UCS Chapter 101

Walking toward the village, just as they reached the village entrance, an old man with a hunched back looked over. His face was expressionless. Whether because the wind and snow turned heaven and earth into gray tones, the old man’s cloudy eyes made people somewhat uneasy, easily reminding one of ghosts and monsters from rural ghost stories that feed on human essence.

His gaze was very vigilant. He looked them up and down and asked in Mandarin with a heavy rural accent, “Where are you from?”

Gao Shi stepped forward, “Hello, we’re backpackers here for sightseeing. Seeing it’s getting late and we happened to encounter heavy snow, we’d like to stay overnight in your village. Would that be possible?”

Perhaps because of the convincing, reliable aura emanating from Gao Shi that put people at ease, the old man’s expression clearly softened after seeing him. “I’ll take you to see the village chief.”

Led by the old man, Gao Shi and the others passed through the village toward the center.

This village’s economic level seemed fairly good.

In the village, many houses were brick and tile buildings that looked quite new, probably newly built in recent years.

However, usually in the countryside, most families’ gates weren’t closed during the day. Yet in this village, every household’s gate was tightly shut, adding a sense of oppression. Who knew if it was because they were being vigilant about strangers from the neighboring film crew.

A group of children ran past them laughing and playing, their gazes toward the group full of curiosity and vigilance.

The old man probably saw his grandson and called out something in dialect, apparently telling his grandson to come home early.

The child responded.

The reply still hung in the air when the child had already run far away.

They encountered several villagers on the road, all greeting the old man—old and young, all men.

They passed through buildings and finally reached what looked like the tallest and most beautiful house.

The old man called out loudly. A response came from inside the house, and following the response, a middle-aged man emerged from the room.

This man looked somewhat prosperous. Unlike the muscular young men they’d seen on the road, compared to them, the middle-aged man better fit the image of an ancient landlord or unscrupulous merchant. His small eyes, when looking at Gao Shi and the others, always seemed to be sizing them up and calculating something.

The man smiled at them and extended his hand, his two small eyes narrowing to slits, “Hello, I’m the village chief here. Are you looking to stay in our village?”

Gao Shi nodded and brought out his previous explanation, “Yes, we’re backpackers who came to photograph the mountain scenery. But the weather’s bad today, so we’d like to stay overnight in your village.”

“We’ll pay.”

After Gao Shi mentioned payment, the village chief’s expression clearly became more enthusiastic, “No problem, no problem. Our village has the best scenery around here. We’ve had people stay here before—some liked it so much they stayed several nights. Let me show you the rooms.”

They followed the village chief outside. Nearby was a small single-story house that looked quite refined.

Directly across from the small house, forming a stark contrast, was a low earthen house without courtyard walls, only a low fence enclosing a vegetable garden. A dog was chained in the yard, eating something that looked bloody.

Hearing footsteps, the dog raised its head and bared its teeth at them, its sharp teeth still stained with blood.

Ying Bujie looked up and glanced over indifferently. The dog, as if seeing some fierce beast, tucked its tail between its legs, stopped eating, and scurried back to its doghouse.

That bloody thing looked like some animal’s internal organs, bitten into a mess and unidentifiable.

The village chief smiled apologetically, “The dog across looks fierce, but it doesn’t bite people. It serves as a guard for the house here. If any outsiders come, when it barks, you’ll be able to hear.”

Gao Shi’s group weren’t afraid of dogs. The little red squirrel hiding in Gao Gusheng’s pocket quietly poked its head out and bared its teeth at the dog too, its fluffy tail puffed up.

After entering the small house, they faced a living room. The living room was spacious enough for a dozen people to hold a meeting. Opening the bedroom door, the furnishings inside were complete. The village chief said, “There are three rooms here total. How many do you want?”

“Two rooms.”

The village chief rubbed his hands, “Good, good. All three rooms are seventy yuan per night. I’m not taking advantage of you—this normally includes three meals a day.”

For a guesthouse, this price was indeed very reasonable, not to mention this village was the only place to rest in this entire area.

This small house showed no signs of long-term habitation—it seemed specifically used for lodging. If they’d built three rooms specifically as a hotel, it seemed too extravagant.

