After completing the bizarre game, the world experienced a global resurgence of strange occurrences.

Fang Yuan withdrew his gaze and searched for his missing colleague among the unconscious people scattered on the ground.

A short while later, Fang Yuan found the other party.

Seeing that the other person's face was pale and their breathing was extremely weak, Fang Yuan quickly squatted down and carefully checked the other person's condition.

"Thankfully, he just fainted; he's not seriously injured."

Fang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, then carried the person on his back and quickly walked to Chen Zhuo's side.

At this moment, Chen Zhuo had already walked to another pile of ashes and was searching through them with his white cane.

"Brother, what are you looking for?"

Faced with Fang Yuan's question, Mirror Ghost preemptively answered for Chen Zhuo.

"Remember that straw man from earlier, the one with the black top hat on his head?"

He was looking for the traces left after the top hat was burned.

Fang Yuan was taken aback upon hearing this, and instantly recalled the unique straw man from earlier.

He quickly lowered his head, his gaze sweeping across the ashes scattered on the ground.

Just as the Mirror Ghost said, apart from the fine straw ash, the ground was very clean, without even a trace of the top hat's burning residue.

Fang Yuan's expression instantly turned serious.

Even the most flammable fabric will inevitably leave some trace after being burned.

Something is definitely amiss here; this is definitely not normal!

He swallowed hard, looked at Chen Zhuo beside him, and spoke with a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"Brother, do you think... this strange incident isn't over yet?"

Chen Zhuo nodded slightly, his brows still furrowed and not relaxed.

He put away his white bone cane, pointed at the unconscious villager on the ground, and spoke calmly.

"It's almost dawn, we shouldn't stay here any longer, let's leave first."

As for the unconscious villagers, they should be handed over to the local police.

Fang Yuan immediately nodded in agreement and took out his phone to dial the police.

The police arrived at the scene shortly afterward.

Fang Yuan immediately took out his identification to show his identity.

Five years have passed since the strange events began to occur, and the number of bizarre incidents has been increasing. The reason why the public has been able to keep it a secret until now is not only due to the organization but also with the help of the police.

Therefore, most of the police officers were aware of the existence of the strange events.

After learning the identities of Chen Zhuo and his companion, the police let them leave, saying they would handle the rest.

After doing all this, Fang Yuan carried his still unconscious colleague on his back and followed Chen Zhuo away from the field.

After a battle, dawn was breaking, and the village was gradually filled with the sounds of people.

As soon as Chen Zhuo and his group reached the village entrance, they heard several middle-aged women huddled together by the roadside, chatting in hushed tones, their voices filled with panic.

"Have you heard? Old Wang's second son also went missing last night!"

"This is terrible! How many times is this? When will this ever end?!"

"No, my daughter is the apple of my eye, I need to go home and look after her."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yuan shuddered, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on his back.

He turned to look at Chen Zhuo beside him, his admiration growing even stronger.

If Chen Zhuo hadn't been there, he would have dealt with those straw figures and then gone back to report without telling his colleagues.

When the lurking monster strikes again, even more people will disappear from the village, leading to another massacre.

It wasn't until this moment that he fully realized what was happening.

Those straw figures were just a decoy; the black top hat that vanished into thin air was the real key to this bizarre incident.

Fang Yuan didn't say anything more and quickly followed Chen Zhuo.

He cannot leave the village until the strange events are resolved.

But with nowhere else to go, they had no choice but to follow Chen Zhuo.

Not long after, Chen Zhuo returned to Shi's mother's house.

Chen Zhuo pushed open the courtyard gate and went inside. Shi's mother had already gotten up and was sweeping fallen leaves in the yard.

Upon seeing Chen Zhuo return, Shi's mother immediately put down the broom and greeted him with a smile.

Chen Zhuo stepped aside and introduced Fang Yuan and the other person behind him to Shi's mother.

"Auntie, these two are tourists visiting the village. I found them this morning when I was exercising."

By a twist of fate, the girl found the villager who had been missing for the past few days.

Mistaking it for a mass grave in the village, we found her and she fainted shortly after.

So I brought them here, hoping they could stay at your place for a while.

Upon hearing this, Shi's mother looked at the unconscious girl on Fang Yuan's back, her eyes filled with heartache.

"Oh dear, this child is suffering. Quick, carry him inside and let him lie down."

She quickly opened the door and led the two of them in, muttering to herself.

"Wait here, I'll go to the kitchen right away and make you some porridge and breakfast. You must be starving so early in the morning."

Fang Yuan gently placed his colleague on the kang (a heated brick bed) and covered her with a quilt.

Looking at the girl's still pale face and her lack of any signs of waking up, he became increasingly anxious.

Not knowing what to do, he could only turn to look at Chen Zhuo, who had followed him in, his tone filled with worry.

"What should we do? Her whole body is tainted by this eerie energy, what can we do?"

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Zhuo handed something to Fang Yuan.

"Give it to her, and she'll wake up soon."

Fang Yuan looked closely and discovered that it was actually an oral liquid bottle.

Moreover, he could clearly sense that the contents of the bottle exuded a slightly eerie aura.

Although Fang Yuan didn't know the origin or function of this item, he had no other choice but to try it as a last resort.

He could only carefully pry open his colleague's mouth and feed him the liquid little by little.

Just a few minutes after the liquid was fed, the girl on the kang (a heated brick bed) let out a soft hum and her eyelashes fluttered.

Not long after, she slowly opened her eyes, her gaze still somewhat dazed.

Fang Yuan instantly became excited and quickly stepped forward.

"Great! She's finally awake!"

He turned to look at Chen Zhuo, his voice full of gratitude.

"Brother, thank you so much! I owe you so much this time!"

This thing must be quite valuable. Once I get back to the Xiaolu City branch, I'll definitely report this. I promise you won't suffer any losses!

Chen Zhuo waved his hand: "Just some little things, don't worry about them."

He helped her only to wake her up so he could get some useful information out of her.

He turned to the conscious woman and asked in a deep voice, "What exactly happened yesterday?"

Fang Yuan and his companion froze on the spot upon hearing this, their faces filled with astonishment.

Judging from the effects of that potion, it was definitely a treasure.

But in Chen Zhuo's eyes, such a treasure was just a trivial matter that was not worth mentioning!

The two were amazed; just how profound must this brother's background be!

It wasn't until Chen Zhuo asked again that the woman came to her senses and began to recount what had happened the day before.

"After I arrived in the village yesterday, I secretly searched for the Ghost Gate."

After about half a day, I finally found the strange thing and was about to seal it away when the straw man discovered me!

The number of straw figures was too large, and besides, I wasn't the one who pushed the door open.

After several waves of attacks, I was unable to withstand them and was trapped.

The woman paused, then couldn't help but tremble.

"Just when I thought I was doomed, a straw man wearing a black top hat appeared before me..."