Back to Huang Wen. Him, Zhang Tian Yi, Liu Wang Yun, Chen Wu Xuang, Ma Heng, Tian Zhong and people from Nan An. Finally, they arrived at Yuan Ge village. But what they found there, alarmed them.
"Where is everyone?", Tian Zhong and the others stood in the middle of empty village.
Empty buildings and roads gave them eerily feeling. Unlike cities and town that was rampaged by zombies, which rather became a norm those days. Yuan Ge village was completely empty, there was no human, zombies nor demons.
Just rows of empty buildings, they checked around and saw no damages. There were no traces of fights or battles.
"They're moving out of the village.", finally Xia Bao concluded.
"But why?", Tian Zhong asked the question that haunted everyone.
Chen Fang looked around at the stricken faces of his neighbors and tried to encourage them, "Okay, for now, let's rest here for a while. There is nothing to worry. We already checked everything. The village is safe."
"But if it's safe, then why every body left it?", one of his neighbors asked.
Chen Fang said, "Maybe, just like us, they decided to join those at Fuzhou. There is safety in number."
They began to murmur to each other. Chen Fang's explanation was quite logical and they were tired from the journey. For hours they walked after the last bus running out of gas, even children and elderly must walk too.
Xia Bao added, "Of course, we wouldn't relax our watch. We'll assign people to guard the perimeter. While the rest, please divide yourself into several groups and gather at several big buildings, rather than separated all over the village."
They nodded, with such arrangement they felt better. Of course it was simple and anyone should be able to come up with the idea. But most of the time people were waiting for someone to step up and took the responsibility. They were lucky that there were people like Chen Fang and Xia Bao who quickly took the role and kept everything in order.
Less than an hour, they already gathered at several big buildings in the village, some groups of men were assigned to guard and patrol. A group of women, led by Chen Fang's and Xia Bao's wife prepared food for them all. With the smell of food from the kitchen, the wall around them and armed men were patrolling outside, they felt safe and a bit relaxed.
While Huang Wen, Zhang Tian Yi, Liu Wang Yun, Chen Wu Xuang, Ma Heng, Tian Zhong, Chen Fang and Xia Bao held a meeting in separated house from other, as soon as everything was in order.
"Something doesn't feel right.", said Chen Fang.
"Hmm... although there were no traces of battle or such and they seemed well-prepared before leaving. I can't think any reason why they should leave.", said Chen Wu Xuang.
"People would reluctant to leave their homes if there without good reason. Even those whose country were at war, sometimes they stubbornly stayed at their home, but somehow everyone in this village left it when there is no immediate danger. At least as far as we can see it.", said Zhang Tian Yi.
"Huang Wen, can you sense something? Perhaps there is high level demon live near the village?", Ma Heng asked Huang Wen.
Huang Wen who said nothing so far, seemed troubled, "That is the weird thing. Last time I'm here, there was one high level demon or should I say mid level demon, near this village. As soon as I saw the village empty, I tried to sense his presence, but he's not anywhere near this region. In fact, it seemed there is no demons at all around here."
"What does it mean?", Liu Wang Yun asked.
"I don't know, but ... do you remember when I said that with my skill I can spiritually sense anything at my level and lower. At the same time, I can hide my presence from those at lower level.", Huang Wen replied.
"Since you can't sense it... ", said Tian Zhong.
"Yes, maybe there is none, or maybe there is one whose strength far above me.", said Huang Wen.
No one spoke a word after they heard that.
Huang Wen sighed and added, "It's similar to the situation when I was facing the demon lord at Nan An, I could not feel his presence even if I tried it. It was from looking at the thread that link the zombies to him that I could certain of his existence."
"This time there is no zombies around this place.", said Xia Bao.
"Hmm", Huang Wen nodded.
"So what should we do now?", Tian Zhong asked.
"I can't ask them to continue the journey with this uncertainty. In this village, at least there are walls around us and we could assign people to defend it properly. But in the road....", Chen Fang spoke.
Zhang Tian Yi nodded his head, "Yes, we should know what we're facing right now before we continue the journey. Besides, everyone was tired from walking for hours."
Xia Bao said, "Let me and Chen Fang told them that we're going to rest for a day or two in this village. For no other reason but to give chances for the elderly and the young one to recuperate. Meanwhile, some of us would go to check around."
"I'll go to Fuzhou.", Huang Wen said firmly, he was terribly worried of Zhang Xuan.
