frightfiction Chapter 182 Strange Rocks
Chapter 182 Strange Rocks
“My family presented the ‘Twenty Measures for Epidemic Prevention’ to Lord Xu overnight. Lord Xu said that as long as the epidemic prevention measures are effective, your household registration fee will be waived.”
As for the strange occurrences in the deserted villages of Linan County, you will be rewarded if you can resolve them, and it is alright if you cannot. You can choose from any other county or town that can accommodate refugees.
There's another matter; perhaps Ms. Meng or that doctor can lend a hand in epidemic prevention.
What Steward Qiao didn't mention was that last night, when he brought Meng Fuqing and his group to Zhou Tou at the city gate, they were summoned to Lord Xu's residence overnight.
Without thoroughly understanding the background of these people, the two officials would not make a hasty decision.
This news delighted everyone in the team.
Meng Fuqing smiled; it seemed that the Qiao family's offer as a stepping stone had worked well.
"Just give the orders, adults, and we'll be ready to go at any time. I still want to visit the deserted village, but I'll need to bring one more person with me."
She turned slightly to the side, allowing Steward Qiao to see Yan He behind her. "This man is a disciple of the Taoist sect; he may be able to resolve the strange occurrences in the deserted village."
Yan He immediately stepped forward, adopting the same ethereal and composed demeanor he used when pretending to be an old Taoist priest.
"I will do my utmost to share your burdens."
Manager Qiao suddenly realized why Meng Fuqing was so confident; it turned out that there were many talented and extraordinary people in the team.
He didn't trust this female Taoist priest who was only two or three years older than Meng Fuqing.
Previously, in an attempt to resolve the strange occurrences in Hanhua Village, the government invited Taoist priests and monks to perform rituals to deliver the spirits, but to no avail.
If a mere Taoist priest could solve this, the monks and Taoist priests of Jing'an Prefecture would lose all face.
Thinking this to himself, Manager Qiao didn't show it on his face, but just smiled and said, "I will send someone to take the three of you to Hanhua Village right away."
The three men, riding horses, lagged behind the two leading officials. Yan He's ethereal aura dissipated, and recalling the strange events in the deserted village that Meng Fuqing had mentioned the previous night, he felt increasingly uneasy.
He whispered to Meng Fuqing, "Is there really an evil spirit in that Hanhua Village? I'm just a lowly Taoist priest, I've never learned how to catch ghosts."
"Just be a decoy, I'm not asking you to actually catch ghosts."
"Huh? You don't mean you know how to catch them?"
Meng Fuqing: "I don't know either."
Yan He: "...Then why did you agree to their request?"
"Give it a try, what if it works?"
Yan He couldn't understand how Meng Fuqing could speak so uncertainly with such a confident air.
Just as she was about to speak again, the horse beneath her suddenly sped up.
Turning her head, she saw that Xie Jin had replaced her and was riding alongside Meng Fuqing.
"Young Master Xie, you are so naive!"
Having said that, fearing Xie Jin's retaliation, she yelled "Giddy up!" and sped up even faster.
Xie Jin was talking to Meng Fuqing about serious business.
"Why don't you just live in the prefectural city? It can't be for those wolves, can it?"
"Let's settle down first, and if nothing unexpected happens, we can move to the prefectural city," Meng Fuqing replied.
Xie Jin fell silent.
Meng Fuqing asked knowingly, "You'll stay in the prefectural city, won't you? Last night I saw you leave your resting place and see your family?"
"I saw you, everything is fine." After a pause, Xie Jin spoke again, "Since I came here, I might be targeted, and we might not be able to meet often in the future."
Meng Fuqing knew that he didn't want to implicate her, and felt slightly uncomfortable.
"You promised to tell me about your family, are you going back on your word?"
Upon hearing this, Xie Jin slightly raised the corners of his mouth, the gloom between his brows and eyes vanishing completely. "Meng Fuqing, you understand that choosing me will bring trouble. Can I interpret your words as meaning that you still chose me?"
Meng Fuqing: "I simply chose to believe that you could handle the danger."
