Deep in the Living
Chapter 177 - 171: Entering the Village

Chapter 177: Chapter 171: Entering the Village

The indigenous people here are all of the yellow race, but in the eyes of Luo Di, a native Huaxia person, there seems to be a subtle difference.

After completing the so-called welcome ceremony, the villagers turned back to the village and showed no intention of continuing to greet everyone.

As for the driver, he seemed unwilling to stay for even a second longer, immediately starting the car and driving away.

The tour guide raised his right hand, signaling everyone to gather around him.

"The bus will come here at 18:00 tomorrow afternoon to pick us up; let’s immerse ourselves in this special primitive journey in the meantime.

Please follow me into the island village first, head to your lodging for tonight, and set aside your luggage and the like."

The sunset had already hidden behind the hillside as the vehicles arrived, and night fell.

Since a god-worshipping ceremony will be held tonight, the villagers lit white candles along the village roads, and each household hung lanterns on their eaves.

In addition to the two sources of light mentioned above, there was also natural light.

The stars, eager to emerge from the clouds, had also descended their starry luster shortly after sunset, illuminating the earth.

The brightness of the entire village even exceeded the national safety value set for corners, giving a very comfortable feeling.

Not long after entering the island village, everyone’s attention was drawn to a stone stele standing by the roadside.

Every less than ten meters along the village roads, there stood such vertical stone steles, about one meter high, with a string of dead insects hanging at the top, mostly poisonous insects from the forest.

The bald man immediately directed his colleagues to take multi-angle shots of these objects.

Following behind, Hua Yuan also leaned over, and the fragrance emanating from her was quickly captured by three middle-aged men, causing their hands holding the equipment to become somewhat unstable.

Hua Yuan timidly pointed to the stone stele and asked, "What are these? These long stone steles seem to be quite old, oh, and there are dead poisonous insects hanging on them? That’s scary!"

"Cough cough!"

The bald man coughed twice; he wasn’t particularly clear about these things but had to pretend to understand for now.

"These stone steles are meant to protect the villagers; the hanging insect strings have a deterring meaning, preventing the poisonous insects of the forest from crawling into the village."

At this point, the tour guide who was leading the group at the front and hadn’t planned to explain in advance stopped.

"The [Insect Stele] indeed has a certain effect in driving away insects, but it serves more as a charm to expel evil spirits, keeping unclean things from entering the village.

Just like the black coffins you saw along the road, if some young villagers are reluctant to reincarnate and try to return to the village, their corpses will be stopped outside.

Every household also hangs insect strings on their doors, with the same effect."

This bizarre statement made Hua Yuan hug her arms, her pupils showing fear.

Seeing such a good opportunity, the bald man naturally would not let it go; his somewhat greasy palm immediately reached out, trying to embrace her to offer comfort.

However,

his palm did not manage to touch the young girl’s body, but instead, he touched another rough palm; another person from the filming team had also made the same sleazy move.

This touch made them look at each other; the bald man, as the team leader, stared fiercely at the other person. Although the latter was unwilling, he had to withdraw his hand due to his lower position.

By the time he wanted to continue making a move on Hua Yuan, she had already retreated back to her own group, smiling at this group of middle-aged men.

Luo Di didn’t pay attention to these matters; he was more focused on observing the village in front of him.

Recalling the gathering period, the ceremonies held by the sisters could allow the grandmother’s avatar to descend to the mortal world.

He couldn’t help but suspect that such a village that worships deities might have attracted a Monster Avatar from the Corner due to some pure sacrificial activities, possessing someone.

However, no anomaly has been seen so far, so he shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

"This is the house where you will rest tonight."

Under the introduction of the tour guide, a row of wooden houses built on the slope appeared before them.

Since Luo Di and others had expressed a desire to be arranged in a five-person room during registration, they were allocated to the largest wooden house, which only had floor bedding for sleeping.

To use the restroom, they needed to go to the communal toilet.

"Everyone go to your rooms to put away your things and rest for a bit; gather here in half an hour, and I will lead you all to participate in the god-worshipping ceremony with the villagers tonight."

Ten travelers each headed to their respective cabins, and the three middle-aged members of the documentary filming team kept casting glances towards Hua Yuan as they moved to their location.

When they saw Hua Yuan would be sharing a cabin with a young man, a surge of intense jealousy arose within them, even flashing hateful looks and trembling fingers, wishing they could kill him.

Luo Di naturally noticed this Killing Intent, but he did not look at the three middle-aged men, instead glancing at Hua Yuan who was smiling.

Click~ The wooden door opened.

The so-called largest cabin could barely fit five people and was completely empty except for five bedding sets placed on the floor.

It didn’t matter, the sisters were not planning to sleep tonight. Having come to such a bizarre and strange village, they naturally wanted to explore thoroughly, perhaps they might discover clues related to the Monster Avatar.

The Monitor still used the same method, utilizing the properties of the Corner-like Space to completely isolate the cabin, turning it into a space exclusively theirs.

Hua Yuan touched Mu Mu’s hair and softly asked, "Little Eye, still no discovery?"

"No... everything is normal."

Sister Eye shook her head and then continued, "But... I feel... something’s not quite right."

Hua Yuan stood by the window, watching the villagers gathering towards a certain direction, "If they have been able to hide from the Corner for so long, it would naturally be easy for them to block our Perception, just trust your instincts~ I also feel something’s off here, everyone be extra cautious.

Mr. Di, as a human, what do you think?"

Having spent a few days with the sisters, Luo Di had grown familiar with them, and since their goals aligned, he elaborated in detail his observations and deductions made along the way:

"The entire village has a strong atmosphere of devotion.

The villagers’ gazes, gestures, and various settings all reek of worship towards divinity, and perhaps it was this that attracted a certain Monster Avatar related to ’Divinity’.

Choosing this island village, which lies outside the impact range of the Corner, as a starting point, it begins an unknown plan. What the plan entails is unknown.

Perhaps when a certain moment arrives, or certain conditions are met, the affected humans will change.

Tonight’s worship ritual might be a breakthrough, let’s continue to maintain our disguise as travelers.

Of course... there’s also the worst case scenario: perhaps our disguises were seen through from the moment we landed on the island, and we have been led by the nose since then."

Upon saying this.

The sisters paused for a moment, but their expressions did not change significantly, as they also had similar "scenario hypotheses."

"Very good indeed, Mr. Di.

Everyone shares your concerns, so let’s stick together in our upcoming actions, making sure all five of us stay together throughout to avoid being ambushed by the crafty beings deep within the island.

Moreover,

If your deductions about the lurking Monster Avatar possibly being related to Divinity are correct, there’s a high likelihood that we might all perish on this trip."

...

After guiding the travelers to their accommodation,

The guide did not head to his resting room but went directly to the village shrine.

Many elderly villagers had already gathered here.

Upon seeing the guide arrive, both parties performed a complex hand gesture, identical to the previous welcome ritual.

Through such gestures, a form of identity verification was completed, avoiding the need for verbal communication.

The guide stepped through the threshold of the shrine, pulling ten black and white photographs from his pocket, corresponding to the ten travelers who had arrived.

An elderly man, seemingly nearly a hundred years old but with movements akin to a sixty-year-old, took these photos, reciting a strange incantation,

Then scattered the ten photographs randomly on the ground,

Followed by picking up a ceramic jar from the altar and smashing it on the ground... Bang!

The jar shattered,

A bizarre toad covered in body hair jumped out and landed on one of the photographs.