Black shadows emerged one after another from the dense fog.
Yan Wo narrowed her eyes to take a closer look, only to realize that those shadows were actually massive cats. Each one was well over a meter long, completely hairless with pink, wrinkled skin. Beneath their upright ears, pair after pair of slit pupils stared at her and Fu You with a bone-chilling coldness.
Their paws landed silently and with absolute lightness, rapidly forming a circle around them.
In Yan Wo's eyes, they looked just like a pack of giant, ferocious tigers.
"Go back to the room, close the door!!"
After seeing so many bizarre, oversized cats, Yan Wo didn't even have to think twice. She decided that young Zhang Jue posed much less of a threat, and she shoved Fu You back toward the room once more.
Just as she was about to step across the threshold herself.
A green-eyed, pink-skinned cat suddenly sprang into the air, lashing out with a paw.
Yan Wo stumbled back a few steps, narrowly dodging as the paw swiped right over the top of her head. One of her little hair buns was instantly shorn right off.
Flurries of soft, yellowish hair drifted down all over the ground.
Reaching up to touch her undone hair, the vain little tot immediately furrowed her brows. "You actually dared to ruin my hair! My little husband tied this for me, I wanted to keep it like this!"
Yan Wo roared at the green-eyed, pink-skinned cat that had just leaped down.
Yet no matter how fiercely she tried to roar, her cute, milky voice carried not an ounce of threat.
Those pink-skinned cats didn't take her seriously in the least. A few of them even began licking their chops, transparent drool dripping from the corners of their mouths.
"Ahhh! You're making me so mad!"
Yan Wo reached into her Koi Crossbody Bag, felt around for the doll, and brushed her fingers through its hair. She quickly drew a pitch-black nail out of the doll's golden locks.
"As an exception, I've unsealed one layer for you. I hope you can live up to your title of a deep-seated cursed object!" Yan Wo declared.
The moment the black nail was pulled from the top of its head.
The doll's skin instantly gained a measure of elasticity, its eyes grew far more animated, and a ferocious surge of yin energy burst from its body.
The exquisite doll, which had previously looked heavily made of plastic, now resembled a real human infant. The corners of its mouth twitched into a series of "hee-hee-hee" laughs as it lunged straight at that pack of giant, pink-skinned cats. Meanwhile, Yan Wo manipulated the chain on her own wrist, keeping herself positioned to protect Fu You.
"Don't be afraid, little husband, I'll protect you," Yan Wo said without looking back.
The moment the doll hit the ground, the giant cats swarmed it from all sides.
A blue-eyed giant cat clamped its jaws tightly around the doll's head.
Yet no matter how hard it bit, it couldn't snap the doll's neck. The rest of the cats tore at the doll's limbs, but not one of them succeeded.
"Hee-hee-hee~"
The doll giggled, voluntarily burrowing right into the cat's mouth. The cat's neck stretched wide and its belly bulged outward, with movements resembling a fetal kick rippling across its skin. The giant cat shrieked miserably, thrashing and rolling on the ground!
Before it could even roll twice, a blood-stained little hand punched right through the cat's belly, tearing the flesh open and crawling out from the inside.
Its golden hair was matted with blood, and it was chewing on something in its mouth while blood trickled from the corners of its lips, looking increasingly bizarre.
Seeing the doll burst out from the belly of a companion, a pink-skinned giant cat let out a "meow" and lunged to slash at it with its sharp claws, only to have its paw grabbed mid-swing by the doll.
"Hee~"
"Got you, I got you."
The tiny figure twisted the giant-beast-like cat around while letting out bizarre giggles, binding the cat's limbs and swinging it up to smash it fiercely against the ground!
Bang! Bang!
Bang-bang!
Before it could smash it many more times, the lower half of the pink-skinned cat's body looked as though every bone had been shattered, going completely limp all over.
The doll hoisted the pink-skinned cat up and tossed it away casually.
