Chapter 159 Jingshan People’s Soup
“Recently Dongsheng seems to be talking about her apprentice all the time. I know you dote on her, but can you change the subject? I’m getting tired of hearing it.”

An Zhizhen held her chin with one hand, and swung her crossed legs under the table boredly. Her bare toes, after kicking off her slippers, hit the knees of the man sitting opposite her intentionally or unintentionally.

“That’s it.”

Yi Qingyan rarely agreed with Sister Zhizhen’s words, and looked at her brother with a cold gaze – or rather, she could only stand on the same front with the annoying woman on this issue.

“…Just looking for a helper.”

Cen Dongsheng was kicked several times secretly, and then the woman rubbed his thighs twice with her toes as if teasing, which made him want to reach down and grab the “swimming fish” that was teasing him, and rub it hard as punishment.

Unfortunately, there were more than just the two of them sitting at the table. Sister Qingyan was watching them hungrily from the side, so he could only pretend that he felt nothing.

The young man’s expression was a little strange. He coughed lightly and said.

“Besides her, I’ve been very free lately and have nothing else to share.”

“Yeah……”

Yi Qingyan stared at the subtle changes in his expression with some suspicion.

“Of course.” He quickly changed the subject, “What about Qingyan? How is it going?”

The future King of Equality is currently setting about forming his own team, which is something he had never heard of in his previous life. Within the foreseeable range, this is the most significant change that Cen Dongsheng, the reborn one, has brought to this era.

“……Okay.”

Yi Qingyan nodded slightly.

Cen Dongsheng knows his sister very well. She doesn’t boast about her strength, or to put it another way, she is too humble. When she says “it’s okay”, the truth must be complicated.

“It’s really going strong, it’s amazing.”

An Zhizhen took over the conversation, and there was even a hint of jealousy in her tone.

“Some civilians are clearly wary of reliable state agencies like the Chaogong Committee, but they can let down their guard when it comes to Sister Qingyan.”

“Maybe he was just scared by me.”

Yi Qingyan’s lips curved up. She wasn’t too enthusiastic about this, but if she could step on An Zhizhen, she would be willing to do it.

“Okay, then it’s my turn, right?”

The elder sister clapped her hands.

“I have some news that I want to share with you two.”

She has always been very supportive of Cen Dongsheng’s suggestion to hold regular “family meetings”; now she was well prepared and took out two documents and placed them on the table.

The documents include photocopies of several photographs, as well as transcripts of the interviews in a format that includes a photocopy of the interview.

The photo shows an empty shop with a sign hanging above it that reads “Jingshan Ren Tang”, but it is impossible to tell what is sold inside the shop. Tables and chairs are placed randomly inside, with packaged food on the shelves and all printed books.

“…Jingshan Human Soup? What a weird name.” Cen Dongsheng narrowed his eyes. “Could it be a place where people are used to make soup, like a human meat bun shop?”

“That’s not clear, but overall, this matter is stranger than a simple murder.”

Since Sister Zhizhen said so… He nodded and continued reading.

Below the photo is a conversation between a recorder and the person reporting the crime, and judging by the tone, it seems to be written by the Chao Working Committee.

“Recorder: How did you notice the anomaly?”

“Student Wang (pseudonym): I first noticed this store because it was right next to our school… At first, not many people knew about it and no one paid much attention to it because it was so deserted. I actually thought it was a soup shop and wondered if there was a place called ‘Jingshan’ and people there loved to drink soup or something like that.”

“Recorder: Later?”

“Student Wang (pseudonym): Later… after someone accidentally walked in, and then ran away in fear, he posted what he saw on the forum, and then everyone knew about it… Not only the name of the store, but also the interior layout is very strange. The store is never open, there are decorations like an altar inside, and the big screen at the door of the store keeps playing all kinds of strange TV programs… When I went there, I didn’t dare to go in at all. Just standing at the door of the store gave me a chill.”

