I discovered a world bug.

Chapter 96 Plague Demon

The practice of "floating the pendulum" or "coaxing the pendulum" is actually a not uncommon form of witchcraft.

The principle is simple and the operation process is very simple.

All you need to do is light the stove and set up an iron pot to fry soybeans when a malaria patient is about to have an attack, and all the preparations are complete.

Next, the iron pot is placed at the intersection outside the door, while repeatedly chanting, "Brother Baizi, eat soybeans! Brother Baizi! Eat soybeans!"

According to the "wizard," this step is to lure the "plague spirit" and draw its attention to the soybeans.

And at the very moment the plague demon is attracted, the wizard will shout and suddenly drag the sick person home.

You can't stop for a moment, until the patient is drenched in sweat, then the magic is considered complete.

Frankly speaking, judging from the whole process, it is less of a "ritual" and more of a crude medical procedure that has been carefully packaged.

Malaria is certainly terrible, but it also has to follow objective laws.

Attacks are inherently intermittent. Forced strenuous exercise during an attack can cause the patient's energy to be rapidly depleted, overload the immune system, and lead to a prolonged period of shock.

During this period of shock, the patient will obviously not experience any abnormalities.

—When someone is dizzy, what kind of reaction can they have?

Of course, if that were all, this set of rituals would not have attracted any attention from Xu Changshun.

What truly made him, and Lin Shu, feel something was unusual was...

This set of rituals can sometimes be really useful.

The patient will fully recover after running.

It's not about temporarily suppressing the illness, but about a complete recovery.

In his research notes, Xu Changshun recorded a case.

"...I came to Huawu Village and witnessed the entire process of the 'Paizi Throwing' ritual."

"The sick boy was in critical condition. I knew he had malaria, so I suggested that we take him to the town hospital first."

"However, the boy's parents strongly opposed my proposal—partly because Huawu Village is located deep in the mountains, with cliffs separating it from the outside world, and it would take at least four days to get him to the hospital."

"No one can guarantee whether the patient will survive these four days—the village road construction project is truly urgent."

"Another reason is that they believe the pendulum-throwing witchcraft is very effective; it is said that the child's father was cured by this magic when he was young."

"I can't persuade them anymore, I can only watch from the sidelines."

"My original purpose was to witness and study this ritual, and I'm lucky to have come across it now."

.

"But I really can't believe that this is a stable, empirical ritual. Otherwise, this ritual should have started to spread widely in the last century when I was young, and so many people shouldn't have died in the malaria epidemic."

"I still remember the boy's eyes: fear, confusion, weakness, and helplessness."

"I was heartbroken by the poverty and isolation of this place, and for a moment I even forgot the purpose of my visit."

"But luck seems to be on our side."

"After the wizard's treatment, the boy was miraculously cured on the spot."

He worked up a sweat, and the next day he was full of energy.

"I couldn't believe the ritual was so effective, and I was incredibly excited about the potential progress regarding 'avoidance methods,' so I paid his parents 400 yuan, gained their trust, and took the boy to the town's health center for a checkup."

"As expected, the malaria parasites in the boy's body completely disappeared, as if he had never been infected."

"After that, I stayed in Huawu Village for four months and witnessed no fewer than 10 similar witchcraft incidents."

"But unfortunately... this ritual never worked again..."

""

According to Xu Changshun's records, he was convinced that the ritual of "throwing the swan" was effective, but its process was quite vague, the success rate was extremely low, and it was impossible to correct it through repeated trial and error.

So he had no choice but to leave Huawu Village in disappointment, but the experience he gained there was written in his notebook and was seen by Lin Shu.

—But in reality, the reason why Lin Shu attached so much importance to this set of rituals and even decided to go to the site in person to see it was not just because of the successful record in Xu Changshun's notes.

Rather, it's because...

Although "dropping the pendulum" is mainly popular in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan region, Lin Shu had actually seen similar spells when she was very young.

It's still the Meishan method, the so-called "picking out the disease".

I remember I was only three or four years old at that time.

An elderly man next door, who called himself "Uncle," was seriously ill and the hospital could no longer treat him, so the younger generation took him home.

But as blood relatives, the sons couldn't bear to see their father leave like that. After each trying their own way, they finally found a "fairy" who claimed to be from the Meishan Sect, but probably didn't have much of a lineage.

The fairy was an old woman. She directed her uncle's two sons to lift him up with a winnowing basket used for holding rice. While burning paper money and incense, they shouted, "Watch the clam fairy, watch the circus!" and carried him ostentatiously from the village to the river outside the village.

Lin Shu still remembers the bizarre scene of that sixty or seventy-year-old "fairy" dressed in brightly colored clothes, pretending to be shy and coy.

They carried him all the way to the riverbank. A string of firecrackers went off, and the two sons carried their great-uncle on their backs and ran. They took turns carrying him, not daring to catch their breath. When they got home, their great-uncle's condition had improved remarkably.

