The people of Gray-Scale Village cried out in timidity and fear, while the Great Village Elder stared fixedly at the little thatched hut...
At last, he said coldly, "All of you stay here and keep watch. I'll report this to the Island Lord right now. I have to find out which village this black-scale demonfolk belongs to, and make him hand over Yinlu."
With that, the Great Village Elder hurried away.
Inside the little thatched hut, Yinlu stared blankly at Sikong Jing. How had things suddenly turned out like this?
Sikong Jing slowly sat down on the straw bedding, a cold glint suddenly flashing through his eyes. "I thought that if you didn't become the sacrifice, Gray-Scale Village would be slaughtered to the last. So it turns out they simply don't want too many people going to Gods and Devils Island to work—they just want to sacrifice you alone."
Originally, Sikong Jing had felt some sympathy for the people of Gray-Scale Village, believing they had been forced into it.
But from all the voices outside, he now learned that without a sacrifice, they merely had to send more villagers to Gods and Devils Island to work for a month. To put it bluntly, they wanted to throw Yinlu to her death so that they themselves would not have to take the risk.
In that case, Gray-Scale Village was no longer worthy of sympathy.
Beside him, Yinlu gradually came to her senses because of Sikong Jing's words. She murmured, "The village elders told me before that if I didn't go as the sacrifice, I would get many people in the village killed..."
Yinlu had only just learned that she was the sacrifice as well. Everything she had explained to Sikong Jing before had been merely the village elders' side of the