Chapter 297
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Chapter 297: Death at Nangao Village
Chu Jiang didn’t completely believe or disbelieve the words spoken by the stone statue Wang Lei.
He simply asked, "What exactly is your current state? What have you experienced since being trapped in the stone statue for nearly half a year?"
The stone statue responded in a deep voice, "In one word: Wang Lei is the river god, and the river god is Wang Lei."
"To some extent, we have already merged together…"
Though not very clear how this strange situation came about, Chu Jiang still asked, "So, is it now the person controlling the ghost or the ghost controlling the person?"
"Neither, we are mutually influencing each other. But the ghost has the upper hand, and I have the lower hand. I estimate that in another half year, I will be completely consumed, and by then, the ghost will be a true ghost through and through."
"Half a year?" Chu Jiang was somewhat incredulous. If the ghost already had the advantage, how could it last that long?
"Yes, what’s funny is that this ghost, the river god, doesn’t want this kind of outcome."
"If it were to fully devour me with all its might, I estimate it would only take a few seconds. It’s only because it is struggling to restrain its own instincts that I am able to barely hold on until now."
"But here’s the problem, even if the river god doesn’t want to, because we overlap, the ghost will passively devour people, so in the end, even after a long time, I will still die."
Chu Jiang nodded, to put it more accurately, the description of the stone statue is that the ghost devours human nature.
"Then let me tell you what happened after I got trapped in the stone statue. At first, when I discovered this fact, I naturally struggled desperately, trying to leave from here, trying to escape."
"The result…" the face of the stone statue grew darker. "No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t succeed. I even unintentionally killed all the villagers in Nangao Village, and the river god’s temple was destroyed by the power of the river god."
Chu Jiang’s gaze froze. Sure enough… Nangao Village had become a village of the dead. But for some reason, during the day, it still maintained its original form and could even communicate normally with visitors from the outside world.
Moreover, this matched what the temple caretaker said. He mentioned that on that night, there were roars, struggles, and cries coming from the river god’s temple, and the livestock in the village became restless.
These things must have actually happened, but the caretaker only has memories of when the events first occurred.
After that, it seems that Wang Lei, in a frantic struggle, caused the river god’s power to spread and explode from the temple, killing all living things in Nangao Village.
"Anyway, after I exhausted myself, I finally calmed down and tried to find ways to control the power of this ghost in a gentler manner."
"I followed the ghost’s senses, trying to figure out where I was now. But as my spiritual power extended outward, I discovered the tragic state of Nangao Village."
"The original River God Temple was in ruins, beyond description. It looked as though it had been shattered and repeatedly crushed."
"What’s even worse is that while only the River God Temple was destroyed, not even a blade of grass elsewhere was damaged, yet all the living people in Nangao Village died."
"When I saw this scene, I felt utterly hopeless. Why? Why did my struggles end up causing the death of so many people?"
At this point, the stone statue’s face showed a look of pain.
"While feeling regret, I also hoped to find a way to remedy the situation. Is there any way to bring them back to life?"
"Although it was unrealistic, I actually tried to do so, attempting to resurrect those dead villagers."
"Incredibly, I actually succeeded in the end, although only halfway."
"When I say halfway, it’s because I couldn’t fully bring them back to life. As for the specific process, it all started when I discovered that the River God contained the consciousness of these dead individuals."
"As long as I put the consciousness of the deceased back into their bodies and use supernatural powers to transform them into ghost servants, they will appear to be alive."
"What’s even more incredible is that when I do this, I have a natural instinct of proficiency, as if the River God has done something similar before…"
"In short, I brought Nangao Village back to life and made the villagers forget the memories they shouldn’t have. They are like puppets under my control, but with consciousness, continuing to live on this land."
"I plan to let them live a normal life, aging and passing away, giving them a second chance, instead of letting them remain as eternal walking corpses."
Chu Jiang felt both astonished and felt similarities between the River God’s bizarre methods and the "control of life and death" power that Jing Ruoxue mentioned before.
Of course, the River God’s power couldn’t compare to Chu’s Jiang. Chu’s Jiang could truly bring the dead back to life, instead of turning the deceased into ghost servants with the consciousness of living people.
"Then I started to hesitate about something, whether I should find a way to transmit some information to the research institute?"
"Although I am trapped in a stone statue at the bottom of the river and cannot leave, since I am now the River God, I can naturally influence those villagers, making them work for me. They won’t even know what has happened."
"However, after careful consideration, I ultimately chose not to do so, for two reasons."
"One thing is that I hope to contact the research institute after gaining control over the river god, so I can have more confidence."
"In case the research institute cannot forgive me for accidentally killing so many people and turning them into ghost servants in a different way, they might seal me along with the ghosts."
"In this way, I will have the power to resist."
"The other thing is that even if the research institute doesn’t know what happened in Nangao Village, the new person in charge of Luohe City will eventually investigate the village, no matter what."
"After all, there were only a few supernatural incidents that I investigated in my life. By ruling out other reasons, it could only be related to the belief in the river god."
"Since I’m not actively contacting them, sooner or later I will come into direct contact with the research institute. So, I’ll just wait for that day to come."
When the stone statue said this, it sighed, "To prevent the incident in Nangao Village from spreading, I also had the villagers rebuild the river god temple, making it even more beautiful. I said it was renovated with the donation from a wealthy family."
"If we simply copied the old temple exactly, outsiders would notice something was wrong. It’s less troublesome to say it was renovated."
"After doing all of this, I felt both happy and anxious… because I didn’t know if what I was doing was right or wrong."
"Right after, the torment began. It seemed to be related to me using the power of the river god. That ghost desperately wanted to enter my mind. I felt like my head was going to explode. It felt like I was going to turn into countless versions of myself. I was being driven crazy!"
