bookbashuk Chapter 139 Accumulating Blessings
Chapter 139 Accumulating Blessings
After hanging up the phone, my brother and I quickly packed up and got off at the next stop.
After getting off the bus, I took a taxi straight to Shenyang.
On the way to Shenyang, I called Long Nier to tell her that I wasn't going back to Beijing. After she understood the situation, she immediately booked a flight to Shenyang.
Long Nier's meaning was simple: there was no danger in consulting the feng shui of the film crew and holding the opening ceremony, so it didn't matter whether she went or not.
But going to the Japanese ruins is bound to be dangerous; she'd rather die with me.
At 8 p.m., we arrived at Ma Shuai's small courtyard on the outskirts of Shenyang.
When he arrived, Ma Shuai had prepared food and drinks.
It's nothing fancy, just the bottom of a hot pot.
Before dinner, Ma Shuai took us to see his family's spirit medium.
The old immortal lay on his side beneath the gray immortal statue, with a red cloth spread beneath him. Beside the cloth were ghee and a cup of medicinal wine that had turned a dark brown.
Seeing us approach, the old immortal lifted his eyelids and glanced at us, his whiskers twitching slightly as a greeting.
I glanced at Lao Xian's wound. It was a little better than last time, but only a little. The gash that stretched across half of his abdomen was still there, but it wasn't bleeding or smelling bad anymore.
Coming out of the west room and into the east room, Ma Shuai sighed and said, "Thirteen, after I came back from your place last time, I followed your method and invited Taoist priests from Ci'en Temple and Taiqing Palace to perform several rituals for the deceased. After they were done, the old immortal's bleeding stopped and the wounds stopped festering. I knew then that this method would work!"
As Ma Shuai spoke, he picked up a piece of mutton with his chopsticks, took a bite, then sipped his wine. He continued, "After that, I first sent people to the official database to check the sites left by the Japanese in their early years!"
"After determining the approximate location, I sent people to contact the local government while simultaneously dispatching others to investigate among the civilian population!"
"After these past few months, we've finally found something!"
The saying goes that money can make the devil turn the millstone; the two major funeral rites cost nearly three million yuan in total.
By checking information from official sources and conducting field visits, along with donations and travel expenses, we spent over two million yuan.
This money wasn't wasted.
He has identified two problematic locations: Changbai Mountain and the former site of the 612th Detachment in Linkou.
"Thirteen, of these two places, Changbai Mountain is more eerie; even now, I still don't understand what's going on there. But I've found out about Linkou!"
Marshal Ma clinked glasses with us, took a sip, and said, "That area was originally the location of the 612th Detachment, or some say the 162nd Detachment!"
"Is the 612th Detachment the same as the 731st?" I asked.
"Different directions!"
After thinking for a moment, Ma Shuai said, "Unit 731 focused on human experimentation, while Unit 612 primarily studied the plague!"
"According to the records, in the two years leading up to their defeat, the Japanese conducted experiments like crazy. In order to have enough rats for their experiments, they even levied a rat tax on the local people, stipulating that the local people had to hand over a certain number of rats every week!"
"Before surrendering, the Japanese burned most of the evidence, and some of it was blown up on the spot because they didn't have time to burn it!"
"There's a base in Linkou that was destroyed by the 612th Detachment!"
Neither Lin Pangzi nor I interrupted Ma Shuai; we listened attentively to what he was saying.
"That base was first discovered in the 1960s. Construction was underway, and a large amount of timber was needed. When workers went into the mountains to cut down trees, they were attacked by giant rats!"
"Uncle Ma, how big is the giant rat?"
Fatty Lin couldn't help but interrupt Ma Shuai.
"You know what a beaver is, right?" Ma Shuai asked.
"I know!" Fatty Lin nodded.
"It's as big as a beaver!" Ma Shuai said.
"Damn, it's huge!"
Fatty Lin gestured and frowned.
"Uncle Ma, what happened next?"
I asked.
"Later, it alarmed the higher-ups, who sent people to follow the tracks left by the giant rat and found the ruins of the 612th Detachment!" Ma Shuai said.
"Wasn't it dealt with at the time?" I asked.
"without!"
Ma Shuai shook his head and said, "It's said that besides discovering the giant rats, they also found some monsters, like rats with human faces!"
"Besides these monsters, it seems there are ghosts too!"
"No one can say for sure what happened. The old man from the forest farm I spoke with said that the entrance to that site was later destroyed by bombing!"
"Then, in the 1980s and 90s, people started dying again in that old forest. Some died while hiking, and others died while searching for people!"
"The legend of rats eating people also began to spread!"
"Now, that old forest has become a forbidden area for the locals!"
"I suspect that the mice the Japanese used for their experiments mutated!"
Coach Ma concluded.
"Uncle Ma, what's the story behind the ghost rumors?" I asked.
"Those who came out alive say that it's not only infested with man-eating rats, but also haunted!"
Ma Shuai picked up a piece of mutton with his chopsticks, thought for a moment, and said, "I found some information. Some of it says that when the Japanese devils retreated, they captured many civilians and took them into the mountains!"
Marshal Ma didn't say what these ordinary people were used for, but we all understand.
"Thirteen, Xiaolin, do you two think that if I resolve this remnant left behind by the Japanese devils, will my old man's injuries heal somewhat?"
Ma asked.
"able!"
Lin the Fat and I didn't hesitate and gave our answers at the same time.
That ruin is like a tumor growing on our body. Getting rid of it will definitely bring merit, not to mention the wronged souls who have been trapped inside for more than half a century and cannot be released.
Ma Shuai will also be going with us to the site of the 612th Detachment in Linkou.
Towards the end of the drinking session, Ma Shuai revealed some truths.
The reason he approached us two brothers this time was firstly because we are indeed capable, but the main reason wasn't us. What he valued most was Long Nier's ability to use Gu poison.
Our primary concern at that site may not be the ghosts, but rather the mutated rats and the potential presence of bacteria such as the plague.
Long Nier is skilled in using poison and also adept at antidotes.
This is exactly what Coach Ma values.
Long Nier arrived the next morning.
As planned, we set off in the afternoon.
Last night, as we were talking, Ma Shuai, half sober and half drunk, revealed something: he said he had done a lot of wrong things over the years and he was worried that the retribution would fall on his children.
This matter is both about saving the old immortal and about accumulating blessings for the child.
I didn't interrupt him while he was saying these things.
It felt strange to hear him say things like "accumulating blessings for the child."
If he was accumulating good fortune for the two children born later, then what about the child he sacrificed?