"That's two, that's two, hee-hee~"
Seeing two of their companions killed in the blink of an eye, the remaining pink-skinned giant cats grew a bit too terrified to charge forward. Instead, the doll dropped flat onto the ground, crawling with terrifying speed just like a spider. Before one of the pink-skinned cats could even react, it was caught by the doll once again.
Yan Wo simply stood there watching the doll display its overwhelming might, watching it launch surprise attacks from left to right, watching it slaughter cats as if it were butchering helpless prey.
Before long, several giant cats were lying sprawled across the ground in disorder.
Seeing that only two pink-skinned giant cats remained, a voice echoed from deep within the dense fog: "Mimi, come back!"
Hearing this, those two giant cats acted as if they had heard the sounds of heaven, fleeing in a rush straight into the mist and disappearing from sight.
*These giant cats aren't acting on instinct; they seem to be taking orders from someone,* Yan Wo concluded upon hearing that voice.
"That person is most likely a villager from Three Mountains Village. But why would he do this? Turning people into giant cats and then sending them to attack the remaining villagers—is he trying to kill everyone in the entire village?"
As these thoughts swirled through Yan Wo's mind, she suddenly heard the sound of chains rattling.
Looking back, she saw the little black dog staring at the yard full of pink-skinned giant cats, tongue lolling out as it panted, wagging its tail and looking at her ingratiatingly.
"No way. You didn't put in any effort against the giant cats. All the fierce spirits of these cats belong to the doll alone."
The little black dog stared at the doll, a flash of ferocity crossing its eyes as it bared its teeth at it!
This was an attempt to threaten the doll into handing over all the fierce spirits of the giant cats on the ground.
Yan Wo raised her hand and delivered a resounding smack across its head: "Bad doggie! Make a fuss again and I'll have the chain swallow you whole!"
The little black dog immediately let out an "aww" and tucked its tail between its legs.
*...Who on earth is the bad one here? Such a little kid, threatening it at every turn—doggie is so pitiful.*
*Just you wait until doggie recovers its powers, the first thing I'll do is swallow you.*
The villagers bitten by the cats had already died the moment they transformed into pink-skinned felines, their souls trapped inside cat bodies with only the primal instincts to devour and attack. Now that they had been killed by the doll, the souls manifested as fierce spirits.
The doll happily set about devouring the fierce spirits.
In the blink of an eye, over a dozen fierce spirits were swallowed clean away. Yan Wo noticed a pair of crimson red lights flare up within the doll's eyes.
It turned and crawled toward Yan Wo, its ice-cold hands wrapping around her calf as it affectionately rubbed its face against her leg.
Immediately afterward, Yan Wo learned of the new ability the doll had acquired.
[Theft: As long as she touches a person and activates this skill, an item will be stolen from them, such as the loss of eyesight or hearing; duration: ...ten seconds.]
Yan Wo tugged at the doll's clothes with a look of mild surprise.
"Devouring fierce spirits actually gives you a skill like this? Seeing how easy it was for you to beat up those pink-skinned giant cats... I have a bold idea!"
***
The thick fog remained dense, so heavy that one couldn't even see a hand in front of their face.
Two people and a dog wove their way out through the heavy mist. Leading the way was an exquisitely carved little milk-tot, a koi-style crossbody bag slung over her shoulder, a fluffy white scarf wrapped around her neck, and an equally intricate doll perched on her shoulder.
Yan Wo glanced down at a pebble on the ground and kicked it with her foot.
The pebble immediately flew through the air, splashing into a pond.
"Looks like it's a real pond, not an illusion. Zhang Jue said my aunt's maiden home is near the banana tree by the pond... Banana tree, where is the banana tree?" Yan Wo muttered in a milky voice, looking this way and that.
Her Spirit Eye had already been driven to its load limit, and she was feeling rather dizzy and lightheaded at the moment.
