A change of heart

An Ning's eyes widened as though she had seen something terrifying.

"There are three Eldritch beings inside, but I can't make out their exact auras..."

At her words, Shen Ye's right foot paused in midair as he was about to enter, then immediately drew back.

His mind raced, countless images flashing through it.

The houses that had already been looted.

The empty rice jars and open cupboards.

The thin layer of dust on the wooden shelves, accumulated over more than a week.

And the wrecked vehicles he had seen before entering the village.

And his earlier suspicion that more than one convoy had come here.

Combined with all the Skin Wraiths still left in the village, they most likely hadn't made it out alive...

He had learned from An Ning earlier that after Skin Wraiths killed someone, they usually left behind a pile of bones.

But aside from the remains of the four people who had sneaked away from the group, he hadn't seen any others...

At that thought, a chill shot from his tailbone to the crown of his head.

Shen Ye involuntarily took half a step back.

If An Ning hadn't followed him, he would already have pushed open this door and gone inside.

He instinctively lifted his head and looked toward the villa's second floor.

Someone stood behind one of the floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs.

It was a middle-aged man.

He wore pale gray silk pajamas and had a muscular build, standing barefoot at the boundary between shadow and light.

His skin was exceptionally pale-not the rosy pallor of a living person, but a cold, smooth, porcelain-like deathly white.

His face was expressionless, his eyes fixed straight on Shen Ye below.

Shen Ye stared into those eyes.

Those eyes stared back at him.

It wasn't the hollow gaze of a Skin Wraith.

He was truly "looking."

An aware, responsive gaze, even carrying a hint of curiosity.

Suddenly, the man's mouth twitched, giving the impression that he was still adjusting to a new way of expressing himself.

Shen Ye had seen plenty of corpses in his previous life, including many bloated from decomposition, but the terror that thing upstairs inspired still made every hair on his body stand on end.

"Go!"

He grabbed An Ning's wrist, turned, and ran toward the village entrance.

When she moved too slowly, he bent down and hoisted her onto his back, remembering to turn and call out a warning.

"You too! Get out of here!"

Shen Ye ran down the village road with An Ning on his back, while the white villa behind them stood silently atop the hillside in the midday sun.

Behind the second-floor window, the man in silk pajamas remained in the shadows. Two other figures seemed to sway faintly behind him, watching them leave.

The other team members still gathering supplies saw Shen Ye racing down with An Ning on his back. Though they didn't know what had happened, none dared ask a single question.

Everyone picked up the supplies they had found and ran after the pair toward the village entrance.

In less than five minutes, all dozen or so of them had withdrawn from Qianxing Village.

Beneath the large banyan tree at the entrance, Shen Ye couldn't resist glancing back at the houses layered across the hillside.

The white villa stood at the very top, its floor-to-ceiling windows reflecting a cold gleam in the sunlight that made his soul shudder.

He looked away and placed An Ning, who had already fallen asleep on his back, into the Volvo's rear seat.

After he returned to the RV, the last few team members finally stumbled out of the village road, still carrying a bag of rice, a bag of sweet potatoes, and a bag of pots and dishes.

Shen Ye started the engine. The bloody handprint on the steering wheel had already been wiped off.

He turned toward the bus parked beside him and shouted to He Yumin in the driver's seat, "Get everyone ready. We're leaving right now."

The window of the Volvo beside him rolled down, and Lin Wanqiu rubbed her pretty face, still groggy with sleep.

Seeing Shen Ye's shaken expression, she immediately realized something had happened.

She didn't ask why, simply starting her car as well.

Then she instinctively looked at An Ning, who was curled up in the back seat, sleeping soundly.

"An Ning!" she called, trying to wake her.

But An Ning didn't stir.

"She's exhausted herself. She probably won't wake up anytime soon," Shen Ye explained.

"But where do we go with her asleep?"

Lin Wanqiu's first instinct was to turn back, but the thought of last night's Man-Eating Tree Spirits immediately made her abandon the idea.

Shen Ye understood that as well.

The only route available now was to keep driving forward.

He shifted into gear and had just pressed the accelerator.

A figure rushed out of the roadside crowd, spread her arms, and planted herself directly in front of the RV.

Shen Ye hit the brakes.

It was a woman in her fifties.

Her thin, gaunt frame was draped in a floral shirt washed nearly white, and her graying hair was loosely tied behind her head with a rubber band.

She tilted her head up and stared fiercely at Shen Ye through the windshield, her eyes bloodshot.

"You can't leave!"

Her voice was shrill and hoarse, as though she had used every ounce of strength to force it from her throat.

"My son is still in there! He hasn't come out yet! You can't leave!"

Shen Ye recognized her.

Zhao Cuilan.

Zhou Rong's mother. She had previously worked as a general helper in Zhao Biao's convoy.

He Yumin leaned halfway out of the bus window, his face livid. "Zhao Cuilan! Have you lost your mind? How dare you block Captain Shen? Get out of the way!"

"What about my son?" Zhao Cuilan didn't move. Instead, she spread her arms wider. "My son went into the village with you! He followed Captain Shen in! Now you're all out, but where's my son?"

He Yumin was momentarily at a loss for words.

He didn't know where Zhou Rong had gone either. He vaguely remembered Zhou Rong following behind him before they entered, but once inside, everyone had been busy searching for food and water. No one had had time to look after anyone else.

Seeing him unable to answer, Zhao Cuilan raised her voice even higher, her tearful shrieks echoing across the clearing at the village entrance.

"My son is only in his early thirties! He went in with you to gather supplies, and you came out and left him in there!"

"Did you make him do the most dangerous work? Did you use him as cannon fodder?"

"Captain Shen..." She stared relentlessly at Shen Ye. "You took these people in. You have to bring them out!"

"Otherwise..."

"Otherwise, no one is leaving today!"

The surrounding crowd began to stir.

Clearly, the elderly, women, and children who had stayed at the entrance had no idea what had happened in the village.

All they had seen was Shen Ye running out with An Ning on his back, followed by everyone else.

As for those who hadn't emerged, they could only assume the worst.

Zhao Cuilan's words struck precisely at the possibility they feared most.

"That's right, where's Zhou Rong? I don't think I saw him come out either..."

"And Zhang Haisheng. Old Zhang, did your Haisheng come out?"

"Li Dazhuang hasn't come back either. My Dazhuang hasn't come back."

A stooped old man in his sixties stepped out of the crowd.

He was Zhang Haisheng's father. Everyone called him Old Zhang.

He walked over to Zhao Cuilan. He didn't spread his arms, merely stood there, his cloudy eyes fixed on Shen Ye's RV.

Then came Aunt Li.

Li Dazhuang's wife stood behind Zhao Cuilan, holding the hand of a boy of seven or eight.

Zhao Cuilan glanced back at the two people behind her, as though receiving some sort of affirmation. When she turned forward again, she looked more confident.

"We're not here to cause trouble."

Her voice suddenly became less shrill, even taking on a deliberately calm note, as though she were trying to reason with him.

"We just want to wait a little. Captain Shen, you're so capable-even Zhao Biao was no match for you, was he? Please, have a heart. Go into the village and find them for us."

"It won't take much of your time. Just a little while."

"You're the deputy captain. You wouldn't abandon your own people, would you?"

She spoke that last sentence very slowly. Her tone sounded sincere, but her eyes were full of threat.

Sitting there, Shen Ye inexplicably felt as though a label had been slapped on him that he couldn't peel off.

The murmuring in the crowd grew louder.

Some people began to nod.