Chapter 49

Some viewers who just entered Shi Jian’s personal livestream room or the public channel didn’t know where the flamethrower came from, but they quickly got the answer.

The flamethrower was borrowed by Shi Jian from the village chief.

The village chief now worshipped Shi Jian like a deity; whatever the fairy wanted, how could he not find a way to provide it?

The orange flames blazed fiercely, illuminating Shi Jian’s bright and beautiful face even more charmingly. She seemed naturally meant to match with the brightest and most dazzling colors; the exquisite Chinese phoenix wedding dress was just an accompaniment to her.

The comment barrage was unanimous: “Can be on fire! Must be on fire!”

Waiting for Shi Jian to become a top-tier streamer!

Other streamers: Putting oil on the bridal sedan chair themselves, and asking if it can catch fire—seriously?

However, everyone was inspired and some even imitated Shi Jian, adding some oil, “Will I be lucky today?”

The fire burned very strongly.

Good, lucky indeed!

All the streamers were happy, and the viewers were happy too. If anyone was unhappy, it would be the constantly tormented bridal sedan chair.

Half a minute ago, the bridal sedan chair was still shaking arrogantly, planning to take a streamer away, but now it was completely burned and ruined.

Shi Jian wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but the sound of gongs and drums seemed off-key?

The streamers originally thought the bridal sedan chair would burn up right in front of them, but unexpectedly, it sped away, shaking as it rushed into the hills, looking somewhat humanlike.

Everyone was momentarily stunned.

Someone dumbfoundedly asked, “Is it running away because it lost?”

Shi Jian said, “Maybe it’s going to find water somewhere to put out the fire.”

Zhou Fan: ? Was Shi Jian joking or serious? But imagining that scene made it hard to get back to reality for a moment.

Because Zhou Fan had dealt with Shi Jian before, she knew Shi Jian’s real-life occupation was an actor. This time Shi Jian didn’t brag about her popularity, but Zhou Fan guessed she must be very well-liked.

Zhou Fan felt that if they had a female celebrity like Shi Jian, she would have a hard time not loving her.

The female streamer who shared a room with Shi Jian lowered her flamethrower, looking surprised. She first glanced at Shi Jian, then at Zhou Fan, with some doubt.

“So are we safe now?”

Did that mean they no longer had to be anxious, fearing the bridal sedan chair would suddenly appear and take them away?

One had to admit, the mysteriously appearing bridal sedan chair had left quite a psychological shadow on her.

Shi Jian confirmed, “Should be.”

But she didn’t retreat; instead, she gave chase.

The female streamer called out to Shi Jian, “It’s already gone, why are you chasing it?”

The female streamer didn’t understand; they were barely managing to hide, so why chase the bridal sedan chair?

Shi Jian turned around and loudly explained, “To prevent future trouble!”

“What if it really finds a place to put out the fire? Then I have to shoot a few more bursts.”Shi Jian really wasn’t joking—striking when the iron is hot. Although the idea of the bridal sedan chair putting out its own fire sounded surreal, the sedan chair was walking on its own legs now. Roses had eyes, Cinderella’s prince was cheating, so why bother with materialism at this point?

Besides, Shi Jian looked around and said, “If it sets the mountain on fire, that would be bad too.”

No one was allowed to start fires on the mountain; there were lots of grass and trees, and if they caught fire, it would be a big problem. They had been burning the bridal sedan chair out in the fields, but now it was heading into the mountains.

Zhou Fan nodded, “Forest fire prevention is everyone’s responsibility.”

Viewers: Learned something today!

[“Did Teacher Shi give a lesson today?” “Yes, now selecting a class representative to summarize the key points.”]

[“Me, me, me! Let me! Teacher Shi taught us an idiom today—‘adding fuel to the fire’—and a piece of common sense: no fire sources allowed on the mountain.”]

[“Also, Teacher Shi’s way of doing things is worth learning—had to add a few more shots, haha. Somehow I feel like I can’t go against Teacher Shi.”]

After Shi Jian said this, everyone agreed it made sense, then all chased after it.

...

The bridal sedan chair ran wildly, but luckily it didn’t set the whole mountain on fire. When the flames jumped to the side, everyone quickly put them out.

They managed to add a bit of scientific knowledge to the horror scenario.

In the end, the bridal sedan chair was burned to ashes.

Shi Jian looked at the burnt-out sedan chair and breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her tense nerves finally loosen. She put the flamethrower down on the ground—holding it for so long was tiring.

Earlier, Shi Jian had been focused on chasing the sedan chair, all her attention on it; now she had time to observe her surroundings.

They had chased deeper into the forest.