Five meters passed, then another five. Yan Wo's Spirit Eye could only expand its field of view as she pushed forward.
"You should rest your eyes for a bit and let Xiaohei lead the way," Fu You's clear, youthful voice rang out. The calmness in his tone was infectious, instantly steadying Yan Wo's anxious mood.
Fu You led the little black dog forward, walking shoulder to shoulder with Yan Wo.
He was a head taller than her. Glancing sideways, he happened to catch sight of the half-shorn hair bun on Yan Wo's head.
The stray locks of hair had already slipped down quite a bit, wrapping in a messy tangle around the little tot's chubby cheeks, making her head look rounder and larger than ever.
The little one seemed to be in a terrible mood, reaching up to touch her head every now and then.
Fu You let out a soft sigh and said, "I'll trim the other side for you when we get back. You're pretty, so you look good no matter what."
Yan Wo raised her head, her amber-like eyes locked onto Fu You, clear and bright like gemstones resting within a deep pool.
"Really? Do you really think I'm pretty?"
"Mn."
Yan Wo instantly reached up to touch the solitary hair bun left on her head with obvious delight, speaking with a mixture of pride and swagger:
"I'll look even prettier when I grow up! We definitely have to start building our relationship now, otherwise when I grow up, you might end up with a lot of rivals in love. What should I do if you all start fighting over me? Oh, I know—I'll just stand on the sidelines and shout: Please stop fighting!"
Fu You cast a sideways glance at the little milk-tot, noticing how serious her tone was and how the pale-yellow brows on her little face were scrunched together, making her look utterly adorable.
A smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of his lips.
He couldn't even begin to imagine such a scene; the mere thought of it gave him goosebumps.
Feeling a sudden lift in his spirits, Fu You decided that recovering his physical strength at a slower pace wasn't such a bad thing after all—that way, he would have plenty of excuses to stay by her side.
Putting aside whether his heart would ever be stirred, this little girl was genuinely interesting. She made him forget the disgusting faces of those who had betrayed him, filling him with an urge to find a utopia and settle down right here.
At that moment, the little black dog suddenly let out a bark.
Yan Wo looked at the banana tree by the pond, then glanced at the outlines of the buildings looming in the thick fog: "A banana tree, Fu You, it's a banana tree! If we keep going a bit further and see if there's a cactus, we can confirm if this really is my aunt's maiden home."
Fu You gave a low "Mn," and the two of them quickened their pace, pressing forward. Sure enough, it wasn't long before they spotted a cactus more than twice as tall as Yan Wo, standing right beside the front gate of the courtyard within the fog.
The cactus had grown into a veritable cactus-tree, its palm-sized pads sprouting clusters of bumps the thickness of two fingers, crowned with blooming yellow flowers.
"This is my aunt's maiden home?"
Yan Wo stood at the entrance, sweeping her gaze over the layout of the courtyard.
It was a two-story loft-style courtyard. The main gate wasn't secured with a simple iron chain, but rather with lion-head bronze knockers, giving it the feel of a wealthy local household.
Dense claw marks scarred the double doors, even more numerous and exaggerated than the ones at Zhang Jue's house.
Yan Wo reached out and knocked on the door: "Is anyone home?"
There was not a peep from inside the courtyard.
"Aunt? Uncle? Can you hear me? It's Wowo..." Yan Wo stated her name as she knocked again.
Something dropped to the floor with a clatter within the dead-quiet courtyard, followed immediately by the sound of hurried footsteps running toward the door. The footsteps stopped right by the threshold: "Is it really Wowo?"
"Aunt, it really is me!" Yan Wo spoke up again.
The sound of a bolt being slid back echoed from within, and a moment later, the door cracked open. Aunt Bai Mei's pale face swept the area outside the entryway. The moment she realized it truly was Wowo, she threw the door wide open with a look of extreme anxiety: "Quick, come inside!"