The others nodded their head, of course they understood. For Chen Fang and Xia Bao, if it was possible, then they would like to come with Huang Wen too, but their level was too low compared to Huang Wen. If anything happened at Fuzhou, they would become a burden for him. Besides, if the people from Nan An, noticed that their leader were missing, there might be commotion.
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"We will scout the other direction.", said Zhang Tian Yi.
"Big brothers, please be careful...", said Huang Wen.
"Of course, we will go as a group. When are you going to leave?", Zhang Tian Yi replied.
"Now.", Huang Wen answered.
"Go then, may heaven watch over you.", said Chen Fang.
Huang Wen slipped away from Yuan Ge village, with his speed, it was easy to leave secretly. He had bad premonition, ever since he saw the empty Yuan Ge village. There were more than 50 kilometers from Yuan Ge village to Fuzhou, a marathoner could finish a marathon in three hours. Huang Wen had the speed unfortunately he didn't invest much on his stamina and need to limit his speed in order to run longer. It took six hours before he reached the outer layer of Fuzhou.
He rested at one empty small mart, some canned food and drink still consumable, and he gratefully filled his stomach and quenched his thirst.
He used his third eyes, to look around, but saw nothing out of ordinary. Or in this case, it was out of ordinary. No zombies and no demons around.
When his stamina fully restored he stepped out of the small mart and looked at the direction of central Fuzhou and there, he saw something scary. Hundreds thousand and probably million or more, threads that linked zombies to their demon master were seen above Fuzhou. So thick that at a glance it looked like clouds before heavy rain.
"So.... it's true... there is another high level demon... a demon lord... one in Chang Sha and here in Fuzhou, another one... What happened with everyone in the base?", said Huang Wen to himself.
The scene before him, terrified him deep into his core. For a long time, he just stood there, feeling powerless.
He was fighting the zombies at Nan An, but at that time, their demon lord was far away. Now he was right in front of their lair. What should he do? Wouldn't it be a suicide if he entered Fuzhou? But how would he confirm Zhang Xuan's fate, if he didn't enter Fuzhou?
But even if he entered Fuzhou, if Zhang Xuan already turned into zombies or was killed and eaten by them, there would be no trace of her in that city.
"No... from the traces, people in Yuan Ge village left the village along with their belonging and in an orderly march. If they're caught unprepared that wouldn't be the case. But since that was the case that means they surely not caught unprepared.", after a while he began to regain control over his mind and think calmly.
"Perhaps, there were survivors from Fuzhou and they warned those at Yuan Ge village. Since the information of survivors in Yuan Ge village, likely only known to Uncle Zhang Hu, that means there are survivors among them. Zhang Xuan is his daughter, if there are people he would save first, it would be his family."
"Hmm... since people from Yuan Ge village left their homes in orderly manner that means they're not in a hurry."
Huang Wen's face began to brighten, "That's right since those in Yuan Ge village left the village in that manner, there is a good possibility that Uncle Zhang Hu, somehow learned about this demon lord before this demon lord invade Fuzhou."
"I shouldn't make false hope but... it's not baseless hope...", he talked to himself.
"Now what should I do then?", he wondered.
"There is nothing I can do here. To enter Fuzhou is suicide. There is no way I could survive the horde of zombies when they're under the demon lord's direct control. Now, I have to think, if they knew the coming of this demon lord, where would they go?", even though nothing was certain at this point, but since he had something to hope for, he could face the situation calmly.
"Yuan Ge village is in the west, if they leave to Quanzhou or Putian, we will see them on the way. They could go to Haitan Island and destroy the bridge. It would surely secure the island, but at the same time they would be stranded there."
"If they leave to Ningde, first it is too close to Fuzhou, second it was too far for those from Yuan Ge village."
Huang Wen calculated their escape route one by one, "Their best course would be Nanping..., they could meet with those from Yuan Ge village in the road there. Not only that facing Fuzhou, it has mountains behind it, water supply won't be a problem with Minjiang river next to it. Most likely they went to Nanping before the demon lord arrived."
"Hmm... rather than taking a risk by entering Fuzhou, I should return to Yuan Ge village and told the others. First I must ensure that no one goes to Fuzhou, they also need to prepare for an attack from Fuzhou. Next, was to confirm my guess by sending someone to Nanping.", since he already had a plan, he felt much better.
Huang Wen no longer paralyzed by fear, he watched Fuzhou for a while with mixed feeling, before he prepared to return to Yuan Ge village. But just before he turned around, he saw something that attracted his attention.