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墨書 Inktalez
After hearing Mu Qing's translation, Shen Tong immediately asked, "How long has this been going on?"
"It started about half a month ago," Mu Qing replied. "At first, it was just a few elderly people having nightmares, but then it grew to more and more cases. Now, almost the entire village is affected. Many villagers are afraid of the dark and don’t dare to sleep at night."
Shen Tong pondered for a moment and continued, "Could you ask if anyone in the village has seen any strange outsiders?"
After translating Shen Tong's question to Village Chief Mu Defu, the chief lowered his voice and said something mysteriously.
Mu Qing's expression clearly showed he was somewhat frightened. After a moment, he turned to Lin Mingchang and Shen Tong and said,
"The chief said that indeed a few villagers saw a group of people in black clothing walking up the snow mountain on the night of the full moon. They were wearing black robes and had Bird Beak Masks on their faces. But he doesn’t know who they are."
Upon hearing this, Shen Tong and Lin Mingchang understood most of what was happening.
These people in black were likely members of the Gui Xu Society. Therefore, the so-called hallucinations and ailments recently appearing in Baisha Village must also be related to the Gui Xu Society.
While Mu Qing was talking with Village Chief Mu Defu, Lin Mingchang had been observing the chief.
This middle-aged man looked anxious and worried, occasionally glancing towards the snow-capped mountains outside the window.
He said to Mu Qing, "Mu Qing, has your uncle Mu Fude encountered any troubles recently? He seems very troubled."
Mu Qing nodded; he had already noticed something was off with his uncle.
He asked the chief again in Naxi Language, but it was clear that the chief was reluctant to speak. However, under Mu Qing's insistence, he first shook his head and then finally answered with a choked voice.
Upon hearing his response, Mu Qing suddenly stood up.
He widened his eyes at Lin Mingchang and Shen Tong and raised his voice to translate: "The chief’s daughter, my distant cousin, went missing three days ago!"
"Missing?" Shen Tong's heart sank sharply.
"Yes," Mu Qing continued. "My uncle said she went up the mountain to gather herbs that day and hadn’t returned by evening. She usually comes home before sunset. My uncle and several villagers searched for two whole days and only found one of her shoes at the foot of the snow mountain."
Lin Mingchang immediately pressed on, "Mu Qing, how old is your cousin? Does she have any distinctive features?"
"My cousin is eighteen years old; she is very delicate-looking with unique eyes. She has heterochromia—one eye is black and the other is brown," Mu Qing said, his gaze falling on Shen Tong's right eye.
Different-colored eyes?
Shen Tong and Lin Mingchang both thought of this at the same time.
Was the girl targeted by the Gui Xu Society because of her different-colored eyes? Shen Tong glanced at Lin Mingchang, and neither of them chose to pursue the topic further.
After leaving the village chief's house, the three decided to continue on to the Village Doctor's home to check on Fang Zigui and Xiaoshuang's progress. Along the way, they encountered several villagers who appeared dazed, with some showing dark tear stains at the corners of their eyes.
Meanwhile, Fang Zigui and Xiaoshuang had already learned quite a bit about the strange illness from the Old Village Doctor. The Old Village Doctor of Baisha Village was over sixty years old; he had studied medicine outside when he was younger, so he could speak a little Chinese. He informed Fang Zigui and Ruan Xiaoshuang that he had been practicing medicine for over forty years and had never encountered such a peculiar illness before.
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