The next day, we first visited Master Zhang Qingxiao, and then took Luo Tianhe's minivan to Heishui Village.

The mountain road was rugged, but the scenery was quite nice. We drove from morning until afternoon before finally arriving at our destination.

This time, we weren't commissioned by anyone; we were simply looking for clues, so the three of us decided to pretend to be tourists.

Contrary to expectations of complete abandonment, there were still villagers coming and going at the village entrance.

Moreover, at the entrance of the village, there is a crooked wooden pole with a weathered wooden sign hanging on it. The edges of the sign are rotten, indicating that it has been there for many years.

The words "Blackwater Village" should have been written in red paint, but they have completely faded and turned gray.

Luo Tianhe and I exchanged an excited glance. We had arrived at our destination. It looked fairly normal here, and it shouldn't be as dangerous as we had imagined.

I turned around and patted Li Huai, telling the kid to get up quickly; he'd been sleeping like a log the whole way.

I asked him to learn to drive before, but he didn't. So Luo Tianhe and I took turns driving, and my back ached the whole way.

Fortunately, there is still a dirt road in the village that is barely passable by vehicles.

So we didn't have to carry all the prepared things in ourselves, and there were only sparse crops growing on both sides of the road.

This scene puzzled me. I used to be from the countryside, and my family used to farm.

No lazy person would manage their land like this.

But it seems this isn't just one person's land, but rather the land of an entire village.

I couldn't help but ponder: do the people here not rely on farming for a living at all?!

After I called out to him a few times, Li Huai finally sat up.

He rubbed his eyes, looked around the village, and said with some surprise:

"So there really are people living here."

At this moment, Luo Tianhe stopped the car, carefully observed the surrounding villagers, and looked at me with a furrowed brow:

“Something’s not right, Chen Yan. These villagers seem very stiff. Look at them, they don’t react much when they see us, they just glance at us at most.”

After looking around carefully, I realized that Luo Tianhe was right.

Most of these villagers were dressed in dark-colored, somewhat worn-out coarse cloth clothes, as if they lived several decades ago.

When they saw our car, they didn't show much expression; their cloudy eyes were incredibly empty, as if they didn't care about anything.

Moreover, the villagers' faces all had an abnormal sallow complexion, and they lacked vitality.

"That's right, this place does feel a bit strange, but that's precisely why we haven't come to the wrong place."

I replied nonchalantly that it would be strange if things were normal here, since this village is no ordinary place.

I patted Luo Tianhe's seat.

"It's okay, just keep driving in, someone will eventually help us."

Luo Tianhe nodded, then shifted into first gear and slowly drove into the village.

The houses in the village are all low and old brick and tile structures, with many walls covered with dark water stains and mottled marks, looking quite old.

To our surprise, out of so many houses, very few were newly renovated buildings.

We thought the village that possessed this kind of evil magic must be very wealthy.

The result was quite different from what we had expected.

What shocked us even more was that the village was unusually quiet; apart from the sound of our car engine, we could hardly hear any other sounds.

There wasn't even the sound of roosters crowing, dogs barking, or children playing.

Surprisingly, no one paid any attention to us along the way.

We drove in silence and soon arrived at a small, relatively flat open space in the village.

This place should be similar to a village committee or a village square.

"I can't take it anymore, stop the car first, I need to go to the toilet, I'm dying to use it."

Li Huai suddenly patted Luo Tianhe on the back and urged him on.

"Like a lazy donkey that poops and pees a lot, it's already peeing as soon as we got to the village," Luo Tianhe complained, but still stopped the car. Li Huai pulled open the car door and jumped out. Seeing this, I followed him out of the car.

As soon as I got out of the car, I smelled a strange odor; the earthy smell seemed particularly strong here.

Moreover, I noticed that the soil here also seemed to be particularly dark in color, even somewhat close to dark red.

"Out-of-towner?"

Suddenly, an old, hoarse voice sounded behind me.

Does this guy walk without footsteps? It startled me.

I turned around and saw an old man wearing a dark jacket, his body as thin as a withered twig, standing behind us.

His face was covered with deep wrinkles, his old face like cracked tree bark.

His eyes were deeply sunken, and although they were cloudy, they possessed a sharp quality.

I don't know why, but I felt a little guilty in his presence.

But I quickly masked my guilty conscience and put on a natural demeanor.

"Yes, sir, we are tourists. It's getting late, so we'd like to find a place to stay for the night."

"Tourists?" The old man repeated my words when he heard me say that, a strange smile curving his lips.

"It's unbelievable that tourists can even wander into our Blackwater Village,"

The old man would stop speaking abruptly halfway through, leaving me somewhat confused.

"Chen Yan, what are you guys talking about? Have you found a place to stay yet?"

It was Li Huai who had finished relieving himself and returned. Only then did I realize that the old man was staring intently at Li Huai.

No wonder he suddenly stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

What does this old man mean? Does he have ill intentions towards Li Huai?

I couldn't help but wonder.

Suddenly the old man spoke, his voice hoarse, but seemingly carrying a strange emotion.

"At the east end of the village, next to the old locust tree, there is an empty house. You can go and ask there. Remember, stay quietly in the house at night and don't wander around."

After saying that, he turned around and disappeared without waiting for our response.

The three of us looked at each other, feeling that the old man, like the village, exuded an indescribable eeriness.

"Why was Old Deng staring at me like that? It made me a little creeped out. Is he gay?"

Seeing that the old man seemed to have walked away, Li Huai finally spoke.

My lips twitched. I wondered what Li Huai was thinking all day long, always talking nonsense.

Luo Tianhe rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Yes, yes, then you should wear your pants to bed at night and try your best to protect yourself."

I frowned, hesitating whether or not to stay there for the night.

Soon, I made a decision:

"Let's take a walk around the village before it gets completely dark. If it's not absolutely necessary, we should try to find a place to stay."