Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 5
byCyber Fish Sacrifice (Revised)
“Chen Jin, my dear student~ Xiao Jin~” Wu Zeng knelt by the bed, his slender fingers lightly tracing Chen Jin’s tightly closed eyes.
The damp morning air seeped in through the window crack. Chen Jin was startled awake by the coolness of Wu Zeng’s fingertips. When he opened his eyes, the other man’s face was inches away. His pupils instantly constricted, but he merely pursed his lips, swallowing the words that were about to come out. He then pushed Wu Zeng away without a word, pulling the almost intimate distance back to a safe line.
Drunk and having slept late, Chen Jin’s entire head was throbbing dully.
After half a night of commotion, Chen Jin still hadn’t managed to return to his room yesterday, so he had to temporarily stay in Wu Zeng’s room.
The dilapidated small room only had a single bed, with no other place to lie down. Wu Zeng, holding a small blanket, insisted on sleeping on the floor, and even thoughtfully patted the pillow for Chen Jin, muttering that drunk people shouldn’t catch a cold.
“You sleep on the bed.” Chen Jin naturally wasn’t so thick-skinned; borrowing a place and still inconveniencing the host would be unacceptable. He found a clean spot on the floor, snatched the small blanket from Wu Zeng’s hand, and lay down.
The stone floor was truly hard!
Yet, the next day, Chen Jin woke up in the bed. He didn’t know how this had happened. His fingers were unconsciously buried deep in his hair, pressing against his throbbing head.
Did they share the bed? Or did he fight the other man for the territory? Either way, Chen Jin was the one who benefited.
“Let’s go see this today.” Wu Zeng handed over the gaudy flyer again. The back of the Pig Slaughter Feast flyer held a surprise; three bold, black characters were written on it: “Ji Tu Fen.” The accompanying picture was an aerial view of the Mengle Village Reservoir, with four red display stands placed around the reservoir. At a glance, it looked like a four-sided formation. The content introduced it as a traditional local sacrificial activity.
“No.” Chen Jin spoke indifferently, getting up from the bed and heading for the door.
“You came running to fight me for the bed last night, you know?” Wu Zeng leaned against the bed, smiling as he handed his phone to Chen Jin.
Chen Jin naturally wouldn’t take it, but he couldn’t help but glance over. In the video, he was sleeping with his eyes tightly closed, somehow fumbling his way onto the bed. Wrapped in the blanket, he squeezed hard toward Wu Zeng. The small single bed wasn’t big enough for two tall, well-built men. Finding insufficient space, he even pouted, looking wronged, and then, using the momentum of getting onto the bed, he pushed Wu Zeng off.
‘Video evidence: someone came to steal the bed in the middle of the night.’ Wu Zeng in the video had an amused expression. Although he was lying on the floor, he seemed to be enjoying it.
Coming to this village was truly cursed.
Many years ago, when he was a child, Chen Jin was the little tyrant of the house, and there was a period when his sleeping habits were very disruptive. But later, when his family had trouble, he began staying with various relatives. How could he cause such a commotion while living under someone else’s roof? He often slept through the night without turning over, afraid of disturbing others.
“I’ll transfer you the room fee for last night.” Chen Jin looked away evasively, raising his phone to check—battery 2%.
Wu Zeng’s power bank was handed over just in time, and 50 yuan immediately arrived in his account.
“This is the liveliest and grandest sacrificial activity here, a perfect complement to the Pig Slaughter Feast.” Seeing that Chen Jin wasn’t interested, Wu Zeng pointed to the organizing unit on the flyer—the Village Committee Office—and continued, “The village office people are all there today. If you don’t go there, you won’t find them. How will you conduct your research then? You can’t just knock on every door like a clueless youth, can you?”
“I’ll go back to my room to tidy up first.” Chen Jin was noncommittal. He just wanted to avoid getting entangled with him and planned to use an excuse to slip away.
