The mountain night wind was bitterly cold, blowing against the skin as if it could scrape into the cracks of one’s bones.
The village remained dead silent. Every household had its doors tightly shut, and not even a dog’s bark could be heard.
Only the kerosene lamp in Li Guoping’s hand swayed ahead, casting a dim yellow halo.
No one spoke the whole way.
The seven huddled tightly together, maintaining high alert.
When the worn brick dormitory came into view, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
This dinner was finally about to end.
However, just as they were about to reach the dormitory entrance, Li Guoping, who was walking at the very front, suddenly stopped.
He turned around. The kerosene lamp’s light shone up at his face from below, casting his facial creases like bottomless canyons—sinister and terrifying.
“Teacher Shen.”
Li Guoping spoke slowly, his voice sounding especially hoarse in the vast night. “I just remembered—you’re in charge of teaching English. But the village’s English teaching materials have some problems. They’re in my office. Come with me now. We’ll go alone to check the materials, so we don’t delay tomorrow’s class.”
The moment those words came out, the air around them seemed to freeze instantly.
Go alone?
In the middle of the night, following a clearly abnormal NPC to some office to check teaching materials?
This was practically writing “I’m going to kill you” or “I’m going to harm you” on his face!
Shen Ning’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Her fingers gripping the suitcase handle went white from the force.
Fang Ruiyang’s brows twisted tightly together.
“Principal Li.”
He stepped forward, trying to smooth things over. “It’s the middle of the night. Teacher Shen is a young woman—going to the office alone isn’t very convenient, is it? Besides, everyone’s exhausted after a whole day of travel.”
“As for the teaching materials, how about we all go to the office together tomorrow morning to check them? What do you think?”
“No.”
Li Guoping refused cleanly and decisively. The smile on his face vanished instantly, and the oppressive aura of an NPC radiated from him without any further concealment.
He stared darkly at Fang Ruiyang: “Teacher Fang, I said it—teaching and nurturing is a major matter. The village rule is: today’s business is finished today. Teacher Shen, are you going, or not?”
The last four words already carried an obvious threat.
The kerosene lamp’s flame shrank sharply, and the yin energy around Li Guoping seemed about to explode in an instant.
Fang Ruiyang’s heart lurched. He knew he might have touched the NPC’s bottom line, but he still wanted to make one last struggle.
He had just opened his mouth to continue negotiating when he suddenly felt a stabbing pain like needles deep in his throat!
Immediately after, he discovered in horror that he couldn’t make a sound!
Fang Ruiyang whipped his head around, his gaze sharp as a blade, stabbing toward Lin Wen standing at his right rear.
Lin Wen was currently looking down, but in his right hand, shrunk inside his sleeve, he was holding a small metal clasp radiating a faint blue glow.
[C-rank Item: Clasp of Silence. The designated target cannot make any sound for three minutes.]
He was frantically justifying himself in his mind:
I don’t want to die! If Fang Ruiyang angers the NPC, he’ll get all of us killed!
Since the NPC named Shen Ning, then Shen Ning is just unlucky—she triggered the death condition!
Sacrificing her alone is better than all of us dying together!
He used the item to silence Fang Ruiyang precisely to cut off the possibility of Fang Ruiyang continuing to provoke the NPC—to forcibly stop the losses.
Xu Jixing and Lü Jia saw this too, but they chose silence.
Xu Jixing pushed up his glasses, his gaze lowered.
He was an extremely rational person. From the perspective of maximizing benefits, he approved of Lin Wen’s action.
Lü Jia gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, but he too said nothing.
Shen Ning took all of this in, and suddenly let out a bitter laugh.
“Fine.”
Shen Ning took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Her voice trembled slightly, but her words remained clear. “I’ll go with you, Principal Li.”
Li Guoping grinned again, that smile looking utterly hideous in the darkness. “Now that’s a good teacher. Let’s go, Teacher Shen.”
With that, he turned and walked deeper into the village, carrying the kerosene lamp.
Shen Ning didn’t look at anyone again. Dragging that heavy suitcase, she trudged with difficulty after Li Guoping.
That dim yellow kerosene lamp light gradually receded into the thick night, finally swallowed completely by the darkness.
Fu Songcheng stood in place, quietly watching the direction Shen Ning had disappeared.
His eyes were deep, like a pool of stagnant water—no emotion to be seen.
Of course he wanted to save Shen Ning.
He had wounded the NPC with his dagger, and Shen Ning had not only helped him but also displayed extremely high player competence.
A teammate like that, if she could survive, would absolutely be a great asset.
Fu Songcheng’s brain raced, calculating.
He had no tracking-type items. If he rashly tried to sneak after them, in a pitch-black night with completely unfamiliar terrain and terrible visibility, he’d very likely get lost.
Even more terrifying—if he was discovered by Li Guoping during the pursuit, or triggered some other hidden rule in the village, he wouldn’t even have the confidence to protect himself.
And moreover…
Fu Songcheng glanced down at the hand that had just cut Li Guoping.
Although Li Guoping had named Shen Ning and taken her away, his true target tonight was actually the “Zhang Xinci” he was playing.
“If she’s smart and doesn’t recklessly trigger any taboos, she should be able to last until dawn.”
Fu Songcheng recited silently in his mind.
Rationality had defeated his sympathy.
“Get inside first.”
Xu Jixing glanced at Fang Ruiyang—whose silence had just been lifted and who was now glaring at Lin Wen with murderous eyes—and said coldly in a low voice, “Stop standing around outside. Do you want to attract other things?”
Fang Ruiyang shoved Lin Wen aside and turned without a word, walking into the worn wooden door.
Lin Wen staggered, then followed in without a word.
Fu Songcheng walked at the very back.
The moment he stepped over the threshold, he glanced back at the boundless, dark village.
A sinister wind blew past, stirring a few dry leaves. It was as if countless eyes in the darkness were greedily watching this crumbling brick house.
Bang.
He shut the door behind him, sealing all the darkness and the unknown temporarily outside.
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