Chapter 465 [(*^▽^*)]

Lin Leyou was puzzled, "How come we didn't notice the monitoring ball or the puppet? This guy is too good at pretending!"

Xue Rui frowned slightly. He also felt that the snake's camouflage was too good. "I'll have the monitoring ball go back and take another look. Does this snake have some kind of mimicry ability?"

They returned the monitoring ball to the location of the snake icon on the map, but they still couldn't find the snake in that large area. But the map couldn't be wrong!

So the mistake was their eyes. This python not only mimics, but it mimics incredibly well. If it didn't actively dispel the mimicry, no one would even notice.

Lin Leyou looked on incredulously. "Xiao Rui, did you find it?"

Xue Rui shook his head, even he looked shocked, as if he doubted his own eyes, "I couldn't find it."

Lin Leyou sighed, "Forget it, if we can't find it, we won't look for it. This mimicry is indeed powerful, but it's not fast and it doesn't track. In other words, if we miss the first attack, we can just run away if we're fast enough."

Xue Rui: "Then isn't it very strong? When the others come, they might be able to kill it."

Lin Leyou said, "No matter what, we've set up a lot of small traps behind us, which should be enough to wear them down. But... did you see Jiang Changdong's icon?"

Xue Rui nodded, "I see, there were four red dots in total. One disappeared just now, so there are three left. They're still over at the graveyard; it seems they're trapped. I don't know..."

Lin Leyou glanced at him, then smiled slyly, "Hehe, I wonder if they touched the Stinky Beads I left over there. If they did, they shouldn't have stayed in the same spot for so long..."

The two continued on their way. They had thought that the last stretch of road before reaching Xiushan Village might be fraught with danger, but to their surprise, they completed it very smoothly. Apart from the snake they had seen earlier, there was no danger at all. But none of that mattered!

The important thing is that they are now standing halfway up the mountain, looking at Xiushan Village in the distant valley. The desolate, dilapidated houses and vegetation that they had imagined were nowhere to be found.

There are actually people living in this Xiushan Village, and quite a few of them. At first glance, you can see thirty or forty households, and many of them have smoke coming out of their chimneys!

Lin Leyou thought she might be hallucinating, so she rubbed her eyes and looked again, but it was still the same scene she had just seen. "Xiao Rui, did you see that?"

Xue Rui: "I saw it... What's going on? Could it be that not all the villagers were taken away by the government before? Some of them didn't want to leave and stayed, and have been living there ever since?"

Lin Leyou shook his head. "Impossible. The road we came from is obviously one that no one has traveled for decades. Even if these people wanted to stay, they couldn't possibly completely cut off all contact with the outside world."

Just as they were wondering what was going on, some villagers spotted them. They stood in groups of three or five waving at them, as if beckoning them to come over.

Lin Leyou cautiously opened the map and checked it. The icon for Xiushan Village was still the same, and there were no red or green dots to be seen. This meant that the people they were seeing might not exist. If they did exist... Hmm?!

Just as he was lost in thought, many yellow dots appeared near the Xiushan Village icon. Why are these yellow dots? Is there any explanation for them? Will clicking on them bring up any explanation?

Lin Leyou nodded. "Very good, it means it did happen."

"Among those who died in Xiushan Village, there were some who loved the village exceptionally much. Even after they died, they did not want to leave the village. They wanted to protect the village until it vanished into thin air and not allow anyone who did not belong to the village to enter!"

Lin Leyou didn't think much of it after reading it, but it was a bit unfriendly to Xue Rui, because Xue Rui's identity had nothing to do with Xiushan Village, which was very dangerous.

Just as they stood still, a group of people from Xiushan Village gathered and came over. There were about ten of them. If they weren't all unarmed, people would have thought they were there to cause trouble.

Lin Leyou and Xue Rui exchanged a glance. They stood still and waited without making a sound. Lin Leyou took two steps forward and said, "Stand behind me and we'll see what happens later."

Xue Rui frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed. It was safer for Lin Leyou to stand in front than for him to stand behind. "I understand. If anything happens, I'll run immediately."

The two men waited for the people from Xiushan Village to approach, but they didn't actually come over. Instead, they stood about ten meters away. The man in front, who looked to be about fifty years old, stared at them with hostility and asked, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Lin Leyou thought for a moment, then quickly said, "Don't be nervous. I am Lin Leyou. My grandparents were originally from Xiushan Village, but they moved to a new house in accordance with the national policy. Before they passed away, they told me that I must come back to visit them."

