Chapter 41: Mango Pomelo Sago

Guan Zixuan hurriedly squeezed to Wei Yan’s side, asking, "What happened?"

Wei Yan remained silent, his face grim.

Aside from the woman still wailing, no one dared to speak, all avoiding eye contact. Even Da Zhuang, who was being bitten by the woman, merely dodged, not daring to insult or fight back; he looked as if he wished he could vanish on the spot.

"Move aside, move aside!"

Shunzi pushed through the crowd, sweating profusely as he squeezed in. "What’s going on?"

Seeing him, Wei Yan seemed to snap out of his stupor, his rage finally erupting. "What is the meaning of this? Who is she? Why is she in our village?"

Shunzi’s expression stiffened the moment his eyes landed on the disheveled woman. He hadn't expected the woman he brought back a few days ago to have escaped! And to have run straight to Wei Yan!

Shunzi subconsciously glared at Da Zhuang. What on earth was this guy doing? He had brought her back days ago, and Da Zhuang was the first to take her, with the explicit agreement that she should be kept locked up for a few months, especially while Wei Yan was away. How could he mess up something so routine?

"If you're glaring at him like that, you must know something about this," Wei Yan said coldly. "Shunzi, you explain it."

What could he say?

"Wei, I'm sorry. I let an outsider into the village." In front of everyone, Shunzi lowered his head in shame and apologized without hesitation. "While you were away, the temperature dropped drastically, and many people came seeking refuge. We turned away those who looked malicious. But some of the weaker women begged us, and Brother Zou and I were soft-hearted, so we... we let them in."

"She had a child, and she needed to survive. There are many men in the village who haven't taken wives. I asked her if she wanted to find someone to settle down with, and she agreed."

"Blind marriages and coerced unions often lead to conflicts. I suppose she and Da Zhuang must have had a fight, which led to this."

As Shunzi explained, he signaled to Da Zhuang. The latter caught the cue immediately and chimed in, "Wei, I just had a little spat with my wife. Look, she’s biting me like this, and I haven't even fought back. I still want to live a good life with her!"

The surrounding villagers also began to chime in.

Wei Yan’s gaze swept slowly over the crowd. Shunzi still had beads of sweat on his forehead from running, but his expression was composed. Da Zhuang’s eyes darted around, his speech was stuttered, and he didn't dare meet Wei Yan’s gaze. As for the villagers gathered in the inner circle, they guiltily averted their eyes as soon as he looked at them. There was another group that remained silent, neither speaking nor joining in; their eyes held no curiosity or gossip, not at all like people watching a spectacle.

Everyone’s reaction was far too strange.

Wei Yan was not so easily fooled. He used his ability to flip Da Zhuang over two meters away. Struggling to suppress his anger, he looked at the woman on the ground and softened his tone. "You tell me. What is really going on?"

The woman, who had been trying to chase and bite Da Zhuang, felt tears roll down her face upon hearing this. She spoke in a hoarse voice, "What would it matter if I told you? Will you stand up for me?"

"If what you say is true," Wei Yan said in a deep voice, "I will certainly stand up for you."

Perhaps because she hadn't been held captive for long, she still harbored a final shred of hope. She pointed at Shunzi, her voice suddenly turning sharp. "It was him! It was him and a group of ability users who killed my husband! They brought me and my son up the mountain and treated me like an object for those scoundrels to pick over!"

"For the sake of my child, I endured it! But this bastard locked me in a room and wouldn't let me out. I begged him for three days—three days without stepping out of the room. It wasn't until today that I found a chance to sneak out to see my son, and who would have known... who would have known..."

At this point, the woman was choked with tears. "He kept my son in another place, didn't give him a single bite to eat for three days, and starved him to death!"

"Wei, don't listen to her lies!" Da Zhuang scrambled up from the ground. "I just wanted her to settle down and be with me, so I separated them! That brat died because he refused to eat!"

"It was you! You starved him to death! You locked him in that room; he was so small, and no one answered when he cried! He called for me, I couldn't hear him, but you heard him, and you didn't care at all!"

"You killed my husband and my son, and then locked me up like an animal—why don't you die! Just die, die, die!"

The woman lunged again, biting fiercely into Da Zhuang’s arm. Her crazed demeanor suggested she would rather drink his blood and eat his flesh than do anything else; she would take him down with her if she could.

With the truth laid bare, Shunzi tried to explain, "Wei, she is an outsider. We are the fellow villagers who have been with you for so long. Don't listen to her one-sided story."

"A one-sided story?" Zheng Wenxiu said coldly. "I personally think every word she said is true."

"You!"

