NOVEL NEXT Chapter 142: Missing
Xu Xiaoyou watched the direction where the girl had left, thinking that the girl seemed like she wanted to say something to them.
After shaking her head, she and Tang Xin caught up with the crowd and soon arrived at the village elder's house. It was a stilt house built along a slope, with no walls underneath, entirely suspended in mid-air, with wooden posts deeply set into the slope. Despite the gradient, the wooden posts still supported the entire building well. Besides good ventilation, this structure was mainly to reduce the intrusion of wild beasts and reptiles in the snowy plains.
The slope was concealed among the woods, casting layers of shadows. Looking down, the vegetation at the bottom of the slope was still relatively dense, with yellowish-green weeds covered by a thin layer of snow, bending them with the weight.
The cold wind entered the room with the crowd, burrowing directly into their collars. The main hall was well-ventilated, with windows on all sides, yet an indescribable oppressive feeling loomed overhead. Xu Xiaoyou noticed the shrine placed two people's height above the corner of the room, the whole body of the statue inside the red wooden shrine was gilded. From that angle, its slightly closed eyes could oversee the entire main hall.
Following the elder further into the stilt house, they walked through the main hall to a small corridor, where branches grew in from outside, casting shadows that enveloped everyone.
The corridor wasn't particularly deep, about a dozen meters between each end. The corridor walls were absent, and the entire stilt building bore some age, with irregular cracks appearing on the wooden floor at intervals, issuing creaking sounds that echoed overhead as they stepped on it.
Soon they passed through the corridor and went into the washroom to wash away the bloodstains one by one, changing clothes before arriving in the living room.
It was both the place for receiving guests and the daily dining area for the elder's family.
The food on the table was somewhat plain, but for the drifters, it was already rich—steamed tofu skin, pickled vegetables, boiled vegetable hearts, and tea-soaked rice. The only meat dish was steamed pork, sliced as thin as cicada's wings and spread out in bowls, with clear fat streaks visible on the white meat.
All the affairs of various sizes within the settlement were handled by the elder, who was the village chief here. He was revered by many people, so naturally, his living standards were above most of the drifters.
The woman had been waiting beside the table for a long time, kneeling on a bamboo mat. The partition reflected the woman's calm yet somewhat numb face as she cradled a nursing infant, probably the elder's child in his old age.
Compared to the elder, the woman wasn't very old, just over forty, but compared to the other drifters in the settlement, she was already considered an elder.
Only after seeing the elder did the woman pick up the chopsticks from the table, press her hands together in front of her, and after noticing the guests following the elder, she tidied her clothes and stood up, walking towards the distance with dignity.
"Sit." The elder said.
The group sat around the dining table, and the woman came from a side room, placing bowls of fine white rice in front of them, pouring steaming tea into cups, and putting a few plates of pickled vegetables and steamed tofu skins on the table.
"I'm starving, haven't had a bite for over a day." Lin Xing evidently didn't care much for table etiquette, tapping the chopsticks on the table a few times before starting to eat on his own. For the life of a Shadow, this meal was considered a delicacy compared to eating decomposing rodent carcasses and insects in the wild.
After a few whispered reminders to Lin Xing proved fruitless, Lin Sheng couldn't reprimand his brother much. He merely looked at the elder apologetically, but the elder didn't mind, chuckling softly and shaking his head.
"You are honored guests, no need to worry about such things."
Tang Xin, feeling a bit hungry too, gently held the bowl of tea-soaked rice and ate quietly, matching it with the small dish of pickled vegetables in front of her, behaving very quietly—one might easily overlook the girl's presence if not paying attention.
Xu Xiaoyou observed the elder at the table, noting how his eyes seemed dim and dusty, like they had gray lines running through them, giving her the impression of him being weathered.
She remained silent, quietly surveying her surroundings. The old-fashioned bulb overhead flickered slightly. The living room had little furniture, just a round table in the center and a worn bamboo mat on the floor, making it appear spacious, with a desolate, bleak atmosphere permeating the room.
Suddenly, she noticed the woman standing silently in the corner, her eyes wide open. Her dead, hollow pupils reflected Xu Xiaoyou's image, and at that moment, a heavy sense of death was emanating from the woman.
She shook her head and blinked, finding the woman had switched to another expression, her face smiling mildly as she spoke smoothly: "Let me know if there's not enough food, and I'll get more."
Xu Xiaoyou subtly shifted her gaze, pressed her palms together in front of her, and began eating her tea-soaked rice with two pieces of steamed tofu skin.
"The steamed pork is not bad, it tastes better than what I had in the city, quite fresh." Lin Xing said, picking up a slice of white meat from the bowl with his chopsticks, slightly rolling it up. "It's just a pity there's no sauce to dip it in."
Lin Xing broke the silence at the dining table, and the elder chuckled, saying to Chen San:
"You always come so unexpectedly, there's nothing much I can offer for your hospitality."
Chen San waved it off; for these snowplain drifters, information flow was blocked, and usually, they communicated through their companions at observation posts. The observation posts provided the settlement living supplies, and in exchange, these drifters shared information from the snow plains with them, offering as much assistance as possible to the special agents executing external commissions when necessary.
These observation posts and settlements served as the eyes and ears that the Dawn Office placed near the Wastelands suburban area and wilderness zone, holding significant strategic importance.
Recalling the observation post, he thought of the scene from the afternoon. Generally, there should always be personnel stationed at an observation post. One post was staffed with two people, rotating shifts, and it was rare for both to be absent simultaneously.
Chen San pondered this but did not mention it directly. Instead, he asked, "How have things been in the village lately?"
The elder seemed to think for a while, then slowly said:
"Those young lads' issues, I hope you don't take it to heart. For some reason, in the past half month, several households in the village have gone missing occasionally. Strange happenings have occurred frequently, making everyone nervous. Add to that, those young men who recently arrived are unfamiliar with your matters, which is why they offended you."
"Missing?" Chen San caught onto the keyword.
Xu Xiaoyou also lifted her head, she and Chen San both noticed something in each other's eyes.
The intelligence indicated the last place Yorick appeared was just a few kilometers away from here, a few days ago. The timing also matched, making it hard not to suspect this incident was related to the Puppet Master.
Chen San withheld his thoughts and said, "Are the missing ones children?"
On the snow plains, wolf packs and other predator species had a habit of attacking young offspring of other creatures, humans included.
The elder thought again and shook his head.
"They were young, strong lads, the workforce of the village."
"It's pitiful; before some children's weaning, their parents had vanished, and no household had surplus grain to feed another mouth... "