Why is my anime art style so weird?

"Brother Niu, what's the date today?"

Da Niu gave him a strange look, but quickly replied:

"In the 23rd year of Jian'an, on the 12th month of the Jiazi year."

Xu Ming thought back carefully and realized that nothing major seemed to have happened in the entire city of Xiapi, or even in the entire Xuzhou, that year.

strangeness……

"By the way, Brother Da Niu."

Xu Ming leaned closer to Da Niu and whispered:

Have you heard what's been happening in Xiapi lately?

Chapter 708 Abandoned Village

Da Niu shook his head, looking completely bewildered.

Xu Ming's eyes flickered, and he asked several more questions, all related to the nearby city of Xiapi.

But Da Niu knew nothing about it, acting like a wild man living deep in the mountains.

Xu Ming suddenly sighed.

He had originally hoped to extract some useful information, which was why he had played along with this guy for so long, but unexpectedly, he gained nothing. It was a real blunder.

Why are you sighing, young man?

Da Niu put down his bowl with some confusion.

To everyone's surprise, Xu Ming simply pulled out his phone from his pocket, pointed the camera at him, and pressed the shutter button.

Click!

With a soft sound, a purple-gold exorcising light instantly swept across the small room.

Xu Ming curled his lip, revealing a cold smile resembling a checkmark.

"I knew you weren't human a long time ago! And you're still pretending!"

From the moment he entered the village, Xu Ming sensed that something was wrong.

In ancient times, people, especially farmers, lived a life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset, partly because they lacked entertainment at night and partly to save on expensive lamp oil.

They're not some wealthy family in the city, so why would every household have their lights on so late?

Moreover, Xu Ming, a complete stranger, didn't hear any dogs barking when he entered the village.

Even in modern times, many people in rural areas keep dogs. How much more so in ancient times? What if wild animals like wolves or bandits broke into the village? Keeping dogs in the village was very useful.

Seeing so many suspicious points, Xu Ming immediately realized that there must be something fishy about this village.

This skepticism reached its peak after the emergence of a top expert...

Amidst the blinding exorcism light, a shrill scream suddenly echoed throughout the small house.

After a while, the light faded.

The entire cabin was completely revealed to be its original state.

Old, dilapidated, and covered in dust.

What was most disgusting was that the bowl in front of Xu Ming was not rice porridge at all, but clearly, a bowl of wriggling maggots.

As for Da Niu, he turned into a headless skeleton and collapsed beside the bed.

Xu Ming shook his head, turned around and left Da Niu's house.

In the village, the lights in the other houses remained on, and the shadows reflected on the windows seemed oblivious to the screams from Da Niu's family, as everyone continued with their own affairs.

A hint of eeriness lingered amidst the tranquility and peace.

With an icy expression, Xu Ming kicked open the door of a neighboring house without saying a word and rushed inside.

The lights in the room went out quickly, and two headless corpses lay in the room.

Xu Ming kicked open the doors of several more shops, but they all had similar situations.

While outside the door, the lights were on inside, and shadows were reflected in the windows. But as soon as the door was kicked open, the lights went out instantly, leaving only decapitated corpses inside.

This village is clearly a ghost village!

Xu Mingzheng inspected each room one by one.

Dong dong qiang qiang!

Suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums rang out from ahead, as if some kind of happy event was taking place.

Xu Ming's expression changed slightly.

Why would someone hold a wedding in a ghost village where everyone is dead, so late at night?

He quickly summoned Erina and Gorgon, and walked towards the direction from which the sound came, holding up his phone.

After turning a corner, a strange group appeared in front of Xu Ming.

A group of people dressed in festive red robes walked towards the village, beating drums and gongs. It seemed they were holding a wedding.

But when Xu Ming saw what was being carried in the middle of the procession, his brows furrowed involuntarily.

What they were carrying was a huge coffin.

The surface of the coffin was painted blood red, which stood out starkly and eerily in the darkness.

Looking at this group again, who are those people? They are clearly paper figures with pale, lifeless faces!

Xu Ming's face darkened, and without saying a word, he immediately picked up his phone and pointed it at the strange procession that seemed to be either a wedding or a funeral.

Click!

The night seemed to be pierced by a sharp purple spear.

Amidst the light, a faint wailing of ghosts and wolves could be heard, as if dozens of men and women were sitting together wailing in mourning.

