The cold wind continued to rage, and only stopped after two days.

After the wind died down, the temperature soon warmed up.

That morning, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei woke up, turned off the air conditioning, revived Gou, finished their remaining meat strips, and continued to observe their surroundings.

—— To prevent the meat strips from spoiling, their meals have primarily consisted of the strips during this period.

Now that they've finished them, they can consider other food options for the next meal.

However, before confirming the situation in Yao County, neither of them planned to light a fire to cook.

This wasn't Jianshan City, where they could find hills to block the view. Between them and Yao County, only two walls separated them; no other cover existed, making fire and smoke risk being discovered by the city.

Stepping out of the car to the area beyond the earthen walls, they gazed into the distance. Yao County appeared similar to those cities in Jianshan City, with few tall buildings and mostly comprised of one or two-story small buildings or houses.

Buildings five stories tall were considered the highest; they could see one or two from behind the earthen walls, unsure if they were residential areas or office buildings for some department or company.

Lu Xi'an felt that Yao County must be a large agricultural county; thus, the outskirts were vast fields and greenhouse ruins.

That's why Qiao Yuchun had mentioned in the letter that their leader was pleased after knowing where her hometown was.

After looking for a while and seeing no movement nearby or farther away, Lu Xi'an said, "After observing today, if we really don't see anyone here, we'll circle Yao County to see if there are people in other locations."

Having been here for over two days in persistent cold weather, people wouldn't pop up easily in such bitter cold.

It's better to watch for another day today, and if nothing is found, then head elsewhere.

If people inside the county were fleeing, they wouldn't necessarily all run in one direction.

Yao Wei had no objections, nodded, and said, "Okay."

They only watched for a short time before returning to the vehicle.

Going out was merely to take a look at everything within their view and confirm the safety of their surroundings.

As for waiting for people, they didn't need to constantly be on the lookout. With their sharp senses, they could immediately sense someone approaching.

—— So the abilities of Type D Neo-Humans were of little use to them.

Unless there was a Type D Neo-Human extremely skilled enough to completely conceal their movements.

They continued to wait here for another day, and by dusk, they had some fried corn beans with water before resting.

—— There's still half of the fried corn beans left in the pan, seems like it can last for a while.

Yao Wei took out her laptop and picked a movie to play.

Lu Xi'an lowered the driver's seat back to lie down and said, "Let's hope tomorrow isn't a freezing day."

Yao Wei said, "That seems likely."

"..."

Lu Xi'an glanced sideways at Yao Wei, noting her calm demeanor, clearly not joking, and felt speechless internally.

This woman never seems to joke, so she must mean what she's thinking...

Has his "jinxed mouth" affected Yao Wei this much already?!

But thankfully, his reputation as a "jinxed mouth" is merely Yao Wei's prejudice.

They woke up the next morning to the faint morning light, a warm and clear sky, a sunny day again.

Lu Xi'an stretched and sat up with a smile, saying: "See, it's not a freezing day! You got it wrong, thinking I was a jinxed mouth!"

However, Yao Wei showed no sign of shame, just calmly nodded, saying, "Hmm."

Lu Xi'an: "..."

The two tidied up briefly and set off.

Outside Yao County, there was an outer ring road.

But it was too close to the county, already exposed in its view. With the location being appropriate, ordinary people could easily spot them, so they didn't plan to travel that route.

Amidst the vast fields overgrown with wild grass, crisscrossing paths existed, difficult to discern due to the grass covering them, although careful identification made them discoverable.

Lu Xi'an drove away from the earthen wall, went onto the highway, and steered back west, finding a field path covered by wild grass, then turned and drove onto it.

"Rustle rustle—"

The wild grass started to scrape against the outside of the vehicle; Lu Xi'an carefully discerned the road conditions, driving forward.

Yao Wei continuously watched outside, often glancing to the sides, intending to see anything.

As they moved along, the wild grass in the fields grew taller, and suddenly, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei heard something.

Lu Xi'an immediately stopped, and they exchanged glances, tracing the sound, only to see the wild grass swaying as someone ran desperately, stumbling as if fleeing in panic.

The person had a heavy gait, seemingly an ordinary person now close to exhaustion, a look of despair etched on their face.

Further behind them, there was a vast area of wild grass ceaselessly rustling.

