The screams in the silent night were especially unnerving, and Lu Yan couldn’t help but recall the words of the mad woman during the day, sending a wave of goosebumps crawling up his skin.
At this mont, the screaming sounded again. After several consecutive screams, it fell into silence.
"It seems to be the voice of that mad woman. Is she having another episode?"
Lu Yan pondered.
He then tightened his clothes, pushed open his bedroom door and walked to the living room to see both Lu Qingshan and Wang Cui already there.
Lu Qingshan was calm, but Wang Cui seed a bit nervous.
The three of them waited in the living room without speaking. They didn’t hear the screams again.
"It must be that madwoman having an episode. Don’t worry, Yan, you can go back to sleep now. Just call us if anything happens."
Lu Qingshan said.
"Father, Mother, you should go to bed early as well."
Lu Qingshan nodded, went into his room, closed the door, and lay down fully dressed.
This ti, sleep was even more elusive. The madwoman’s words kept echoing in his ears, refusing to fade. Only when he beca too tired to keep his eyes open did he finally drift off into sleep.
The night passed uneventfully.
The next day, Lu Qingshan went to Woniu Mountain for hunting early in the morning. Wang Cui took a hoe to the field to prepare for planting potatoes while asking Lu Yan to stay at ho and rest.
After having a bowl of light porridge, Lu Yan strolled around the village and saw a group of old villagers chatting.
"Uncles, do you perhaps know where the mad woman who was raving yesterday lives?"
Lu Yan approached and asked.
"You’re looking for Aunt Niu? No need, I live right next to her. Aunt Niu ran out of the village last night in a frenzy, and her family followed her out. None of them have returned."
An old man replied.
"The whole family ran out? Not a single person ca back?"
"Not one!"
The old man reiterated.
"Strange!"
Lu Yan pondered.
Generally speaking, even if you have to chase a madwoman, you’d leave soone at ho. However, the whole family chased after her and didn’t return all night.
The wilderness of this world was dangerous at night - poisonous insects and wild beasts road. He had personally witnessed many people being attacked and dragged away by beasts on his journey. He himself very nearly ended up in the jaws of a beast.
Whether they caught up with the madwoman or not, they should have returned to the village as soon as possible. How co they hadn’t co back all night?
Did they all get killed by wild beasts after they left the village?
Or was there another reason?
The Feudal Lords, the Liu family.
A thought suddenly struck Lu Yan.
Yesterday, the madwoman was shouting in front of everyone. Today, her whole family vanished. The coincidence was a bit too much.
If it really is the work of the Liu family, why would they do sothing like this?
The words Aunt Niu spouted yesterday?
Would they go so far just because of the ravings of a madwoman?
Conversely, if it really was the Liu family’s doing, that ans what Aunt Niu shouted yesterday was true.
With this realization, a chill crept up his spine.
The villagers of Kaoshan Village who lived in the empty houses were all dead, but they didn’t die from the plague. They were killed by vengeful ghosts.
He didn’t believe in vengeful ghosts killing people before, but with sothing as bizarre as him cross-dinsions happening, what was impossible?
Besides, in this world with supernatural martial arts powers, more bizarre things happening wasn’t unlikely.
"Uncle, has Aunt Niu always been mad?"
Lu Yan took a deep breath to calm himself and asked.
An unnatural look flickered across the faces of a few of the villagers, but they quickly covered it up.
"She wasn’t always mad, but since the plague took both her kids, she’s been this way, talking nonstop nonsense. Boy, don’t take it to heart."
The old man who answered earlier chipped in once more.
"Uncle, was there really a plague here before?"
Lu Yan suddenly asked.
"Of course, many people I knew passed away."
The old man sighed.
Lu Yan subtly asked a few more questions but didn’t obtain any useful information.
But Lu Yan felt sothing was off. What exactly was off, he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He had too little information to go on.
"Let’s just take things as they co for now and be a bit more cautious in the future."
Lu Yan thought to himself.
Moving away from Kaoshan Village wasn’t very realistic.
His family was registered in the village census as official villagers of Kaoshan. Other villages were already filled to capacity - even if they wanted to move, they would be turned away. As for moving into Changfeng City, it was even more unrealistic. The price for a house in the city was astronomical by their standards.
Later, Lu Yan made another round in the village, scrutinizing everything carefully, but didn’t find anything unusual.
By evening, Lu Qingshan returned from the mountains with a small basket of wild fruits and six or seven wild sweet potatoes.
Lu Yan weighed them, each sweet potato was at least a pound.
Wild yams are widespread, they were also in the mountains of the original owner’s hotown, but after the natural disaster, even the grass was dug up and taken away.
However, the areas around Changfeng City were not affected by the disaster, the people had surplus grains, and few ventured into the mountains for food. Therefore, the term ’rich in resources’ could be coined for this place; wild vegetables, fruits, and yams are not hard to find.
"Look at this..."
Lu Qingshan unwrapped a bundle of firewood and held out a wild chicken.
The wild chicken was quite robust, weighing about three pounds.
