Chapter 34.5: Side Story 2

“Rest assured, there are a variety of breeds of cassavas. While this type is undomesticated, they’re not poisonous. I often ate them when I was young. If they really were poisonous, I should already be dead,” Wu Xiaojing said, beginning to pack up her own stuff.

Surviving in the wild, as long as she had a source of fire and a knife, she would not die. The survival skills that she gained since elementary school were deeply engraved into her bones and could never be forgotten. Of course, if this was a real primitive forest, then it would be really challenging to survive.

Although it was still not cooled down, Wu Xiaojing twisted one of them and exposed its white flesh and smoke. She peeled it open and blew on it a couple of times. After confirming that it was not hot, she took a small bite.

The fatty couldn’t wait any longer, ignoring the heat, she directly peeled off the skin and took a bite. After saying that it was hot while eating, she soon finished the cassava. But soon, she made an expression revealing that it wasn’t enough to satisfy herself.

Wu Xiaojing also started to peel another. Upon seeing this, Xiao Liqi also began to peel off the skin of hers. Han Xueling hesitated for a while but soon began to study how to cook them. However, she was too clumsy, so she messed up her cassava.

Wu Xiaojing quickly took over the cooking and handed the result over to Han Xueling. She said, “If you messed up, you shouldn’t just abandon it. Just eat it fast. I ate the section I screwed up with and it’s absolutely not dirty.”

“Thank you.” Han Xueling took over as her cheeks flushed with some embarrassment. Wu Xiaojing glanced at Li Er and saw that she was far away. She did not touch the cassava that was given to her.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

Li Er shook her head with some fear in her expression. “You guys should go ahead and eat. I once ate cassava with poison, so now I don’t dare to eat any more cassavas.”

“Rest assured, it’s not poisonous since we all ate it.” Wu Xiaojing comforted. It was indeed not poisonous, otherwise, she wouldn’t have eaten it.

“No, I’m still okay. You guys can eat them instead.” Li Er still chose not to eat. “You have to eat quickly since we will soon enter the village.”

The chunks of cassava gave them strength. With their stomach half full, they began to become dehydrated. Of course, eating more cassava would make them even more thirsty. Wu Xiaojing explained this and started searching for water.

She found a creek for them to quench their thirst but it was better to not drink too much from it. It would have been safer if they boiled the water first.

After eating and drinking, a few people carved a row of conspicuous words on a big stone nearby before they began to walk to the village.

The mountain roads were not easy to cross. Everyone would occasionally bump into each other,  and it took a lot of effort to find a path.

There were numerous weeds on the trail, the shrubs were tall with the tallest reaching up to people’s thighs. Wu Xiaojing looked around and felt something was wrong. It didn’t seem like anyone had walked upon these trails in a long time, causing the grass to become so lush.

She observed her surroundings again. She was encircled by steep rocks. She could either attempt to return to the original path, or she could find another trail. From above, she could clearly see the layout of the entire village. The village houses were strangely built, not following the concept of feng shui at all.

Although Wu Xiaojing didn’t learn about feng shui, she still understood that an average house would normally be facing north or south, but these houses were very peculiar. Their placements were disorderly and unnatural.

This layout was even more unfathomable than those of remote mountain villages. The casting pattern of south-facing houses had already been formed over thousands of years of the history of China. This pattern had not changed until now.

“Hey, look.” Han Xueling suddenly skipped over a few steps and picked up a water bottle. “It’s a mineral water bottle…also there are a few bags over there.” After saying that, she pointed forward.

Xiao Liqi walked over and picked up the parcel as she muttered to herself, “It seems like other people have already arrived here as well…they should be the ones who found this village first.”

“Let’s go,” the fatty hurriedly urged. “Since others have already come here, what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry and keep going, maybe we can catch up with them.”

“Wait a minute. There seems to be writing on the big stone over here…” Han Xueling suddenly crouched on the grass.

Wu Xiaojing followed his movements and cut the grass with a military knife, revealing a huge stone. The stone was irregularly shaped with a few red symbols written on it—Expensive Village.

“Expensive Village, the village is called the Expensive Village. Does it mean that the village is wealthy?” Han Xueling whispered softly.

“Let’s go and check the village out. I’m starving to death.” Li Er complained, pulling the fatty forward.

“I told you to eat before, but you didn’t. It serves you right that you’re hungry,” the fatty reprimanded, but she had no choice but to follow.

After watching this scene, Wu Xiaojing quickly followed them. Around the village were rows of dead trees without any leaves. They also noticed the farmland’s fields were devoid of any grains or crops. Instead, they were filled with luscious water plants and weeds. Clearly, the area had been abandoned for a long time.

The houses in the village were very worn down, almost all were made of a mixture of earth and stone compounds. Some houses were made of bamboo and mud mixtures as these were even more dilapidated.

There were weeds outside and cobwebs everywhere inside the houses. It didn’t seem like anyone was living here. It was like a deserted village.

