Chapter 168: You Can Stay in My Room

The disappearance of the flame that fueled the light of the oil lamp plunged everything into darkness.

"Wha..." Heisenberg was quick to stifle the cry that was about to come out of his mouth.

Ricardo's expression paled. Both Heisenberg and Ricardo were spooked by this sudden change. Calvin's arm remained hanging in mid-air and a frown was plastered across his face as he whispered, "What the hell was that? Why did the light suddenly disappear?"

"That's what we want to know too!" Ricardo couldn't help but comment.

There was no wind, and even though the oil lamp was hung directly over the door. It was high enough that anyone would notice if someone was about to close its gas valve and extinguish the flames. The group swept their gaze across the other houses and discovered that the fire in the oil lamps hanging over their doors was still alive. Strangely enough, they were swinging in the air even though there was still no wind.

"What do you think, Ricardo? You're the Scout here. Are there any Specters around us?" Calvin asked.

Ricardo shook his head, "I wouldn't be like this if there was! I can't detect any malicious presence around us..."

Heisenberg also turned to look at his crystal orb and shook his head, "There's nothing in mine either."

"All right..." Calvin nodded.

"Should we go back to the tunnels for now?" Ricardo asked.

This was the first time that he encountered a supernatural event without detecting any supernatural entity around him.

Heisenberg didn't answer. Instead, he turned to look at Calvin who also didn't answer.

Ricardo took their silence as their agreement, but when he turned around and took several steps towards the tunnels...

He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

For the hole in the wall where they came from had disappeared.

The tunnels that they used to enter the village had vanished.

"What the fuck?"

"Didn't we come from there?"

"Did the tunnel that we used just disappear?"

Ricardo felt as if he was hallucinating.

He even turned to look at Heisenberg and Calvin just to ask this question as if he was doubting his eyes.

"Yeah, you're not the only one that can see that it disappeared. It seems that there is no turning back at all at this point." Calvin smiled.

"Why does it feel like you're excited instead of worried that we are not able to get out of this place anymore..." Heisenberg commented.

"Hahaha..." Calvin lightly chuckled.

With the disappearance of the tunnel, it was now futile for Ricardo to try and get out of the village from where they came from. He walked towards Calvin and Heisenberg, but his eyes caught the faint silhouette of a figure from a distance. His eyebrows scrunched and his Aspect, in the form of a bow manifested in a blink of an eye.

An arrow was quickly pointed at the faint silhouette as Calvin and Heisenberg trembled.

"What's wrong?" Calvin was the first one to ask.

But his question wasn't answered by Ricardo, but the faint silhouette that he saw in the distance.

"That figure... it seems to be beckoning at us?" Heisenberg squinted his eyes to get a clearer look at the silhouette.

"Yeah, I can see that. All right, we should go and approach it." Calvin decided.

Ricardo's expression blanched, "Are you out of your mind? That might be a supernatural being, right there! Shouldn't we first identify what it is before we approach it? Why are you being so reckless?"

Calvin rolled his eyes and sighed, "All right, you go over and identify it then. Seeing that you've already summoned your Aspect. You should be able to handle whatever it is."

Ricardo didn't say anything.

He started walking towards the silhouette and the group was finally able to take a good look at the silhouette's identity.

It was an old woman wearing a white one-piece tunic. The color of the tunic was faintly yellowed, indicating that it might have been a long time since it was washed. However, there was no stink whatsoever from the old lady. When Calvin and the others neared her, a kind smile spread on her face as she asked, "The three of you do not look like members of this village..."

"Does the three of you also come from the outside?" There was this faint smirk on the old lady's wrinkled face that seemed to be permanent.

Her tone of voice was weird, and it made everyone in the group uncomfortable.

Ricardo glanced at Heisenberg and Heisenberg faintly gave a nod.

This nod meant one thing.

The crystal orb hadn't reacted to the old lady's presence, so she wasn't a supernatural being.

She was human.

Ricardo let out a sigh of relief, while Heisenberg had finally stopped holding back his breathing.

Calvin, on the other hand, had noticed the old lady's strange choice of words, so he asked in return, "Also? Was there another party that entered the village earlier than us?"

"Yes... More accurately, we rescued them from a nearby catch basin. They were injured with some of them even died. we couldn't just let them go after we saw them being so pitiful, so we dragged them here in the village. Are they perhaps, your friends?" The old lady was still smiling.