The rustling seemed unnatural, stirred by something other than the wind, as if someone was forcefully pushing through them in the wilderness, causing a wave-like movement, gradually approaching the person ahead.

"The ones behind seem to be chasing the person in front; they all appear to be ordinary people."

Lu Xi'an observed and then spoke.

There should be three at the back, but given that they were obscured by wild grass, it was hard for Lu Xi'an to confirm.

However, their pace was not swift; even though the ones at the back were more nimble than the one in front, they still couldn't escape the category of ordinary people.

Moreover, they didn't have rotting skin or inverted flesh, which made Lu Xi'an somewhat certain.

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded, coming to the same conclusion as Lu Xi'an.

But why were the people at the back chasing the one in front?

"Should we catch them?"

Yao Wei asked.

Lu Xi'an said, "No hurry, let's observe a bit more."

Whether escaping or pursuing, these people were too focused; hence, when Lu Xi'an parked the car and turned off the engine on the abandoned path, hidden by the wild grass, none of them noticed the vehicle.

The pursuers drew closer; the person in front was in a panic and accidentally fell down, unable to escape, and screamed, "Don't come near me!!!!"

But how would the people behind listen to him? If anything, the cry excited them even more, quickening their pace slightly as the grass rustled audibly.

They quickly caught up, and as the grass stilled, a woman's voice said, "Why are you running? We're not a vengeful soul, and we're not here to claim your life."

Only then did Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei see clearly that there were three pursuers, two men and a woman, all lean and strong, of short stature, and in their prime.

Still, one wonders what "prime" age is for ordinary people these days...

The person who stumbled and fell was far inferior to those three; though not appearing old, he was emaciated to the bone, looking weak, just like what Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had seen before.

Both of them perked up their ears to listen carefully.

The woman mentioned a "vengeful soul," undoubtedly connected to the recent urban legend in Yao County.

Unexpectedly, after staying guard all day yesterday with no result, they moved to another place today, only to coincidentally encounter several people from Yao County, who mentioned the "vengeful soul."

The person lying on the ground trembled silently, while the three above him looked down condescendingly.

One man spoke, "Be honest, get up yourself, and come back with us, or shall we drag you back? You choose."

The fallen man finally spoke, pleading, "I can't go back! I really can't go back!

"Please let me go, catch someone else, can't you?

"There's no way to survive back there, with the vengeful souls and offerings, I can't take it anymore!

"Catch someone else, there are so many, why only me?!"

The woman said, "Don't worry, everyone will be caught. If each of you runs, it seems you all believe the old boss is no longer a boss, is that it?

"If it were just one or two, we'd let it go. But now, each of you is running. What do you expect our boss to do?

"The boss is furious, and if we don't catch you all back, we're in deep trouble."

...

Hearing this, Lu Xi'an understood—

It seems the factions in Yao County were competing, each extorting tributes. The city folk, unable to survive exploitation, started fleeing.

With the bosses losing their lowest underlings, how could they still be bosses?

There's no one left to give tributes, so they sent people out to capture them.

These three, two men and a woman, must be a slave-catching team sent by a boss in the city.

Knowing begging won't help and escaping is hopeless, the man on the ground decided to fight back. Gritting his teeth, he angrily said:

"Then get your boss to defeat the other bosses first! Catching people like us, who can just be stolen away by other bosses for tributes back there.

"Look at what we can gather in a day; is it enough for you?!

"Either way, it's death. Just kill me, but I'm never going back!"

The two men were furious and ready to strike, but the woman stopped them.

Lu Xi'an guessed the woman was likely the leader among the three, as when she glared at the men, they immediately settled down and stepped back.

The woman spoke kindly, "Don't worry, to tell you the truth, we've almost dealt with everyone else in the city.

"It's no secret that our boss has already spoken to the Vengeful Soul; they're now cooperating. Who else can fight against us?

"If you just come back with us, nothing will happen to you.

"If you give us some names of others, letting us take them back too, I'll talk to the boss about making you a little manager.

"Then you can oversee a few others, and we'll ask for less tribute from you than before. Isn't that better?"

The person on the ground stared wide-eyed, speechless for a moment, appearing to be weighing his options.

Lu Xi'an exchanged a glance with Yao Wei, his eyelid twitching involuntarily.

This woman said their boss is cooperating with the Vengeful Soul, is this true?!

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