In this bizarre world, I can extract supernatural powers.

When the room door opened, the creaking sound was like that of rotten wood, making one's teeth ache.

A middle-aged man carrying an oil lamp cautiously walked out.

He didn't dare to look around, and didn't even notice Xu Bai not far away, as he walked to the table.

The middle-aged man carried the lamp oil in his other hand and began to refill the lamps with oil for each one.

Throughout the entire process, the middle-aged man kept his head down, as if he were afraid that something terrifying might appear around him.

After all the oil lamps were refilled, the middle-aged man carefully turned around and prepared to walk back into the room.

But just as he turned around, Xu Bai slowly stepped forward.

Upon hearing the footsteps, the middle-aged man shuddered and stiffly turned his head.

When he saw Xu Bai, his eyes widened suddenly.

"A ghost! A ghost!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the night.

Lights immediately lit up in every room throughout the village.

Immediately afterwards, villagers carrying farm tools ran out of their rooms and surrounded Xu Bai.

Every villager's face was filled with terror, as if they had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

Xu Bai raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking to himself, "It seems the things here are quite terrifying."

Anything taken to an extreme will turn into something else entirely.

For example, fear.

When fear reaches its extreme, even ordinary people dare to carry things and fight head-on.

That's how it is right now.

Xu Bai remained silent as another middle-aged man stepped out from the crowd.

This middle-aged man seemed to have a lot of authority; when he walked out, the surrounding villagers immediately made way for him.

"Are you human?" the middle-aged man asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Xu Bai nodded and said, "I just arrived in the village and wanted to stay overnight, but I didn't expect to encounter such a situation."

The middle-aged man came to his senses and quickly waved his sleeve, saying, "Our village never receives outsiders. You should leave immediately."

Xu Bai shook his head and said, "It's already late, and I have nowhere to stay. How about this, I'll give you money?"

As he spoke, he took out his money pouch.

But before he could take it out, the middle-aged man didn't give him the chance at all.

The middle-aged man angrily said, "I said we don't entertain outsiders, and that's final. No matter how much money you have, we don't want it."

Xu Bai sighed.

He felt there was something strange about the village and didn't want to reveal his identity, but judging from the middle-aged man's expression, he seemed extremely dissatisfied with him.

Xu Bai raised his finger, intending to summon lightning.

He doesn't like wasting time.

If that's the case, then let's be more assertive.

But before he could activate his inner energy, he suddenly noticed a person standing outside the village.

It was a woman dressed in black, with rather delicate features.

Even dressed in all black, the woman's graceful figure could not be concealed.

A token was hanging from the woman's slender waist.

Xu Bai recognized the token; it belonged to the Ghost Hunter.

The woman shook her head slightly at him, pointed outside the village, and then disappeared.

Xu Bai felt something and temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​summoning the thunder.

"Who are you?" Xu Bai suddenly asked.

The middle-aged man frowned and said, "I am Village Chief Sun from Huai Village. Why are you asking this?"

Xu Bai shook his head and said, "It's nothing. If you don't want to, then just leave."

As he spoke, Xu Bai prepared to walk out.

Village Chief Sun frowned even more deeply.

He originally wanted the villagers to keep Xu Bai, but seeing Xu Bai's extraordinary bearing, he temporarily suppressed the idea and waved his sleeves at the villagers.

"Get out of the way!"

The villagers looked at each other, then quietly made way for each other.

Xu Bai walked out of the village.

Village Chief Sun breathed a sigh of relief when his figure disappeared at the end of the village.

"Go back and rest. If any outsiders come here again, wake everyone up immediately."

The villagers looked at each other and agreed in unison.

After that, there was no one else there, and the village returned to silence.

……

After leaving the village, Xu Bai walked towards the location the woman had indicated.

Before long, they arrived at a secluded grove of trees.

In front of the woods, a woman in black sat on a rock, idly kicking pebbles on the ground with her slender legs.

Xu Bai stepped closer and asked, "How should I address you, young lady?"

The woman looked up, a smile playing at the corners of her eyes, her red lips slightly upturned: "Liu Yue, what about you?"

Xu Bai gave his name and continued, "Miss Liu called me out earlier, did she discover something new?"

The woman in front of them was now clearly identified as the other person who had accepted the mission.

Liu Yue chuckled, stood up, and walked lightly to Xu Bai: "Newcomer?"

Xu Bai did not hide his reaction and nodded slightly.

"No wonder," Liu Yue said with a smile. "Only newcomers would rush in; veterans always observe the situation outside the village first."

At this point, Liu Yue changed the subject.

"How about a collaboration?"

Xu Bai thought for a moment and said, "We'll each get half of the total one hundred merit points. As for the other rewards, we'll each get half."

He's a newcomer, so there's no problem with working together.

After all, what he wanted was a bizarre life; achievements were secondary.

Liu Yue raised her delicate hand, wanting to pat Xu Bai's shoulder.

But she was only as tall as Xu Bai's shoulder, and Xu Bai had already taken a step back, so he could only withdraw his hand and put it behind his back, looking old and dignified.

"Half for each of us is fine, since the merit points aren't much anyway. I only accepted the mission because it was so close."

Xu Bai said, "In that case, Miss Liu, could you tell me about the situation in Huai Village?"

What Liu Yue just said proves that she has been observing Huai Village for several days.

Since the two parties have a cooperative relationship, Xu Bai naturally asked directly.

After a moment's thought, Liu Yue said, "I have been here for three days. This village is strange. Every night, a woman's mournful screams can be heard coming from an old locust tree in the north of the village."

"The constables came to the village, but when they arrived, the villagers covered the roots of the old locust tree with a red cloth, and no screams were heard."

Xu Bai frowned and asked, "What are they trying to hide?"

Liu Yue nodded and said, "That's right, that's why I said this village isn't as simple as you think."

"If you wanted to cover it up, why did you report it to the authorities?" Xu Bai frowned even more deeply.

He couldn't quite understand it.

If they really wanted to cover it up, they could have simply not reported it.

The officials in the government wouldn't know, nor would the ghost hunters.

But how did the news get leaked?

Liu Yue turned her gaze to the village entrance: "This is the place I also find strange, but I've only been here for three days and haven't gotten any more information."

Xu Bai wanted to ask a few more questions.

After all, he knew very few clues, and if he could find subtle clues, it would be of great use to this mission.

But at that moment, something unusual happened.

A woman dressed in tattered clothes appeared in the village.

The woman was dressed in simple cloth, but her appearance was extremely delicate.

However, upon closer inspection, one would notice that the woman's eyes were erratic, clearly indicating that she had lost her mind.

The moment the woman appeared, Xu Bai and Liu Yue both frowned.

"This is... a cultivator?"