That light came from the lantern at the door.
Zhou Jie Feng got out of bed to find some water. Only he, Su Sheng, and Huo Fuyu were in the room.
Liu Kai Xu, afraid of being dragged down by Zhou Jie Feng, had badgered He Jiang until he could move into his room.
He Jiang originally wanted Huo Fuyu to come over, but Huo Fuyu flatly refused.
Perhaps because there was a high-level player in the room, Zhou Jie Feng wasn't that afraid.
Since he hadn't died then, it meant this wasn't an absolute death rule.
Not to mention he had tools for protection; escaping once wouldn't be a problem.
Just thinking about it was bad luck.
The room was silent. The faint breathing of the other two made Zhou Jie Feng feel at ease.
"Rustle."
"Rustle."
Zhou Jie Feng poked his ear with his pinky. He kept thinking he heard something.
Strange...
"Rustle."
"Rustle."
Zhou Jie Feng was certain now. There was definitely a sound.
It sounded like... like the sound of something rubbing against the floor as it moved, but it was so faint that it was impossible to hear without listening carefully.
Zhou Jie Feng circled the room a few times but couldn't find the source. He didn't plan on going out; he wasn't the type to go looking for trouble.
He lay back on the bed, closing his eyes to try and sleep.
"Rustle."
"Rustle."
But the sound stayed right in his ear, making it impossible to sleep.
This constant, repetitive sound was like mental pollution. He felt like he was starting to have auditory hallucinations.
Countless rustles layered together, the sound amplified to infinity.
Zhou Jie Feng rolled over irritably. Huo Fuyu and Su Sheng were sleeping quite far from him, while he was on the left side against the wall.
How could they sleep so soundly? Did they not hear such a loud noise?
Just as Zhou Jie Feng was hesitating whether to wake the other two, he suddenly stopped moving and held his breath for some reason.
He... seemed to have found where the sound was coming from.
That sound...
It was coming from inside his body.
When Nan Yue woke up the next day, she heard the sound of someone vomiting.
By the time she ran to the front of Su Sheng's house, Su Sheng was at the door rinsing his mouth with fresh water.
There were a few bloody footprints on the ground, likely left by Su Sheng.
Something had happened to Zhou Jie Feng.
To be precise, he was missing.
But human organs and blood were scattered all over the bed. When Su Sheng woke up, he was covered in blood and viscera. He was so disgusted he vomited on the spot.
Huo Fuyu was fine. He slept on the outermost side and hadn't been touched by anything. Having seen Su Sheng's plight, he had even carefully avoided the bloodstains and was now examining the crime scene.
A circle of people surrounded the stone house, but only Nan Yue went inside.
"He was eaten."
Huo Fuyu looked up at Nan Yue with a calm gaze.
"The leftovers were taken away."
Nan Yue looked at the hole, which was smeared with blood. The rest of the corpse must have been dragged out through here.
"Didn't you hear anything last night?"
Su Sheng was still swearing and muttering, unable to answer.
Huo Fuyu looked at Nan Yue. "No. Though Zhou Jie Feng seemed unable to sleep, tossing and turning constantly."
Nan Yue glanced at him. "You didn't get up to check?"
This didn't fit his caring persona.
Huo Fuyu stood up and shook his head. "The noise was too faint. I thought I was dreaming."
"Thinking back, it must have been those things feeding."
Huo Fuyu smiled at Nan Yue. His words were flawless, but his eyes were meaningful.
Nan Yue didn't want to talk to him further. Huo Fuyu's true nature was unknown, and besides, would she have gone to save Zhou Jie Feng herself?
"But if the things are so small, how did they drag Zhou Jie Feng out?"
Zhu Xi Ning was outside looking for bloodstains, but unfortunately, they vanished once they hit the grass. She circled around several times but found nothing.
"Ants can lift things many times their own body weight."
Wen Xiang Yuan followed Zhu Xi Ning like a little bodyguard. She explained, "If it's a swarm of ants, lifting all of Zhou Jie Feng wouldn't be a problem, let alone just a part of him."
Zhu Xi Ning: ...That description is a bit creepy.
She was somewhat surprised. "Is that so?"
Although the academy taught common knowledge about mission worlds, it was all from textbooks. She couldn't relate much of it to reality.
It seemed Wen Xiang Yuan was the type of student who had learned her theory well.
Zhu Xi Ning patted Wen Xiang Yuan's head. "You're amazing."
Wen Xiang Yuan smiled. "But, you know, normal ants can't kill something as large as a human, especially without making a sound."
Wen Xiang Yuan shrugged. "So I don't know if it was ants or not."
Nan Yue had been listening to their conversation. She asked, "So this thing should have the habits of an ant, but it's not entirely an ant."
Wen Xiang Yuan thought carefully. "Correct."
So what exactly were they facing?
When Suo Qisi came in, his naturally dark face was somewhat pale. He looked terrified, muttering to himself about who knows what.
Luo Liu was clearly frightened. He stood dazed on the spot, lost in thought. It wasn't until Suo Qisi organized the villagers to clean up the stone house that Luo Liu snapped out of it.
"Let's leave."
No one expected Luo Liu to say that. His lips trembled violently.
"Two people are dead already. Never mind explaining to the academy, I don't even know how to face their families."
"I said we should come see the Antswamp Village sacrificial rite because my ancestral home is here. But now that someone is dead, I... I..."
Luo Liu began to stutter, his eyes turning red. Everyone exchanged looks, feeling a bit helpless.
The NPC they encountered this time wasn't a ghost; furthermore, he had a natural fear of these events.
Luo Liu could suggest leaving, but they couldn't.
If they left Antswamp Village before the five days were up, not one of them would survive.
Nan Yue felt like those characters in movies who deliberately go looking for death.
Wen Xiang Yuan stepped forward and gently comforted Luo Liu. He slowly calmed down.
"Coming to Antswamp Village was everyone's idea. No one will blame you. Neither you nor the villagers knew this would happen."
"The villagers have been taking good care of us these past few days. I suspect... it's possible those two just provoked some wild beast."
Wen Xiang Yuan knew it was unreasonable to stay after someone had died, so she could only play her final card.
"...We're already here... let's at least finish watching the sacrificial rite before we go."
Finally, under everyone's scattered words of comfort, Luo Liu agreed to stay. He went to Suo Qisi to say something and came back looking dejected.
"Suo Da seems to know what happened, but he won't tell me."
Nan Yue and the others exchanged glances. In the end, it was Huo Fuyu, who looked very approachable, who stepped forward to inquire.
Adhering to the principle that outsiders whose companions had been killed must find out what happened, he actually managed to learn something.
"The village head says he doesn't know what killed them either, but bad things always tend to happen in the village whenever the day of the sacrificial rite approaches."
Rate on N.U.