Soon the exorcising light dissipated, and the paper figures dressed in red burst into flames. The huge blood-red coffin crashed to the ground with a loud bang, instantly cracking open and several headless skeletons rolled out.

After the strange group was wiped out, the ghosts in the entire village suddenly quieted down, and the surroundings became deathly silent.

Continuing forward, a dilapidated ancestral hall came into view before Xu Ming.

Xu Ming immediately went over.

In ancient times, villages like this typically only worshipped their own ancestors, and the ancestral hall where the ancestral tablets were enshrined was the most important place in the entire village, without exception.

Perhaps we can find some useful clues here.

Just as Xu Ming's left foot stepped into the ancestral hall, an old voice suddenly rang out from beside him.

"Young man, you don't seem to be from this village. What are you doing at the ancestral hall so late?"

He saw an elderly man with white hair, leaning on a cane, standing to the side, looking at him with a smile.

Xu Ming was startled and immediately picked up his phone and pointed the camera at the direction from which the sound was coming from.

The old man quickly waved his hand.

"Young man, hold your hand and let me say something."

"If you have anything to say, please speak."

Although he was eager to find clues, Xu Ming did not put down his phone and kept staring at the old man opposite him with a wary expression.

Xu Ming had already made up his mind that he would press the shutter immediately if the other party made the slightest unusual move.

Under the gaze of the spiritual vision, the old man's body faintly glowed with a pale white light, like a phantom. A thin layer of light, pale golden light enveloped the old man's body.

Xu Ming noticed that this layer of golden light membrane was connected by a silk thread to the nearly one-story-high memorial tablets behind the old man, which occupied most of the wall.

This golden light seemed to be some kind of power similar to faith, which Xu Ming had seen on Kato Megumi before.

Is this what they call ancestral protection?

Xu Ming subconsciously touched his chin.

The old man seemed oblivious to Xu Ming's subtle actions and hidden hostility, and began to speak with a kind smile on his face.

"Young man, do you know why our Niujia Village has been abandoned?"

Xu Ming shook his head without making a sound, but secretly memorized the name 'Niujia Village'.

It seems that the first vengeful ghost he encountered upon entering the village did not deceive him, at least not in terms of its name. It's likely that most of the original villagers in this village were surnamed 'Niu' (牛).

The old man was unaware of the strangeness on Xu Ming's face. He looked around at the plaques covering the walls of the ancestral hall, gazing at the familiar and respected names, and a look of reminiscence appeared on his face as he murmured to himself.

"Our Niujia Village is fifty li away from Xiapi. It used to be quite peaceful and tranquil until twenty years ago, when Lü Bu occupied Xuzhou and Cao Cao led his army to attack, plunging the entire Xuzhou into war..."

Chapter 709 Better to be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos

"Twenty years ago today, the day was just like today. It was snowing heavily outside, and a group of chaotic soldiers who appeared out of nowhere rushed into Niujia Village."

They killed any man they saw, and raped and killed any woman they saw. The entire Niujia Village, along with the children and livestock, was wiped out by this group of beasts!

Even after all this, these beasts still won't let us go!

They cut off every man's head, put it all together, and took it away..."

The old man's voice suddenly became low and deep.

Kill innocent people and claim credit for them!

A word suddenly popped into Xu Ming's mind. The old man's words made him connect the previous clues all at once, such as the headless corpses and the red line on Da Niu's neck that looked like a birthmark.

In the chaos of ancient battlefields, the way to determine military merit was naturally by taking the heads of enemy soldiers.

A person can only have one head, so it cannot be imitated. However, some poorly governed and undisciplined armies may engage in the egregious practice of killing innocent people and claiming credit for their crimes.

They slaughtered unarmed civilians, impersonated enemy soldiers' heads, and greedily claimed military merits.

Such situations are all too common during times of war.

What might be a meager reward to a soldier could cost an ordinary person their life!

As someone who personally witnessed the massacre of his village, the old man's pain and despair were beyond the comprehension of anyone.

Xu Ming noticed that as the old man continued to recount that past event, black negative energy kept surging from his body, and the original white light was faintly stained black.

The most significant change was in the old man's appearance. His kind and gentle demeanor had vanished, his face was now covered with dry wrinkles, and his eyes faintly gleamed with a ghostly green light, making him look like a vengeful ghost crawling out of the underworld.