# 863
Chapter 864: Seeking Shelter
"What's that place?" Baili Pangpang gazed into the distance. "A village?"
"A fishing village." Cao Yuan glanced down at the map, his brow furrowing slightly. "There's no record of a fishing village here on the map... Did they just miss it because it's too small?"
"The location is too remote. There's not even a proper road here. From here to the city, it would take at least five hours on foot. Plus, this fishing village isn't very large, so it's not strange that it wasn't marked on the map." An Qingyu paused, then added quietly:
"Of course, there might be other reasons..."
Baili Pangpang shuddered. "With you saying that, this fishing village seems even more sinister... Should we go in?"
"Of course we have to go in. The past and future of this fishing village are in complete Chaos, which in itself tells us something. The disappearance of the Mask Squad must be connected to this place." Lin Qiye said with certainty. "But before that, let's send a message to headquarters, just in case."
Lin Qiye took out his phone and contacted Zuo Qing, describing his location and situation before hanging up.
"Let's go. Let's take a look and see what makes this fishing village so special..."
Lin Qiye and the others packed up their gear and walked toward the distant fishing village. The dark tides crashed against the shore, and those flickering lights in the night drew closer and closer to the group, exuding an eerie aura.
Soon, they arrived at the edge of the fishing village.
"Any findings?" An Qingyu asked in a low voice.
"Nothing. From what we can see so far, this is just an ordinary fishing village." Within this range, Lin Qiye's spiritual power had already swept through the entire village. "There are about twenty or thirty households in the village. Most have already gone to sleep. I didn't find anything unusual."
"No anomalies..." An Qingyu frowned slightly. "How should we investigate this?"
"The fastest method would be to simply ask the villagers directly." Lin Qiye extended his hand, pointing to a few households that still had lights on. "Those families are still awake. We could try asking them."
"In the middle of the night, a bunch of outsiders suddenly burst into the village asking questions around—that would scare people, right?" Baili Pangpang scratched his head.
"Leave it to me." Jialan patted her chest. "I'll pretend to be lost, find a random family to stay with, then take the opportunity to ask if the villagers have seen anyone from the Mask Squad. I can also gather some intel on this village on the side."
Lin Qiye contemplated for a moment, then nodded. "This approach could work, but we haven't gotten a handle on this village yet. It's too dangerous for you to go alone..."
He turned to look at An Qingyu and Jiang Er. "Qingyu, Jiang Er, go with Jialan."
An Qingyu raised an eyebrow, a subtle expression crossing her face. "Why don't you go with Jialan?"
"I need to use the Peering Eye to search the area around the village again. See if there are any other discoveries." Lin Qiye shrugged.
"Fine."
"Then I'll go with Lao Cao and Zhuaige to another household to seek shelter." Baili Pangpang volunteered.
"That works, but remember not to let Cao Yuan do the knocking. He doesn't look like a good guy— he'll scare the villagers."
Cao Yuan: ...
"Tonight, we'll split up to gather clues. We'll meet back here tomorrow morning. If anything unexpected happens, don't worry about anything—just make a big commotion. The others will rush over immediately." Lin Qiye said seriously to everyone.
"Understood!"
...
Late at night.
Knock knock knock—!
"Who's there?" A voice came from inside the old house.
The door opened, and a fisherman in his forties stood at the entrance, his expression wary. Seeing the man and woman before him, he paused slightly.
Both were strangers. The woman wore a deep blue Han robe, her black hair tied with red cord and hanging down to her waist, her eyes as bright as stars. The man was gentle and refined-looking, wearing black-framed glasses, his smile bashful and kind.
Seeing these two harmless faces, the fisherman's wariness eased somewhat.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?"
"Sorry to bother you." An Qingyu bowed slightly, her expression apologetic. "We came here to do some tourism in the area, but we accidentally got separated from our tour group and got lost. We walked all the way to this village...
It's already late at night, and we don't know the way, so we were hoping to find somewhere to stay for a while. Would that be convenient?"
The fisherman eyed him with suspicion, then glanced at Jialan beside him.
"Uncle, it's really dark outside, and so cold too. Could you let us stay in an empty room? If not, we can even sleep on the floor..." Jialan said pitifully.
Hearing this, the fisherman's vigilance dissipated further. He studied these two young people carefully—they didn't look like bad people at all. After hesitating for a moment, he finally nodded.
"Alright. We do have an empty room. You can stay one night, but you leave first thing tomorrow morning. Understand?"
"Thank you."
"Thank you, Uncle."
The fisherman stepped back inside. An Qingyu and Jialan exchanged a glance, smiles appearing on both their faces simultaneously as they stepped into the house.
The fisherman's house was very simple. The living room contained only a square table, a few stools, and the walls were covered密密麻麻 with fishing gear. The moment they entered, a faint smell of sea brine wafted over.
The fisherman pointed toward an unoccupied room. "That one. It was my son's room before. No one's lived in it for a long time. Make yourselves comfortable."
Jialan hummed and walked into the room.
An Qingyu turned back, smiling as she continued chatting with the fisherman:
"May I ask your surname?"
"I'm Chen, call me Chen Gou. Everyone in the village calls me Old Gou." The fisherman casually pulled up a stool and sat down, then gestured with his chin toward the stool across from him, signaling for An Qingyu to sit.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes, flicking one out and offering it to An Qingyu.
An Qingyu's mouth twitched slightly. He wanted to refuse, but after hesitating, he reached out and took it.
"Uncle Chen." An Qingyu put on an act, clamping the cigarette between his fingers. "Do you usually live here alone?"
"Yeah..." Chen Gou picked up a box of matches from the square table, struck it lightly, and a faint spark ignited, lighting the cigarettes in both their hands. "My wife passed away from illness several years ago. My son left this fishing village a few years back to make his way in the outside world."
An Qingyu glanced back at the room that had been unoccupied for so long. "Haven't been back in a long time?"
"Yeah." Chen Gou's gaze fixed on that room, a faint smile crossing his face. "But you know, this kid was the first one from our village to go out into the world. He really made his old man proud."