All of the teeth were black, not a single one was white. The fat man also saw it, but withheld whatever he was about to say.
Turning back to look at the three people in the house, he then glanced at me and the fat man and said, "Who told you to hide in my house on a rainy day? Get out, all of you, get out!"
As he spoke, he forcefully knocked on the door panel, making loud noises, urging us to leave now.
"Sir, have a smoke."
The fat man took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over, then pulled the man's arm and took him outside, muttering something, probably talking about the situation.
I didn't look back, just now I was startled by a false alarm, my body still feeling a bit wobbly. Instead, I lowered my head and looked at the old villager who brought the bronze bell. The bell wasn't big, just about the length of my palm, with a small handle at the top. The surface of the bell was engraved with some ethnic minority characters, all painted black, but in some places, a greenish copper rust was showing.
Looking at it, I felt there was something strange about this object, and I wanted to reach out and touch it, but as soon as I extended my hand, a deep voice suddenly came from behind me.
"If I were you, I wouldn't touch it recklessly."
I was startled and quickly withdrew my hand, then turned around to see the old villager with blackened teeth looking at me with an unfriendly gaze.
"Villager, to be honest with you, we've spent most of the money we had on us, leaving just enough for the fare back. If there's anything you fancy among our belongings, feel free to take it. Let us stay for one night, the rain is too heavy, there's no shelter ahead or behind us. Where can we take cover from the rain? We'll leave as soon as the rain stops tomorrow."
Fatty shouted from behind.
However, at this moment, the villager had already held the bronze bell in his hand. Shaking his head, he said, "No, you can't stay here tonight. Hurry and leave, go…"
These words fell on my ears, but it seemed to indicate something. He said "tonight", could it be that something was going to happen tonight?
"Villager, please be lenient…"
Fatty kept on speaking kindly.
But at that moment, the villager's eyes suddenly fell on me, and he peered at the shaman's staff at my waist, frowning as he said, "Are you a Daba?"
I was about to explain, but Fatty signaled to me from behind. Daba has high prestige in the area, if I really was a Daba, many villagers would give me face.
"Not exactly, I learned skills from the Daba among the 'cong.'"
I didn't make a definitive statement, leaving myself some leeway.
"Oh, if you really have some skills, maybe you can help me tonight. You can stay, but first let me see the staff behind you."
His words carried a mysterious tone, but I felt it might not be a good thing. After passing him the staff, I frowned. The villager pondered the staff back and forth for a while before saying, "The disciple of Walur Niu, this is his staff. He's skillful. If you could learn even a fraction of his skills, you could help me. Fine, you can stay tonight, but you must help me, while the others stay in the house."
Upon hearing this, Fatty's face lit up with a smile, patting my shoulder and praising my skills, with exaggerated words. I took back the staff, feeling uneasy. He needed a Daba to help him? Who was he after all? Certainly not a farmer, and the help he needed was surely out of the ordinary.
With doubts in my heart, I didn't dare to ask. After a moment, the villager sat with us by the bonfire. Unable to relax, I thought for a moment before asking, "Villager, what's your name?"
"I'm called Lao Hei."
He answered absentmindedly, busying himself with something, his response making me smile wryly. His name was quite fitting.
"What help do you need from me?"
I continued to ask.
"Don't you understand after looking at this bell?" Lao Hei raised the bronze bell in his hand and seeing my puzzled expression, he continued, "Didn't your master tell you? Forget it, I'll tell you. I stole this bell from a 'cakule' and tonight it will come for revenge. I will seize the opportunity to lock it up."
At these words, my eyes widened, finally understanding what Lao Hei wanted me to help with. Fatty and the others beside us also looked surprised. Deliberately stealing a ghost's bell, summoning it for revenge just to lock it up? I pursed my lips but had a different thought in my heart. Given the strange events that had occurred recently, if it was really this 'cakule' coming for revenge, it made sense. The ghostly beast staring at the house could also be because it wanted to cause trouble for Lao Hei tonight, and we had unwittingly walked into a potential disaster!
"Lao Hei, is this 'cakule' really exist?"
The fat man asked in a low voice on the side.
