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The wheels of the carriage were creaking and turning, and they were moving forward slowly in the dark night. Under the dark night where everything was so dark that it was difficult to see clearly, there was a creepy illusion of fingernails scratching.
Four escorts, big men, carried the coffin and walked silently in the dark night.
With more and more dense forests around, the escort carriage went more and more remote, and the four people walked more and more desolate. The carriage was covered with cinnabar ink lines, and the coffin covered with yellow symbols looked even more sinister.
If it were anyone else walking this kind of night road, they would have been scared out of their wits.
But this was what the escorts had to eat, so the four big men seemed to be used to this kind of situation and continued on their way.
“Guard head, look there, is there a village?”
“Is that the Jiangxin Village that the employer mentioned?”
 Under the night, a big man with good eyesight quietly said to the leader of the escort who was walking at the front.
He didn't raise his hands and point randomly in the dark night, but used his eyes to indicate the direction. Dry graves can often be seen in the wilderness, so don't point randomly when walking at night, lest you bump into a certain wild god in the Oshiin escort.
, causing them unnecessary trouble.
 These are all taboos for escort masters.
The head escort is a big man with a two or three-foot long bamboo tube slung across his back. The bamboo tube is sealed at both ends, tied with a rope, and tied across the body to the back of the escort head.
 The place where the four of them are now is halfway up the mountain. They are going down the mountain, and beside the official road at the foot of the mountain, there is a small village with a vague outline.
That village is a small fishing village by the river. It is the only small and isolated village that exists in the vast and vast land.
“Since it is called Jiangxin Village, this village should be related to the river. It seems that this small village built on the river should be the Jiangxin Village we are looking for.”
 “Let’s go and have a look.”
“Even if it’s not Jiangxin Village, it’s going to be dark soon, we can go into the village and stay overnight.”
The escort said in a deep voice.
 Then, the four big men escorted the coffin and walked toward the small village beside the official road at the foot of the mountain.
The moonlight shines down from the top of the head.
 This is a desolate, dilapidated little village.
The village is very quiet, with twenty or thirty dilapidated adobe houses scattered here and there, but now these adobe houses are empty and desolate.
  Creak, creak.
The sound of the wheels slowly entered this desolate little village. In this empty and deserted village, it seemed extremely clear and harsh, and the sound spread far away.
 After the four people entered the village, they saw overgrown weeds and dilapidated scenes of many houses with collapsed earthen walls.
 Crackling.
The torches in the hands of the four men were flickering and burning in the dark night.
At this time, there was an ox cart leaning over in the middle of the village. As the escort cart went around the leaning ox cart, a big man reached out and touched the cart, and a thick layer of dust came down on his fingertips.
He frowned and said softly: "Boss, this village has been abandoned for at least ten years."
The village was not big, and the four escorts quickly completed a circle around the village. This was an empty, deserted village with no one in it.
 “Is anyone there?”
 “Is there anyone there?”
Walking around, the four people escorted the coffin on the escort cart and returned to the central intersection where the bullock cart was leaning on the side of the road.
But as the escort leader shouted, the village remained cold and desolate, especially quiet in the dark night, and no one responded to him.
 This is a lifeless dead village, there is not even a ghost in sight.
Seeing that no one answered him, the guard's eyes darkened.
"My four brothers are escort masters. They were specially ordered by their employer to bring a spy escort to Jiangxin Village to meet a contact named Jiang."
“If this is Jiangxin Village, can you show your face so that the four of us brothers can have business relationships?”
 The escort shouted again in the empty village.
 But this is a dead village.
It’s too quiet.
“Boss, is it possible that this deserted village is not the Jiangxin Village we are looking for?”
　　A famous man said suspiciously.
The head guard's eyes were sinking like water under the cold moonlight. Holding a torch in his hand, he looked around, and then found an adobe house that seemed to have a relatively intact main body.
