Speaking of which, Doctor An sighed softly.

Clearly, although he didn't particularly like Luo Xin's personality, he admired his courage to take responsibility and face the paranormal without regard for his own life or death.

If this world weren't so cruel, such people would likely be called heroes.

Alas… this isn't a fairy tale world; you won't live long if you don't focus on saving your own skin.

Perhaps it was because Gu Yue Village had terrifying beings like Lord Han, which gave the people of Gu Yue Village a comfortable environment, cultivating some naive thoughts.

If it were the people of their Mo Village, absolutely no one would come up with the idea of covering for others at the rear. That was absolute suicide, and meaningless at that. Not to mention sacrificing their lives for others.

The surrounding people all showed sad expressions to varying degrees, and some even secretly wiped away tears.

Many members of the escort team showed expressions of self-reproach and regret.

Now that Fang Yue had caught up, but Luo Xin hadn't appeared, everyone could guess what had happened to him.

Fang Yue said a few words of comfort, and the crowd's emotions stabilized a little.

Doctor An then continued.

"After the Void Anomaly… killed the brothers covering our retreat, it caught up to us again. In our panic, we lost some supplies, and even abandoned a horse to attract its attention, but it didn't help much."

"In the end, it was the old method: split up and run. My suggestion was to break up into smaller groups to maximize the dispersion of the team and reduce the chances of being found by the anomaly. But the blood hunter convinced me to try using a group of people to lure the Void Anomaly away, as a test."

"Then, Deputy Captain Men led a group of death-defying members to attract the Void Anomaly's attention, separating from the main force. In order for them to be able to rejoin us if they survived, and for you to find us when you caught up, and to disperse the anomaly and ensure safety, the blood hunter had its Giant Head Bloodhound leave a mark."

"We ran for a while, and after confirming that we weren't being pursued, the blood hunter had people start setting up some traps to cover our retreat. We had only just set up a few when you caught up."

Speaking of this, Doctor An's gaze passed over Fang Yue and looked at Niu Niu behind him, his eyes becoming somewhat dangerous—in a sense, this crisis was brought about by Niu Niu!

Niu Niu shuddered, and quickly hid behind Fang Yue, while the surrounding people looked at Niu Niu with hostility. Clearly, they knew more or less what had happened before.

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Yue said, "He's still useful."

"Useful for what?"

"Next time we need bait, we can let him go."

Doctor An looked past Fang Yue. "I don't think we need..."

*Pa.*

Fang Yue gently grabbed his hand, looked at Doctor An's gaze, and shook his head slightly.

"More people means more strength. We've lost too many people. There will always be a time for him to atone for his sins with the dirty work and hard labor later on."

Doctor An looked into Fang Yue's eyes, and after a moment of silence, sighed.

"Alright, I'll listen to you. But he's still my test subject, and his life is mine. While he's in the escort team, I'll lend him to you. But if he can make it alive to Mo Village, he'll be completely under my control, and he won't have to go back to Gu Yue Village with you again. He'll be considered a person of Mo Village, and you won't have to take care of him anymore. I will… take 'good care' of him!"

As Doctor An spoke, his tone became somewhat sinister and terrifying. The words sent a chill down Niu Niu's spine, and his whole body broke out in goosebumps.

"Brother Ye, Brother Ye, this old guy doesn't want to kill me when we get to Mo Village, does he?"

"...He wants to kill you now." kan shula

"Don't! Brother Ye, think of a way to protect me!"

In his excitement, Niu Niu subconsciously reached out and grabbed Fang Yue.

The surrounding people all looked over, puzzled.

Fang Yue's face darkened, and he broke free from Niu Niu's grip and walked forward, while sending a message.

"Someone's coming!"

What?!

Again?!

Is our little boat of friendship about to capsize?

Niu Niu felt depressed. Seeing Doctor An's cold gaze sweeping over, he quickly pretended to be stupid and drooled.

"Aba aba!"

Doctor An then withdrew his gaze and walked forward with Fang Yue and the blood hunter, leading the team onward.

Niu Niu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

It's great to be a fool!

Me in the past: I'm a fool… (Inferiority)

Me now: I'm a fool! (Pride)

Niu Niu saw that the others still saw him as a foolish simpleton, and they all lost interest, shaking their heads and ignoring him.

Only a small number of people blamed Niu Niu for the deaths of Luo Xin and the others, and their eyes were somewhat unkind, but they didn't say much—Fang Yue had already spoken up to protect Niu Niu, and they couldn't disobey his orders.

Without Luo Xin, Fang Yue became busy. While traveling, he also had to understand the situation of the team, and could only rely on himself to ask questions.

[Reading books to receive cash] Follow the official account [Book Friends Base Camp], reading books to draw up to 888 cash red envelopes!

The other three deputy captains also helped, but they couldn't be as comprehensive as Luo Xin, answering whatever was asked. Fang Yue needed to ask them, and they were responsible for sending people to ask below, and the people below would understand the details and report back.

This layer-by-layer process not only wasted time, but also delayed the information.

Fang Yue had a headache, but he still tried his best to remember.

"According to the statistics, about thirty people have died, two deputy captains, some miscellaneous supplies, and two horses."

The data didn't look too tragic when written on paper.

But everyone knew what this data represented.

It hadn't even been a day since they left the village, and they had suffered such heavy losses. Due to the influence of the anomalies, they probably wouldn't even reach the nearest Manshui Village by nightfall on the first day.

What should they do?

At night, whether traveling or camping, it was very dangerous.

"What do you think?"

Fang Yue looked at the blood hunter and Doctor An.

"Keep going!" Doctor An replied without thinking.

"Set up camp." The blood hunter shook his head slightly.

"What would Luo Xin think..."

Fang Yue subconsciously opened his mouth, but suddenly stopped—Luo Xin was already gone.

He was silent for a moment, and said, "Let's all give our reasons."

Since Lin Ling had arranged for Luo Xin to assist him the day before yesterday, Fang Yue had basically been acting as a hands-off manager. Even if there were conflicts in the team, Luo Xin could give reasonable advice based on his experienced background.

Now that he had lost his strategist, Fang Yue truly felt how troublesome it was to lead a team in the wild.

Doctor An spoke first, even opening his mouth with some annoyance.