The next morning, Feng Yang found himself back near Linjiang Village once again.
This wasn't because he had foolishly returned. The previous night, he had escaped to a location several kilometers away, yet upon waking, he discovered he was lying near the village outskirts.
The situation was deeply strange. Feng Yang frowned. Even if someone had carried him back while he slept, the distance should have roused him. Why did he have no memory of the night?
Furthermore, as he woke, he noticed villagers diligently working in the fields near Linjiang Village. This scene appeared ordinary, but combined with his experiences from the previous night, it seemed profoundly odd.
Feng Yang distinctly remembered those villagers being trapped all night within the 'worm-infested area' by the white light barrier. They had spent the entire night with the woman in white, yet they seemed completely unharmed? Even if they had survived, shouldn't they have fled far from the infested area? Instead, they were working as if nothing had happened, apparently planning to continue living there.
Moreover, Feng Yang realized the three villagers killed by the pig-headed monster yesterday seemed to have reappeared in the fields. Stunned, he counted the villagers again. Just like the day before, there were fourteen. Had the dead villagers inexplicably come back to life?
Feng Yang walked over and stared silently at Li Wei, who was working the land. Feeling the intense gaze, Li Wei looked up and asked, "What? Did you need something?"
"Nothing," Feng Yang shook his head. Clearly, Li Wei no longer recognized him. It seemed these resurrected villagers had no memory of the previous day's events.
Roar!.
Feng Yang's thoughts were interrupted by a pig's squeal nearby. A pig-headed monster had appeared, blocking the villagers' path back to the village, mirroring the previous day's events. Feng Yang's heart rate quickened. The only difference was that today, only one creature stood before them.
Feng Yang guessed this lone pig-man wasn't one of the two that had escaped. While these creatures couldn't speak, they possessed a degree of intelligence; they wouldn't knowingly return to their deaths. This likely was the very pig-man the villagers had killed yesterday, now also resurrected.
Having lost their memories, the villagers were unaware of the creature's combat prowess. They immediately went on high alert, drawing their weapons and huddling together. The resurrected pig-man, similarly forgetful, seemed to have no recollection of its crushing defeat. After a tense standoff, it finally charged.
Facing this lopsided confrontation, Feng Yang didn't hesitate. He unwrapped the cloth from his longsword and charged forward decisively.
Due to the vast difference in combat power, the pig-headed creature, besieged by Feng Yang and the villagers, was dead on the ground within three minutes.
Just like the day before, Feng Yang's display of prowess drew the attention of all the villagers. Li Wei, longsword in hand, stepped out from the crowd. He clasped his hands in a respectful bow and asked humbly, "Sir, you've come from the Immortal Sect, haven't you?"
The familiar question left Feng Yang speechless, a strange expression forming on his face.
After briefly dealing with Li Wei, Feng Yang noticed the villagers propping up the pig-man's corpse with wooden sticks. Soon, they carried it away in the direction opposite the village.
...
Having assisted them, Feng Yang was invited by Li Wei to the village as a guest.
Upon entering, he witnessed the exact same scene as the day before: a large crowd of villagers gathered in the central square, creating a great commotion around two children whose bodies had turned completely black. Between them stood a woman in brightly colored clothes, chicken feathers stuck in her hair, muttering incantations.
As someone from modern society, Feng Yang's knowledge far surpassed that of this world's natives. He finally understood the familiar scene unfolding before him. The villagers' reappearance likely wasn't a simple resurrection. Feng Yang guessed it was due to a shift in time. In short, he was trapped in a bizarre time loop, his timeline inexplicably reset to the previous morning.
But one question remained: if this was truly a time loop, why was he the only one who retained his memories, while the villagers seemed to have amnesia?
As Feng Yang pondered, the Insect Granny began to dance and gesticulate wildly. Just like the day before, after her incomprehensible babbling, two wisps of black energy emerged from the children and shot into her body. Instantly, the Insect Granny collapsed, lifeless.
The surrounding villagers immediately recoiled in fear, wary of the black energy.
Feng Yang, understanding the village would soon transform into that strange 'worm-infested area,' dared not linger. To avoid being trapped in the time loop again, he had to escape. Taking advantage of the distraction, he slipped away to the village fence, climbed over, and quickly left Linjiang Village behind.