Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Sangjiazhuang is not close to Fengqiu.

The two walked until it was completely dark before they finally saw the outline of Sangjia Village faintly on the edge of the dark blue sky.

Sangzhi's mood finally improved, and he pointed to the village in the distance and said, "Look, my home is over there, we'll be there soon!"

The two quickened their pace toward Sangjiazhuang. By the time they arrived, it was completely dark, with the only light source being the cold moon overhead.

The pale moonlight enveloped the pitch-black village, and Xu Lingguang felt a bad premonition.

The young boy was completely unaware of this. He struggled to push open the village gate and called out familiar names in a cheerful voice: "Uncle, Sister Mianmian, Xiaoqi, I'm back!"

The little cub, back in its home, ran like a joyful little animal, its cheeks flushed and its eyes reflecting the scorching moonlight.

Sangzhi ran and called out all the way, but received no response. The village was so quiet that even an echo could not be heard, which was frightening.

He stopped hesitantly, and the little cub, noticing something amiss, turned back to look at Xu Lingguang with a blank expression, as if trying to get some support from him.

Xu Lingguang sighed silently, stepped forward and took his hand, her voice low and soft; "Do you remember where they live? Let's go take a look, they're just sleeping there."

Sangzhi nodded hesitantly, pointing to the slightly dilapidated houses along the right.

The house clearly showed signs of wear and tear; the door was rotten, and the paper pasted on the windows was torn and had not been repaired.

Xu Lingguang led Sangzhi forward and knocked on the door.

Dust swirled in front of the door, and the knocking went unanswered; only the creaking of the decaying, old wooden door could be heard.

Xu Lingguang pushed open the door—

The room was pitch black, and a candlestick lay rolled at the foot of the room.

Xu Lingguang lit the lamp, illuminating the pitch-black room. Tables and chairs were scattered haphazardly on the floor, and there were no other objects besides them. A heavy smell of dust mingled with a lingering stench of decay.

He quickly found the source of the putrid smell.

—That was a corpse.

The body was curled up on the bed, having been dead for a long time. The exposed skin was dry and yellowish, like wrinkled bark of a dead tree, and looked horrifying.

Xu Lingguang immediately covered Sangzhi's eyes: "Let's go look somewhere else."

Sangzhi gave a soft "hmm".

The two searched every house in the entire village but found no living person.

There were about ten houses in total, and almost every one of them contained a corpse.

Everyone in Sangjiazhuang is dead.

Judging from the state of decomposition, the person had been dead for at least two or three months.

Some died from the poison, while others, presumably unable to endure the torment or the loss of their loved ones, chose to end their own lives.

Let alone Sangzhi, a child, even Xu Lingguang, an adult, felt breathless as he looked through room after room.

The air in Sangjiazhuang was filled with the suffocating smell of death.

Xu Lingguang took a deep breath and looked at the silent Sangzhi, but he didn't know how to comfort him. He could only gently pull him into his arms and pat his stiff and tense back: "When it gets light, let's dig a hole and bury them all."

When a person dies, they should be laid to rest.

Sangzhi nodded stiffly.

It was still late at night, and it wasn't safe outside, so Xu Lingguang didn't dare to walk around outside rashly. In the end, he stayed at the manor with Sangzhi.

He stayed overnight at the clan chief's house.

After tricking Sangzhi into drinking some sleep-inducing water and confirming that the little one was asleep, Xu Lingguang began searching the house.

While checking each house, he noticed that the clan chief's house had many animal skin scrolls.

The scrolls were piled up in a corner of the table, their edges frayed, clearly indicating they had been frequently examined; even the clan chief, who had died from poisoning, was still holding one of them.

Xu Lingguang had been busy comforting Sangzhi and hadn't had time to examine the books closely. Now, he brought out the animal skin books, picked up the scroll from the clan leader's hand, lit a lamp, and examined it carefully.

—This booklet actually records the people who died in Zhuangzi.

Each person's name, date of birth, and the details of their death are listed in detail.

Xu Lingguang saw the clansmen that Sangzhi had mentioned above.

The last one listed was the clan chief himself. It's unclear whether he was the last to die or whether no one continued recording his story after his death.

At the end of the booklet, the clan chief wrote: "Thirty-five people from Sangjiazhuang offer sacrifices, hoping that the god of Fengqiu will appease his anger and bestow blessings."

Xu Lingguang frowned slightly. The people of Sangjiazhuang felt that they had angered the gods, which had caused the gods to be angry and punish them.

Who is the god of Fengqiu?

Xu Lingguang then picked up other scrolls and looked through them.

The scrolls mostly contain abstract drawings, with a few accompanied by scattered text, but all of it is nonsensical and incomprehensible.

Xu Lingguang was initially confused, but after patiently reading through it all, he suddenly realized that what seemed abstract actually had a pattern.

He pieced together several irregular animal hides and found that the pictures, when put together, seemed to depict Fengqiu.

The black lines represent trees, and the numerous twisted geometric shapes between the trees are clusters of hooks.

But what do those thick, spiderweb-like lines represent?

Xu Lingguang couldn't figure it out, so he went to study the words on the animal skin.

The words were not in sentences, but rather individual, unconnected characters or words, written in extremely illegible handwriting. Xu Lingguang could barely recognize them, only managing to make out a few:

“God”, “struggle”, “hook”, “punishment”.

"This god must be the Fengqiu god that the clan chief mentioned?"

“The hook can indeed be associated with punishment.”

Xu Lingguang muttered to himself, piecing together the known information: "The Sang family or their ancestors must have done something in the past, which is why they believe that the appearance of the Jie Gou is a punishment sent down by the gods."

And there's something else that's also quite strange: Xu Lingguang never bothered to ask Sangzhi about it.

The people of Sangjiazhuang all looked like the half-demons that Xu Lingguang knew.

They have horns on their heads, a pair of human ears and a pair of animal ears, and their skin is covered with fur when they are agitated. But they are just like ordinary people, without any special abilities, and are almost powerless against the hook.

Moreover, they define themselves as "human beings".

Sangzhi knew nothing about the demon race, and Sangjia Village seemed to be isolated from the world.

Perhaps we can ask Sangzhi when she wakes up.