Chapter 1084 Trapped

About ten minutes later, the female rabbit-star person finished consulting the "elder" and "invited" the four members of Hell Front into the village.

Jue-Ge and the others readily left the two sidecar motorcycles at the village entrance and followed the villagers into the mountain gorge.

Although it was called an "invitation," the villagers' hostility toward the players was still evident. They did not lower their weapons, nor did they let down their guard.

Of course, this was only natural. For these people (rabbits) living in the apocalypse, who were accustomed to lies, violence, and death, trusting others could very well mean a death with no burial.

"Jue-Ge, according to the divination you did before, there should be at least one super-strong NPC in this village…" While walking through the village, Xiao Tan lowered his voice and said to Feng Bujue, "Do you think it could be that elder?"

"Perhaps," Feng Bujue replied in a low voice as well, "We'll have to meet him to find out."

"Oh…" Xiao Tan suddenly remembered something and added, "By the way! Is there a possibility…" He whispered, "Like…there aren't any particularly strong guys in this village, but the village's location just happens to be between us and our destination?"

"No." Jue-Ge denied Xiao Tan's speculation, "This is precisely the destination I divined." He paused for half a second, adding, "Because the village's terrain is completely consistent with the ‘hexagram’ I saw before."

"Huh?" Xiao Tan was stunned upon hearing this, "You mean you used Ka Ka Lu's…" The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't help but recall the scene of Feng Bujue "divining," "Oh…that time…"

"That's right." Feng Bujue continued, "Although you can use methods like throwing sand to calculate ‘direction,’ it's best to use something more complex if you want more precise information." He began to narrate some extremely terrifying facts and experiences in a calm tone, "And corpses are a good choice. Whether it's fur, muscle texture, blood flow, or internal organs…they can all present various unique and distinct patterns. This is far richer than the hexagram you can get from drawing a bamboo stick, throwing a few copper coins, or writing a character."

"So, in that case…" Xiao Ling, who was also listening to their conversation, interjected at this moment, "…three possibilities?"

This sentence made no sense to others, but Jue-Ge understood its meaning.

"Yeah." Feng Bujue nodded in agreement, then explained to Xiao Tan, "The [Prophecy] divination result should be correct, so there are three possibilities right now… First, there is a Boss-level NPC living in this village; second, the Second Squad of Corpse Blades is here; third, this village is hiding some kind of secret, and this secret points to an extremely powerful existence."

"Oh…" Xiao Tan responded thoughtfully.

As they spoke, the four of them had already reached the outside of the "elder's" cave entrance.

According to the female rabbit-star person, this Elder "Pi Pi An" was the leader of this village, equivalent to a "village chief." However, judging from the current situation…this village chief's life seemed a little shabby. His house (cave entrance) was even more dilapidated than those of ordinary villagers. If the villagers hadn't led the way, no one would have thought that this was the village chief's residence.

"Go in yourselves, the elder said he wants to see you alone."

When the NPC who led the way said this, Feng Bujue immediately gave his teammates a look, telling them to be vigilant.

And Ruo Yu, Xiao Ling, and Xiao Tan naturally understood what Jue-Ge meant.

It seemed that…what awaited them might not be an "elder."

"Okay, thanks for the directions." Feng Bujue turned around and said to the NPC with a smile that was not a smile, then took the lead in pushing open the door made of wood and scrap metal and walked into the cave.

Seconds later, the other members of Hell Front also filed in one after another.

Then…

Bang—

Before they had gone far, the door behind them was closed by the rabbits outside.

Immediately afterward…there was another muffled bang, sounding like…something very heavy had fallen outside the door.

"Hey…what does this mean?" Xiao Tan's horror value went up instantly, and his first reaction was to reach into his knapsack to find lighting equipment.

"It means…you've been fooled too…" The next second, a low voice came from the darkness ahead.

"Who? Who is it?" Xiao Tan quickly looked in the direction of the sound and asked loudly.

"Heh…" Feng Bujue seemed calm, he took out the [Composite Anti-Gravity Catapult] from his knapsack while smiling at the source of the voice, "Let me guess…they also told you to come here to see the ‘elder,’ right?"

Before he finished speaking, the searchlight at the front of the catapult lit up, and the scene inside the cave was clearly presented before the players' eyes.

