As soon as I reached the door, I smelled the scent of blood. I was startled as such a thick smell could only appear in a murder scene.

When I pushed the door open, my heart suddenly pounded. Blood was scattered everywhere on the ground. I felt it hard to breathe.

How many people died here? Is it one or two? 

A man’s upper torso was on the bed. His hands were raised, and his face was panic-stricken. Blood was all over his body. This man was cut off at his waist, and his internal organs had spilled on the bed. The cut was neat, just as if it was performed by an extremely sharp weapon.

The rest of his body was thrown under the bed, and his broken bones stuck out, which looked quite appalling.

I took two steps back and couldn’t bear to look any further.

Li Mazi pulled my hand and muttered, “Little Brother Zhang, check his waist. Do you see that black handprint?”

I turned to look, but I found nothing. There was no handprint.

Even if his body is covered in blood, the handprint should still be visible, right? Why did Li Mazi ask me that? 

“I clearly saw a black handprint on his waist. Then, after just a blink of an eye, it disappeared,” said Li Mazi. “I’m not lying.”

Immediately, I recognized the seriousness of the situation. I said to Old Zhao, “Mr. Zhao, I have a question. Did this person have a black handprint too?”

Old Zhao nodded. “Yes, he did.”

“Can you see if it’s still there?”

Old Zhao was perplexed but still ran to the corpse and checked. I really admired Old Zhao’s courage at this moment. If a normal person saw such a horrible murder scene, they would faint on the spot. It seemed Old Zhao was a man with a story…

Old Zhao checked the corpse, and his expression changed. “That’s strange. He used to have one. Where is it now?”

“Can you show us the handprint on someone else?” I asked. “It’s very important.”

Old Zhao thought for a bit then nodded resolutely. “All right, follow me!”

Then, he led us out of the house.

I assumed that Old Zhao would bring us to a family nearby. However, he took us to a shabby cottage and asked us to wait inside. He told us that the handprints were a secret. We couldn’t see them explicitly.

I trusted him, so Li Mazi and I sat there and waited.

However, we had waited for half an hour, but Old Zhao hadn’t returned yet. Li Mazi couldn’t sit still. He wanted to go out for some fresh air as the stench in this room was really annoying.

However, when he pushed the door, he noticed that the wooden door was locked from the outside. I turned tense instantly.

Damn, they used that same old trick again! Last time, Li Mazi and I were locked in the Temple of Earth, and now, this!

Li Mazi was enraged and forcefully kicked the wooden door. However, the door was really durable and seemed to have been reinforced. He couldn’t kick it open.

I was also restless and went to help him. However, the door was really tough, so the two of us weren’t able to kick it open.

What the hell are they doing? Those bastards have a disaster right above their heads but decided to lock us here? 

Then, I noticed that some of the light that crept into the room through the slit at the door was blocked. I knew someone was watching us discreetly through the wooden door.

I immediately ran there and called, “Fellow, please open the door. I have something important to do.”

The man panicked and ran away. He didn’t even turn around to look at us.

Some villagers passed by our door, and they all seemed flustered. The two of us screamed for help loudly until our voices turned hoarse, but it was of no use. The villagers acted as if they didn’t see us.

“They got us!” Li Mazi restlessly walked around. “This was a trap. We’ve entered their trap, and we didn’t even know it.”

“Let’s make a call! Seize the time and make a call,” Li Mazi urged. “Where’s your phone?”

“It’s useless,” I answered. “I already tried. There’s no signal.”

Feeling dispirited, Li Mazi sat next to me. He lowered his head. “That Uncle Duan is an old evil man. I bet he was afraid of provoking the Zhang family in Jiangbei and decided to borrow these villagers to kill us. I suspect that those folks were part of his trap.”

However, what was the point of discussing this? We had seen a lot of crazy things and met so many people and experienced all kinds of ups and downs. And now, we were about to be murdered by a group of ignorant people...

I pulled myself together and asked Li Mazi to stay calm. “Relax, we’ll get out of this. Unless they want us to starve to death, I’m sure they will open the door. As soon as they open the door, we’ll be saved.”

Although Li Mazi was angry, he couldn’t do anything but give me a nod.

The villagers looked busy. It seemed they were preparing for something.

Are they preparing for a sacrifice...?

We waited until sunset, but no one had come to bother us. I felt regret that I didn’t eat more earlier. My stomach was gurgling.

The night fell fast. The room was as dark as black ink, and the dim moonlight could only enter the room a little; we couldn’t see anything. I started to read the sacred text of Daoism to calm down.

Li Mazi sat down and used a dagger to cut a wooden stick. The only weapon we had was this dagger. That’s why we needed to prepare more weapons. Even if we couldn’t escape, we had to defend ourselves!

The wind rattled the leaves outside our window, but I could still vaguely hear the sounds of the waves splashing from Heavenly Dragon Lake. It was strange, though. We were around two miles away from the Heavenly Dragon Lake. How could the waves be loud enough for us to hear?

The sound of the wind was mixed with rustling sounds. I stuck my ear to the wooden door to listen to the commotions outside.

I could hear four people coming from four different directions and leaning against the walls. But they didn’t move after that.

What are they doing? 

While I was thinking, a strange smell dispersed into the small room. It was pungent and made me sneeze several times. Then, I felt dizzy and sleepy…

Damn, someone is trying to put us to sleep!

I was startled when I realized how serious the situation was. I rushed to the four corners of the room to check. If there were hoses entering the room, they were definitely sending drugs through those hoses…

Sure enough, we found four hoses sticking into the room; they went through the slits. However, it was too late to stop them. The drug had already affected us. My body felt like jelly, and my eyes blurred. I couldn’t even stand straight…

“Use... pee to detoxify…” Li Mazi said drowsily as he unzipped himself. However, as soon as he took his ‘weapon’ out, he fell onto the ground and laid unconscious…

I also laid down, unable to move. I tried reading the sacred text of Daoism in my head and activated the Peach Soul Flower to keep my head clear. If we both blacked out, who knew what they might do to us.

I didn’t know if these two things would work, but I had to try.

In the end, I was more than happy to know that it worked. I wasn’t sure if it was thanks to the Peach Soul Flower or the sacred text of Daoism, but I was able to stay conscious. I couldn't move my body, but it was better than passing out. Moreover, perhaps my strength could somehow recover as time passed by...

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