My Healing Games

Chapter 981 Grave Village
Tables were set up in the center of the village, and many villagers had arrived early. Everyone was happily looking forward to a bright future, and smiles were on their faces.

That's right, the people in the cemetery village love to laugh.

"The village chief is here!"

"Quickly! Clap your hands!"

"Wait, wait, he hasn't even spoken yet!"

"Wonderful!"

"Are you stupid?! You have to wait for the village chief to speak before you shout!"

The white-haired village chief was respected by all the villagers; he had dedicated his entire life to the village.

Stepping onto the makeshift stage, the village chief looked at the familiar faces below, but he didn't want to make eye contact with them, his gaze drifting into the distance.

The cemetery village was built in a huge sinkhole, which served as a garbage disposal center for the cities outside. People living on the surface would constantly dump all kinds of garbage and waste into the deep pit.

Perhaps due to the extremely poor living conditions, it's rare to see villagers with normal appearances in the cemetery; everyone is somewhat deformed. Their minds may still be the same as ordinary people, but in terms of appearance, they are no longer considered one of their own by those outside the village.

Looking up, the old village chief felt as if he were in an abyss. More and more garbage was being sent in from outside, and the cemetery village was being buried deeper and deeper. He guessed that the people in this village would never be able to climb out.

The air was thick with a stench, but the villagers of the cemetery village didn't care. The garbage they threw into the deep pit was a treasure trove of money for them. Only by constantly disposing of the garbage could they change their terrible situation, have enough money to buy medicine, and prolong their miserable lives.

The world under the sun produces garbage, and people throw it into deep pits, paying the residents of the cemetery village to dispose of it. This seems reasonable, but it is not what the village chief is looking for.

A ghost is buried beneath the cemetery, making it impossible to relocate the village. Therefore, the village chief hopes that outsiders will stop throwing garbage into the pit and instead come down to help, change, and rebuild it.

The cemetery doesn't need those dirty and negative things; he wants to let some positive things in.

The old village chief's idea was good, but he greatly underestimated the greed and wickedness of people and the terrifying madness of ghosts.

"Under the leadership of Village Chief Fu, everyone in our Fen Village is living a good life. Now, please welcome the village chief to speak!" A young man in a suit shouted loudly from the side of the stage. He was lively and cheerful, and his voice was particularly pleasant. He was out of place with the overall atmosphere of Fen Village and seemed more like a rich second-generation who had come from a big city to experience life.

The villagers all fell silent, and everyone looked at the old village chief on the stage.

The white-haired village chief's lips moved slightly. He was extremely conflicted and struggled for a long time, but he still didn't tell the truth. Instead, he forced a smile: "I have been working hard to maintain communication between the village and the city. I have also successfully secured the third round of relief funds for everyone. If we work together in the future, we will definitely be able to live a better life!"

The villagers didn't need to be reminded; they spontaneously applauded. The village chief had worked tirelessly for the village until his hair turned white, and all the villagers trusted him implicitly.

"Everyone, eat and drink well. Once we've eaten and drunk our fill and saved up enough energy, we'll open the grave tonight to worship the spirits!"

After the old village chief finished speaking, he stepped off the stage. Instead of eating with the villagers, he led the young man in the suit beside him back to his home.

The old village chief glanced at the clock in the room and frowned: "Third brother, go and call your two older brothers over. Tell them I have something very important to tell them."

"It's 8 PM now, and there are only four hours left before the grave opening ceremony. My eldest and second eldest brothers must be busy..."

"I told you to go, so go! Hurry up!" The old village chief, usually so kind, was unusually stern today.

After the young man left, he took out a piece of paper from the drawer and wrote a few words very carefully.

At 8:20, the door to the village chief's house was pushed open, and a tall, robust middle-aged man carrying a bamboo basket walked into the house.

He was covered in paint and was quite handsome; outside the cemetery, his face alone would have been enough to make him a star.

"Dad, are you looking for me?"

"Why are you only arriving now?"