Obviously, the cave they were in was not a "residence" at all; there was no furniture, no lighting, and no elder…all there was was a solid wall and a rabbit-star person wearing a coarse cloth cloak sitting in the corner.

"Oh?" When the rabbit-star person saw the appearance of Jue-Ge and the others, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he almost instantly regained his composure and continued, "You are…aliens, right?"

"Earthlings." Feng Bujue replied.

"I see…" The rabbit-star person responded calmly, without asking anything further.

"Rabbit brother…what's…the situation?" Xiao Ling also took out lighting equipment at this time and said to the rabbit.

"The situation…" The rabbit-star person thought for a few seconds and pondered, "About…five days ago, I inadvertently discovered this remote village. At the time, my car was running out of fuel, so I went into the village to exchange some food and fuel with them for the goods I had on me. After some negotiation, they told me to come here to see the ‘elder’…" He shrugged, "You should have guessed what happened next…they robbed me of everything, and they locked me up here to wait for death."

"Alas…you're really miserable, brother." Xiao Tan sighed, shaking his head, "The people in this village are really too much."

"When the door opened just now…" At this time, Ruo Yu, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke to the rabbit-star person, "Why didn't you run out?"

"Heh…would it have made any difference?" The other party smiled bitterly, "I'm not afraid of you laughing at me…I, 'Tu Aotian', am still considered a martial artist. Five days ago…I was confident that I could retreat completely under the siege of those villagers, otherwise I wouldn't have rashly entered this strange village." He shook his head, "But now…I'm so hungry that I don't have any strength left. Even raising my voice to talk to you is difficult…in this situation, let alone rushing out, even if they opened the cave door and let me go, I wouldn't be able to walk."

"Xiao Tan." Hearing this, Feng Bujue turned his head and called out to Xiao Tan without saying a word.

"Yes." Wang Tanzhi also responded quickly.

Jue-Ge looked at Xiao Tan, snapped his fingers, and pointed his index finger at Tu Aotian, "Feed him."

"Understood." Xiao Tan replied.

These two guys didn't know why they started speaking in classical Chinese to each other…but this didn't affect their actions.

Before long, Xiao Tan strode up to Tu Aotian and handed him a bag of snacks and a bottle of water.

The originally lifeless Tu Aotian's eyes suddenly lit up. He didn't stand on ceremony with them, grabbed the water bottle and started gulping it down. After drinking half the bottle, he suddenly stopped and looked deeply at the remaining half bottle with a rather regretful and nostalgic expression… Then, he tore open the snack packaging and began stuffing food into his mouth.

The four players just watched him like that, waiting a full three minutes, watching him finish eating and drinking those things.

Three minutes later, Feng Bujue stepped forward a few steps, squatted down in front of him, and asked with a smile: "So…now, can you take us to see the ‘elder’?"

As soon as these words came out, Tu Aotian's expression changed drastically: "You…" His surprise lasted for a few seconds, then turned into a smile, "Heh…hahahaha…" After laughing a few times, he stood up, "From what point did you start suspecting me?" He paused, "Could it be because…my reaction to the ‘you are aliens’ thing was too calm?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with the performance regarding that part…" Feng Bujue also stood up and replied with a smile, "Your flaw…was revealed from other aspects."

"Oh?" Tu Aotian looked suspicious and gestured for Jue-Ge to continue.

"First…is the light." Feng Bujue said, waving the catapult in his hand, "When we came in, the cave was almost completely dark. For someone (a rabbit) who has been in this environment for several days, it should take a long time to adapt to the light. But you…after I turned on this strong searchlight, you were able to look at us without any problems. This shows that…you haven't been in this cave for very long, but…you then said that you had been locked up for five days."

"Hmph…I'm impressed that you were able to notice and associate it with that aspect." Tu Aotian snorted coldly, "But…that alone doesn't qualify as a flaw, right?" He was actually quite interested in discussing it with Jue-Ge.

"That's right." Feng Bujue replied, "I also thought…could it be that some light leaked in when we entered the cave, allowing you to adapt to the brightness in advance? Or is it that you are naturally gifted with amazing eyesight?" He slowly recited, "Going deeper…the physiological structure of you rabbit-star people is different from ours earthlings, maybe you are a race that can instantly adapt to changes in light." At this point, he changed the subject, "Therefore, my suspicion of you obviously has other basis…"

"Please say it." Tu Aotian crossed his arms, looked at Jue-Ge, and replied in a deep voice.

