Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 38

Bai Family Secret

“Xiao Jin! Wake up! Xiao Jin!” An anxious voice pierced through layers of clouds and fog, rousing Chen Jin’s dazed consciousness like a spring rain, but his vision remained a blurry kaleidoscope.

“Xiao Jin!” Chen Jin jolted violently, gasping for air as if forcibly dragged from deep water. He suddenly realized he was in a posture of lunging outward, currently held tightly by Wu Zeng. Sweat soaked his back, and his heart hammered wildly in his chest, threatening to burst out. The recent terror had nearly drained half his life force. The previously healed calloused area on his abdomen throbbed faintly; it had been almost a day since his last infusion.

His vision cleared—they were indeed in the temple’s backyard, but the two figures in white were gone. Chen Jin looked behind him. Wu Zeng’s face was unusually grave in the moonlight, his eyes filled with deep concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Where are Sister Li and the others?” Chen Jin shook his head. Free from Wu Zeng’s grip, he pressed a hand to his throbbing temples, speaking with some exhaustion.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Wu Zeng checked his forehead worriedly; his temperature was normal.

Chen Jin noticed that the wound on Wu Zeng’s shoulder was also gone. He understood now—it must have been another hallucination. In this world, reality and illusion were so intertwined; who knew if the Wu Zeng in front of him was even real?

“I seemed to have seen Uncle Liao and Sister Li in a dream just now. They…” Chen Jin smiled, not finishing his sentence.

Wu Zeng frowned, his sharp gaze scrutinizing Chen Jin’s face. He then wrapped a piece of black cloth, clearly torn from his own sleeve, around Chen Jin’s face. “This incense is problematic. Block it.”

Chen Jin calmed down. The real backyard was more dilapidated than the one in the illusion. The previously neat, tilled fields were now overgrown with weeds, nearly knee-high. The tall, dense forest outside the wall looked pitch black at night.

However, the most striking feature was the deliberately cleared patch of ground in the center of the yard—eight thick, arm-sized black iron stakes stood there prominently. Driven deep into the ground, they were arranged in an irregular octagon. Each stake was wrapped with several loops of rusty iron chains, which extended out in an extremely eerie manner from eight directions, all locking toward the central area.

The iron chains, suspended in the evening breeze, made a “shasha” metallic sound. In the center of the chains, the ground was noticeably sunken, forming a deep pit. A black object lay in the middle of the pit, but the hazy moonlight obscured its specific shape. The ends of the eight chains were deeply embedded in the mud around the pit, tightly locking down the black object within.

“Eight iron chains…” This setup looked like it was suppressing something terrifying.

The two took two steps forward, turning on their flashlights to investigate. The outline of the black object came into full view: it was a massive stone alligator snapping turtle statue. They were using the turtle to counteract something…

Having no clue, Chen Jin turned off his light and stepped back. Wu Zeng suddenly reached out and patted him. Following Wu Zeng’s direction, Chen Jin’s gaze fell on a pile of inconspicuous debris in the corner of the wall—some broken clay pots, beneath which a crumpled, tattered piece of paper was vaguely visible.

It looked very familiar.

Chen Jin walked over and carefully brushed aside the debris. The paper was fully revealed. It was coarse, stained with grease, and printed with blurry patterns and a few faded red characters on the wax paper—it was clearly the candy wrapper Wu Zeng had given the Bai family brothers earlier!

Chen Jin’s heart rate suddenly accelerated. He looked sharply at Wu Zeng. Were the three brothers lying? Earlier down the mountain, they had clearly said they couldn’t go up the mountain, so how did the item Wu Zeng gave them end up here? Could Aunt San Rong’s death be related to them?

This thought sent a chill through Chen Jin. The Bai brothers were deliberately concealing something—was it an unspeakable secret or something more sinister?

Wu Zeng glanced at the time, then picked up the wrapper, his fingertips rubbing the greasy texture. His eyes were sharp as a hawk. He lowered his voice and said, “Let’s go to the Bai family. It’s time for your infusion.”

The two descended the mountain in silence, the only sound the mournful sigh of the mountain wind.

Back at the Bai family courtyard, the three brothers were waiting in the main hall. Bai Lao Da led Chen Jin into the inner room, and the infusion was smoothly set up. Chen Jin still couldn’t clearly see the contents of the bottle, but the smell in the room was not pleasant.

Wu Zeng waited by the inner room doorway, legs crossed, leaning against the wall. He smiled and asked Bai Lao San, “Little Third, do you still want candy?”

With that, he pulled out a packet of crisp candy wrapped in oil paper from somewhere and shook it in his palm. This shake immediately captivated Bai Lao San, who stared at Wu Zeng’s hand, unable to look away. He spoke with his back to Bai Lao Da, “Brother…”

Bai Lao Da smiled helplessly. “Go on, eat it. Say thank you.”

“Thank you, Brother Wu!” Bai Lao San happily took the candy from his hand. He had just unwrapped it, before the candy even reached his mouth, when Wu Zeng spoke: “I heard that a temple is the domain of the gods. It’s not appropriate for us mortals to eat things inside a temple, is it?”

Wu Zeng didn’t waste any more words, simply placing the candy wrapper he had found on the mountain gently on the table.

