Yang Yang nodded bitterly, his jaw set tight. At first, he really thought this was just a small village crushed between shifting tectonic plates. Who would have guessed the so-called villagers were the ones who attacked him? He had been careless, and that mistake rankled.
The place looked like a total disaster zone. Jing Shu had assumed the robbers were part of some organized group, but it turned out to be just an ordinary village. Still, that talk about eggs caught her attention. Forget the black liquid for now; she was curious about what they meant by those biological terms. The heights and mysteries in this world were different now. In this life, she had seen things she never would have experienced in her previous one.
Back then, she couldn't even fill her stomach, so how could she care about anything else? Like these people, all she had wanted was to survive. But what was the point of living when you didn't even know why? She had been numb to everything, moving like a ghost through the ruins.
"What a shame. A lot of people must have died, right? How many of you are left now?"
"Only the northwest corner of our village wasn't crushed. Look over there, around ten households or so. Some people died along the way, so now there's maybe a few dozen of us left."
The entire village was hemmed in by mountains on all sides, crushed from every direction. Most of the villagers had died in the initial shifts. It was tragic beyond words.
Those eerie eyes watching from the shadows made Jing Shu shiver despite her heavy furs. The cold, damp air felt like a set for a horror movie. She quietly sent out some of her scouting bugs to check the paths ahead, but even the insects refused to obey her mental commands. They trembled in the air, buzzing erratically as if something in the environment terrified them.
Her guard went up. She could see through the entire village at a glance, even the people hiding behind the jagged glass of the windows, but what about that monster they mentioned? Where was it hiding?
"You couldn't contact the outside before, but now that we are here, do you want to come with us and find proof of survival? The outside world is harsh too, but it's better than staying here. These mountains could crush the rest of these houses any time."
Gou Tou scratched his head, his fingers dirty. "That's not up to me. I will listen to Xiao Wei."
Yang Yang rolled his eyes behind them. Could they hurry up and get this damn egg out of him first? It felt like something was about to burst out of his neck, a pulsing pressure that made his skin crawl. If they waited any longer, would he end up as fertilizer too?
"Xiao Wei? Who is that? Your leader or something?" Jun Bao asked curiously. It was obviously a girl's name.
Just mentioning her made Gou Tou grin from ear to ear. "You bet she is our leader! She is the village chief's daughter, the prettiest girl in the village. Smart and kind too. We are alive thanks to her guidance."
"Gou Tou!" Wen Jun yanked on his sleeve in disapproval. The man shrugged, muttering, "What? I'm just saying the truth. Xiao Wei is amazing."
Jing Shu glanced at Yang Yang's grim face and asked, "So, about the egg inside our companion, how do you remove it? Do we need to do anything special? Do we have to cut it out?" She had better prepare some alcohol and a clean blade if they needed to do surgery.
"No, no need for all that. Just come with us to see Xiao Wei. She is the only one who can take out eggs that have been planted inside people."
Gou Tou led them toward the foot of a jagged mountain.
Half of a tiled house jutted out from the steep slope, the rest of the structure swallowed by the mountain rock. From the cracks in the stone, they could faintly see other houses crushed flat like cardboard. Anyone sleeping in there back then would have been turned into a meat patty instantly.
Jun Bao's eyes lit up with scholarly interest. "The village chief's daughter? So this must be the chief's house, right?"
Wen Jun's voice grew hushed. "The chief's whole family died. Their home got buried under the mountain. Only Xiao Wei survived. When we found her..." He hesitated, his expression twisting as he took a deep, shaky breath. "Her legs were crippled. When we go in, don't say or ask anything weird. And don't stare."
Everyone nodded in silent agreement. Some things shouldn't be touched, especially wounds like that. They entered the house quietly, their boots crunching on grit.
The place still had traces of the pre-apocalypse world: a wooden table and an old iron stove. Too bad the fire had long since gone out. After half a year of burning through everything, there was nothing left that could be used as fuel.
The place was freezing. Jing Shu could feel the chill seep through her skin and settle into her bones.
In the corner stood a large bed, pressed against the rocky wall itself. A pale girl, around fifteen or sixteen, sat half upright on it. A thick quilt covered her lower body, though the fabric slightly bulged in several irregular places.
The girl in the corner, Xiao Wei, glanced at Wen Jun. He gave her a subtle nod and handed over the box and a half of compressed biscuits. "These should last us a while," he said.
Gou Tou quickly unwrapped one of the snacks and handed it to her. "Here, try this! It's sweet, and they say one piece can fill you up for hours."
The girl on the bed pointed at Yang Yang. "I will extract the egg first. It will hurt a bit, so please bear with the sensation."
Yang Yang gave Jing Shu and Jun Bao a meaningful look. Once the egg was out, should they fight back or what? He had been kidnapped and robbed by a bunch of villagers; no way he would let that slide easily.
Jun Bao, though, couldn't care less about his teammate's thirst for revenge. He hadn't looked away from Xiao Wei once.
The extraction process was simple in execution. Yang Yang crouched down, and Xiao Wei reached out her thin hand. Slowly, something emerged from Yang Yang's neck, a transparent, fist-sized egg pulsing as if it were alive.
"The hell do you mean a bit painful? This hurts worse than getting a water injection!"
Sweat poured down Yang Yang's forehead. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold on to his consciousness. He had endured plenty of torture before, so pain was nothing new to him. But this specific kind of pain was pushing the limits of what a human could take.
As soon as the egg came out, he blacked out completely, his body collapsing onto the floor. Jing Shu rushed over to check him. No major injuries were visible, thankfully.
"Hey, Yang Yang, wake up! We need to go!"
It was awkward. He was totally unconscious and limp. Jing Shu debated whether to drag him back through the mud. The guy had just been plotting revenge, and now look at her. Still, this robbery was different from the usual kind they encountered.
Should she take back the biscuits? They weren't hers, technically, but they were meant for the rescuers. That meant it kind of was her concern.
She glanced at Jun Bao, who was still chatting away with the girl on the bed. Right... why was she even thinking so hard? He was the one in charge this time anyway.