An abnormality appeared!
The scan feedback indicated no one was there, but Shu's eyes clearly saw a young woman standing there.
He knew there was something strange here...
Shu frowned, looking warily in that direction while simultaneously signaling the others with his hand.
Seemingly noticing Shu's gaze, the girl dressed in white looked up, offered Shu a slightly apologetic smile, then turned and disappeared around the corner.
This was the only person Shu had seen in this village between the ages of 12 and 60!
Instinctively, Shu started to lift his foot to chase after her.
"Shu, what's wrong?" But just as Shu lifted his foot, Kiana suddenly leaned over, looking alertly in the direction Shu was staring.
But by this time, the girl had already vanished around the corner.
The scan feedback still showed nothing there...
"There was a girl there just now... very young, about our age..." Shu replied, his eyes still fixed on the corner.
The flock of sheep had passed by now, clearing the main road again.
"Really?" Mei looked surprisingly at the corner. "There are other young people here..."
"Should we follow?" Bronya's armor vibrated slightly, indicating it had been activated.
Shu glanced at the hand held by the old grandma, and finally, he shook his head.
"No, let's not split up anymore..." Shu's brow furrowed deeply. He felt something wasn't right.
Could I have... just now...
A pull on his hand interrupted his thoughts. The old grandma started leading the way again. Shu had no choice but to break off his train of thought.
"Shu, that girl you saw just now, what did she look like?" Mei asked softly beside Shu.
The others also leaned in.
Shu recalled, "The girl was wearing white clothes, probably a dress. Her hair seemed white too... Didn't see her eyes clearly, but the color seemed quite light..."
"Really fits this place..." Hearing the string of "white" in Shu's description, Kiana muttered under her breath. "Everything's white everywhere. Even in the snow, there isn't this much white..."
Shu remained silent.
Indeed, everything here was this white, from people to objects, even the animals.
The pigs were white, the cows were white bulls, even the roosters, which should be the most colorful, strutted around with white tails...
And the few of them stood out conspicuously in this white village.
"Shu, we've arrived," Bronya reminded him. Shu stopped walking. The hand held by the old grandma was released.
They were now in front of a low house, common along the road. Two faded yellow door gods were pasted on the wooden door, secured by a small lock. The old grandma leaned the bundle of branches against the door, then fumbled for a key from her clothes.
Perhaps the lock was rusty; the old grandma fiddled at the door for quite a while before finally opening it.
Although it was daytime, the inside of the house was pitch black. Shu glanced inside. Several thick candles sat on an altar table facing the main door.
The candles had clearly been extinguished for a long time. Other miscellaneous items, mostly plastic bags of unknown age, were scattered messily elsewhere on the altar table.
A very old CRT television, a folding table with a red cover draped over it, faintly revealing several porcelain bowls underneath.
A few wooden stools, and two faded sofas...
Shu and the others hesitated at the doorway for a moment. Then Shu took a deep breath and was the first to step over the high threshold, following the old grandma into the house.
The old grandma clearly knew her way around, fumbling in the dark and quickly finding the light switch. A small light bulb hanging from the ceiling brought some brightness to the house.
"Sit, sit down first..." The old grandma waved warmly at them, moving the stools over to a brazier on the floor.
"Come in..." Shu, having quickly checked the entire house, nodded at the others.
Then, he also found a place to sit down.
...This sofa is lumpy...
"Wait a moment, I'll get you something delicious..." The old grandma smiled, opened the back door, and hobbled out with small steps.
The group watched the old grandma leave, then immediately huddled together.
They quickly exchanged their findings.
Shu wasn't the only one who noticed. Besides the girl Shu mentioned, there were no young or middle-aged people here, only some elderly and very young children.
"Where did all those people go?" Kiana rubbed her hands, asking puzzledly.
Shu shifted his position. "Don't know. We can't be sure if those people are even here, or if they left or are hiding somewhere."
Then, he turned to look at Bronya. "Bronya, what about the drone you brought?"
Bronya paused for a moment, her eyes widening slightly as she looked down at an attachment on her gear.
Wait... Did she actually bring the drone?
"Bronya... you didn't launch the drone, did you?" Kiana asked incredulously. Saying this, she even reached out and touched Bronya's forehead, muttering, "That's not right... No fever..."
"Bronya forgot. Sorry," Bronya lowered her head, sounding somewhat dejected.
"Actually... I forgot about it too..." Mei also said, somewhat embarrassed. If Shu hadn't mentioned it, she wouldn't have remembered launching the drone either.
Have I been too negligent?
"I thought you guys, Mei, must have already launched it!" Kiana looked completely spooked. "Could there be some weird curse here?!"
"Huh?" Now it was Shu's turn to be baffled. "What curse?"
"The kind that makes people forget things!" Kiana pointed a finger at her own head. "Otherwise, why can't I even remember what I learned last night?"
Everyone: "…"
Stop making excuses for slacking off!!
"Really!" Seeing the disgusted looks from the others, Kiana got anxious. "I don't even remember what I ate last night!"
"Opinion reserved. Next," Shu sighed, but still made a mental note of this.
Bronya forgetting what she was supposed to do was indeed somewhat surprising, so it wasn't entirely impossible that Kiana was telling the truth.