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

"The scumbag began to despise Dong Chuanzhi. Remembering the old scumbag's methods, he started kidnapping or buying women and children himself. But as his depravity grew, so did the number of people in the secret room. At one point, he would even torture and kill other kidnapped people in front of them whenever he was unhappy, as a warning to others. Several years passed like this, and no one in the secret room could successfully give birth. The kidnapping and killing continued. The scumbag grew older and weaker, and he even wanted Dong Chuanzhi to follow his example, trying to get women pregnant. But Chuanzhi was pure and kind. Even though he was the child of a devil, he never harmed those children and women. Later, he even became a source of comfort for those with tragic fates, a ray of light in the darkness."

"Chuanzhi is a good boy, so cute and kind..."

"Chuanzhi was discovered by the scumbag while helping Lanlan escape, and he died along with Lanlan! Aunt Zhang, who pleaded for him, was also tortured to death." Diting clearly didn't want to talk too much about Chuanzhi, as it was truly heartbreaking. "Next, let's talk about the scumbag's other son. This son, Zhang the Butcher, inherited his father's perverted genes. After Chuanzhi's death, the scumbag took him back and let him live in the courtyard, but for fear of being discovered, he forbade him to come and go. However, his kidnapping and abduction continued, and he also 'taught' this son to do the same, stealing chickens, ducks, geese, and other small animals from the village at night and cruelly torturing them to death. After that, this pair of demonic father and son committed crimes together. To facilitate their kidnapping, murder, and disposal of corpses, the scumbag gave his son the identity of a butcher and, against all odds, put him in the open. But in the last six months, the scumbag saw something somewhere and wanted to sacrifice the entire village for him. Later, Dong Chuanzhi lost his mind and was completely controlled by the resentful aura, so the clues went cold!"

"…Xiao Jiu, the truth must be exposed, and the evil people and those evil organizations must be brought to justice!" An Xin lowered her eyes, thinking about all the darkest moments she had experienced in the apocalypse. What hadn't she seen and heard? Cannibalism, treating people like less than human beings… Yet, whenever she heard about these evils exposed to the light of day, she couldn't help but feel angry. In the apocalypse, she had the power to personally kill the demons, but in this orderly world, the judgment of evil must be left to the public security organs and the judiciary!

"I thought you'd actually rush out and tear those two scumbags to pieces by the end!"

"It's not worth it... Instead, we should extract more useful information from them, such as the names of the victims, the organizations that traffic women and children, and most importantly, how they came to know that insidious Gathering Array, who the mastermind is, and what their purpose is... Speaking of which, I want to know how to save those innocent souls..."

"I think as long as they regain their senses, see the culprits get what they deserve, and have no regrets, they will each go and be reincarnated!"

"Alright, then I'll discuss with my senior brothers and sisters tonight how to allocate the subsequent work."

..........................................

"That's the way it is..."

After dinner, everyone gathered together and listened as An Xin pieced together the gist of what had happened. Then, everyone fell silent…

"I learned all this from Chuanzhi. There must be many things that haven't been revealed yet... What I want to do most now is to save the souls of those victims."

"Then we must get the police involved before these two people realize what's happening, and give the deceased justice."

"Yes, they went out to do something today, and Xinxin's matter couldn't have gone unnoticed! Junior Brother Zheng is right, things seem a bit urgent. We can't worry about the mastermind for now, let's call the police quickly." Uncle Qiu began to mobilize personnel. "Qingchuan, could you contact some familiar police officers and explain the situation to them in detail? After all, we can't just send any local police officer. It would be a waste of time, and what if those two get the news and run away!"

"Yes, Uncle Qiu, I'll go and make the contact right away."

Li Qingchuan's abilities are beyond question. After he explained the case in detail to someone, about four hours later, representatives from the city police arrived, stating that their superiors had taken the case very seriously and had dispatched a team of criminal investigation experts to bring the truth to light as quickly as possible. They also hoped to receive help from the public.

Thus began a massive investigation and arrest operation.

Because An Xin provided very detailed and useful clues, the police searched the small courtyard behind the village overnight, rescued the women and children who had just been traded that morning, and took Dong Wenyu and his butcher son into custody. When the irrefutable evidence was presented to them, the two had no choice but to confess everything.

When the entire village learned the truth, after the initial shock and anger, only guilt remained... guilt towards the children...

Thankfully, after receiving Dong Wenyu's confession, a large number of police officers were immediately dispatched. Within a month, they followed the clues and dismantled three human trafficking organizations, and detained all the criminals involved to await a just trial.

Faced with overwhelming evidence, the two scoundrels finally confessed and were both shot.

Upon receiving the good news, An Xin immediately returned to the village with her uncles and aunts, using her light-based abilities to purify three places where the resentment and evil energy were dense. This truly consumed a lot of An Xin's abilities!

After repeatedly exhausting her superpowers, her light-based superpowers broke through to level 5 (intermediate).

These senior and junior disciples are envious again...

It took An Xin three whole days to purify all the resentment and evil energy in the entire village. Under the arrangement of their senior uncles and elders, the senior brothers also dug up the small locust trees on the outskirts of the village and handed them over to the forestry bureau for proper disposal.

Finally, witnessed by all the villagers, the senior monks offered prayers to commemorate the departed souls. During the ceremony, An Xin brought out Dong Chuanzhi, who had been well-fed and "plump." She told the souls of the fate of those evil people, and seeing their relieved smiles, An Xin felt satisfied and warm.

As the ceremony ended, Anxin and Diting watched them slowly disappear, waving goodbye from afar.

