Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Huff… huff… huff…”

Wang Weiwei gasped for air. She wasn’t athletic by any means, and running at such a frantic pace made her lungs feel like they were on fire.

“What… what was that just now?”

“It was that family,” John said.

“That whole family is dead. They were just waiting for us to fall asleep so they could kill us.”

Wang Weiwei’s face instantly turned pale.

“Then what do we do now?”

Even though they had escaped the house, being outside didn’t exactly feel safe either.

“Don’t panic. I scouted the area during dinner. Those things can’t get near the Courtyard House in the center of the village. We’ll head there to take shelter first.”

Wang Weiwei didn’t have much of an opinion of her own, so she naturally followed John’s lead.

The two of them moved cautiously toward the Courtyard House in the middle of the village.

However, as they walked, Wang Weiwei’s face suddenly drained of color. Something felt wrong-something was off about the situation.

She wasn’t particularly clever and her reactions were slow, but she had a habit of overthinking things, replaying events in her mind over and over.

It was this very trait that allowed her to finally realize what was wrong.

When she had first entered the room earlier, John had been sleeping facing the wall. But later, John had been facing her directly!

Cold sweat poured down her back at the realization. Without a second thought, she turned and bolted.

She had only managed a few steps before ‘John’ grabbed her firmly.

“Where are you going?”

‘John’s’ voice sounded sinister and cold.

Wang Weiwei whipped her head around, only to see ‘John’s’ deathly pale face.
On the roof of the house where Wang Weiwei had been staying, the real John stood holding an Oil Lamp.

This Oil Lamp was his Fiendish Item. Its effect allowed him to conceal his presence and evade the tracking of a Fiend, though it required his own blood as fuel.

After watching Wang Weiwei being led away, John immediately jumped down from the roof.

He re-entered the house and blew out the Oil Lamp.

He had felt something was off when they first entered the village during the day, and that eerie sensation had only intensified once they stepped inside the house.

Finally, when he spotted a Terracotta Figurine inside the room, he instantly understood what was wrong.

These houses were, in fact, individual tombs.

Naturally, the masters of these houses were the masters of the tombs!

The consequences of living with them were obvious. Fortunately, this particular tomb only housed one occupant.

So, he had secretly tampered with Wang Weiwei to make her go outside at night. Generally speaking, actively heading out alone at night was a suicidal move.

If nothing happened, then so be it. But if something did happen, she would serve as a distraction to draw the Fiend’s attention.

After all, this was only the beginning; the Fiend wouldn’t start a mass slaughter just yet.

He hadn’t expected the plan to work so perfectly-the Fiend had actually taken her away!

John returned to the house and began searching the rooms.

Before long, he found two Cicada-shaped jade pendants.

John quickly hid the two pendants in his clothes.

He estimated that these jade pendants were the key to surviving the night. Based on his deductions, the inhabitants of these houses were all dead.

Staying in a house with a dead person without any precautions carried an incredibly high risk of something going wrong.

Since the mission had mentioned jade pendants, he could infer that these items provided a certain degree of safety.

With that thought, he immediately returned to his own room. While the room wasn’t necessarily safe, he was much safer inside with the jade pendants than he was outside.

Furthermore, since the Fiend had been lured away by Wang Weiwei, he was effectively safe for the time being.

And indeed, that proved to be the case. It wasn’t until dawn that the master of the house returned from outside.

He glanced at John’s room with an expressionless face before returning to his own quarters, not emerging again.

Soon, it was eight o’clock in the morning. Liu Ye and the others gathered at the village entrance.

Xiaoshuai noticed that Wang Weiwei hadn’t shown up. He shot a glance at John but said nothing.

“Did everyone get a jade pendant last night?”
“A jade pendant?” Baolong looked at Xiaoshuai in shock.

Xiaoshuai produced a jade pendant from his pocket.

“As long as you get on the good side of those families, they’ll give you one.”

Back on the first day they entered the village, Xiaoshuai had used his skills to sniff out a putrid stench. Having seen corpses before, he immediately recognized it as the smell of rotting flesh.

Combined with the shape of the houses and the names written on the doors, he had deduced that these houses were actually tombs. In the Xia Kingdom, it was rare for families to write their names on their front doors. Given the architectural style, it was a simple logical leap.

However, even knowing that, he hadn’t left the house. In his view, the Fiendish World was dangerous everywhere; there was no such thing as absolute safety.

To survive, one had to be both cautious and bold.

So, he had taken the initiative to chat with the family he was staying with. He soon discovered that these ‘people’ were actually quite talkative. They looked terrifying, but their personalities were no different from ordinary villagers.

He had proactively sucked up to them, and after building a rapport, he successfully obtained the jade pendant.

Once Xiaoshuai finished explaining his experience, Liu Ye turned to Baolong.

“See? What did I tell you? Courtesy costs nothing but buys everything. It’s all about experience. Honestly, you’re so big, yet you have zero common sense.”

Baolong: “…”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t find a jade pendant?” Xiaoshuai added, twisting the knife.

Baolong: “…No.”

Liu Ye looked equally confused. “What jade pendant?”

“Then you guys weren’t attacked?” John asked, bewildered.

Baolong shot a dark look at Liu Ye.

Liu Ye looked genuinely surprised. “Attacked? What attack? I don’t know anything about that. I spent the whole night playing Fight the Landlord with the Big Brother and Big Sister-in-law. I tell you, Big Brother is terrible at cards. He had two Jokers and four 2s and still managed to lose.”

The others: “…”

After exchanging information, the group dispersed. Since the wedding was scheduled to begin at midnight tonight, they had to head to the large mansion in the center of the village at dusk to help out.

Liu Ye didn’t go anywhere else; he headed back inside the house.

Baolong followed behind him. Although this kid was unreliable, he had at least managed to keep the host family occupied the previous night.

Thus, Baolong decided to stick with Liu Ye for now. Even if danger arose, he was confident he could outrun the kid.

They entered the room to find the family of three lying neatly on the kang bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Sensing someone enter, their bodies sat up with stiff, jerky movements.

When they saw Baolong, their expressions remained wooden. But when they saw Liu Ye, their faces broke into synchronized smiles.

“Liu Ye, you’re back.”

Baolong: “…”

Fine, he was used to it.

However, now that he knew these entities were capable of communication, he decided to try and suck up to these Fiends as well.

He could copy someone else’s homework, couldn’t he?

With that thought, he forced a wide grin and pulled out a gold bar.

“Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, this is a small token of my appreciation. I hope you’ll accept it.”

The man glanced at the gold bar and reached out to take it.

Seeing that it worked, Baolong immediately tried to push his luck.

“Big Brother, about the wedding tonight… could you tell me a bit about it?”

The moment the words left his mouth, the family of three snapped their heads toward him. Their mouths split open all the way to their ears in eerie, distorted smiles.

“It is better that you do not know.”

Baolong’s heart tightened instantly. He knew he had triggered a Taboo. Just as he was about to bolt, he heard Liu Ye’s voice from beside him.

“Oh, come on, Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law. Just tell us a little.”

Liu Ye grabbed a handful of roasted sunflower seeds and stuffed them into their hands.

*Idiot, this is clearly a Taboo they aren’t allowed to talk about,*

Baolong sneered inwardly. *But fine, I can use him as cannon fod-*

“Well, since you asked, we’ll tell you!”

The couple suddenly beamed with warm, genial smiles.

Baolong: “…”

*This is seriously pushing it!!!*