“The boss, the old man, wasn’t in. I went down and checked for you.” Wu Zeng rolled over, then stood up from the bed, saying to Chen Jin with a half-smile, “You can’t stay in my room by yourself after I leave, Chen Jin, my student~”
“…Where is this event taking place?”
“Not far, right by the reservoir.”
By the reservoir, gongs and drums were clanging, firecrackers were exploding, and red ribbons were fluttering everywhere. Someone was even performing a lion dance on the dam. The scene was not solemn and dignified like a sacrifice, but rather festive like the New Year.
The event was free, and many people were gathered around. Judging by their clothes, they were likely tourists, but they weren’t the same group as those at the Pig Slaughter Feast yesterday.
Wu Zeng pulled Chen Jin to the very front. The smoky, fiery smell was even stronger here.
They arrived late, and all the preparatory work for the event was complete. They just caught the first act of the sacrifice.
“Today, we gather here to hold this Ji Tu Fen, to mourn the departed souls, suppress evil spirits, and bless our people with harmony and peace for generations! According to the procedure, please invite Uncle A Dong, the village head, to step forward and bow!” The host spoke passionately. Behind him, the master musicians, holding double cymbals, began to clash them. The rapid, crisp sound cut through the air, exploding right by their ears, making hearts pound.
A slightly hunched old man, accompanied by the cymbals, slowly walked out of the thick smoke of the salute cannons. Looking closely, it was the Guesthouse owner—Uncle A Dong.
This little old man was truly keeping a low profile, holding multiple positions!
Uncle A Dong walked to the cushion in front of the sacrificial platform and knelt down with a thud. He was mumbling, chanting something unknown. In his arms, he held an alligator snapping turtle whose mouth was tied shut with a red string. Its eyeballs were cloudy with a rotten white sheen, looking long dead. It lay motionless against the owner’s chest.
“This turtle is stinking and rotting. The boss really doesn’t mind.” They were standing close, and the stench was particularly noticeable. The smell seemed to make Wu Zeng uncomfortable; his voice was muffled when he spoke. “The performance should be complete. Even if this sacrifice is just a tourist performance, they shouldn’t use such a dead thing as a substitute. Judging by this, the purpose of the Ji Tu Fen sacrifice is probably not to pray to the gods for blessings.”
What Wu Zeng said made sense. Traditional Chinese sacrifices should offer the best and finest. What kind of deity would bless you if you completed the sacrifice with rotten, foul-smelling dead things? Even if a live turtle was expensive, the village could adopt the method commonly used in most scenic spots—a model turtle—to perform the ceremony. That would be better than the current situation.
Although Chen Jin felt Wu Zeng had a point, he didn’t want to agree. After all, what did this have to do with his trip? Now, he just hoped the boss would finish quickly so he could get the key and go back to his room. “An event held every two days without an entrance fee—you can’t expect the village to lose money.”
As soon Jin finished speaking, a hand covered his face. Chen Jin’s nasal cavity was instantly filled with the fresh scent of mint.
“Don’t breathe in the smell of decay.” Wu Zeng said earnestly. Chen Jin slapped the hand away with a “pa,” frowned, and stepped back two paces, then covered his own mouth and nose.
“If you move again, you’ll lose your spot!” Wu Zeng immediately reached out and dragged him back. “This spot is unique.”
Chen Jin stumbled from the pull, his expression darkening: “Let go!”
Wu Zeng immediately let go, raising his hands to his ears in a gesture of surrender and apology.
“Uncle A Dong, please recite the eulogy!” The host in the suit shouted loudly, his expression excited. The village musicians next to him waved their hands, and the tune shifted from festive and cheerful to deep sorrow and resentment, sometimes sharp and piercing, sometimes low and eerie.
Uncle A Dong supported himself on the ground with one hand and stood up, the other hand tightly gripping the alligator snapping turtle, holding it so hard it was as if it might suddenly spring up and bite. He loudly chanted something in the Yunnan dialect. The strange words were accompanied by flying spittle, and the veins on his neck bulged. Combined with the eerie music and the surrounding festive red, it sent shivers down everyone’s spines. “Every wrong has its source, every debt its owner. The Alligator Immortal died tragically in the belly of the evil fish. Cast you into the water to fight and cross over. The descendants of Mengle shall mold you!”
“Next, please, Uncle A Dong, proceed with the release!”
Uncle A Dong repeated the chant without pause, then slowly walked step by step toward the small slope in front of the reservoir, crouching down by the water.
The viewing angle here was indeed excellent; every detail in front was clearly visible. Chen Jin distinctly saw Uncle A Dong pull a small electric shock device from his embrace. As the button was pressed, the alligator snapping turtle, dead for a long time, began to struggle violently.
Uncle A Dong ignored it, throwing the alligator snapping turtle out forcefully, finally tossing the turtle corpse, which had been handled all morning, into the water. The moment it hit the water, black whirlpools churned. Looking closely, they were dense, dark masses of fish. They rushed out of the water, vying for the prey. The water surface almost seemed to boil. The turtle was immediately engulfed by the fish, and its entire body was instantly devoured, leaving no trace.
After the turtle was completely consumed, the fish scattered. Then, a large fish leaped out of the water, curving its body to form a circular gap in the air before falling back into the water. The surface returned to calm.
“What does that mean…”
“The density of these fish is too high. It’s giving me trypophobia…”
The surrounding tourists discussed amongst themselves.
Shouldn’t the sacrificial release at ordinary tourist spots be a picture of peaceful tranquility? At worst, it’s a scam where they release upstream and recover downstream for fraudulent blessings… Why was the release in Mengle Village so bizarre and unsettling?
With a “poof,” a small piece of the alligator snapping turtle’s shell floated to the surface. It bobbed around in a circle before stopping, its nose pointing directly toward the southwest side of the reservoir.
Chen Jin looked up. That was a desolate patch of land. A few withered tree stumps were weakly rooted there, surrounded by dense reservoir greenery. Only that spot was barren.
“The ceremony is complete!” The host shouted at the top of his lungs. The surrounding music grew louder, like the curtain call of a movie.
The surface of the reservoir was still a dark, dense mass. If one looked closely, they could see that it was the entire school of fish gasping for air at the surface.
“Cyber sacrifice, huh.” Wu Zeng clicked his tongue. “It’s just not as interesting as the Pig Slaughter Feast.”
Chen Jin had been scanning the crowd since they arrived, but even now, he hadn’t seen anyone from the village office. He felt he had been tricked by Wu Zeng for yet another morning.
Seeing Chen Jin remain silent, Wu Zeng nudged him with his elbow and leaned close to his ear, asking, “What are you doing this afternoon?”
The noisy music was still blaring. Chen Jin turned his head away in slight repulsion, his ears buzzing as if with a swarm of bees: “Going back.”
They had only known each other for two days. Why was this person always touching him?
“Wait, you seem to have a bug here.” Wu Zeng suddenly reached out and took off Chen Jin’s glasses, flicking the frame lightly. Something did seem to fly off.
Before Chen Jin could react, he felt a sudden lightness on the bridge of his nose. Being without his glasses was uncomfortable. Chen Jin’s world instantly became blurry. For a moment, he couldn’t even confirm whether Wu Zeng was making it up or if there really was a bug.
Chen Jin squinted, trying to snatch his glasses back, but his outstretched hand happened to hit Wu Zeng’s cheekbone. “Sorry.”
Politeness overcame rationality. Even though he was inwardly annoyed that Wu Zeng had taken his glasses, Chen Jin still apologized for hitting him.
Without his glasses, Chen Jin’s eyes were clear and bright, unlike the dull eyes of someone with severe myopia.
Wu Zeng stared at Chen Jin for a long time, his gaze sweeping across his face without restraint, almost as if he wanted to devour him whole. Then, he suddenly blurted out, seemingly out of nowhere, “Your prescription isn’t very high, is it?”
