The night passed in near silence.
The next morning.
Su Qing was up before dawn.
By the faint light filtering through the doorway, he readied his simple Wooden Bow.
He intended to go next door to Wang Liu's to ask for directions to the town.
The moment Su Qing stepped outside, he saw Wang Liu was already up and doing some stretches.
"Qingzi! Thank you so much for yesterday," Wang Liu called out cheerfully upon seeing Su Qing.
Wang Liu then strode over to Su Qing.
"I'm not hunting for a bit. I still need a few more days to recover. If you're running low on grain at home, you can just tell me."
"You're my life-saver now, you know!"
Wang Liu clapped Su Qing on the shoulder.
Su Qing looked Wang Liu up and down. Seeing his ruddy complexion, he said, "Uncle, I was just coming to find you. There's something I need to ask."
"And to see how you're doing, of course."
Wang Liu replied readily, "Go on, what is it?"
"Uncle, I want to leave the village. Where's the nearest town, and how do I get there?"
Hearing this, Wang Liu couldn't help but glance at Su Qing's still rather frail-looking frame.
He asked doubtfully, "You've really decided to venture out?"
"I have, Uncle."
Su Qing gave a firm nod, his gaze meeting Wang Liu's with unwavering resolve.
Wang Liu sighed and clapped Su Qing's shoulder again. "On the road leading out of the village, the path to the left goes to town. If you set out in the morning, you'll probably only make it there by sunset."
"Wang Liu, something's happened in the village! Come quick and see what's going on!"
A man suddenly appeared, calling out to Wang Liu. He pointed anxiously to the east, then hurried off in that direction himself.
'Trouble?' Wang Liu wondered what could have happened.
But his feet were already carrying him after them.
Su Qing watched the man hurry away. 'Was his name Ning? Or Zhou?'
However, hearing that there was trouble, he subconsciously followed to see what was going on.
'Everyone loves a bit of commotion. As long as you're not involved, you've got to go take a look. Even villagers enjoy rubbernecking.'
After all, life in the village was incredibly dull.
It was only natural to want to see what was happening.
And all this, just as the sky was beginning to lighten.
The Zhang Family Compound.
Su Qing always felt a sense of repulsion coming here.
But seeing all the villagers gathered here, Su Qing sensed something had happened to the Zhang Family. He couldn't help but feel a flicker of anticipation.
Until...
...he saw several familiar men from the village carrying out one corpse after another.
A horrifying chill shot down his spine. In his past life or his present one, he had never seen so many corpses.
Zhang Mazi's body was also carried out.
Su Qing stared at Zhang Mazi's body, which had been mutilated into a Human Pig. The sight was staggering. Even his private parts were gone, nowhere to be found.
It was an exceptionally cruel sight.
'Which good Samaritan took care of Zhang Mazi so thoroughly?' Su Qing thought. 'He died horribly, but it was well-deserved!!!'
"Something's happened at the Guan Family's place, too!"
An old woman in the crowd suddenly shouted to one of the stout men.
Some of the people gathered at the Zhang Family compound broke away.
The village only had about three hundred people to begin with. Broken down by household, that was no more than a hundred families.
Dozens of people from the Zhang Family had died, all part of the same extended clan that lived together.
The Guan Family was the same, a clan of several dozen with members both old and young.
When Su Qing heard this, the satisfaction he'd felt at his enemy's demise vanished.
In its place was an even deeper horror.
'Is this the work of man, or a Demon Fiend!'
Su Qing didn't follow the crowd to see what had happened to the Guan Family. Instead, he carefully examined the bodies being carried out.
'If this was the work of men, it would be impossible to slaughter an entire household of dozens without making a sound.'
Su Qing took a closer look at the loathsome Zhang Mazi.
Zhang Mazi's eyes were wide open, his unwillingness to die still etched within them. The wounds and blood on his body were completely dry, and the sight of the dark, brownish stains made Su Qing tremble inwardly.
But Su Qing forced himself to remain calm.
'Calm down, Su Qing, calm down. Zhang Mazi is dead, so be it. But I have to live.'
After all, if it really was a Demon Fiend, Su Qing wanted to leave the village at once.
He looked more closely at the purplish-green wounds on Zhang Mazi's body, and the numerous black, seemingly scorched areas.
Su Qing then glanced at the other members of the Zhang Family. There were young and old among them.
But none were as brutally mutilated as Zhang Mazi.
It seemed that the one who did this, be it a person or a Demon Fiend, bore an immense hatred for Zhang Mazi.
Su Qing was struggling to keep his stomach from churning.
The overpowering stench—a mix of blood and a foul, rotting odor—assaulted his nostrils, and Su Qing could no longer hold it in.
"RETCH~"
Su Qing whipped his head around and vomited onto a sparse patch of grass by the path.
Since he had been subsisting on one compressed grass biscuit a day and hadn't eaten yet today, Su Qing only dry-heaved, bringing up a bit of sour stomach bile onto the grass.
The sharp, acidic taste in his mouth sobered him considerably.
Wang Liu was about to say a few words of concern.
But Su Qing spoke first.
"Sixth Uncle, something's wrong with this village. I'm going back to my house and leaving right now!"
Su Qing turned and bolted.
As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.
God knows if the same thing would happen again tonight.
What he had just seen was clearly not the work of a human. How could a person killed by another person start to smell of rot so quickly? The level of decay on the wounds was also completely unnatural.
Even Su Qing, who had no medical training, knew something was terribly wrong.
Su Qing wasn't even thinking about revenge anymore.
But seeing Zhang Mazi dead, Su Qing felt as if, for some reason, a great weight had finally been lifted from his heart.
He heard the Guan Family was in trouble, too.
...
Back in his small, dilapidated hut, Su Qing didn't bother packing anything valuable. He just shouldered a bundle, tucked a hatchet into his belt, and grabbed his simple Wooden Bow and the arrows he had made.
The bundle was just a few compressed grass biscuits wrapped in old clothes.
The moment Su Qing stepped out the door, he saw Wang Liu returning. He asked urgently, "Uncle Wang, are you leaving for town or not?"
Wang Liu was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "Qingzi, you go on ahead. I'm going to wait a day."
Seeing this, Su Qing didn't press the issue. His own fear was more urgent.
'I've only just been reborn; I haven't lived nearly long enough yet.'
'Who knew what else could happen overnight?'
'After all, the Zhang Family certainly didn't lack firewood. If they could all be killed by a Demon Fiend even with an ample supply, then this creature definitely wasn't afraid of fire.'
How could Su Qing possibly be willing to wait a day just to see if the Demon Fiend would make another move?
Without a shred of hesitation, Su Qing strode quickly out of the village.
There was only one path out of the village—a yellow dirt track merely two meters wide, flanked by weeds that grew taller than a man.
Once clear of the village, Su Qing strode quickly down the dirt path to the left.
Plans really couldn't keep up with reality. And so, Su Qing hurriedly left Flood Village, a place he had only stayed in for a few days.
'I hope this is the right road.'
Su Qing didn't dwell on it. He was going to the town, but he wouldn't be staying there for long either.
'Based on the knowledge from his past life, he'd probably have to get to a county seat to actually learn martial arts.'
The town was likely just a bit more developed than the village, nothing more.
It was still early. The air was crisp and refreshing, helping to dispel the thread of uncertainty and unease that came with traveling alone.