Eerie Village

"It's one forty-six in the afternoon. We have just over two hours left to gather supplies!"

"We have to leave the village before four!"

"Hurry, or once it gets dark, we'll never get out!"

Nana glanced at her wristwatch and addressed everyone present with a grave expression.

Nobody looked happy.

Time had flown by!

It had only been a little past eleven when they arrived at the village, yet two hours had already passed.

A sense of urgency stirred in Chen Ye.

When the group emerged from the small supermarket and saw the eerie Big Willow Tree, their delight at finding supplies instantly turned to fear and unease.

Even the hulking, dim-witted Iron Lion looked wary.

Everyone held their breath and tiptoed silently past the Big Willow Tree.

Chen Ye couldn't help swallowing, his grip tightening on his hand crossbow.

When his gaze fell on the corpses hanging from the willow branches, his heart gave a slight jolt.

Something was wrong with those corpses!

He remembered that when they first arrived, the corpses hadn't seemed to be facing this direction.

But now...

Forget it. I can't worry about that now.

What matters is gathering supplies and getting out of this village as soon as possible. Nothing else matters.

Just then, a scream suddenly rang out.

"Aaaah!"

The scream was shrill and agonized.

It didn't seem to have come from far away.

Everyone's expression changed.

"That's... that's..."

Zhou Xiaoxiao recognized the scream and seemed about to say something.

Chen Ye snapped coldly, "Shut up. Move!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao's pupils contracted slightly. She was clearly terrified beyond measure.

Unlike Chen Ye, Zhou Xiaoxiao was fairly well-liked within the convoy and knew most of the survivors.

That scream had sounded faintly familiar to Zhou Xiaoxiao.

It sent the terror in Zhou Xiaoxiao's heart surging.

Fortunately, Chen Ye's sharp rebuke brought her back to her senses somewhat.

The group hurried away from the Big Willow Tree, moving on until they were clear of its reach.

Only then did Chen Ye breathe a small sigh of relief.

Instinctively, Chen Ye glanced behind him. When they had left the small supermarket, there should have been someone following him.

But that single backward glance made Chen Ye's heart jolt.

Behind me... there's no one.

Just then, Zhou Xiaoxiao was once again staring at Chen Ye with utter terror in her eyes.

More precisely, she was staring behind Chen Ye.

"You... you..."

A chill shot straight to the top of Chen Ye's head. He darted two steps forward and aimed his hand crossbow behind him.

Even Iron Lion and Nana went on high alert.

Yet apart from the Big Willow Tree covered in hanging corpses, there was nothing unusual behind Chen Ye.

"L-look..."

"That's... that's... Xiao Zhuang! It's... Xiao Zhuang!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao pointed a trembling finger toward a spot on the Big Willow Tree.

Everyone looked in the direction Zhou Xiaoxiao was pointing.

A corpse hung beneath the Big Willow Tree.

There was nothing remarkable about that in itself. More than a hundred corpses hung beneath the Big Willow Tree.

But when they got a clear look at this corpse, everyone's heart began pounding wildly.

Chen Ye's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.

That man... was one of the survivors who had entered the small supermarket with them.

Although Chen Ye barely knew him, he still recognized him as one of the survivors who had followed them into the small supermarket.

He was the person who had been walking behind Chen Ye just moments ago.

The corpse hanging beneath the Big Willow Tree still had a bulging backpack on it.

Less than a minute had passed since they left the small supermarket.

Yet he had already become one of the many corpses beneath the Big Willow Tree.

Even Chen Ye, who considered himself mentally strong, couldn't help feeling a chill in his heart.

This... there's definitely something wrong with the Big Willow Tree!

Why was he hanging beneath the Big Willow Tree?

How had there been no sound at all?

What exactly had happened?

Without another thought, Chen Ye started walking, unwilling to say a single word.

Save him?!

What a joke!

This wasn't the first day of the apocalypse anymore.

Even though eerie horrors were now found all over the world.

Humanity still regarded them with terror and dread.

Nobody paid any attention to the corpse that had been their companion just a minute ago.

Everyone quickened their pace, eager to leave.

At the same time, Chen Ye's desire to awaken a sequence grew even stronger.

For just three thousand slaughter points, Chen Ye would definitely obtain a way to awaken a sequence from the system.

In this apocalyptic world, awakening a sequence was the only way to survive.

Nana's expression was grim as well.

As a Sequence 2 transcendent of the sword immortal sequence, her five senses and six faculties had long since surpassed those of ordinary people.

Yet she still hadn't noticed how that survivor had been strung up on the Big Willow Tree.

The entire village seemed shrouded in a layer of gray.

Outside the village, the sun still shone brightly, but inside, everything was dark and gloomy.

They were two completely different worlds.

The group strode away from the small supermarket beneath the Big Willow Tree, their footsteps hurried.

"I... I have enough supplies. I don't want to look for any more. You go on without me!"

One survivor suddenly spoke up.

After saying that, the survivor scrambled toward the village entrance.

Chen Ye could clearly see that the survivor's backpack was only half full.

"I... I've got enough too!"

Soon, another survivor ran after the first.

Iron Lion, Nana, and Chen Ye said nothing.

They merely cast a brief glance their way and continued hurrying onward.

The sisters, Zhou Lan and Zhou Xiaoxiao, were sorely tempted as well. Longevity Village was simply too dangerous, far more dangerous than Apricot Blossom Town had been.

Perhaps in the very next second, they would lose any chance of ever getting out.

But the sisters looked at the supplies they had gathered so far.

If they left now, those meager supplies probably wouldn't keep them alive for more than a few days.

They exchanged a glance, each seeing hesitation and panic in the other's eyes.

"Sis, let's... go with them!"

"No matter what, sticking with them has to be better than heading out on our own!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao spoke softly.

Zhou Lan said nothing, a trace of worry lingering in her eyes.

Longevity Village wasn't large, and finding the village chief's house wasn't difficult.

They only had to look for the biggest, finest house in the village.

The information from the Eavesdropping Radio had also helped.

"This is it!"

At last, the group arrived in front of a large house.

This house was clearly far grander than the others.

It was a three-story building whose large floor-to-ceiling windows set it apart from the other homes.

It also had a spacious courtyard, with a black sedan parked inside.

But the courtyard looked as though no one had visited it in a very long time.

Green plants covered the house's exterior walls, and those large floor-to-ceiling windows should have been bathed in sunlight.

Instead, they were shrouded in gray, giving everyone an unsettling feeling.

It was as though some eerie creature were lurking behind those gray windows, watching the group.

Any normal person faced with such an eerie residence would probably want nothing more than to stay far away.