Lu Cai quietly returned to the village. It was just as quiet as when he'd left perfect for falling asleep.
But just as he touched the rough wooden door a slight gasp came from inside—someone had entered while he was gone.
Lu Cai's muscles tensed instantly, his breathing slowing with muscle memory. Spiritual energy surged faintly between his fingers, dangling at his sides.
The next second, Lu Cai narrowed his eyes and pushed the door open—
"Ah!!!!"
The person whose neck was being strangled twisted and struggled strangely! Lu Cai covered his mouth with his hand choking back the piercing scream mid-sentence!
Lu Cai's face tensed but he was surprised to find that the energy within the man was stable and peaceful. The occasional sluggishness didn't seem to be due to dark matter intrusion but rather...
"Hey! Hey! Hey... cough cough cough, the bride, the bride is hitting someone!!!"
The shrill gasps in the darkness were unsettling not to mention the nonsensical nature of the man's words.
Lu Cai's face sank as he quickly kicked the door shut. With a flick of his finger, sparks flew igniting the candle.
The man pinned to the ground's face twitched. A glance revealed that he seemed to have something wrong with his mind or intelligence.
He was a fool... Lu Cai frowned, relaxing his grip slightly.
After the fool had finally caught his breath he scrambled to his feet still staring at Lu Cai with a nervous, yet somewhat curious, excitement:
"The bride! The bride! The bride sneaked out!"
?
Absurd.
He knocked the woman unconscious with a backhand then paused as he dragged her to the door then turned and threw her into the corner.
He glanced around the room in the dim light and noticed a slightly stronger fishy smell; it must have been brought in by him on his return.
I'm leaving tomorrow he couldn't help but mutter.
*
The next morning just as dawn broke there were noises outside.
The neighbors gossiping about the Li family, vegetable farmers, butchers, handicraft vendors—all emerged like mushrooms after a rain as if they had been dormant all night in the stillness of the night their activity packed with eagerness.
Lu Cai naturally opened his eyes the moment he heard the noise. He couldn't sleep soundly in such an unsafe place so he simply closed his eyes to rest. After waking up he simply washed up with water from the kettle in the room. Turning around he saw the idiot still asleep, his movements unchanged from last night.
Lu Cai's eyes twitched and he walked over to shake him awake.
During the day the idiot looked quite handsome even sporting a red beauty mark on his forehead. But once he opened his eyes his unfocused, naive demeanor was exposed.
"Bride..." The idiot smiled subconsciously at the sight of Lu Cai.
"Shut up."
Lu Cai's face darkened and he stared at him intently. Then for some unknown reason he lowered his head slightly and sniffed the idiot's neck.
There was no fishy smell.
The idiot fell silent looking at Lu Cai with a slightly aggrieved and fearful expression. Looking closely, he seemed even a little shy.
This was a normal human emotion. Lu Cai's fear subsided a bit and he said coldly:
"After you get out don't tell me you've seen me."
He planned to leave today and couldn't let a meaningless excuse get in his way.
The fool nodded cautiously.
But before Lu Cai could confirm with the fool whether he had truly remembered a sudden cry came from outside—
"The Zhang girl is gone!!!"
Lu Cai's forehead jumped and the fool was also startled by the sudden roar. By the time he realized what was happening he had already stood up and rushed out of the house.
"...!"
Lu Cai cursed inwardly, his forehead throbbing as he stood up.
What you fear will come true.
He ran out of the house and found a crowd gathered next to him pointing at the empty house and shouting at each other fiercely. The fishy smell in the air became even stronger.
"How come he was fine yesterday but disappeared today?"
"Zhang Daquan, tell me yourself. Your daughter is missing at this time. Is she dead or trying to bring down our entire village?"
"Bullshit! I haven't even settled accounts with you yet because my daughter is missing! So many people are looking at my beautiful daughter. Which bastard did this? Come out now!"
Xiao Yu was also in the crowd looking a little uneasy but her eyes were as clear as yesterday. Seeing Lu Cai emerge she quickly walked over and whispered, "You didn't go out last night, did you?"
Lu Cai: "Yeah."
Xiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. There's something off about these people..."
Lu Cai followed up with a calm question, "What's wrong? I don't see anything." Xiao Yu frowned, looking around her pretty face falling a bit.
"Well, I can't quite put my finger on it. Ever since the repellent in our village broke a month ago something's been wrong. I suspect someone has been infected by the dark matter. Everyone's getting increasingly irritable."
Her voice was soft with a tremor that matched her emotions. Lu Cai lowered his eyes.
Irritability could indeed be a manifestation of infection but it wasn't absolute as fear could trigger the same reaction in a human community.
Lu Cai couldn't easily define the village. He turned and asked, "What happened today? Someone's missing?"
Xiao Yu was panicking but Lu Cai's broaching of the subject calmed her down a bit. She nodded and replied, "Sister Zhang Xue is the village's current literacy teacher. She's normally a very nice person but she was found missing this morning. Uncle Zhang suspects someone secretly took Sister Zhang Xue away last night." At this point Xiao Yu asked Lu Cai again, feeling concerned, "You really didn't leave the house last night, did you?"
Lu Cai nodded obediently but before he could open his mouth someone in the crowd next door pointed at him angrily:
"Why are you only blaming me? That newcomer also left the village last night!" "
His gaze instantly focused on Lu Cai, the words "really not" stuck in his throat.
