Antswamp Village (29)

A sense of fear suddenly filled the stone house.

Nan Yue... something was wrong.

Zhu Xi Ning could even see a green light in Nan Yue's eyes, a result of being blinded by hunger.

It was over.

If Nan Yue wanted to eat her too...

Zhu Xi Ning thought sorrowfully that she would definitely be nothing more than a meal.

Nan Yue leaned forward. Gu Xiang Kai and Zhu Xi Ning slowly retreated, looking for the best escape route.

Like a cat, Nan Yue approached them on all fours. Her movements were slow but elegantly feline.

Her gaze was fixed on Zhu Xi Ning without moving, barely even blinking. She possessed an intensely uncanny, artificial presence.

Then she spoke, her voice so raspy it was unrecognizable.

"...Knock her out."

It took Gu Xiang Kai a few seconds to realize Nan Yue was talking to him. Without hesitation, he struck with the edge of his hand, and Wen Xiang Yuan slumped softly into his arms.

After doing so, the two looked back at Nan Yue. To be honest, if Wen Xiang Yuan had made a scene, Gu Xiang Kai could have restrained her with one hand.

But Nan Yue...

"Knock me out."

Nan Yue's eyes gleamed like those of a nocturnal animal.

"Then tie me up."

Gu Xiang Kai and Zhu Xi Ning didn't sleep all night. It wasn't until the sky brightened that Nan Yue woke up after a brief struggle.

She had been tied up during the latter half of the night and hadn't used that thing's power, so she managed to get some sleep. She saw that Gu Xiang Kai and Zhu Xi Ning looked even worse than she did.

"A-Nan, are you okay?"

Zhu Xi Ning helped Nan Yue up but didn't untie the strips of clothing binding her yet.

"It's okay. It seems it only happens at night."

Zhu Xi Ning observed for a moment longer. Just then, Wen Xiang Yuan also sat up with a groan, rubbing her neck. "Ouch... that hurts."

Gu Xiang Kai's face was stiff. He wanted to reach out but felt it was inappropriate. Finally, he said stiffly, "Sorry, I hit too hard."

Wen Xiang Yuan might have a stiff neck; her head tilted slightly to the side. "Was it you who hit me? Why?"

Seeing that Wen Xiang Yuan was also fine, Zhu Xi Ning finally untied Nan Yue and explained what had happened the previous night.

Wen Xiang Yuan let out an "Ah". "I thought I was dreaming. I was so hungry in the dream and wanted to eat something, but the steamed buns I felt were cold and hard..."

Gu Xiang Kai looked down at his chest, his expression twitching.

"Strange, why was it you two who had issues?"

Zhu Xi Ning couldn't figure it out. Setting Nan Yue aside, Wen Xiang Yuan had basically never been away from them. How did she get affected too?

Nan Yue got off the bed to stretch her limbs. "There's one thing Wen-wen and I both encountered that you didn't."

She looked at Zhu Xi Ning. "Wen-wen and I both saw hallucinations in the ant nest."

Zhu Xi Ning thought carefully. Wen Xiang Yuan indeed almost had an accident back then; she had been the one to pull her back.

But Wen Xiang Yuan didn't have much of an impression of it herself. Perhaps because the ant nest's location was low, the hallucinations weren't that intense.

But the hallucinations Nan Yue experienced were the most intense. Otherwise, with her self-control, she wouldn't have needed to use that thing's power.

Zhu Xi Ning's expression changed. "But... I remember Shang Xi and Zhao Ke'er also had hallucinations."

Nan Yue looked up at the door of the stone house. Last night, all the remaining male scavengers except Huo Fuyu had followed Xie Roufen and the villagers to the ancestral hall.

In other words, there were only people from three stone houses and Ga Ya left in the village.

But from the time they woke up until now, it had been very quiet outside.

Something happened.

Nan Yue stood up and opened the door, telling the other three to wait for her in the stone house.

"I'll go with you."

Gu Xiang Kai's expression wasn't great, but he couldn't let Nan Yue take the risk alone.

Zhu Xi Ning and Wen Xiang Yuan stayed behind. Nan Yue led Gu Xiang Kai to push open the door of the neighboring stone house.

As soon as the door opened, the two recoiled because the smell of blood inside was too heavy.

Two people were piled on the stone bed. They were Zhao Ke'er and Song Sisi. Song Sisi, who was pinned underneath, had already been reduced to half a skeleton.

And Shang Xi was in the corner furthest from the stone bed. She had used a bedsheet to tie herself up tightly, with the other end fastened to the door.

The ground was a mess. It was clear that Shang Xi had struggled violently at the time, but fortunately, the bedsheet was quite strong.

And Shang Xi's sleeve blade was embedded in Zhao Ke'er's temple. The dagger she kept hidden on her leg had also been thrown far across the stone house.

She had likely been afraid she would use the dagger to cut the bedsheet.

When Nan Yue and Gu Xiang Kai opened the door, the tethered bedsheet was pulled, and Shang Xi woke up.

"...You're here."

Shang Xi's voice was hoarse, her eyes filled with exhaustion.

Nan Yue walked over to untie her and patted her. "It's over."

Shang Xi looked at Nan Yue. "You too..."

Nan Yue's gaze shifted to the gruesome scene on the bed. "It seems everyone who saw hallucinations in the ant nest developed an intense hunger."

Shang Xi's hands and feet were covered in purple marks from being bound. She rubbed her limbs. "I didn't trust her, so I had to kill her."

In that situation, if Shang Xi hadn't tied herself up, she might have joined the ranks of the man-eaters.

But if she left Zhao Ke'er alone, she was truly afraid the woman would eat her too.

Tying someone up or knocking them out required too much effort and carried certain risks. Shang Xi had no reason to take risks for Zhao Ke'er.

She brushed the dust off her clothes, perhaps wanting to explain to Nan Yue. After thinking for a moment, she still spoke up. "If it were a teammate, I would have helped her. But she was just a chance acquaintance; I didn't want to save her at the cost of my own life."

What Shang Xi didn't say was that Zhao Ke'er had eaten her own friend and teammate. Even if she left the mission, she would likely go mad.

Nan Yue turned around then. Hearing Shang Xi's words, she turned back to look at her. "You don't need to explain to me. Except for my teammates, I'm not responsible for anyone else."

"Besides, it's not easy to protect oneself in a mission. The moment she ate her teammate... she was no longer human."

"If it were me, I might even thank you for giving me a painless death."

Nan Yue still saw Shang Xi's struggle and self-doubt. But as scavengers on missions, their lives were always hanging by a thread. As long as someone wasn't like He Jiang, Nan Yue felt she could understand.

Shang Xi was a good scavenger. She didn't want the other woman to carry such a heavy cross because of this.

If it weren't for this distorted mission world, why would they need to struggle against their own bottom lines of humanity and live in such pain?

"Let's go. We're about to leave."

Nan Yue said softly. Shang Xi took a few deep breaths and quickly adjusted her emotions.

Huo Fuyu was already waiting outside. He glanced at the situation inside the room and raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, but he didn't ask anything.

After meeting up, they went to find Ga Ya.

Ga Ya was sitting quietly alone in the open space in front of her stone house, eyes closed, holding that pitch-black ant mask in her hands.

"For tonight's sacrificial rite, do we need to do anything?"

Ga Ya sat motionless. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of her chest, one would have thought she was dead.

Huo Fuyu narrowed his eyes and suddenly placed his hand lightly on Ga Ya's shoulder. In an instant, a flood of images rushed in, and his face turned deathly pale.