The smile on Bai Lao Da’s face instantly froze.

Regardless of whether the three brothers were good or bad, Wu Zeng’s direct questioning was a clear confrontation and was bound to cause displeasure. Chen Jin’s breath hitched upon hearing this. Ignoring the hand receiving the infusion, he dragged the rolling IV stand to the doorway. “Aunt San Rong was kind to us. Now that she has passed away suddenly, the village boundary marker she guarded her whole life has fallen, and her anchor is gone. She is still lying alone in the temple. We… just want to know the truth about her death.”

Wu Zeng quickly helped him back into the inner room, afraid that Chen Jin might bring the IV bottle out and expose it to the light.

The Bai family brothers did not reply for a long time, so long that both men thought they wouldn’t get an answer.

“The Mountain God Temple is guarded by the Bai family,” Bai Lao Da said, sitting on a small wooden stool, his expression becoming strangely calm. “It’s laughable, isn’t it? Doctors managing a god’s affairs.”

Neither man replied.

“It’s nothing shameful, but we weren’t obligated to tell you this. It’s just that Aunt San Rong was kind to us,” Bai Lao Da tilted his head, looking directly into the dark inner room. “And Chen Jin, she specifically instructed us to look out for you as much as possible. So today, I will tell you the situation.”

The village’s Mountain God Temple had been guarded by the Bai family for generations, but by the time it reached the three brothers, times had changed, young people moved to the city, the incense offerings ceased, and the temple fell into ruin, leaving only broken walls—the Mountain God Temple had long existed in name only.

The three brothers were willing but powerless, only able to watch their ancestors’ faith decline.

The turning point happened a few years ago when Aunt San Rong, an elderly woman from Changlin, and Old Man Wu, who lived alone, proactively approached them. They proposed funding the complete renovation of the Mountain God Temple. At first, the three brothers were wary, believing there was no such thing as a free lunch, and were reluctant to agree. However, the two elders visited repeatedly, and their sincerity eventually softened the brothers’ hearts. Following this, the temple was completely renovated, becoming even more magnificent than before.

After the renovation, the temple’s incense offerings flourished. Aunt San Rong and Old Man Wu continuously added items to the temple. The three brothers initially thought the temple was just a place for the village’s elderly residents to hold onto a sense of hope. After all, most of the remaining elderly had children working outside, and a temple would allow them to pray for their children’s safety and blessings.

However, the elderly residents often suffered from chronic illnesses or at least colds and fevers. The villagers were ignorant—they believed medicine was poison, and medicine cost money. They preferred to find unknown herbal remedies or pray at the temple rather than visit the village clinic. So, Aunt San Rong and Old Man Wu privately approached the three brothers, hoping to jointly create the concept of “Divine Temple Healing.” This would allow the brothers to examine the elderly under the guise of them praying to the gods. The medicine would be prepared as “Divine Temple Talisman Water” for them to consume. Regardless, it would at least bring some physical relief, and Old Man Wu would cover all the costs himself.

Unable to resist the elders’ persistent pleas, the three brothers joined them in this routine of impersonating divine healers. From then on, Old Man Wu began purchasing glazed prayer lamps painted with strange patterns and texts. Every ten days or half a month, he would bring a few new ones and solemnly instruct the three brothers to hang them up. Gradually, the temple accumulated more and more lamps. Their faint light burned day and night, making the entire Mountain God Temple appear splendidly golden.

“Do you know what those patterns and texts on the lamps mean?” Chen Jin pressed, his voice muffled by the intervening room.

“No,” Bai Lao Da shook his head. “Aunt San Rong knew, but she would only tell us that children shouldn’t ask too many questions.”

Bai Lao Da chuckled slightly. His two younger brothers stood silently beside him.

“There’s a stone alligator snapping turtle pressed under iron chains behind the temple. What is locked inside?” Wu Zeng placed his hand on the IV tube, warming the cold liquid slightly.

“What are you talking about?” Bai Lao Da frowned. “There’s only a field behind the temple. Where are these iron chains and alligator snapping turtle?”

Could that thing be new? Was it a hallucination caused by the incense? The two exchanged a look, deciding not to pursue the topic further.

“This should be finished. Brother Bai Lao Da, please remove the needle,” Wu Zeng stepped out of the inner room and gestured to Bai Lao Da.

Bai Lao Da signaled to his brother, and Bai Lao Er reluctantly entered the room.

“The alligator snapping turtle is traditionally used here for suppressing spirits and warding off evil. If you are seeing things that don’t exist, be careful that you haven’t encountered something unclean,” Bai Lao Da warned.

“What? You doctors believe in this too?”

“We practice both science and metaphysics.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the two men exited the inner room, followed by a disgruntled Bai Lao Er.

Chen Jin’s complexion was significantly better. Wu Zeng’s blood truly had a miraculous effect on Chen Jin.

When Wu Zeng and Chen Jin returned to the Guesthouse, Uncle A Dong slyly approached them. “Tomorrow, the Wu family is hosting a feast for the entire village, with continuous banquets inside and outside the courtyard. Are you going?”

The key to unlocking the Mountain God Temple’s secret was close at hand, but danger was also following them like a shadow.