Chapter 23: Have you ever seen that girl?

The disappearance of the two people had no impact on the team's progress.

Neither Chen Ye nor the Sword Fairy Maiden stopped because of this incident.

Chen Ye and the others headed toward the large willow tree at the village center.

As they went deeper into the village, the pressure on the survivors grew heavier.

A strange sense of fear enveloped everyone's hearts.

There were many residential houses on both sides of the village, with many of their doors wide open, revealing pitch-black interiors inside the rooms.

Some survivors were determined to follow Chen Ye and the others.

But others had been hesitating all along.

Following them deeper into the village might not necessarily mean gathering more supplies, but it would definitely be more dangerous.

Among them, the Zhou siblings, Zhou Lan and Zhou Xiaoxiao, were firmly in the follow-along camp.

Suddenly, Chen Ye's footsteps halted, his eyes narrowing slightly as he raised his hand crossbow to point forward.

Beside him, Iron Lion and the Sword Fairy Maiden reacted similarly to Chen Ye.

All three looked ahead with some wariness.

It was the hunchbacked old man!

Calling him an old man wasn't quite right - he was more like a puppet on strings, both in his movements and the expressions on his face.

"You've... come~~~"

The hunchbacked old puppet's voice drifted over eerily, making everyone feel uncomfortable all over.

It was as if this old man had been specifically waiting for Chen Ye and the others.

The survivors behind them all huddled behind the three of Chen Ye's group.

"Are you from this village?"

Chen Ye was the first to ask.

The hunchbacked old puppet chuckled darkly without answering Chen Ye's question, instead saying eerily: "I know you're here to search for supplies. There's a small supermarket under the big willow tree with plenty of supplies. You can go check there!"

"Follow this road straight ahead, and you'll reach the Big Willow Tree Small Supermarket!"

"Hehe... there's lots of delicious food there!"

"Lots..."

After speaking, the old man slowly turned and left.

The entire process was like watching pre-programmed code execute, sending chills down people's spines.

Just then, Chen Ye heard an eerie calling voice: "Save... me, save... me..."

The voice seemed both near and far, like... like...

Chen Ye's expression changed, and he turned to look at Iron Lion: "Big guy, did you hear any sounds?"

Iron Lion's face didn't look good either as he nodded and said: "I heard it, someone saying 'save me'."

"It's coming from inside that old man's body!"

Nana spoke up.

"That old man has problems!"

Without even thinking, Chen Ye raised his hand crossbow and fired a bolt at the hunchbacked old puppet.

To survive, Chen Ye had practiced extensively with the hand crossbow these past days, and his accuracy had become quite reliable.

The bolt coated with black dog blood struck right between the old puppet's eyebrows.

A wisp of green smoke rose from between the old puppet's eyebrows, and a pained expression flashed across his face.

Chen Ye felt a surge of joy in his heart.

The bolts soaked in black dog blood were effective.

At the same time, Chen Ye received a system notification before his eyes.

Before Chen Ye could feel pleased.

They saw the hunchbacked old puppet give Chen Ye a venomous look, reach up to pull the bolt from between his eyebrows, and throw it to the ground.

That shot between the eyebrows hadn't posed the slightest threat to him.

The black dog blood might be effective, but its effect was truly limited.

It was far less effective than that shot against the White Dress Scissor Woman back in Xinghua Town.

Of course, Iron Lion had contributed greatly to that shot.

"Attack!"

Nana's eyes flashed as the long sword in her hand transformed into a streak of sword light directly attacking the hunchbacked old puppet.

Iron Lion's movements were slightly slower, but he now radiated dangerous energy as he charged forward empty-handed, like a bulldozer operating at full power.

Chen Ye pulled the bowstring to load the second bolt.

The Sword Fairy Maiden's long sword sliced the hunchbacked old puppet into two sections with one stroke.

Before the surrounding survivors could feel relieved, they saw that the two sections of the hunchbacked old puppet's body showed no sign of bleeding.

The two body sections leaped like monkeys, dodging Big Fool's fist, climbed onto the nearby roof, and escaped.

Two body sections...

Sobbing, pleading sounds came from the direction where the hunchbacked old puppet had fled: "Save... me... save... me..."

The voice remained utterly chilling!!!

Nana quickly grabbed Iron Lion who wanted to give chase: "Big guy, calm down, gathering supplies is more important."

The scene before them had unfolded rapidly, completed in almost the blink of an eye.

But it left the survivors behind them utterly stunned.

Several people felt a warm, wet sensation in their pants.

Facing anomalies, even after seeing them countless times, they still couldn't help feeling fear in their hearts.

"I'm not going anymore, you go yourselves if you want, I'm not going..."

One survivor screamed in terror as he turned and ran toward the village entrance.

"I'm not going either, I don't want to die yet..."

Following closely, two more survivors broke away from the group and rushed toward the village entrance.

Chen Ye glanced at the Zhou siblings following behind him but said nothing.

No, it should be said the Zhou siblings were following behind the three of them.

As if sensing Chen Ye's gaze.

The big celebrity Zhou Lan's eyes flashed with a faint trace of pleading and regret, but it quickly disappeared.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xiaoxiao lowered her head to avoid Chen Ye's gaze.

The three said nothing, looked toward the direction of the big willow tree, and continued straight ahead.

The atmosphere was very oppressive.

There was still no one in the village.

Within the Ghost Domain, everything felt oppressive, like walking in another dimension.

As they walked, sudden terrified screams came from behind: "A'Zi, A'Zi is gone..."

The three turned around again.

It was a disheveled girl's breaking cry: "A'Zi is gone..."

"A'Zi was just here!"

"A'Zi is gone... wuwuwu..."

The girl squatted on the ground crying heartbrokenly, her sobs like wind blowing through a wind tunnel.

Chen Ye frowned slightly.

They hadn't even reached the Big Willow Tree Small Supermarket yet, but so many incidents had already occurred.

Longevity Village was indeed more dangerous than Xinghua Town.

Zhou Lan felt unbearable pity in her heart, squatting down to comfort: "Don't cry, maybe A'Zi has already returned. We'll see him when we go back later."

Zhou Xiaoxiao's face flashed with impatience.

The girl shook her head wildly, her black hair dancing like snakes.

"No, I can't be without A'Zi, I can't live without A'Zi!"

Before anyone could react again.

The girl stood up and charged fiercely toward the direction they came from.

"You..."

Zhou Lan tried to grab the girl but came up empty-handed.

No one at the scene spoke, just watching the direction where the girl had left.

Yes, how similar they were to that girl.

Every survivor who had lived until now had lost loved ones.

Some had lost husbands, some had lost wives and children...

But this was the apocalypse!

Perhaps today they themselves wouldn't make it out of Longevity Village alive.

Each person's heart felt like a heavy stone was pressing down on it.

Chen Ye lit a cigarette to relieve the oppression in his heart.

He always felt that something about these events wasn't right.

But he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

As he exhaled a smoke ring, Chen Ye suddenly asked eerily:

"Have... any of you ever seen that girl in the convoy before?"