Laughing My Head Off, Far from the Truth

Zhu Yan fell silent again.

He quietly stuffed his entire mist-like self into the puppet, eliminating one possible source of interference for Pot Lid.

“What about now?”

After they had taken another two or three steps forward, Zhu Yan asked again.

“Bro, what do you sense now?”

Pot Lid glanced around. His complexion still looked sickly and sallow.

“It’s more obvious now. That old man up ahead,” he whispered to Zhu Zeyu, “definitely has something wrong with him. But this place still isn’t simple.”

“Do you know, Xiao Zhu? I’ve never been this scared before.”

Pot Lid couldn’t even force out a polite fake smile anymore.

The gloom that had lingered around them had faded somewhat, but an even more terrifying presence had immediately taken its place, pressing down on their hearts with greater weight and viciousness.

He couldn’t help reaching out with his sweaty hand and grabbing Zhu Zeyu’s sleeve.

After all, in the prophetic vision, this kid had been shot—but he seemed to have survived until the very end.

Sticking close to him should at least be safer!

Zhu Zeyu really was as soft and guileless as a clear, unclouded persimmon.

Even when faced with Pot Lid, who was clearly harboring ulterior motives, he merely smiled kindly and patted the other man’s shoulder in reassurance.

“We’re almost there.”

The old man had already led them into the empty village.

There was no one anywhere.

A van sat parked by the roadside, still running, its engine humming softly, yet the inside was completely empty.

A few steps farther on, they could see a discarded plastic bucket by the roadside and chickens running loose everywhere.

It was as if the people living here had vanished without warning, and time itself had come to a standstill.

“Li Daochang’s house is just ahead.”

The old man pointed toward a self-built house in front of them.

The house didn’t look too bad—in fact, it was fairly presentable.

It was a simple two-story building, nothing like the dilapidated ruin Zhu Yan had imagined.

A battery-powered three-wheeled vehicle was parked downstairs, with some vegetables still piled on it.

“I’ll only take you this far.”

The old man snorted and turned to leave. “I don’t care what your relationship with Li Daochang is, but let me warn you: this place isn’t somewhere you can stay safely.”

“It’s because of all those deals of his that this place ended up like this!”

This time, [Everyone Has Their Own Fate] did not issue a lie warning.

Zhu Yan grew rather intrigued.

Well, well, this old man.

For once, he actually hadn’t lied!

The old man clasped his hands behind his back and pretended to walk away with slow, tottering steps. After only two paces, however, he turned around again.

“You’re not ordinary people, are you?”

His unfocused eyes stared straight at Jin Rongxu.

“Especially you. My eyesight may be poor, but I’m never wrong about people.”

“You’re their leader, I’d say.”

Jin Rongxu, the medic, and Ma Dong exchanged glances. Other than Jin Rongxu, the other two wore wary expressions.

Behind Jin Rongxu, Pot Lid dug his fingers tightly into Zhu Yan’s arm.

Zhu Yan turned his head and saw Pot Lid staring hard with both eyes wide open, as though he had witnessed something terrifying and didn’t dare close his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Zhu Zeyu asked softly. “Bro, are you all right?”

“This frightening creature isn’t right, and there’s something wrong with that house too.”

Pot Lid explained in a breathy voice. At this point, he no longer had the luxury of worrying about Zhu Zeyu’s status within the team.

“The power inside it suddenly became agitated just now. I can’t really say why.”

“And there’s definitely a high-level frightening creature inside the house…”

That’s it?

Zhu Yan’s estimation of Pot Lid’s cowardice reached an entirely new level.

He considerately tugged Pot Lid farther away from the old man, but the old man’s eyes shifted. Through the gap between Jin Rongxu and the medic, he looked over and fixed his gaze precisely on the two of them.

“I advise you to keep this in mind: the Li Daochang inside that house may not be the same Li Daochang you know.”

Jin Rongxu asked, “What else haven’t you told us?”

The old man hesitated. He merely glanced at the plain two-story house with obvious apprehension.

“…No, that’s all. Since you’re so capable, you should be able to deal with it.”

Jin Rongxu remained impassive.

The old man chewed over his words for a moment, then mumbled them again: “No, that’s all. My house is right over there.”

He turned his back once more and raised his chin toward another building.

That house was quite eye-catching as well, because its exterior walls were completely covered in yellow bricks.

“If you need somewhere to stay, you can come to my place.”

“Of course, if you’ve entered Li Daochang’s house, then my home won’t take you in.”

“Make your own choice!”

After saying this, the old man made no attempt to keep them there. Instead, he hurried off as though he were fleeing for his life.

Before long, he entered the house ahead and slammed the door shut.

“What did he mean by that?” The medic could hardly wait any longer. “Captain, what did you find?”

The corners of Jin Rongxu’s lips curled up. His eyes seemed veiled in gloom, but the smile on his lips was genuine.

“That old man isn’t being honest,” he said calmly. “Interesting. It should be a special kind of frightening creature—one that doesn’t realize it’s already dead. It has retained its human consciousness, but it knows that it needs to eat people.”

Ma Dong asked in his rough voice, “Does it want to eat us?”

“Mm. But it wasn’t wrong about one thing. There really is something inside Li Daochang’s house—something it fears and can’t deal with.”

The ability to [Read Minds] was simply too useful. Jin Rongxu was brimming with confidence in his own judgment.

“That thing is high-level. The mechanics of this instance are interesting too. If I heard correctly…”

Only after seeing the other four staring at him expectantly did Jin Rongxu finally continue.

“The thing inside that house is at least Level 10.”

“Isn’t that right, Pot Lid?”

Pot Lid’s face had gone deathly pale. His somewhat short body seemed to shrink in on itself, making him look utterly pitiful.

“Yes,” he hurriedly replied. “Captain, I can’t determine its exact level. But there really, really is something inside that house…”

“In any case, Captain is right. It should be at least Level 10!”

Ma Dong and the medic exchanged glances. Zhu Zeyu put on an even more timid act, looking fearfully at the unremarkable house.

The medic asked, “Captain, what did the old man mean when he said he wouldn’t take us in if we entered the house?”

The [Read Minds] ability had indeed picked up the answer to that.

Jin Rongxu gave a simple explanation. “The moment you step inside, you’ll be marked. In short, you’ll be unable to escape death.”

He smiled faintly as he looked toward the yellow-brick house not far away.

“That old bastard wants to eat us, but he can’t openly snatch food from a tiger’s mouth.”

“So the old thing is using a tactic of feigned retreat. It knows it can’t deal with me, so it deliberately left me that line: ‘Since you’re so capable, you should be able to deal with it.’ It wants me to stay behind in Li Daochang’s house alone.”

Jin Rongxu lowered his eyes and toyed with the fake military knife in his hand.

“As for the others—especially you, Pot Lid…”

“It still wants to have a taste.”

Zhu Yan, however, was gazing thoughtfully at the red text in front of him.

This time, the warning from [Everyone Has Their Own Fate] was rather interesting. It was completely different from what Jin Rongxu had read from the creature’s mind.

“Detected the scheme of the frightening creature [Walking Corpse].”

“[Everyone Has Their Own Fate] Friendly reminder: There appears to be some higher-level entity behind this creature. However, we recommend that you stay overnight at Walking Corpse’s home.”

“This will ensure that you remain far from the truth and avoid becoming entangled in its karma!”