Rule One, Don't Go Out After Dark

Yang Guyun asked curiously.

The innkeeper shook his head, his gaze dim. "Can't afford them. The richest people in town moved away long ago. All that's left are old bones like us. Where would we get that kind of money?"

Zhou Qiubai pondered for a moment, then reached out and took the key from the innkeeper.

Wasn't curiosity the essence of humanity?

He wanted to see just how dangerous this rule-based horror was.

As for dying...

If a man died, so be it!

"Innkeeper, I'll take the key. Don't worry about the haunting. My brother and I have seen plenty of strange things." He paused, his tone lightening. "By the way, does this town have an apothecary? We're running low on medicine for our wounds and need to buy more."

Seeing that he was determined to stay, the innkeeper stopped trying to persuade him.

In the end, he had said all there was to say. Good advice could not save a man bent on dying.

"Turn right when you leave, then turn left at the end of the road. The place with the medicine gourd hanging outside is the apothecary. But the physician is old and closes up as soon as it gets dark, so you'd better hurry. It'll be dark soon. Go on."

Zhou Qiubai took the map and glanced at it, thanked him, tossed the key to Yang Guyun, and looked back at the sky.

The shops along the street were closing one after another. The owner of the general store was fitting wooden boards over his doorway piece by piece, while the blacksmith's forge had gone cold. The clang of hammering stopped abruptly, and the entire town instantly became unnaturally quiet.

Then again, given the town's current state, everyone who remained was old, weak, sick, or disabled.