Chapter 381: Black Clouds in the Sky (2/10, Autumn Subscription)

The flow has stopped?!

Fang Yue's face drained of color: "That's not…"

"Don't panic. She's eaten a 【Strange Object】, her constitution is special. In a situation where an ordinary person would surely die, she might not. Also, after our careful handling and heating, those frozen blood clots have turned into flowing cold blood. This kind of cold blood definitely can't stay in the body for long, so we need to do a blood exchange every day… these are small problems, within our medical capabilities. But how to wake her up is the real problem."

The technology for cryo-persons has always been incomplete; without a new technological leap, progress is hard to come by.

Although the doctor said that Bai Xiaoya's constitution was special after eating the Strange Object and she might be fine, no one knew exactly how things stood.

After discussing things with Yuan Jie for a while, he also called Qiu Dugu over for a chat.

Fang Yue made his decision and agreed to the doctor's plan.

But although the doctor followed procedure and kept the Game Watch running, he still didn't know whether Bai Xiaoya's consciousness had actually entered the game, or was simply remaining in an active state.

Bai Xiaoya's game character was in Qingsi County. Fang Yue figured that if the doctor's guess was right—

Then if he wanted to contact Bai Xiaoya in the game, the only way was to go to Qingsi County, find her, and then coordinate from inside and out to wake her real-world body.

"Move quickly. I'm doing my best to keep her alive on this end, but in this state, how long she can hold on—no one knows."

The doctor's words put a thread of anxiety into Fang Yue.

Yet at this very moment, he still couldn't set out for Qingsi County to find her.

"How about… how about I also create a character and go into the game to look for Xiaoya!"

Fang Yue looked at the worried Yuan Jie, thought for a moment, and shook his head slightly.

It wasn't that he looked down on Yuan Jie.

It was just that this game really wasn't the kind of thing a girl like Yuan Jie could handle…

To appear in Qingsi County out of all those spawn points was no different from winning the lottery.

"Yuan Jie, you take care of Bai Xiaoya in the real world. I'll spend as much of the next few days as possible inside the game, going to Qingsi County to find her."

After explaining the situation to Qiu Dugu and asking for leave, Fang Yue entered the game.

……

Inside the game, Fang Yue opened his eyes.

He was still in his home from when he had logged off.

Rising and pushing the door open to head outside, Fang Yue's mind was entirely on how to contact Bai Xiaoya, who was far away in Qingsi County, and how to get there.

But very soon, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Because the surroundings were very quiet.

At this hour, it was already broad daylight.

Yet not a single person could be seen on the road.

Frowning in confusion, he looked around. Fang Yue noticed that the tailor shops and the like had not opened for business.

What had happened?

Fang Yue's heart gave a sudden lurch. Setting the matter of Bai Xiaoya aside for the moment, he warily observed his surroundings.

Then he noticed something.

At the edge of his vision, high in the distant sky, white clouds drifted along with the wind.

But there was one black cloud—like a single drop of black among ten thousand whites—that completely defied the natural drift of the clouds, moving against the flow of the white clouds, sailing straight toward Gu Yue Cun.

Seen from afar, the black cloud was hung with densely packed human heads, some already rotted, some still fresh—deeply unsettling.

The instant he saw that black cloud, Fang Yue's pupils contracted, and his mind went blank with a sudden buzz.

"Wu… Yu… Tribe!"

Coming back to himself, Fang Yue forcibly suppressed the panic in his heart and at once understood why there wasn't a single person on the street today.

But… but how could it be this fast!

And hadn't Lord Lan from Man Shui Cun said he would help intercept it?

Even though he knew that ill-omened black cloud was still very far from Gu Yue Cun, that visible approach still made his scalp crawl, as if the blade of the Reaper were poised at his neck, ready to fall at any moment.

Fang Yue hurried toward the Guard Station.

Sure enough, the Guard Station was packed with people, inside and out.

"Ye Ge!"

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu spotted Fang Yue at once and hurried over, grabbing his hand and pulling him inside.

"Ye Ge, this is bad! The Wu Yu Tribe is almost here! Everyone's terrified, waiting for your Captain to give them an answer!"

Sure enough, the people at the Guard Station all looked toward Fang Yue as he came over.

"Captain Ye!"

"It's Captain Ye!"

"Captain Ye, did you see that strange black cloud on the horizon? That thing is sailing straight toward our Gu Yue Cun!"

"Right! The wind is clearly blowing the other way, and all the other white clouds are drifting outward—only that black cloud hung with human heads is drifting toward us."

They all started talking at once, one voice after another, giving Fang Yue a bit of a headache.

Pushing through the crowd, Fang Yue brought Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu into the interior of the Guard Station.

Because there were Guard Team members present, the inner rooms were still kept quiet.

But the Guard Team members themselves were at a loss, not knowing what that thing was.

Just from the look of it, though, it was deeply unsettling. No one knew what level of strangeness it was, or why it had set its sights on Gu Yue Cun.

Up to now, only Fang Yue and the others knew the truth of the matter.

"Xiao Ye, you're here."

Seeing Fang Yue arrive, Lin Ling and Hua Wuye both stood up with grave expressions.

Inside the room, besides them, there were also the Blood Hunter, Hong Dafu, and other pillars of the village.

Clearly, the sudden appearance of the strange Black Cloud terrified everyone.

"Wu Wu and the Blood Hunter have already told us what happened—Ma Ling'er'er has led the Wu Yu tribe to attack. What should we do?"

Lin Ling, rarely serious, assumed the demeanor of a Chief Captain and took charge.

Fang Yue sighed; he too wanted to know what to do.

The others now began chattering at once.

"I never thought Ma Ling'er'er was a strange—no wonder you all wanted to arrest Ma Tiejiang right away; they're clearly in cahoots!"

"Captain Ye, hurry and think of a way to save us!"

"Captain Ye, you've dealt with the Wu Yu tribe before—do we have any chance of defeating that Black Cloud?"

With the Wu Yu tribe advancing from the front and Qingsi County hunting Bai Xiaoya from behind, the overlapping crises left Fang Yue with a pounding head.

He first told everyone to calm down.

Fang Yue's prestige in Gu Yue Cun was extremely high—so high, in fact, that it completely overshadowed Lin Ling, the Chief Captain.

So everyone followed Fang Yue's orders.

After the scene fell silent, Fang Yue first explained the gravity of the situation to everyone, then paused and said: "We don't need to hide this from the villagers—let's spread the news right away so the entire village knows."

Paper can't wrap fire—Black Cloud is already hanging on the horizon, visibly drifting toward us. What's left to hide?

As for the panic that will follow when people learn the truth, the Guard Team must guide and soothe them properly.

After establishing the plan, Fang Yue told them about his earlier conversation with Lord Han regarding how to resolve this issue.

"Lord Lan? You mean Lord Lan of Man Shui Cun helped us before?"

(End of Chapter)