Qi Family Gang (14)

"Hiss... this looks like an allergic reaction."

There was a patch on his chest as well; although it wasn't severe, it looked a bit creepy in the firelight.

"Is there any on your back?"

He turned toward Jiang Yuhao, who scratched the back of his own neck and looked carefully.

"No."

"Phew..."

Yin Qian breathed a sigh of relief and complained, "It's just an allergy. I get them whenever a bug bites me. This ointment I exchanged with points doesn't seem to do much."

Even as he said that, Yin Qian still exchanged for a new tube.

"But it feels cool when I put it on, which makes it a bit more comfortable."

"It's also possible this isn't just a simple insect bite, but related to the mission."

Gu Xiang Kai's cold remark silenced Yin Qian, who had been trying to lighten the mood with jokes.

Did you have to be so cold and blunt?

He applied the medicine to himself with a bitter expression.

"I don't have many, just a few on my exposed arms."

Gu Xiang Kai raised his arm, showing a patch of rashes on his bulging forearm muscles.

"But what exactly are these rashes?"

Seeing that everyone wanted to discuss it, Yin Qian could only join in.

"And the things in those jars, how did they turn into rice?"

Jiang Yuhao added once more, "I saw them move for a split second."

Yin Qian closed his eyes and sighed.

It was getting weirder.

There was absolutely nothing connecting these occurrences.

"Let's rest for now."

This was their third night on the mission.

After Nan Yue returned, Jiang Siyan sat back against the wall; she didn't push him further, wanting to avoid both of them having a poor night's sleep.

"A-Nan, this bamboo building is very clean."

Zhu Xi Ning rolled over and looked at Nan Yue. "At least there are no returning spirits, and that white mist doesn't seem to be inside."

"What about those villagers? Do you find them familiar?"

Zhu Xi Ning shook her head. "I didn't pay much attention to their appearance, but the feeling they give off is very strange."

"They're a lot like nothingness."

Nan Yue looked over. "Nothingness?"

Zhu Xi Ning and Nan Yue conversed while lying down.

"Yes. They feel no different from an empty space. If I hadn't seen them with my own eyes and relied only on my perception, I would've thought no one was there."

"But Headman Qi interacted with them. They should be living people, or at least not illusions."

Zhu Xi Ning hummed in agreement. "They took the silver, so they really should be human."

"This mission is too strange. I feel like my intuition and perception are just causing more confusion."

Every time Zhu Xi Ning felt something, it was different from what she saw, and even the things they saw would change.

It all left them with no clear way to proceed.

"Don't worry."

"You've already seen that eye, so our focus is correct—it's water, and everything related to it."

"Whether it's the rice or the white figures, they first appeared in water or were transformed from it."

"At least we know there's something wrong with the water here."

Zhu Xi Ning sighed. "We still need to leave as early as possible tomorrow."

As for whether they actually could leave, no one said a word.

Night deepened, and the entire Fish Fry Village fell into silence.

Nan Yue and the others occupied the room closest to the door, with Headman Qi's room just a bit further in.

He was quite the good leader, never thinking of hiding behind his subordinates.

Consequently, Headman Qi's snoring reached their room.

Fortunately, everyone was exhausted and managed to drift off to sleep despite the thunderous snoring.

In the middle of the night, Dapeng was woken by the need to urinate; he rubbed his eyes and stood up with a yawn.

These stilt houses didn't have toilets; usually, when people lived in them, there would be chamber pots or commodes.

But since no one had lived here for a long time, those things were naturally absent, and they hadn't thought to prepare any.

He could only go downstairs to relieve himself.

After a moment of hesitation, Dapeng nudged Zhao Wu beside him. "Accompany me to take a leak."

Zhao Wu rolled over and swatted Dapeng's hand away.

"Looking for company just to pee? You coward. Go ask A-Nan to go with you; she's the toughest."

Dapeng really couldn't bring himself to ask a woman to accompany him to the toilet, so he walked out while grumbling under his breath.

His body was getting itchier, and the sleepiness he had finally managed to gather was overwhelmed by the sensation.

His chest and back were covered in rashes; he figured he'd been bitten by some poisonous insect earlier, but horsemen weren't afraid of a little itching.

But now it was becoming a real nuisance; he'd have to find a doctor to get some medicine once they were out of the woods.

Or maybe ask Old Jiang?

Old Jiang knew a lot; before joining the horse gang, he had even followed a traveling doctor.

Dapeng planned to ask Jiang Siyan first thing tomorrow morning if there were any wild herbs that could relieve the itching.

He went downstairs and finished his business by some bushes; when he turned around, he saw a villager from Fish Fry Village standing not far away.

"Damn, scared the hell out of me."

Dapeng almost jumped out of his skin. He wanted to curse, but then he remembered the oddities of the journey and the fact that they were staying in the villagers' home.

Even a powerful dragon shouldn't cross a local snake; since both the headman and the manager were being so polite, he could only force a stiff smile.

"It's... it's so late, why aren't you resting yet?"

The villager was wrapped in white cloth from head to toe, appearing exceptionally glaring in the pitch-black night.

It was also exceptionally creepy.

The villager didn't answer.

Dapeng swallowed hard; even though a person was standing right in front of him, for some reason, he felt a wave of dread.

"Well... anyway, I'm heading back. You should go back and rest early too."

Dapeng took two steps back, but there was no sound from behind him. He looked back and saw the villager still standing in the same spot.

But this time, the villager opened their mouth toward him.

A massive black hole split open on the face wrapped in white cloth.

It was the first time Dapeng realized a human mouth could open that wide.

There were no teeth or tongue inside the black hole. The villager maintained that bizarre, wide-mouthed pose, screaming silently at Dapeng.

Yes, a scream.

Although Dapeng couldn't hear anything—after all, a mouth like that couldn't produce sound—he just felt that the villager was screaming.

The mouth grew larger and larger, as if the skin could stretch infinitely.

The black hole, occupying most of the face, gaped at Dapeng without a single sound in the silent night.

...

Nan Yue was woken by the sound of voices. She opened her eyes and looked around.

Both of her companions were there.

Seeing Nan Yue awake, Jiang Siyan handed her a small tin bowl containing warm water.

"It's a little past five in the morning."

Nan Yue took it and had a sip. "Where did you start a fire?"

"Quite a few people outside are already awake. They started it."

Seeing that Zhu Xi Ning was also up, Jiang Siyan handed her another bowl.

"Old Jiang, you really are a great help."

Zhu Xi Ning remarked with a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

Nan Yue listened to the voices outside, which were deliberately hushed to avoid waking others but still sounded somewhat abrupt.

"It seems something happened."

"A horseman got up in the night and saw something strange with the villagers."

Nan Yue and the others finished dressing and pushed open the door. Gu Xiang Kai was already sitting by the fire, gesturing for them to come over.