Chapter Fifteen: Entering the Village

Zhang Lin must have met the same fate. As I gazed at Song Yiming's corpse, my heart was a tumult of emotions. A companion I once spent every day with now reduced to this state.

"Today's game ends here," I said.

I knew all too well that I was powerless to change anything. Slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I was the first to step toward the school gates.

Just as I crossed the threshold, my phone chimed again.

"Take two days off, everyone. Rest well," it read.

As usual, the Ghost King sent a disgusting smiley face along with the message.

But then a thought occurred to me: now I could finally go to Toothless Village and see what was really going on there.

With this in mind, I walked down the street, dialing Qian Xiaozhen.

"Hello, Lin Yao."

"Officer Qian, we can go now."

"Alright, send me the location. I'll be there right away."

After a brief exchange, I found a nearby KFC. Noon was approaching, so I ordered some food and waited for Qian Xiaozhen.

Soon, a Jeep arrived in a cloud of dust.

Today, Qian Xiaozhen was dressed in a sleek tracksuit and sported a pair of sunglasses.

"Over here!" I called, waving him over.

He didn’t stand on ceremony, grabbing a cup of iced cola and gulping it down.

"Why do you suddenly have time?" Qian Xiaozhen took off his sunglasses. He was about to light a cigarette but, perhaps remembering this was KFC, put it away.

"Who knows what wind blew through. By the way, how long is it from here to Toothless Village?"

"Three or four hours, maybe," he replied.

"No time to waste—let’s go," I said, rising from my seat, a hint of excitement in my voice.

We bought a few bottles of water and some cigarettes, then set off toward the unknown.

Along the way, we chatted idly. Suddenly, I remembered my father had been a member of the Bureau of Spiritual Investigations and asked,

"Officer Qian, did you say my dad worked for the Bureau?"

Lighting a cigarette, I spoke to Qian Xiaozhen as he drove.

"That's right. Your father was a legend in our bureau," he said, laughing.

But my parents had long since disappeared, and it had been ages since I'd heard from them.

The more time I spent with Qian Xiaozhen, the more I realized he wasn’t as cold as I’d imagined. In fact, he was optimistic and upright, even insisting I call him "Old Qian."

"Once we cross those mountains, we’ll be there," he said, pointing ahead to two oddly shaped peaks.

"Those are called Guillotine Mountains. From the side, they look like two giant guillotines, one above and one below. That’s how they got their name."

I nodded, marveling once more at nature’s uncanny handiwork.

The car rolled on from afternoon into evening, finally stopping beside a stone tablet along the highway.

"This should be Toothless Village," said Qian Xiaozhen, gesturing toward the dilapidated marker.

It looked as though the tablet had been cut from a larger stone and engraved with the name Toothless Village—in classical script, no less.

We were standing on a high point; to enter the village, we needed to walk down a slope.

What struck me most was the sight of sandy roads within the village.

From a distance, the place felt unsettling. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off.

"Come on, since we’re here," Qian Xiaozhen said, patting my shoulder.

"Let’s go!"

He locked the car. Earlier, noticing I was unarmed, he’d given me a dagger, which I tucked into my pocket. The baton was still at my waist.

Once everything was in order, we headed into the village.

After only a few steps, the asphalt road turned to sand.

It was just past five in the evening. The sun’s last rays stretched our shadows endlessly across the earth.

"Should we try to find someone and ask? Wandering around aimlessly might not work," I said, feeling uncertain about our purpose here.

"Our goal is to find out why the villagers don’t speak," Qian Xiaozhen replied.

Hearing that, I didn’t ask further and simply followed him into the village.

By the time we reached the houses, the sun had set completely and darkness crept in, yet not a single light came on inside.

We pressed forward and saw not only empty houses but deserted streets—there wasn’t a soul in sight.

"Is it possible no one lives here?" I whispered.

"Probably not," Qian Xiaozhen replied, though he sounded unsure. We kept observing.

All the houses were old earthen structures, their stone walls stacked by hand.

"This isn’t working. We need to find a family and ask," I said, picking a house with a spacious courtyard and knocking on the door.

Knock, knock, knock...

I knocked for a while, but there was no movement inside, making me even more convinced this village was empty.

But fate always likes to toy with me.

From outside, I saw an elder quietly peer out from the house, watching us with surprise.

"We’re just passing through! It’s late—we’d like to stay the night!" I called out, waving to him.

The old man continued to scrutinize us, as if sizing us up.

"Grandpa, we’re not bad people," Qian Xiaozhen added, calling out with me.