Chapter 4

Through the crack in the door, Wei stared fixedly at Ding Yi lying on the bed. Then, he stuck out his tongue and slowly licked the dryness off his lips.

“Tomorrow is the incense-offering day. Tonight is the best time to make our move.”

With that, Wei slowly slid the hatchet in his hand through the crack, pressing it against the wooden bolt behind the door. Bit by bit, he began to lift it upward.

Under his control, the bolt inched upward with a faint creaking sound.

Lying on the bed, Ding Yi could bear it no longer. He abruptly sat up and shouted:

“Is that you, Old Master Wei?!”

“Heh heh, you really did notice.”

Wei had clearly anticipated Ding Yi’s reaction. He let out a sinister chuckle—then suddenly kicked forward, slamming the old wooden door wide open with a loud crash.

“Ding boy, my wife and I have taken care of you for so long. It’s about time you repaid us.”

Wei cackled strangely and stepped forward. But the moment his foot landed, the ground beneath him gave way. His face flashed with confusion—then the world flipped upside down.

“Aaaahhhh!!”

A wave of agony flooded his mind. As he looked up at the gaping hole above, a piercing scream tore from his throat.

On the other side, the old woman’s dull yellow eyes instantly turned blood-red when she saw this.

“You little bastard!! I’ll kill you!!”

Like a rabid dog, she sprang onto all fours, leaped across the pit in a single bound, and lunged straight toward Ding Yi.

Her speed and ferocity startled him, but he didn’t forget the two deadly weapons hidden beneath his bed. He jerked his wrist hard, snapping the thin pulling wire tied to it.

A sharp flash gleamed in the darkness. A dull thud echoed through the room, followed by the old woman’s shrill scream as an immense force sent her flying sideways.

“Boom!”

She shot out of the room like a rag doll, tumbled several times across the ground, and crashed into the outer wall of the mud-brick house, shaking the rafters.

“Holy crap, that’s insane!”

Ding Yi stared, dumbfounded at the old woman who’d been blasted away, awestruck.

No wonder it cost lifespan to enhance these things—they were worth every day. Absolute quality for the price!

The screams from inside the pit gradually faded. Wei’s life was clearly at its end.

Outside the door, though, sounds still stirred. Ding Yi’s expression hardened. He hurriedly pulled out the second mechanism crossbow from beneath his bed and aimed it at the doorway.

“Cough, cough… You little bastard… cough… You’re dead! You’re dead!!”

Suddenly, the old woman’s deranged shrieks rang out from outside, eerie and high-pitched like a wailing infant. A chill crawled down Ding Yi’s spine.

Then—crack.

In an instant, he realized what she was doing.

She had smashed through the wooden boards covering the window!

Unable to hold back, Ding Yi grabbed the crossbow, limped out as fast as he could, and saw her—covered in blood—lunging toward the oil lamp on the table.

Behind her, the once-sealed window had been thrown wide open, the boards ripped apart and split clean in two.

“You old hag!”

He didn’t know why she was doing this, but he knew he had to stop her now. Ding Yi raised the crossbow, took aim, and yanked the trigger.

“Whirr!”

The bowstring twanged crisply. The old woman was sent flying again, her body pinned to the wall by the bolt.

Even then, her eyes bulged wide as she stared at Ding Yi from not far away, mouth open, making guttural “heh heh” noises through blood.

“Damn it!!”

Ding Yi didn’t wait to see if she was truly dead. His eyes snapped to the table—more precisely, to the oil lamp sitting atop it. His heart sank.

The flame had gone out.

He was too late. She had destroyed the lamp.

At that moment, an inexplicable terror surged through Ding Yi’s body, making him tremble uncontrollably.

“Buzz… buzz…”

From the open window came a strange, eerie laughter. A freezing gust of wind swept into the room.

Without thinking, Ding Yi hopped and stumbled to the table, snatched up the oil lamp.

For the first time, he truly touched the mysterious lamp and got a good look at it.

It appeared to be an ordinary oil lamp—except for the strange red-painted pattern etched onto its surface.

It resembled the eye of some beast.

The dried lamp oil inside reeked of a foul, nauseating stench, like vomit left to ferment for days. Who knew what it was made of?

At that moment, a wave of black shadow surged in through the window, plunging the room’s temperature several degrees lower in an instant.

“What the hell is that?!”

The instant Ding Yi laid eyes on it, his vision flushed red, as though he’d been thrown into a pit of blood. A rotten, putrid smell enveloped him from every direction, choking him with the sensation of falling into an abyss.

