I'm caught in the cycle of endless competition, you're waiting for me in the apocalypse.

The three of them arrived at the entrance of the village; Zhang the butcher's house was easy to find.

The house was an ordinary tile-roofed building with a courtyard in front. Half of the courtyard was used as a shop made of bricks and bamboo, where many meat products were displayed. Because it was morning, the meat shop had a wide variety of products.

An Xin could see from afar that the butcher shop was enveloped in a thick, impenetrable aura of resentment. Bloodlust was also seeping out from the storeroom behind the shop.

"Second Senior Brother, the resentment and bloodlust here are really too powerful, no less than that small courtyard behind the village." An Xin tugged at Li Qingchuan's sleeve and gently reminded him.

"Okay, I understand. Let's all be careful." He Anxin nodded and exchanged a glance with Wei Ran.

Wei Ran walked up to the butcher shop first and called out loudly, "Is anyone here? I want to buy some meat."

"Wait a minute, I'll be right there!" a rough voice rang out from behind the house.

An Xin used her Heavenly Eye to look around and could only see a locust tree in the courtyard that resembled the one behind the village. The same two-colored evil energy was also emanating from under that locust tree. She then realized that it was indeed the same as what Di Ting had said.

"Who are you?" A burly, tall man with a face full of scars walked into the butcher shop, holding a cleaver, and said menacingly, "You are not from Fulin Village!"

"Oh, it's like this, we're college students here in Fulin Village doing a research report. We just came from the village chief's house. We were thinking of bringing him a gift, but we didn't see any shops along the way, so we discussed bringing him some meat. Sir, you're from this village, you must know the village chief's tastes, could you recommend some to us?" Li Qingchuan stepped forward and smiled slightly at Butcher Zhang.

“Village chief, you’ve come to the right person! We…we village chief love kidneys, grilled, stewed…hehe!” A strange smile gradually appeared on Zhang the butcher’s face. He looked up and met An Xin’s intently observing gaze. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, revealing a greedy glint…

An Xin couldn't help but shudder: Ah! Help, that's so perverted!

Wei Ran noticed the big man's gaze, and a surge of anger welled up inside him. In the blink of an eye, just before his face hardened and he raised his hand to exert force, An Xin grabbed one of Wei Ran's arms, interlocked her fingers with his, and held him tightly, pretending to be sweet as she said, "Ah Ran, is there anything you want to eat? We can buy some and cook it ourselves."

Feeling the soft, warm hand in his, Wei Ran's anger dissipated completely, replaced by a burst of excitement in his mind, and his neck and ears gradually turned red.

"No... I don't want anything to eat, don't bother!" He turned his head to look at the girl beside him, warm, beautiful, brave and intelligent... it seemed that all the beauty was just to set off her.

—This junior brother is really… unbearable to look at!

Li Qingchuan turned to Zhang the butcher and said, "You can handle it. Get some pork ribs, a pair of pork kidneys... get about 50 yuan's worth, and some pork belly too. Thanks."

"Boss, is this meat fresh? We're delivering it to the village chief, so we can't have bad meat!" An Xin suddenly spoke up, speaking loudly.

"Fresh! Guaranteed fresh! I go to pick up the goods myself every morning before dawn. My little truck is parked behind the yard, see? Humph! You outsiders, if you don't know, fine, I won't bother with you!" As he spoke, Butcher Zhang swung his large cleaver and began cutting the meat into chunks. His movements were fluid and his strength just right, looking effortless. In no time, he had neatly cut half a pig into pieces.

After paying and taking the meat, the three left the butcher's house and circled around to the back of his house. Sure enough, a small truck with a cargo bed was parked there.

The group circled the car for a while, observing as people came to buy meat and others began working in the fields. They then quietly left without leaving a trace.

Arriving at the village chief's courtyard again, Li Qingchuan knocked on the door and handed the things he wanted to give to the village chief to Aunt Dong, who came out to open the door.

After doing all that, the three of them returned to Uncle Dong and Aunt Tian's courtyard.

"Aunt Tian, ​​we bought some pork belly. Could you please add a dish for us later so we can eat together?" Li Qingchuan was probably the kind of son-in-law that elders would like. He was thoughtful and meticulous in his dealings with others, had a calm personality, and was truly a gentle breeze to be around.

Aunt Tian's wrinkles deepened with laughter as she took the meat and kept praising Li Qingchuan.

The three returned to their senior brothers' room.

An Xin poured hot water for the group, took a few gulps himself, and then said, "Second Senior Brother, Butcher Zhang is very familiar with the village chief. If they were just ordinary people, how would he know the village chief's favorite way to cook kidneys?"

"Yes, and this butcher Zhang has supermale syndrome. His eyes are long and narrow and set far apart, and his nose is flat. Such people are easily provoked and have a strong tendency to violence."

"Is it the so-called 'devil gene' that indicates a naturally evil seed?" Wei Ran had seen related videos online and immediately made the connection when he heard about supermale syndrome.

"No, these are accidents caused by gene division. People with superandrogenic syndrome are particularly aggressive, have difficulty concentrating, and have relatively lower intelligence during their youth due to abnormal hormone levels. However, if it is detected and intervened early in their youth, it is still possible for them to return to a normal life."