Before leaving the village, An Xin went to the "Dong Residence," opened the ancestral hall, and let Aunt Dong go inside… The dazed old woman, upon seeing the two simple memorial tablets, finally broke down in tears, rushed to the offering table, hugged the tablets, and wept uncontrollably. An Xin closed the door for her, then went to the courtyard, placed her hands on the dying old locust tree, and helped it purify itself and infuse it with spiritual energy. Seeing that some tiny green buds were finally sprouting on the tree, she stopped and murmured to the tree, "Old locust tree, you have suffered. You will surely bloom again, just like the locust tree in Uncle Dong's house. You have protected the village for so long, seeing the children leave, seeing the evildoers commit crimes, and being used yourself. You must have been very sad. Now it's all over…"

..........................................

"...Child...thank you..."

"you are?"

An aged voice rang out from the mist. An Xin couldn't see the speaker, nor could she exert any power here.

"I am a locust tree... Thank you for saving me and the village."

"A locust tree? Where is this?"

"This is your dream, and also the illusion I wove with my last bit of strength."

"The last strength?"

"Yes, child, it is also thanks to the spiritual power you gave me. I originally intended to exchange my own good fortune and merit for the position of Earth Immortal, but I fell because I mistakenly ate blood and flesh offerings. The blood and evil energy made me lose my mind. If it weren't for your arrival, I think I might have become a ghost and sacrificed myself to the core of the entire Fulin Village array."

"Old locust tree, do you know who's behind this?"

"It's the power of ghosts and monsters. That human, because of his evil deeds, attracted an even more terrifying demon. The demon used him to create trapping arrays and gathering evil energy arrays. Their purpose is to trap souls, sacrifice the entire village, and create more resentful evil energy to break through the boundary..."

"Do they want to breach the boundary and then occupy this place?"

“…Child…my power has come to an end…they have taken away that evil soul…”

The fog gradually thinned... the aged voice faded into the distance...

"...The old tree dies, but new branches bring the hope of life...Child, remember that the alternation of the old and the new inevitably brings both opportunities and challenges...Do not fear hardship..."

An Xin suddenly sat up in bed, the moonlight filtering through the gauze curtains and casting dappled shadows on her.

"Little Jiu, did you hear what the old locust tree said?"

"I heard him. Since he meant no harm, I didn't stop him. I didn't expect him to come to thank you!"

"...What did he mean by his last words?"

"Should we break through the boundary? I've done the math. If we sacrifice the entire village during the Ghost Festival (July 15th of the lunar calendar), the resentful energy should be enough to create a large hole in the boundary..."

"Then the evil soul they took away must be that village chief, right? What do they want his soul for? Besides, his soul should be in hell."

"I have no idea about that."

"What did that last sentence mean? The transition between the old and the new... fearlessness in the face of hardship?"

"The last sentence? Wasn't it just that he said the energy was exhausted and the evil souls were taken away?"

"There's one more thing... but it might just be the old locust tree's expectation of me..." An Xin recalled the conversation in the dream again, and asked Di Ting again, "Didn't Dong Wenyu reveal who taught him the formation in the end? Did he know that sacrificing the entire village was to break the boundary?"

“He probably doesn’t know! He’s told us everything he should and shouldn’t have said. I think if he knew the function of these magic arrays, he might have used these secrets to try to get a reduced sentence. So he has no reason to lie about this.”

"I'm just worried that such a big thing happened because we stumbled upon it. Won't there be problems later? After all, the Ghost Festival is still more than half a month away. Do you think we should talk to our senior brothers and see if there are any more similar incidents?"

“I think what you’ve said is absolutely necessary!” Di Ting also felt that this matter was of great importance and should be acted upon immediately.

So An Xin quickly got up and washed, and then, in the dead of night, under the stars and moon, woke up all the Taoist priests from their beds.

Half an hour later, the Taoist priests gathered in the council hall, all furious, waiting for An Xin, that little rascal, to give them a reason not to be beaten.

An Xin hurriedly explained the reason for disturbing everyone, and the Taoist priests changed from being aggressive to being serious and worried!

"Investigate! Divide our disciples above the Qi Refining stage into groups of five and send them to various villages and towns. Notify us immediately if you find any clues. Remember, do not act on your own." Master Zheng made the decision immediately, preparing to hold a mobilization meeting at dawn.

"I'll contact the various Taoist sects and ask them to cooperate with the self-inspection!" Master Qiu took out his phone, preparing to make a call. "Junior Brother Chen and Junior Brother Du, you two stay at the Taoist temple and take charge of logistics and management. An Xin, quickly notify your three senior brothers to come over; there are some arrangements to make."

Soon after, the three senior disciples arrived. The eldest disciple was assigned to lead the 30 disciples who remained behind, along with the two Daoist priests, Chen and Du, to guard the Daoist temple and protect Daoist priest Zou.

The second senior brother led the group of young masters and ladies back to the city, firstly to report the urgent situation to the heads of the various families, and secondly to seek help from the families to investigate any suspicious activity. After all, this was the county closest to the boundary wall, making it the first place that ghosts and monsters would exploit.

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Miyin has something to say~

That concludes the story of Fulin Village. In the original outline, this case was actually depicted as extremely bloody and violent, and there should have even been some scenes showcasing the extreme evil of human nature...

But as I wrote, I thought of many crime documentaries I'd watched before, and after some consideration, I decided to cut out a lot of the descriptions of the crimes, instead letting the adorable Di Ting narrate the truth directly. After all, the main focus of this story is on the female protagonist's journey to becoming stronger. Of course, if you have any ideas, feel free to tell Mi Yin—it's not a bad idea to use up some brain cells to write a suspense novel!

By the way, here's a no-prize quiz! Let's discuss who was the first person to contact the Taoist temple!