So Hated?

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"": "This night was especially long.

It was that way for Zhong Zhicheng, Luo Feng, and Gu Ya in the Luo Family's main hall.

It was the same for Luo Bin in the little wooden cabin.

After all the evil spirits left, Luo Bin couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, waking a dozen times or more, unable to stop wondering what those evil spirits had gone off to do.

Naturally, he didn't believe what the evil spirit had said about the Village Chief.

Still, he couldn't help wondering why the original owner of this body had been killed by an evil spirit.

What had made the original owner forget the taboo and come face-to-face with an evil spirit at night?

He endured until the latter half of the night before finally falling into a deep sleep.

Dimly hearing a rooster crow at dawn, Luo Bin rolled over, thinking he would sleep for another five minutes.

But when he next woke, dazzling shafts of light were streaming through the cracks in the door and window!

"What time is it?!" Luo Bin sprang out of bed. His brain hadn't fully booted up yet, but he hurriedly blew out the oil lamp. One glance at the oil told him there was less than a tenth left.

"I..." Luo Bin wanted to slap himself.

Lamp oil!

The less I burn, the more I can drink.

But because he'd overslept, he'd burned through so much more oil. There wasn't even enough left for half a night.

"Ugh..." Luo Bin sighed. What was done was done; there was nothing he could do about it.

He pushed the door open, and glaring sunlight beat down on his face. He quickly raised a hand to shield his eyes, but they still stung a little. It took a while before Luo Bin adjusted to the light.

The Mountain God Temple's gates were still tightly shut.

Everything was quiet, as though nothing had happened.

Zhang Li, Zhu Qianqian, and Gu Yiren should be all right inside the Mountain God Temple.

What about the village? With so many evil spirits going in, had anyone died?

Was the Village Chief all right?

It looked like the Village Chief might not be coming to the end of the village. I'd better find him and ask for lamp oil.

With that thought, Luo Bin headed straight toward the village.

But he had only taken a few steps when he saw someone approaching in the distance. It was Gu Ya.

Gu Ya was alone. Luo Feng wasn't with her.

Luo Bin stopped where he was and went no farther.

"Xiao Shan! Were you all right last night?" Gu Ya stopped in front of him. She looked utterly haggard as she grabbed his arm.

"I was fine, Mom. What's wrong with you? Didn't sleep well? Did something happen in the village?" Luo Bin's heart sank. Gu Ya's complexion was far from normal.

"No... nothing major happened." Gu Ya didn't dare tell him outright what had happened last night.

She also felt a faint sense of relief mixed with lingering fear.

Because if not for the Village Chief's arrangements, Luo Shan would certainly have been asleep in his room last night.

With something going wrong in the kitchen, there would have been no way for them to get Luo Shan into the main hall quickly. Something terrible would have happened!

"Nothing major happened, so something did happen?" Luo Bin hurriedly pressed her. "Is the Village Chief all right?"

Afraid he sounded too deliberate, he added, "I overslept, and the lamp's nearly burned through all its oil. I need to ask the Village Chief for more."

"Why wouldn't the Village Chief be all right?" Gu Ya shook her head repeatedly.

At that moment, Luo Bin noticed something else.

Gu Ya hadn't brought any food.

Although he had told her not to bring him food anymore, the fact that she had come without any meant she must have been anxious. She had come solely to check whether he was safe.

The evil spirits that had entered the village last night must have brought a tremendous hidden threat, perhaps even thrown the entire village into upheaval!

Just as Luo Bin was about to speak again, Gu Ya released his arm and said, seemingly relieved, "Go back and keep an eye on the outsiders. As long as you're all right, Mom can rest easy. I'm going to see the Village Chief now. I'll tell him about the lamp oil."

With that, Gu Ya said nothing more to Luo Bin and hurried away.

Even after she disappeared from sight, Luo Bin still couldn't calm himself.

Gu Ya hadn't mentioned Luo Feng.

Where was Luo Feng? Had something happened to him?

Rewinding the scene of his conversation with Gu Ya before his eyes, he saw that her eyes had been bloodshot, with a faint trace of horror she could barely suppress.

A normal person would never wear an expression like that for no reason!

Although Luo Feng had treated him rather coldly and had even wanted to kill him earlier, he was still this body's father. If something really had happened to him, how could Luo Bin remain indifferent?

Luo Bin broke into a run, chasing after her.

The fact that he still hadn't caught up with Gu Ya meant she must have started running once she had gone a certain distance.

Luo Bin ran even faster!

A few minutes later, more people appeared on either side of the concrete road, all hurrying in the same direction.

The villagers had acted together like this when they captured the outsiders, Zhang Li, Zhu Qianqian, and Gu Yiren. Something major must have happened, something that had shaken the whole village!

Luo Bin fought down the dread in his heart and stopped running, walking along with the crowd instead.

The village was laid out around the concrete road, with plenty of houses on either side, but there were just as many farther in. After walking for roughly seven or eight minutes, he turned into a side road.

Luo Bin saw a great mass of people.

The open space was large enough to hold several hundred people.

Straight ahead stood a raised platform at the foot of the mountain.

Two people were tied up on the platform.

Both looked familiar. One was the girl who had brought him food yesterday. She looked panicked, at a loss, bewildered and uneasy.

The other was actually Zhang Jun!

Luo Bin wasn't surprised at all to see Zhang Jun tied up for public display.

The fact that he had lusted after an outsider woman and tried to seize her outright was enough to show that he was no decent person.

But why had that seemingly harmless girl been tied up just like Zhang Jun?

Was she all beauty on the outside and rotten within, too?

Just then, Luo Bin suddenly noticed that some people were looking at him.

Their murmured conversations reached his ears.

"Luo Shan... how did he get so lucky last night and escape it?"

"Exactly. What was the Village Chief thinking, trusting Luo Shan enough to let him watch the outsiders? Otherwise, with all those evil spirits crawling into the Luo Family's house yesterday, Luo Shan would definitely have died."

"I don't think there's anything wrong with Zhang Yunling. What a sweet, pretty girl. Just look at that fat-headed, big-eared Zhang Jun. He's no good. This isn't just Luo Shan choosing his friends badly. He's practically invited a wolf into his home."

"If I had a son like that, I'd have thrown him straight outside last night. Let the evil spirits do whatever they wanted. They'd have killed him easily."

It wasn't just their words. Their gazes were cold, even tinged with disgust.

Was the original owner really hated that much?

It seemed... he wasn't just a failure... he was utterly useless...

What made Luo Bin break into an even colder sweat was that evil spirits had actually crawled into the Luo Family's house... his own home?

His heart pounded wildly.

Luo Bin listened while the scene rewound before his eyes.

When some event or sound suddenly caught a person's attention, it was easy to overlook something or mishear it.

But revisiting it not only deepened the impression, it also made it easier to spot details that would ordinarily go unnoticed.

Very quickly, Luo Bin pieced together a complete picture of what had happened from the crowd's conversations!