"In other words, this Zhang the butcher, who's around 30 years old now... has low intelligence and is more easily brainwashed and controlled. And with daily exposure to bloody slaughter, he seems quite troublesome." An Xin's face scrunched up as she thought back, feeling like she'd missed something...

"Xinxin, what are you thinking about?" Wei Ran asked with a worried look, feeling that he couldn't be of much help. He realized how little he knew when he needed to use his brain!

“That truck… I often see livestock trucks on the highway, but none of them have a fully enclosed cargo box, and this one wasn’t refrigerated… There were traces of blood under the cargo box door.” An Xin frowned, trying very hard to recall.

"If it's blood, then it's pig's blood. If you're worried about the pork getting dusty on the road, you use these fully enclosed trucks. Also, isn't it supposed to be fresh pork? Then you definitely can't use a refrigerated truck, because frozen meat isn't fresh meat, is it?" Wei Ran finally joined the brainstorming session and shared his opinion.

Li Qingchuan was also pondering An Xin's words and quickly found a loophole: "This person is a butcher, so he must have gone to the farm in the early morning to pick up live pigs, slaughtered them that day, and sold them at the butcher shop. That's what you call fresh meat. If he picked up the meat from the slaughterhouse, then he's just a butcher shop owner. Also, don't forget, on the way back, Xin Xin said that the resentment and bloodlust in that courtyard were just as strong as those in the small courtyard behind the village. That means he must have been killing in his own yard. And as for that cart, if he brought back live pigs directly, then why would there be blood?"

"Second Brother's analysis is correct. Also, have you noticed? The butcher's house, the village chief's house, and that small courtyard all have locust trees, and they are all surrounded by resentful aura, except for the village chief's house which doesn't have bloodthirsty aura. And those small locust trees surrounding the village... all have resentful aura..."

An Xin took out paper and pen and, based on her memory, roughly drew the outline of the village, then marked the village chief's house, Zhang the butcher's house, and the small courtyard of the missing person.

When she marked the small locust trees surrounding the village, Li Qingchuan suddenly stood up and exclaimed in shock, "This is the prototype of a spirit-gathering array!"

"Huh? A spirit-gathering array?" Wei Ran was also surprised.

"But since several pillars of the array are supported by locust trees that gather yin energy, along with such strong resentment and bloodlust, this array becomes a gathering-evil-energy array..."

"A Gathering Fiend Array!?" Di Ting suddenly shouted in An Xin's sea of ​​consciousness, "Xin Xin, this is bad! This Gathering Fiend Array is much more sinister than the Gathering Yin Array. And, gathering so much fiendish energy, what do you think you're planning to do!"

"Second Senior Brother, what is the use of the Gathering Evil Formation?" An Xin asked nervously.

“Gathering resentful energy, if it's the entire village, then on a large scale, this is a ritual to refine the whole village. There's only a month and a half left until the Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open... The yin energy will be at its peak then. I think the person who set up the array intends to make a move on that day.” Li Qingchuan deeply felt that this matter was of great importance, and not something that his three junior disciples could act recklessly. He quickly set up an isolation array in the room, then took out his phone to contact his senior uncle, Qiu.

"Xinxin, your senior brother is right, but think about it, to sacrifice the entire village, what kind of deep-seated hatred and resentment is that? Who would do such a thing? The person who knows such a sinister formation must be a master, and there's no one like that in this village, otherwise I would definitely have sensed it. So who is manipulating things behind the scenes?" Di Ting was already jumping around in An Xin's sea of ​​consciousness, extremely anxious, just wanting to remind An Xin that this mastermind was very powerful and that this place was far too dangerous.

An Xin listened silently to Di Ting's analysis, her hand holding the water glass trembling slightly. Wei Ran looked at her, feeling useless again and regretting not having worked harder before. He reached out and cupped An Xin's slightly cool hands in his large palm, saying gently, "Xin Xin, don't be afraid. We'll go back when our senior uncles and aunts arrive."

"Uncle Qiu told us not to alert them yet. This formation is too strange; it's not something an ordinary person could set up. They're coming to investigate in detail. I also told them we're disguised as sociology students here and haven't revealed our identities. They'll discuss it today and come here tomorrow. They'll communicate the specific plan to us tonight." Li Qingchuan took a deep breath, put away his phone, and his face remained tense.

An Xin calmly withdrew her hands and the water glass from Wei Ran's grasp, and casually put the glass down. She clapped her hands, widened her eyes, and said urgently, "That's right! I finally remembered what's so strange. Have you noticed that there are no dogs or cats in this village? We haven't even seen or heard any of the most common chickens, ducks, or geese."

“Ah, yes, there really isn’t!” Wei Ran echoed.

"But what is the connection between these small animals and the Gathering Evil Formation?" Li Qingchuan asked, puzzled.

"I don't know, I just felt something was off from the start, and then I finally figured it out." An Xin puffed out her cheeks and pouted her little mouth, looking adorable.

“…Hmm, maybe we should ask Aunt Tian at lunchtime.” Li Qingchuan patted his junior sister’s head, finally easing the heaviness in his heart a little.