Stranger Danger

“Huh? There’s light ahead of us…”

The horse carriage had just turned around a col when suddenly, a ray of light caught Ye Qing’s attention.

Weak the light might be, it was extremely conspicuous in the darkness. Ye Qing had been feeling bored for a while, and this unexpected encounter immediately caught his interest.

At first, Ye Qing thought that the light belonged to a traveling merchant or a traveler who was resting their feet. When they got close, he discovered in surprise that it came from an inn.

The inn was neither big nor particularly well-built. It looked like it might be blown away if the snowstorm was bigger. Light seeped through the gaps between the doors and the windows and alleviated the darkness and cold that permeated this world just a little.

“Why is there an inn in the middle of nowhere?”

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows curiously until he saw the inn’s name. He broke into a grin and said, “Ah, it’s a ‘Living Enter Not’... So? Do you wanna head inside, Qingyou?”

“It’s pretty cold. It would be nice to shelter under a roof for a bit,” Feng Qingyou agreed.

“Glad to hear that. This will be the first time I enter a Living Enter Not,” said Ye Qing a bit excitedly as he jumped out of the horse carriage.

After Feng Qingyou exited the horse carriage, Ye Qing waved his hand and turned it into a piece of paper. It flew back into the Magia Tree.

“Let’s go.”

With that done, Ye Qing took point and walked up to the door. He placed his hands on the wooden board and pushed.

The second the door opened, a blast of icy air colder than the one buffeting them right now hit his face.

A dozen or so people were currently sitting inside the inn and enjoying a meal. When Ye Qing opened the door, every single one of them immediately turned around and stared at him and Feng Qingyou.

Their initial reaction was normal. It was a cold, dark night after all. What was abnormal was the fact the people kept staring at them without moving a muscle or even batting an eyelid. They just kept staring at them with a level of intensity that could only be described as spine-chilling.

“Sorry, sorry. We didn’t mean to interrupt your meals.”

Ye Qing did not seem to notice their gazes, however. He greeted them with a smile and closed the door as soon as Feng Qingyou had crossed over the threshold. Then, he said, “Please, return to your meals. There is no need to pay us any attention.”

Ye Qing himself stopped paying the guests any attention and began walking toward the counter. As they moved, the guests’ eyes chased after them as if their gazes were affixed to their bodies, refusing to look away for even a moment. It almost felt like they were puppets.

The atmosphere was eerie and disturbing, but it could not seem to affect Ye Qing or Feng Qingyou one bit. They soon arrived in front of the counter.

The counter was quite huge, but there was no food or wine on top of it as one might expect from a usual counter. Instead, it sported a massive shrine that enshrined a statue wearing a black robe that covered them from head to toe. It looked rather mysterious.

There was a censer in front of the shrine, but there was no incense or ash inside it. Instead, it was filled with coins.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Ye Qing produced two coins of the same style as the ones inside the censer and tossed it inside. They made a nice clink when they landed on the pile of coins.

It was like a signal. As soon as the guests heard the clink of coins, they suddenly withdrew their gazes from Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou and returned to their meals. They no longer paid them any attention.

Again, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou paid them no heed. They sought out a table that was close to the corner and sat down.

Ye Qing did not make an order. Instead, he produced the rations and wine he prepared earlier at the Southern March Pass and began filling his stomach. For a time, there was only silence except the sounds of eating and drinking.

Time passed slowly. From time to time, someone would enter the inn, walk up to the counter, and toss a coin inside. Then, they would sit down at an empty table.

Some of them ordered food and drinks, but some did not. Just like Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou, they ate their own food and drinks.

The owner of the inn paid their behavior no attention whatsoever.

More time passed, and the once fairly empty inn became extremely crowded. Even so, the inn remained exceptionally quiet. Everyone was eating and drinking, and yet not a single person was talking. It was as if they were obeying some sort of unwritten rule.

Unfortunately, the silence was soon shattered by a group of people.

Thump!

Someone threw open the wooden door in a violent fashion, and a group of three men and two women stepped inside. Young and looking to be in their twenties, everyone in the group was quite attractive. The men were handsome, and the women were beautiful. They were also all dressed in white. Unfortunately, they also looked quite arrogant.

“I didn’t think we would find an inn in the middle of nowhere. Lucky us.”

One of the men cast a contemptuous gaze across the inn before snorting. “There’s a surprising number of guests in this inn as well.”

It was at this moment the group of five noticed that everyone in the inn was staring at them. The speaker immediately raised his eyebrows dangerously and asked, “What are you looking at?”

“Enough. Everyone’s hungry. At least wait until we’ve filled our bellies before you start something,” said a tall and frigid woman.

The woman scanned the area for a table, but she quickly realized that the inn was packed. An unhappy frown immediately appeared on her face.

The leader of the group, a man ordered, “Go and get us a table.”

“Got it, senior brother,” a man responded and scanned the dining hall for a moment. Then, he strode up to a table and ordered in an imperious tone, “You two, go find another table. We’re taking this one.”

The table was currently occupied by an old man and a young girl. The old man was thin, wizened, and looked to be in his sixties. The young girl was cute, fair-skinned, and wearing a pair of pigtails.

It was clear the man sought them out because he thought they were the most harmless of the bunch.

The old man and the young girl paid his order no attention, however. They just kept staring at the group.

Seeing that the old man was ignoring him completely, the man felt humiliated and lost his cool a little, “I’m talking to you, old man! Are you deaf?”

It would seem that his outburst was effective, because the old man and the young girl slowly shifted their gazes to him. They weren’t the only ones. Everyone in the inn slowly turned their heads to stare at him as well. Their eyes were apathetic, blank, and emotionless.

An indescribable chill welled inside the man’s heart despite himself. His back broke into cold sweat.

Then, the man realized that he had just been intimidated by a bunch of ordinary people and slapped the table angrily. “What are you looking at? Stare at me some more, and I’ll dig out your eyeballs! All of you!”

No one seemed afraid in the slightest, however. They just kept staring at him.

The man subconsciously took a step backward while feeling chilled to the very core. Before he knew it, he was grabbing his saber.

“Harmony is to be prized when you’re on the road. If you don’t mind, then why don’t you have my seat? I’m done eating anyway.”

It was at this moment a crisp, melodious voice that resembled an oriole broke out. When Ye Qing looked, he saw that the speaker was a woman sitting not far away from them.

The woman was around fifteen to sixteen years old. Her clothes were coarse and shabby, and her appearance was ordinary at best. However, she emanated a gentle, refined presence that was clearly superior to her appearance.

Unfortunately, the girl’s eyes were glassy and lifeless.

She was blind.

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