This place was remote, probably not many visitors came. They might not receive a single guest in half a month. They didn’t charge much either. If they built three rooms specifically to rent out, when would they recoup the costs?

Gao Shi recalled the scenes he’d seen along the way.

This village was in the mountains with no large fields. At most, they could open a small plot in front of their doors to grow vegetables for daily consumption.

What did the villagers live on?

In some villages, young people went out to work, leaving only the old, weak, women and children.

But in this village, everyone they met on the road was male, ranging from young men in their twenties to elderly men in their sixties and seventies. This proved the means of livelihood in the village could satisfy their needs, and enough to build new houses.

The brick and tile houses outside looked about the same age, basically all built around the same time period, indicating that within about a year or two, the entire village had made a fortune together.

While inspecting the environment, Gao Shi asked as if casually, “Village chief, I see there aren’t many fields here. Do you usually go hunting in the mountains? We encountered quite a few small animals on the road and would like to eat some game.”

The village chief counted money, “That’s right, living off the mountains and waters. We used to rely on hunting and collecting medicinal herbs to sell. Since the country banned guns, hunting has become increasingly difficult. If you want to eat game, I’ll ask around to see who has dried rabbit meat. With today’s bad weather, it’s hard to get fresh meat.”

“We caught a wild pheasant a few days ago, but those things aren’t easy to catch. If you want to eat it, you’ll have to pay extra.”

Gao Shi listened to the village chief’s words and frowned secretly.

He thought of those two lingzhi mushrooms not far from the village.

According to the village chief’s explanation, those two lingzhi mushrooms couldn’t possibly have grown that large. They would probably move the wood home shortly after the mushrooms formed, or pick the lingzhi directly before it matured.

And the village’s able-bodied young men couldn’t all stay in the village either. Going to work in outside cities would bring more stable income than relying on luck to collect herbs.

There were many large tombs in this area. Could it be that the villagers discovered a large tomb a few years ago and sold the cultural relics inside, which is why the entire village was renovated with new houses?

After counting the money and finding the amount correct, the village chief greeted them and left, saying he’d bring them dinner later.

Gao Shi felt this village was strange everywhere.

The four of them divided the rooms—Gao Gusheng and Gao Shi in one.

After tidying up, Gao Shi took out a small jamming device from his bag. This thing was also purchased from the technical department. It was said to utilize the magnetic field principle of ghosts and could block all cameras, turning the camera footage into static. Spirit police carrying it could avoid cameras well, so the logistics department didn’t have to delete recordings all over the mountains.

Gao Shi bought some to use when staying outside. Some unscrupulous merchants would hide cameras in hotels. This jamming device could block illegal cameras.

After tidying the room, Gao Shi walked toward the door. At this time, the sky outside had completely darkened, and snow had accumulated in a thin layer on the ground.

The outside world was dim.

Gao Shi took two steps outside and saw an old woman in the yard where the dog had been chained, burying something.

She stomped on the mound while trying to flatten the ground, muttering something under her breath.

She spoke in dialect, which Gao Shi couldn’t understand, but he could tell her tone was urgent and threatening, as if cursing at someone.

Just then, she looked up and saw Gao Shi, forcing a smile at him.

The old woman had upturned eyes and was very thin, looking somewhat mean-spirited. This smile appeared especially stiff.

She turned and walked back into the room.

Gao Shi was surprised and used his remarkable memory to record the old woman’s pronunciation, then sent it to Ran Qiu, asking her to help check what it meant.

The signal in the mountains was terrible, but for Gao Shi, this wasn’t really a problem. His phone that looked like a Nokia was actually a satellite phone with excellent reception.

He circled around the village, and the more he walked, the deeper his doubts grew.

He encountered several people on the road, all men. Aside from that old woman, he hadn’t seen a single other woman.

And that group of children playing in the distance were all little boys, without exception.

Children were young and didn’t have concepts of gender separation. Could it be that in this village, boys played together and girls played together separately?

After circling around, Gao Shi returned to the guesthouse. Just then, his phone vibrated—Ran Qiu had sent back a message.

Gao Shi looked at it and felt a chill run through his entire body.

[Boss, where did you find such filthy words?]

[This passage means: “Whore ridden by thousands, useless money-losing goods, go through hell’s eighteen levels, never be reborn into my family.”]

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