Sun Xiaoxiao's eyes went black, and she almost fainted from anger.
However, Hill looked innocent, leaving her with nowhere to direct her anger. Sun Xiaoxiao was afraid she would injure herself from holding it in.
"Forget it, we can't win..." Ding Ding said with a sheepish grin, stepping in as a peacemaker.
Three wisps of smoke drifted simultaneously to the left. Duan Chen's nose twitched as he caught a whiff of the salty, slightly fishy sea air.
"Left."
"Straight ahead."
"Turn right."
"Slightly left."
Under Du Qingyi's command, the thick fog gradually thinned, and in the darkness of night, a diagonally placed stone tablet came into view.
Two powerful characters were carved onto the stone tablet.
Yueling.
"It's so late, should we rest in the car for the night and enter the village tomorrow morning?"
Yuan Yuan yawned. He had been kept awake all night by Wang Han, and had rushed to Yueling Village early in the morning. He was truly exhausted.
It wasn't just him; Jun Ci and the others felt the same. Even Hill seemed to have caught the fatigue, letting out a small yawn.
"Yes, everyone rest first. We'll enter the village tomorrow morning," Duan Chen nodded.
"I'll keep watch."
Du Qingyi, having slept enough, offered to keep watch, and no one else objected.
Tu Feiyuan leaped with a bound, landing directly in Hill's arms.
Sun Xiaoxiao and the other two were now in their sea demon forms and did not need sleep. Jia Yunlian, on the other hand, couldn't sleep at all and leaned against the car window, staring outside, lost in thought.
Du Qingyi hummed a tune, idly starting to listen to everyone's thoughts.
"Hey... I advise you not to think about escaping. You won't be able to get away in this situation."
"You too, flat-chested girl."
"What? You're actually thinking about who's bigger between you and her?"
"Oh..."
Du Qingyi was slightly surprised when she heard Jia Yunlian, but quickly recovered.
Could she actually have that kind of relationship with that apostle?
"What did you... just call me?" Sun Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth.
To prevent her from waking everyone up, Du Qingyi could only smile and try to placate her.
"Just kidding, just kidding."
"She's like a thief," Ding Ding stared at Du Qingyi with a wronged expression.
"It's not wrong for me to say that, and it's quite accurate," Du Qingyi's eyes lit up.
"So... what are you thinking about?"
She set her sights on Duan Chen.
...
At this moment, in Duan Chen's dream.
"Hurry... hurry... Duan Chen..."
It was pitch black, and one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.
Duan Chen stood in the darkness, feeling an inexplicable unease.
It was a woman's voice, and the other party kept urging him.
"Duan Chen... hurry... hurry and save me..."
Duan Chen broke out in a cold sweat. He didn't even dare to move. It was too dark. This abnormal darkness seemed to trap him here, as if two tentacles would reach out from the darkness at any moment and drag him into an endless abyss.
"Duan Chen... Duan Chen... Duan Chen!"
"Ugh!"
Du Qingyi clutched her chest, and a trickle of blood slowly flowed from the corner of her mouth.
Her eyes were filled with horror, and she panted heavily.
Jia Yunlian sneered. Who was Duan Chen? How could his heart be read by a mere agent?
Du Qingyi wiped away the blood and slowly calmed her breathing.
What was that, exactly?
Morning.
"Ah... I slept so well."
Tu Feiyuan stretched his paws energetically, rolling around in Hill's embrace.
"My waist hurts... my back too."
Sleeping in the car had limited their postures, and Yuan Yuan and Jun Ci couldn't move freely, but their mental state was clearly much better than yesterday.
"Get energized. We'll get off the car and enter the village soon."
Duan Chen squinted, lost in thought.
Why had yesterday's dream felt so real? Who was the woman in the dream? Was it his mother? Why did she feel strangely familiar?
"What are you thinking about?"
Hill blew into his ear.
Duan Chen shivered.
"Nothing," he said with a smile, refocusing his mind.
"Let's go."
The group of people got out of the car and followed Duan Chen and Du Qingyi into Yueling Village.
"It's so quiet."
Speaking here, Yuan Yuan didn't even dare to raise his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something.
"It's too quiet," Jun Ci frowned.
That's right, it was too quiet all around. There wasn't even the sound of the wind rustling through the grass. The entire Yueling Village was like a dead village.
"What did they say?"
Duan Chen looked at Du Qingyi.
"They said they don't know anything," Du Qingyi shook her head, indicating that her mind-reading had yielded no results this time.
It made sense. Jia Yunlian and the others had never been here before, so it was normal for them not to know about Yueling Village.
"True Sight!"
Duan Chen concentrated his gaze.
The Yueling Village before him transformed completely.
Sea demon corpses were scattered across the mountainside, and green blood flowed down to his feet. His expression changed, and he couldn't help but step back a few paces.
The village was in ruins, exuding an aura of desolation.
He took a deep breath.
"This is the place you are looking for?"
Duan Chen's tone was filled with heavy suspicion. He used his "Ancient Script" ability to share the scene before them into everyone's minds, including the four women, Sun Xiaoxiao.
"Ugh—"
Sun Xiaoxiao, Tian Qi, and Ding Ding were now in their sea demon forms. Seeing this scene was akin to an ordinary person seeing a battlefield littered with corpses; it was overwhelming both physically and mentally.
"So disgusting... ugh—"
This was practically a slaughterhouse for sea demons!
How did this happen? Was it a war between the divine and evil factions?
Duan Chen didn't have time to ponder before a young man appeared before them seemingly out of nowhere.
When the True Sight was withdrawn, the young man looked like any ordinary young man. However, when the True Sight was activated, a small monster was clinging to his shoulder.
The small monster was dark green all over, with one large and one small eye that darted around like black beans, observing Duan Chen and his group.
"Are you... here as guests?"
The young man smiled faintly, his grin stretching to his ears, revealing scarlet gums and pearly white teeth.
"Whoa..."
Ding Ding's mouth was covered by Hill.
"Yes, we were planning to climb the mountain but somehow ended up here. May we be guests here?" Duan Chen maintained his smile.
"Of course... Are the four ladies able to?" The young man looked at Jia Yunlian and the other four, who were bound.
"Oh... they are able to."
"Alright, please follow me... Is there also a young lady?"
He looked towards Kong Ning's position.
Duan Chen remained unfazed.
"Yes."
"Alright, one more person is fine. Follow me, I'll take you to see the village elders to see how they arrange things."
The young man smiled slightly, seemingly unconcerned and not even suspecting Duan Chen and his group of being kidnappers.
The more bizarre, the more normal.
Duan Chen inexplicably felt this sentence described Yueling Village.
"Bizarre things are normal here."
Du Qingyi had clearly noticed this as well. She pulled out a lollipop from somewhere, unwrapped it, and put it in her mouth.
She narrowed her eyes.
So sweet.