"Of course there are, there is more than one in this area. At night these guys specifically ring the bells to confuse people. Several villagers have lost their souls..."
At this time, Lao Hei took out a short dagger made of bone from the bag and inserted it into his belt, then started to play with the bronze bell.
"Why not just lock it directly? Why bother luring it over? Isn't it just a waste of effort and unappreciated?" Xiao Liu interjected, and Lao Hei raised his head, his eyes looked like knives, scanned all of us, then accepted the peony brand cigarettes given to him by the fat man, sneered, and said, "You city folks really don't understand anything, how could it be so easy to lock a 'tu shou'? You have to use some cunning, and what I do is just this kind of business. This bronze bell, along with 'Cakra', can fetch a good price."
He spoke in general terms, and none of us had reacted at that time. Lao Hei had prepared quite a few things, in addition to the uniquely shaped bone dagger, there was also a silver horn, as well as several very old-looking copper coins.
"Lao Hei, these are religious instruments of the Mo Tan religion. It's rare to see them outside now!" The fat man, being knowledgeable in this area, immediately recognized them upon seeing the copper coins.
"Oh, there is someone who knows their stuff. These are religious instruments of the Mo Tan religion. I bought them from an old mage at a high price." Lao Hei said with pride as he weighed the copper coins.
"Religious instruments can also be bought?" Li Qian asked in surprise.
But Lao Hei didn't answer any more. In the next half hour, no one said a word. I nervously held the God stick and the amulet given to me by Da Ba, Lao Hei's mysterious background and his especially mysterious profession, and the unknown ghosts and monsters we were about to deal with afterwards made me feel uneasy.
At around 2 o'clock in the night, the rain outside had eased slightly. Lao Hei placed the bronze bell in front of me and said, "Don't you want to touch this bell? Good, take it to the door and ring it. When 'Cakra' hears the sound, it will appear, and then it will be my turn. Go..."
I put on a wry face, feeling very reluctant, but when a person is under someone's eaves, one has to bow one's head, so I took the bell to the door. After leaving the house, Lao Hei had everyone extinguish the fire, and as the flames went out and the smoke cleared, the surroundings suddenly became dark.
"Ring it." Lao Hei shouted to me from behind the wall. Last time, it was my own doing to entice the female ghost, and now it was my turn to induce the ghost. My luck had really hit rock bottom.
Thinking that it was a matter of life and death, I surprisingly gained some courage. I began ringing the bell. Strangely, although the bell wasn't big, the sound was very penetrating. Despite the heavy rain, the echoes of "dang, dang..." could be heard from afar. I rang it more than ten times, each time with increasing force, until my ears couldn't take it anymore and I stopped.
After the bell ceased ringing, the surroundings became quiet again, only the sound of the rain "pattering" could be heard. I looked around, but didn't see any suspicious figures. I thought that maybe I hadn't managed to alert the ghost. Just as I was about to ring the bell again, a strange sound came from the rain in front of me!
At first, this strange sound seemed like a wolf howl, but it was much shorter than a wolf's howl, and it was constant. It sent shivers down my spine. Meanwhile, Lao Hei urged me, "Continue ringing, 'Cakra' has come!"
I hurriedly continued ringing the bell, and the howl in the rain seemed to be responding to my ringing. Every time I rang it, it would howl.
In the heavy rain, I saw a small figure slowly emerging, like a small bear crouching on the ground, not very big in size but with a very round head, looking like a five or six-year-old child. It crawled on the muddy road, little by little, getting closer to me.
"It's here!" Lao Hei behind me also caught sight of the black figure and immediately exclaimed with what seemed like more excitement than anything else.
I took a step back, and the black figure on the opposite side suddenly stopped in its tracks, then abruptly rushed towards me. Startled, I turned and ran back into the house, slamming the wooden door shut tightly.
"Brother Laohei, is that 'Caker'?"
Cui Fatty hurriedly asked.
"Yes, but it's still a little brat. I can't handle it alone. Hehe, it's perfect timing. This time, I'll strike it rich!"
After Laohei finished speaking, he took out the horn hanging from his waist. At that moment, "Caker" violently bumped into the wooden door, and our faces all changed!