The puppet monsters came crashing from both sides, faces distorted as they tumbled.

Seeing the three still unmoved, the young man leading the group urgently intensified his tone: “What are you waiting for, follow us!”

With that, he led the few people beside him running into the alley. The three exchanged glances, all nodded, and rushed into the alley before those monsters arrived, disappearing into the darkness.

…

The three said nothing, following the young men as they groped forward in the dark, turning into an inconspicuous path, leaving the strange laughter and piercing screams behind.

The path wound forward, leading straight into the depths of the forest, where under the dense cover of trees, their vision gradually opened up.

A well was hidden deep within the forest, and looking down from the opening, it was all darkness, appearing to be tens of meters deep, with no sight of the bottom.

Judging from the moss-covered and cracked stone bricks around the well’s mouth, it was not difficult to determine that the well had some years to its age.

After exchanging glances, the young men signaled to the group behind them, then slid down the rope into the well, soon disappearing from their sight.

The three did not hesitate, directly leaping down from the well’s mouth. Tens of meters of height vanished in an instant, and with their physical fitness, falling from such a height would not injure them.

Upon reaching the bottom, darkness and chaos surrounded them. Xu Xiaoyou looked up, seeing the circular well’s mouth, where a crescent moon hung in the night sky, casting vast swathes of pale moonlight.

The space at the well’s bottom was much larger than observed from above, and the accumulated water barely covered the crowd’s calves. Each step echoed with a distinct splashing sound.

The freezing chill seemed to penetrate the bones, as Xu Xiaoyou’s hand brushed the stone bricks of the well’s wall, feeling the texture of ice shards through his fingers.

Once their vision adjusted, they noticed a secret passage directly facing them. The entrance, also made of stone bricks, exuded a damp earthy and moldy smell, carried with the cold from the depths of the passage.

“Follow us.”

The young man leading said, holding up an old-fashioned windproof lighter as he walked forward, the flickering light revealing the scene inside the passage.

The fact that the lighter could be ignited indicated the passage was ventilated, and the interior was spacious enough. Xu Xiaoyou thought so, keeping up with the group.

“No one knows what happened. Those people went crazy, becoming like monsters,” a young man within the group said.

No one responded to him; tonight’s events were too sudden for all of them. Among those monsters were many faces they once knew well.

For a moment, a heavy atmosphere pervaded the expanse above the passage.

The secret passage beneath the well grew increasingly deep, Xu Xiaoyou mused, passages like these existed in most settlements across the snowy plains, usually disguised as wellheads or located beneath manhole covers. When disaster struck, the survivors would hide inside, preserving life’s essence.

In this world, ordinary people were merely pitiful creatures living in despair and helplessness, struggling in pain and sorrow until tomorrow or unforeseen events arrived.

No one spoke, and no one mentioned the day’s conflict. The leading young man’s right arm was supported by a makeshift brace of coarse cloth and wooden slats at his side, appearing difficult to move; the injury Xu Xiaoyou had inflicted on him during the day was not light.

In the end, they were just a group of hot-blooded young men, merely more mature than their peers in the city, having gone through more mental trials.

Bloody past experiences had planted seeds in their young hearts, the innocent loss of loved ones making them earlier accept the world’s malice and also aware that people must pay for their mistakes and understand the limits of an individual’s strength.

Amidst bizarre and insane conditions, only by banding together could people ensure the continuation of life’s essence.

Soon, they arrived at the passage opening. As the leading youth pushed open the passage door, the scene inside the room came into view.

Inside the room, there were quite a few survivors left. The overhead old tungsten filament lamp flickered, outlining their silhouettes.

The survivors bore injuries here and there, their faces smeared with dirt and exhaustion. Some were yet to shake off earlier terror, muttering incessantly, appearing mentally distraught.

Seeing everyone appear, those in the room cast uneasy glances.

“Let’s wait until daylight before leaving together.” The young man said. “Those monsters can’t find this place yet.”

“There are likely no more survivors left, either.”

With these words, the room’s atmosphere grew even heavier.

Xu Xiaoyou watched as the young man walked to a corner, crouching to comfort a girl crying helplessly due to the loss of her mother.

Lin Sheng, as usual, cradled the Beheading Great Saber in his arms, leaning against the wall with eyes closed to rest, his aura of bloodlust causing others in the room to avoid him, diverting their gaze.

The sound of moaning caught their attention. On a hospital bed lay a wounded person, muttering indistinctly, “Water… water…”

Tang Xin stepped forward, uncovering the person’s yellowed filthy bandages. The appalling wound was entirely red, swollen, and festering, clearly severely infected. If left unchecked, the individual would not survive till morning.

The girl sighed lightly, her hand sweeping over the wound. A gentle, minute stream of water trickled from her palm, seeping into the wounded body, silently nurturing the injury.

Overall, the wounds seemed unchanged; the gaping wound remained shocking, the infection swollen. Still, the expression of pain on the face relaxed noticeably, gradually slipping into sleep.

Tang Xin clearly saw the cracked lips of the individual slightly move, squeezing out a word of thanks.

She shook her head gently and turned to leave. In the eyes of the people in the room, the girl had done nothing, merely seeming to have comforted the wounded with a few words.

Tang Xin knew that directly showcasing her healing ability in this environment might trigger unnecessary trouble.

Now that no visible changes were apparent, she had controlled the infection. That subtle stream of water would slowly heal the wounded person’s body; by the time the visible wounds healed, she and Xu Xiaoyou would have already left.

Returning to the blonde girl’s side, she appeared to be lost in thought.

Xu Xiaoyou surveyed her surroundings thoughtfully.

Before she and Tang Xin found Lin Sheng at the stilted building, she had searched the entire settlement without finding anything suspicious. But she firmly believed the Puppet Master was hiding within the settlement, a thought forming in her mind.

The intelligence provided by Chen San mentioned that the Puppet Master had no fixed appearance. Long ago, when he acted as Iron Hand in Chichu Heaven, he often appeared in various disguises, suggesting he had the ability to Disguise.

Could the Puppet Master possibly be in this room, disguised as one of these survivors?

With this thought, she examined all the survivors in the room. There were twenty-three people in total, leaving aside the group of young men and her trio, there were sixteen others remaining.

Within the makeshift clinic lay three wounded individuals, two dirt-faced young girls tended to the wounded. It seemed they possessed some medical knowledge, able to distinguish medications, and handle the most basic disinfection and dressing. Xu Xiaoyou thought of the barefoot doctors from her childhood village.

The two young girls focused solely on the wounded. After basic treatment, two of the wounded no longer faced life-threatening danger, except for the severely infected individual they struggled to address.

In this rudimentary medical environment with poor hygiene conditions, wounds this infected often left no choice but to leave it to fate.

Her gaze swept past a slender young woman leaning against the wall, cloaked in gray clothing that concealed her frame. A long, old scarf covered half her face, masking her expression.

This young woman seemed to be a drifting nomad passing through, called a hyena by the people here. Such people, with no fixed residency, roamed various settlements across the snowy plains, living by bartering or selling intelligence for resources.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep