Suddenly Cheng Miao thought of Tan Wu Hua's paintings.
Lezi has always said that the tree god is a monster. What could be more like a monster than the one in the portrait?
Cheng Miao took out the drawing paper from the ring and handed it to Lezi.
Lezi took it stupidly, his eyes widened when he saw it, and tears burst out of his eyes instantly, "That's it! Monster!"
Cheng Miao felt slightly relieved. She knew that Laizi was upset.
The tree god who had been worshiped for many years found out that he was a monster. No one in the village believed in him, and they continued to believe in this thing. They even regarded being taken away by the monster as a supreme honor.
This is the root cause of leprosy.
"I believe you, the tree god is a monster." Cheng Miao looked at Lezi seriously, showing no disgust or disgust at all.
Lezi wiped his tears, pointed at the things on the painting, and looked at Cheng Miao, "Hundred people pit."
Cheng Miao's heart suddenly raised, a trap of a hundred people?
"What is a Hundred Man Trap?"
But the leper only knew so much, and those two sentences came back and forth.
Cheng Miao calmed down and patted the man without any disdain, "You did a good job. You have worked hard these years."
Seeing that Lezi was holding the painting and not letting go, Cheng Miao didn't force it anymore, left the painting with Lezi and took Qiudong straight to the village chief's house.
Now the village chief already knows that three of them were betrothed by the tree god, and also knows that the rest are sick.
They are all a group of young people who came to their village and encountered such a thing.
Although it was not the village chief's fault, he felt uncomfortable.
Cheng Miao didn't have time to chat with him, so he went straight to the point, "Village chief, do you know about the Hundred Man Trap?"
The village chief's hands shook, and his eyes were full of fear, "How do you know?"
Cheng Miao didn't say anything, and the village chief didn't ask any more questions. He stood up tremblingly and closed the door of the house.
"Logically speaking, this is not a sin committed by our village, but hundreds of people have set up such evil traps that it cannot be mentioned easily."
Cheng Miao suppressed his inner anxiety and slowed down his tone, "Tell us about it."
The village chief smacked his lips and sighed, "Hey, in the past, our village was not the only one, but there were several other villages."
"There was a famine one year. Our village has always been self-sufficient and there are not many people. It was pretty good."
"There is really nothing to eat in the villages next door. In the mountains, you can't hunt wild animals, so you can only eat wild fruits and leaves."
"Originally, after enduring it like this, I got through it. But I don't know who the wicked person suggested that this famine will last for a long time. Sooner or later, if you go down the mountain like this, you will be exhausted."
"They intend to abandon the elderly because they have no productivity and no labor force."
Cheng Miao's heart skipped a beat, "They buried the old man?"
The village chief sighed and nodded, "Yes, it's not completely incomprehensible for you to abandon the old man when there is no other way. But at that time, it was still too early for there to be no other way."
"In a village like ours, the most indispensable thing is food. You can survive for a few days just by eating tree bark. But they guarded a mountain of treasures and buried the old man. Do you think this can not cause resentment? !”
Cheng Miao pinched her fingers and said nothing. After a while, she asked, "What about the next few villages?"
The village chief's hand stroking his beard shook, "They are all dead. What a coincidence, the plague broke out within a few years of the famine."
Cheng Miao nodded, "The tree god that came later?"
The village chief was stunned and shook his head in confusion, "How could that be possible? The tree god has been around for a long time, ever since we founded the village."
Cheng Miao understood, no wonder he was so trusting, but why...
"But I heard from my great-grandfather that tree gods didn't give protection bracelets in the past. Maybe it was because people in the past had faith."
Cheng Miao finally pulled out a thread from the ball of wool and asked, "When did you start getting protective bracelets?"
The village chief remembered that during his great-grandfather’s time, “Hey, if you put it like that, it happened just a few years after the plague broke out in the neighboring village.”
Cheng Miao continued, "It was also starting from your great-grandfather that the number of sick people in the village began to increase, right?"
The village chief nodded and looked at Cheng Miao in disbelief, as if he had reacted to something, "You mean..."
Cheng Miao narrowed his eyes, "If I'm not wrong, either your tree god has been mixed with the resentment of the Hundred People's Pit and turned into an evil god. Or the tree god has long since dissipated, and you are worshiping the one from the Hundred People's Pit. Resentment."
Cheng Miao did not mention Tanwu's paintings.
In fact, we can know from the painting that the tree god has long since disappeared. Since the outbreak of the plague, what this village has always believed in is the resentment of hundreds of people.
As for why it appears in the form of a tree god, we have to go and see it on the spot.
Cheng Miao was worried about irritating the village chief, so he didn't go into too much detail.
"Where is the Hundred Man Trap? Let's go take a look."
The village chief pursed his lips twice, pulled out a village diary from the bookshelf, put on his reading glasses, and twisted the pages with his fingers.
It took me a long time to find it. "It's just past the old tree and over a small hillside. You may have to look for the details again. I've never been there, and it's only mentioned in the village diary."
Cheng Miao didn't waste any more time. He thanked the village chief and rushed out with Qiudong.
Only halfway there, Cheng Miao met Fan Rui's resentful spirit. The little girl looked like a rag doll, pointing in one direction to indicate that she had found it.
Cheng Miao looked in the direction that the village chief had said. He felt refreshed and ran in that direction.
The cave Fan Rui found was extremely hidden. Not only was the cave entrance blocked by a big tree, but there were also lush weeds and stones.
Cheng Miao didn't notice it after looking at it for a long time, so he cleared some weeds and finally saw the entrance to the hole.
Cheng Miao took out the Kun Bone Dagger and walked inside. Unexpectedly, he bumped into an air wall.
This was not the first time he encountered such an air wall, but it was the first time Cheng Miao was provoked and cursed loudly.
After futilely scratching the air wall with the Kun bone dagger a few times, Cheng Miao sat down on the stone at the entrance of the cave, holding his head.
The sun was slowly setting in the west, but Cheng Miao didn't move. Her throat felt like a razor blade was scraping her throat. It hurt to swallow her saliva, and her head began to hurt from the pain.
Lin Zhu's condition is getting worse and worse. If this continues, they will be stuck here.
When her thoughts were confused, Cheng Miao felt a warm and fragrant hand pinch her neck. She looked up and saw Qiu Dong's eyes full of concern.
Cheng Miao wanted to cry a little, and her voice was filled with panic, "What should I do?"
Qiu Dong sighed and sat down, "There is no dead end in the dungeon. As long as no one dies, there will be a solution. Don't worry yet."
Qiu Dong's words seemed like ordinary comfort, but Cheng Miao knew it was not that simple.
Qiudong told her that the end was far from over yet.
"Do you need my help?" Qiudong sat next to Cheng Miao and massaged the back of her neck.
Cheng Miao took a few deep breaths, and her heart was calmed by Qiudong's words. "I'll try again."
The flash of smile in Qiudong's eyes was not seen by Cheng Miao, because she discovered something not far from the cave entrance.
