3: Moon Village 1

"Wahhh..." A pretty Girl with twin ponytails sobbed, her legs giving way as she collapsed in the middle of the aisle.

Tears welled in her eyes, her innocent face etched with fear as she looked helplessly at the people around her.

"Are you okay?" A gentle, magnetic male voice sounded, bringing with it a feeling like a refreshing spring breeze.

Shi Yan turned toward the sound. The man had a well-proportioned build, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and was dressed in a spotless white lab coat, a gentle smile on his face.

"Are you a Doctor? You'll save me, right?" The Girl, as if finding her pillar of support, crawled over and hugged his leg.

"Don't worry, I will definitely take good care of you. Come on, get up." Hearing her words, the man's expression grew even more amiable, his tone increasingly gentle.

"Thank you, thank you." After standing up, the Girl positioned herself beside the man, not daring to take a single step away.

"How did you get here?" the man asked curiously.

"I'm not too sure either. I was walking along the road when I suddenly lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a pure white space. A panel appeared before me, saying I had died and could only be revived by completing missions."

"That makes sense. After all, there probably aren't many who would voluntarily join the Killing Space." Wang Yang nodded.

Watching this scene, Shi Yan pondered. So, not everyone had joined voluntarily like he did. There were also those forced to join after death.

"And this person... is not simple." Shi Yan lowered his gaze. He could sense the strange aura emanating from this man.

It was a quality that didn't belong to a normal person.

"Encountering someone like this in the first world? Really... heh." A slight curve lifted the corner of Shi Yan's mouth, the boredom in his eyes dissipating a little.

The bus slowly came to a stop.

A distorted voice sounded within the bus.

"Yue Village has been reached. Please disembark promptly."

Looking through the bus's front windshield, a village nestled against a large mountain came into view.

Following the others off the bus, stepping onto the yellow road surface gave people a peculiar sensation.

After everyone had disembarked, a blue panel suddenly popped up in front of Shi Yan.

Main Mission: Survive for three days in Yue Village.

"Everyone should have seen the mission by now, right?" A pale-faced man spoke up.

"We need to survive for three days this time. Looks like we'll have to start cooperating. Let's introduce ourselves first. I'll start. My name is Li Zhao, Level 3." A man in athletic wear standing to the left of the pale-faced man spoke while pointing to the level above his head.

A large [3] floated above his head.

"My name is Wang Chengjin, Level 1. Please take care of me." A middle-aged man trying his best to appear calm said.

"I will definitely take good care of you all. It's my duty. My name is Wang Yang, Level 3." The smiling man in the white lab coat said cheerfully.

"Chang Junxiang, Level 3." A man with an icy expression stated.

"Yan Jingni, Level 2." "Tu Miaomiao, Level 1." Two voices sounded simultaneously. One belonged to a woman with plain features but a good figure. The other was the Girl who had screamed on the bus earlier.

"My name is Sun Yan, Level 2." Sun Yan was the pale-faced man who had spoken first.

"Shi Yan, Level 1." Shi Yan said expressionlessly.

Eight people in total: six men, two women. This was everyone for this mission.

Shi Yan took a couple of steps toward the village, stopping right before the village entrance.

To the right of the village entrance stood a pitch-black stone stele about the height of a person. Two large characters were carved on its front: "Yue Village."

Several houses lined both sides of the village entrance. Faint sounds of people talking could be heard, and the crowing of chickens and barking of dogs were incessant all around.

A dusky yellow sunlight bathed the surroundings as the sky grew increasingly dim.

"It's getting late. We should enter the village." Wang Yang reminded everyone.

Although very reluctant, everyone had no choice but to head toward the village. As they slowly made their way in, a young man with a crew cut gradually came into their line of sight. Due to the angle, no one had noticed someone squatting there before.

"Friend, we're tourists. Where's the hotel around here?" Li Zhao asked politely.

The young man slowly raised his head and stared at the group.

"Tourists, huh? Didn't think there'd still be tourists coming now..." The young man was momentarily stunned upon seeing them, then muttered to himself.

Hearing this, Li Zhao's eyes lit up. He knew there might be a clue. After all, the village looked quite normal and ordinary, not giving off any sense of danger, yet the mission was to survive for three days. He immediately pressed on.

"Friend, why do you say that? We were focused on traveling and didn't pay much attention to these things." As he spoke, Li Zhao slipped a few hundred yuan to the young man.

The young man initially showed some hesitation, but upon seeing the money, his face lit up with delight, and he quickly took it.

"Sigh, we used to get tourists often here. But a while back, a few tourists suddenly went missing. The police searched for ages but couldn't find them, and in the end, they had to drop it. After word got out, everyone said it was done by people from our Yue Village. After that, hardly anyone came anymore."

"We depend on these tourists for our livelihood! How could we possibly do such a thing!" The young man grew more and more indignant as he spoke.

After hearing this, everyone exchanged glances.

Li Zhao wanted to ask a few more questions, but the young man clearly had no desire to continue. After telling them the location of the hotel, he turned and left.

"It seems these disappearances are likely the danger we'll be facing." Li Zhao turned to face the group and said.

Shi Yan stared at the departing young man, deep in thought. Were the disappearances truly unrelated to the local villagers? He wouldn't assume so.

Following the small path through the village, a four-story concrete building came into view. Everyone quickened their pace. A wooden sign hung above the main entrance, bearing the words "Wang's Hotel." An elderly man sat at the hotel's front desk.

"Boss, we need rooms." Wang Chengjin stepped forward and said.