"Have you seen our parents?" the older child asked, tears streaming down his face.
Gu Qingcheng glanced at Gu Zhaobei and shook her head, saying, "Not yet."
"Are our parents going to be eaten by monsters? When they ran out, I heard them grabbing weapons outside and shouting about killing monsters." The younger child was also sharp.
Gu Qingcheng saw them both trembling. The temperature had recently soared to 30 degrees Celsius, so it was clear they weren't shaking from cold, but from fear and hunger.
Gu Qingcheng then went outside and took four large meat buns and two cups of hot soy milk from the storage cabinet. She brought them to the two children and said, "Are you hungry? Eat something before you talk."
The two children couldn't resist the temptation of the large meat buns. They took them and buried their heads in eating.
Seeing this, Gu Zhaobei said, "How about this, you two stay here and don't go out easily. We'll go and scout around to see if we can find your parents. We'll come back for you later."
"Okay." The brothers quickly nodded.
Seeing them obedient and well-behaved, Gu Qingcheng took out another bag of sausages and several braised eggs, put them in a pre-prepared paper bag, and handed it to them, saying, "If we're gone for a while, don't worry, eat these to hold you over."
"Okay." The children's eyes lit up when they saw the food. They temporarily forgot about everything else. After all, they were young and easily appeased. Having food was enough to alleviate most of their anxiety and fear.
The father and daughter then walked outside. This time, they paid more attention and noticed several suspicious things. In addition to the overturned tables and chairs scattered in the hall, faint bloodstains could be seen on the walls. It seemed the adults of this family were likely in trouble.
The father and daughter continued into the village. What they didn't know was that a wedding procession was approaching from a distance along the village road. The young man at the front, dressed in the groom's bright red auspicious robes, rode a donkey, his face beaming with joy. Accompanied by the sounds of suona and drums, they were surrounded by others as they approached Jiren Village, which had become an empty village.
Gu Qingcheng and her father searched everywhere in the village. The village was deserted; there wasn't a single person. The sudden disappearance of the villagers didn't mean that the usual trade would stop. At this moment, at the other end of the village, a peddler, carrying his pole with goods, was entering the village to sell his wares, shaking his tambourine, "clang clang clang."
Gu Qingcheng and her father reached the ancestral hall in the middle of the village and couldn't help but frown. In front of the ancestral hall was a courtyard paved with bluestone slabs. The ground in the courtyard was now stained with dark, bloody spots, and a fresh scent of blood lingered in the air. It seemed last night's battle had been fierce.
The two pushed open the door. The creaking sound of the door sent a shiver down their spines in the silent village, similar to the sudden music in a horror movie. The most terrifying thing wasn't what was about to appear, but the music itself. The two had sharp ears and thought they heard a faint rustling sound.
Instantly, both of them placed their hands on the long knives at their waists, ready to draw them if anything seemed amiss. Although they hadn't formally practiced martial arts, thanks to the strength-enhancing pills they had taken, their strength was far greater than that of ordinary people. After diligently practicing a few moves with their sword instructor, they should be able to handle ordinary villagers turned zombies.
However, when the door of the ancestral hall opened, it was as quiet inside as it was outside, but a faint smell of blood permeated the air. The two looked at each other. In the main hall of the ancestral hall, all the ancestral tablets were overturned and lying on the ground. This must have been a fierce battle, otherwise the ancestral tablets, so revered by the villagers, wouldn't have fallen here.
Gu Qingcheng didn't need to close her eyes; she could vividly imagine the chaotic scene from last night: mutated villagers pouncing on and harming people... frightened villagers running around the village, trying to escape the disaster. Finally, they thought of the ancestral hall with its tall stone walls and heavy gates, and ran here to take refuge. However, the approaching zombies had smashed the door open, and then a bloodbath began. It was strange, though, where had all the villagers, mutated or not, gone now?
Gu Qingcheng thought she heard another rustling sound, but it disappeared immediately. She assumed it was her imagination. The father and daughter left the ancestral hall without finding anything. What they didn't know was that if they had looked up, they would have seen a terrifying sight that they would never forget:
Above them, the villagers they thought had disappeared were roosting on the rooftops like bats, one on top of the other, eyes closed, bodies curled up, motionless, as if dead. Because of the noise made by the father and daughter opening the door and walking, these zombies stirred and made the rustling sounds.
As the father and daughter just stepped out of the ancestral hall, they suddenly heard the sound of a "clang clang" tambourine. Then, they saw a peddler carrying his goods walking towards them with a look of confusion. Seeing them, he seemed relieved and asked from a distance, "Excuse me, sirs, could you please tell me what's wrong with Jiren Village today? Why is there no one here? What a strange thing. I've been coming here to sell goods for over a decade, and this is the first time I've encountered such a quiet village. Did the entire village move away? That's impossible! They couldn't have moved so quickly! I was here yesterday, and they were all fine. No one mentioned moving away. How odd, how very odd!"
Gu Zhaobei and Gu Qingcheng listened to the peddler's incessant chatter and felt a headache coming on. Oh, so he was a chatterbox with a severe case of social butterfly syndrome! Gu Qingcheng replied, "We don't know either. We just happened to pass by this morning and found the village empty, which was quite strange, so we came to take a look."
"Oh, looking at your attire, you must be from the government, right?" the peddler asked, seeing that their clothes were neat and not like those of ordinary villagers. Having traveled extensively, he felt he had the eye for it and made a confident guess.
Gu Qingcheng and Gu Zhaobei neither confirmed nor denied his assumption. There was no need to explain everything to a stranger; it would be too much of a drain on their energy.
However, at this very moment, a noisy drum and music sound suddenly erupted from the village entrance. Apart from the occasional sounds of the three of them talking, the surroundings had been completely silent. Suddenly hearing such a cacophony, all three were startled. They turned around and saw a wedding procession entering the village, complete with gongs and drums. As Gu Qingcheng looked, someone in the procession was about to light a string of long firecrackers. Gu Qingcheng felt something was wrong and was about to go and stop them from lighting the firecrackers. To her surprise, they were faster. The firecrackers were lit, producing a deafening crackling sound.