Chen Mo shook his head.
He had grown up in an orphanage and knew very little about ghost stories like these.
"I came here to gather material back when I was livestreaming my travels."
Hu Yaya lowered her voice and spoke very quickly.
"Legend has it that there's a monster in the mountains here, covered in black hair and incredibly strong. It can imitate the voices of people it's eaten. Some of the more powerful ones even peel off human skin and wear it to sneak into villages and eat their victims' families."
"People call these monsters Hairy Savages. Usually, they're just stories old people tell to scare children."
Skinning people.
Imitating their voices.
Disguising itself.
Chen Mo understood at once. This grandmother was probably a monster brought into existence by the supernatural descent.
It actually matched the folk tales almost perfectly.
"In the legends, these monsters are afraid of three things." Hu Yaya swallowed and continued in a whisper.
"Loud noises, red things, and impure yang!"
Loud noises, red things, and impure yang.
Chen Mo committed those things to memory, his mind racing.
For now, he had no ideas.
"It's almost dark. There's no time today. No time left to prepare!"
Chen Mo glanced at the "setting sun in the sky" and spoke slowly.
"Then... then tonight..." Hu Yaya's voice trembled.
"We carry on as usual and pretend we know nothing. Remember, if we can't keep up the act, we're all dead!"
Chen Mo's voice was cold, as though he weren't discussing human lives.
Conflicting emotions flickered in Hu Yaya's eyes. In the end, she merely nodded heavily.
Because she didn't want to die either.
Click.
The door opened. Grandmother looked as kindly as ever, a gentle smile on her face.
"My grandchildren, stop working. You must be exhausted. Come inside."
Hu Yaya froze briefly, then slowly turned and forced an obedient smile.
"Okay, Grandmother!"
Hu Yaya was a much better actress than Chen Mo had expected.
Chen Mo stood, wiped off his sweat, and followed her.
On the dinner table were braised pork, steamed fish, and a few white steamed buns, just as before.
With a trembling hand, Grandmother offered Chen Mo a bun. But as she drew near him, she twitched her nose unnaturally and set the bun on the table.
"You've sweated so much, yet you haven't even wiped yourself off. You stink!"
Redhead and Yellow-Hair sat beside them, rubbing their eyes. They wolfed down the food while complaining that they hadn't slept well.
Hu Yaya took the initiative to chat with the two about celebrity gossip. Grandmother happily joined them, and the atmosphere in the room actually seemed rather warm and harmonious.
Chen Mo said nothing. He kept his head down and gnawed on a bun, with a little plain rice porridge in his bowl.
He didn't dare touch the fish or meat.
Chen Mo raised his head, pretending to drink his porridge, and studied Grandmother with her back turned to him.
Chen Mo saw it... on the back of Grandmother's neck, just beneath her graying hair, was a very fine line of stitches.
Chen Mo slowly looked away, then glanced at the clock on the wall.
18:13.
Breakfast, chopping wood, dinner-an entire day had passed, yet the clock had advanced less than an hour.
After dinner, the old woman patted her apron and stood, the same serene smile on her face.
"It's dark, my grandchildren. Hurry off to bed."
Here it comes.
Again.
Chen Mo looked at Redhead and Yellow-Hair without saying a word.
Hu Yaya also looked at them. With her back to Grandmother, she bit the corner of her lip until it turned white.
"The plump ones, the plump ones sleep next to Grandmother."
"The thin ones, the thin ones sleep next to the wall."
Redhead sidled over, mumbling about the dates he'd missed out on last night and pleading to have some tonight.
Grandmother seemed a little displeased as she coaxed Redhead.
"Be good. Let your third brother sleep next to Grandmother today. I'll give you dates tomorrow."
Hearing this, Redhead looked a little disappointed. He muttered an "oh" and said nothing more.
Yellow-Hair happily climbed straight onto the bed and slipped beneath the quilt.
The oil lamp was blown out.
Darkness. Deathly silence.
Everyone lay on the earthen sleeping platform.
Before long, Redhead's snores rose beside them.
Crunch...
Crunch...
Crunch...
The faint sounds arrived right on schedule. In the darkness, every sound was magnified, echoing around Chen Mo's ears...
Chen Mo could clearly feel the person beside him trembling.
Hu Yaya slowly shifted her quilt, so gently it seemed she had merely turned over in the dark.
An icy finger poked his arm.
Chen Mo neither moved nor spoke.
He simply reached out in the same way and gently patted her arm beneath the quilt.
Don't worry.
That was what Chen Mo wanted to convey.
The body beside him stopped moving.
