Ye Qing and Xiao Yang did not encounter any more danger after leaving the abandoned temple. They were able to make it to Jade Spring Village before noon. 0

Although Ye Qing already had an inkling of what he might discover after listening to Ling Jianqiu’s account, the reality was still much worse than he had anticipated. The farms were completely abandoned and overgrown with grass, the guards responsible for protecting the village from Strangers were nowhere to be seen, and garbage and feces were everywhere.0

These were nothing compared to the horror he felt when he saw the villagers, however. Everyone, be it young or old, looked so thin and haggard he could’ve believed that they were going through a famine. However, all of them were wearing happy smiles on their faces and going about their business as if their minds were living in a completely separate entity.0

What was a population of twelve hundred had dwindled to just three hundred, and they all said the same thing even after Ye Qing and Xiao Yang had interviewed each and everyone of them: they were perfectly healthy, no one was missing, and the village was just fine. It was...0