“Recorder: Are you saying that before the ‘incident’ happened, there were students breaking into your school?”

“Student Wang (pseudonym): Yes. I saw that post, but it was deleted by the administrator. This store usually doesn’t receive people, but for some reason it was not locked that day, and the door was open. The man thought it was a restaurant, so he walked in… When he saw the strange things inside, he was at a loss. Then he heard many people talking from the attic and basement. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it sounded like they were reciting scriptures or praying, which was very scary… So he turned around and ran away, and then posted a post on the BBS to explain the situation, so that everyone knew about it.”

“Recorder: And then, there was the disappearance incident?”

“Student Wang (pseudonym): Yes, and later… a lot of people went to hang around the store out of curiosity. Normal people would just leave it alone if they saw the store door was closed, but a few students who loved to stir up trouble actually cut the chain behind the door and went in. They were live-streaming the incident on the forum and took a lot of photos… But no one expected… (gasps)… these people just disappeared like that…”

“Recorder: Have you ever been to that store in person?”

“Student Wang (pseudonym): I went there once, but later I learned that someone had disappeared while visiting a store, so I didn’t dare go near it… By the way, I also asked the owner of the store next door at the time, and the owner said that this store had been there for half a year, and different people had been entering the store all the time. The owner said they were crazy, and he couldn’t figure out what was going on next door. There was always the sound of chanting from the other side of the wall, and he found that there were obviously more people going in than coming out, so he guessed that they must have been busy until late at night and waited until he closed the store before leaving… I asked him if he had called the police? He said he had called the police, but the matter had not been resolved…”

After reading this, Cen Dongsheng raised his head temporarily and asked:

“Who is the interviewer?”

“A student from Tiannan University of Technology.”

A college student? A college student again?

After the interview, there were several more copies of photos. This time, the images were clearer and clearly taken by professionals at the exploration site.

The people interviewed said that the store “played strange TV shows on a loop” and “there were religious texts and images all over the items,” and the photos recorded the specific content.

The picture on the TV screen was covered with several layers of text. At the bottom, the person on the show was being interviewed, telling the other party that “first you need to deny your past cognition”; and above the normal lines, there were dense words:
“The Chinese people were born in the same family as the saints of insects. Farmers are just lice and fleas on the bridge-building insects of Pangu.”

…Hmm? Cen Dongsheng looked confused.

These words were really… He couldn’t understand a single word.

His sister had the same doubts as him, she asked:
“What’s this saying? Some kind of riddle?”

“Good question. According to my inference, the meaning of these words is that they are meaningless, similar to the ravings of a mental patient.”

An Zhizhen replied.

“The inchworm is an insect larva, the bridge-building worm is a pest, and you all know Pangu… But no matter which noun it is, it has no practical meaning when placed in this place. It is just a random arrangement of these nouns.”

“…”

Cen Dongsheng and Yi Qingyan looked at each other.

He flipped through the remaining pages.

“I think you can guess what happened, right?”

“According to the interview, a missing person case occurred at Tiannan University of Technology, and this incident is likely related to a store located near the school.”

Since they had received the report, the police would definitely be dispatched, and after internal personnel noticed the abnormal signs, they notified the people from the Chao Working Committee.

“Afterwards, a special operations team conducted a surprise inspection of the ‘Jingshan Rentang’ with the cooperation of the police, but no one was found. It seemed that the owner of the store and his companions had evacuated the place in advance.”

“But some materials and data have been preserved. For example, they held gatherings in the basement of this store for a period of time. The sacrificial props they used and the scriptures they recited… From these evidences, this group of people is indeed a group of believers. According to the summary of the scriptures, the object of their worship seems to be called ‘Jingshan Man-worm’ or ‘Human Teacher’, but it is unknown whether it is a real person.”

“The scriptures used by these people were compiled by the ‘Teacher of Man’ himself. In those places where they can be understood, in addition to the obvious borrowing of Buddhist elements, some Christian content was also stitched in.”

