Chapter 200: Heredity
On the first night entering the village, no other accidents occurred.
When it was just getting light that day, the quiet village woke up.
The light rain that had fallen all night temporarily stopped, and cooking smoke floated above the village accompanied by the morning mist.
Tian Lei woke up from a light sleep and saw Lu Jinzhao standing outside the door. She was still holding that tablet in her hand. When she turned back upon hearing Tian Lei’s movement, she saw her gaze falling on the tablet.
“This?” Lu Jinzhao picked up the tablet and shook it, then explained, “I found that if the tablet is placed more than five meters away from me, it starts deducting points.”
It seems the [Carry on Body] mission is still ongoing.
“And this morning, this tablet underwent a small change.”
A faint scratch appeared on the originally blank tablet.
Tian Lei quickly took out her own tablet placed by the pillow. Sure enough, it also had a faint scratch.
She and Lu Jinzhao made eye contact, both having guesses in their hearts about this scratch.
“Let’s go, we’ll head out today and take a look around.”
On the second day entering the platform, they needed to gather some information and look for clues related to “heredity.”
They also needed to observe the states of the other passengers.
She did not plan to act together with Tian Lei. They already had the fewest people, so since they needed to gather information, it was naturally best to act separately.
Although Tian Lei showed some unease on her face upon hearing her arrangement, she had no objections. She just felt a bit annoyed that acting separately might require her to communicate with strangers, but she did not think this arrangement was wrong.
She walked out of the courtyard gate and saw the door of the warehouse next door still tightly closed. She heard movement inside, but no one came out.
So she looked at Tian Lei and gestured with her eyes. After seeing Tian Lei nod, Lu Jinzhao headed toward the ancestral hall.
Although the rain had stopped, the road underfoot was still very muddy. Fortunately, part of the road was paved with bluestone slabs, which had a series of earthy yellow footprints left on them—traces of people with mud on their shoes walking by.
They looked very fresh, probably left this morning.
It was unknown whether they were from villagers or passengers.
The morning village had more signs of life compared to when she had just entered yesterday. Last night when entering, Lu Jinzhao had even doubted for a moment if there were any living villagers here at all, since the entire village looked lifeless.
But now, she finally saw normal human figures.
At least, they now looked like normal humans.
Although not many in number, whether in appearance, movement posture, or the occasional sounds of conversation, they all resembled ordinary humans.
The only exception was that these villagers had somewhat strange gazes when looking at her, an outsider.
This strangeness was not like the slightly chilling weirdness she had seen on the platform before, but rather a gaze carrying a bit of anticipation.
What were they anticipating?
Lu Jinzhao also noticed that the villagers she occasionally encountered would cast glances at her, but they were just ordinary ones, as if merely looking at someone passing by. They would not look at her for too long; they just glanced at the stranger and then continued with their own business.
“Although they hold some unknown anticipation, they don’t seem to value it too much?”
Or perhaps there was some other reason making the villagers temporarily not pay much attention to them outsiders?
Since the villagers’ attitudes seemed relatively friendly, Lu Jinzhao planned to try striking up a conversation with a villager later to ask for information, but for now, she needed to head to the ancestral hall first.
She carried the tablet in her backpack on her back. On the way to the ancestral hall, she saw two passengers. Her memory was now excellent; the instant she saw them, she recalled that they were from the platform with the most people, also the one with that male first-class passenger.
It seemed these two were also heading to the ancestral hall.
This was not strange. Without surprise, people from all four cities would come to the ancestral hall in the morning to check.
But what was strange was that one of them had an expression that could be called grave.
Under what circumstances could someone wake up so grave in the morning after a safe and uneventful second half of the night?
The smile at the corner of Lu Jinzhao’s mouth curved slightly. She guessed this person might not have obtained a tablet.
At this moment, she was the one most anxious to head to the ancestral hall in their city.
Lu Jinzhao followed behind the two toward the ancestral hall. The two naturally noticed her, but this was not their home after all; they could not drive Lu Jinzhao away. Moreover, with the current unclear situation, it was not advisable to make enemies with anyone, so they ignored her.
Upon arriving at the ancestral hall, there was already one person inside—Luo Yu.
Seeing the two entering again and Lu Jinzhao following behind, her face showed no surprise, nor did she ignore the three. Instead, she approached with considerable interest to strike up a conversation.
“What are you looking for? There’s nothing here now.”
Her tone was somewhat casual, sounding curious with a hint of teasing, somewhat offensive.
But she was first-class, so this offense became not so offensive. At least, the others did not show displeasure.
The two did not answer her. Their city had the most people this time, and there were also two other first-class ones. Although wary of Luo Yu before them, they were not intimidated.
Lu Jinzhao, on the other hand, responded good-naturedly: “Wanted to check the situation with the tablets.”
Luo Yu’s gaze shifted and saw her smiling appearance. Even with a smile on her face, it did not seem very friendly.
It was not that Lu Jinzhao looked scary; it was just that her temperament was truly strange. Even a smile attempting to appear friendly looked chilling and eerie in the eyes of those unaware, not like a good person at all.
Lu Jinzhao was well aware her current temperament leaned a bit “ghostly,” but commercial smiling was ingrained in her bones. She was used to it and too lazy to change it for others’ impressions of her.
She did not know that her smile now could even make a first-class pause in stunned surprise?
Not bad, it could even have some interesting minor effects.
Lu Jinzhao let her thoughts wander randomly for a bit.
“Oh~ checking the tablets.” Luo Yu was indeed stunned for a second. In that second, she was thinking if Lu Jinzhao’s fate was related to being possessed by a ghost.
“No need to look. I’ve been in the ancestral hall for a while and haven’t found a single tablet. Looks like they were all taken last night.”
This first-class raised her eyebrow slightly and said in a tone not entirely honest.
Lu Jinzhao’s gaze swept over the ancestral hall. The ground was messy with many soil-bearing footprints. The table for placing tablets was no different from last night; the surface was very clean, as were other areas. It was clear someone frequently came here to clean.
The fresh footprints besides hers were only three sets, corresponding to the three people before her.
“Senior…” Among the two, the one with the gravest expression suddenly looked at Luo Yu and asked: “Did your city take an extra tablet?”
Oh?
This was getting interesting.
Lu Jinzhao looked at the two with great interest.
