I transmigrated to a chaotic world and became the sole player.

Lijia Village, nestled against the mountains and beside the water, should have been a tranquil mountain village, but the scene before us was anything but peaceful. A crooked wooden pole stood at the village entrance, with a faded bronze gong hanging from it, unheard of for a long time. The dirt road was deserted; occasionally, villagers would peek out from behind rooftops or windows, their eyes filled with numbness, fear, and a hint of unnatural wariness. Upon seeing Lu Zhao and Lao He, two unfamiliar faces, they would immediately shrink back inside.

A heavy, lingering sense of oppression and death permeated the village. The sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking were absent, and even the chirping of insects seemed rarer than elsewhere; the silence was unsettling.

"Alas, what a tragedy," Old He sighed and said in a low voice, "A once beautiful village has been turned into this mess. People are living in fear, no one dares to let their children go out during the day, and at night every household keeps their doors tightly locked, not even daring to turn on the lights."

Lu Zhao nodded. His keen senses could detect the faint, familiar, and chilling aura in the air, similar to that emanating from the "Soul-Eating Puppet" in the abandoned border town, but seemingly more mixed and turbid, carrying a nauseating, cloyingly sweet, and fishy smell.

"Let's go to the village chief's house and ask about the situation first," Lu Zhao said to Lao He.

The village chief, an old man with a hunched back and a deeply lined face, surnamed Li, was the only one in the village who still had some backbone. His house was the only decent brick and tile house in the village, but it also exuded an air of decay. When he saw Lu Zhao and Old He, especially Old He's bodyguard attire, the village chief's cloudy eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed again.

"You're from town... a brave warrior, aren't you?" The village chief's voice was hoarse as he gestured for the two to sit down, his hands trembling as he poured two bowls of murky tea. "Several groups came a few days ago, but they all... sigh..."

"Sir, we've been sent by the garrison to investigate the disappearance of a child from your village." Lu Zhao took the teacup but didn't drink it, getting straight to the point, "Could you tell us the details of what happened?"

A flicker of pain crossed the village chief's eyes as he slowly began his story, which was largely the same as Li Gang's, only with more details. The three missing children were all around ten years old, two boys and a girl, who all vanished mysteriously at night. The first was the blacksmith's boy, playing in his yard when his family went in to get something, and he disappeared. The second was the carpenter's daughter, sleeping next to her parents at night; when they woke up in the morning, the blankets between them were empty, and she was gone. The third was the village chief's own grandson, sleeping in his room with the doors and windows closed; when they woke up in the morning, the bed was neatly made, but he was gone, and on the wall, a strange snake-shaped symbol was drawn in blood.

"What does that symbol look like?" Lu Zhao pressed.

The village chief dipped his finger in tea and drew a twisted, interconnected snake pattern on the table, consistent with what Li Gang had described. Lu Zhao stared intently at it, focusing his attention and channeling his spiritual power to perceive it.

[Unknown runes detected, containing a faint aura of malevolence.]

[You can try using experience points to analyze the information and learn more. Experience points required: 50.]

Lu Zhao's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't choose to analyze it for the time being. He continued to ask, "What happened next? Did anyone hear any sounds or see anything unusual? Especially at night?"

"A sound..." The village chief's face showed fear. He looked around and lowered his voice, "The night the first child went missing, a young man on night patrol in the village said he thought he heard a child crying from the direction of the back mountain, a whimpering, eerie sound. He thought he had misheard. The night the second child went missing, my wife got up in the middle of the night and said she thought she saw a shadow drift past the window, dark and indistinct, like a person, but not quite... The third..."

His voice was even lower: "The night after the third child went missing, a few brave young men from the village, after drinking some wine, went to the cemetery behind the mountain to investigate, but... but they never came back. On the third day, someone found them by the cemetery. They weren't dead, but they were all dazed and could only say 'ghosts,' 'snakes, snakes,' 'don't come any closer'... We called the doctor from town, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He just said they had lost their souls."

It was indeed related to the cemetery behind the mountain! Moreover, what the villagers saw and heard was very likely the "thing" itself. The sound of a child crying? A dark shadow? A snake? Combined with the blood-red snake-shaped runes on the wall...

Lu Zhao had a vague guess in his mind, but he still needed to verify it in person.

"Thank you for letting me know, sir. I'd like to visit the cemetery behind the hill; is that convenient?"

"Ah?!" The village chief was startled and waved his hands repeatedly. "No! No! You can't go there! Several groups of heroes from the town went there to see, and... alas, those who came back didn't say a word, they just took the town's reward money and left. Brave man, listen to my advice, that place... is eerie! Don't go there to your death!"

"Don't worry, sir, I know what I'm doing. I'll just look around from the outside and not go any deeper," Lu Zhao said calmly, but his eyes were firm.

Seeing that he had made up his mind, the village chief looked at Old He beside him. Old He sighed and shook his head at the village chief, indicating that he couldn't dissuade him. The village chief could only sigh and say, "Very well... If you insist on going, brave warrior, remember to return before dark! That place... is absolutely forbidden after nightfall! Alas..."

Lu Zhao nodded, asked the village chief for directions to the cemetery, and then, under Lao He's worried gaze, left the village alone and headed towards the back mountain.

Old He wanted to come along, but Lu Zhao refused. It would be more convenient for him to act alone, and if there were any real danger, Old He's skills would only be a burden.

Leaving the village and heading further into the mountains, the area became increasingly deserted, with lush, eerie vegetation. The cold, cloying, and fishy smell in the air grew stronger. All around was utterly silent; not even the chirping of birds could be heard.

After walking for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a rocky slope appeared ahead. Dozens of graves stood haphazardly on the slope, most of them simple earthen mounds, a few with stone tablets, but most were incomplete and covered in moss. Several withered locust trees stood gnarled and twisted at the edge of the cemetery, adding to the desolation. Deeper into the cemetery, several collapsed tombs could be vaguely seen, revealing dark, gaping entrances.

This is the cemetery on the back hill of Lijia Village.

Lu Zhao stood at the edge of the graveyard, not immediately going in. He first activated the [Refining Spirit Technique] to its fullest extent, maximizing his mental perception, and cautiously probed into the graveyard ahead like an invisible spider web.

Wherever his spiritual power passed, it returned only deathly silence, chilling cold, and distortion. A scattered, weak, yet resentful and unwilling spirit seemed to permeate the ground, like fragments of obsessive thoughts left behind by countless departed souls, chaotic and disordered. But within this chaos, Lu Zhao sensed a point deep within the graveyard, near the collapsed tombs, where an unusually dense, chilling aura emanated, even exhibiting a certain regular fluctuation.

Just as he was concentrating on investigating that spot, suddenly, a faint, intermittent child's cry drifted from the depths of that dense, yin energy.

"Waaah... Mother... I'm scared..."

The voice was childish, mournful, and filled with endless grievances, echoing through the silent, desolate graveyard, sending chills down one's spine.

But Lu Zhao's gaze suddenly turned as sharp as a knife.

The moment the crying came, at the edge of his mental perception, near that dense point of Yin energy, an extremely hidden, twisted mental fluctuation, radiating greed and malice, flickered very slightly!

It's "bait"!