Hua Yurong and Zhou Xiaoduo

After Bai Xiaowen read the handwriting, the page turned to ash like burned funeral paper and scattered in the wind.

"Who wrote this?" Qiao Rui asked.

Bai Xiaowen thought for a moment. "Probably someone from a scholarly family exiled from the city to a mountain village during the Ming dynasty's Imperial Guard era. This page only tells us there were four of them: a mother who had trouble walking, an adult—or nearly adult—older brother, and two sisters. The youngest sister wrote the diary."

"This might be a clue to Locust King Village," Qiao Rui said. "We should look for the other diary fragments."

"It's a clue, but it's more likely a trap," Bai Xiaowen said. "Don't you think these fragments are appearing strangely? One just blew straight to us out of nowhere. And while I was reading it, I had an uneasy feeling, as though someone was watching me from behind."

Qiao Rui's expression shifted, and she nodded. "I felt it too... I thought I was imagining things."

Awakened ones had keen senses, especially high-spirit Hero Class fighters like Bai Xiaowen and Qiao Rui.

Bai Xiaowen looked toward the earthen wall the diary fragment had flown over.

The courtyard gate was locked. Perhaps everyone in that household had gone to the wedding celebration.

Bai Xiaowen directed the Shadow Assassin to climb over the wall while invisible. After a thorough search, he found a second diary fragment. It had no date; nearly half of it appeared to have been torn away.

"...Life is hard, but Sister Yurong from the Hua Family next door often comes to help us. Sometimes she brings a cornmeal bun; sometimes, half a bowl of thin porridge."

"Sister Yurong often says that the Hua Family and the Zhou Family are both humble households in Liu Family Hamlet,