Chapter 2 Someone's Dead
Xie Liang remembered that he entered the vortex after Xiao Ha and was the fourth person to enter.
But he looked around several times and didn't see the people who came in earlier.
As the sky gradually darkened, Xie Liang subconsciously wanted to take out his cell phone from his pocket to check the time, but his pocket was empty.
He remembered that his cell phone was still in his pocket when he entered this strange place. Could it be that he had dropped it when he came in? Xie Liang took a deep breath, looked around, and gave up looking for his cell phone.
There is a small path in front of me. The withered weeds on the roadside show that there is a lack of water here, and the air can also be felt to be very dry.
From a distance, the end of the path seems to be the entrance to the village.
It was already dusk, and Xie Liang took advantage of the light yet to walk quickly towards the village entrance.
When he was halfway down the path, Xie Liang heard the voice of the little girl who had been on the bus coming from the front.
"Grandma... where are you... wuwuwu..."
The closer we got to the village entrance, the more withered and yellow the willow trees lining the road looked, and the nearby farmland also looked dry and cracked.
The little girl was walking in front of the path and crying softly. Xie Liang quickened his pace to catch up with her.
"Don't be afraid, I'm the person who was on the bus before." Xie Liang said softly.
"I remember you, brother..." the little girl replied with sobs.
The little girl's eyes were red, and it looked like she had been crying for a long time: "My name is Hu Xiaojuan."
The two walked and talked, and gradually the little girl seemed to be less scared and stopped crying.
Through conversation, Xie Liang learned that the little girl and her grandmother were on the bus because they were going to the sports square to feed pigeons.
Xie Liang nodded and asked her if she had something like a watch to tell time.
Xiaojuan then realized that the children's watch she had been wearing on her wrist was missing, and she became sad again.
Xie Liang thought, what a coincidence, his cell phone was missing after he entered this place.
After walking for a while, they could see the village entrance not far ahead. There were a few people standing there. They were the people on the bus before, as well as the man named Xiao Ha and the man in black.
When Xiaojuan saw her grandmother, she ran over anxiously, and Xie Liang also quickly quickened his pace.
The sky had become completely dark, with only a few rays of sunset light reflected on the mountains.
This is a village surrounded by mountains on three sides. The only road leading to the village is the small road that Xie Liang came here.
"Everyone's here. The NPCs should be showing up soon." Xiao Ha said, then turned and said, "Brother He, except for the two of us, they're all newcomers this time. This dungeon is going to be too stressful."
"Yeah." The man in black, with a sword on his back, crossed his arms and looked at the village and responded lightly.
Soon, the sun had completely set, and the village was dimly lit. An old man holding a red lantern, hunched over, walked slowly towards the crowd.
"Why are you here so late? It's not safe outside the village after dark. Come with me." After the old man said this, he led the way with a lantern in his hand.
Darkness began to cover the entire village, and gusts of cold wind blew, making everyone feel a chill on their backs.
"Old man, what the hell is this place? Don't you even have electricity here?" the bearded man asked, patting the old man on the shoulder.
The old man turned his head, his scarlet eyes widened, his wrinkled face showed a half-smile, and there seemed to be traces of some liquid residue at the corners of his mouth.
"Damn it! Old man! You..." The bearded man was startled for a moment, but he seemed to want to continue asking. Seeing this, Xiao Ha grabbed his shoulders and pulled him aside.
"Don't mind it, old man, this guy has always been rude." Xiao Ha explained.
The old man stared at the bearded man for a while, then continued to lead everyone into the village with a lantern.
After walking for about half an hour, the old man stopped in front of a tile-roofed house, a courtyard-like building made of yellow mud bricks.
The old man slowly took out a key from inside his tattered clothes and opened the door.
"You can stay here tonight. You can leave after you finish repairing the ancestral hall." After the old man said this, he smiled eerily, and his two bloodshot eyes stared straight at the bearded man.
Looking at the old man's devil-like face, several people couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
There is a thick green tree planted in the courtyard. The main house in front is divided into two sides, each with a room. The middle is the dining area with a table and several chairs.
There is a small room on each side of the middle of the yard, located in the lower part of the entire yard.
"Sorry to bother you. Is there anything I should pay attention to when living here? It would be bad if I accidentally broke the owner's things." Xiao Ha asked the old man.
"Hehe... If you don't look into the mirror, you can sleep at night. If the wind doesn't blow, your dreams will be uneasy. Don't touch what you shouldn't touch. The village chief has no choice. He can't afford to build a guesthouse, so every time someone comes, he can only arrange for them to stay here."
Every time? Xie Liang thought, this village is so remote, surrounded by mountains, and there is not even electricity. How could anyone come here?
"Starting tomorrow, villagers will bring you meals every day. You'd better repair the ancestral hall before the fifth day. Our village will hold a blessing ceremony on the sixth day." The old man's voice sounded eerie in the night wind.
Oil lamps were lit in all four houses, and it was not known whether they had been lit before they arrived or by something else.
