My gorgeous wife
Chapter 1074 - 1046: A Chance Encounter at the Old Place

Chapter 1074: Chapter 1046: A Chance Encounter at the Old Place

"Back here again." Li Chen disembarked from the plane with a backpack, glanced around, and revealed a hint of emotion.

The clothing and customs around him, so different from Linchuan, unmistakably signaled that he had returned to this place once more.

"Friend, need a place to stay?"

"Buddy, we have the most affordable lodgings here..."

Not far from the airport, various business owners approached him, trying to solicit business.

Li Chen politely declined the offers with a smile and directly got into a vehicle heading towards the station.

"This place is called Yuanguang City, right?" Li Chen finally remembered the city’s name after pondering for a moment.

As this city is the closest to the forest area, its tourism industry is quite prosperous. However, this time, Li Chen wasn’t here for sightseeing.

He had his own matters to attend to.

"This is a bit troublesome." Just after getting off the vehicle, Li Chen looked at the bustling station and couldn’t help but smirk bitterly.

He attempted to find someone willing to rent out a vehicle, but once he mentioned the place he wanted to go, everyone refused. Left with no choice, Li Chen reluctantly lined up.

"What? No more buses going there?"

When it was finally his turn, Li Chen was dumbfounded.

"Yes." The ticket counter employee, with an eternally unchanged poker face, mechanically explained, "Because that village no longer exists, we no longer dispatch buses there."

"Damn it!" Even he couldn’t help cursing, but there was nothing he could do about the situation.

"The village no longer exists? What’s going on?"

The village Li Chen wanted to visit was the one he had passed through on his last journey to the Miao Village. He remembered staying in a rundown little inn there and being attacked by a wolf pack.

Although the village wasn’t big and only had a few dozen households, now the ticket counter staff said it no longer existed. Li Chen was puzzled.

Before Li Chen could inquire further, the older woman behind him in line grew impatient: "Young man, could you hurry up? I’m in a rush!"

With a bitter smile, Li Chen shook his head and stepped out of the line.

"What should I do now... Do I have to rely on myself?" With Li Chen’s current cultivation, he could certainly walk there, but the issue was that he didn’t know the way.

From the city to that remote village, there were several forks in the road. Although Li Chen had been there once, he didn’t remember the exact route.

"Friend, are you trying to get to that village near the forest?" At this moment, a man approached and suddenly spoke to Li Chen.

Li Chen glanced at the man and immediately realized he was a driver.

An unlicensed taxi?

"Don’t misunderstand, we’re not an illegal taxi," the man smiled and waved his hand, seemingly noticing Li Chen’s suspicion. "My vehicle goes to Luoxiang Village, which is the closest one to that vanished village."

"Luoxiang Village?" Li Chen raised an eyebrow. "How do you know which vanished village I’m talking about?"

The man chuckled, "Last year’s incident, everyone knows about it. Luoyuan Village was an old village that was about to naturally disappear anyway. But because of that incident, it became famous overnight throughout Yuanguang City. Of course, the cost of that fame was quite high."

"Luoyuan Village?" Li Chen arched an eyebrow in confusion, then quickly understood that the man was referring to the vanished village.

"What exactly happened?" Li Chen couldn’t help but ask.

"There are many different versions of the story, but no one knows which one is true," the man shook his head. "However, many people indeed died in Luoyuan Village, and the rest fled. Since then, there’s been no more Luoyuan Village."

Li Chen nodded. The man was quite forthright, sharing some details that might even push business away.

However, these events didn’t really affect him.

"Alright, I’ll go to Luoxiang Village with you," Li Chen said.

"You’re still planning to go to Luoyuan?" The driver was stunned, then shook his head, "Fine, suit yourself. You young people are so impetuous, but let me remind you, if you see anything you shouldn’t in Luoyuan Village, run back to Luoxiang Village immediately. Don’t hesitate."

Li Chen nodded, then followed the man to a slightly rundown minibus.

"It seems something I don’t know about has indeed happened during this period," Li Chen’s gaze turned to the scenery outside the window.

Though he concealed his strength, his perception was intact. He could perceive that even in Yuanguang City, he occasionally spotted martial artists.

It seems the covenant is real; martial artists are now commonly seen outside.

He just didn’t know what those martial artists’ purposes were or what those old guys who sent them out were thinking.

Li Chen had once questioned some martial artists from Linchuan and a few Demonic Path Martial Artists he had captured, but their answers left him bemused.

Some knew nothing, while others simply followed the trend.

"Blindly following the trend is irrational," Li Chen suddenly realized that, in some respects, even powerful martial artists aren’t much different from ordinary people.

"You... are you Big Brother Cheen?"

A sudden exclamation from the minibus made Li Chen instinctively turn his head.

He saw a girl who had just boarded the bus, and her eyes immediately locked onto him, her face full of delight.

"You are..." Li Chen tried to recall, and soon remembered the girl’s name.

"Zhang Jing? Why are you here too?" Li Chen asked.

Zhang Jing was one of the group of university students Li Chen encountered during his last trip to the Miao Village.

Li Chen remembered how Zhang Jing seemed a bit unwell on the bus back then, and he had helped her once.

"Big Brother Cheen, it’s really you! You remember me?"

Li Chen nodded and then asked, "And you, why are you here?"

"I..." Zhang Jing sat down beside Li Chen, her face looking somewhat haggard.

Li Chen noticed that this time, Zhang Jing seemed to be alone, with no one accompanying her.

"What’s wrong, did something happen?" As soon as Zhang Jing sat down next to him, Li Chen sensed that something was off with her condition.

Upon hearing Li Chen’s question, a shadow fell over Zhang Jing’s expression.