Chu Wanning takes deep breath to calm down. Heart beat going back to normal.
Okay, now he should try. With a clear mind and steady heart.
Wanning gets more comfortable. Sitting criss cross as he moves the chain so it doesn't chafe and bother him. He sits up straight, eyes close, hands in his lap. A deep calm breath in then deep calm exhale out. In then out. In. Out. He can feel the anguish, the sorrow and pain in the air. Wanning clenches his fists. He can't run away, he needs to approach them. He needs to, for answers. Calmly. He doesn't want to scare them away.
Wanning feels a bit cold. A shiver runs down his spine. He opens his eyes to a very large group of woman. All of them look sad, some look angry, and some very few woman look concerned. Wanning eyes widen, there are so many ghost. He knows it's been going on for a while but put them all together like this. It's heart shattering. His amber eyes going from one woman to the other, taking in the state of each ghost.
Their faces are untouched but their necks are bruised as if they were held down by the neck, or maybe their neck was chained? Even their clothes are ripped, more specifically, cut. And the wounds they got before they died are odd. Blood rings around a thigh, around the calves, biceps, the middle of their stomach. Not every woman has the blood rings in the same spot. They are all in different areas. They have all also died with puffy eyes, crying heavily. And now it's forever etched on their faces.
It's a very pitiful sight.
The worst part is the fact that all these women fit the description of the missing woman. So he is on the right track. Those two men really are the culprits. What have they done?
"What is your name?" one of the woman asks, soft and calm most likely for Wanning, to not scare him. They must not realize he's a cultivator. Understandable, Wanning isn't dressed like one. He's also not feeling like one at the moment. This is out of his field.
"Chu Wanning." He answers.
"You don't look like anyone from the village." Another woman points out.
"I'm not. I was brought here by... Qing Su to help." Unsure if he should mention her.
"The madam brought you here?" One asks visibly surprised by the news.
"Way to help." One says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Wanning glares.
"This was the only way. I'm a cultivator so we assumed it was a ghost taking you all. I... wasn't expecting... this." Wanning explains looking down. His heart aches for them.
"You are a cultivator?" One asks hopeful.
"Yes." Wanning answers, the others start to look hopeful.
"Are our families worried?"
"Yes. They all want answers." Wanning looks down not sure how they'll explain this to the victims families. It seems too horrible to explain. "What did they do?" Wanning asks, deciding to get into it. He has no clue how much time they have before the two come back, he needs the answers before they get interrupted. The woman look at each other.
"To kill us or after we died?" One asks, eyes dead.
"Start from the beginning, what happened? Were you taken like I was?"
"Yes. We were all walking home after visiting the town, we felt someone come behind us and it's black until we wake up here."
"How long did they hold you here?" Wanning wonders. The woman all shake their heads. Shrugging their shoulders. Wanning nods, yeah it's hard tell the time here.
"Don't know but it felt like a lifetime." A woman answers holding herself and shaking. Wanning looks at her with sympathy, Wanning hasn't been here long he knows that but at the same time it feels like he's been here for days.
"There was a time where two of us were taken as the same time."
"Not same. But I was grabbed then after what felt like forever she was brought in." A woman says motioning to the woman holding onto her.
"What can you tell me about... those two?" Wanning asks curious this has been going for so long and no one noticed this man living here. He doesn't remember Qing Su ever mentioning a man, or anyone, living here. There wasn't even a note to be had when she told Wanning where to go tonight.
The woman look at each other. "We don't know much."
"I'm not sure I've ever seen them in the city before."
"The don't work at the farms."
"I've never seen them in the schools."
"The older man, I think, has done this before." A woman says, all looking at her, even Wanning. She is very different from the others. Unlike the others with their blood rings she does not have one. She does have bruises on her wrists and ankles.
"How do you-?" Wanning starts to question.
"I was the first one kidnapped. I... don't know what happened but one moment I was alive on... the table," she looks over to said table where the carnage is, eyes full of emotions, not good ones, "then the next moment I'm dead. Even they were shocked about it but I heard them talking. The older man talked as if he's... done this before. Telling the other man 'not like that, like this it's easier, faster, better' as if he's had years of experience." She looks down at the floor. Wanning looks down too. It's not unheard of for criminals to run and go in hiding or settle somewhere else for a while but at the end of the day Wanning job is to go after demons, spirits and dark beings. Criminals are for the city officers.
But he was paid for this job so he's going to finish it. It's the least he can do and he's already traveled this far. He doesn't want anyone else to get hurt, in this case die.
"I also heard them talking. From what I heard the younger one was raised more proper, wealthier but not in a good home. I think the older one killed the youngers family and took him, raising him."
"I get the feeling he just decided to start teaching the younger man... how to... do what he does to us." Even though she is a ghost she somehow turn paler than before. Or maybe it was a trick of the light.
"How did you all die? Well most of you..." Wanning asks getting a glance at the first woman.
"He cut us up." One says, voice wobbly as her throat begins to close, eyes threatening to spill nonexistent tears. The other woman move to comfort her.
"Then ate us."