Happy Village was originally on the mountain, roughly halfway up. Before, everyone had only stayed around Happy Village, never going deeper, since there was no need.

And there was almost no sign of people up in the mountains.

This was now confirmed: aside from Shi Jian and five other streamers, they were surrounded by trees.

Unlike the trimmed bushes in the city, the mountain trees were various heights, messy and uneven; some were even dead, leaving only gnarled trunks and branches bent over and dried out, like withered old men about to die, looking more frightening in the dark night.

When the wind blew, the forest rustled.

Shi Jian “...”

No one knew how many chaotic thoughts popped into Shi Jian’s head at that moment.

Wild zombies, old ladies missing fingers, even hooked-nosed witches… all the classic horror elements flickered back and forth in her mind.

Shi Jian was very scared inside but kept a calm face. She immediately picked up the flamethrower from the ground.

Better to carry it—felt safer that way.

Shi Jian was glad she wasn’t alone. Clearing her throat, she planned to call the other streamers back to their place.

It was pitch dark here. Since the bridal sedan chair was dealt with, everyone could head home and rest without delay.

But Shi Jian suddenly noticed Zhou Fan was missing.

“Zhou Fan?”Shi Jian worried something had happened to Zhou Fan, so she called out her name.

Fortunately, Zhou Fan’s voice responded quickly.

“I’m here!”

She was fine.

“Look, there’s a house over here.”

Zhou Fan stood by a small house not far away, her expression hard to read.

Shi Jian and the other streamers gathered toward Zhou Fan’s direction.

The small house was ordinary—made of stone and tiles, similar to the houses in Happy Village, not very large, probably just one room. The window had been boarded up from the outside with wood, but if you had to say what was different, Shi Jian noticed the door was iron and currently locked.

A male streamer shone his phone flashlight and asked, “There’s no one inside, right?”

He told everyone.

“This is probably a temporary shelter villagers use to watch the fields or the mountains. My hometown is rural, and there are lots of these. It’s a bit far from the village here; if it suddenly rains and you can’t get back in time, you can hide in here... Also, sometimes if you’re too tired or it’s too late, you don’t have to go back—you can rest right here.”

Many streamers nodded in agreement, saying they had similar huts back home.

Besides, there was a row of fruit trees next to the hut.

In summary, nothing special to see.

But Shi Jian sensed Zhou Fan had something to say. Zhou Fan had already squatted down in front of the door, and Shi Jian squatted down next to her.

“Did you find something?”

Zhou Fan was fully in work mode now. She had a clear, delicate face—if you didn’t know her profession, she looked like an ordinary pretty office worker.

But now she had a kind of commanding aura without anger.

Zhou Fan looked up at Shi Jian and said, “Look here... it seems like someone scratched this with their hands.”

Following Zhou Fan’s indication, Shi Jian glanced over and couldn’t help but frown.

Zhou Fan was pointing at the wooden threshold; there was a small gap between the wooden threshold and the iron door. If you pushed hard enough, you could stick a hand through.

And the wooden threshold had many scratch marks—definitely made by fingernails, densely packed lines, some deep, some shallow.

The deepest scratch dug two fingers deep into the wood.

How long and how hard must someone have scratched?!

There were even dark red stains mixed into the wood.

Shi Jian instantly winced with empathy; her own fingernails started hurting.

Zhou Fan said gravely, “I have to go in and see.”

She stood up and tried pushing the door again. Of course, it wouldn’t open—the lock hanging on the door was the problem, but this was no match for them.

Some streamers started searching around for suitable stones, trying to break the lock.

Shi Jian said, “It’s not that complicated.”Shi Jian first took a step back, then found the right spot to exert force and kicked forward with her high-heeled shoe, striking the lock hard!

The whole movement was crisp and decisive, and the lock crashed to the ground.

The door opened.

If this scene appeared in a movie or TV drama, it would definitely be cut into the trailer—who wouldn’t say, “Big sister is so cool” upon seeing it?

Shi Jian knew that Barbie pink high heels pack quite a punch, no less than a stone. At first, she had thought about taking off her heels and using them to hit the lock, which would be the same principle.

But this wasn’t a ghost confrontation; between life and death, there was no time to care about taking off shoes publicly. Still, she had to keep up appearances a little.

...

Inside, the room was especially empty, the floor covered in cement, with nothing inside.

“No bed is one thing, but how come there aren’t even any farming tools?” said the male streamer whose hometown was rural.

He scratched his head, “Could it be abandoned already?”

But it didn’t look abandoned—the house was intact; if it were, it would have long been dilapidated.

Zhou Fan added, “Because this place wasn’t meant for resting—it’s used to hold women kidnapped for trafficking.”

