CHAPTER 355: CHAPTER 233: PANIC IN ZHU FAMILY TOWN

On the dirt road, a carriage sped under the whip of the driver.

Inside the carriage, a man wearing a vest and a long robe sat on the left, spinning two marbles in his hand. Notably, he had a braid hanging down from the back of his head.

"Mr. Sun, I had to use a lot of connections to find you. The strange occurrences at Zhu Family Town this time cannot be sustained. I’ve already reached out to masters from Kongtong Sect and Dragon Tiger Mountain through the police department, but I’ve yet to receive a response. You must help me take a good look,"

said a man anxiously to the man sitting opposite him.

This person was none other than Sun Yan.

At this moment, Sun Yan gazed out at the passing scenery, his face somewhat surprised.

Just shortly before, he had arrived here from the Abandoned Church, intending to find a populated place to inquire about the situation.

Unexpectedly, he encountered a passing carriage halfway along the road, which immediately stopped when it saw him. The merchant gentleman who stepped out of the carriage actually addressed him as ’Mr. Sun.’

He claimed that Sun Yan must have been introduced by the police department in Beiyang City as a master adept at capturing demons and specially invited Sun Yan to get on the carriage.

Unlike the last time when he appeared in the Spirit Realm, commissioned to help investigate the matter of Saintess Cizhou in East Sea Chai Family Village, this time Sun Yan seemed to possess a native identity in this Spirit Realm.

The gentleman’s name was Zhu Honggao, and upon learning that he was a person from Zhu Family Town, Sun Yan agreed and got onto the carriage.

Since he had come to this Spirit Realm to help Zhu Family Town resolve a problem, there was no reason for him to refuse the identity of a master adept at capturing demons.

"Rest assured. Once I see the specifics of your town, I’ll have an idea. What exactly happened in your town? Tell me first," Sun Yan said calmly, retracting his gaze.

"Actually, I don’t know much either, but I heard from a few families in trouble in the town that recently, a Westerner came to town. That guy was a missionary and intended to spread some Jigou religion in our town. But as you know, Mr. Sun, our Zhu Family Town is famously devout in the surrounding ten miles, with every household believing in the Three Altar Sea Assembly Great God. How could they believe in some weird foreign faith, with a name that sounds so dubious?"

Zhu Honggao continued, "That Western missionary shamelessly went to a home in town one day to steal a chicken to eat and was eventually driven away by the townsfolk. From then on, strange things started happening in town."

"Such as?" Sun Yan asked curiously.

"The first person to die in town was Zhu Damin. His wife said that on that night, the wind outside the house was very strong, and the windows kept rattling. Someone was standing outside the window, peeking inside, while muttering ’I’m so hungry, let me in’ and ’I’m so hungry, give me something to eat.’

Zhu Damin was scared and, for several days, didn’t dare open the door to see what was going on outside. Until one night, after being harassed for several days, he couldn’t take it anymore, got angry, took a hoe, and rushed out. That night, he disappeared. His wife said the person speaking outside was that Western missionary."

Zhu Honggao said gravely, "This is definitely that missionary stirring up trouble. Those outsiders, with their yellow hair, their intentions are questionable."

"And then?" Sun Yan asked again.

"More and more people began to disappear in town, almost every few days someone would go missing. Initially, we were searching for the Western missionary’s whereabouts around Zhu Family Town, but then things started getting weirder, and monsters began appearing in the village."

Zhu Honggao’s expression showed a hint of fear: "We are no match for that monster with our abilities, which is why I thought of going to Beiyang City to report to the police, hoping to get some experts from Dragon Tiger Mountain or Kongtong Sect to come and help."

"What kind of monster?"

"Well... it’s hard to describe all at once, Mr. Sun, you’ll see when you get the chance."

Amid Zhu Honggao’s ambiguity, the carriage quickly arrived at Zhu Family Town.

All of Zhu Family Town was suffused with the architectural style of the Republic era, featuring white small Western-style houses with round arches and columns, ubiquitous shops, and rickshaw drivers running around the streets, pulling either gentlemen in long robes or ladies in cheongsams.

"Your Zhu Family Town is developing quite well, no less than a county town," Sun Yan said, looking at the scenery outside the window.

"It’s all thanks to the mayor’s wisdom, having collaborated a lot with foreigners; otherwise, those Western missionaries wouldn’t have come to Zhu Family Town to spread their religion."

Zhu Honggao laughed. When the carriage stopped in front of a large mansion, Sun Yan got off with him.

Immediately, a servant ran over and said anxiously to Zhu Honggao, "Master, something happened, those hanging upside-down people have appeared again."

Zhu Honggao exclaimed, "Where? Quickly, take me there."

"In the back residence, they just appeared this morning, and no matter how we hit them, it’s of no use."

Zhu Honggao quickly turned to Sun Yan and said, "Mr. Sun, our timing is indeed fortuitous; now you can see what those monsters look like."

Out of curiosity, Sun Yan and Zhu Honggao followed the servant as they wandered through the large mansion, soon reaching the back residence where the womenfolk lived.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, Sun Yan immediately saw a man hanging from the beam of the house, whose clothes were in tatters.

His bare feet hooked onto the beam, and like a bat, he hung curled up, with his arms covering his face, making it impossible to see his appearance.

A dozen servants, armed with semiautomatic rifles, stood around, warily watching the hanging man, their expressions anxious and uneasy.

When they saw Zhu Honggao arrive, they seemed to find their backbone and hastily called out, "Master, you’re finally back."

"How could this thing appear in our mansion?" Zhu Honggao couldn’t help but ask.

But these servants were equally clueless, having no idea where this monster had emerged from.

Sun Yan stepped forward, stopping a few steps away from the hanging man, observing his appearance closely.

Closer inspection revealed that the hanging man had a faint layer of brown fuzz growing on his skin, and his fingers and soles were also mutated.

His fingers had become long and slender, with each fingertip hooked into a sharp talon, like a beast’s claws.

It was this mutation that enabled him to grip the beam with his soles without falling.

"Looks like some kind of monster," Sun Yan muttered to himself.

In the Mountain Chasing Manual, it is recorded that some monsters, after biting ordinary people, would turn the bitten into monsters themselves, like zombies.

The hanging person before him clearly seemed to have been an ordinary person transformed, and his level of affliction wasn’t too deep, perhaps still having a chance for rescue.

Just as Sun Yan was about to reach out and pluck the hanging man from the beam, the hanging man’s arms suddenly loosened, revealing a feline-like face.

With fiery red eyes, he pounced towards Sun Yan, opening his mouth as if to bite.

In his mouth were two sharp fangs, and if bitten, there would no doubt be a pair of bloody holes.

"Mr. Sun, watch out!" Zhu Honggao warned fearfully.

The next moment, Sun Yan grabbed hold of the hanging man’s forehead, swiftly pinning him to the ground, where he struggled but could not escape Sun Yan’s grip.