The Small Village

Chapter 50: The Small Village

When they got closer, everyone realized the village was larger than they had imagined.

The seven people from Mist Gathering trailed behind, keeping a little distance from the six walking ahead.

Li Mu stopped and looked around at everyone. "Two things. First, this is a survival mission. The ghost is impossible to defeat unless you discover the hidden rules, like Qi Nian did. Second, it has at least two strange abilities."

Everyone nodded, committing Li Mu's words to memory.

"I just talked with them. The woman holding the dog is He Miao, the driver is Tian Dawei, and the old man is Chen Qingshan. Of the other three, the man who spotted the village is Sun Liang. The remaining man and woman are a married couple: Cheng Zhipeng and Tong Li. All six are from Gui City, and the long-distance bus we took was headed there too."

The woman speaking was Lin Yan. Her looks were unremarkable, but her eyes seemed quite shrewd.

And she was indeed shrewd. In her thirties, Lin Yan had started out in sales and knew all the ins and outs of communicating with people.

She had managed to learn everyone's names and backgrounds in an incredibly short time. That was her talent.

Just then, the six people ahead suddenly fell into confusion.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

The corgi He Miao had been holding suddenly jumped out of her arms and barked furiously at the village.

"Doudou! What are you doing, Doudou?"

He Miao hurried to pick it up, but the dog seemed to have gone mad. She couldn't pull it back or drag it away, and when she tried to pick it up, it nearly turned and bit her.

The fur on its neck and tail stood on end. It bared its claws against the ground, baring its teeth as it barked wildly at the village.

Tian Dawei and the others thought the dog had gone crazy, but Bai Yanliang and the rest saw its legs trembling as it barked.

It was afraid.

What had it seen?

A gust of wind suddenly swept through the village, shrouded in faint mountain mist. It moaned and wailed, as if someone were crying.

The trees across the mountain rustled in the wind. Their tangled branches looked like outstretched arms in the shadows, reaching for the thirteen people outside the village.

Tian Dawei and the others didn't know, but Li Mu and his group understood perfectly: there was a ghost here.

And not just any ghost... It was an invincible, terrifying wraith.

The dog's shrill barking echoed through the woods. Before long, there was a commotion in the village. It seemed they had finally heard the dog.

As everyone watched, an old man whose face was as wrinkled as a cracked walnut emerged, supported by a young woman.

"You are..."

His voice was as old as his face: weak and trembling, as if he might keel over at any moment.

"Are you the village chief? We're just passing through. Our vehicle broke down, so we'd like to rest in your village for a while," Tian Dawei said, in his usual unpleasant tone.

As expected, the old village chief showed no reaction, but another man's voice rang out.

"Why should we let you rest here? Get lost!"

"Damn it, who said that?" Tian Dawei glared, the folds of fat on his face quivering. He seemed to have had quite a past before becoming a long-distance driver.

"Me! What are you going to do about it?"

A sturdy young man stepped out, brows furrowed as he glared fearlessly at Tian Dawei.

"Cough... Cough, cough... Xiao Bin, don't be rash." The old village chief, supported by the young woman, broke into a fit of coughing. His voice grew even weaker.

His drooping eyes swept over everyone. "The village has no main road, so vehicles can't get in. Since you've found your way here, come inside..."

"Chief!" Xiao Bin called out. "We don't know where these people came from. Make them leave!"

Bai Yanliang suddenly turned to look at Xiao Bin.

Yu Sheng was still on his back. Seeing Bai Yanliang's movement, she looked at Xiao Bin too, thoughtful.

"Nonsense!" The old village chief glared at him angrily. "It'll be dark soon. Where do you expect them to go?"

Xiao Bin opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. He merely looked everyone over, then glared fiercely at Tian Dawei.

"Everyone... please follow me." Supported by the young woman, the old village chief led them into the village. "My surname is Yan. I'm the village chief of Snow-Accumulated Village. It's been a long time since our village... had any visitors..."

The village chief's words made the visitors from Mist Gathering tense up.

That remark... was deeply unsettling.

Just then, the young woman supporting him said, "Grandpa, the Homecoming Festival is the day after tomorrow. If we take in so many outsiders..."

The Homecoming Festival?

Her words caught everyone's attention.

The day after tomorrow... wasn't that the last day of the survival mission?

Was this a coincidence?

"Quit your damn yapping. Who the hell wants to stay here anyway? The day after tomorrow... I'm leaving tomorrow!"

Huang Yourong glanced at Tian Dawei. He already felt as though the word "dead" was written in bright letters over the man's head.

"Is that so?" The young woman gave Tian Dawei a strange look. "Then I hope you'll be able to leave..."

Her eerie words made everyone tense up.

But then something even stranger came into view.

Once they entered the village, everyone realized there wasn't a single cat or dog in sight—not even a chicken or a duck. Instead, odd cages covered in black cloth stood chained up outside every house.

"What's this? Do you keep lions in your village?"

As he spoke, Tian Dawei casually reached to lift the black cloth off a cage by the road.

"Don't pull it off!" Xiao Bin shouted.

But... his warning came a moment too late.

"Ah!!!!"

"Fuck! Let go!"

Tian Dawei's eyes bulged as a strange woman clamped her teeth around his finger. Pain drenched him in sweat in an instant!

Everyone rushed to help. Tian Dawei kicked the woman in the cage over and over, but the terrifying, disheveled woman refused to let go!

"Ah!!!"

Tian Dawei suddenly let out an even more agonized scream. The others yanked him back, and he stumbled, clutching his hand in shock and pain.

The woman had bitten his finger clean off!

He Miao turned deathly pale and screamed.

"I told you not to pull it off!" Xiao Bin cursed. At the same time, he somehow produced a handful of plant ash and sprinkled it on Tian Dawei's severed finger, making the short, fat driver howl again in pain.

But Bai Yanliang and the others weren't looking at that idiot at all.

Their eyes swept over the houses, one after another.

Every single one... had an iron cage covered in black cloth outside.

Could it be... that every cage held a woman like that, one who would bite people?

"Please... don't tell anyone about this."

The old village chief's voice was full of bitterness. He looked at everyone and gave them a trembling, cupped-hands bow.