When Nan Yue smiled, she radiated a sense of trustworthiness and calm. Huo Fuyu, who had been following behind in silence, glanced at her, his own smile remaining unchanged from the start.
"No, no," Suo Qisi insisted. "It has been a long time since we had guests. Please, take the seats of honor."
The stone house fell silent. The villagers shared a similar appearance to Suo Qisi: flat features with unnaturally large eyes and mouths. They watched the outsiders in silence, making quite a few scavengers with unstable psychological value feel uneasy.
"It's fine, Nan Yue. You guys should just sit. This meal was prepared specifically to welcome you."
Luo Liu joined in the persuasion from the side. With no other choice, the group sat down in the prepared empty seats.
Seeing them take their seats, the villagers became cheerful again. They clinked their wooden cups together and spoke in a local dialect that the group couldn't understand, making the atmosphere quite lively.
Suo Qisi sat across from Nan Yue. Huo Fuyu was beside Nan Yue, and across from him was a thin woman dressed entirely in black.
This woman appeared extremely old—so old, in fact, that it was impossible to tell her actual age. Her gaze was fixed intently on Huo Fuyu.
It was a testament to Huo Fuyu's status as a high-level player that he could remain unfazed under such a stare.
"Ga Ya. The spirit medium."
Suo Qisi introduced her with some effort, while Luo Liu sat beside him to act as the translator.
"This is our village's spirit medium, responsible for the sacrificial rite and prayers."
Luo Liu glanced at Ga Ya and whispered, "Her status is actually higher than the village head's; she just doesn't usually get involved in village affairs."
The group offered Ga Ya a polite smile.
Ga Ya retracted her gaze and lowered her head to begin eating.
Shang Xi looked at Luo Liu. "I remember you saying the spirit medium also knows the common tongue."
Luo Liu nodded. "But Ga Da is very old and hasn't spoken in a long time. I only heard her speak once when I came back as a child."
"But she understands it."
The food was abundant, but Nan Yue and the others couldn't identify much of it.
Not to mention they were scavengers from the real world, even city dwellers from a mission world likely wouldn't be able to tell what it was.
The villagers lived off the land, so many of the dishes consisted of wild plants and animals from the mountains rather than common ingredients.
Nan Yue and the others tried a bit of the wild vegetables in front of them; the taste was actually quite good.
Without seasonings, it had the primitive flavor of the food itself—a bit astringent but quite sweet.
The roasted chicken here was smaller than what Nan Yue had eaten in the real world, but the meat was firmer, roasted to be tender and juicy. Seasoned only with simple salt and pepper, it was more than enough to be satisfying.
Dong Sheng, who was following He Jiang, ate the fastest. He had been hungry for a long time. Although scavengers usually ate before entering a mission, the long car ride and the subsequent motion sickness had left him empty.
"Luo Liu, what is this?"
Dong Sheng was pointing at a dish in a wooden bowl—a white, glistening plate of food that emitted an inviting aroma.
Luo Liu swallowed hard. "This is ant meat. It's very rare. It's only because you're honored guests that we're serving this; usually, it's only eaten on the day of the sacrificial rite."
Ant meat?
Everyone's gaze involuntarily drifted to the giant ant stone statue. If ants that large actually existed, then ant meat was a possibility.
But everyone knew that ants were tiny insects. Even the queens of certain special species were only about the size of a fist.
Wen Xiang Yuan lowered her voice. "I once read a book that said the queen of desert army ants could be as large as a lamb."
Gu Xiang Kai whispered back, "What book?"
Zhu Xi Ning sighed beside him. "Why are you asking? Do you even read?"
Gu Xiang Kai replied, "...No."
Wen Xiang Yuan smiled and continued, "But that book was just a collection of strange tales and anecdotes. It shouldn't be taken seriously."
Seeing that everyone was hesitant to touch the ant meat, Suo Qisi gestured animatedly. "Participate in the sacrificial rite. Eat the ant meat."
"Precious. Guests, eat."
It was difficult for the group to refuse. Their cover was that they were here specifically to observe the Antswamp Village sacrificial rite. It seemed that eating this ant meat was a tradition required to participate, so they couldn't easily object.
Luo Liu took a bite with his chopsticks. "Don't worry, it's nothing weird. How could an ant be that big? I suspect it's just butchered snake meat or something."
While the group was still hesitating, the spirit medium, who reportedly hadn't spoken in years, suddenly opened her mouth. Her voice was raspy and low, like the cawing of a crow.
"If you do not eat, you cannot participate in the sacrificial rite."
Nan Yue looked at Ga Ya. Perhaps because of her extreme age, she felt that Ga Ya's appearance wasn't as strange as the other villagers; she looked more like a regular human who had aged to the absolute limit.
"Ga... Ga Da," Nan Yue chose the same form of address as Luo Liu. "Some of our classmates are vegetarians, so this..."
Ga Ya's gaze fixed directly on Nan Yue as she repeated herself.
"If you do not eat, you cannot participate in the sacrificial rite."
"Danger."
After saying this, Ga Ya didn't look at them again. She pushed back her chair and slowly walked away, leaning on her long staff.
The group hadn't expected Ga Ya to leave just like that, nor had they expected her warning of danger.
"What should we do? Do we eat it?"
He Jiang still remembered the events in Multi-fortune Town and the things they had eaten there...
The memory made He Jiang want to gag. If he hadn't made contact with several villagers and used them as stand-ins, he probably would have died there.
If this was going to be like last time...
Zhu Xi Ning picked up a piece with her chopsticks, examined it for a moment, and then took a bite. She swallowed the food. "The ant meat should be fine."
After a moment of thought, she added, "The taste is very good, just a bit fishy."
Nan Yue and the others naturally trusted Zhu Xi Ning's judgment, and all four of them ate a bit of the so-called ant meat.
Seeing them comply so readily, Suo Qisi's face once again twisted into that strange yet friendly smile.
It was unclear what the others were thinking, but Nan Yue noticed that at least two or three scavengers still hadn't touched the plate of ant meat.
The meal lasted until very late and could be considered a success for both hosts and guests.
In particular, the scavengers discovered that while the villagers of Antswamp Village mostly looked very strange, they were actually simple and enthusiastic.
Nan Yue heard the young girl named Song Sisi whispering to her companion that she felt guilty for judging them by their appearance at first.
"Guests, rest. Rules."
After the meal, there was no reason to let the guests clean up. Suo Qisi led the scavengers out of the stone house.
It was very late by now; Nan Yue estimated it was around nine-thirty.
To their surprise, they discovered that after leaving the dining hall, a lantern had been hung at every doorway.
The lanterns were covered in a membrane made of ordinary brown wood pulp paper. The flickering flames inside gave the lanterns a deep brown hue, reminiscent of clotted blood.
Everyone's expression changed, but no one spoke.
Lanterns were a common element in missions, but their appearance usually signaled danger.
Suo Qisi spoke a few sentences in the local dialect before struggling to switch back to the common tongue.
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