Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 401: Chapter 344: The Punishment of the Five Precepts_2

Several people gathered together, based on the clues known so far, roughly organized a few points. First, the source of a series of supernatural events that occurred in Du Family Village should be the Ghost Monk, and the Ghost Monk targeted only the people of Du Family Village. Second, there had been a massacre in the village, and many people had died.

As soon as the words fell, hurried footsteps came from outside the door. Bang! Bang! Bang! Someone was forcefully pounding on the door, "Masters, it’s terrible! Huyan brothers were... they were killed by the monster!" It was Du San’s voice outside the door, full of grief and indignation in his tone.

Opening the door, Du San, panting heavily, also informed Yang Xiao and the others that Uncle Du Er had also been killed by the monster, and both deaths were identical in manner.

"Where was Hu Yanming’s body found?" Yang Xiao asked.

With a pained expression, Du San couldn’t help but sigh: "Where is there a body? Brother Huyan was left with only his head."

This time, Du San did not stop them, and all of Yang Xiao’s group followed, finding Hu Yanming’s head on a secluded path within fifteen minutes. Not far from it on the ground was a large pool of blood that hadn’t completely dried yet.

More dreadful than Liu Haiping looked before her death, Hu Yanming’s eyes were bulging, his mouth agape as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

"It was discovered by villagers who got up in the morning. They were terrified at the time," Du San explained on the side.

The head and the large bloodstain were about ten meters apart. After conducting a brief examination, Sui Chengguo discovered a doubt—the road was secluded and had not been their necessary path the previous night. Wuma Haoming confirmed this point, and from Hu Yanming’s terrified expression, it seemed more likely that he had been chased by something, panicking into this path.

Yang Xiao deduced that it must have been on their way back after finishing the mission that Hu Yanming was ambushed by the people of Du Family Village.

Suddenly, another villager came running, telling Yang Xiao that the Patriarch was waiting for them at the ancestral hall and wanted them to come over because he had something to say.

After confirming there were no other clues at the scene, the group no longer delayed and hurried to the ancestral hall. The night before, Patriarch Du had promised to tell them the secrets of the village.

The road grew increasingly familiar, and Yang Xiao couldn’t help but recall the dream he had had the previous night. He occasionally looked at the tightly closed courtyard doors on both sides, the courtyards long ruined and uninhabited, but he remembered seeing figures wandering in these yards in his dream last night.

Patriarch Du was already waiting for them outside the ancestral hall. After Du San brought the people over, Patriarch Du waved his hand to send him away, then turned around and did not enter the hall, but instead walked around behind it. Soon after, the group discovered a dilapidated, barn-like long building behind the ancestral hall. The windows were nailed shut with wooden boards and an indescribable stench wafted on the wind.

But who would build a livestock barn next to an ancestral hall?

This was clearly suspicious.

"What is this place?" Quan Doufeng asked, somewhat scared. He worried that once they entered, they might be ambushed and killed by villagers hiding inside.

Sui Chengguo also couldn’t help frowning. He had been here before, right next to this peculiar building, where he had heard a voice that seemed to belong to the Patriarch’s deceased daughter.

"Everything you want to know is here. They... they are all here," said Patriarch Du, his voice suddenly choking up. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

As Patriarch Du took out the keys and opened the ancient door, a stench mixed with feces and rotting meat hit them full in the face. Inside was very dark with no lighting; after Yang Xiao and the others adjusted slightly to the dim environment inside, the scene that appeared in the next second almost frightened Quan Doufeng to death and completely overturned everyone’s understanding. The interior was divided into several spaces by wooden fences, and over twenty head-of-man, body-of-cow monsters were kept separately.

Upon noticing someone approaching, several monsters lifted their heads, allowing everyone a clearer view. These head-of-man, body-of-cow monsters were not naturally occurring, but were artificially made by someone who had chopped off cow heads and then sewn human heads onto them. Dense stitching was visible at the joints, making one’s scalp tingle.

More horrifying still, some cows’ necks had two, even three or four heads sewn onto them. These heads squeezed together were still moving, each dirty face wearing different expressions, making grimaces, with mouths agape, from which foul-smelling drool resembling pus trickled along the corners.

The floor of the cow pen was covered with dirty straw not changed for who knows how long, sewage flowing, and the smell was nauseating. Yang Xiao personally witnessed a monster lowering its head and licking up feces from the ground with its tongue.

"Moo—"

"Moo—"

Suddenly, one of the monsters’ human heads lifted, its neck elongating as it emitted a sound similar to a cow’s moo. At this, everyone understood—that was the ghostly thing making noise in the evening!

"Hee hee hee—"

Looking toward the sound, they saw in a cow pen further inside, a human head sticking through the fence, cocking its head and staring at them.

"Hee hee hee—" The human head with its mouth agape emitted a strange and chilling laughter, and this head was familiar to everyone—it was Patriarch Du’s daughter, whom they had seen not long ago.

"Ning’er..." Upon seeing this scene, Patriarch Du could no longer hold back, his cheeks streaming with old tears. But his "daughter" no longer recognized him, merely laughing foolishly.

As the daughter of the Patriarch, this miss was treated much better than other head-of-man, body-of-cow monsters, at least not having to share one cow body with other heads.