It was Sat.u.r.day when Jiang Li felt the presence of the female ghost king in Gu Mochou, the same female ghost acting as the leader of the battalion right outside Zhao Village.Four days had pa.s.sed since then.
Because no news came out about Haowen Town or anywhere near there, he reckoned it was most likely the villainess"s doing, and personally made a trip. Precisely because of this that he was not at the restaurant at that exciting moment, thus missing the confrontation at the adjacent store. His absence even thrilled the villainess, a fact that Jiang Li would probably laugh at if he knew.
But as of now, it was true that he was away. And there was a more pressing issue bothering him. That female ghost who had just successfully broken through to the ghost king level.
Such a ghost striving to send every Zhao villager to h.e.l.l… Why would she suddenly leave her area of influence? Was it because Gu Mochou sent an SOS signal when the girl could no longer stand his covert attacks? Gu Mochou did not seem to be someone easy to admit defeat.
When he finally reached his destination, the answer presented itself to him.
"The village is officially a ghost village now." He absent-mindedly commented after being forced into silence by the sight that greeted him.
The night time in this forest-mountain area was darker than usual, depressing even. Temple ruins could be seen in the southwest part of the village.
"They" were now everywhere. Even though it was currently midnight and vision was limited, he could see and hear them with extreme clarity. The empty houses. Bloodied streets. Echoing wails. Corpses. And madly laughing spirits.
Jiang Li came only in his spirit form so he did not have to worry about damaging Lang Lei"s body. That was why there was no sign of fear in his eyes when several ghosts surrounded him. These fellows of him were not showing aggression anyways, even after they recognized him as the sneaky little ghost from half a year ago suspected of being a local resident of the village.
However, their lack of hostility did not mean that Jiang Li found it comfortable to stay there. In fact, it was the opposite. The gruesome sight was making the thousand-year-old ghost him frown. Even though it was not the most vomit-inducing he had seen, it was still one of the most appalling. The scene was definitely something no horror enthusiasts would want to see or be part of.
The crazy laughter continued to reverberate eerily. The living would definitely s.h.i.+ver and have gooseb.u.mps upon listening to it.
"You guys are so happy, huh." Jiang Li smacked his lips and swept his eyes around coldly.
"Ha… hA… ha… Ha…. ha…" Creepy sounds came to his ears as a reply.
Jiang Li did not even bother to guess from where it came from since it was reverberating on all sides.
He held his forehead before putting his palm together and closing his eyes. Odd stares were thrown his way by his fellow spirits, but he did not explain. He did not have to since he made it obvious that he was praying for the pitiful souls of the few women and children who had not escaped the ghosts" wrath.
When he finished praying, a thought just came to him. That apart from the law of cause and effect, there was actually another unbreakable rule in this world.
The law of supply and demand. It was not all about the movement of prices that economics always talked about.
When Jiang Li roamed the place, he never spared the beasts a glance. There was no whatsoever interest in his mind to know how these people died miserably. After all, they were sinners.
There would be no traffickers if there were no people wanting to buy abducted people or body parts.
Because these men and, actually, some brainwashed older women partic.i.p.ated in this scheme, the moment they received their retribution, they lost the qualification to receive pity. However their victims retaliated against them, they deserved it.
He then looked at the corpses of the women who insisted on staying despite his warning six months ago.
In his opinion actually, the same law applied to them as well, or maybe it was the law of cause and effect. Whichever it was, this group of women was on the losing side. In the first place, they would not end up in this place if they were cautious and had awareness of how cruel humans could be.
There would be no conmen if there were no foolish or gullible people in this world. One should at least look out for themselves.
"I pity them. But I clearly warned them and told them the best time to escape. I don"t think it"s my fault or anybody"s fault that they did not seize the chance given to them. Moreover, I"m no longer around to lead them. It"s them who gave up fighting."
The ghost king sighed.
What were the odds that these dead women purposely ignored the pieces of paper he left them? Was it because they longed for death and thought it to be sweeter than the life they would get after escaping? Then again, why couldn"t they at least think of sending the children out of his h.e.l.lhole like he advised?
Because he didn"t know the answer, a feeling of disappointment washed over him.
Now, the best he could do for them was to pray and hope that like him, some local deities would find them pitiful and compensate their poor souls. As he was in an incorporeal state, he would not be able to bury them.
Jiang Li walked towards the broken statue of Buddha.
Looking at him, the others stopped making odd noises and warily watched him. They were wary since he was a ghost king, two levels above the current strongest in their rank.
It was an inferior being"s instinct to watch out for the mood of those above them. Also, they were curious.
What did this superior spirit plan to do with the ugly statue?
Well, Jiang Li only inspected how it broke and did nothing else. In his mind, he only wondered how the female ghost king destroyed this sculpture and if the wisp of divine spirit inside it fought back or not.
When he lost interest in the broken item, he glanced at them before turning around and resuming his exploration, of course not missing the biggest sinner whose corpse he failed to find.
A few minutes later, Jiang Li left the ghost village. While the noises resumed behind, n.o.body really dared to stop him. The ghosts were pleased with his departure and continued their own "party" which had most likely been ongoing for days.