The walls were covered with many newspapers. Zhou Fan reached out and ripped the papers away with a swipe. Shi Jian saw a scene even more unsettling than the scratched threshold—it chilled her more than many strange horror elements.

On the yellowed walls were words written in blood: “Run,” “Help,” “I want to go home”... and the like.

No one knew how many years had passed or how many people had suffered here. Some bloodstains were fresh, some old, but every single word carried hatred and the desperate yearning of the writers to escape.

Shi Jian also reached out and tore down the newspapers, revealing these writings underneath on every wall—none spared. Gradually, the full view of the room was exposed.

All four walls were covered with blood-written characters.

Run—

Help—

I want to go home—

Go home—

Shocking to the sight.

Silence filled the space.

Shi Jian thought back to when everyone said there was no one inside the house, but now she felt the whole room was full of people.

Even those with the least imagination could guess the scene.

The women imprisoned here wanted to leave; maybe at first they begged or screamed, but it was useless. Whoever locked them here—assuming they were human—would never let them go.

Maybe the women’s pleas only provoked cruel laughter. Their helpless fear was a source of amusement—fascinating and exciting to those captors.

The women may have been slapped, beaten harshly, then locked in this isolated cabin deep in the mountains, their cries ignored by heaven and earth.

The women thought of escape, but how could they run?

They tried—the scratch marks on the threshold were proof of their desperate self-rescue attempts. How painful must it have been to claw at the wood with fingernails? Delicate girls’ nails were for manicures, often avoided too frequent use to prevent thinning, only using fake nails.Now fingernails were being used as tools for escape.

The nails split, fresh blood stained her hands. She clawed madly but still couldn’t get out. In the end, she could only lie on the ground, staring desperately at that small patch of the world.

She was locked in—forever locked within this confined space, locked inside Xingfu Village. She so badly wanted to go home.

…

Zhou Fan, a police officer who had seen many intense scenes, choked up facing this one: “This couldn’t have been the crime of just one person.”

“This is a crime committed by the whole village!”

Actually, upon arriving at Xingfu Village, after encountering the strange elders and children, everyone had guessed it might be a trafficking village, but the reality was even worse than they imagined.

Shi Jian felt even more shocked. As an actress, empathy was crucial—she already felt immersed in the scene.

The streamers didn’t know what to say; at such a moment, words seemed inappropriate.

They were caught off guard, confronted with all the darkness and crimes of Xingfu Village.

But there was no time to reflect because they heard movement—a large group with flashlights rushing toward them.

Shi Jian also heard voices.

“Village chief, I saw the fairies going into the small house.”

“Look, the door’s even open!”

Leading them was an auntie, eagerly trying to gain credit from the village chief beside her.

Though villagers usually slept early, there were always some who stayed up late. Shi Jian’s group was big and conspicuous—it wasn’t hard for them to be noticed.

Everyone immediately grew tense—there was nowhere to hide, and the village chief was already at the door. Were they being completely trapped?!

“Escape?”

“To where?”

The streamers were as nervous as ants on a hot pan; stepping outside meant running straight into the village chief.

There was nowhere to hide inside this house either.

The fact the village chief summoned so many people to storm the cabin at night spoke volumes—the place indeed hid secrets that couldn’t be revealed.

“Should we just fight them?”

“We still have props; we should be stronger than the villagers, right?”

Someone suggested just going all out, but that was quickly shut down.

“They outnumber us several times over. Are you sure we can win?”

“Besides, who knows if they’ll turn into ghosts or monsters?”

Shi Jian urged everyone to stay calm.

When the village chief stormed to the cabin door with glaring eyes, wind blowing, holding a sickle, they saw the glowing Shi Jian fairy standing at the front. Behind her, her followers lined up neatly.

Shi Jian made hand gestures, expression solemn and unflustered—at least on the surface—and spoke:“Do you know what crime you’ve committed?”

Before the village chief could strike first, Shi Jian chose to act preemptively.

…

The village chief was indeed intimidated by Shi Jian.

He had been sound asleep but suddenly got news that the fairy had entered the small cabin on the mountain.

That cabin was not a place for people to see.

The village chief instantly snapped awake, then gathered a group and rushed up the mountain to the cabin.

Just as the informant had said, the fairy and her followers were inside, and all the newspapers on the walls had been torn down.

At that moment, the village chief’s blood rushed to his head, and his anger flared uncontrollably. He didn’t even know what he was going to do.

Then Shi Jian’s fierce shout deflated him like a popped balloon, and his fury dissipated.

Shi Jian’s gaze landed on the village chief’s sickle as she challenged him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you planning to use that to deal with me?”

