Chapter 238: A sumptuous dinner
Jessica stared at the roadside for a while, but she couldn't see anything unusual.
Lin Ye curled up on the bed with visible unease. Unable to use his spiritual perception, he could only gather information through his five senses, but the village showed no abnormal movements except for occasional slight vibrations coming from underground.
If he hadn't known about the giant monster with numerous limbs buried beneath, he might have ignored these vibrations so faint they were almost imperceptible.
Lin Ye pressed his back against the wall, carefully sensing the vibration frequency, but the vibrations suddenly stopped.
'Was it just a coincidence?'
Lin Ye didn't panic. After a while, he felt vibrations coming from below again, only for them to disappear moments later.
After carefully observing for some time, Lin Ye finally determined that the underground vibrations weren't simply vanishing, but rather repeating a cycle of intensifying, weakening, disappearing, then intensifying again.
'Something is moving underground following some pattern, and that thing passes near this area.'
Lin Ye quickly reached a highly probable conclusion. He wanted to go underground to investigate, but remembering the monster that might be observing them from above, he decided to play it safe.
"I'm going out to gather intelligence tonight. Stay in the room and don't wander around." After inspecting the entire hotel, Jessica returned to the room carrying a bag long enough to contain a sniper rifle.
Lin Ye checked their surroundings before approaching Jessica and whispering:
"I remembered some information - it seems something is hiding underground."
"Underground? What thing?"
Jessica suspected Lin Ye was again spouting nonsense from his chaotic nightmare scenarios.
"I don't know either, but there's definitely something underground... Could you give me a pistol for self-defense? It's too dangerous for me to stay here alone."
Lin Ye really didn't want to fight monsters bare-handed - that would reveal too many issues. With a gun, it would be different; occasionally getting lucky with a few shots wouldn't seem strange.
"...Don't shoot unless necessary, and don't point the muzzle at me, or I'll blow your head off."
Jessica took a pistol from the bag and handed it to Lin Ye. The pistol only contained twelve bullets.
"Thank you!"
Lin Ye quickly hid the pistol in his clothes like a thief. His acting skills were far superior to Jessica's.
"I really don't understand how you escaped from Night Inscription Village when even the elites lost contact."
Jessica looked at Lin Ye with confusion, unable to comprehend how the man before her could become the incident's sole survivor.
"...Perhaps because my body is quite flexible. What you're looking for might be a narrow passage or space. My survival is probably related to such a place."
Lin Ye felt that passage was underground.
"Alright, I understand."
Seeing Lin Ye contort his body into strange shapes, Jessica suddenly felt this speculation was highly plausible.
Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. The two quickly changed topics and started discussing traveling around the world.
"You must be hungry by now? I brought you some food. Feel free to ask for more if it's not enough. After eating, get some sleep quickly. The village gets very dark at night, so it's best not to wander around."
The old man carried a large, lid-like tray filled with various dishes that looked incredibly delicious.
Fried meat patties, steamed meat, stir-fried meat with vegetables, bone soup... A full nine dishes plus soup, along with rice making eleven large bowls total. This quantity completely didn't seem intended for just two people.
"Thank you, but isn't this too much food? We won't be able to finish it all."
Seeing Jessica remain silent, Lin Ye had to speak up.
"No problem, it's all from our own home. You eat first, and if you can't finish, just leave it outside. I'll handle the leftovers."
The old man smiled as he spoke, then retreated from the room.
"You'd better not touch that food. There's definitely something wrong with it."
Jessica stared at the feast on the table, unconsciously swallowing saliva. She had only eaten an energy bar for lunch.
"I know, but I'm getting hungry. Do you have any extra food?"
Since this wasn't an official organization mission, Lin Ye suspected Dylan might have been knocked out and dragged away by Jessica before even eating lunch.
"Here, tell me if you need more. I have plenty."
Jessica took a pack of energy bars from her bag, pulled one out, and handed it to Lin Ye. Lin Ye glanced at the pack - it contained a full twenty bars.
Lin Ye took the energy bar, opened it, and took a bite. It was the familiar texture and taste. Looking at the steaming hot meal on the table and smelling the delicious aromas, he desperately wanted to call over the organization's energy bar designer and beat them up.
Jessica also watched the dining table while chewing her energy bar. As captain of a frontline abnormal incident handling team, she wanted to punch that researcher even more than Lin Ye did, but this violated organization regulations - field personnel shouldn't have excessive contact with researchers.
Which was why she shouldn't be here in the first place.
After finishing their dinner, Jessica took part of the evening meal and left the room through the window. Lin Ye lay on the bed hugging a quilt rolled into human shape, pretending to sleep.
They had placed the leftover food on the table outside their room. Both were experts in this area and wouldn't leave any inappropriate clues.
As darkness fell, Lin Ye lay on the bed squinting to observe movements around him. The vibrations below hadn't stopped, but both their duration and intervals seemed to have lengthened.
Skittering... rustling...
Suddenly, insect crawling sounds emerged around them. At first very faint, but quickly, these sounds were everywhere.
Lin Ye abruptly sat up and looked around, only to find no insects in the room whatsoever. The sounds showed no signs of stopping, instead growing increasingly intense.
Rather than deceiving himself that the surrounding sounds were just illusions, Lin Ye preferred to believe his eyes were the problem.
He put on his clothes and quietly approached the window. Outside, he couldn't see any insects, only hear numerous insect crawling sounds.
Then Lin Ye suddenly heard faint chewing sounds coming from outside the door. He quietly approached the door and gently pushed it open a crack.
The leftover food on the table outside was swarming with dark, slender flesh worms. They happily devoured the leftovers, joyfully wriggling their bodies.
More flesh worms crawled out from cracks in the walls, gathering toward the table. The leftover food seemed to have a fatal attraction for these flesh worms.
Lin Ye quietly closed the door. He now knew the source of those sounds - in the walls, under the bed, underground... These insects were everywhere throughout Night Inscription Village.
'The underground must be the insects' nest. Dylan probably emerged from underground before. I need to find the passage Dylan used when escaping.'
Lin Ye climbed out the hotel window with his pistol. He didn't know the entrance location, but the insect sounds would tell him where it was. Sounds coming through barriers differed from those without obstruction, and the passage was likely near whatever was causing those underground vibrations.
Combining these two clues, Lin Ye felt confident he could find that underground entrance if he spent some time searching.