Xie Fan froze for a moment. The cup was quickly passed to him.
Xie Fan: …!
“System?”
He urgently called for the System in his mind. Noticing Xiao Yao in front of him looking over in confusion, Xie Fan stiffly tugged at the corners of his mouth and accepted the cup.
“What are they doing?”
“Perhaps it’s some strange superstition among the villagers.”
The System’s distorted voice sounded in his mind.
“Everyone is watching you.”
Xie Fan pursed his lips and did not dare raise his head. With no time to ask any more questions, he could only grit his teeth, pick up the dagger, and cut his finger before hurriedly passing the cup to the next person.
Because he was inexperienced, the cut on his finger was a little deep. Xie Fan let out a soft “hiss” and frowned almost imperceptibly.
The next second, however, he froze slightly when he realized that the wound on his finger seemed to have… healed?
A tingling, numbing sensation flashed by. Xie Fan secretly raised his finger and discovered that it really had—the wound he had just made was already gone.
“System?”
“Mm, I’m here.”
The System that had warned him about being watched responded.
By the time Xie Fan came back to his senses again, the cup had already been passed to the last person.
He abruptly raised his head and looked over, only to see the village chief take back the cup and place it in his palm.
Before long, a black spider crawled over. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the spider, still dripping with blood, crawled toward the south.
South…
The air fell silent for an instant.
The village chief calmly said, “Those outsiders are hiding to the south.”
Those few words instantly invigorated A-Qi and the others. They quickly picked up their candles and tools.
…
Inside the cellar beneath the dilapidated house:
Tan Qingxian rubbed his wrist, occasionally glancing at the idol on the ground.
The idol was now completely covered with red cloth, making it impossible to see its appearance, yet it still made him instinctively feel somewhat… uneasy.
“We’ve already been hiding here for a day and a night. If those villagers can’t find us, sooner or later they’ll figure it out.”
The village was only so large. If they could not find them anywhere aboveground, sooner or later they would start considering places underground.
He Cheng raised his head and tried to find some amusement in their misery. “Maybe they think we left the village and went back.”
“If that were really the case, that would be great.”
Tan Qingxian tugged at the corner of his mouth, not believing for a second that things would go that smoothly. For some reason, those villagers seemed completely certain that they were still somewhere inside the village. They had not even considered searching outside it.
Pei Jing had the same question.
However, Tan Qingxian was right about one thing.
“This place might not be safe anymore. We need to move somewhere else today.”
“And…” He paused. “We’re running out of food.”
Everything had happened so suddenly that they had only managed to bring the things they had on them. They had barely eaten anything up until now. If this continued, they would starve to death before the villagers even found them.
Tan Qingxian nodded.
“Let’s move farther out.”
“Preferably closer to the forest.”
Whether they needed to find food or escape, being close to the mountain forest would make things easier.
No one objected. The group silently packed their things. Just as they were about to leave, Shen Xun turned his head.
“This idol… are we still taking it with us?”
As far as He Cheng was concerned, it would be best to simply leave the idol here. But they had gone through enormous trouble to get it out, and had even enraged the villagers because of it.
“Tsk.”
He Cheng frowned without saying anything.
Pei Jing was silent for a second before saying,
“Take it.”
“We’ll take turns carrying it?”
Tan Qingxian considered it for a moment before finally nodding.
They wrapped up the idol and secured it to a backpack.
Pei Jing climbed up first with their things. While the villagers had yet to find them, he took a moment to determine their direction.
The group had barely climbed out when they heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
He Cheng’s expression changed. He swiftly grabbed Shen Xun and pulled him behind a tree.
The next second, they saw a group of villagers approaching with candles in their hands. Their destination was unmistakably clear as they headed straight into the dilapidated house.
“Fuck!”
He Cheng silently exhaled. Even he had broken out in a cold sweat.
They had almost been discovered…
Gripping the tree trunk tightly, He Cheng knitted his brows.
If they had left even one step later, would they really have been found?
His muscles were tense from the sudden turn of events. But while He Cheng stared fixedly at the villagers’ backs, he failed to notice that Shen Xun’s expression had remained calm the entire time.
After a while, all the villagers entered the dilapidated house.
He Cheng turned his head and saw Pei Jing make a hand signal.
Without needing to speak, the group simultaneously lightened their footsteps and retreated. Only after they were far away from the dilapidated house did Tan Qingxian speak.
“Good thing we left.”
Otherwise, they definitely would have been caught red-handed by the villagers inside the cellar.
Pei Jing nodded. He subconsciously glanced at Shen Xun, a trace of uncertainty appearing in his eyes. But it lasted only an instant before he looked away.
“It isn’t safe here either. Let’s go.”
…
When A-Qi entered the empty house, he did not discover the cellar at first. However, he trusted that the direction indicated by the spider could not possibly be wrong.
The farthest point south…
There was only this house at the southernmost edge of the village.
No one knew who had originally built it. For as long as the villagers could remember, nobody had ever lived here.
Later, the empty house had been eroded by years of rain and dampness, becoming more and more dilapidated. No one had ever bothered repairing it. Only a few nearby villagers occasionally came here to shelter from the rain.
As a result, absolutely no one had known that there was actually a cellar inside!
A-Qi kicked aside the dry straw on the ground, crouched down, and knocked against the floor before lifting up a wooden plank.
Han Da froze.
“There really is a cellar!”
He had been here countless times, yet he genuinely had never noticed it.
Several nearby villagers exchanged looks, took the candles, and climbed down.
Below the ground was an empty space that had been excavated into a cavern of more than thirty square meters. The moment they entered, they could smell the faint scent of food in the air. Someone had clearly eaten here before.
A-Qi looked at the footprints on the ground and said in a low voice, “They stayed here. They probably only left a short while ago.”
Zhang Hai said expressionlessly, “Looks like we were still too late.”
Rumble—
A peal of thunder suddenly exploded outside, and a flash of lightning abruptly illuminated the wooden house’s windows.
In the mountain forest:
Pei Jing stopped walking and raised his head.
“It’s raining.”