Volume 1, Chapter 28: She is Sick! Stay Away From Her!

The village head was a man of such caution and keen perception.

In this room, every grid on the shelves held a corresponding number of oil bottles. Even if one were missing from a corner, while it might not be noticeable at first, it would surely be discovered eventually. He knew he wouldn’t be "cured" just by drinking one bottle of lamp oil; he would have to return to this place sooner or later, so he could not burn his bridges.

After confirming that Gu Yiren was unharmed, Luo Bin returned to the main room, hoping to find at least a plastic bag, but his search was in vain. He entered the other rooms, which contained beds, bedding, and various daily necessities, yet he still found no containers. Returning once more to the room filled with oil bottles, Luo Bin stared at the rows of full and empty vessels, lost in thought.

Time passed slowly.

The sky grew increasingly dark. The room was partitioned only by a cloth curtain, which allowed a faint glimmer of moonlight to filter through. As dawn approached, the darkness seemed to deepen. When the first light of day broke, Luo Bin carried Gu Yiren on his back and left the wooden cabin in the woods.

Fortunately, his ability to backtrack his memories allowed him to navigate the trap-laden clearing without a single error. As he neared the edge, he saw the pitfall the evil entity had fallen into the night before.

The two entities, who resembled mountain folk, were motionless at the bottom of the pit. With the arrival of daylight, they were as quiet as if they were asleep. However, the floor of the pit was bristling with sharpened bamboo and wooden stakes, many of which had impaled the creatures.

Whether they had lost their ability to act because of the dawn, or had been killed the moment they fell in the night before, Luo Bin could not say for sure.

Partway back, Gu Yiren woke up and struggled to climb down from Luo Bin’s back.

"Are you all right?" Luo Bin asked cautiously.

"I... I am fine," Gu Yiren replied, biting her lip. Her eyes, however, were clouded with confusion and helplessness.

Luo Bin saw it instantly: she had lost her way. Yet, how had she managed to find the wooden cabin with such precision the night before? Was it because she could see some existence that he could not?

He kept his thoughts to himself. Luo Bin did not press the matter, leading the way forward with Gu Yiren following closely behind. He did not feel the need to get to the bottom of it; he had his own secrets, and Gu Yiren undoubtedly had her own hidden facets. When cooperation could lead to mutual benefit, there was no reason to put the other person in a difficult position.

By mid-morning, they reached the edge of the village. As they neared the Mountain God Temple, a figure suddenly charged out, grabbed Gu Yiren, pulled her behind him, and threw a fierce punch toward Luo Bin’s face!

Luo Bin’s reflexes were swift; he tilted his head, dodged the blow, and stepped back twice before realizing that the person who had burst from the temple was none other than Zhang Li.

Zhang Li’s expression was hideous, his eyes filled with a murderous intensity.

"What did you do to Yiren?!" he demanded fiercely.

Luo Bin frowned. Before he could speak, Gu Yiren stammered, "Zhang Li, it’s... it’s nothing. Luo Shan saved me. Yesterday, just before dark, I wandered out of the house in a daze, unable to control myself, like a sleepwalker. Luo Shan found me and told me to go home, but although I heard him, I couldn't control my body and ended up wandering into the forest. If it hadn't been for him... I never would have made it back..."

Zhang Li’s face turned pale.

Gu Yiren shrank her shoulders and let out a soft moan, appearing deeply uncomfortable. Zhang Li hurriedly went to support her. Looking back at Luo Bin, his eyes were guarded and volatile.

"Thanks," Zhang Li spat out. He then turned and helped Gu Yiren walk toward the distance.

Luo Bin breathed a slight sigh of relief. Zhang Li’s emotions were unstable, and getting into a conflict with him now would be unwise. Gu Yiren, however, was a clever person.

But suddenly, Zhang Li returned. Leaving Gu Yiren in the distance, he walked up to Luo Bin and stopped.

"Yiren was lucky last night that you saved her, and you were lucky that you didn’t die," Zhang Li said in a grave tone. He tapped his temple with his finger and continued, "She didn't just wander out for no reason. She has a sickness in here. When triggered, she hallucinates, seeing things that don't exist and committing a series of terrifying acts."

"She once walked onto a rooftop in the middle of the night and turned on the gas, nearly killing her whole family. She has tried to jump into a river to commit suicide as if possessed, and she has sat in front of a mirror in the middle of the night, combing her hair while talking to thin air. I kept her bound before precisely because when she has these episodes, she is likely to hurt people."

"If you get too close to her without being careful, you might be stabbed for no reason, or she might say all sorts of nonsense. It might be fine elsewhere, but in a place like this, if you believe her, it’s easy to get yourself killed."

"You would do best to stay away from Yiren. When she is having an episode, she is a lunatic."

Having said this, Zhang Li left once more to support Gu Yiren as they walked away.

Luo Bin frowned slightly. Judging by Zhang Li’s demeanor and expression, he did not seem to be lying. Recalling the details of their past interactions, everything matched up with Zhang Li’s actions. Was Gu Yiren truly ill? Perhaps it was real.

But was it really a sickness? Or was it because she could actually see things others could not—that she was, in essence, different? And that ordinary people simply could not perceive it?

There was one more crucial point: why had Zhang Li told him this? On the night of the village tour, Zhang Li had accused him of refusing to help those in need. Yesterday, when he had followed them into their courtyard, they had essentially burned their bridges, each kicking the other. Was Zhang Li saying this out of genuine gratitude because Gu Yiren was safe, or was it because he had discovered Gu Yiren’s uniqueness and wanted to prevent her from having contact with any villager other than them?

In an instant, Luo Bin analyzed the answer.

Gu Yiren must have said something to Zhang Li. What could it be? Could she have spoken about his own secrets? No, that seemed unlikely; if she had, Zhang Li’s reaction would surely have been different. If Zhang Li was so desperate to keep Gu Yiren from interacting with the villagers, it must be because she had revealed something regarding the hidden secrets of the village!

Luo Bin’s heart hammered in his chest.

As the sun climbed higher, he suppressed his racing thoughts. He entered the Mountain God Temple, found a plastic bag amidst the filth, and hurried behind the statue of the Mountain God.

He pulled a heavy, damp bundle of clothing from his pocket—his undershirt, soaked through with oil. He squeezed it hard, letting the thick, dark oil drip into the plastic bag. He had carefully checked the caps of the oil bottles earlier, finding they could be opened easily without leaving a trace. He had siphoned a tiny bit from every bottle; even the most observant person, lacking a reference point, would be unlikely to notice the slight decrease in oil.

He tied the plastic bag tightly. There was enough oil for about half a bottle—enough to fill his oil lamp three times. For the near future, he was safe.

Luo Bin exhaled, tucked the plastic bag inside his clothing, and burned the undershirt until it was nothing but ash.

Finally, Luo Bin slammed his head hard against the base of the Mountain God statue and slapped himself twice across the face. With a bloody welt on his forehead and his face flushed and swollen from the slaps, he rolled on the ground until his clothes were filthy and disheveled. Only then did he stumble out of the temple and head toward home.