“I was handling hazardous materials in the garbage dump when I found him…” The middle-aged man gently put down the bamboo basket and took out a small baby from it: “This child was not born in the cemetery village. He must have been abandoned by his biological parents and thrown into a deep pit as garbage.”

The middle-aged man was very gentle, seemingly afraid of waking the baby, and spoke in a very low voice: "His will to survive is extremely strong. It's a miracle that he has been able to survive alone in this deep pit until now."

“Bringing this child into the cemetery village is actually worse than letting him fend for himself,” the old village chief said somewhat pessimistically.

"Why? Isn't the third son also an orphan you adopted? You always taught us that we should give back to the world and make the dark world full of color..." The middle-aged man sensed that his father had something on his mind.

“That’s exactly what I taught you, but many times we not only fail to make the world colorful, but we also have our original colors erased by the darkness of the world.” The old village chief sighed: “Today, the Joint Crisis Response and Handling Center laid its cards on the table for me.”

"What did they say?"

"The cemetery village has spread a large number of plagues and unknown diseases to the outside world. In order to curb this situation at its source, the Joint Crisis Response Center wants to abandon the cemetery village, completely bury this large tomb, and cut off all access between the cemetery village and the outside world." The old village chief exerted force with his arm. The cemetery village was the culmination of his life's work, and he never expected it to end like this.

"Are those people blind?! The plague and diseases in the cemetery village are caused by them dumping all their negative emotions and garbage into it! Instead of trying to cure the villagers and clean up the garbage, they're thinking of burying us all alive?!" The middle-aged man's voice grew louder, his heart filled with rage: "Even if they cut off the cemetery village's connection to the outside world, as long as that garbage keeps being generated, the ghosts beneath the cemetery village will eventually come out! By then, it will be too late for them to make amends!"

Perhaps startled by the middle-aged man's voice, the baby in the bamboo basket was awakened and began to cry loudly.

"People never learn from their mistakes. They only unite when a crisis comes. Once the crisis is over, infighting becomes the norm." The old village chief was old, and he didn't feel angry, just very resentful: "Now we only have two choices: accept the help of those people on the surface, completely side with them, destroy the pit, and find a way to kill or severely damage the ghosts in the grave; or release the ghosts in the grave, become ghosts in the grave, and then lead all the ghosts to devour the buildings on the surface, turning the cities on the surface into new 'grave villages'."

Hearing the old village chief's words, the middle-aged man's anger slowly faded, and he calmed down: "Fen Village is our home. I know how filthy and wretched this place is, but why..."

"Either help others, or become a ghost." The old village chief waved his hand, stopping the middle-aged man from continuing: "Tell me your choice."

“I…” The middle-aged man’s gaze slowly moved to the bamboo basket. He looked at the abandoned orphan and did not make a choice until the end.

When a person is swept up by fate, it is actually very difficult for him to make a perfect choice. Most of the time, he is already in the situation before he even has a chance to choose.

The door to the old house was pushed open again, and a young man in a suit and a carpenter walked in. The carpenter had a deformed face and was very ugly. He was carrying a wooden box filled with all kinds of tools. He had made many of the buildings and furniture in the cemetery village.

"Dad, I've brought my second brother." The young man had a good personality. He hadn't noticed the heavy atmosphere in the room yet. When he saw the abandoned baby crying in the bamboo basket, he ran over and gently hummed a lullaby to lull the baby to sleep.

“Although you are not related to me by blood, I have always regarded you as my own children. You are the people I trust most in the cemetery village.” The old village chief took out an envelope from the drawer and handed it to the young man in the suit: “This is my will. You must wait until you leave the pit before you can open it.”

"A...a will?" The young man stood up abruptly, hesitant to take it: "Dad, why are you giving me this?"

"I've tried my best to postpone it, but the conflict between the two sides has reached an irreconcilable point." The old village chief looked out the window. Towering garbage mountains filled the area around the cemetery village, and the village below the deep pit was getting farther and farther away from the ground.

“The villagers are very happy and are increasingly accepting of the people on the ground. As long as we persevere, we will definitely see some changes!” The young man was somewhat naive.