"If the story you told earlier about ‘being imprisoned after entering the village’ is true, then the problem comes…" Feng Bujue continued, "Since you are now so hungry that ‘even if others open the cave door and let you escape, you won't be able to escape,’ then why didn't the villagers simply come in and kill you? It is obviously unreasonable to lure us over while you are still alive. As long as you shout in the cave, wouldn't their plan be exposed?"

"They didn't come to kill me…maybe it's because they were afraid that I would fight back in a dying state?" Tu Aotian replied, "Isn't it the safest and most stable method to wait for me to starve to death before coming in to collect the body?"

"Then when they come to collect the body, aren't they afraid that you will be lying on the ground pretending to be dead?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"This…" Tu Aotian was speechless for a moment.

"Given the environment of this cave, to confirm whether the person locked in the cave is dead or alive, you must take lighting equipment and walk in." Feng Bujue continued, "And you are not wearing any restraints such as handcuffs or shackles at all. In other words…there is no difference in the risk of coming in to ‘collect your body’ and coming in to ‘kill you’; if you are really a prisoner, then they have no reason to let you live until we come over." He finally said in a concluding tone, "So…the conclusion is that the villagers knew from the beginning that you would not give us any warning before all of us were locked in this cave. Even if your acting is good and you don't forget to add words like ‘even raising my voice to talk to you is difficult’ when making up the story, it can't hide this obvious flaw."

"Heh…" Tu Aotian smiled, "You're right, I should have asked someone to tie me up, but unfortunately…time was limited…"

"It's useless." Feng Bujue interrupted, "Whether it's metal products or rope belts…the difference between being tied up for five days and being tied up for a few minutes is obvious. If you really asked someone to tie you up, it would be superfluous."

"Hmm…" Tu Aotian nodded, seeming convinced, but after thinking for a few seconds, he added, "Is there anything else?"

"There is indeed one more thing." Feng Bujue said, as if he remembered something from the past, revealing a rather strange smile, "I think…you have never been hungry for five days, nor have you seen how people who have been hungry for more than five days eat, right?"

"This…" Tu Aotian's expression changed slightly, "Now that you mention it…I really haven't experienced it."

"I have also seen the stomachs of you rabbit-star people (he has indeed ‘seen’ them), at least in my opinion, they are no different from ours earthlings." Feng Bujue said, "A few years ago, for some reason (writing), I used myself as an experimental subject to study the physiological state of prisoners…"

"I can testify to this…he even asked me, a medical student who hadn't graduated yet, to help him at the time…" Xiao Tan interjected appropriately from the side.

Feng Bujue smiled at Xiao Tan and continued, "I still have a deep impression of the ‘hunger experiment’…the stomach is an organ that expands or contracts depending on the situation. If you don't eat for a long time, it will shrink, and when you go to eat again, the stomach will be filled quickly." He paused and continued, "Many people have misconceptions about the concept of ‘hunger,’ believing that people who haven't eaten for a long time should be gluttonous when they see food…but this is actually a big mistake. The most typical example is…some people will hold back a few meals and then go to challenge some ‘eat within the time limit without paying’ glutton challenges, but they don't know that in this state, they will get full very quickly." He tilted his head and looked at Tu Aotian, "So…it's not without meaning that I let my companion give you food, nor is it out of sympathy…but a kind of test. Frankly speaking, based on the way you ate just now, I can also determine that you are lying."

Hearing this, Tu Aotian was stunned for a few seconds, then a smile appeared on his face: "Good…admire." He really wanted to applaud Jue-Ge, but rabbits don't clap loudly, "It seems that you are not ordinary people, being able to kill Ka Ka Lu…is also reasonable."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue's eyes moved slightly, "We never told you…that the motorcycles were robbed from ‘Ka Ka Lu’."

That's right, they only said "slave traders"…

"Hmph…" Tu Aotian sneered, "I'll explain this to you later, but before that…" He said, untying the coarse cloth cloak draped over his shoulders, "I…want to try your skills again…"