The Silent Temple

　　The Temple of Binding Nightmares.

　　It was a rather special temple.

　　It was built in the forest, about two kilometers away from the village.

　　This large forest itself was also a scenic spot of the Qiyu Village. 

　　The villagers had spent years and efforts building crisscrossing forest paths and detailed signposts in it, allowing visitors to have a sense of adventure while not getting lost or encountering danger.

　　Following the forest path east.

　　The two-kilometer road was not long, it could be reached in about twenty minutes.

　　On the way, as if afraid that the headless black shadow would reappear, Liu kept looking around, feeling like a startled bird.

　　Fortunately, they were lucky.

　　The journey was smooth. When they reached the Temple of Binding Nightmares, the sun was getting brighter, dispelling some of the gloom in everyone's hearts.

　　The temple was built with exquisite detail. One could feel its heaviness and solemnity from afar.

　　There was a ditch nearby.

　　It wasn't the rainy season yet, the water in the ditch was shallow, with jagged rocks and many wooden stakes washed away by the rain embedded in the mud.

　　The three entered the temple, there was only one elderly man with a stooped back sweeping the ground in the outer courtyard.

　　There was a house nearby.

　　It seemed to be where the old man lived.

　　The temple was very quiet. 

　　Apart from the old man, they did not see anyone else.

　　"Old man!"

　　Liu called out loud.

　　But the old man didn't bother with him.

　　The three felt a little weird. 

　　Only when they walked closer did they realize that the old man's hearing was not good, only one ear could barely hear the sounds from outside. 

　　They had to be very close to be heard.

　　"No wonder he was thrown to such a place..."

　　Liu sighed.

　　They told the old man they were there to visit the temple, and the old man was happy to let them have a look around, just don't touch anything inside.

　　At this time, Bai asked the old man if anyone had been to the temple yesterday, the old man recalled for a while, and said two people, they came at night, about 8 or 9 pm, but they didn't stay long before they left.

　　After chatting for a while, Bai changed the topic and asked:

　　"Old man, do you know Guang?"

　　The old man frowned and put the ear he could barely hear near Bai:

　　"What?"

　　Bai shouted at his ear:

　　"Guang!"

　　The old man heard this, his face changed dramatically, and he quickly shook his head:

　　"No...I don't know!"

　　"I don't know...I've never heard of him...I don't know him!"

　　He spoke incoherently, repeating these words constantly, as if he was trying desperately to make everyone believe he really didn't know Guang.

　　At this time, Ning suddenly touched his clothes, took out Guang's memorial tablet and handed it to the old man.

　　"Old man, take a closer look, really don't recognize him..."

　　The old man with the broom, as soon as he saw the memorial tablet, a fear beyond words suddenly flowed from his cloudy eyes. 

　　He cried out in shock, as if stimulated by something, he dropped the broom immediately, turned around and hobbled towards the distance!

　　He ran, and kept shouting:

　　"It wasn't me...It wasn't me...I don't know anything...Don't come after me!"

　　The old man ran wildly and ended up falling into the ditch, tripped by wild grass, he immediately fell silent.

　　The three of them felt a deep unease in their hearts.

　　They immediately went to the ditch to check.

　　But they shouldn't have looked. 

　　As soon as they got there, the scene in the ditch made them stunned in place:

　　The old man fell on his back, impaled on a wooden stake, his chest and the back of his head were pierced by the huge wooden thorn on the stake, his blood gushing out, flowing down the shallow creek towards the downstream...

　　The old man's empty eyes were full of fear, staring straight at the three people on the bank of the ditch...

　　Liu was so scared by the dead man's eyes that he took a step back:

　　"Oh my god...He's dead?"

　　The two's expressions were all a bit ugly.

　　"He clearly knew something, but for some reason, he wouldn't dare to speak."

　　Bai said this and turned to Ning.

　　"Ning, do you have any idea?"

　　She saw Ning staring at the old man's corpse in thought, so she asked, but Ning shook his head.

　　"I'm still thinking about the cafeteria..."

　　Bai frowned slightly.

　　"Cafeteria? What about the cafeteria?"

　　Ning said softly:

　　"Don't you think...the cafeteria's decor is a bit strange?"

　　The two nodded.

　　Liu on the side scratched his head:

　　"It is a bit strange, but maybe that's just the style of the village's cafeteria?"

　　Ning stared into the two's eyes and asked a question that made their scalps tingle:

　　"Is there a possibility...that the village's current cafeteria is actually the original guest house for tourists?"

　　As soon as Ning finished speaking, Liu froze for a moment, then immediately gasped:

　　"Oh my god...bro, you're so smart! It really...seems like it!"

　　Bai's eyes flashed:

　　"It's not like it, it should be it."

　　"That cafeteria is divided into three floors, except for the central place to serve food, the rest are all compartments, exactly the size of a room..."

　　"I thought it was weird before, but I didn't think about it this way. But now...the clues seem to be connected a bit."

　　She reached out and patted Ning on the shoulder, raised an eyebrow and praised:

　　"Good job, Ning!"

　　"It's been a while since I've met such a meticulous guy!"

　　Ning was choked by Bai's half-joking tone.

　　Wow.

　　Are you praising me or cursing me?

　　"So, the current situation is...the original guest house for tourists was changed into the cafeteria, and the villagers turned another large house that had been empty for a long time into the guest house?"

　　Liu seemed to understand something.

　　Ning nodded.

　　"Yes."

　　"But...why did they do that?"

　　"I don't know, but that big house is not clean, so they definitely don't want us to be happy."

　　While saying this, the three passed through several doors and entered the interior of the temple, seeing a painting in the main hall, as well as a statue and annotations beside the painting.

　　The statue was made of pure gold, although only the size of a palm, but its value was definitely not low, for a remote village like the Qiyu Village, it was definitely not a small expense.

　　Bai played with the golden statue, then put it back in place.

　　Then, the three's attention was drawn to the painting.

　　The location of the painting should also be Qiyu Village.

　　It just looked a bit aged, it should be something from decades or even hundreds of years ago.

　　It shows a man holding a sickle, stepping on someone else's back.

　　There are three people tied up, kneeling on the ground.

　　They are a middle-aged man, a woman and a child.

　　Behind this middle-aged man holding the sickle, there are also large numbers of people, they look like villagers, with angry faces, raising their arms and shouting, as if responding to something...

　　"What is this? Are they rebelling?"

　　Liu was confused by the painting.

　　Bai approached the painting, reached out with her slender finger and gently rubbed it, a hint of suspicion flashed in her beautiful eyes.

　　"Something's not right. Take a closer look at the background of the painting..."

　　When they heard this, they also noticed something...too desolate about the background of the painting.

　　"The sun is scorching, the vegetation is dead, the streams are dry..."

　　"This...is a drought?!"

　　Liu exclaimed.

　　Ning seemed to have thought of something, he muttered

　　"The blood of kind people has dried up, turning into sweet rain..."