Xie Jin's eyes darkened. "I won't let you get hurt in the slightest."
A thought popped into his mind: Now that you have chosen me, I will not tolerate you abandoning me in the future.
At the same time, he felt inexplicably anxious. There were only two ingredients left, and he needed to use them as soon as possible.
Hanhua Village is just over an hour away from the prefectural city by horseback.
The group of five stopped under a large tree about a kilometer away from Hanhua Village.
The accompanying officials glanced in the direction of Hanhua Village. "Do you see that big banyan tree over there? That's Hanhua Village. It's quite a large village, and there are many abandoned fields around it."
If it weren't for this incident, this place would be quite nice to stay in. Leave as soon as you're done; don't linger inside too long.
Yan He asked, "Aren't you coming with us?"
"We're afraid of offending the mountain god..."
Upon hearing him mention supernatural matters, Yan He felt inexplicably frightened and interrupted, "Please wait here, gentlemen, we will be out soon."
After speaking, the three of them walked towards the village with firm steps.
The village truly lived up to its name; the road leading to it was overgrown with weeds, and the houses were either collapsed or crumbling. The only intact house was a large brick and tile house with a large courtyard.
Meng Fuqing noticed that the plants that survived here were slightly different from ordinary grasses and trees.
She stopped and looked at a cocklebur plant; its thorns were much longer than those of ordinary cockleburs.
"We split up to search for any barren areas near Hanhua Village. If we find any, we must not enter that area. We will light fireworks to inform the other two."
"Why do I feel like you know what's causing this?" Yan He looked at Meng Fuqing thoughtfully.
Meng Fuqing gave a vague explanation, "I'm not sure, I'll only know after I look into it. What I can confirm is whether it's some kind of evil spirit causing trouble. You don't feel uncomfortable, do you?"
Seeing that both of them shook their heads, the three of them parted ways.
Meng Fuqing hid in a dilapidated house and released vines to search for a target. Before long, she discovered a place in the northwest that was barren and had a rock in the middle of the open space.
It looks no different from an ordinary stone.
With her healing abilities, she wasn't worried about being affected by the radiation, so she put away the vines and ran towards the large rock.
Soon, she stood in front of the large, irregularly shaped rock. Half of the rock was sunken into the ground, and the other half was exposed, with the exposed part measuring one or two meters.
Meng Fuqing walked around the stone once, and seeing that no one was around, she stretched out a hand and placed it on the rock, trying to put the stone into her spatial storage.
The moment she placed her hand on it, the stone in front of her disappeared, leaving only a deep pit.
Meng Fuqing bent down to examine the bottom of the pit and found what appeared to be something red. She jumped down to investigate and pulled out a dark red stone from the bottom of the pit.
She got up and examined herself closely in the sunlight, her expression inexplicably strange.
This stone looks like the material of the ruby on the Blood Ring.
Meng Fuqing subconsciously closed his eyes to scan the space, stood still for three breaths, and then suddenly opened his eyes.
She originally intended to keep the large rock in her spatial storage for the time being, and then find an opportunity to throw it into the deep mountains and forests or into the bottom of a valley.
At this moment, she vanished without a trace in the space, and apart from that, there was no change in her space.
She looked at the dark red stone in her hand and tossed it into her spatial storage. The next moment, she noticed that the red stone quickly sank into the soil of the space.
The space remains unchanged.
Having previously observed the space absorbing animal excrement, Meng Fuqing guessed that what the space's soil absorbed might be what it needed.
For example, animal manure can increase soil fertility.
Unlike the second Blood Ring, which can upgrade space, what else can that big rock do?
With plenty of things to do right now, Meng Fuqing plans to thoroughly explore the space once she has a complete break.
She crouched down and picked up all the red pebbles from the bottom of the pit, throwing them into her spatial storage. She then used the vines to probe again, but found no more unusual stones, and only then did she stop.
She had just put away the vines when she heard footsteps getting closer and closer. She climbed up from the bottom of the pit and saw Xie Jin.