"Uh... Nope. They are not our friends at all. But we are fellow passengers from that ill-fated wagon, so it's kind of our responsibility to see to it that they're safe since we're ants on the same boat." Calvin politely asked. His eyes were narrowed into slits as it wandered across the old lady's body.

But apart from the seemingly eternal smirk on his face that was slowly deepening as time passed by. There was nothing else abnormal about the old lady. That was, of course, if you exclude the fact that her cheeks were hollow and her eyes were sunken due to the lack of sleep since she was obviously under the effects of the curse of sleeplessness.

"Is that so? Do you and your friends have any place to stay? It's getting very late in the night, and it's cold outside." The old lady's smile deepened, but this change was barely imperceptible. However, the swaying of the oil lamps hanging over the doors of the abandoned houses around them didn't escape the notice of the three.

"Actually, we do not have a place to stay..." Calvin was quick to answer when Ricardo was about to refuse the old lady.

"I see... The village is in an upheaval lightly, so I would recommend you to not wander about. Come with me, I have a spare room in my house, so you can stay in my room along with your friends. Tomorrow at daybreak, I will bring you to the other outsiders..." The old lady proposed.

She was still smiling.

"At daybreak? Why not we go there and visit them tonight?" Calvin asked.

But his honest question seemed to have irritated the old lady for she didn't reply.

She turned to head back in the direction where she came from. Shockingly, she moved very fast.

Before the three could even react, she was now heading in the direction of a particular house in the distance.

"Should we follow her?" Ricardo asked.

Calvin shrugged, "You can't just slap a smiling face. Since we need it, and she offered. It would be rude if we refused. Just keep an eye out for the taboos and it should be fine for us to follow her."

"Okay, if you say so..." Ricardo was still hesitant.

But Heisenberg had already taken the lead.

"Look at him being so brave, don't be such a scaredy-cat, Ricardo," Calvin smirked and decided to tease the guy.

Ricardo became enraged almost instantly but before he realized it. Calvin had disappeared and was now walking beside Heisenberg.

The temperature in the surroundings suddenly dropped.

Ricardo felt a shiver down his spine, "Shit..."

"Don't leave me out here, you bastards!" Ricardo made a break for it and ran towards the two nonchalantly walking in the distance.

The old lady's speed was not a joke. Although the three didn't have to run to catch up to her, they had to walk briskly if they didn't want to lose her from their sights. The old lady led them deeper into the Village of Tulog, and after several turns here and there, the group finally reached the old lady's house where they were staying for tonight.

"Once you go inside the house, remember to not touch anything inside. Only one person can sleep on the stone bed, the others must sleep on the chair or on the floor. Do not open the window, and do not move any furniture once you're inside. Sleep and wait for the night to pass..."

"Once daybreak arrives, I will return and take you to the others."

The old lady's smile had deepened to the point that Ricardo and Heisenberg had finally noticed it.

She didn't allow them to speak as she opened the doors and led the three inside the house.

Upon entering the house, the three discovered that it was bare.

Apart from a stone bed. A table, a few chairs, and a cabinet. There was basically nothing inside the house.

The old lady didn't speak once they were inside the house. She turned around and was about to leave when Calvin suddenly asked.

"Madame, may we know your name? You've been a great help to us outsiders, so it would just be right for us to introduce ourselves. I'm Calvin, while that young man over there is Ricardo. As for that bald-headed old man, his name is Heisenberg." Calvin was polite in this exchange, but the old lady's face turned ugly upon being stopped in her tracks.

After a few moments of silence, she eventually answered.

"Cynthia..." She didn't linger in the room anymore as she walked towards the exit.

The others took a good look around the area.

The room was lit up by candles standing on the table and above the cabinet.

However, the candles on the cabinet seemed to be emanating a sweet stench. Evidently, it wasn't a candle, but an incense stick.

"Oh, what is this?..." Ricardo noticed a picture frame in front of the incense stick and what seemed to be a plaque inscribed with a name on the first drawer of the cabinet.

Ricardo took a closer look at the plaque and his pupils immediately constricted upon reading the words...

[To the loving memory of our valiant and hardworking mother...]

[Here lie the ashes of Cynthia Billar]

[For the darkness exists as the shadow of the light...]

[Eternity is promised in the afterlife.]