Chapter 534: Different Eras

Creak—creak

Near the village entrance.

A simple wooden fence encircled the village.

The smell of moldy wood.

In front of the village entrance stood a wooden platform resembling a watchtower.

On the platform's top sat an extinguished fire basin; a man hugging a spear, curled up in the corner, his head bobbing, looked like he was dozing.

The wind moved the old wooden planks beneath the watchtower, making a creaking sound in the night, which was somewhat annoying.

"Beep."

"Entering the desolate village area."

"Note: Do not leak real-world information to any creature within the current Secret Realm."

"The flow of time has been synchronized; current time speed: 1 (desolate village): 1 (reality)."

"New mission: Resolve the desolate village incident."

"Mission time: Unlimited."

"Mission reward: Physique attribute increase."

Huh?

Another mission?

Resolve the desolate village incident?

Is this forcing me to confront that thing?

The system's sudden notification made his mood instantly a bit irritable.

To be honest, he didn't really want to face that thing.

Supernatural incidents are too troublesome; many times they are "unsolvable".

Compared to supernatural incidents, he'd rather fight powerful mutants; at least it's a real showdown—win if you can beat them, die if you can't.

He let out a long breath, and beside him, Xiong Hanzi's face instantly turned grim.

Just now they were thinking not to provoke that thing in the forest, but unexpectedly they still have to face it.

Moreover.

What surprised Lin An was that the time flow in the Secret Realm was actually the same as in the real world.

Two not-so-good news.

The only fortunate thing is that the system reward is a physique attribute boost.

Looks like it saves him the trouble of finding a way to boost his attributes.

"Captain Lin... this village looks different from the one I remember from the movies."

He whispered a reminder.

Standing before the desolate village.

Lin An nodded and carefully observed the village before him.

According to Xiong Hanzi, the mountain village old corpse dates back roughly to the 1990s.

It had electric lights, running water, and modern facilities.

Even if the mountain village were backward, it still bore traces of the post-industrial era.

But the village before us clearly belongs to before the 1960s, even...

More like the modern era or the Republic of China period?

Watchtowers like this obviously were built to defend against bandits and wild beasts.

At a glance, there wasn't a single utility pole or similar inside the village, not even a signboard.

The man asleep on the watchtower, clutching a spear, dressed like a hunter, wore leggings-style boots on his feet.

Republic of China... or even earlier?

"Judgment Eye!"

Dark blue mist rose, silently enveloping the entire village along with the newly acquired mechanical Eight Trigrams.

The Eight Trigrams turned, and the Insight skill activated simultaneously.

"Beep, no abnormal information detected..."

Under the Secret Realm's suppression, Lin An quickly surveyed the village with some effort.

No abnormalities, no powerful lifeforms.

177 people; the village isn't large.

Without hesitation, Lin An leapt onto the tower, grabbed the hunter's throat, and had Zhang Tie charge into the village center, ready to seize anyone.

"Bang!"

He landed on the watchtower, arm outstretched.

A sudden change startled the hunter awake from his sleep.

Feeling his neck gripped, the suddenly awakened face turned deathly pale.

"Enemy..."

Before his shout could leave his mouth, Lin An easily subdued him.

His eyes devoid of emotion, his mental power burst forth instantly.

"I ask, you answer."

"Who is your village chief?"

"Has there been anything abnormal in the village lately?"

"Where is the nearest town?"

He asked three questions in a row, giving the man no time to react.

Unlike in movies, where one would have to talk to villagers to gather bits of information.

Lin An prefers direct violence.

The hunter, his neck gripped and struggling to breathe, showed terror in his eyes; he couldn't understand how the man in strange armor before him had silently jumped onto the watchtower.

Bandits?

Or government troops?

And Lin An's icy eyes, tinged with blue mist, made people feel uneasy just looking at them.

Could it be a monster...

"Our... our village's chief is Huang Daiwei; he lives... over there..."

His arm trembling with effort, he raised it and pointed to a row of brick houses at the southeast corner of the village.

"Abnormal... what is ab-ab-normal..."

He stammered.

Seeing the hunter-clad man unable to speak clearly, Lin An casually tossed him aside.

Having confirmed the village chief's position, he simply made a grasping motion with his right hand.

He had not yet come to his senses.

In the man's shocked gaze, vast spiritual energy like a blazing sun surrounded Lin An.

In an instant, the strong airflow swept up and flung off all the roofs of the village.

Everything was in disarray.

"Seize them!"

At his command,

Lin An directly used his mental power to control all the villagers still asleep.

They cried for their fathers and mothers.

"Ghost!"

"Are they monsters! Have monsters come!?"

"Help!!"

Unable to understand what had happened to them.

The sudden change shocked the villagers into a daze; they could only watch helplessly as their bodies floated uncontrollably.

Along with Xiong Hanzi's charge.

All we saw was him, like a bandit, throwing the villagers one by one onto the village's open ground.

Three minutes later.

On the village's open ground, everyone looked with fear at Lin An and Zhang Tie standing before them.

A total of 177 people: 101 males, 61 females, 36 children, the youngest just infants in swaddling clothes.

Wails and sobs of panic.

Anyone who, in the middle of the night, is mysteriously controlled to fly up and then dumped onto the open ground would surely be afraid.

In the midst of the panicked crowd, a lone old man who looked relatively steady trembled as he stood up.

"Two... great... lords, I don't know why you have come to our village at night... what business do you have?"

"Are you sent by the imperial court?"

"Are the border's blood corpses coming again?"

He swallowed, leaning on a wooden vine cane, doubtful and uncertain.

Seeing Lin An clad in black armor, with a long sword on his back and a strange mirror before him, many thoughts flashed through his mind.

Unlike the other villagers, who lacked experience, he vaguely recalled the stranger mentioned by the town's storyteller.

Is this the legendary "immortal" or a "demon"!

Although Lin An has now restrained his spiritual energy, he clearly saw the white light that had just burst forth.

Lin An frowned slightly after hearing the village chief's question.

Imperial court? Blood corpses?

The villagers before him mostly wore cloth clothes and head wraps.

It seems this secret realm is set in ancient times?

Then it's completely a different era from the "old corpse of the mountain village" that Xiong Hanzi spoke of.

Hearing the words "blood corpse" from Village Chief Huang Daiwei, Lin An suddenly felt a strange sensation.

Could it not be that Zhang Tie was right?

This is an ancient apocalypse.

Cold weapons against zombies?!