Dr. Carter didn’t even look at him, acting as if she hadn’t heard. Clearly, she thought that as long as Henry Clark didn’t drag Little Grace down, that would be good enough.

Soon, a large cloth bag was packed and placed on the ground.

Dr. Carter picked it up and carefully set it on Little Grace’s back. The bag was filled with white stones marked with symbols.

“First, go to Old Clark to exchange for food, then head to the open-pit mine to dig for feldspar, and finally collect pigments. Counting the return trip, we must reach Old Clark within an hour. We can rest for a night at the mine, and after collecting pigments tomorrow, we’ll come back.” Dr. Carter instructed.

“Is it far?” Henry Clark frowned, feeling that his stamina might be an issue—he hadn’t fully recovered yet.

“You shouldn’t go. You can’t keep up. Just walk around nearby and come back.” Dr. Carter said coldly. “Light the candles at night, focus on the feldspar during the day, don’t open the door for anyone, don’t look outside, and as long as you do that, there shouldn’t be any big problems. This is also a test for you—if you can’t pass, it means you can’t adapt to this environment and won’t survive long. The sooner you die, the sooner you’re freed.”

“……” Wasn’t that a bit too blunt?

Henry Clark was speechless.

“Yiyi has saved a lot of people. I was rescued by her before too, but you know, those people she saved…” Dr. Carter wanted to say more, but Little Grace tugged at her sleeve.

She realized and immediately fell silent. This time, she simply ignored Henry Clark completely, took her things, opened the door, and left with Little Grace.

Henry Clark paused for a moment behind them, took the house key, and followed them out.

He still decided to go outside and have a look.

No matter what, he had to solve the problem of food and drink first. He couldn’t rely on a disabled little girl to support him forever.

Moreover, most importantly, only by learning more could he find more effective ways to survive and cope.

With a click, he stepped out the door, and Henry Clark finally closed the house behind him.

The three of them lined up in a row, following the gravel path to the left.

The temperature outside was mild—not cold, not hot. The sunlight on their bodies brought a faint warmth.

Of the three, Dr. Carter walked in front, followed by Little Grace, and then Henry Clark.

They wound along the gravel path for a few minutes and arrived at the village’s exit.

At the end of the gravel path was a black dirt road.

The dry black dirt road was wide enough for two cars to drive side by side.

The road was pitch black, winding through abandoned green fields on both sides, stretching into the distance, all the way to the dense, shadowy forest at the foot of the mountain.

Henry Clark noticed that there were few weeds at the edge of the black dirt road, and two rows of black wooden fences had been built.

Many parts of the fence were already rotten and broken, covered in moss.

“This is the only old road leading out.” Dr. Carter said. “If you follow it, it’s about thirty li on foot to the nearest town, but that place might be even more dangerous than here. The more people there are, the more danger there is, and the more it attracts those dangerous things.”

“Let’s go.” She was the first to step off the gravel path onto the black dirt road.

Chapter 7 Decision One

Bright golden sunlight poured down.

The white hill village, surrounded by dark green forest, looked like a piece of dark chocolate in a green cake—abrupt and striking.

The entire village sat atop a large patch of gray-white hills, right at the summit.

There were more than thirty scattered tile-roofed houses in the village.

At this moment, on the western outskirts of the village, a pale-faced man was strolling slowly, glancing around nervously from time to time.

He wore a gray T-shirt and yellow casual pants, both filthy and wrinkled, clearly unwashed for a long time. His hair, clumped together with sweat and oil, had formed a makeshift Mohawk.

On his feet was a pair of gray, unrecognizable sneakers, stepping awkwardly on the muddy ground, clearly not used to these roads.

All around the white hill village, there were no insect chirps, no bird calls—only the faint sound of the man’s footsteps on the ground as he walked.

‘It’s been about fifteen minutes.’

Henry Clark took out his phone from his pocket and checked it. The old-fashioned phone, which he’d kept out of nostalgia, had unexpectedly become a crucial tool here.

He’d been lying in bed for several days. If it had been a smartphone, it would have run out of battery long ago. But this old phone had a small screen, a big battery, and could last more than a week on standby. It was also drop-resistant, wear-resistant, and waterproof.

At a time like this, it gave him great psychological comfort.

On the phone’s screen, the time was clearly displayed: March 5, 2024, 15:32.

“Sigh.” Henry Clark let out a soft sigh. This was the time before he came here.

But now, it was meaningless.

Looking at the empty signal bars in the upper right corner of the phone’s screen, he understood that he was probably no longer in his original world…

Whether it was the news reports he’d read before, or the common knowledge mentioned by Little Grace and Dr. Carter, or the bizarre things he’d encountered, it all pointed to the fact that this… was not his world.

He looked up at the bright sunlight.

Henry Clark bent down and made a mark on the muddy ground with a few stones, stacking them into a small triangle.

This was a marker to prevent getting lost.

It had been fifteen minutes since Dr. Carter and Little Grace left. In those fifteen minutes, he’d wandered around the village for a while.