Chen Jin’s prescription was indeed not high. Even without his glasses, he could basically see most things around him. He wore glasses mostly for a sense of psychological security. Right now, Chen Jin was very unhappy with this state of being out of his control. The irritation in his heart climbed up his spine, and his back began to feel hot.
So, Chen Jin quickly adapted to the world without glasses. He suddenly lunged forward, attempting to grab his glasses back. “Give them back.”
Unexpectedly, Wu Zeng reacted quickly, pulling his hand back to keep the glasses, then pushing off the ground and running.
In the instant Chen Jin froze, Wu Zeng had already run a good distance along the road by the reservoir.
Chen Jin’s mind was blank for a moment, followed by the eruption of two days of suppressed dissatisfaction. It forced a crack in his cold expression, and anger flared on his face. Ignoring the crowds in front of him, he shoved them aside and chased after the blurry figure in his sight.
“What’s wrong with this young man! You hit someone and don’t even apologize!” The person who was bumped looked displeased.
The emotions he had been accustomed to suppressing for years were all forced out by Wu Zeng in these two days. “You damn well stop!”
Wu Zeng had plenty of energy left while running. He even had time to pull out his phone and film Chen Jin in reverse. The screen was full of Chen Jin’s exasperated appearance, his cheeks gradually flushing red from the frantic run and lack of oxygen. He looked surprisingly energetic.
“These two young men are full of youth!” The onlookers couldn’t help but exclaim, considering they were at a high altitude.
In less than two minutes, the two of them ran out of the reservoir area.
Wu Zeng decisively headed up the Wei Mountain, quickly reaching a fork in the road. It was called a fork, but one side was a wide, flat main road, leading to the Pig Slaughter Feast venue, having been repaired and smoothed out; the other was a steep, winding goat path, snaking along the hillside, the surface covered in weeds.
For reasons unknown, Wu Zeng charged straight into the goat path, bending and breaking the thick branches on both sides as he went. The rough, stiff branches scratched multiple bloody marks on his arms, but he managed to clear a relatively smooth path, making it much easier for Chen Jin to catch up.
Not long after entering the mountain, the small Mengle Village Reservoir appeared before them. It was almost a black pool.
Clear water is shallow, green water is deep, and black water is an abyss.
Several children in rubber shoes from the village were playing by the small reservoir. Two older boys had even tied ropes and gone into the water. No adults were visible nearby. How could parents be at ease letting their children play by such a deep reservoir by themselves?
“Hey! The adults are calling you to come down the mountain!” Wu Zeng shouted across the water, then buried his head and ran deeper into the woods.
The group of children didn’t reply. They just stared silently at the two people who had run past, their faces expressionless, their eyes flashing with a faint, cold light.
After the two men had gone far, the two boys in the water pulled out their hands, which had been hidden underwater. A fair-skinned, chubby boy immediately floated up. His playful children’s clothes were soaked in the black water—it was clearly the Little Grandson who had attended the Pig Slaughter Feast yesterday. His face was pale, and his skin was slightly bloated from the water. It was unclear if he was dead or alive.
“Here, take it back.” After running for an unknown distance, Wu Zeng stopped, breathing heavily, and stepped back a few paces, stuffing the glasses back into Chen Jin’s hand.
Despite the long run, the lenses were still spotless. Wu Zeng had protected the glasses quite well.
Chen Jin put on his glasses without a word, stepping back two paces to lean against a tree trunk to catch his breath. The anger in his heart had been run off.
“Look at yourself, aren’t you energetic?” Wu Zeng recovered quickly. He held up his phone and approached again. “Don’t always frown like an old man.”
Wu Zeng was very familiar with the tactic of adding fuel to the fire.
“You damn well stop!” Chen Jin’s angry voice came from the video. The entire video was nearly ten minutes long. He hadn’t expected them to run for so long.
Chen Jin looked at his exasperated self in the video and finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud—people really do laugh when they are speechless.
However, as he watched the video, something seemed off, because there appeared to be a person lying in the pile of weeds halfway through the run.