"You shouldn't listen to what Dong Sheng and the others say. I haven't formed any organization; I just enjoy making friends. As scavengers out in the field, we should help each other whenever we can, don't you think?"
Huo Fuyu smiled at Nan Yue. "Can we be friends?"
Nan Yue stared at Huo Fuyu for a long while before suddenly asking, "Do you know what I learned from He Jiang?"
Huo Fuyu was taken aback, and then he heard Nan Yue continue.
"Sudden gestures of goodwill, whether in action or words, might be a condition to trigger some kind of ability."
After saying that, Nan Yue walked away, leaving Huo Fuyu alone.
Huo Fuyu stood there silently. The perfect smile on his face widened further and further, giving him an air of extreme madness.
"Interesting... Nan Yue, huh? Truly interesting..."
Wen Xiang Yuan followed Nan Yue and asked in a low voice, "Boss, is it really okay to reject him so directly?"
Nan Yue shrugged. "He's also restricted by a persona. Unless he's willing to drop the act, there isn't much he can do."
"Besides, his words earlier were indeed a bit strange. It felt like he was trying to lure me into agreeing to something."
"In any case, stay away from him."
"And that He Jiang—don't let him touch you."
"Got it!"
When they returned that night, Nan Yue wondered if it was just her imagination, but the fishy smell seemed even stronger.
After the five of them got into bed, they extinguished the oil lamp in the room. The village provided these lamps, one for each room.
They lay side by side on the stone platform bed. Except for Gu Xiang Kai, who was a bit tense, everyone else relaxed.
Nan Yue, in particular, fell into a deep sleep very quickly.
Wen Xiang Yuan hadn't expected Nan Yue to fall asleep so fast. She turned over and saw Gu Xiang Kai lying flat on his back, staring straight at the ceiling.
"Why are you keeping your eyes open?"
Fearing she might disturb Nan Yue, Wen Xiang Yuan leaned over and whispered.
Gu Xiang Kai: "..."
He closed his eyes, his entire body becoming even stiffer.
The night passed without dreams, but Nan Yue didn't sleep very soundly. In her half-conscious state, she felt as if someone was staring at her.
That sensation made her feel uncomfortable even in her sleep—a greasy, damp, and eerie gaze that seemed to emerge from the wet soil.
Nan Yue woke up with a bit of a headache. The others hadn't slept well either, but it was common for scavengers not to rest well during missions, so no one took it to heart.
However, Zhu Xi Ning approached Nan Yue and spoke right away.
"Someone was watching us last night."
Zhu Xi Ning's sharp intuition had kicked in. "At first, I thought it was my imagination, but later I became certain. Someone was definitely watching us."
Nan Yue scanned the room. The only possibility was the ventilation holes at the bottom of the two side walls.
But those holes were so low; how could anyone see them sleeping on the stone beds?
"We'll check tonight."
Nan Yue didn't say much more, not wanting to frighten the others. While they were washing up, they ran into a few other scavengers. Just as they were heading back to their stone house, Dong Sheng cried out in terror at the entrance.
"Brother He, Wu Zicheng has disappeared!"
Nan Yue and the others exchanged glances. It wasn't surprising for someone to die on the first day, but dying so silently was very strange.
Could it be... Nan Yue's gaze inevitably shifted toward He Jiang.
They all knew He Jiang's ability. She wondered if he had found some clue and used someone else's life as the price.
But He Jiang appeared even more shocked than they were.
"When was the last time you saw Wu Zicheng?"
He Jiang glared at Dong Sheng in a mix of shock and anger while Nan Yue and the others stood nearby, listening.
Dong Sheng was drenched in sweat. "When we were sleeping last night, I thought I heard someone knocking on the door. It seemed like Wu Zicheng went out for a bit, but he never came back."
Terror and fear were written all over Dong Sheng's face. "I thought he had gone to sleep in another room, so I didn't think much of it."
Since a room usually housed four people, He Jiang had resolutely given up staying with his four brothers and insisted on bunking with Huo Fuyu.
Under these circumstances, if He Jiang had come looking for Wu Zicheng, Wu Zicheng would naturally have gone out. However, his death was very suspicious.
Feeling everyone's gaze, He Jiang's expression turned ugly. "I didn't see him."
Su Sheng, who shared a room with He Jiang, suddenly frowned and stared at him. "That's not right. I heard you go out last night."
He Jiang's face turned ashen. "You're lying!"
Although He Jiang had strength in numbers, Su Sheng wasn't one to be intimidated. He sneered, "Your shoes make the loudest noise when you walk—tap, tap, tap. It was definitely you."
Once Su Sheng said this, Zhou Jie Feng and Liu Kai Xu also remembered. They chimed in, "Yeah, I definitely heard that sound while I was half-asleep."
He Jiang looked exasperated. "It definitely wasn't me!"
The two sides argued until they nearly came to blows. Although Wu Zicheng was missing, Dong Sheng and the others still trusted He Jiang and immediately turned on Su Sheng and his group.
"Alright, stop arguing. Let's find him first."
It wasn't until Huo Fuyu spoke up that they finally settled down.
Luo Liu was also very anxious when he heard someone was missing. He even told Suo Qisi about it. The villagers searched for a long time before finally finding Wu Zicheng's body deep in the forest.
Wu Zicheng looked as if he had been mauled to death by a wild beast. There was a large gash in his neck, and half of his body had been nearly eaten away.
The scavengers' expressions were grim. The insect-repellent circle hadn't been disturbed; the signs of dragging and struggling only began at the forest boundary outside the circle.
In other words, Wu Zicheng had walked here on his own before being attacked.
But why would he come here in the middle of the night?
Even if it was He Jiang...
Nan Yue looked at He Jiang, who still appeared quite angry. Given He Jiang's appearance, he didn't look like someone with high combat prowess. Would Wu Zicheng really dare to follow He Jiang out here in the middle of the night?
Either the one who came here wasn't Wu Zicheng, but He Jiang...
And when he was attacked, He Jiang used his stand-in ability...
But... Nan Yue felt a strong sense of dissonance. He Jiang's stand-in ability could only be used on people nearby last time. Had his ability improved?
Suo Qisi's expression was very grim. After all, a student coming to their village had died mysteriously. Although there were no police here, it still made him very uneasy.
"Luo Liu, what should we do with Brother Wu's body?"
The people currently following He Jiang looked panicked. One of them grabbed Luo Liu and asked.
Luo Liu sighed. "The village believes in letting nature take its course. We don't recommend moving the body. Let him dissipate where he died. There are many animals in the forest; his body will soon return to nature."
The group didn't insist further. They examined the corpse, and it was indeed killed by a wild beast.
No one wanted to linger near the body, so they headed back in small groups.
Nan Yue walked behind them. She didn't leave immediately; instead, she crouched down to take a closer look at Wu Zicheng's corpse.
Rate on N.U.
