Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 242 Elderly and Young

Chapter 242: Chapter 242 Elderly and Young

Mrs. Wu’s sudden appearance made Jiang Li’s heart skip a beat, but compared to last night, everything seemed normal with Mrs. Wu now, except she was still wrapped up tightly in her cloak.

"We... we just wanted to take a walk around the village," Jiang Li explained.

Mrs. Wu stared at her, speaking slowly, "I told you not to go out at night, yet you ran, and now you’re missing a person. You realized the consequences now, right?"

Run?

Of course, we had to run...

If we had stayed in that room last night, it wouldn’t have just been Lu Guo missing; you might have gobbled up our corpses by now.

However, the three of them kept this thought to themselves; no one was foolish enough to say it to Mrs. Wu.

"Follow me..."

Seeing them remain silent, Mrs. Wu didn’t press further, closing the door and slowly leading the way.

"The village chief’s surname is Kang; you can call him Village Chief Kang."

Mrs. Wu wasn’t using any walking aid; although she looked exceptionally old, at least over seventy, her movements were quite steady.

The three of them nodded and followed Mrs. Wu deeper into the village.

The occasional opening of doors and windows revealed pairs of old eyes, filled with longing, staring at Bai Yanliang’s group.

Bai Yanliang and Yu Wenxuan were okay, but Jiang Li got goosebumps.

The gaze of these elders was too strange, almost like... they wanted to devour her whole.

The deeper they went, the more elders appeared. On the village’s outskirts, there were sparse, uninhabited vacant houses.

But in the center, nearly every house had someone living in it.

Though all of them were elders close to their end.

"We’re here, go in..."

Mrs. Wu stopped, simply saying this sentence before turning away, without giving Bai Yanliang and the others any chance to ask questions.

The village chief’s house was no different from the others, yet even before entering, a decaying smell hit their noses.

Unsettling gazes faintly surrounded them; the atmosphere here felt somewhat eerie.

However, Bai Yanliang and his companions had no other option, so they immediately knocked on Village Chief Kang’s door.

"Come in!"

As soon as they knocked, a crisp voice came from inside the house.

Jiang Li’s eyes widened: "A child?"

Yu Wenxuan was evidently surprised too, thinking, could there be a child in this village?

Wasn’t it said all the young people were long dead?

Bai Yanliang’s eyes narrowed, hesitating for the first time.

And seeing Bai Yanliang hesitate, Jiang Li and Yu Wenxuan also grew secretly wary.

After a few breaths, Bai Yanliang pushed open the door.

"Creak..."

The scene inside the courtyard gradually appeared before the trio.

An emaciated elder slumped in a deck chair.

A child, exquisitely crafted like carved jade, sitting on a small stool.

The elder struggled to open eyes, painstakingly tried to rise, wanting to see their faces clearly.

This child seemed curious and active, hands and feet constantly moving around.

"Apologies for the unexpected visit, Village Chief Kang."

"Ah... ah..."

It seemed Village Chief Kang finally got a clear look at Bai Yanliang and the others; he suddenly went crazy, desperately pointing at his mouth, trying to rise up shakily.

His old eyes were filled with tears, soaking all the wrinkles with sorrowful traces.

"Ah..."

He seemed unable to make a sound, but his cries, however, grew louder and louder.

Seeing this, Bai Yanliang and the others sensed something was wrong, completely beyond their expectations of what Village Chief Kang would be like.

Jiang Li covered her ears, but Village Chief Kang’s eerie, sorrowful cries still pierced into her brain.

Even while being ready to flee at any moment, besides wailing, Village Chief Kang didn’t take any abnormal actions.

Yet, the current situation remained strange.

According to Mrs. Wu, it was Village Chief Kang who summoned "them" here, and she was only responsible for greeting them.

However, they had clearly been guided by Fog Gathering’s mission, those whom Village Chief Kang truly sought should be another group.

Moreover, in his current state, he couldn’t express what he wanted; he was too old, so old that even words eluded him.

The aura of death surrounding him sharply contrasted with the exquisite child beside him.

This child seemed about eight or nine, though his eyes were full of curiosity, he hadn’t spoken a word.

Eight or nine... already an age of understanding. Bai Yanliang thought about what he was like at that age, feeling that this child might be the key to communication.

So, without bothering with the crying Village Chief Kang, he beckoned to the boy.

"Come here, let me ask you something."

The boy glanced at Bai Yanliang, then turned back to look at the tearful Village Chief Kang in the deck chair.

Moments later, he finally got off the small stool and walked over to Bai Yanliang and the others.

"Tell sister, what’s your name?" Jiang Li asked.

The boy blinked and replied, "My name is Kangkang!"

A clear, vibrant voice.

Jiang Li was grateful to hear such a lively voice in what felt like a dead village.

"Is he your grandpa?"

Bai Yanliang suddenly asked.

Bai Yanliang’s tone was odd, or rather... stiff.

It was as if he had no experience dealing with kids, his tone not gentle at all.

It seemed he startled Kangkang too, making the boy lower his head to stare at his toes, avoiding Bai Yanliang’s gaze.

"Let me." Jiang Li looked at Bai Yanliang, while not saying anything, there was a hint of surprise in her eyes.

So Bai Yanliang had things he was not good at too.

Yu Wenxuan looked thoughtfully at Bai Yanliang, then at Kangkang, not saying a word.

"Tell sister, is Village Chief Kang your grandpa?"

Jiang Li asked with a soft smile.

Her gentle tone seemed to comfort Kangkang, who tentatively raised his head, glanced at Bai Yanliang first, then shook his head at Jiang Li.

"Daddy..."

The two words Kangkang uttered surprised everyone.

"What?" Jiang Li, seemingly having misheard, asked again.

"Daddy... he’s my daddy!"

Kangkang shouted with a pout.

Yu Wenxuan chuckled meaningfully, "Who would think, Village Chief Kang old yet vigorous, very spry indeed."

Jiang Li ignored him, although feeling it a bit unbelievable, a child, could hardly mistake his own father, right?

Moreover, Kangkang and Village Chief Kang did bear some resemblance.

Perhaps heaven saw the youth in Zhongyuan were dying out, thus allowed Village Chief Kang to have a late-in-life child.

"Kangkang, what’s wrong with your daddy? Do you know why he’s crying?"

Jiang Li asked softly.

Kangkang nodded, then shook his head, "Daddy always cries, I don’t know why either..."

Jiang Li patted Kangkang’s head, then stood up to look at Bai Yanliang and Yu Wenxuan.

"It seems we can’t gather any clues from Village Chief Kang, he’s so old he can’t even talk."

Is that... really it?

Bai Yanliang looked at the tear-soaked Village Chief Kang and felt there was something subtle amiss but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

"Hmm, let’s go."

Time was tight, and they still needed to go further into the village to see the places Lu Guo encountered the strangers and where Xu Zhifei saw his face in the mirror, to determine any differences.

However, just as the three were about to leave, Village Chief Kang reacted even more intensely.

"Ah... ah!!!!"

The three turned back; Kangkang was gently patting his chest, but his eyes were locked on Bai Yanliang and the others.

It seemed he desperately had something to say, yet he was just too old, too drained by simply shedding tears.

Yu Wenxuan glanced at him and said:

"Let’s go."

This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om