"!!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ Don't say that, it scares me!"
"It really seems like it..."
Many viewers hadn't noticed it at first, immersed in the soft and cute appearance of the small animals.
But after reading everyone's discussion,
And then looking at the small animals in the village.
Tilting their heads, or holding small snacks, as if they had come out to watch the excitement.
The more they looked, the more eerie it became.
"It's over, I'm definitely not going to sleep tonight."
"These animals, they wouldn't be the villagers transformed, would they?"
...
As the viewers were making chilling guesses,
Jiang Lin had arrived at the village chief's doorstep.
The village chief's house was much better than ordinary houses, made of white ceramic tiles, a three-story villa.
Outside the villa, there was also a wall nearly two meters high,
Next to the large iron gate on the wall, a blue sign was hung.
It read [Dragon Lake Village Chief's Residence].
Jiang Lin was wondering whether to knock on the door, as he sensed someone inside.
"Are you the volunteers who just arrived today?"
A middle-aged man suddenly walked over from the side, his skin a bit dark, and when he smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes crinkled.
Jiang Lin nodded slightly, "Yes."
The middle-aged man clasped his hands in front of him and rubbed them together, "The village chief told me long ago to prepare food and lodging. Follow me."
As he spoke, he was about to turn and lead the way,
Jiang Lin spoke in time,
"I have a few companions waiting for me at the village entrance. I'll go get them to come over together."
The middle-aged man turned back, "You're together? That's great, I'll go with you, it'll save me a few trips."
The two walked towards the village entrance together,
Normally, the middle-aged man would walk ahead, with others struggling to keep up behind.
But this time, the middle-aged man found himself lagging behind.
Jiang Lin walked in front, and he almost had to jog to keep up.
Before his doubts could accumulate,
They had already reached the village entrance.
Seeing the three people in front of him almost exhausted, the middle-aged man felt a sense of normalcy.
"The streamer is back!"
Qi Liu shouted as he saw the two figures approaching.
The two women who were sitting on the ground, their eyelids almost closing, but daring not to sleep, immediately jolted.
They struggled to stand up.
As the middle-aged man approached, he introduced himself, "I'm here to receive you. You can call me Uncle Zhou."
The three called out, "Hello, Uncle Zhou."
"You must be exhausted?"
Uncle Zhou looked at the disheveled three and said with concern,
"Come with me into the house to eat something and then get a good night's sleep."
The three looked at the streamer. Seeing that he had no objections, they picked up the empty mineral water bottles on the ground and slowly followed.
When they came down the mountain, Qi Liu didn't even have the strength to carry the computer back.
They were holding water bottles because they realized,
Tomorrow, they could go to Yingying Mountain to get water first, and then go plant saplings.
This way, they could save a trip.
After they had all walked away with their water bottles, Uncle Zhou noticed a wooden bucket hidden behind them.
It was as big as the large water buckets on a water dispenser.
The wooden bucket was covered with a lid, so it was impossible to tell what it was.
"Is this also yours?"
Uncle Zhou asked, about to offer help to carry it.
The next second, he saw the young man who had been walking quickly step forward and lift the large wooden bucket.
The large wooden bucket, carried in his hand, looked as easy as playing, without any effort.
"..."
Jiang Lin said, "Let's go."
He had tried it before on Yingying Mountain,
The wooden bucket filled with pond water could not be put into the storage bag.
It was as if something was blocking it.
He figured it couldn't be taken out of this world.
...
"No wonder everyone says the future is in the hands of you young people."
Uncle Zhou chatted with them as he led the way.
He didn't walk fast, and occasionally looked back to see if they were keeping up.
Of course, the young man carrying the wooden bucket was an exception.
"Tree planting is a good activity. With young people like you, our Daqingshan will surely return to its original appearance."
"Then why aren't you helping?" Liu Yao blurted out.
Normally, she wouldn't have asked at a time like this.
Even if she had doubts or grievances, she wouldn't have retorted so directly.
Everyone knew this place was eerie, who knew if it would anger the NPCs?
But now,
Her mind was hazy, and it was good enough that she hadn't fallen asleep immediately.
She didn't have the energy to choose her words carefully.
"Many hands make light work. If you all helped, wouldn't it recover even faster?"
"..."
Uncle Zhou's face stiffened, and he slowly stopped walking.
He turned back to look at them, "To be honest, we cannot go up Daqingshan."
"Why?" This time, Qi Liu spoke.
So, Uncle Zhou repeated the story of the stolen mountain treasure.
However, it was slightly longer than the story Feng Shu told.
"The theft of the mountain treasure angered the mountain spirits.
Since then, no one in the village except the forest rangers can go up the mountain.
Once they go up, they can never return."
Qi Liu pointed to the small animals standing by the roadside, "Then why are there so many animals here?
Aren't you disliked by the mountain spirits? Why would the animals actively come close to you?"
Uncle Zhou also looked at the rabbits, hamsters, and other small animals beside them and sighed.
"This is exactly what I wanted to tell you. After the mountain spirits became angry, they not only forbade us from going up the mountain.
They also imposed a curse on the villagers.
Any child born in the village, before the age of eighteen, will turn into a small animal during the day."
Children transformed?!
Upon hearing this,
The expressions of the three changed.
Looking at the small animals on both sides of the road, they felt a chill.
The woman in the red dress touched her arm, no wonder she had felt like she was being watched.
She couldn't help but ask,
"If we live here, will we also turn into..." some strange things?
Uncle Zhou's eyes widened, "That's definitely not possible! Otherwise, we wouldn't dare to let volunteers come to the village, wouldn't that be harming you?"
"As long as they are not from our village, they will not be affected by the curse, you can rest assured."
Heh heh...
Who would believe that?
If there were truly no danger, would they have brought them here?
The three exchanged knowing glances and were too lazy to speak.
At this moment, Jiang Lin looked at the houses on both sides and suddenly said, "The villagers seem to be living quite well?"
Except for the village chief's three-story villa,
The houses of other villagers were all single-story or two-story.
They didn't look old, with red bricks and green tiles, or white ceramic tiles.
There were quite a few styles.
Speaking of this, Uncle Zhou's tone was filled with joy, "Yes, life is much better now. The overall environment has improved..."
Jiang Lin: "You can't go up the mountain, what are your income sources? Are you engaged in planting or animal husbandry?"
Hearing the streamer's question,
The three behind him, though exhausted, all perked up their ears.
The streamer always seemed to think of things they had overlooked.
After knowing that this was a world of the bizarre,
Even if there were illogical aspects, they would subconsciously overlook them.
Compared to these common sense matters, mountain spirits, mountain treasures, and mountain spirits were more attractive to them.
And what they cared about more.
...