Xie Liang couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, old man. I often get up at night to go to the bathroom. I wonder if you could lend me your lantern to make it more convenient."
Everyone around was stunned, wondering how the young man had the guts to speak up. If they gave him the lantern, how would the old man get back in the dark? Wasn't he too rude?
Just when everyone thought Xie Liang was going to be rejected, the old man just glared at him fiercely and handed him the lantern.
"Thank you, you are such a kind and compassionate person. May good people have a peaceful life." Xie Liang took the lantern and thanked the old man.
The old man glanced at everyone and said impatiently: "Okay! I should go now!"
Then he quickly turned around and walked out and closed the door, completely without the slowness he had shown before.
"This old man, aren't his legs and feet quite nimble now?" said the bearded man.
After the old man left, several people briefly introduced themselves to each other in the yard, and then divided their own rooms for rest.
Hu Xiaojuan, her grandmother Wang Mei, and the girl with twin ponytails Li Xi, the three of them squeezed into one room, Xiao Ha and the driver Dai Tian shared a room, Xie Liang and the man in black Xu He shared a room, and the scumbag Li Dong had a room to himself.
After the rooms were assigned, everyone returned to their respective rooms to rest.
Xie Liang looked at the slightly trembling oil lamp in the room and simply blew it out. He put the lantern on the table to serve as a light.
"Thank you Liang."
The man in black, Xu He, took off his black coat, half-sitting on the bed, patted the seat next to him, and motioned Xie Liang to go to bed.
Xie Liang was a little surprised. Xu He didn't seem to be a talkative person, so why was he so familiar with him?
Xie Liang glanced at the open wooden window, walked over and prepared to close the window before going to bed. After walking all day, he felt a little sore in his back.
At this time, Xu He suddenly said, "No need to close the window, just cover the mirror on the table."
There was a large mirror on the dressing table, facing the window at an angle, which looked very abrupt.
Xie Liang searched for a while but couldn't find anything to cover the mirror.
"There's nothing to cover it, just lay it down." Xie Liang moved the mirror to the ground, facing downwards. Then he dusted off his hands and went back to bed, lying on his side.
"What does loneliness feel like?" Xu He suddenly said inexplicably.
Xie Liang shook his head: "...Compared to loneliness, I think I am more afraid of ghosts now."
Xie Liang thought to himself, at first he thought this guy was very cold, and when he introduced himself he just said two words coldly, "Xu He", but now it seems that he is not that cold.
"Aren't you afraid of ghosts?" Xie Liang asked.
"Don't be afraid, I don't like being alone." Xu He's voice was so low that it sounded like a whisper.
"But loneliness is the norm in the world." Xie Liang has gradually gotten used to living alone in the past few years.
Through the dim light, Xie Liang found that Xu He had closed his eyes and looked like he was asleep.
Listening to his even breathing, Xie Liang also felt a little sleepy, so he closed his eyes to rest, while thinking about what happened today in his mind.
Perhaps because he was too tired, Xie Liang also drifted off to sleep, and had no dreams that night. When the sky brightened outside the window, when Xie Liang woke up, Xu He was no longer in bed.
As Xie Liang stepped out of the door, he heard a loud noise and panicked shouting.
“Someone’s dead!!”
"Li Xi! Wake up, Li Xi!"
"Wuwuwu...Sister, wake up!"
Xie Liang walked into the room and saw everyone crowded around Li Xi's bed, so he walked over and stood behind the crowd.
Xiao Ha put his fingers together, felt around Li Xi's neck, then shook his head and said, "She's dead."
Grandma Wang Mei, who was standing nearby, exclaimed in disbelief: "Oh my God, she's dead. The three of us slept together last night and nothing happened. How could she be dead?"
Xiao Ha frowned and said, "The small world we Adventers come to cannot be explained by common sense. But killing in other worlds also follows certain rules. I think she must have violated the rules here. In places like this, death is common. Let's just wish each other well."
Li Xi's expression seemed very strange. She had a smile on her face and her body was relaxed, as if she was having a beautiful dream. She must have remained in a happy mood until her death.
Someone died, everyone was in a bad mood, the atmosphere was depressing, and people were panicking.
Not long after, a village woman brought them breakfast and told them to eat before going to repair the ancestral hall. After telling them the specific route, she left in a hurry.
Xie Liangshi chewed the rough food without any taste, and he had not yet adapted to the changes.
The bearded man Li Dong's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like he hadn't slept all night. He ate while mumbling:
"Really? I have to believe in supernatural things. I felt sick the moment I entered that room last night, especially when I saw that big mirror facing my bed. I smashed it without saying a word. It was too spooky."
Xiao Ha turned to the grandparents who shared the same room with Li Xi last night and asked, "Did Li Xi say or do anything before you went to bed last night?"
"Last night... Sister Xiaoxi kept looking in the mirror and asked grandma and me if she was pretty. We were too tired so we went to bed. I don't know how long it took for her to fall asleep." Xiaojuan said in a low voice.
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