Chapter Seventy-Three: True and False, Real and Unreal

  I led Jin Gang Pao with Murong Zhui Feng and Bai Lang into the village, but after walking several streets, we didn't see anyone.

  "There are electricity poles erected here, indicating that the village has been electrified. Why aren't any households turning on their lights at night?" The night had already fallen, and we were walking along the main street, but all the houses in the village were tightly closed with no lights on inside.

  "It's probably a power outage." I looked around the village and didn't see any lights on. As we walked into the village, White Wolf wanted to bark again, but was sternly stopped by me.

  "There are people over there." Murong Zhui Feng turned his head and found that on the empty land in the shape of a village square, there were about forty or fifty men and women standing.

  "Oh, no wonder there's nobody on the streets, they're all here attending this seminar!" Jin Gang's face lit up with joy.

  "Hello, where is this place?" I pulled back Jin Gang Pao who was about to speak and walked forward myself.

  They waited for half a day without anyone speaking up.

  Because the streetlights were not lit, the square was pitch black. I concentrated my spirit and saw that the crowd on the square was whispering something to each other. After waiting for a moment, an old man in gray clothes with a cane finally walked out of the crowd.

  "This is Tushan Village, what brings you few here?" The old man with a crutch looked at us with sharp eyes.

  Finally, someone spoke up. I quickly grabbed the white wolf who wanted to shout again and took a few steps forward. "Hello, sir, we're tourists who got lost and want to rest in your village for a while. We'll pay you." I said, pulling out the bundle of large bills that Jin Gang had stuffed into my pocket before we left, and handed over a few.

  The old man took the RMB I handed over and examined it carefully, and after a while, he finally put it away. "Alright, it's not easy for anyone to go out, but our village has a rule that dogs are not allowed in the village."

  As soon as I saw the old man take my money, I couldn't help but feel secretly delighted. As the saying goes, "Take a person's hand and you'll be short of hands; eat a person's food and you'll be short of mouth." Now that he had taken my money, I wouldn't have to worry about having enough to eat and drink. "Sir, my dog doesn't bite people, can you...?"

  "No way, dogs can't enter the village. This is a rule left by our ancestors." The old man with a cane spoke in a stiff tone, seemingly leaving no room for negotiation.

  "Old Yu, this village is civilized. If not, let your dog go swimming." Jin Gang Pao was worried that they would be driven out, so he came up with an idea. However, the command for the military dog to move freely 'you sai' he didn't remember.

  "Alright then, I'll send the dog out first." I turned around and led the white wolf away.

  "Tie it up at the village entrance!" Not a few steps had been taken when the old man spoke again. Someone from the crowd behind him handed over a hemp rope.

  "What's wrong!" I turned around abruptly, really getting a bit angry. White Wolf was tied up by me when it was young and almost starved to death. Since then, I have been very reluctant to tie it up.

  "Our village is surrounded by mountains and forests outside, it's not good to get lost." The old man seemed to be afraid of provoking me too, and smiled softly.

  I thought about it and what he said made sense, so I took the rope from the old man and led the white wolf out of the village, tied it to a small tree with a thick trunk, and shouted "Stay", ordering it to stay put.

  "Is the knot secure?" I tightened it and turned around to find a beautiful young woman standing behind me, with eyes that were unmistakably those of the daytime streaker.

  "What are you following me for?" I turned around and squatted down to comfort the emotionally agitated and almost howling White Wolf, who was indeed a bit abnormal today.

  "The village headman asked me to show you the way, he's afraid you'll get lost." The young woman said and quickly turned around to leave, it seems she was really a bit afraid of White Wolf.

  I got up and quickly caught up with the young woman in front of me "Why did our village have a power outage tonight?"

  "Power outage?" The young woman looked puzzled "What is electricity?"

  "It's nothing, let's go quickly." Looks like this woman is just like Murong Zhui Feng, also a intermittent neurosis patient. Running naked in broad daylight, she must be quite ill.

  Back in the square, Jin Gang Pao was already familiar with everyone and was taking out cigarettes to hand out to a few old men "Come on, try some of our local tobacco."

  Several robust men curiously accepted the cigarettes, looked at them for a while, and finally learned to smoke like Jin Gangpao. When Jin Gangpao went forward to light their cigarettes, they were suddenly frightened and threw away the cigarettes, running far away.

  I stared at the scene in front of me, feeling that something was off. Smoking is basically universal among men in China, so why did it seem like the people here had never seen a cigarette before?

  "Have you eaten?" The old man with a cane took a few steps forward and smiled.

  "Not yet." Jin Gang Pao walked up and said, "Trouble you to help us with something, we'll pay." He pulled out a few large bills and handed them over.

  "Come on, follow me." The old man smiled and put his hands in his sleeves again, turned around and led us forward, with the crowd following behind.

  "Lao Yu, look at them living in such good houses, but they're all wearing tattered clothes." The lack of light did not hinder the night vision of the cannon.

  Just then, a loud cannon shot reminded me that except for the old man in front of us who was wearing a gray long gown, all the people behind us were wearing tattered clothes, which was quite comparable to the tattered and worn-out robes on Jin Gang Pao and my body.

  "Wealth is not to be displayed, each place has its own customs, don't stare at others, it's impolite." Following the old man walking down a street, I saw a faintly visible two-story small building in front that looked very familiar.