“Heresy,” commented Cen Dongsheng.

The spread of doctrines requires soil and the understanding of the public. Because rural society itself has a strong religious atmosphere and suitable conditions for the growth of superstition, these groups must live under other skins if they want to be familiar to people.

At this point, Cen Dongsheng was already sure of the nature of this incident.

“Really… I didn’t expect this kind of situation to happen in the economically developed Tianhai City.” He thought, “However, in this era that is about to usher in earth-shaking changes, it is indeed difficult to avoid people’s confusion.”

Before the real arrival of the society of curse masters, on the eve of the upheaval that had not yet completely torn apart the old society, undercurrents had already surged beneath the seemingly peaceful world. Ghosts, haunted houses, curse masters… ambiguous and unclear information about the truth and falsehood flew everywhere. Affected by supernatural factors, some areas inevitably fell into chaos and were used by ambitious people to form criminal groups.

The most typical example is the various religious sects that pretend to be supernatural. After all, in the past, the religious leaders used fraud to deceive people; but now, they may really be able to use supernatural powers to influence ordinary people.

Since the millennium, the country has had quite strict religious management; even so, it still could not stop the emergence of new religions in underdeveloped areas during the “first wave”.

I heard that other countries and regions were even harder hit… Cen Dongsheng had never seen it with his own eyes. He only knew that he had followed the actions of the ruling bureau and went to the countryside to destroy several cult dens.

“But it’s different from ordinary cults. The scriptures these guys use are completely incomprehensible and have no meaning at all.”

Yi Qingyan commented.

“I think that the kind of easily deceived grandpa and grandma would not join such a weird organization. The only people who would actively participate are those who are mentally unstable to begin with.”

……yes.

After reading a few passages of the so-called scriptures, Cen Dongsheng couldn’t help but hold his forehead, feeling as if he was blind.

“Dogs, straw dogs, guard dogs, loyal…human heads, pet agents…female dogs, used as mounts, arranged battle formations…Jinghai people checked human genes to dissolve the nation…animal poison…”

Is this still Chinese? It’s totally irrelevant, and it makes him feel like he’s in the “uncanny valley of text”.

But Cen Dongsheng still forced himself to look down. Although most of the talk was nonsense, he could still make out something from it.

“…Did the person who wrote this scripture put the general things in mythology and religion together with things like insects and dogs to attract attention?”

“Yes, dissolving the great concepts that each of us understands and equating them with evil, base, and filthy things.”

An Zhizhen agreed.

“Besides, this kind of fragmented text, which sounds like the mumbling of a mental patient, itself gives people a sense of strangeness and fear.”

In the past, such a difficult-to-expand group would not have been able to grow into a force to be reckoned with; but now we have to consider whether there is another secret behind this incident; whether the writing of such strange scriptures is related to some kind of supernatural evil power.

“Why are you specifically asking us this? Can’t the Super Working Committee even handle such a small organization? Haven’t you already sent a team to seal the store?”

Yi Qingyan frowned.

“It would be easy to kill one or two people, but just like the ‘insects’ that this strange cult likes to talk about, it would easily alert the enemy.”

Sister Zhizhen smiled and explained.

“Just like cockroaches, once you see one in your home, it means there is a high probability that a whole nest has taken up residence in the house, so you must trace the source, uproot it, and destroy its companions along with the nest; if you only destroy one nest, the frightened cockroaches will just run around everywhere.”

“……so?”

“So, I didn’t rush to do anything, but first pried open the brains of a few peripheral members, and found something more interesting. Behind the ‘Jingshan Rentang’ incident, there is an even bigger mystery hidden.”

The woman turned her gaze to Cen Dongsheng.

“For example, I found out that this group of members had seen a young man from Tianhai University. He was an unkempt, smelly guy like a homeless person…”

(End of this chapter)