Chapter 82 Tomorrow Village (1) The Deformed Creature Crawling Out of the Grass…

Chapter 82 Tomorrow Village (Part 1) Misshapen figures crawling out of the underbrush...

She didn’t know where these twisted creatures came from, but as a human, she believed no one would willingly choose to exist like this in this place.

As the thick fog dissipated, a purple orb gradually surfaced on the water.

Yu Xing darted over and grasped the purple orb in her hand. Her elixirs were running low; she’d need to restock from A Yuan.

But first came the task of reviving everyone.

Yu Xing not only rescued Zhao Lan and the others from the swamp but also the passengers.

However, upon inspection, she found some passengers had already died—precisely those who had chosen to stay in Sunset Town.

She had anticipated this, and apart from a pang of sadness, she felt little else.

When she checked Shen Tanrong, she discovered a massive wound on his arm, his skin deathly pale—clearly from severe blood loss.

No wonder the metallic tang of blood had haunted her in Sunset Town. So that was why.

With so many people, even if she pawned herself, she couldn’t afford to give each a pill. She had no choice but to take out a bottle of water from her storage ring and drop a single pill into it.

The brown pellet fizzed into solution instantly upon contact, turning the water into a glowing green potion.

Yu Xing brought it close and sniffed—the aroma alone perked her up, instantly refreshing her mind.

She first gave Miao Yuanjin a large gulp, then Da Ya and Zhao Lan each a healthy dose. The rest received smaller portions.

Admittedly, the dosage was perfectly controlled—the final dose went to the last person.

After completing this task, Yu Xing slumped down, fighting exhaustion. She hadn’t slept properly in days, yawning fit to dislocate her jaw.

Amid her relentless yawns, Miao Yuanjin’s eyes fluttered open.

Darkness greeted her, along with the ghostly outlines of trees under the moonlight.

"Ah!!" Miao Yuanjin bolted upright like a startled hare, crouching in terror as she scanned her surroundings. First, she saw the thick fog floating on the water, then looked down to find people lying motionless on the ground.

"Ahhh!!" Miao Yuanjin nearly jumped out of her skin. "They're all dead! All dead!"

"Who’s dead?" Da Ya, roused by the noise, pushed herself up groggily, bleary-eyed as she looked around. "Who died?"

Miao Yuanjin’s screams halted abruptly when she spotted Da Ya.

Zhao Lan opened her eyes calmly. She too had been awakened but took it in stride. With her friends raising such a ruckus, what reason did she have to panic?

One by one, the others woke up, rising from the ground only to find themselves in such an environment. The passengers panicked, while the soldiers remained composed. Miao Yuanjin and her two friends clung to each other, crying happy tears.

It took them a while to realize something was amiss.

"Wait," Miao Yuanjin looked around frantically. "Where’s Yu Xing? Why isn’t she here?"

"Right," Zhao Lan, who had now recalled everything about Sunset Town, asked, "Where’s our Star? Why can’t we see her?"

"Xing!!" Da Ya shouted, "Where are you?"

Shen Tanrong normally forbade loud noises outside the walls, especially in such a dangerous place, but now he couldn’t care less. "I’ll go look," he suggested.

The group nearly dissolved into chaos.

Then, suddenly, they noticed a beam of light not far away, beneath a nearby tree.

Yu Xing held up her terminal, its glow backlighting her face ominously. She sighed, "I’ve been sitting here forever, and not one of you noticed me?"

"Ahhhh Yu Xing!!!" Miao Yuanjin barreled into her.

Choked up with emotion, Da Ya also bounded over. "I thought we were done for this time!"

The two rushed forward, nearly cracking Yu Xing’s ribs in a tight embrace, squeezing her relentlessly.

Yu Xing struggled. "Stop! Let go! Hands off the merchandise..."

Soon, everyone gathered around Yu Xing. Zhao Lan asked excitedly, "What exactly happened? I still don’t know what the pollution source was."

Breaking free from their clutches, Yu Xing thought to herself, *If I weren’t wearing the Celestial Serpent Feathered Robe, would you dare treat me like this?*

After a brief pause, she gave them the cliff notes version of the truth about Sunset Town, how she broke free from the illusion, and the process of rescuing them one by one. She glossed over many details, such as using the broomstick to save everyone and the magic wand to eliminate the pollution source.

"So that’s how it was," Miao Yuanjin said with a shiver of residual fear. "No wonder I felt so cold and disoriented. The pollution here is severe."

Indeed. They had practically been marinating in contamination.