Yan Wo and Fu You, leading the little black dog, stepped into the courtyard.
Finding the courtyard littered with bloodstains and all sorts of shredded clothing fragments, Yan Wo immediately circled around her aunt.
"Aunt, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but how on earth did you get here? Did the two of you come alone? Didn't Grandmother come?"
"Grandmother was called away by the teaching granny this morning. I noticed Aunt didn't come home last night, couldn't sleep a wink, and was really worried about you, so I came to look for you."
Fu You, standing nearby, twitched an eyelid.
*She was literally sleeping like a little pig, and I had to call her name several times before she finally woke up...* Still, the moment he saw Bai Mei hugging Wowo with a look of deep emotion, he averted his gaze and began inspecting the small courtyard instead.
"Aunt, have you seen Uncle Wenlin? He brought Yan Jiu to look for you and Uncle."
"They're inside the house."
"Huh? How did Uncle Wenlin manage to find Aunt's house?" Yan Wo studied her aunt's expression, a wave of suspicion rising in her heart.
"He said he asked a villager for directions along the way..."
Yan Wo's expression darkened instantly: "Impossible! From the time we entered the village until now, we haven't seen a single villager. Everyone is hiding at home and won't come out. Where on earth would he have seen a villager?"
Bai Mei immediately turned her head to glance back at the house, her own expression turning somewhat nervous.
"When you came into the village, didn't you run into anyone else? Then how did you find your way here?"
Yan Wo recounted how she and Fu You had broken into Zhang Jue's house, causing Bai Mei to let out a breath of relief. But halfway through her exhale, her expression froze, and she cast another wary glance at the house: "Then the person staying inside... isn't Bai Wenlin?"
"Aunt, did you notice anything unusual about him? For instance, his facial expressions when he spoke, or any peculiar actions?"
"He spoke normally enough, and you could hear him breathing. As for peculiar actions... I suppose not, really." Bai Mei suddenly paused. "Does him going out to use the outhouse a short while before you arrived count?"
Fu You pressed further: "How long ago was that? Did you hear the front door open?"
Bai Mei shook her head.
"Probably about a quarter of an hour ago. And I didn't hear the main gate being opened either."
A quarter of an hour ago.
That was roughly around the time when the doll was battling those pink-skinned giant cats, right before that voice called the remaining two cats away.
Could the Bai Wenlin inside actually be fake?!
"What about my brother?" Yan Wo asked.
Mentioning this, Bai Mei wore a look of deep worry: "I don't know what's wrong with him either. When Bai Wenlin brought him over, he was already asleep, and he's just kept sleeping. The same goes for your uncle—he won't wake up, no matter how much you shake him."
"Uncle is asleep too?"
"Mn. Not long after he arrived at Three Mountains Village, he said he felt sleepy, and then once we went into my maiden home, he just fell asleep on his own. He slept the whole night through, and he's still sleeping today."
Sleeping from yesterday all the way until now, for this long?
Her brother had been asleep the entire time too?
Why would that be?
Was he poisoned? Or was he frightened unconscious after seeing something he shouldn't have?
That couldn't be right. Grandmother had said that only the women of the Yan Family bloodline could inherit the sight, so Uncle and her brother shouldn't have been able to see anything at all.
Yan Wo took a sharp breath and gave a low call.
"Granny Hui."
The red hairpin on her head flashed, and Granny Hui immediately manifested her form. Bai Mei couldn't see her, but she suddenly felt the temperature drop significantly, making her involuntarily shrink her neck.
"Granny Hui, take a look and see if the person staying in that room is your son."
***
Granny Hui's ability was to grant her the "iron-headed" attribute while extending her line of sight two to three hundred meters outward. Ever since Granny Hui moved into the red hairpin, she had frequently warned Yan Wo ahead of time about what was lurking around them.
Yet now, this extended line of sight had failed for the very first time.
"This thick fog seems to have the ability to block my senses. I can't see clearly what's happening inside the room."