“I don’t think anyone is living here. With broken houses and no traces of life, no one can live here.” The fatty came out from a nearly-collapsed house.

Han Xueling said, “Still, someone should have recently come to the village. Perhaps not here, but somewhere around the area. We should look for them since we saw some lights flashing from here last night.”

“What’s that?” Suddenly, Xiao Liqi screamed, startling the group. They quickly looked towards where she was pointing, only to see the backyard of a house. In the backyard, there was a tree. A humanoid figure hung from one of its branches.

Wu Xiaojing’s face was pale, and Han Xueling screamed as she plunged into Wu Xiaojing’s arms, shivering.

“Why are you scared? Isn’t it just a piece of clothing?” The fatty replied after hearing their screaming. Staring blankly, she noticed that it was only some clothes.

“Clothing?” Wu Xiaojing carefully scrutinized it. It really was a white dress…but what she had seen earlier was clearly a person.

“So it turns out it was just a dress that scared me.” Han Xueling quickly left Wu Xiaojing’s arms and caught up with the fatty. Obviously, she wanted to make sure that it was merely a piece of cloth.

Wu Xiaojing also tried to follow, but she couldn’t move her legs. How could she forget what she previously witnessed? She clearly saw a person.

“Come back, Xueling!” Xiao Liqi shouted.

“It’s alright, I just want to examine it,” Han Xueling replied, already catching up to the fatty.

Wu Xiaojing observed Xiao Liqi’s pale expression. She wanted to follow the others, but she withdrew her footsteps.

Wu Xiaojing hesitated and asked, “Manager Xiao, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Xiao Liqi shot a glance at Wu Xiaojing as her expression was unsightly. Obviously, she had seen the same thing as Wu Xiaojing did. She said, “Wu Xiaojing, did you see something a moment ago?”

Wu Xiaojing did not answer. With a solemn expression, she watched the white dress fluttering in the wind. Judging by her observations, there seemed to be a faint trace of blood on the clothes.

Although Wu Xiaojing did not answer, Xiao Liqi also understood that she must have seen the same thing, otherwise, she would have gone closer with the others. Two out of their group of five people knew that it was not an illusion. Although she did not believe in ghosts or gods, she still avoided any trace of them.

“Wu Xiaojing, let’s go before the sky grows dark. We should head back and leave the village,” Xiao Liqi suggested.

“Okay.” Wu Xiaojing glanced at her, unexpectedly agreeing. “Let’s call them over.”

Although Wu Xiaojing did not have many expressions on her face, she was still in a deep state of fear. The experience from last night once again flashed into her mind. If this was a deserted village, were the lights from yesterday just an illusion? Was it merely an illusion that brought them here?

And this place was not just a deserted village, but also a haunted one. For some reason, the people of this village may have already died or left long ago.

“Help! Save me!”

“Please come save that person. Hurry up, someone fell into the well…”

—Suddenly, there was a cry for help from a distance away.

Wu Xiaojing paused for a second and glanced at Xiao Liqi. After hearing a cry for help, Xiao Liqi seemed stunned as she said, “Perhaps, someone ran into an accident. Let’s go take a look.”

Wu Xiaojing thought so as well. They were not the only ones to look for the village as there was also a group of people led by Wang Xiequn.

They weren’t too far away. After navigating around the house, they reached their destination. From a distance, they saw a petite woman crying. When she noticed their group coming over, her expression brightened.

“What happened?” Xiao Liqi rushed to ask her.

“He fell into the well…fell into the well…” The woman cried.

Wu Xiaojing looked straight into the well and saw that it was empty. It was devoid of anything and dried out. If someone fell in, that person would probably die.

“Whoever fell in, are you okay?” Wu Xiaojing screamed. However, a burst of echoes rushed into her mind. She felt as if someone was screaming into her head as buzzing sounds came from everywhere around her. Yet, no voice replied to her inquiry.

At this point, she felt like her waist was being hugged. She wanted to pull herself away from the perpetrator. But when she looked towards the area behind herself, she saw no one. Who was the one touching her? Her heart sank. She could only think about breaking away from these invisible hands.

She struggled with all her strength, but who would have known that the perpetrator would be this strong. At some point, she couldn’t resist anymore and her body fell just like how a kite would after its string was cut. With a scream, she fell to the ground. The buzzing that echoed within her mind instantly disappeared as it was replaced by several cries filled with concern.

“Wu Xiaojing, are you insane?”

“Wu Xiaojing, wake up, wake up…”

“What happened to her? Why did she end up like this?”

“Damn it, it’s raining. Everyone, hurry and find a place to hide from the rain.”

“Senior Sister, Senior Sister, are you alright? What’s happening to her? Please, don’t frighten me!” The warm and sweet voice was filled with concern. While nice to listen to, it was a pity that the speaker was sobbing so heavily.

Wu Xiaojing wanted to open her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy. After a while, she wearily fainted.

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