Chapter 495: Trap
Moreover, Old Chen and the girl in his house were starving.
Even if food was limited, why were some people eating meat while others could barely make watery porridge?
"What about the meat?" Blaze asked. "How did you catch the mutated goat?"
Chief Gao looked at him.
"We dug a trap."
Chief Gao looked at him.
"We dug a trap."
"What level was the goat?"
"I don’t know."
"Did it possess an ability?"
"No."
"How large was it?"
Chief Gao’s expression became increasingly impatient.
"It was just a goat. Why are you asking so many questions?"
Blaze leaned back in his seat.
"I used to hunt before the apocalypse. I was curious about how animals have changed in this region."
"You won’t find many animals around here," Chief Gao replied stiffly. "The locusts scared most of them away."
That was another lie.
The locusts had only appeared recently, but the meat had clearly been part of the villagers’ diet for longer than that.
Leng Pan and Lu Zhen exchanged a glance.
They had gathered enough information for now.
Remaining in Chief Gao’s courtyard would only give him more opportunities to test them.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Leng Pan said as she stood. "We should return to our shelter and rest."
"So soon?" Chief Gao asked.
"We have been travelling since early morning."
"You could stay in the house beside mine," he suggested immediately. "It is clean and more comfortable than that abandoned house."
"There is no need," Lu Zhen refused.
Chief Gao’s smile disappeared for a moment.
"The locusts could return unexpectedly."
"We can protect ourselves."
"It is dangerous to be careless."
"Chief Gao seems unusually concerned about where we sleep," Sonny said.
The courtyard fell silent again.
Sonny spoke in a mild tone, but the meaning behind his words was obvious.
Chief Gao forced a laugh.
"I am only worried about my guests."
"We appreciate your concern," Leng Pan said. "However, we are accustomed to sleeping in difficult conditions."
Seeing that he could not persuade them, Chief Gao stopped insisting.
"Very well. If you need anything, send someone to my house."
"We will."
The group walked out of the courtyard.
Before they left, Leng Pan glanced towards the well behind Chief Gao’s house.
The stone covering it was thick and heavy. A wooden frame stood above it, supporting a rope and bucket.
Nothing appeared unusual.
However, Little Vine began trembling again.
Whatever lived below remained there.
As the group passed between the houses, Leng Pan deliberately slowed down.
The young woman who had knocked over Janna’s cup stood beside a wooden basin, pretending to wash dishes.
When Leng Pan drew close, the woman lowered her voice.
"Leave before midnight."
Leng Pan did not stop walking.
"What will happen at midnight?" she asked softly.
"I can’t tell you."
"Why?"
The woman’s hands shook in the dirty water.
"They are watching."
Before Leng Pan could ask anything else, a large woman emerged from the neighbouring house and grabbed the younger woman’s arm.
"What are you whispering about?"
"Nothing," the young woman replied fearfully.
The large woman looked at Leng Pan with suspicion.
"She was apologizing for breaking the cup," Leng Pan explained casually.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
The large woman tightened her grip and dragged the young woman away.
Leng Pan continued walking without looking back.
Once the group returned to the empty house, she restored the mist barrier and created another soundproof layer around them.
"That woman warned us to leave before midnight," she informed everyone.
"So, something will happen tonight," Ouyang Jin said.
"Or they plan to act at midnight," Lu Hao added.
"What did she mean when she said they were watching?" Janna asked. "Chief Gao had already returned to his courtyard."
"She might not have meant Chief Gao," Sonny replied.
The room became quiet.
Perhaps someone...or something was observing the entire village.
"Should we leave?" Su Yan asked.
"No," Lu Zhen answered. "We need to learn what is happening here."
If they left now, the next group of survivors would fall into the same trap.
More importantly, the clean well and the creature living below it were too unusual to ignore.
"I agree," Leng Pan said. "But first, I want to examine the water."
She created a thick mist barrier around herself and Lu Zhen before the two entered her space.
The others remained outside to monitor the village.
Once inside, Leng Pan took out the bottle containing the well water.
She carried it to an empty laboratory room inside the high-tech mansion.
Although she did not understand every machine inside, the automated system could perform basic analysis.
She placed a sample of the water inside the machine.
Several minutes later, the results appeared.
The water contained no ordinary poison.
There was no zombie virus, harmful radiation, or known contaminant.
However, the system detected unidentified organic matter.
Leng Pan magnified the image.
Countless transparent objects floated in the water. They were so small that they could not be seen with the naked eye.
At first, she thought they were cells.
But each object possessed an oval body with something curled inside.
"They look like eggs," Lu Zhen said.
Leng Pan’s expression became serious.
She took a sealed glass container and poured a small amount of the water into it.
The transparent eggs remained motionless.
"Why didn’t they hatch when Chief Gao drank the water?" she wondered.
"Maybe they need certain conditions."
Leng Pan thought for a moment before taking out a drop of spiritual spring water.
The spring could nourish living creatures and stimulate evolution.
If those objects were truly alive, they would react to it.
She released one drop into the container.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then, the transparent eggs began trembling.
One cracked.
A thin, almost invisible creature emerged from within.
More followed.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of threadlike creatures filled the container.
They twisted together, forming a pale mass.
Then, as if they had sensed something, every creature turned in the same direction.
Towards Leng Pan.
The tiny parasites struck the glass wall repeatedly.
Thin cracks began spreading across the supposedly reinforced container.