Shen Tanrong gently pressed his arm, where a deep wound had nearly healed. He knew Yu Xing’s bag had been left on the train—she carried no medicine. Moreover, according to her, everyone had been submerged in the icy swamp for days without food or water. Mere survival was miraculous, let alone being in such good condition.

Yu Xing must have done something. She was a walking mystery, more than just the Bull Warrior.

With their bearings established, they now faced another problem: how to return to the tracks. And what should they do with the passengers’ corpses left in the swamp?

"Should we carry them back?" one passenger suggested. "At least their families should see their bodies."

"How? You carry them?" another retorted. "What if we encounter danger? Can you run while hauling dead weight?"

"Are you that heartless? What if it were you who died here?"

"Even if it were me, I wouldn’t want you carrying me!"

As the argument escalated, Shen Tanrong snapped impatiently, "Enough! Silence!"

The quarreling passengers instantly shut up, shrinking under his glare.

In such perilous circumstances, survival depended on people like Shen Tanrong. They couldn’t afford to offend him.

After scoping out the surroundings, Shen Tanrong turned to Yu Xing. "The bamboo forest we came through should be on the other side of the swamp. But the swamp is too dangerous—our current gear won’t get us across safely. We’d likely sink. So, to return to the tracks, we’ll have to go the long way around."

Yu Xing had no objections, nor did anyone else.

"Let’s do as you say," she nodded.

Shen Tanrong nodded, he pointed in a direction. "The vegetation is sparser over there. We’ll go that way."

Every plant outside the city could be a pollutant. Thinner undergrowth suggested fewer threats.

To hedge their bets and protect everyone, Yu Xing, Shen Tanrong, and Miao Yuanjin took the lead, the passengers walked in the middle, while Zhao Lan, Da Ya, and the other soldiers covered their six.

The plants here looked ordinary, but Yu Xing didn’t recognize any of them. They vaguely resembled Earth’s flora but were fundamentally alien.

Shen Tanrong picked up a stick and used it to swat the grass ahead as they walked, on guard against nasty little surprises that might suddenly dart out.

As they walked, someone suddenly said, "Do y’all hear that?"

"No, I don't."

"Footsteps maybe?"

"Just the wind in the leaves?"

"No." The person's voice was clearly panicked. "It sounds like whispering."

Yu Xing poked Miao Yuanjin's back. "Do you hear it?"

"Nope," Miao Yuanjin replied. "Just some scaredy-cat noises."

Miao Yuanjin’s snark was on point. After her remark, no one dared to speak up again.

"Still," Yu Xing mused as they walked, "Weird we haven’t run into any pollutants since we started walking at night."

Miao Yuanjin grimaced at the mention of pollutants. "Can you not say things like that? You got a thing for pollutants or what?"

Suddenly, Miao Yuanjin stopped in her tracks. As the leader, her pause made everyone behind her halt as well.

Zhao Lan, at the back, immediately asked, "What is it?"

Miao Yuanjin went rigid, scanning their surroundings before locking eyes with Yu Xing. "I... I heard it too."

Yu Xing was confused. "Heard what now?"

"That—that whispering they mentioned." Miao Yuanjin grew agitated.

"Wait, what?" Yu Xing turned around, shining her light around. Aside from scattered trees and patches of weeds and shrubs, there was nothing.

"Probably just leaves rustling," Yu Xing said.

"No way!" Miao Yuanjin snapped. "I swear I heard it!"

Yu Xing and Shen Tanrong shared a look. Shen Tanrong also swept his light around. "Which direction was the sound coming from?" he asked Miao Yuanjin.

After a moment of thought, Miao Yuanjin gestured vaguely to the right. "Not sure, but roughly that way."

"Are you just too tense?" Yu Xing asked, genuinely hearing nothing resembling whispers.

Shen Tanrong headed in that direction, swiping his stick through the knee-high brush as he went.

Suddenly, the stick hit something—hard.

"Ow!"

At the same time, a sharp yelp of pain came from the darkness.

Nobody even breathed, even Shen Tanrong.

"Who just made that sound?" Yu Xing asked.

"N-not me," Miao Yuanjin stammered.

"Not me either."

"Wasn't me."

"I didn't..."

One after another, they all said no.

Finally, Zhao Lan spoke up. "It wasn't any of us. That voice... sounded like a child's."

"..."

That just made it worse. Out here in the middle of nowhere at night, how could there be a child's voice?

Shen Tanrong angled his flashlight, shining it where his stick had struck. Gritting his teeth, he whacked the spot again.

"Ow!"

