Entering the Village

The indigenous people here are all of Yellow race, but to Luo Di, a person of orthodox Chinese descent, there seem to be subtle differences.

After completing the so-called Welcome Ritual, the villagers turned back to their village and did not continue to greet the crowd.

The driver seemed unwilling to stay a second longer, immediately starting the car and driving away.

The tour guide raised his right hand, gesturing for everyone to gather around him.

"The bus will pick us up at 6:00 PM tomorrow. Let's immerse ourselves in this special and primitive journey."

Please follow me into the island village to your lodgings for the night and leave your luggage there temporarily.

The sun had already disappeared behind the hillside as the vehicles arrived, and night fell.

As part of the God-worshipping Ritual tonight, villagers lit white candles along the village roads, and each household hung lanterns on their eaves.

In addition to the two light sources mentioned above, there is also natural light.

Those stars that are eager to emerge from the clouds are also the starlight that descends shortly after sunset, illuminating the earth.

The brightness of the entire village even exceeded the national standard for corner safety, giving people a very comfortable feeling.

Not long after entering the island village, everyone's attention was drawn to a stone tablet standing by the roadside.

Every ten meters or so along the village roads stand these vertical stone tablets, about one meter high, with a string of dried insects hanging from the top, mostly poisonous insects from the forest.

The Baldy immediately directed his colleagues to take photos of these things from multiple angles.

Hua Yuan, who was following behind, also leaned over. The fragrance emanating from her was immediately absorbed by the three middle-aged men, causing their hands holding the equipment to become somewhat unsteady.

Hua Yuan pointed timidly at the stone tablet and asked, "What are these? These long stone tablets seem quite old. Oh, and there are dried-up poisonous insects hanging on them? How scary!"

"Cough cough!"

The Baldy coughed twice. He wasn't particularly clear about these things, but for now he could only pretend to know them.

"These stone tablets are probably used to protect the villagers. The strings of insects hanging on them are meant to deter poisonous insects from the forest from crawling into the village."

At this moment, the tour guide, who was leading the way and had not originally planned to give an explanation beforehand, stopped.

"[Insect Tablet] Does have a certain insect-repelling effect, but it is more of a warding-off-evil and demon-suppressing effect, preventing unclean things from entering the village."

For example, the black coffins you see on the road are used to keep the bodies of some young villagers from being reincarnated and trying to return to the village.

Strings of insects are hung on the doors of every household, with the same effect.

This strange statement caused Hua Yuan to hug his arms tightly, his eyes filled with fear.

The Baldy, seeing such a good opportunity, naturally wouldn't let it slip by. His somewhat greasy hand immediately reached out, trying to put his arm around the other person to comfort him.

However,

His hand failed to touch the Girl's body; instead, he touched another rough hand. Another member of the filming crew also made the same groping gesture.

The contact caused the two to exchange a glance, with the Baldy, as the person in charge, glaring fiercely at the other. The latter, though unwilling, had no choice but to back down due to his lower rank.

By the time he wanted to continue attacking Hua Yuan, the other party had already retreated back to his own group, smiling as he looked at the group of middle-aged men.

Luo Di didn't pay attention to these things; he was more focused on observing the village in front of him.

Recalling the gathering, the sisters' Descent Ritual were able to bring the Grandmother's Incarnation Descent earth.

He couldn't help but suspect that such a village with its worship of gods might have attracted a monster from the corner due to some purely sacrificial activity, which then possessed someone.

However, no anomalies have been observed so far, so we cannot draw any conclusions prematurely.

"These are the rooms where you will rest tonight."

With the guide's explanation, a row of wooden houses built on the slope came into view.

Because Luo Di and the others had expressed their wish to be assigned to a five-person room when they signed up, they were assigned to the largest wooden cabin, which only had makeshift beds on the floor for sleeping.

To use the restroom, one must go to a public latrine.

"Please go to your rooms to put your things away and rest for a while. We will meet here in half an hour, and I will lead you to participate in tonight's God-worshipping Ritual with the villagers."

The ten travelers headed to their respective cabins, and the three middle-aged members of the documentary filming crew kept glancing towards Hua Yuan as they made their way to their cabins.

When they saw Hua Yuan sharing a wooden house with a young man, they were instantly filled with jealousy, and even their eyes flashed with hatred. Their fingers twitched slightly as if they wanted to kill her.

Luo Di naturally sensed the killing intent, but he didn't look at the three middle-aged men. Instead, he glanced at Hua Yuan, who was smiling.

Click—the wooden door opens.

The so-called largest wooden house could only fit five people, and it was completely empty except for five quilts placed on the ground.

It doesn't matter. The sisters don't plan to sleep tonight either. They've come all this way to this strange and eerie village, so they're going to explore it thoroughly. Maybe they can find clues related to monsters.

The squad leader used the same method, taking advantage of the Corner Space to completely isolate the wooden house, turning it into a space exclusively for them.

Hua Yuan stroked Mu Mu's hair and asked softly, "Little Eyes, still haven't noticed?"

"No... everything is normal."

After shaking her head, the Sister Eye continued, "But... I feel... something's not right."

Hua Yuan stood at the window, watching the villagers gathering in a certain direction. "If the other side could keep us in the dark for so long, it would be easy for them to block our senses. Just follow your instincts~ I also feel there's something wrong here, everyone be careful."

Mr. Di, what is your perspective as a human being?

After spending these past few days together, Luo Di had become quite familiar with the sisters. Since they shared the same goal, he began to elaborate on the inferences and conjectures he had drawn from what he had seen along the way:

"The whole village has a strong religious atmosphere."

The villagers' eyes, gestures, and various arrangements were all imbued with worship of the gods, which may have been the reason why they were noticed by a monster incarnate associated with 'divinity'.

Starting from this island village located outside the sphere of influence of the corner, a certain unknown plan begins, the specifics of which remain a mystery.

Perhaps when a certain point arrives, or when certain conditions are met, the affected humans will change.

Tonight's God-worshipping Ritual might be a breakthrough; let's continue to maintain our pretense as travelers.

Of course... there's also the worst-case scenario: perhaps our disguise was exposed the moment we landed on the island, and we've been being led by the nose the whole time."

These words were spoken.

The sisters were slightly taken aback, but their expressions didn't change much, clearly indicating that they also had similar "assumptions".

"That's really good, Mr. Di."

Everyone shares your concerns, so we should try not to split up in our next actions and make sure the five of us stay together the whole time to avoid being ambushed by the treacherous guys deep in the island.

in addition,

Assuming Mr. Di's deduction is correct, if the monster lurking here is related to divinity, there's a high probability we'll all perish on this trip.

After taking the travelers to their accommodations

The tour guide did not go to his rest room, but went straight to the ancestral hall in the village.

Many elderly villagers have already gathered here.

Upon seeing the tour guide arrive, both sides simultaneously made a complex hand seal, exactly the same as the so-called Welcome Ritual.

Such a gesture completes a certain form of identity verification, eliminating the need for verbal communication.

The tour guide stepped into the ancestral hall and took out ten black and white photos from his pocket, each corresponding to one of the ten tourists who had arrived.

The photos were taken by the oldest person, who looked to be nearly 100 years old. Although he looked very old, his movements were similar to those of a 60-year-old.

He was chanting some kind of strange incantation.

He then casually scattered the ten photos on the ground.

Then he picked up the ceramic jar from the altar and smashed it on the ground... Bang!

The tank was broken.

A strange, hairy toad jumped out and landed on one of the photos.