"This should be Jiangxin Village. Stay in this empty village for a day and check the situation. It's almost dawn. Baoshan and I will find a shaded place for the coffin first. We'll wait for you in the house in front. You are in the village.
Look around to see if there are any other clues."
The Baoshan the escort was referring to was a short, stocky man with a hot temper who almost got into a fight with the inhuman waiter in the Yuanyanglou Inn a few days ago.
Perhaps it was because of this man's impulsive personality that the head guard kept him by his side and asked the other two to search the village.
Being able to eat the darts of the dart division, the four people present are not timid.
 Start to act separately in this strange and empty village.
 I saw one of them pulling out an umbrella made of steel blades, with scriptures written on it to ward off evil spirits.
 Another item is a tantric stick made of bronze in his hand. The tantric stick is entirely made of bronze. In the past, people mistaken brass for gold and believed that bronze, like gold, has the same effect of suppressing evil and expelling spirits.
 Over time, it has become increasingly popular among folk to use brass instead of gold to make exorcism instruments.
 Subsequently, the two people began to separate to the left and right, and inspected each room.
The bodyguard and the short-built man named Baoshan escorted the carriage carrying the coffin into a courtyard.
There are not many earthen houses in the whole village that can still provide protection from wind and rain. Most of them have collapsed walls, roofs have collapsed, or the earthen walls are leaking from all sides and are crumbling. There are only one or two earthen houses that can barely provide shelter.
The courtyard has been in disrepair for a long time, and most of the stone walls made of stones have collapsed, and they can no longer protect against wild beasts and jumping corpses.
After the carriage stopped in the yard, the escort and Baoshan quickly rushed out a large cloth bag from under the carriage and set up a black tent for the carriage to prevent the coffin inside from being exposed to the sun after dawn.
 Before setting up the tent, the two men broke off a tree branch with thick leaves from the roadside, and quickly used the branch as a broom to sweep away all the dust and small insects on the ground.
After sweeping, the two men did not forget to find lime powder and realgar powder, and carefully sprinkled them all over the yard before setting up a tent on the coffin.
This tent is both sunproof and rainproof.
 As for lime powder and realgar powder, it is actually not difficult to buy them among the people.
 Every time they passed through a village or town where humans gathered, they would buy some spare ones, so the two of them didn't feel bad about spreading them all over the yard.
　　In their line of work, what they eat is dead people's food and what they make is dead people's wealth. If they are not careful at ordinary times, they will capsize in the gutter.
After the coffin was placed, the head guard went into the house to check. Seeing that there was nothing unusual in the house, he called Baoshan who was looking at the coffin in the yard to come in with him.
The two of them tidied up the house briefly, cleared an open space, picked up some dry firewood, and lit a bonfire, which instantly illuminated the cool and empty house that no one had visited for many years.
　　Bang! The man named Baoshan demolished the dilapidated wooden door of the house with only one door left with his bare hands, so that they could always keep an eye on the coffin in the yard outside.
"Boss, it seems that this village has been abandoned for a long time. The wooden door is so rotten that it can be broken with just a light break. This saves us the trouble of looking for matches and firewood everywhere."
Baoshan, who had a hot temper, couldn't sit still while tearing down the door panel and said curiously: "Guard leader, why do you think the employer would let us come to such an empty village that has been abandoned for a long time to pay escorts?"
“In our line of work, if you ask less and do more, you can live a few more years.”
The escort glanced at Baoshan.
Na Baoshan was a little afraid of the escort. After being scolded, he shrank his head and continued to demolish the door panel with his head down.
 At this time.
There were footsteps outside the yard. It was the two big men who had left earlier and were returning.
 “We’ve searched all over, escort chief, and there’s not a single living person in this village.”
The big man holding a tantric stick made of brass said in a strong voice.
“I haven’t found anything here, escort.” The big man holding a steel-blade umbrella engraved with scriptures also shook his head.
“Double leader, what should we do next? Should we continue to wait?”
To be continued...