Silence settled over the darkness again.
Chen Mo lay with his eyes open, the Mountain-Cleaving Blade he'd hidden in the quilt during the day pinned beneath him. It was his only weapon against the supernatural.
The hilt dug painfully into him. He wanted to use the pain to keep himself awake.
His mind worked constantly, beginning to connect everything he had witnessed since entering Wugui Village.
This village was terrifyingly quiet, without a single sound.
That's right. Hairy Savages are afraid of noise.
The entire village seemed drained of color, leaving only black and white. The only colors had been brought in by outsiders like them.
Redhead had wanted to sleep beside Grandmother tonight, but she had refused.
That also confirmed that Hairy Savages feared red things.
The last one was impure yang.
What is it?
The sun?
But this old woman doesn't seem afraid of the sun.
Could it be because she's hiding inside human skin?
Chen Mo couldn't figure it out. He wasn't a scholar and knew nothing about such obscure things.
He had to work it all out from the most practical clues.
"You've sweated so much, yet you haven't even wiped yourself off. You stink!"
Suddenly, Chen Mo remembered those words-Grandmother's disgusted complaint at dinner.
The smell of sweat!
It's the smell coming off my body!
Something belonging to Yang Energy, given off by a young, energetic man after a full day of physical labor!
This monster is afraid of that smell. Those words weren't disgust-they were fear!
So that's it.
Another sleepless night passed.
Sunlight shone in once more.
Hearing Grandmother's call, Chen Mo and Hu Yaya sat up at the same time.
Hu Yaya's eyes were badly bloodshot. Clearly, she hadn't slept all night either.
At the other end of the sleeping platform, only Redhead remained.
Yellow-Hair had disappeared, just as expected.
"Grandmother, where's my third brother?"
Still bleary-eyed, Redhead rubbed his eyes and asked as he ate a steamed bun.
"Oh, him? He missed your second brother, so he went to your aunt's house. He'll be back in three days."
The same words as before...
Chen Mo sneered inwardly. In three days. One person a day. Exactly three days.
He checked the time.
18:38
After breakfast, Grandmother began assigning chores again.
"Fourth, there isn't much firewood left in the yard. Go chop some wood."
"Yaya, you keep sweeping the yard."
Then Grandmother turned and fixed her kindly gaze on Chen Mo.
"Little Mo, you sweated all day yesterday. Go wash your clothes. There's water in the woodshed. Wipe yourself down while you're at it. Don't go around stinking!"
"Okay, Grandmother."
Chen Mo picked up a washbasin, walked into the yard, and began pretending to prepare to wash his clothes.
Here it is after all.
Redhead was thin and had a head of red hair, while Hu Yaya was even more frail.
He was the strongest of those remaining. Now that she was telling him to wash himself, he would definitely be next tonight.
Chen Mo lowered his head, looking as though he were truly concentrating on washing his clothes.
Creak-
The door closed.
On the other side of the yard, Hu Yaya swept absentmindedly.
Her mind began racing too.
Wash away the smell of sweat? Grandmother hates it. That's Chen Mo's protection.
Redhead has red hair, and Grandmother doesn't like that either.
Then tonight...
It'll be my turn!
Hu Yaya glanced back at Chen Mo's figure, then at the closed door.
She couldn't sit around waiting to die anymore.
She dropped the broom and hurried over to Chen Mo.
"Chen Mo."
Hu Yaya spoke very softly, in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"We have to act today!"
There was an added urgency in Hu Yaya's voice.
"Don't even think about dragging this out any longer!"
"I know Grandmother hates your sweaty stink, and she hates Redhead's hair color too. That means I'll definitely be the one sleeping beside her tonight!"
"I don't want to die!"
She glanced up at Redhead, who was chopping wood in the distance.
"If you still want to keep pretending and wait until tomorrow, I'll scream right now!"
Hu Yaya stepped forward, pressing her soft body close to Chen Mo's back. She leaned toward his ear and lowered her voice further, speaking each word distinctly.
"If it comes to it, we'll die together. If I scream, at least that's better than dying one by one!"
She was ready to take them all down with her. It was an outright threat and a final ultimatum.
Chen Mo slowly straightened and turned around.
He looked at the woman before him. Yesterday, she had trembled all over with fear. Now her eyes were filled with despair and madness.
Chen Mo wasn't angry or surprised.
Survival was every human being's instinct.
He hadn't planned to wait until tomorrow either.
Nor did Chen Mo dare gamble on whether he would be next tonight.
Chen Mo gazed at her beautiful, frantic face and slowly uttered a single word.
"Okay."
Before you continue