“Those black shadows probably aren’t remnant souls…”
Ye Yin clenched her fist, frowning.
“My Weapon Strike Fist didn’t get stronger.”
‘If they were Fierce Ghosts, my talent should have absorbed some energy, making my fist techniques more powerful.’
‘But this time, even though I killed a shadow and the white smoke that appears when a Fierce Ghost is destroyed came out, I didn’t feel like I absorbed any energy at all.’
“Could it be that remnant souls don’t have an enhancing effect on the Weapon Strike Fist?”
Mu Bai pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Perhaps…”
Ye Yin didn’t dwell on it too much.
This wasn’t a key clue and wasn’t worth too much attention.
Mu Bai recalled their recent encounter and suddenly realized that the builds of these black shadows seemed completely identical.
The slender black shadows had no faces, but all the shadows were roughly the same height and thickness.
One could even say they were carbon copies of each other.
‘Even the appearance and form of a remnant soul… should depend on what they looked like in life.’
‘Could it be that these slender black shadows aren’t considered independent individuals? So, eliminating one at night doesn’t actually destroy it completely?’
Secretly noting this inference in her mind, Mu Bai mentioned the spreading shadows she had noticed in the alleyway, urging everyone to be vigilant about them.
From the fact that there was moonlight outside, it seemed this station had a day-night cycle.
It was best for them to wait until daytime to act.
Since the house had been abandoned for a long time, the electric lights were long out of order.
The group found some candles and lit them.
After waiting quietly for a while and confirming no ghosts were attracted, they felt at ease continuing to use the candlelight for illumination.
No one knew what that spreading shadow was.
They couldn’t be sure such an entity would only appear outside, so they needed to be constantly watchful.
The four of them took turns keeping watch in two shifts.
The night was long.
***
Morning.
Mu Bai woke up slowly.
Outside, the sky was already beginning to brighten.
Her current position was leaning against the sofa, and to activate her talent, she was pressed against Ye Yin beside her.
‘After only sleeping a few hours, on this wooden sofa that’s hard as a rock, I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep at all if not for the Power Bank’s effect.’
Mu Bai reluctantly sat up straight.
“Ye Yin.”
“I’m here.”
“You’re awake?”
“Mhm.”
Ye Yin responded softly.
She had been awake for a while.
To avoid disturbing Mu Bai’s rest, she hadn’t moved, maintaining this position until Mu Bai woke up.
Seeing both were awake, Mo Cha approached and said concisely, “I went out earlier to check the situation.
Arms won’t appear when you get close to walls anymore, and the black shadows have all disappeared.”
“Besides that, any other abnormalities?”
Mu Bai asked.
“No.
But this town probably isn’t abandoned.
I just saw someone go out earlier… though I hid my presence and wasn’t discovered.”
Mo Cha shook her head.
Mu Bai nodded, agreeing with Mo Cha’s decision to hide herself.
‘It’s still unclear how the people here treat outsiders.’
‘Even if the Site Natives here are a neutral faction with no ill will towards us, having several strangers appear early in the morning wouldn’t seem normal no matter how you think about it.
It would be easier to find an excuse at a different time.’
“By the way, our Train…”
Mu Bai frowned slightly.
This station wasn’t like the Trial Station.
The Train wouldn’t disappear automatically but would remain parked in place.
‘Being discovered by other Players isn’t a big deal. We all know of each other’s existence. If the team that owns the Train hasn’t been wiped out, the door won’t open either. Seeing the Train doesn’t affect anything.’
‘But for the Site Natives…’
‘Would it cause a disturbance, affecting our ability to obtain station resources?’
“Don’t worry. I saw with my own eyes someone walk right through the middle of the Train. The Site Natives not only can’t see our Train, but they also can’t affect it in any way.”
Mo Cha said gently, putting Mu Bai at ease.
“I see… Since there are already townspeople out and about, it means daytime is safe. If you’re tired, rest a bit more.”
Mu Bai said to Mo Cha and Tang Shifu.
Waiting until the sun was high in the sky, then finding a time when no one was passing by nearby to go out was the safest plan.
***
Around ten in the morning.
Mo Cha activated her talent and wandered outside for a while.
Finding a time when no one was passing by, she signaled for everyone to leave the courtyard.
Everyone hid their weapons close to their bodies to avoid alarming the townspeople.
Although the clothes the four of them wore were already out of place, and the town didn’t seem very large—they’d probably be recognized as outsiders at a glance—maintaining a harmless appearance was still important for gathering information.
The town had too many people.
It wasn’t convenient to let Mo Cha use extreme methods to obtain information like last time.
That kind of approach was best saved for when there was no other choice.
Something that slightly reassured Mu Bai and the others was that while walking on the town’s roads, they occasionally encountered residents who would just give them a few extra glances.
No one came up to question them.
This indicated one thing…
Despite the town being deep in supernatural phenomena, it was likely still a peaceful society.
The expressions on most people’s faces didn’t seem fake.
Though not exactly relaxed, they didn’t have the worried look of people living in a highly oppressive environment, completely different from the villagers they had encountered before.
Perhaps they simply weren’t aware of the supernatural’s existence.
The so-called source of the anomaly seemed to be tightly fused with the town itself.
The four of them didn’t wander around aimlessly.
Instead, they first walked in one direction until they reached the town’s edge and saw the winding mountain road outside.
In their eyes, the mountains surrounding the town were covered in a gray mist.
That represented the Train System’s restriction, to some extent indicating the map boundaries of the station.
Then, they circled the entire town.
The whole process took less than two hours.
But it really did allow Mu Bai and the others to discover a clue.
The town’s layout was roughly circular, situated along a small river with a stone bridge spanning it…
Not far away were several factories.
From a distance, there didn’t seem to be a single worker present, as if the industrial area had been abandoned.
The water flow was clear, not looking polluted by the factories.
Yet, the plants on both banks weren’t particularly lush either, presenting a stark contrast to the dense thickets on the mountain slopes.
On the mountain across the river, instead of the expected gray mist, they could vaguely make out the outline of a structure.
It looked like a temple, but it was completely different from the earthen Ancestral Temple they encountered at the last supernatural site.
From afar, it looked quite imposing.
However, its construction style was distinctly different from the buildings in the town.
The temple carried a much stronger sense of history.
“Should we go take a look?”
Ye Yin inquired.
Both Mo Cha and Tang Shifu also looked at Mu Bai.
Whether during their first meeting or in the previous station, Mu Bai had demonstrated calm analytical abilities, earning the trust of the other two.
They all wanted to hear Mu Bai’s opinion.
“First, let’s find an elderly person living nearby to ask.”
Mu Bai thought for a few seconds before speaking.
The station was practically hinting that the temple was problematic.
‘With the difficulty of a Level 5 station, without attack items of the Little Spirit Flame Talisman’s caliber, it’s best not to rush up there.’
‘Since the residents in the town can live safely, it’s better to gather more information within the town first.’