This time, the yelp was crystal clear.

At the same moment, something burst out of the weeds.

No way that was human. The figure was small, about the height of a ten-year-old child. When the light hit it, everyone saw its lumpy, tumor-riddled face beneath a tangle of hair like tangled weeds.

"Ahhh!!!!"

The group exploded into screams.

"A monster!!"

"It’s a freaking monster!!"

"Oh god..."

"Take it out!"

The thing flinched and bolted into the dark.

As it ran, the whole damn field started shaking.

Their lights showed nothing but grass thrashing, but nothing inside.

"Rustle..."

The sound of movement surrounded them, putting everyone on edge. Shen Tanrong and the other soldiers braced themselves, weapons up, prepared to fight for their lives.

Miao Yuanjin pressed up against Yu Xing, as if seeking safety.

Soon, they noticed the rustling faded into the distance, the disturbance receding into the distance. Only when the grass finally stilled did they finally breathe again.

Someone started crying quietly—folks crying from sheer terror.

"What was that...?"

"*Sniffle*... I wanna go home..."

"If we get out of this alive, I'm never leaving the city again..."

Couldn’t blame them. From that damn tumbleweed on the train until now, they had faced one damn thing after another. The fact that they hadn’t totally lost it yet was pretty damn tough of them.

"What... was that just now?" Miao Yuanjin muttered, barely louder than a breath.

Though she only caught a glimpse, Yu Xing felt that whatever was in the grass just now looked just like the corrupted from the swamp earlier—bulbous with growths and twisted in unnatural ways.

She'd thought the swamp pollutants stayed within the swamp. Did they come ashore too?

"It's a corrupted one, right?" Yu Xing said.

Miao Yuanjin looked troubled. After hesitating, she spoke softly, voicing her thoughts, "But just now... I didn’t sense any particularly strong corruption taint."

"What?" Yu Xing was puzzled by her words.

"Well..." Miao Yuanjin thought it over before explaining, "You know how sensitive I am to corruption. If that thing was a corrupted one, I should’ve sensed it when they were hiding in the grass. But I didn’t feel anything at all."

"Really?" Yu Xing found it odd as well.

"Let’s keep moving," Shen Tanrong interjected. "This place is strange. There might be unexpected dangers. We should leave as soon as possible."

Shen Tanrong’s words echoed everyone’s thoughts. After what had just happened, no matter how exhausted they were, nobody wanted to stick around. No one knew what might happen if they stayed.

They quickened their pace, but as they walked, Yu Xing and the two others at the front suddenly stopped.

Zhao Lan, trailing behind, asked, "Why are we stopping?"

"There’s a swamp ahead!" Miao Yuanjin replied.

They had been walking in a straight line, yet another swamp blocked their path, suggesting the area was surrounded by marshland.

Shen Tanrong’s voice carried concern. "Let’s hope this place isn’t completely encircled by swamps."

If it was, they’d have no choice but to find a way to cross the dangerous wetlands.

Yu Xing stared at the vast swamp ahead, stroking her chin thoughtfully. She wondered if she should knock everyone out and then fly them across one by one on her broomstick.

This plan would require cooperation. Unconsciously, her gaze drifted toward Shen Tanrong.

Shen Tanrong noticed her look immediately. He turned his head, then suddenly stiffened, shining his light behind Yu Xing.

Yu Xing and Miao Yuanjin turned as well, their faces went pale.

Behind them, hidden among a few trees, grew an enormous patch of... bizarre plants.

Their strangeness was evident in every aspect—first, their appearance. They somewhat resembled Earth’s rice plants but were much taller, standing about five feet tall. Their seed heads were enormous, each grain the size of a hazelnut, and instead of green or yellow husks, they were white.

The weighty seed heads didn't bow the stems, and Yu Xing even spotted flowers among them.

Rice plants flower, like many plants—blooming before bearing fruit, with the grains being the seeds. Normally, flowers and seeds don’t coexist, but on these plants, they did.

Another oddity was the sheer scale of their growth.

Ahead stretched an immense field of these plants, extending beyond the reach of their lights. Not a single weed mixed in—just pure, unbroken rows of these strange crops.

Most peculiar was the boundary of their growth—unnaturally straight, as if planted by human hands.

As Yu Xing and the others stood stock-still, Zhao Lan approached. "What’s wrong?"

She followed their gaze and froze as well.

"Let’s go," Zhao Lan urged cautiously. "We should avoid this place and move on."

Miao Yuanjin agreed. Grabbed Yu Xing’s arm, she tried to pull her away, but Yu Xing didn't budge.