"You can't see?"
This was something Yan Wo hadn't anticipated. No wonder her Spirit Eye had to remain constantly active in the dense fog.
"It's fine. I'll go take a look."
Granny Hui hurried toward the house in a drift, slipping directly through the wooden door.
While waiting for Granny Hui outside, Yan Wo continued chatting with Bai Mei: "Aunt, what on earth happened to your family? Why did Auntie-Grandmother and the others tell you to come home?"
She then glanced left and right at the other closed doors in the courtyard.
"Where are Auntie-Grandmother and the others? How come we don't see them either?"
"When we came home, the doors of the house were all wide open. I don't know where they went." Bai Mei squatted down and reached out to stroke the solitary little hair bun left on top of Yan Wo's head. "What happened to your hair? You finally grew it out a bit, why cut it off—and only half of it, at that?"
Yan Wo reached up with her little paw to touch the bun on her head, her lips pouting with a grievance.
"It's okay, it'll grow back. Wowo is pretty, so I look good even without hair."
Bai Mei curved the corners of her lips. "True, my Wowo is the prettiest."
"Aunt, when did the fog in the village start rolling in?"
"It started getting foggy not long after we got back yesterday. I wanted to head back, but first, your uncle wouldn't wake up, and second, the fog outside was so thick we couldn't see the path. It would have been way too dangerous for me to carry him on my back—if we accidentally tumbled into the pond and drowned, nobody would have even known."
As Yan Wo listened to her aunt finish speaking, she was just about to ask another question.
Suddenly, she furrowed her brow and looked toward the room: "Why hasn't Granny Hui come out yet?!"
Granny Hui was a spirit; her movements coming and going should have been as fast as a gust of wind.
She had already been inside the house for quite a while now, so why hadn't she emerged?
At that moment, Fu You spoke up abruptly: "Wowo, we're surrounded."
Before Yan Wo could say anything, Bai Mei's expression shifted drastically, and she asked nervously, "Ar-Are those big cats back again?!"
"There are no less than two or three hundred big cats gathered outside the courtyard," Fu You said.
"Quick, get inside the house!" Bai Mei immediately grabbed Yan Wo's hand and rushed toward the room.
Granny Hui had gone into that house and still hadn't come out!
*We can't go in!*
The thought had barely crossed Yan Wo's mind.
Yet her diminutive body was no match for Bai Mei's strength. Caught completely off guard, Bai Mei had already dragged her all the way to the eaves, raising her hand to push the door open.
"Aunt, no——"
The very instant Yan Wo cried out, Bai Mei shoved the door wide open.
Both Bai Mei and Yan Wo froze in their tracks, their faces filled with shock.
There, sitting densely packed inside the room, were people. At that exact moment, every single one of them turned their heads in unison to stare right at them.
"Uncle Zhang, Aunt Lu, Big Brother Chen Gu, Sister Xiaojiao... Wh-What are you all doing in..." Bai Mei's voice trembled slightly because the moment she called out a few of their names, she noticed that every single one of them wore a bizarre, smiling expression.
Among those villagers, Yan Wo actually spotted a familiar face.
Judging by her aunt's expression, those people definitely hadn't been in the room when she left it earlier. Yet the moment she opened the door for her and Fu You, all these people had materialized inside.
"Aunt, who are they?"
"They're all villagers from Three Mountains Village."
"Why are they in Auntie-Grandmother's house?"
"I-I don't know, they weren't here before."
Yan Wo raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, these people had only appeared after they arrived.
So many people couldn't possibly have appeared out of thin air inside her aunt's house.
Yet Yan Wo couldn't figure out how they had managed to enter the courtyard in complete silence without a single person noticing.
At the same time, all sorts of scratching sounds echoed from outside the courtyard gates, and the main doors began to bang and rattle heavily.
Wasn't this a case of wolves in front and tigers behind?