C81

The reason why we were attracted to the acrobatic group was not because of what we saw, but because Kieran told us that the acrobatic group here had a "divine art", and asked us if we were interested to see it.

I'm not interested in it at all, but Lin Zhishu and Da Jian definitely supported it with both hands. There was no choice, I could only endure the sleepiness and accompany them to watch it.

There were nearly a hundred people gathered in an open space at the entrance to the village, mostly children and women. The acrobats in the middle were performing: a man was riding a bicycle, carrying six people around the grounds, and from time to time there was a round of enthusiastic applause.

By the time we got there, the show was over and the people had left.

I asked Kieran, "They also haven't collected any money nor have any admission tickets, what are they relying on to earn money?"

Kieran said that the village had to pay for it. The state assistance included the expenses of the villagers' recreational lives, which was how the folk acrobats earned their money.

While we were talking, the next program started. My interest was piqued too, the few of us squeezed into the crowd together, while Kieran stood outside the crowd, waiting for us.

Perhaps the communication was not very developed, so the acrobatics should be something the local citizens were very looking forward to. From the looks of the crowd, it seemed like a kind of infatuation.

There were even people in the crowd who were lighting lanterns, and it was unknown if everyone still remembered the look of those lanterns.

The venue was brightly lit as if it was day. The acrobats used "gas lamps," or gasoline, which needed to be inflated at times to let the gas out, heated through the pipes to steam, and then fired through the nozzles to give off a bright white glow, brighter than the 500-watt bulbs of the time.

I seem to have seen this kind of gas lamp only when I was very young, and now I can actually use this kind of light.

The acrobatics that followed were ordinary, mainly some of the outdated magic shows that we had, and most impressive of all, gasoline sprays. Despite this, the local women and children watched with relish.

When it came to the last program, the acrobatic group host introduced it. Next up would be the final highlight program. He said that the person's head could be turned three times.

I'm especially curious because normal people can only turn their head 180 degrees. How is it possible for special people to turn their face three times? The few of us gathered around to watch.

The performers came on, first two stout young men, each holding the performer's arm with one hand and pressing their strong forearms against the performer's back to hold the little boy in place, and then the other to twist his neck, which was even thicker and more terrifying. As he spoke, he slammed his palm against the boy's neck.

I don't think the boy felt much, then he grabbed the boy's head between his arms and twisted it to the left.

At that moment, even though I wasn't close to it, I could clearly hear the sound of bones fracturing and dislocations. There were several crisp sounds consecutively, and these sounds were exceptionally terrifying. The entire place was deathly silent.

When the man turned the boy's face back to his back and turned right again, there was the sound of breaking bones. The man then quickly turned the boy's head. Although it did not turn three times, it was at least a circle and a half. After that, the boy's head was completely detached, only his skin and flesh were still connected.

Then, he released his hand and the other two began to shake the boy's body. They could clearly feel that the boy's head no longer belonged to his body. At this moment, many people no longer looked at it because the performance had reached its end.

But I was curious, and I thought that since it was a performance, I would definitely "save" the boy, so I continued to watch.

At this moment, the acrobatic group had already stopped their performance.

The two people holding the boy directly dragged his body into a nearby house.

As they walked very fast, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the boy's pants dragging over the ground. His shoes had long since disappeared.

We decided to go over and see what was going on.

When he walked over, he found that it was a newly built house. There was no courtyard or door. They dragged the boy into a "hayloft," where there were so many cows that I assumed it was a barn.

But it was summer, and there was only a pile of wheat bran in it. The acrobats were blocking the door, preventing anyone from entering, but they couldn't block our view completely.

They had thrown the boy onto the pile of wheat bran, and the boy was lying on his stomach, facedown in the pile of wheat bran, but one could still see the white foam at the corners of his mouth.

Then the acrobats started driving us away.

After that, we couldn't see anything anymore, and the crowd had all dispersed. Kieran shouted for everyone to stop looking, and we all got into the car and prepared to return. Lin Zhishu was still the same as before, he told me to sit at the back.

All along the way we talked about how the boy could not be saved, because the magic show was so weird, and how the boy lay in the wheat bran heap was depressing.

Kieran told us that those little boys don't need to be saved, why should I ask?

What she said next sent a shiver down my spine. She said that the child who had his neck twisted was not a living person!

Not alive? What was that?

Kieran said that those children were all dead children that the acrobats bought from other families and then used some special method to "save" us temporarily so that we could perform. Many of these children who joined the acrobats were unable to return, and from a certain perspective, this could also be considered as a form of public performance of "killing".

In addition to being shocked, I was also thinking that if this was just a "acrobatic", there were many things that I couldn't explain. Even if the boy had been alive, how could he have dragged him so far from the ground, without shoes, and thrown him onto a pile of wheat bran? The most important thing was that his nose was buried inside, if he could still breathe, then even wheat bran would die if inhaled, so if what Kieran said was true, then it would make sense.

In short, this last acrobatic performance was indeed too strange. Not to mention me, even the Lin Zhishu who had seen too many strange things were shocked.

Nothing happened along the way, so we chatted. I asked them if anything had happened in the village since I left.

The Lin Zhishu said that there was nothing left. Ever since Bao Wenjun was buried, everything had been peaceful and nothing had happened. The place where the Holy Infant was buried had also been constructed with tombstones, which was considered as offering it to the Xiao Tao.

When I mentioned the Xiao Tao, I had a question. I asked the Lin Zhishu, if Bao Wenjun and his brother were really hurt by the Holy Infant, what did they have to do with the Xiao Tao? Why was the Xiao Tao also implicated?

Lin Zhishu shook his head and said that he did not know.

I think so, since it's alright, then there's no need to bother about Xiao Tao's matters anymore.

I found a problem during the entire journey, Lin Zhishu's eyes were always fixed on Kieran who was driving the car. Although his eyes never left Kieran during their conversation, this made me puzzled, I didn't know what he was looking at, if it was evil, could it be that Old Ox wanted to eat's tender grass? Impossible, if he was truly attracted by Kieran's beauty, then it should be a perverted or lecherous gaze, and Lin Zhishu's eyes had an unspeakable gaze, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Just as I was feeling suspicious, Lin Zhishu came close to me and suppressed his voice to ask me, "Are you familiar with this girl?"

Yes, I said. I've been around a few times.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked me, "Since you've come into contact with it before, did you not find anything wrong with it?"

I shook my head. I don't know.

He hesitated for a long time, his hands trembling slightly. His lips moved again and again, but he was still unable to speak.

Lin Zhishu seemed to have made a great decision. In the end, he came close to my ear and said in an extremely low voice:

"This girl is dead!"