Shi Jian’s portrayal of the fairy had been very convincing during this time; the fairy’s boundless power had deeply taken root in the hearts of many men, women, and children in Xingfu Village.

Immediately, some villagers dropped their weapons.

“Fairy, it’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding.”

“We would never go against you; you are the protector god of Xingfu Village. Even the female ghosts need you to subdue them.”

The village chief quickly put on a smile, but as a village chief, he was definitely sharper-minded than the villagers.

“We just didn’t know the fairy was here.”

“Well… fairy, why did you come here so late at night?” His eyes shone as he observed Shi Jian’s expression.

The streamers silently gestured—this story was long.

First, there was the burning of the deadly flower sedan chair. Then, to prevent the problem from spreading and to avoid a forest fire, they chased after it, and that’s how they discovered this cabin.

Of course, this couldn’t be said out loud.

The streamers were a bit uneasy, unsure if their teammate Shi Jian could come up with a suitable explanation.

Then Shi Jian spoke, making everyone want to applaud her.

Shi Jian pondered, “I observed the heavens at night and found a large amount of ominous energy and overwhelming resentment here, so I brought my followers to investigate.”

Right from the start, it sounded authentic. The villagers nodded, as if watching a TV show—it made perfect sense.

Shi Jian thought to herself: She’s also acted in period dramas and xianxia dramas!

At this point, since they had been caught, Shi Jian felt it was a good chance to learn more.

“Tell us, what’s the situation here?”“Don’t try to fool me, or else I won’t be able to help you.”

…

At first, the village chief really didn’t want to be honest with Shi Jian, but since she had already found out and made a harsh statement, he could only grit his teeth and give up.

He first asked Shi Jian, “So the female ghosts were caused by those women, right?”

Shi Jian: “Huh?”

Right? She wasn’t really sure, but the village chief confirmed it himself.

He said, “Yes, we did bring some women back, and some died, but we didn’t want them to die. After all, they’re so expensive to buy, and not many young women come here to play, so we can’t just hold them all.”

“We treated them well—food and drink, as long as they behaved and bore children for the men in our village. But some women were ungrateful, seeking death, some even hurt the men or tried to escape… they didn’t survive.”

At this point, the village chief looked very angry, furious at these so-called ungrateful women.

The streamers felt a hard-to-describe absurdity: is he really talking about people? Not some lifeless objects?

Knowing that the trafficked women who were harmed had become vengeful ghosts, the village chief showed no regret or fear. His first reaction was, “I already hired a master to bury their bones beneath the ancestral hall to suppress them. The master said they will never be reincarnated and their souls are in pain, so they won’t have the power to bother us. It’s just that we haven’t found a way to completely destroy their souls.”

If you looked closely, you couldn’t say the village chief didn’t regret it.

He regretted—not that he shouldn’t have trafficked innocent women—but that he hadn’t destroyed those women’s tortured souls.

Shi Jian understood why the villagers always forbade anyone from approaching the ancestral hall.

It turned out those poor women’s bones were buried beneath the ancestral hall.

Someone else agreed—a middle-aged woman who complained, “Those women were too stubborn, too foolish. I was just like them when I came to the village. It’s marriage, whoever you marry is whoever you marry. Why can’t they just accept their fate? Look at me, I’m living well now. My son is filial, and I’m about to hold my grandchild.”

Everyone felt a surge of anger. Zhou Fan’s eyes reddened as she forced herself to suppress her emotions.

“Accept fate?”

She asked the middle-aged woman hoarsely.

“But being trafficked isn’t your fate. Your fate was forcibly changed by him, by them!”

“Fine, you have your own choice, your thoughts differ from theirs, you don’t sympathize with them, that’s one thing, but how can you…”

How can you still be an accomplice to the tiger?

“This is a crime!”

Although the middle-aged woman didn’t say much, her face was full of disagreement, surprised at why Zhou Fan was so angry.

The village chief frowned, looking displeased at Zhou Fan. He wanted to reach out to her but held back because the fairy was still there.

“We have more men than women here. If we don’t find women from outside, what will happen? Should we watch everyone stay single for life, never getting married? Watch our village disappear?”

The village chief dodged the key point and spoke lightly.

After saying this to Zhou Fan, he turned to Shi Jian and tried to flatter her carefully.

“Fairy, your followers really don’t know how to speak.”

“Fairy, you said you came to save us. You can’t just watch people die without helping. Can you find a way to make their souls vanish completely, so they can never come after us again?”Shi Jian hadn’t spoken before, and now she still wore a look of sorrowful compassion, but when she opened her mouth, she said:

“This disgusting village can just perish.”

“Save you my ass, go drown in the river!”

The fairy cursed profanely jpg.