Zheng Wenxiu glanced at Su Su and the others standing in the back, implying, "Wei, you saw what happened a few days ago. If we hadn't arrived in time, there would be several more victims."

"The way Zou Gaoming and Shunzi rob and kill is far too practiced. This certainly isn't their first time."

"There may well be many other women in this village who were forcibly abducted just like her."

Shunzi: "Wei, that's impossible..."

"Why don't we search and see?" Su Su suddenly interjected.

Shunzi snapped, "Damn it, what business is it of yours!"

*Slap!* A piece of hail the size of a fist slammed into his forehead!

Pang Cancan put her hands on her hips. "Who do you think you're talking to? Le Rui, smash him!"

"Got it!"

Dense hail rained down on Shunzi. Even the Tier 3 Brother Zou had been defeated by these two women; the bullying, spineless Shunzi didn't dare to fight back now.

Wei Yan looked at Su Su, who had made the suggestion, and declared, "Search the whole village. Everyone is to follow. If I find anyone sneaking back..." He darkened his face. "Don't blame me for being ruthless!"

The villagers followed in terror as Wei Yan, accompanied by Guan Zixuan and Zheng Wenxiu, searched house by house. They focused on the homes of over a dozen bachelors but found no extra people.

Shunzi let out a faint sigh of relief. "Wei, we really didn't lie to you. That woman was the only exception. She really did come with Da Zhuang willingly a few days ago, and her son's death was an accident none of us expected."

Wei Yan turned his head abruptly, staring intensely at the young man who was both familiar and strange. "Are you saying her husband was killed voluntarily, her son starved to death voluntarily, and she was locked in this village voluntarily?"

His attitude was so firm that Shunzi dared not speak again. Yet, with no other women found, the situation hit a stalemate.

Su Su’s gaze swept over the familiar houses and she suddenly asked, "What about the cellars?"

In the southern regions, there was rarely a tradition of digging cellars; logically, this village shouldn't have any. But Su Su knew—they did.

In her past life, when she arrived at the deserted Hot Spring Village, she had searched house by house for their food stores to survive the three-month snow disaster, and she had been lucky enough to find several cellars. She hadn't seen people or corpses there, only grain and vegetables. But she had only checked a few; the rest had been raided by Lin Weiran and the others.

The question shattered Wei Yan’s angry fog. He subconsciously replied, "No one in the village digs cellars."

Su Su looked at him quietly. Three seconds later, Wei Yan’s face turned incredibly ugly.

"Search! Search again!"

The ones who responded actively were Guan Zixuan and Zheng Wenxiu, joined by the indignant and self-appointed helpers Pang Cancan and little Le Rui. They searched the first few houses with nothing to show for it until they entered another bachelor's home.

"Wei, I really have nothing in my house... ah!"

The bachelor was sent flying with a heavy blow. Suddenly, everyone felt the full weight of Wei Yan’s fury and dared not obstruct them further.

Watching them knock and feel around the empty house, Su Su walked into the kitchen. Based on her experience from her past life, she moved the heavy water vat aside. A pitch-black hole was revealed.

"Damn! Wei, there really is a cellar!"

"Go in and check."

Guan Zixuan jumped down first. Ten seconds later, his voice, filled with anger and heartache, drifted up. "There are people down here!"

"This place is too small! Don't come down, I'll bring them up myself!"

Before long, Guan Zixuan climbed out, carrying a gaunt, skin-and-bones woman.

Wei Yan’s chest heaved violently. He ground his teeth, wanting to say something, but the intensity of his emotions reduced his response to a single sentence: "Keep searching!"

After searching every household, they found a total of five imprisoned women. They were either unconscious or in a catatonic state, most having lost the ability to speak.

Seeing the wretched state of these women, Wei Yan turned sharply and punched Shunzi in the face. The surrounding air grew thin, and an invisible hand gripped Shunzi’s throat, lifting him into the air.

"Whose idea was this? Zou Gaoming’s, or yours?"

Wei Yan was angry, disappointed, and even in pain. He had never imagined that the two young men who had worked so hard and been so capable before the apocalypse would commit such vile, wicked acts.

"I told you to guard the village! Is this how you guarded it?!"

Perhaps realizing that his "death sentence" was inevitable, Shunzi, despite his face turning red from lack of oxygen, still found the strength to offer a mocking smile.

"Wei, haven't Brother Zou and I guarded it well?"

"When the apocalypse came, so many people died outside. Look at everyone in the village—they have food, clothes, wives, and their safety is guaranteed."

"Haven't we done a good job?"

Wei Yan grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him to his knees, forcing him to face the tortured women.