"Chief, you’ve actually caught a wild chicken, we can use this to help Yan nourish his body," Wang Cui said joyfully, while Lu Yan’s stomach growled louder.
"My good wife, you take care of the chicken, and be careful not to let others see it, I will go and cut down so foul-slling trees."
After saying this, Lu Qingshan left with his hatchet only to return soon after with a large bundle of green branches, which he then laid around the kitchen.
The foul-slling tree, a plant not found on Earth, emits a pungent aroma, spreading it around the kitchen can help cover up the scent of boiling at.
Other villagers cannot even get enough coarse rice, let alone at. Once they find out they’ve hunted a wild chicken, envy and jealousy will surely arise. It might even lead them to commit petty theft, so it’s better to be cautious.
It wasn’t until the nightfall that Wang Cui chopped half the chicken and stewed it along with the wild yams. The rich aroma made Lu Yan’s mouth water.
"Yan, eat more. Chief, you need to go hunting in the mountains, you also eat more."
After the al was cooked, Wang Cui served a big bowl of mostly chicken to both Lu Yan and Lu Qingshan, while she herself took only a small bowl mostly filled with yams.
"Mother, have this leg, there’s too much, I won’t be able to finish it."
Lu Yan tried to pass a piece of chicken leg to Wang Cui.
He knew that digging all day was also hard work for Wang Cui, and amongst the family, he hadn’t done a single thing.
The main reason being he had just recovered from a serious illness and was too weak to do any work.
"Yan, you just recovered from a serious illness and need to nourish your body. Eat more, this is enough for mother."
Wang Cui pushed the chicken leg back to Lu Yan.
"Indeed, Yan, you should eat more. I had so wild fruits in the mountains and I’m not hungry, here, have so more," Lu Qing shan said, passing so chicken from his bowl to Wang Cui.
Lu Yan couldn’t argue with them and simply started eating robustly. Now, his only job was to recover as quickly as possible so that he could relieve so of their burdens.
This was the most delicious al Lu Yan had eaten since he arrived in this world.
The village was quiet that night, with no disturbances.
The next morning, Lu Qingshan still went hunting in the mountains, picking wild fruits and vegetables while Wang Cui worked on digging.
On this day, Aunt Niu’s family had still not returned, it was as if they had vanished into thin air.
Ti flew, and before they knew it, ten days had passed.
These ten days, the village was tranquil with no unusual occurrences, gradually easing the worry in Lu Yan’s mind.
Lu Qingshan did not make a kill every day, but on an average of two or three days, he managed to bring back a ga, either wild chicken or wild hare...
With the addition of at to their diet, Lu Yan recovered remarkably fast. Ten days later, he was back to full health, his vivacity back in full bloom.
At this point, Lu Yan contemplated learning how to hunt from Lu Qingshan.
If he wanted to survive in this world, he needed to have so skills.
Since he couldn’t train in martial arts, learning how to hunt would be the next best thing.
Hunting involved archery, which could be used for self-defense in critical situations. During their ti as refugees, Lu Qingshan used the bow to deter a number of people with malicious intentions.
One day, after breakfast, just as Lu Yan was about to speak, he heard cries from nearby.
"That’s Sister-in-law Hai’s voice."
"What’s going on?"
"Let’s go and see."
Lu Qingshan grabbed his bow and strode out, Lu Yan and Wang Cui following closely behind.
Sister-in-law Hai’s house was just next to theirs, about a dozen ters away. Reaching her door, they saw several burly n coming out of her house, each carrying bags that were obviously filled with grains.
"Please, leave so grains for us! If you take them all, how are we supposed to survive?"
A woman chased up to them, crying loudly.
"Shut up! One more word and we’ll break your legs!"
A burly man slapped Sister-in-law Hai across the face causing her to stagger backwards and fall to the ground, the side of her face swelling up.
"Mother, mother, what’s wrong?"
A frail-looking girl of about seven or eight years old ran out, hugging Sister-in-law Hai’s arm and bawling helplessly."
"It’s them."
Lu Yan gritted his teeth.
He recognised these people. They were infamous scoundrels and robbers during their ti as refugees.
The three were nad Wu Chaofeng, Li Shi, and Li Mu.
Rumor had it that the three had been apprentices at a martial arts school for a few years. Although they had not achieved notable ranks, they were better off than layn, especially Wu Chaofeng, who was robust and had a powerful punch. Ordinary people wouldn’t dare to approach him.
While on the run, they were lazy and did not look for food themselves. Whenever soone else found food, they would snatch it away.
So people were even starved to death after having their food seized by them.
The trio had once attempted to snag food from Lu Yan and his family but were deterred by Lu Qingshan’s bow.
Now, it was clear that they had used up the grains they’d borrowed, and started targeting the supplies of others again.
Upon seeing Lu Qingshan, Lu Yan, and Wang Cui, Wu Chaofeng licked his lips, his eyes flashing with malice, and started approaching them.
"Yan, fall back."
Lu Qingshan blocked Lu Yan behind him, gripping his bow and standing on guard.
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