Free Web NovelChapter 370: Chapter 351: Perhaps the Entire Village Is Growing Such Bizarre Plants
Although the man wore a black baseball cap and a black mask,
hiding his face completely,
Lai Yu Yao’s sharp eyes could still tell he showed no sign of fear.
She couldn’t tell if he was just naturally as bold as a lion,
or if his fearlessness stemmed from some hidden ace up his sleeve.
His eyes, in particular, were clear and placid,
devoid of even a hint of nervousness. They were like a deep, bottomless lake, completely inscrutable.
Lai Yu Yao’s heart suddenly sank.
A pang of regret washed over her.
She had deliberately used this man to cause trouble for Sun Canxing earlier.
In Lai Yu Yao’s eyes, Sun Canxing was just a minor figure, nothing to worry about.
But this man always gave her a sense of profound mystery,
as if he were hiding countless secrets, far more complex than he appeared on the surface.
"Yes, we’ll protect you, Miss."
The bodyguard responded respectfully.
"Yu Yingjie,
can you sense the Martial Arts Realm of that man in the black baseball cap and mask?"
Lai Yu Yao asked quietly, her eyes fixed on the figure leading the group.
"I can’t."
The bodyguard narrowed his eyes, a solemn look flashing within them. "He’s either an ordinary person, or his power is far beyond mine."
The reason the bodyguard had agreed to let Lai Yu Yao enter the village ahead
was that he had absolute confidence in his own strength.
He was, after all, an expert at the King-Sealing Realm,
already standing at a very high level on the path of Martial Arts.
In his mind, even if they did encounter some bizarre and absurdly powerful Evil Spirit,
one that he couldn’t defeat,
he was still confident he could use the others as fodder to slow it down,
then seize the opportunity to escape with Lai Yu Yao.
Lai Yu Yao was also well aware of Yu Yingjie’s strength, so she wasn’t particularly panicked at the moment.
She decided to head into the village to assess the situation first.
After all, she couldn’t just give up on the investigation because of some unknown danger.
"That man is Sun Canxing’s Martial Arts instructor.
To become a Martial Arts instructor, you have to be a Martial Artist of considerable strength.
If even you can’t sense his realm or his aura,
then there’s only one possibility: he’s stronger than you."
Lai Yu Yao frowned slightly, speaking after a moment of contemplation.
"What?"
Yu Yingjie looked astonished, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Then his strength must be at the Great Perfection of the King-Sealing Realm, or he might have even stepped into the Emperor Realm.
How could such a powerful expert suddenly appear in a small place like Haitong City?"
"I don’t know. Just be on your guard,"
Lai Yu Yao instructed.
"Understood."
Yu Yingjie nodded solemnly, his expression growing even more wary.
Whether it was just their nerves or because night was falling,
the temperature in the mountains began to plummet.
The cold washed over them in waves.
A thin layer of mist slowly rose from the mountainside,
beginning to permeate the forest.
As the Great Xia Empire stabilized and entered a new era of prosperity,
even villages in mountainous regions like this one had been fitted with numerous streetlights.
Before the group even reached the village, the dim, yellow glow of the lights was already illuminating the road ahead.
However, the light was too dim as it fell upon the mountain path.
The flickering light and shadows made their surroundings look indistinct,
as though countless unknown terrors lurked within.
The slightest rustle in the undergrowth was enough to make the more timid youths gasp in alarm,
their cries echoing through the silent forest and adding to the unsettling atmosphere.
"All the lights are on inside the village. It looks like nothing terrible happened."
Someone muttered under their breath.
"Something’s definitely wrong.
My phone still has no signal. I was just trying to contact the Haitong City Defense Team,
but I can’t even send a text."
A young man said anxiously.
"What? Your phone doesn’t have a signal either?"
"Mine doesn’t either. I thought it was just a problem with my phone.
I figured you all would contact the Defense Team, so I didn’t say anything."
"It’s not just the village.
My phone couldn’t get a signal back at the manor, either."
Hearing this, many of the young people stopped in their tracks, fiddling with their phones in stunned disbelief.
Some were so anxious that beads of sweat rolled down their faces,
glistening in the dim yellow streetlight and reflecting their inner panic and helplessness.
In fact, the moment the strange phenomena began,
Lai Yu Yao’s subordinates had already tried to contact the Haitong City Defense Team to handle the situation.
However, even back then, they had realized
that the signal seemed to be blocked by some mysterious, invisible force.
But after some consideration, they decided that spreading the news
would only cause panic and create more trouble,
so after reporting it to Lai Yu Yao, they kept it quiet.
"There’s no need to worry."
At this moment of rising panic, Lai Yu Yao stepped forward.
Her voice was steady and firm, like a beacon in the darkness, offering everyone a bit of comfort.
"Panicking now is useless.
It will only make our situation more dangerous.
Right now, we need to stick together.
Don’t forget, there are still quite a few experts among us."
