He only remembered that after being exhausted from work, he came home, collapsed into bed, and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, he suddenly heard some kind of commotion, then felt a sharp pain in his forehead, and after that, he remembered nothing.

"Where... is this..." He opened his mouth to speak, but found his throat felt as if it had been cut by a knife—he couldn't make a sound, only a hoarse wheezing escaped.

At the same time, he could feel his forehead was burning hot, his body feverish, and the corners of his eyes were crusted with hard, dry sleep.

Inflamed—something in his body was definitely inflamed, probably his throat.

"Medicine," the girl's voice came at that moment.

After a clear sound of the door closing, everything quieted down.

The filthy girl shuffled with difficulty, taking a blackened metal box from the corner of the room.

"Take the medicine... and you'll get better." She brought the medicine over to Henry Clark.

With a click, she opened the lid. Inside the metal box were many pieces of charcoal, and in the middle of the charcoal, three pale yellow capsules wrapped in paper.

But the surface of these three pills was already covered in tiny mold spots, with pale blue mold and visible green mold fuzz.

"These pills... can't be taken, right..." Henry Clark's face stiffened as he looked at her. Now that he was more awake, his throat seemed much better, and he could speak more smoothly, though it still hurt.

"Besides, what kind of medicine is this? I don't even know what's wrong with me, and you want me to take it? What if it can't be cured?"

"First, tell me—who are you, where am I, and what on earth is going on?"

The girl holding the medicine looked confused. She opened her mouth, making inarticulate sounds, anxious, but no words would come out.

Now that he was closer, Henry Clark could finally see her face clearly.

Her skin was dark, covered in patches of yellowish grime. She wore layers of clothes from summer, autumn, and winter all at once; the collar was black and greasy, and a strong stench of sweat wafted from her.

She was a beggar.

In fact, many beggars were probably cleaner than her.

From a distance, she looked like a moving pile of black clothes.

Up close, he noticed her body was somewhat deformed—one leg was lame, and a large tumor bulged from her right shoulder, its outline visible even through her clothes.

She was less than one meter fifty tall, short, filthy, and moved very slowly.

But her eyes were as clear as gemstones, with almost no impurities.

The book has finally started. As usual, updates will be around five in the afternoon. If there's a delay, it's not my fault~~lol.

This time it's a cruel and terrifying world. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Chapter 2: Eerie Shadows II

Faced with Henry Clark's questions, the girl was completely at a loss. She didn't know which question to answer first.

She stood there blankly, the medicine box in her hand trembling so violently it seemed the pills might fall out at any moment.

Click.

The door was pushed open again, this time from the outside.

A middle-aged woman in a filthy white coat walked in. With yellow skin, black hair, and black-rimmed glasses, she was clearly the woman who had seemed like a doctor earlier.

"I'll answer your questions. Don't make things hard for Grace. She was sick before, suffered a fright, and now her speech and mind aren't quite right."

The woman walked to the bedside and placed a light gray kettle on the wooden nightstand.

"We don't know how you got here. Last night, when Grace went out to gather firewood, she accidentally found you in a pit and dragged you back."

"When we found you, you were unconscious, with no obvious injuries—just in a coma and feverish. Grace gave you plenty of filtered water, and after waiting all night, you finally woke up."

At this, the woman let out a breath.

"Now, about this place—this is Baiqiu Village, surrounded by deep mountains. The only connection to the outside is an old road to the west."

She paused.

"I'm the village doctor, surname Xu. She's called Grace Wood, an orphan who lives here alone. There's nothing else important to tell you. That's it. Now it's your turn. Tell us—who are you, how did you get here, and why did you come?"

"Dr. Carter, may I call you that?" Henry Clark gathered his thoughts, endured the pain in his throat, and spoke in a low voice.

Seeing her nod, he continued.

"My name is Henry Clark. I was just sleeping at home, and then—" He described in detail what he had felt before.

"I don't know how I ended up here, either." He struggled to raise his hand and pressed it to his forehead.

"How old are you?" Dr. Carter suddenly asked.

"Twenty... twenty-seven..." Henry Clark answered reflexively.

"That's enough. You can't go back anyway. In times like these, it doesn't matter where you came from or how you got here. Without a car, going out is suicide. Looks like you'll be staying here for quite a while." Dr. Carter said flatly.

"??? No car? Can't I... borrow a car from someone to take me to the nearest station? I can pay!" Henry Clark was a bit stunned.

"Station?" Now it was Dr. Carter's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about? What station? Who's going to drive you anywhere these days? The outside is crawling with all sorts of monsters. Going out alone is just asking to die."

"Monsters?!" Henry Clark was dumbfounded.

"What monsters??" He suspected she was acting, or maybe mentally unstable.