He didn't care at all about the venomous gaze behind him.

The more Chen Xiaomeng looked at Jiang Cheng's face, the more annoyed she became, wishing she could strangle him immediately.

Anping Town wasn't large, and the inn was in the town center, so they quickly reached the edge of town. An old man leaned against the fence, puffing on a dry pipe.

The old man seemed to live a meager existence. His clothes were very worn, patched upon patched, his trousers covered in mud, and his slightly opened eyes were cloudy, perhaps blind.

Behind the fence was dirty and messy. It seemed like it had been used to raise pigs and donkeys, but now only messy straw was mixed with mud, and a stench wafted out from time to time.

Pei Qian looked at the old man from a distance for a while, then, with his hands behind his back, he walked forward naturally.

Chen Xiaomeng's heart stirred, and she wanted to follow, but Zhou Rong stopped her.

Pei Qian, arriving beside the old man, leaned without hesitation on the fence next to him. Before long, the two old men, about the same age, began to chat.

Gradually, the old man seemed to get interested and even turned around to point at the fence, as if he was introducing something to Pei Qian.

Ten minutes later, Pei Qian said goodbye and left.

The simple old man called out to him, and with trembling hands, he took out a wrinkled, homemade cigarette from his patched pocket to give to Pei Qian.

Pei Qian politely declined, but the old man seemed stubborn, insisting that he accept it. Pei Qian nodded, accepted it, and thanked the old man.

Then he walked back to his team.

"Old Man Pei," Zhou Rong said as he walked, "any clues about that woman?"

Pei Qian nodded and put the hard-earned cigarette in his mouth, not smoking it, as if savoring the flavor of this era.

"That woman isn't from the town, but from a nearby village." He said slowly, "She came here about half a month ago, saying that her husband was missing. She was carrying a few portraits and looking everywhere, looking crazy. People around here have seen her."

Jiang Zhongyi hunched over and asked in a low voice, "Did her husband disappear in the town?"

Pei Qian shook his head. "No, in their village."

Ben Fu, who had been silent all along, frowned and said suspiciously, "If he disappeared in the village, then she should look near the village. Why come to the town?"

Ben Fu's question represented the confusion of the others. It was indeed against common sense.

Everyone looked at Pei Qian. He couldn't possibly be unaware of such an obvious question. After a moment of silence, Pei Qian stopped and looked in one direction.

Following his gaze, they saw a winding dirt road, probably muddy from the rain last night, full of potholes.

In the distance, there were mountains, and at the foot of the mountains were lush, dense forests.

It was getting late, but there were no birds returning to their nests, nor the sounds of insects or animals. The mountains and forests had a strange stillness, as if... dead.

Looking at it for a long time, it even felt eerie.

Zhou Rong seemed to realize something, and looked at Pei Qian with an indescribable gaze, his tone strange as he said, "That village... is in the mountains?"

Pei Qian nodded, his voice hoarse. "That person warned me not to care about that woman, let alone sympathize with her. Whatever we're here to do, do it and leave quickly, and don't meddle in other people's business."

Yu Man pursed her lips and suddenly asked, "Why?"

"Because of that village," Pei Qian turned around and stared at her with a long gaze. After a long while, he slowly said, "He said... that the affairs of that village are not something that people can interfere with."

Everyone's heart skipped a beat.

The mission... had finally arrived.

It was getting late, and the sunset here came faster than expected. Before they had walked back to the inn, the sky was already half dark.

In such a strange world, darkness always gave people a sense of association with death. Everyone quickened their pace. The streets that had seemed familiar during the day suddenly felt alien.

The buildings were hidden in the hazy darkness, like disguised ghosts ready to devour people.

Nightlife in that era was far from as prosperous as it is now, especially in such remote towns. Almost as soon as it got dark, everyone went to bed.

The lack of entertainment at night also led to a relatively high birth rate.

Of course, currently, only Jiang Cheng had the mood to worry about the country and the people in this regard.

The others were all hurrying along, worried.

Fortunately, Anping Inn was a landmark building in the town, with big red lanterns hanging on all four corners, making it very conspicuous at night.

As they got closer to the inn, they were surprised to find that not only was the door not closed, but there were also many people standing outside.

About eight or nine.

The owner they had seen that afternoon was blocking the door, his face flushed, and he was holding a wooden stick, as if arguing with another group of people.

The argument, mixed with dialect, carried far in the silent night.

As they approached, someone in the group arguing with the owner noticed them, and then the rest swarmed over.

"You are the experts who came to help us!" A man of about 60 years old was helped forward.

He was obviously in charge of this group, and the others were crowding around him. "I... I am the village chief of Xiaoshijian Village, cough... cough cough, my surname is Liu."

The man who claimed to be Village Chief Liu seemed very excited when he saw them, and grabbed Zhou Rong's hand tightly, as if he was sure that the people in front of him were his saviors.

He was trembling all over, almost in tears.

The others around him also began to sob.

Zhou Rong remained calm, neither agreeing nor denying, but simply responded, "Village Chief Liu, hello, what's going on?"

A tall and strong man next to him said excitedly, "We heard that you arrived in Anping Town, so the village chief brought us here to welcome you!"

The man was at least 2 meters tall, a full head taller than Jiang Cheng. His face was dark, and he was extremely strong. Standing in the night, he looked like a door god.

The light of the red lanterns illuminated the man's bulging muscles, making them appear angular.

Jiang Zhongyi, the weakest of the group, couldn't help but swallow secretly when he saw him. He suspected that the man could crush him to death with his muscles.

During the subsequent exchange, the group confirmed that the so-called Xiaoshijian Village was the village mentioned by the old man who gave the cigarette, and its location was right in the mountains behind them.

And their identity was that they were invited by the village to help.

This "help"... was probably related to the mission itself.

Now that they had confirmed the location of the mission, they could set off.

They agreed with the village chief to meet at the inn door early the next morning, and then go with them to Xiaoshijian Village.