"Why aren’t we leaving?" Miao Yuanjin asked.

Yu Xing kept staring, memories of Sunset Town flashing through her mind—along with the grotesque corrupted she’d seen upon waking in the swamp. An overwhelming urge compelled her to investigate, to understand this place.

"I want to take a look," Yu Xing declared.

"What?" Miao Yuanjin was stunned. "Since when did you get so curious?"

Yu Xing wasn’t normally this curious, but never had it felt this intense. She had a premonition—if she didn’t uncover the truth here, she’d regret it.

"Wait here," Yu Xing finally decided. "I have to check it out."

"You..." Miao Yuanjin was speechless.

Shen Tanrong spoke up. "I’ll go with you."

"Me too," Zhao Lan added.

Miao Yuanjin gave Zhao Lan a look, wondering why she was joining in.

Zhao Lan gazed into the distance. "It’s almost dawn."

Miao Yuanjin looked as well. The sky was growing light—daybreak was near.

"Maybe we’ll find a way out of the swamps over there," Zhao Lan said to Yu Xing. "Let’s make this fast, Xingxing."

Yu Xing nodded and turned to leave, but Miao Yuanjin grabbed her. "We’ll all go. I’m sensitive to corruption—if there’s danger, I’ll detect it early."

"I’m coming too!" Da Ya hurried over. "Without me, Zhao Lan’s Divine Skill won’t reach full power."

In the end, they decided Shen Tanrong and the other soldiers would stay to protect the passengers while Yu Xing and the three others investigated.

Leaving the group behind, the four headed toward the strange plants.

As they drew closer, Yu Xing could even smell the sweet, fresh scent of the plants’ seeds.

Frowning, she asked Miao Yuanjin, "Is this corrupted?"

"Plants beyond the walls are all somewhat corrupted," Miao Yuanjin replied, eyeing the heavy seed heads. After a moment, she added, "But the corruption in these isn’t severe—not enough to be considered corrupted."

Zhao Lan’s light pointed ahead. "That area looks like the center. There aren’t as many plants there."

They moved toward the center, but as they walked, they found something chilling—amid the overgrown weeds, there was a path.

A beaten path, packed down from constant use.

But how could there be people here?

Unless this was home to those twisted things...

The deeper they went, the more uneasy they grew—until they forced their way through brush and emerged into a clearing.

Though the sun hadn’t risen yet, dawn’s light made the surroundings visible without their lamps. All four stood at the path’s edge, gaping wordlessly.

Ahead, in the clearing, stood a cluster of buildings.

The buildings were crude, even ramshackle—a cluster of houses built from stone and mud. They were low, simple, yet had roofs, doors, and windows.

These rudimentary dwellings sprawled ahead, forming what looked like a shantytown.

The four of them stood stunned, rooted to the spot, until the rustling of grass nearby snapped them back to reality. They quickly formed a defensive circle, backs pressed together, eyes scanning their surroundings.

Yu Xing bent down and grabbed a handful of gravel, ready to hurl it at the first threat.

Suddenly, a small figure emerged from the grass. The four flinched but didn’t panic. Upon closer inspection, it was the same creature they had seen earlier in the wilderness—no taller than a young child, its body draped in patchy grass coverings over its privates. Its exposed skin—face, neck, hands, and feet—was covered in gnarly, bulbous tumors.

Its face, distorted by the tumors, was horrifying and repulsive.

The deformed, human-like creature stared unblinkingly at them with its eyes bulging unevenly from the tumors.

Yu Xing and the others remained motionless, silent, locked in a tense stare-down.

Then, the grass rustled again, and more of these misshapen creatures crawled out, encircling the four. They tilted their heads, staring unblinkingly without moving.

The standoff dragged on until Yu Xing finally took a step forward.

The small creatures scrambled back, alarmed, their eyes wary.

She advanced again; they retreated again. When she raised her hand, they bolted in panic. Miao Yuanjin, fighting her fear, stepped forward and shouted, "Hey!!"

The creatures fled instantly, scurrying like roaches, all running in the same direction.

Without hesitation, Yu Xing took off after them. Zhao Lan called out urgently behind her, "Xingxing!"

Yu Xing followed the fleeing figures into the village-like area, where the houses were haphazardly arranged without any clear layout. Suddenly, she pulled up short.

Before her stood the largest structure in the village—a hodgepodge of mud-brick huts linked together, surrounded by a crude wall of mud and stone.

Outside the wall rested a large wooden board, on which four characters were painted in black:

"Dawn Elementary School."