Yang Yang nodded bitterly. Yeah, at first, he really thought this was just a small village crushed between shifting tectonic plates. Who would've guessed the so-called villagers were the ones who attacked him? He'd been careless.
The place looked like a disaster zone. Jing Shu had assumed the robbers were part of some organization, 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. The heights in this world were different, and in this life, Jing Shu had seen things she never would've 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'd wanted was to survive. But what was the point of living when you didn't even know why? She'd been numb to everything.
"What a shame. A lot of people must've 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."
Gou Tou pointed to the dim outline of a few broken tile-roofed houses. Through the darkness, they could see a few figures peeking warily from the windows.
The entire village was hemmed in by mountains on all sides, crushed from every direction. Most of the villagers had died. It was tragic beyond words.
Those eerie eyes watching from the shadows made Jing Shu shiver. The cold, damp air felt like a ghost movie set. She sent out some of her bugs to scout ahead, but even they refused to obey, trembling as if something terrified them.
Jing Shu's guard went up. She could see through the entire village at a glance, even the people hiding behind windows, but what about that "monster" they mentioned? Where was it?
"You couldn't contact the outside before, but now that we're here, do you want to come with us and find proof of survival? The outside world's harsh too, but it's better than staying here. These mountains could crush you any time."
Gou Tou scratched his head. "That's not up to me. I'll 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. If they waited any longer, would he end up as fertilizer too?
"Xiao Wei? Who's 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's our leader! She's the village chief's daughter, the prettiest girl in the village. Smart, kind too. We're alive thanks to her."
"Gou Tou!" Wen Jun yanked on his sleeve in disapproval. He shrugged, muttering, "What? I'm just saying the truth. Xiao Wei's 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? Do we have to cut it out?" She'd better prepare some alcohol if they needed to do surgery.
"Nah, no need for all that. Just come with us to see Xiao Wei. She's the only one who can take out eggs that've been planted inside people."
Gou Tou led them toward the foot of a mountain.
Half of a tiled house jutted out from the slope, the rest swallowed by the mountain. From the cracks in the rock, they could faintly see other houses crushed flat. Anyone sleeping in there back then would've been turned into a meat patty.
Jun Bao's eyes lit up. "The village chief's daughter? So this must be the chief's house, right?"
Wen Jun's voice dropped. "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 breath. "Her legs were crippled. When we go in, don't say or ask anything weird. And don't stare."
Everyone nodded. Some things shouldn't be touched, especially wounds like that. They entered the house quietly.
It still had traces of the pre-apocalypse world—a wooden table, an iron stove. Too bad the fire had long 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.
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, slightly bulging in places.
The girl in the corner, Xiao Wei, glanced at Wen Jun. He gave her a subtle nod and handed over a box and a half of compressed biscuits. "These should last us a while."
Gou Tou quickly unwrapped one and handed it to her. "Here, try this! It's sweet, they say one piece can fill you up."
The girl on the bed pointed at Yang Yang. "I'll extract the egg first. It'll hurt a bit, so please bear with it."
Yang Yang gave Jing Shu and Jun Bao a meaningful look. Once the egg was out, should they fight back or what? He'd been kidnapped and robbed by a bunch of lousy villagers—no way he'd let that slide.
Jun Bao, though, couldn't care less about him. He hadn't looked away from Xiao Wei once.
The extraction process was simple. Yang Yang crouched down, and Xiao Wei reached out her hand. Slowly, something emerged from the back of his neck—a transparent, fist-sized egg pulsing like it was alive.
"The hell do you mean a bit painful? This hurts worse than getting a damn water injection!"
Sweat poured down Yang Yang's forehead. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold on. He might've been a little twisted, but he'd endured plenty of torture before. How else could he have learned the best ways to make people hurt?
Pain was nothing new to him, but this—this kind of pain—was pushing the limits of what a human could take.
As soon as the egg came out, he blacked out completely. Jing Shu rushed over to check him. No major injuries, thankfully.
"Hey, Yang Yang, wake up! We need to go!"
Awkward. He was totally unconscious. Jing Shu debated whether to drag him back. The guy had just been plotting revenge, and now look at him. Still, this robbery was different from the usual kind.
Should she take back the biscuits? They weren't hers, technically, but they were meant for rescuers—the people helping her and protecting the seeds. 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.