Xiao Song's emotional outburst finally led to a plan he had pondered for two days and two nights.
"Let Li Zhengguo try to disguise himself," he suggested.
Disguise? It seemed like a good idea.
So, the couple who had gone out on business returned to the village.
And Chen Suozhu had bad luck, having three days' worth of blood drawn from him.
The blood from the first two days was dabbed by Tian Jing onto her husband's personal clothing.
The blood from the third day was bottled by Tian Jing, protected by her abilities, and the couple left the village again.
This time, Tian Jing was extra cautious, even preparing a bottle of ginseng essence.
Li Zhengguo, following behind her, was also careful and vigilant.
After guiding her husband into the hole in the round lid of the maze, Tian Jing still dared not relax.
She threw out a vine, which rooted itself in the dividing line between the yin and yang fish, precisely in the center of the black and white graves.
Seeing her husband slide down the sturdy vine to stand on the dividing line, Tian Jing breathed a sigh of relief. She then grabbed the vine, used her abilities to jump, and landed beside her husband.
Glancing at the graves on either side, Tian Jing handed the two bottles and the golden lock to her husband.
"I'll go to the white grave, and you go to the black grave. No matter what happens, stay calm, and find a way to locate each other."
"Okay!" Li Zhengguo took the items, put them in his pocket, and reached up to stroke his wife's face. "Tiantian, be careful."
"You be careful too."
The couple walked separately to the left and right along the dividing line.
The white grave in front of Tian Jing had no tombstone, only a stone door.
There were no characters on the door, only a pair of recessed handprints...
She placed her own hands on them, and suddenly felt a sharp pain as her palms were pricked, and blood flowed out.
She turned and shouted, "Zheng Ge, pour the blood on your hands and press them here."
"Okay."
Li Zhengguo responded loudly and followed his wife's instructions.
His vision flickered, and he found himself in a dim space that felt like a storm was about to break.
He oriented himself and started walking forward.
Soon, he came to a street.
A street? Wasn't he in a grave?
But after his wife's discourse on her "book world," he didn't dare to be too subjective.
He walked slowly and cautiously, observing both sides of the street.
He saw shops and restaurants lining the street.
However, some of the small shops looked like they had been ransacked, with broken doors, windows, and counters.
The hazy sky was oppressive, and his mood also felt restless.
He warned himself to stay calm when facing an unknown environment.
After walking for a while, he saw a person walking towards him.
He waited where he was for the person to pass, observing the passerby.
The passerby's expression was numb, their clothes were dark and dirty.
He looked closely at the shoes on their feet and recognized them as yellow canvas shoes from the 1970s or 80s.
Li Zhengguo looked left and right, seeing no one in either direction. Unsure how long it would be until another passerby appeared, he decided to ask this person for directions.
"Comrade, excuse me..."
The numb passerby's face immediately showed fear. "Don't come near me, don't come near me, I have nothing."
Li Zhengguo quickly waved his hand at him. "Comrade, don't be afraid, I just want to ask for directions."
The passerby eyed him warily for a long time before speaking, "Where do you want to go?"
"Ling County, Huojian Commune."
"Commune?" The passerby was surprised. "Communes were abolished years ago, replaced by townships."
"When was it abolished?"
"A few years ago."
"What year is it now?"
The passerby looked at him as if he were an idiot. "You didn't just come out of the deep mountains, did you?"
Li Zhengguo nodded vigorously. "Comrade has sharp eyes. I've lived in seclusion in the deep mountains for many years and have lost track of my age and the current year."
The passerby was skeptical. "Even if you lived in seclusion in the deep mountains, you should know when the world became like this, shouldn't you?"
Li Zhengguo hadn't expected this passerby to be so difficult to fool, so he decided to tell the truth.
"Comrade, to be frank, I just emerged from a formation. The formation is another realm."
"I genuinely don't know what year it is, nor when this world began to change."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have stopped you just to ask about things you all know, right?"
The passerby nodded. "Your reason is somewhat plausible. But what is this formation?"
Li Zhengguo explained the mystery of the formation in a way that was both profound and vague, making the passerby's eyes spin.
"Can I enter the formation with you then?"
Li Zhengguo changed the subject. "I was suddenly ejected from the formation. As soon as I came out, I found it so dim here."
"It's making me feel very depressed. I want to return to the formation as soon as possible, where the air is fresh and the sun shines brightly."
"As for the way back, isn't that what I'm asking you about? Who knew you didn't know about Huojian Commune?"
He certainly wouldn't admit that he couldn't enter the formation on his own, otherwise, this passerby might not be willing to bother with him.
Listening to Li Zhengguo, a flicker of envy and jealousy appeared in the passerby's eyes.
"Is it that good? I haven't seen the sun in a long time."
"If you promise to take me with you, I'll help you find the way back."
Li Zhengguo waved his hand. "So long, then. You're not the only person left in this world."
"You need to ask others, can't I ask myself?"
Seeing Li Zhengguo about to leave, the passerby became agitated and grabbed his sleeve, refusing to let go.
"Brother, brother, please help me, I really can't go on living."
"Look at this street, there are hardly any pedestrians, that's because people don't dare to come out often."
"It's easy to encounter robberies if you come out, and shops don't dare to open, so everyone hides at home, enduring the days and praying for this abnormal situation to pass quickly."
"I'm really out of food, so I came out hoping to find something to scavenge."
"I saw you, brother, your clothes are clean, your posture is upright, and your face is rugged. You must be skilled. To be able to live in a formation, you must be a master."
"Brother, take me as your subordinate. Teach me a few moves so I can survive."
Feeling the weak pull on his arm, Li Zhengguo turned to look at the person who was pulling him with all their might.
"Are you also lacking salt?"
The passerby nodded in surprise. "Yes, yes! I've been lacking salt for months."
"Since things are so chaotic, why don't you go get some guns and ammunition?"
The passerby shook their head in panic. "Shush, you can't say that. Guns and ammunition are not something ordinary people can get; they are all with the government and the military."
It was somewhat chaotic, but not like the apocalypse.
In the apocalypse his wife described, it was "finders keepers," and the strongest ruled.
Moreover, there were zombies and ability users.
He couldn't ask about zombies, but he wanted to ask, "Brother, have you heard of ability users?"
The passerby shook his head. "Never heard of it."
"Then where is this?"
"Qi County."
Qi County?
That was good, not too far. Only Feng County was between it and Ling County, a total of about sixty or seventy kilometers.
About a hundred kilometers from Kushan.
"Are there cars leaving the county?"
"Yes, they don't charge money, they charge food."
Food? His own stomach was growling with hunger.
He fumbled in his pocket: a bottle of ginseng essence, a golden lock, and half a bottle of congealed blood.
The golden lock was definitely not to be touched.
In this hungry space, the ginseng essence seemed useless; it wouldn't stave off hunger.