"The villagers are happy because the people on the surface have been constantly mobilizing resources to appease the grave village in order to prevent it from causing trouble. But now the Joint Crisis Response Center has decided to stop funding the grave village. What those people on the surface want is not harmonious coexistence at all. They think the grave village is a time bomb, and what they need is to completely destroy it!" The old village chief's voice was serious: "Moreover, it's not just the people on the surface who are forcing us to choose sides. Have you noticed that the villagers in the grave village are also becoming more and more terrifying? Because they have been staying with negative garbage for a long time, their distortions are becoming more and more serious. They are starting to hurt people and cause things out of control. The ghosts under the graves are also becoming active."

None of the old village chief's three children refuted him, because they knew that what the old village chief said was true.

“We all want the people enjoying the sunshine on the surface and the cemetery village in the deep pit to coexist harmoniously, but time is not on our side.” The old villager frowned deeply: “The coexistence area I envisioned has not yet been built, and the buffer zone that can collect positive emotions from people on the surface is still being tested, so we must do everything we can to buy time!”

"Dad, what do you want to do?" The carpenter, who had been silent all along, finally spoke. He was not talkative and his body was severely deformed. Unlike the old village chief's other two children, he was more like a ghost than a human.

“I have a plan that bets on the future, which may delay the outbreak of the disaster by decades.” The old village chief lifted the bed board, revealing several black packages underneath: “This is the ‘medicine’ provided by the Joint Crisis Response Center to the deformed villagers of the Grave Village. It combines the wisdom of all those who know about it on the ground and can blow up the entire village.”

"But..." the young man wanted to interrupt.

"No buts. I've thought every step through carefully." The old village chief interrupted the young man, continuing, "The people on the surface aren't yet capable of dealing with the ghosts in the grave. The difference in strength is enormous. Once the ghosts emerge, the people won't have a chance to resist. So I want to enter the grave with the three of you and become the unspeakable ghosts in the villagers' eyes during this year's worship ceremony!"

"To become a ghost?" None of the three children expected their most beloved father to say such a thing.

"We need to do everything we can to slaughter the ghosts in the graves, balance the power between the two sides, and keep the ghosts from coming out for the time being." The old village chief's eyes were a little red; the three children had never seen him like this before.

"There are many ghosts in the grave. The four of us are no match for them. The difference in strength is too great!" The middle-aged man had been inside the grave before and knew very well how terrifying it was.

“I know, so I’m already prepared to be annihilated.” The old village chief lowered his voice: “I told you a long time ago that there is a special little box in my brain. It is because of the existence of that little box that I was able to meet you.”

The three children nodded, recalling warm memories from the past.

"As the owner of that box, after making my final choice and becoming an unspeakable ghost, I will gain the despair of all previous box owners, granting me extremely terrifying abilities for a short period. But after this ability is used up, my soul will slowly dissipate." The old village chief didn't hide anything from his three children: "When the sacrificial ceremony begins, I will declare my intention to completely destroy the great tomb and kill the ghosts within. After we enter the tomb, I will open the box and first kill or severely injure the most terrifying ghosts within. After that special ability is used up, I need one of you three to kill me with your own hands!"

The old village chief's gaze swept over the three children, finally settling on the carpenter: "The ghosts in the grave don't know that my abilities can only last for a short time. When they are in retreat, you can kill me, which will not only allow my consciousness to escape, but also gain the approval of the vengeful ghosts in the grave."

"After the unspeakable ghosts are scattered, all traces of them in this world will be erased. Therefore, I can only be killed by you in a special way, in a premeditated death. Only in this way can I retain something before my 'death'!"

The old village chief was neither able to reconcile the people on the ground nor the ghosts in the graves, nor could he truly destroy the great grave. All his plans needed time to be perfected, but neither the people on the ground nor the ghosts in the graves were prepared to give him that time, and his own lifespan was also running out.

For the sake of his ideal future, the old village chief decided to open one side of the box in his mind and make a final choice. He was willing to risk everything to buy time for the arrival of the next era.

(End of this chapter)