Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

Old Zhao nodded, asking no further questions, as if it were just a routine matter.

"Breakfast is at 3:45 AM, so don't be late. The village food is simple, but it will fill your stomachs and keep you warm, which will be good for you all."

After he finished speaking, he didn't linger. He turned around and walked out of the courtyard. His steps seemed slow, but he disappeared into the alleyway shrouded in morning mist in just a few steps.

A subtle silence returned to the courtyard. Old Zhao's appearance and departure were too natural, so natural that they seemed eerie.

"The way he looked at us just now..."

Cheng Caijun lowered his voice and leaned closer to Lu Changsheng, "Something's strange."

Lu Changsheng hummed in response, but didn't say anything more.

All eyes were now on the room shared by the long-haired man and the burly black man. The door hadn't been opened since they separated the previous night.

"Feed—" Emily gestured with her chin and raised her voice, "Is the one inside still alive? Time for 'breakfast'."

no respond.

Mark and Kevin exchanged a glance, and the two subtly adjusted their posture, their hands seemingly hanging casually at their sides. However, Lu Changsheng noticed that Kevin's right hand was already close to his lower back.

An Zhiyu remained standing quietly in place, but her gaze also turned to the door, her eyes calm and unwavering, as if she were observing something insignificant.

Yamamoto Ichiro and Park Bo-soo instinctively took a half-step back, distancing themselves from the door.

Something's not right.

Lu Changsheng said in a low voice.

Just as Lu Changsheng was about to probe—

"Squeak—"

The door was pulled open from the inside.

A long-haired man stood at the door.

He was still wearing that black outfit, his long hair was loose, and his face looked even paler than yesterday, almost transparent. The dark circles under his eyes were also more obvious, making him look shrouded in a gloomy and tired state.

But what made everyone's pupils shrink was—

On the side of his neck, near the carotid artery, there was a dark red scar!

The wound was short, about two inches long, irregularly shaped, with slightly raised and purplish edges, as if it had been grazed by a blunt object.

The wound wasn't bleeding, but the skin was torn open, and its dark color stood out starkly against the pale skin.

He stood there quietly, his cold gaze sweeping over everyone in the courtyard.

The poisonous insects that had been lurking in the corners and by the door showed no sign of attacking or biting the long-haired man the moment he opened the door and revealed himself.

[Holy crap! What's going on?!]

Are poisonous insects afraid of him? What's on him?

The wound on my neck looks weirder and weirder!

Look at his eyes, something feels off!

The courtyard was deathly silent. Everyone watched the long-haired man warily, including An Zhiyu, whose brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"you……"

Emily dropped her nonchalant expression, shrugged slightly to the left, and sharpened her gaze. "What happened to your neck?"

The long-haired man's eyes were devoid of warmth. He raised his hand, and his icy fingertips gently touched the wound.

"Oh, a neck injury. I had a strange dream last night," he said slowly. "In the dream... something was grabbing me. It was there when I woke up."

The people in the courtyard didn't look too good; clearly, they were all troubled by the dream they had last night.

However, the long-haired man still aroused the suspicion of everyone, and everyone was wary of each other.

"That black man," Park Bo-soo, the Korean man beside him, hesitated before speaking, a hint of concern on his face, "shouldn't we go look for him? After all, we're part of the same team..."

"What are you pretending for?"

Red-haired Emily spat the foxtail grass from her mouth onto the ground, grinning mischievously.

"What, you really want to find him? Go find him yourself if you want!"

"you--"

A hint of anger flashed across Park Bo-soo's slightly chubby face, and the small scar at the corner of his eye twitched.

"What's wrong with me?"

Emily raised an eyebrow, looking as if she wasn't afraid of chaos.

"Let's go eat first."

At the crucial moment, An Zhiyu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke, breaking the tense atmosphere in the courtyard. She turned around and walked out of the courtyard first, with a clear goal in mind.

Upon hearing this, not a single person raised any objection.

Red-haired Emily clicked her tongue, made a face at Park Bo-soo, and then followed An Zhiyu away.

Yamamoto Ichiro patted Park Bo-soo on the shoulder and walked out of the courtyard.

Park Bo-soo's face turned pale and then red, but in the end he said nothing and followed the others.

The morning fog was thinner than before, and the village was eerily quiet, with only the rustling sound of people walking on the damp dirt road.

Lu Changsheng walked in the middle of the group, keeping an eye on the long-haired man at the very back.

He walked slowly, his steps somewhat unsteady, but his back was straight, his black figure appearing and disappearing in the gray-white mist.

Mark and Kevin were talking in hushed tones, their eyes wary. Emily, on the other hand, had resumed her nonchalant demeanor.

Yamamoto Ichiro and Park Bo-soo remained silent.

Cheng Caijun stood close to Lu Changsheng and lowered his voice:

"Brother Lu, is he really alright? That wound looks really strange..."

"Let's wait and see."

Lu Changsheng said in a deep voice.

Upon arriving at the canteen, several rough, long wooden tables and benches had already been set up. Some villagers were silently bustling about, bringing earthenware pots and bowls to the tables. An indescribable aroma wafted through the air, a mixture of grains, wild vegetables, and some kind of stale grease.

Upon seeing the players appear, the villagers stopped what they were doing and turned around in unison.

Their gazes, just as they had yesterday at the village entrance, were fixed, carrying an unsettling focus and fanaticism. But today, that focus seemed to be mixed with something else.

But Lu Changsheng keenly noticed that when these people looked at the long-haired man, there was a moment of surprise in their eyes.

"The guests have arrived, please have a seat."

A thin, old woman walked out of the canteen. She was wearing a dark blue coarse cloth jacket, and her hair was neatly combed and tied into a tight bun at the back of her head.

She pointed to two long tables near the entrance of the ancestral hall:

"That's for the guests, please help yourself."

The group walked towards the two tables. Food was already laid out on them.

In front of each seat is a rough earthenware bowl filled with a grayish, thick porridge, the type of grain from which it is not apparent. In the middle of the large earthenware basin is a dark brown substance that looks like pickled vegetables, along with a plate of hard, dark-colored flatbread.

It looks terrible and doesn't smell good either.

But no one complained. In this bizarre, rule-bound instance, having food to eat was already a blessing; nobody knew where their next meal would come from.

Everyone sat down in silence.

An Zhiyu chose a seat on the side, and Emily naturally sat next to her. Lu Changsheng and Cheng Caijun sat opposite them. Mark and Kevin sat on one side, and Yamamoto and Park Bo-soo on the other. The long-haired man silently walked to the very back and sat down, keeping a distance from everyone else.

As soon as he sat down, several villagers at the next table seemed to subconsciously move their stools to the other side, even though there was more than a meter of open space between them.