It was as unbelievable as a cooked duck suddenly flying away... No, it was like the cooked duck leaping up and devouring the chef.
The curly-haired man didn't seem to believe it. He imdiately stepped towards the door, apparently wanting to see the murdered butcher for himself. The people behind him made way and then followed. Only three or four people remained to guard the dark underground passage.
The facts, of course, wouldn't change just by taking a few more looks. The curly-haired man quickly returned, his face twisted with rage, and the group behind him also showed horrified expressions:
"Man is indeed dead."
"Was he really killed by the Holy Daughter? This has never happened before."
"What should we do next...?"
The leader imdiately issued orders. He pointed to a few stronger-looking n: "The seven of you, co down with and give chase..."
Then he pointed to the few won present: "You few, go out and bring the village chief back. Also, call back the three who went out to carry Bai Sha's body."
Finally, the curly-haired man turned his attention to the last four who hadn't been assigned a task: "The rest of you, guard the well entrance and this place. Damn, what a day..."
After quickly making arrangents, he strode towards the trapdoor.
A cold wind blew in from the dark opening. The curly-haired man squatted and jumped in. The seven n following him also surged into the dark opening one after another. The three won turned and jogged out of the room, rushing towards the well, desperate to bring back reinforcents quickly.
The last four n left in the room looked at each other apprehensively for a mont before speaking.
"We'll guard the door... We just need to guard this place and the well entrance. Should we lock this trapdoor again? What if that thing cos in from outside? The village chief always makes us lock it when he leaves this way."
"No need to lock it this ti, right? We don't have a key. What if they co back and we can't open the door? Man had one, but that woman took his key."
"Alright, then two of us will go guard the well entrance, and you two stay here. I hope nothing like this happens again. Who knows if they can still catch her after all this ti."
Gu Mian, through a crack, saw two n leave the room.
He was in the closet.
He hadn't left the room at all. He had rely lifted the carpet and unlocked the trapdoor, creating the illusion that he'd already left.
After all, Gu Mian was new to this place and didn't know where the dark opening led. What if it was just a storeroom below? Wouldn't those chasing him then be able to trap him like a turtle in a jar?
Though Gu Mian would never admit any connection between himself and "turtles."
The candlelight filtered into the closet through the crack, illuminating a small patch of darkness. Gu Mian tightly gripped a one-and-a-half-ter-long spade—a tool he had confiscated from an enemy. Additionally, in the closet, he found the village chief's logbook, similar to a class journal kept by a class monitor back in school.
But this was no place to read a logbook. The n who had left could return at any mont, and he had to find a chance to escape this godforsaken place. Gu Mian glanced outside again. The other two n had been gone for nearly two minutes. It was about ti.
I can't beat four of them, but surely I can handle two, right? Gu Mian thought, preparing to control his character to jump out of the closet.
He wanted to give a surprise to the two outside who were discussing 'what to eat tomorrow'.
But just then, the screen flickered and went black for an instant. Gu Mian stared intently at the screen. He realized that in that brief mont, the scene visible through the crack in the closet had changed slightly. The room's layout had transford into that of a normal house.
Outside, firelight still flickered, but it was no longer candlelight. Countless torches had sohow flooded into the room. Gu Mian saw a crowd of people dressed in black, holding torches. They all bore the sa strange symbol tattooed on them, and their mouths opened and closed as if chanting sothing in unison. Unfortunately, the subtitle team suddenly went on strike, so Gu Mian couldn't know why they were so excited.
He saw a woman impaled on the wall. A at hook, the kind used for hanging pork, pierced her ribs, suspending her there. Fresh blood trickled down the white wall, forming a small, scarlet pool on the coarse wooden floor. Dismbered body parts were being distributed by the black-clad n. Gu Mian saw a man's head passed from one hand to another, finally impaled on a thick, sharpened stick and hoisted high like a victorious banner.
Everyone began to laugh.
Inexplicably, Gu Mian felt he understood what one of them was saying—
"We killed the Holy Daughter's parents."
The gory vision flashed by. A few seconds later, Gu Mian saw the view through the crack return to normal: the sa crude earthen hut, the sa two n guarding it.
The two of them were still talking. The subtitles started working again, and Gu Mian saw them appear at the bottom of the screen.
"The Holy Daughter escaped. So, what do we eat tomorrow? Start with Man?"
"We should be able to recapture her..."
Although I have no idea what that vision was about... Gu Mian muttered to himself while controlling his character. Then, he burst out of the closet dramatically. "But a surprise is still in order."
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