Free Web NovelChapter 390: Chapter 358: The Price Must Be Paid
The sky was a hazy gray,
the color as if it had been smeared with a thin layer of gray paint.
It was a bit like the sky over the Black Continent Grassland,
only without its suffocating haze and oppressive atmosphere.
The place where they were resting was a small patch of woods at the village entrance.
The ground was littered with cigarette butts, and melon seed shells were everywhere. Chairs that hadn’t been put away, along with chess sets and playing cards, were scattered about in disarray.
This area had clearly been cleared into a relatively open platform,
likely a place where the villagers of Xia Shui Village came to relax in their free time.
In the boundless sky above, the sun had vanished.
It wasn’t hidden behind the clouds,
but rather seemed to be tightly wrapped in a thick, mysterious, hazy plastic sheet,
sealed shut, without a single gap.
This plastic sheet was neither a natural object nor something that could be forged in the Mortal World.
It hung in the sky in some unimaginable way, mercilessly blocking the warmth and light of the sun,
plunging the entire area into a deep, oppressive gloom.
The patch of woods, at this moment, was completely enveloped by this sinister atmosphere.
The branches and leaves of the trees swayed gently in the breeze,
but it was as if even they could feel this unusual oppression.
The rustling sound of the leaves, in stark contrast to the usual tranquility, added a touch of the bizarre.
The light here had become exceptionally stingy.
Each ray seemed to have been carefully calculated,
barely able to pierce the thick celestial canopy,
casting mottled, faint shadows that shrouded every inch of the woods in a soft melancholy.
Yet in this seemingly desperate silence, a flicker of life was stubbornly blooming.
The birds in the woods seemed unaffected by the oppressive atmosphere.
They continued to chirp on the branches, their crisp calls like skipping notes, sounding particularly pleasant against the gloomy backdrop.
Amidst the chirping of the birds, the young people began to wake up one by one.
The fear and exhaustion from the previous night still lingered in their eyes.
Some stretched, while others rubbed their drowsy eyes.
The few sturdy young men who had been on watch were no exception, looking just as sleepy.
They slowly rose from the ground, yawning
as they pulled cigarettes from their pockets, lit them, and took a deep drag.
After the acrid smoke swirled through their lungs and was slowly exhaled from their mouths and noses,
the exhaustion on their faces finally seemed to ease, and they gradually began to wake up fully.
Just then,
a young man’s stomach suddenly started to rumble.
The sound was exceptionally loud in the quiet woods, like the beating of a war Drum.
The intense fear and tension from last night
had made everyone’s body as taut as a drawn Bow string.
After a whole night, the food in their stomachs was long gone. Now, every single one of them was starving.
"Excuse me, could we get some food from the village? We can pay for it."
Lai Yu Yao asked as she stood up and glanced around.
Her voice was clear and pleasant, standing out in the somewhat dreary atmosphere.
"Of course. But you can only eat what the village has,"
one of the sturdy young men said in a gruff voice.
His expression was placid as he habitually took another drag from his cigarette.
"Okay."
Lai Yu Yao nodded slightly. ’She knew that just being able to get food in a situation like this was a blessing.’
The sturdy young man muttered something to one of his companions.
The companion listened, then immediately took off running toward the village.
After about ten or twenty minutes,
more than a dozen villagers appeared,
each of them carrying numerous heavy bags.
The bags were filled with all sorts of food and drink:
steamed buns, pickled vegetables, fruit, and some unknown dry rations, all looking rather jumbled together.
Just as the sturdy young man had said, they had brought whatever the village had.
However, for these young people who hadn’t eaten in a long time,
even a dry, hard cornbread bun made from coarse grains
would seem like a delicacy from the Mortal World that they would wolf down.
At Lai Yu Yao’s prompting, the young people all took out whatever money they had on them.
"These are special circumstances, so we’ll act accordingly. Some of our friends don’t have money on them, but we can’t let them go hungry because of that. We can sort out any issues after this crisis is over."
Lai Yu Yao said with a smile as she looked at everyone.
She had, of course, noticed that many of the young people were embarrassed.
Their hands kept rummaging through their pockets, yet they couldn’t produce even a single coin.
’She knew things weren’t easy for anyone, and in a situation like this, they had to help each other get through it.’
"It’s on me. Everyone, eat your fill."
Zou Baixuan stepped forward at that moment.
With an air of complete confidence, he pulled a wallet from his pocket.
The wallet was bulging, stuffed with a thick wad of bright red hundred-yuan bills.
The vibrant red was especially glaring in the dim surroundings.
A quick glance suggested there was at least several thousand yuan in there.
’Zou Baixuan knew this was the perfect opportunity to win people over.’
