Merchant of the Underworld

At this moment, a small police officer hurried over from the hillside.

"Chief Chu, we have found Grandma Hu. Sir Jiang asked if you would like to go over and take a look?"

"Let's go!" The man in the T-shirt nodded and waved.

We got into the police car, and before I could ask, the man in the T-shirt introduced: "This water monster is violent and kills people like crazy. As you can see, all the people it targets are dead. But Granny Hu encountered her one after another. Both times, they all miraculously survived, and even the first time, she fell into the water accidentally, but was rescued ashore by a water monster."

"Oh? There is such a thing." I was extremely surprised when I heard this.

"Yes!" The wind outside the car window blew the bangs of the man in the T-shirt slightly: "A few years ago, when I heard that there were survivors, I thought it was just a coincidence. In addition, Granny Hu had no fixed place to live, so I was looking for her for a while. I didn’t take it too seriously, so I didn’t take it too seriously. But the night before yesterday, all the grandmothers who were washing clothes upstream were swept into the river, and all the bones and dregs eaten by the water monster were left. Only Grandma Hu was safe, but It floated three or four miles along the river and was brought back to the shore by the big waves."

I thought for a moment and asked, "Is there something special about Grandma Hu that makes the water monster very afraid of her?"

"That's what I also suspected." The man in the T-shirt replied: "According to the information interviewed by the police, she was just an ordinary country woman. Her husband was killed in a car accident and has been dead for decades. Since then, she has been She makes a living by picking up rags and has no fixed place to live. Now that the police have found her residence, we will go over and have a look."

The police car turned down several narrow alleys and stopped on a gray side street.

The street is very narrow, with messy garbage and broken tires on both sides. Police cars cannot drive in.

The two of us got out of the car, and under the leadership of the little police officer, we walked in a winding way for a long time before we arrived at an old, unfinished building.

In the corridor of the unfinished building, there were several Hong Kong police officers standing. Among them was a tall, muscular police sergeant with a stubble on his face. When he turned around and saw the man in a T-shirt, he quickly stepped forward to greet him.

"Chief Chu, we just asked Grandma Hu! She said that she was washing clothes by the river when she was suddenly swept into the river by a big wave. She was about to drown, but she was inexplicably brought ashore. In addition, I don’t know anything anymore.” The police chief’s Mandarin was not very standard, and he looked at me strangely when he spoke.

"Yeah." The man in the T-shirt nodded and continued walking forward.

At the end of the corridor is a small, dark house. As soon as you get closer, you can smell an extremely strong musty smell.

There were a lot of broken cardboard boxes and empty bottles piled inside, blocking the ray of sunlight that was not enough in the first place, making the room dark.

There was a wire bed placed in the corner of the room, and a skinny old lady wearing a dark gray gown sat beside the bed, chattering without knowing what to say.

I don’t know what dialect she spoke, but the tone was so weird that I didn’t understand a single word.

"Grandma, have you seen anything in the water?" The man in the T-shirt approached and asked in a low voice.

A police officer next to him translated his words into the local dialect.

Grandma Hu looked at the man in the T-shirt and shook her head gently, and then said something. The police officer translated: "She said that her old eyes were dim and she couldn't see anything clearly, and her nose and mouth were full of water at the time. I thought I wouldn’t survive.”

"Then can you clearly see what that thing looks like?"

"Anyway, a big wave knocked me down with a roar, and then rolled me to the shore with a roar."

The man in the T-shirt asked a few more questions, and Grandma Hu answered them one by one with some fear.

After translating, the police officer said to us: "We also took notes before, but we didn't find any useful clues. It seems that Grandma Hu was really frightened at the time and didn't remember anything."

The man in the T-shirt and I looked at each other, and then they both shook their heads gently.

Obviously, this Granny Hu is extremely ordinary and does not exude any yin energy. The water monster in the river should have nothing to do with her.

But this is even more wrong - so many people were killed, and even the bones could not be found, but why was she the only one who was fine? And several times in a row.

Not only did the water monster not eat her, but he also deliberately sent her ashore. Do you believe that the water monster is imitating Lei Feng to do good deeds?

The clue seems to have stopped here.

"Okay, grandma, let's do this for now." The man in the T-shirt said calmly: "If you think of anything again, please let us know at any time." After that, he took me away.

Grandma responded, stood up habitually, and wanted to see us out.

But the moment she stood up, the sunlight coming in from outside the door happened to hit her chest, reflecting a bright light that stung people and made it difficult to open their eyes.

Um? The man in the T-shirt and I noticed this detail at the same time and turned our heads together.

But I saw a small pendant hanging on Granny Hu's chest.

"Grandma, what is this? Can you let me see it?" the man in the T-shirt asked.

After being translated by the police, Granny Hu looked at the man in the T-shirt with some confusion, and then took off the pendant.

The man in the T-shirt took the pendant in his hand and played with it, then handed it to me.

This pendant is very inconspicuous. It is just a small white stone. The material is also very ordinary. It is a roadbed stone that can be seen everywhere. It has no shape. It has been worn for a long time and has been worn extremely smooth. There is a small hole in the middle. , wearing a red rope, it looks ordinary, even a little pitiful. But once you hold it in your hand, you can feel an extremely strange power.

It's neither yin energy nor yang energy, but a mysterious force that I have never encountered before.

Could it be said that she survived twice in a row because of the blessing of this thing?

"Grandma, where did you get this pendant?" I looked at the small stone in my hand and asked softly.

Grandma was stunned and said Nuonuo.

The police officer standing by quickly translated at the same time: "She said this is the amulet of their hometown Huba Village. When every child in Huba Village is one month old, he will be carried to the Liwang Temple in the village and given by the oldest child in the village. The old man personally hung a pendant around his neck. The pendant will protect the people of Huba Village from any disaster or harm."

"She has been wearing this pendant for more than sixty years. Her husband and son both died of illness one after another, but she has always been fine."

At the end, Grandma Hu seemed to be afraid that we would take it away, so she added: "This is not worth much. It is the custom of the village that no one can leave the body. If you die without this amulet, you are not allowed to be buried." In the village.”

I saw Grandma Hu's caution about the pendant, so I returned it carefully. He turned to the man in the T-shirt and said: "It seems that the problem lies in this pendant. The water monster may be afraid of this thing, so it doesn't dare to harm her!"