The four followed the old man to the guesthouse.
On the way, Yue Renchun asked, "Sir, has anything strange happened in the village lately?"
"No," the old man blurted out.
Yue Renchun asked again, "Then are there any folk legends or ghost stories that have been passed down in the village?"
The old man looked surprised and shook his head. "That's all stuff to scare children with. Young man, read more books and believe in science. Feudal superstitions won't do."
After that, the old man was evasive no matter what they asked. Seeing that he couldn't get any information out of him, Yue Renchun stopped pressing.
They booked four rooms at the guesthouse. As they took the keys, Hu Jiu suddenly spoke up. "How old are you, sir?"
He visibly paused for a moment. "I... I'm seventy-five this year."
"You're still going strong at your age!" Hu Jiu said with a smile, then pushed the door open and entered his room. The rooms here were arranged in a row, their wooden doors covered in old scratches that made them look very aged. Inside, however, it was unexpectedly clean and tidy, as though someone cleaned it regularly.
Hu Jiu carefully checked the room and found nothing unusual. He then went to find Cui Xueyan. On the way here, she had asked them to gather in her room to discuss matters.
She had been trying to become the team's leader all along.
For the time being, no one wanted an open falling-out.
Hu Jiu and Yue Renchun knocked and entered her room one after the other, only to find that Zou Cong had arrived long ago.
Once everyone was there, Cui Xueyan said, "We have too little information. Right now, we're completely in the dark. We can't resolve this without finding the source ghost. Longevity Village looks fairly normal on the surface, so why don't we split up and gather information in a little while?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she started to get up. It was as if she had never intended to ask for anyone else's opinion and had simply decided for them.
Zou Cong stopped her. "We need to familiarize ourselves with the terrain first and figure out the routes through the village. If we run into a dangerous situation we can't handle, we should at least know how to escape!"
Cui Xueyan frowned, displeasure at being contradicted flashing across her face. She looked at Zou Cong with a hint of disdain. "Being afraid before the battle has even begun is a grave mistake in warfare!"
Her words made Zou Cong roll his eyes.
Cui Xueyan instantly lost her temper. "What's with that attitude? This is a supernatural incident, not a game. The mission hasn't even started, and you're already thinking about running away?"
"What else am I supposed to do?" Zou Cong shot back. "How many supernatural incidents have you handled? Can you guarantee that nothing will go wrong every time?"
"Sorry, but I've personally contained ten ghosts and never failed!" Cui Xueyan raised her chin slightly. "I have more experience than you, so... please follow my orders and resolve this problem as soon as possible, before the situation escalates and harms more innocent people! If someone acts rashly and makes things worse, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
Zou Cong seemed intimidated by Cui Xueyan's bearing and hurriedly said he understood.
Then she looked at Hu Jiu and Yue Renchun—they were both on their phones!
Cui Xueyan felt her breath catch in her throat. Just as she opened her mouth, Zou Cong cut in. "Let's get moving. We shouldn't waste time."
Cui Xueyan gave a cold snort and said nothing more. The group then left the room and headed in different directions.
Hu Jiu put away his phone, which no longer had a signal. He had checked it from time to time along the way, and the closer they got to Longevity Village, the weaker the signal had become. It had just disappeared completely. He didn't know whether his three teammates had noticed. He had originally intended to warn them, but since an expert wanted to take all the authority for herself, she presumably didn't need him wasting his breath.
The sky over Longevity Village was gray and hazy, like industrial pollution in winter. The roads were deserted, and the villagers were all hiding in their homes, peering out through their windows.
Hu Jiu kept his head down as he walked, using illusions to adjust his facial features and clothing. In a blind spot as he turned a corner, his appearance changed beyond recognition in the blink of an eye.
He picked a house at random and raised his hand to knock. "Anyone home?"
There was no answer.
"Stop hiding. I already saw you," Hu Jiu called out, knocking harder.
There was still no answer.
He kicked the door open. Blackhearted Hu Jiu didn't have that much patience.
"So someone is home!"
An old woman stood inside, dressed in filthy clothes. Her expression was vacant, and her eyes remained fixed on Hu Jiu.
"Hello, I'd like to ask you a few questions." Hu Jiu glanced around. Aside from a table, chairs, and a cooking stove, there was only some battered old furniture in the cramped room.
"I don't know anything..." the old woman said in a hoarse voice.
"The villagers here don't seem very welcoming to outsiders. Is there a reason for that?" Hu Jiu asked, moving closer to inspect the stove.
"I don't know..." The old woman watched as Hu Jiu opened the sack of rice beside the stove.
"This rice is moldy. Aren't you afraid you'll get sick eating it?" Hu Jiu turned his head away from the strange smell.
The old woman remained expressionless and silent.
As if asking casually, Hu Jiu said, "Oh, right, where are the young people and children in Longevity Village? How come I haven't seen a single one?"
The old woman was like an emotionless recording on repeat. "I don't know!"
Hu Jiu took two steps forward. "Who's the oldest person in your village?"
At that, the old woman's expression finally changed slightly, and a strange light appeared in her eyes. "I don't know. I don't know anything..."
Hu Jiu pressed her. "Don't you know, don't you want to say, or can't you say?"
But the old woman only kept muttering, "I don't know."
Lost in thought, Hu Jiu turned and left, thoughtfully closing the door for the old woman. He then used the same method to get into another house, only to receive the exact same answer: "I don't know."
That afternoon, the group returned to the guesthouse one after another and exchanged what they had learned. The villagers' odd behavior was obvious, but apart from that, none of them had found anything.
Cui Xueyan's expression was grim. She suspected someone knew something and wasn't sharing it, but she had no proof and wouldn't make baseless accusations. She could only curse inwardly, Unaffiliated Ghost Tamers have no organization or discipline. They all have too many little schemes, every one of them selfish and incapable of seeing the bigger picture!
The four parted on bad terms.
Just then, the old man from the guesthouse approached them on his cane, clutching a large handful of candy. "You've come at just the right time. It's Old Master Peng's birthday, and his birthday banquet is tonight. Everyone's going to attend and join the feast!"
As he spoke, he held out the candy.
Cui Xueyan took some, and a fragrant milky scent immediately filled her nose. The bright red wrappers were wrinkled, with edges that had faded and yellowed.
"Who is Old Master Peng?" she asked.
"He's the village chief." The old man smiled, then turned and walked away as soon as he finished speaking, clearly unwilling to say more.
"There might be something strange about the birthday banquet..." Cui Xueyan looked serious as she divided the candy in her hand among her three teammates.
Hu Jiu used gold foil to wrap two pieces, Yue Renchun put on a gold glove, and Zou Cong took out a gold box the size of a cigarette pack. None of them touched the candy directly at any point.