Right in front of that dilapidated stone house, under the shade of that old locust tree, a dozen or so villagers stood densely packed together.
Wang Fugui stood at the front, his back to us, facing the half-rotten wooden door.
Behind him were familiar faces from the funeral, including the young man who vomited maggots and the middle-aged woman who looked blissfully intoxicated while drinking soup.
They all stood quietly at the doorway, motionless, like statues.
I instantly understood that they hadn't wandered here aimlessly, nor were they just drifting aimlessly.
They're just blocking the way!
If we had chosen to return here after the banquet ended and it got dark, they would have caught us red-handed!
The countryside was still shrouded in a thin morning mist, and the grayish-white light shining on their bluish-gray skin made them look incredibly eerie.
The three of us stood frozen in place, almost unable to breathe.
If, if we hadn't wanted to get the car repaired last night, and had gone to see Old Chen instead...
If we didn't have that burrow to hide in,
If we follow the original plan and try to return to the stone house after dark,
The consequences would be unimaginable!
Just then, Wang Fugui seemed to realize something and slowly, very stiffly, turned his head.
But his body didn't move; he remained with his back to us, his neck turned 180 degrees, staring straight at us.
His expression was extremely stiff, then a strange smile slowly crept onto his face, his lips moving silently:
"We've found you."
The villagers behind him, following his movement of turning his neck, all turned their heads slowly in unison, like marionettes!
In an instant, more than a dozen pairs of empty, lifeless eyes focused on us.
Suddenly we felt as if we were pinned to the spot by invisible ice needles, and a tingling sensation ran from our scalp to our toes.
"What are you waiting for? Run! It'll be broad daylight soon, then you'll be safe!"
I yelled and ran away.
Luo Tianhe and Li Huai only realized what I meant when they heard me say that, and quickly followed.
But unexpectedly, there was no sound of footsteps chasing us from behind, only deathly silence.
This unexpected silence only made us more uneasy.
It was as if they were certain that we couldn't escape their grasp.
But we still dared not turn back, and ran frantically along the path we had come from!
The cold air I inhaled burned my lungs, and my legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.
"How long are we going to run? Where are we going?"
Li Huai was panting heavily, his voice tinged with a sob.
"How should I know! Run, run as far as you can!"
I shouted, my mind racing.
Logically speaking, it's almost dawn now, and these people should have returned to normal!
At the very least, one should maintain a calm demeanor on the surface, just like a living person.
Those dozen or so people just now turned their heads 180 degrees. Such a terrifying action is clearly not something a normal person could do!
In the distant sky, the sun gradually rises, and the grayish-white color begins to slowly fade.
But the light of dawn seemed unable to bring us any warmth at all!
The three of us wandered through the desolate village like headless flies, avoiding any villagers we might encounter.
I felt like my legs weren't even mine anymore, but I didn't dare stop, afraid that a few zombie-like villagers would suddenly appear out of nowhere.
Just as we ran around a corner and were almost in despair, a dilapidated wooden door suddenly opened!
As the wooden door opened, a withered hand quickly reached out.
I was startled and immediately took out a yellow talisman, chanting incantations.
Luo Tianhe stopped me, pressing the yellow talisman down from my hand.
"No, it seems to be Seventh Uncle!"
I looked closely and saw that, indeed, it was his old, wrinkled face in the shadows of the door crack.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and my seventh uncle was waving at us, signaling us to come in.
Without a second thought, we squeezed in. Uncle Qi quickly closed the door, carefully bolted it, and then dragged a heavy wooden cabinet over to stand behind the door.
The three of us collapsed onto the ground, leaning against the cold earthen wall, panting heavily, almost completely exhausted.
This appears to be another abandoned stone house, similar to the one under the locust tree, but it seems to have been uninhabited for a long time, with cobwebs everywhere and a musty smell of decaying dust in the air.
"Seventh, Seventh Uncle, what happened? How did you get here?"
After catching my breath for a moment, I asked, still out of breath.
At this moment, Uncle Qi's expression had become extremely solemn. He walked to the only small window and peered out through the gaps in the tattered window paper.
After finding no one outside, he whispered, "Something seems wrong. I saw you trapped under the locust tree and knew you were probably wandering around the village, so I came here to wait for you. You guys are something else, running all over the village before you got here."
I couldn't help but give a wry smile. We hadn't agreed on this beforehand, so how could we possibly come here on our first visit to meet him?
"Why didn't they catch up?"
While still shaken, Luo Tianhe also had some doubts.
"Heh, they're just playing you guys."
Uncle Qi turned around and looked at us. His cloudy old eyes were now bloodshot, making him look somewhat frightening for a moment.
"You're playing us?!"
A chill ran through me, and I felt somewhat at a loss.
But instead of answering me directly, my seventh uncle asked:
"Do you still think that as long as we wait until dawn, we'll be safe?"
We nodded subconsciously, didn't we?
"Wrong, terribly wrong!"
"Seventh Uncle said firmly, his voice hoarse and heavy."
"Today's dawn is different from before! Old Chen should tell you something. I can tell you that we may have reached a critical moment in refining the Blood Servant!"
"It needs a more powerful soul and flesh, and you three outsiders are high-quality souls. Do you think they will let you go?"
Upon hearing this, Li Huai and I froze.
In other words, we are now being seen as prey by them?
Uncle Qi pointed out the window and continued:
"Haven't you noticed? It's already dawn, but has the village woken up yet?"
Looking out through the hole in the window, we could see that it was indeed bright outside and the sun had risen.
But the village remained shrouded in an eerie silence.
There was no smoke from cooking fires, nor the crowing of roosters or barking of dogs.
This deathly silence during the day is more chilling than the clamor of the night!
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