—Of course, it's not completely cured.

But he did manage to hold out for another two years, and even gave himself bonuses for two more years...

This memory had been buried deep within Lin Shu's mind, but it resurfaced after she saw Xu Changshun's records and began researching the disaster-avoidance method that would be used as a "shield."

At this point, the group heading into the mountains had reached the cliff where the path ended, and they would need to use ropes to continue.

"Is everything alright?"

Jin Yue walked to Lin Shu's side and asked, "Can you get up there? If you can't, I can find a support point first, fix it in place, and then hoist you up."

"6

...Well, it wasn't that bad.

"Let's give it a try," Lin Shu replied with a wry smile. "It's not real rock climbing, just a bit steep."

"Yeah, no need to force yourself."

Jin Yue chuckled, secured the safety rope around his waist, and took the lead as he climbed up.

Next came two special forces members who served as the vanguard, followed by Chen Zhu and Lu Ran.

Lin Shu followed Lu Ran, climbing the cliff step by step.

He always thought he was afraid of heights, after all, he was always terrified when he went on roller coasters and the like.

But unexpectedly, this trip up the mountain turned out to be...

Not afraid at all?

The entire climb is over 600 meters long, with the elevation increasing steadily.

Lin Shu felt increasingly comfortable as she climbed, and even found an opportunity to bypass the others and follow behind Jin Yue.

"Climbing so fast??"

Jin Yue asked in surprise, "I thought you were really going to come back and pick me up."

"Really, you don't need to..."

"9

Lin Shu took a breath; the top of the cliff was now right in front of her.

It's very easy.

Looking back down, the sun was gradually rising, and the clouds and mist in the valley were rising and rolling. Although the altitude was not high, it still gave people the illusion of "looking down on all the mountains".

"This place could actually be developed into a tourist attraction."

Lin Shu chatted casually with Jin Yue.

"Let's find a way to build a road that goes straight up to the top of the mountain, build a resort, and a convenience store."

"Hey, have you read that novel? There's a small shop by the clouds."

"I haven't seen it."

Jin Yue shook his head, reached out and picked up a loose rock, then threw it forcefully into a deserted corner.

"I've only ever seen a 26-year-old landlady, and there's also the saying 'Life is full of regrets.'"

Holy crap!

Lin Shu was shocked.

"I didn't realize you, a soldier, would be reading so much sentimental stuff."

"It's because I haven't seen much of this before that I'm curious..."

'

Jin Yue has already stepped onto the platform and begun to retrieve and organize the safety ropes.

Lin Shu didn't know how to do this, so she stood aside and observed the situation behind the cliff and the old village of Huawu.

Looking down from here, you can see the entire old village.

As the aerial reconnaissance images show, most of the houses in the village have collapsed, and the only remaining intact wooden house is the destination of this trip.

The dwelling place of that "wizard," or rather, "Bummo."

Lin Shu took out binoculars from her backpack and carefully observed the situation of the wooden house.

But strangely—he didn't see anyone.

A fire was clearly burning in the kitchen of the wooden house, and smoke was billowing from the dilapidated roof.

But all the doors were locked from the outside, and only two goats were wandering aimlessly in the yard, bleating every now and then, which could be heard from hundreds of meters away.

What about people?

Where did they go?

Lin Shu slightly moved the binoculars away, and in that instant...

"#!"

He shouted out unexpectedly.

Less than 20 meters in front of him, a distorted human face was staring intently at him!

He couldn't describe what that face looked like at all.

He was swollen, pale, and his face was covered with wrinkles and spots typical of the elderly.

Its eyes were cloudy, its white hair was disheveled, and it was surrounded by an aura of death. At first glance, one could almost smell the putrid stench unique to "corpses".

The owner of that face had half her body hidden by bushes, but it was still clear that she was wearing a bright red and green outfit.

----shroud!!

"Jin Yue! Someone's here!"

Without any hesitation, Lin Shu, with his emotions stretched to the limit, suddenly lunged at the figure with his "snake".

After being upgraded by Yinshan Fa, his snake has become even more powerful.

He can even easily use snakes to change a person's perception and achieve complete control.

If all you need to do is get the other party to stop, that's even simpler!

In the blink of an eye, before Jin Yue could even raise his gun, the snake was already in front of the "strange man".

Then, I took a bite!

Lin Shu clearly felt that the snake had bitten her.

Its "effect" has been achieved; it has established a connection with the attacked individual.

but.

The figure dressed in funeral clothes did not stop at all.

She just stood there, staring intently at Lin Shu.

Then he turned and ran!

Lin Shu was dumbfounded.

The other person disappeared into the dense bushes, and his snake retreated as well.

"What is that?"

Jin Yue quickly launched the drone and followed the shadow.

Lin Shu shook her head, slowly exhaled, and then replied, "I don't know."

"But it's very likely that it's the plague demon that the people in Huawu New Village were talking about..."

'