“Ughhh…”

Clutching the lamp tightly, panic gripping his heart, a sudden idea struck him. Just like in the movies, he bit down on his tongue, trying to use the pain to jolt himself out of the nightmare.

At that moment, Ding Yi was overwhelmed with joy. After all, if he could find a way to gain lifespan, the usefulness of this enhancement system would skyrocket.

But now wasn’t the time for research. Gritting his teeth, Ding Yi held up the oil lamp and pressed forward.

Although those things called Guiying’ao could no longer harm him, his entire body still felt icy cold. His blood seemed to be on the verge of freezing. His body was simply too weak—he had no choice but to give up the idea of gathering more lifespan for now.

Before long, he reached the window. Picking up the broken wooden board from the floor, he propped it back up against the opening. His eyes locked tightly onto the window, and when the familiar “Enhance” prompt appeared, he immediately selected it.

In the blink of an eye, the hollow window was covered by a thick, solid board, and the buzzing inside the house vanished. The room returned to its eerie, fragile calm.

“Huff… huff…”

Staring at the restored scene, Ding Yi exhaled heavily, then collapsed onto the floor. Only now did a wave of intense fear flood his mind.

If he’d hesitated even a second longer, the entire village would’ve been feasting on him tomorrow.

Thinking of this, he glanced toward the old woman nailed to the wall—and froze.

She had already shriveled into a mummified husk, her skin clinging tightly to bone, all flesh and blood dried out as if she’d been desiccated for decades.

“Holy sh*t!”

The sight made Ding Yi jolt upright, stumbling back in shock.

“No wonder my blood started to congeal earlier… Without the protection of the oil lamp, I’d have ended up just like her.”

With a shiver, he looked down at the oil lamp in his hand, then carefully placed it on the table.

Next, he crept to the window and pressed his ear against the wall to listen for movement outside. Hearing nothing unusual, he cautiously returned to the table and sat down.

“Damn it… what the hell is this place? It’s too dangerous. Way too dangerous!”

Panic set in—but then a thought struck him. He quickly stood up and walked toward his small room.

Peering down into the pit, he saw Wei lying there with his eyes wide open, his body twisted in a grotesque position. Several sharp wooden spikes had pierced through his chest, pinning him securely in place.

“Ugh!”

The gruesome sight made Ding Yi gag and reel with nausea. His vision blurred, and he instinctively grabbed the doorframe to keep himself from collapsing.

Anyone who’s seen too much blood knows: the first kill floods the brain with dopamine, numbing fear with adrenaline.

But once the rush fades, terror crashes down like a wave.

Before transmigrating, Ding Yi was just an ordinary young man. He’d never been this close to death before. Oxygen seemed to drain from his brain; his entire body felt weak, as if he were floating away.

It took a long while for him to remember: he’d already crossed into another world. At least here, “Uncle Hat” wouldn’t come knocking on his door. That thought allowed him to finally catch his breath. Leaning against the frame, he began to think seriously about his situation.

Clearly, this world wasn’t at all what Ding Yi had imagined.

The people here were… abnormal. Just like Wei and his wife, they displayed unnatural speed and strength, far beyond their age. It made him wonder—if the elderly were this dangerous, how terrifying would the younger ones be?

And more importantly, this world held things he had never seen before—like the Guiying’ao.

All signs pointed to one truth: surviving here would be anything but easy.

His hands clenched into fists. His gaze hardened.

“My life belongs to me. If anyone wants it… they’d better be ready to pay the price!!”

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to look back down at Wei’s corpse in the pit. Then, turning on his heel, he headed toward the old woman’s body hanging in the living room.

The mechanism crossbow was absurdly powerful. The last bolt had torn through her and buried itself halfway into the earthen wall.

Fortunately, she’d already been drained dry by the Guiying’ao, leaving behind nothing but a dried-out corpse. Ding Yi didn’t need much strength to pry her off the wall.

Suppressing his revulsion, he dragged her to the small room and dumped the body into the pit.

“Now you two can be together down there… sigh, I really am a good person.”

The dull thud from below made him clap his hands in grim satisfaction. Then, he began rummaging through the house.

There was nothing of real value inside. Worse, food was scarce.

He found the black rice porridge he’d eaten earlier stored in a clay jar in the kitchen corner—but there was no way he’d dare touch it again.

Still, something crossed his mind. He carried the jar into the living room and kept searching.

After more than ten minutes, Ding Yi sat at the table, examining the few items he’d gathered, and began to experiment.

The first was a small piece of dried meat.

He had no idea what creature it came from. Now, dried and hardened, it had turned black and emitted a sharp, putrid stench.