Chapter 104: The Human Skin Drum (8)

“It’s not like I was scared out of my wits,” Cai Jinglun said, rubbing his nose. “But I want to ask, who is cursing us? What happened in this village before?”

“Are you going to believe what these lunatics are babbling about?” a villager snapped at Cai Jinglun, warning him not to pry into such nonsense. “They’re mentally ill, don’t you understand? Remember what happened to the pregnant man? In this village, some things must never be spoken aloud. Otherwise, you’ll end up like him—just waiting to die!”

“From which direction did they come?”

Unlike other players who liked to focus on trivial details, Tang Mu always asked questions straight to the point. “If they’re mentally ill, then there must be some place where they’re confined, right? I noticed many of them bear marks from years of being tied up... Just give me a general idea of the area. We’re not superstitious; we just want to explore.”

The villagers fell silent for a long moment.

They exchanged hesitant glances, unsure whether to outline the area for Tang Mu.

Seeing their reluctance, Tang Mu started walking westward. “The scenery on the western hills looks nice. Isn’t there a tourist spot over there?”

“Wait a moment,” one villager finally blurted out, revealing a crucial detail. “There’s a black bamboo forest on the western hillside. When you reach the edge of the black bamboo forest, don’t go any further inside.”

“Oh, I see,” Tang Mu nodded. She was determined to make that trip after all.

Meanwhile, the few ragged, wild-eyed villagers begged Tang Mu to stop wandering around the village and leave quickly. “This village isn’t fit for strangers!”

“Please leave soon... If you don’t, you’ll suffer the same fate as us!”

Tang Mu ignored the loudest, most deranged voice.

Instead, she leaned close to a small figure with chestnut hair and a strikingly beautiful face. “What’s your name?”

“Xingwen,” the boy whispered softly.

So it was him.

Tang Mu’s eyes darkened. “You’re very cute. You shouldn’t be treated so unfairly. Come with me, and I’ll take you to bathe and buy you all kinds of delicious food.”

Faced with this beautiful woman enticing him with “delicacies,” Xingwen grew even more timid.

Tang Mu frowned.

She couldn’t quite understand why Xingwen reacted that way.

After a moment, little Xingwen mumbled softly, “At first, I was tricked into this village by a pretty lady with a lollipop. Later, my foster parents were locked up because they were seen as demons. They’re afraid of me too, so they locked me up as well...”

His face grew even more fearful as he spoke.

“Sis, you’re not going to trick me with a lollipop and lock me up somewhere, are you?”

“No,” Tang Mu said without blinking as she lied. “My tour bus won’t come back for seven days. So you should think of it this way—at least during these seven days, Xingwen, you’re safe.”

Xingwen... had a strange, indescribable feeling.

“Come with me, then. I’ll take you for a good wash and make sure you smell nice.”

Just as Tang Mu was about to take Xingwen away, the watching villagers couldn’t bear it any longer.

“Hey, foreign visitor, the one you picked isn’t mentally ill, but he has a congenital intellectual disability. He’s in his twenties but still has the intelligence of a child. He can’t even solve a simple 3×3=9 arithmetic problem. Taking him away—aren’t you just tricking a child?”

Congenital intellectual disability?

Really?

Then why did a flicker of cunning flash in Xingwen’s eyes when the villagers said he couldn’t solve 3×3=9?

“It’s precisely because he’s intellectually challenged that I chose him,” Tang Mu said with the air of a worldly woman who craves beautiful things for her pleasure. “He it is.”

With that, she pulled several strange coins from her pocket—tokens she had scavenged from the eerie vendor in the first dungeon—and handed them to the villagers.

“Any objections?”

“No objections,” they said, their attitude turning completely around once they received the coins. “Please enjoy yourselves. We won’t disturb you.”

“That’s good.”

Tang Mu extended her hand to Xingwen. “Shall we go, handsome little brother?”

Called “little brother,” Xingwen’s eyes flashed with a momentary shadow.

But he quickly masked his dark side, lifting his warm face and smiling brightly at Tang Mu. “Okay.”

Tang Mu took Xingwen into her room.

Before entering, she broke open the door of the adjacent room and took out two sets of new clothes meant for other male tourists. She handed them to Xingwen.

“I checked, and the clothes in the next room fit your size. After you clean up, put them on. Judging by how you look, it’s been years since you last bathed—you smell awful.”

Xingwen clutched the clothes tightly.

His beautiful eyes betrayed a trace of fear. He bit his lip, genuinely afraid Tang Mu might harm him.

Tang Mu saw through his little worries.

Perhaps because he had just entered a new body, and Yan Xingwen’s soul memories were sealed, he didn’t immediately recognize Tang Mu. Facing her, there was no admiration in his eyes—only fear and anxiety.

Seeing Xingwen trembling like a frightened chick, Tang Mu suddenly felt playful.

She lifted his chin, looking down at him with a teasing gaze.

“You’re already a castoff in this village. I bought you with money for my own sensory pleasure. So... is this how you intend to serve me?”

“Besides, I’m not bad looking.”

“If you keep looking like you’re about to cry... believe me, I’ll make you cry even harder.”

Tang Mu swore she only meant to tease Yan Xingwen.

But who knew, Xingwen really couldn’t hold it back and suddenly burst into tears.

“Waaah...” He cried loudly, scolding Tang Mu as a bad person. “Pretty sisters are never trustworthy. You’re all bad... not a word of it is true, wah, cough cough...”

He cried so hard he even choked on his own sobs.

Watching Yan Xingwen cry as if he wanted to bring down the ceiling with his sobs, Tang Mu couldn’t help but rub her forehead in exasperation. “Alright, alright, stop pretending.”

Tang Mu was annoyed by the crying and frowned. “If you keep acting, I’ll tell the villagers about how you’re pretending to be dumb. Then we’ll see who’s worse—their methods toward you or my words and actions.”