His white shirt and jeans didn't fit in with the village's style to begin with and now he looked even more like the torn edge of a painting, shattering the trust in the little girl's eyes.
Lu Cai's throat churned but he decided not to speak.
The enraged crowd quickly surrounded Lu Cai, drawing him into the fray. Xiao Yu, devastated, turned and ran with a look of "I didn't expect men to be so untrustworthy."
Lu Cai glanced in the direction he was headed. He saw he was probably going to find the village chief.
This was reasonable human behavior. Lu Cai looked away only to meet Uncle Zhang, the man whose daughter had been lost. His eyes were filled with hatred and rage and he lashed out, "You bastard! Where did you take my daughter?"
Lu Cai's eyelids twitched. "I haven't seen your daughter."
"You!" Uncle Zhang, wearing a well-worn white vest nearly jumped up in excitement.
"Then what were you doing out of the village last night? You took my daughter away, what did you do?"
Lu Cai was silent for a moment then tried to respond gently:
"If you can't find the person, search the village. The first 12 hours after a missing person is crucial. If I wanted to take someone away I wouldn't be here now."
He gradually realized what was odd. Ever since they heard the noise this morning these people had been gathered here arguing. Zhao, Qian, Sun, and Li, each questioning the other, their anger overflowing.
Looking at the young man who had pointed him out, Lu Cai asked calmly:
"You saw me take people out of the village last night? Then what were you doing?" "
The young man choked. "No, I didn't see anyone with me. I was picking wild vegetables around the village..."
Lu Cai looked at Uncle Zhang again, knowing full well.
Uncle Zhang was speechless but the people around him rushed forward one after another accusing Lu Cai. The topic shifted from disgracing himself to how a good boy could leave the village at night!
It's so dangerous out there. This shows a lack of self-respect and concern for others!
It seemed like they always had to find a reason to argue and vent their anger but aside from Uncle Zhang's initial concern which then proved unsolvable, almost no one mentioned the matter itself.
The village chief quickly arrived and the middle-aged man wearing reading glasses hurriedly intervened, "Everyone! Stop arguing!"
No one paid him any attention and continued to repeatedly scold Lu Cai and the young man who had left the village. It was strange.
"Why are you still arguing even though I told you to stop!!!" "
A sharp cry of curses suddenly drowned out everyone else's voice. The young woman's voice was shrill and high-pitched, perfectly suited to suppressing the crowd at such moments.
Lu Cai looked over and saw Xiao Yu standing behind the village chief with a sullen expression. Noticing Lu Cai's gaze she turned away with a cold expression.
Lu Cai: "..."
After Xiao Yu calmed down the situation everyone finally calmed down a bit and the village chief began to offer reassurances.
Uncle Zhang seemed to finally react and spoke stiffly, "Then where is my daughter? This is a serious matter!"
"Yes, yes, it's indeed serious..." The village chief stood in the crowd feeling awkward. He glanced at Lu Cai then at the young man and finally sighed.
"How about we split up into teams, one for the village and then the other to search the surrounding area, the forest and any area clear of fog?"
Lu Cai, who was just about to find an opportunity to say goodbye to the village chief, paused and raised his head woodenly. "I'll help." "
The village chief clapped his hands and said, "Hey, young man, you're so kind!"
Not really but he just thought that if he really had to search the forest he wouldn't know how to hide without using his spiritual power to manipulate the surroundings. Besides being able to fly it was just a relatively strong silver dragon.
Lu Cai didn't have to worry for long. Before he could even arrange for the outbound personnel the search team behind the village returned:
"Found it, found it! Zhang Xue is in Dragon King Pond!!!"
Lately Lu Cai had become very sensitive whenever he heard the word "dragon." He immediately stopped and looked at the person who spoke.
Uncle Zhang and the people around him also looked at him with surprise. "In Dragon King Pond? Let's go and take a look!"
The tense atmosphere in the crowd almost dissipated immediately returning to the peaceful neighborhood of yesterday. Groups of three or four chatted and laughed as they headed towards the back of the village as if they hadn't been the ones arguing.
Lu Cai was somewhat concerned about the name Dragon King Pond. Looking up he happened to see a flicker of fear and complexity cross Xiao Yu's face.
*
Dragon King Pond is the village's freshwater pond, one of the few remaining freshwater sources in the East China Sea Harbor area. Without it they wouldn't have survived the Foundation's rescue efforts thirty years ago. Therefore, the villagers hold Dragon King Pond in deep reverence, even tending to deify it.
Lu Cai followed the crowd closely, his expression calm, as if he were on a spring outing.
He heard a sudden realization from the front as if Zhang Xue had been found. Zhang Daquan's laughter radiated joy and reassurance and the villagers chimed in offering their consolation that it was a false alarm. Only Xiao Yu, pale and huddled behind the crowd, his eyes filled with fear and unbearable pain.
His gaze shifted and in a small pond, less than ten meters in diameter, a young woman's corpse quietly floated on the surface.
At that moment, Lu Cai, unsure whether it was a genuine change or a shift in his mind sensed a stronger fishy smell.
His eyes shifted and he almost subconsciously issued a decree to suppress the entire village.