  "Hey, old man, look at this little villa, it's almost as good as the one our village's Sun family lives in." As I walked closer, the sound of a firework exploding suddenly reminded me. The small building in front of me indeed looked a bit like the villa where Sun Zhishu lived in their village, back when Gold Gun and I got beaten up by them.

  "Which village doesn't have a few rich people?" The old man turned around and picked up the conversation after hearing our discussion.

  I thought what he said made sense, so I didn't think about it anymore.

  The old man led us into a room, "You two rest first, this girl's smell is really not good, let them take her to wash and change clothes, and then come back for dinner." He turned around and pointed at the middle-aged women who followed behind.

  Murong Zhui Feng didn't know how many years it had been since he last took a bath or changed his clothes, and the smell on him was even worse than that of me and Jin Gang Pao. When we heard the old man's suggestion, we both hastily raised our hands in agreement and coaxed Murong Zhui Feng to go with those women.

  "Wait for a moment here, I'll go cook dumplings for you two." The old man said, turned around, closed the door and went out.

  "How did he know I wanted to eat dumplings?" Jin Gang looked at me.

  "How did he know you wanted to eat dumplings?" I look at Jin Gang Cannon.

  Something's off! We exchanged a glance, and suddenly I felt a sense of eeriness about what was happening.

  I walked quickly towards the door and found it was locked from the inside as soon as I pushed it.

  "Lao Yu, look at this TV, it's exactly the same as the one in my house." Jin Gang pointed to the 14-inch black and white TV on the table in the room with a terrified expression. "The antenna of mine was broken by my older brother, and look, this one is also broken."

  "Get out first!" I said, drawing my sword from its scabbard and chopping towards the door.

  One sword chop down, the seemingly wooden door splashed out sparks. I withdrew my hand and pinched my fingers together to form a seal, only to discover that I couldn't see any aura from outside at all. It's an iron door!

  "Old Yu, we've been deceived!" Jin Gang cannon cautiously moved things in the room and found that many of them were just illusions rather than real objects.

  I didn't catch the golden cannon's bullet, and with a flick of my nose, I swung my sword again. "You think a mere iron gate can trap us?"

  With a few swings of his sword, sparks flew everywhere, and he cut out an opening in the door large enough for a person to pass through. He ducked down and slipped out.

  The outside is still pitch black, and the crowd has disappeared. However, the village is still there, with houses and streets remaining.

  "Old cow, we've fallen into the trap again. This isn't a village at all, and they're probably not even human. Everything is fake." I gripped my spear tightly, my face grave.

  "I've pinched the trick several times, and their breath is all white, which is unique to humans." Jin Gang Pao stared at Niu Yan with a face of disbelief "Besides, the map and route guide were written by you in your previous life, don't you know whether they are human or not?"

  "Even the living Buddha of Tibet can't remember everything when reincarnated." The Buddhist and Taoist schools have different focuses in their cultivation methods, with Taoism emphasizing techniques and Buddhism placing more importance on spiritual refinement. Therefore, the law of reincarnation is still a notch above Buddhism.

  I was so angry that I became calm instead. I lit a cigarette and sat down on the ground with a thud.

  "You still have the nerve to smoke, chasing after girls who knows where they've been taken..."

  "When things happen, don't rush, rushing will only create chaos!" I waved my hand to signal the Golden Cannon not to interrupt my thoughts. The first time we saw them, they didn't even wear clothes, and when we met again, the man's clothes were similar to ours and the Golden Cannon's. This shows that they are imitating us. Moreover, when the old man took the banknotes I handed over in the evening, he could see clearly without light, which means they often live in dark conditions. In addition, the layout of the village and the Golden Cannon Village is similar, even the villas in the village are so similar, which shows that they can read our minds and create illusions based on our thoughts.

  At this point, I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Upon further reflection on the detail of the broken TV antenna at the Kong Cannon's house, it seems that they can only read Kong Cannon's thoughts, not mine.

  "Old cow, have you found that this village is quite similar to yours?" I extinguished the cigarette butt and stood up.

  "Huh, you're right, the iron gate at Sunzi's house is also blue." Jingang looked around and said, "Mom, even the crow's nest on the tree is the same, what's going on here?"

  "I suspect they can read your mind and created these illusions in front of us based on your thoughts." I kept a straight face so that Jin Gang Pao wouldn't think I was teasing him.

  "Lao Yu, I'm still me, you'd better not..." Jin Gang Pao looked at me and retreated a few steps in fear.

  "My grass, you think I'm you, always pulling out a knife and pointing it at me. Don't worry, in the current situation, they can only read your thoughts but can't control them." I said with a cold laugh, then turned around and left.

  "Where are we going now?" Jin Gang's expression was terrified as he drew out his dusk blood sword and followed.

  "The whole village didn't have a bit of spiritual energy, the only white spiritual energy was at the back of the village." Just now when I spoke, I accidentally discovered that there was a white spiritual energy in the direction behind the village.

  After turning left and right with the cannon, they finally arrived at the location where the crowd was.

  Jīn gāng pào mù dèng kǒu dāi de wàng zhe yǎn qián de fáng zi. "Wǒ cǎo, zěn me shì wǒ jiā?"

  Translation:

  "Golden cannon stared blankly at the house in front of him. 'Damn it, how is this my home?'"