Perhaps upon hearing that he was a descendant of the villagers of Xiushan Village, these people relaxed considerably.

"Your surname is Lin? Are you Lin Jiawen's grandson?"

Lin Leyou recalled for a moment, and realized that his grandfather's name was indeed Lin Jiawen, so he nodded, "Yes, this is my grandfather. Are you the village chief?"

He nodded. "I'm the village chief, and you're from the Lin family. So whose family is that person behind you? It's the rule in Xiushan Village that we can't bring any outsiders in. Don't even mention friends or anything like that. It's not allowed!"

Lin Leyou, quick-witted and without even thinking, turned around, grabbed Xue Rui's wrist, and said directly, "Village Chief, this isn't a friend, this is my boyfriend. I brought him back to pay respects to our ancestors!"

These words struck not only the village chief but also everyone else behind him as unbelievable.

"What? Your boyfriend? Your wife? How come it's a boy?"

Lin Leyou said, "Village chief, you've been living in the village all this time and you don't know that same-sex marriage is now allowed outside. You shouldn't be prejudiced against us."

Although everyone was shocked, they were relieved after hearing Lin Leyou's explanation.

The village chief said, "Since she's your girlfriend, it's fine to bring her back to the village. Come on over, I'll take you into the village and let everyone meet her."

Lin Leyou and Xue Rui were both a little nervous, though Lin Leyou couldn't be as nervous as Xue Rui. Xue Rui was not only nervous, his face was flushed. Lin Leyou, however, was looking ahead and didn't turn around, so he didn't see this. If he had seen it…

They slowly moved forward, and when they were about two or three meters away, the village chief and the people behind him leaned forward slightly. They seemed to be sniffing Lin Leyou's scent before revealing a relieved smile. "Not bad, not bad, it really is that kid Lin Jiawen's scent."

"Yes, I can't be mistaken, this child is definitely a descendant of Lin Jiawen."

"Let's go, let's go back to the village, and have a good talk with everyone."

"They left with the people the government sent before, supposedly to live a better life abroad. Is that true?"

Lin Leyou then realized that they hadn't believed him at all, and had even sniffed him with their noses? How dangerous! If he had been lying, would he have died the moment his lie was exposed?

They looked at the map and noticed that the yellow dots from before had all turned green. Did this mean they were friendly?

Lin Leyou: "Yes, they've all gone out to enjoy life. They have new houses to live in, and they even helped us find jobs. They eat well, drink well, and live well. Grandpa and Grandma both passed away peacefully in their old age."

They all smiled genuinely after hearing this.

"That's good, that's good... It's good that they're doing well. You know, even though there aren't any enemies coming to our door in these deep mountains, life isn't easy... It's really good that they can live a normal life!"

Lin Leyou chatted and laughed with them as they walked into the village. When they reached the village entrance, all the villagers came out. There were about a hundred people, which was quite a lot. And if he wasn't mistaken, these villagers were all wandering souls who had loved Xiushan Village so deeply that they were unwilling to leave even after death.

They are now able to appear in Xiushan Village in the form of ordinary people, and the reason why is unknown. But it is undeniable that with so many people combined, they could easily kill the two of them.

The village chief was very happy to introduce Lin Leyou and his young wife Xue Rui to everyone.

"Yes, yes, that's Lin Jiawen's scent, no doubt about it. I even took care of him for a while when he was little, I'm absolutely sure I'm not mistaken!"

“I also remember Lin Jiawen’s scent. This child’s scent is indeed fine. But why bring a male wife back? Is this really acceptable?”

"Oh, haven't you heard it's very common outside now? It's definitely fine!"

"So, can these two kids just share a room?"

"Of course! They'll definitely be sharing a room..."

"You know what, this boy is really handsome, and the two kids look so good together!"

"That's right, hehe..."

Seeing everyone making such a racket, the village chief quickly said loudly, "Alright, this is getting out of hand. Everyone, disperse! Don't you all have work to do? Go back now!"

The village chief turned around and said with a smile, "Now that you've come to Xiushan Village, treat this place as your second home, understand? You're always welcome here."

Lin Leyou narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Village Chief, we have something very important to tell you."

The village chief paused slightly. "What is it? Let's talk here. Everyone has mostly dispersed, and even if someone overhears us, it won't matter. We can trust everyone in the village."

Lin Leyou thought for a moment and decided to just say it like that, after all, this was a big deal for Xiushan Village. "Actually, the thing is like this..."