what you mean, sir!" Hou Zhen was obviously smarter than Ah Xiu. He immediately stood up and said, "I will check the relationship between Yan Sen and Tao Lang right away."
"Don't worry!" Xu Zun said, "Yonghui City is so small, we will figure it out. There is no need to rush for this meal."
As he was talking, the waiter had already brought over a few plates of side dishes and a few jugs of hot wine.
After the waiter put down the plates, Hou Zhen quickly took out a silver needle and tested each dish to prevent anyone from poisoning them.
"Hehe..." Zhao Yu praised, "You guys are really good at internal security!"
After saying this, he suddenly felt something was wrong and hurriedly picked up the braised beef with chopsticks to cover his mouth.
Huo Anu was feeling depressed, so he immediately picked up the wine jug and took a big gulp.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, there was a commotion outside the restaurant.
When everyone looked back, they heard shouting and the sound of weapons clashing coming from outside. It was obvious that a fight had started.
Xu Zun grabbed a cucumber, stood up and went to the door to see what was going on.
Unexpectedly, before he left his seat, he saw a man covered in blood rushing in from the door. The man was holding his bleeding abdomen. After coming in, he lost his balance and fell on the nearest dining table.
Seeing this scene, Hou Zhen and Ashuzi immediately stood up and protected Xu Zun.
"This..." Xu Zun patted their shoulders and said, "Sorry for the trouble and blocking my way!"
Looking over the shoulders of the two men, I saw the man fall to the ground, spitting blood from his mouth, and it seemed that he was seriously injured.
Immediately afterwards, a man in purple clothes and holding a sword rushed in from the door.
"You...you are unreasonable, oh..." The man lying on the ground pointed at the man in purple and shouted angrily, "That originally belonged to our big warehouse..."
Swish!
Unexpectedly, before this person could finish his words, the man in purple swung his sword and stabbed him in the chest.
"puff……"
After the sword was drawn out, the man spat out a mouthful of blood and died on the spot.
"Hey ?" Xu Zun couldn't stand it anymore and complained to Zhao Yu and the others, "You two were just busy eating and drinking, why didn't you stop us?"
"What?" Zhao Yu and Huo Anu turned around and asked Xu Zun, "You didn't let us stop you?"
At this moment, Xu Zun noticed that the man in purple was killing people in public, but both the waiters in the store and the diners at the tables next to him turned a blind eye.
Especially the two tables of diners, they were still eating as usual, it seemed that such killing was commonplace and nothing surprising.
"Humph, what do you mean by yours?" The purple-clothed man wiped the blood off the blade of his sword from the corpse and said fiercely, "From now on, everything will be ours!"
After saying that, he actually turned around and was about to leave!
"Hey?" Xu Zun was even more unhappy now, and immediately stood up and shouted, "Wait a minute, where are you going?"
Hearing Xu Zun's roar, the purple-clothed man stopped, turned his head and looked at Xu Zun carefully, and asked curiously:
"Are you talking to me?"
"You killed someone in public. Killing someone is against the law, don't you understand?" Xu Zun pointed at the corpse and said righteously, "Come back to the government office with me to stand trial!"
Just as Xu Zun finished his words, more than ten people rushed into the store door. They were all wearing purple clothes and holding swords with blood on them.
Everyone looked at Xu Zun first, and then asked the purple-clothed man in unison: "Brother, what's wrong?"