As evening fell, the villagers of Wang Family Village saw that Su Yu and his men hadn’t left, but their eyes held no renewed hope.

These officials from the city... others had stood guard for a few nights before, but it had never solved the problem of the aberration.

People in Wang Family Village still died every few days, just as before.

Everyone was just numbly surviving, waiting for the day it would be their family’s turn.

...

The night was as black as ink, and the cold wind howled like a ghostly wail.

Su Yu arranged for his three subordinates to each stand guard at a key location in the village.

He himself sat cross-legged in a deserted, abandoned house, holding his breath and focusing his senses, alert to the slightest disturbance on the street outside.

However, aside from the sound of the wind and the occasional low bark of a stray dog in the distance, Wang Family Village was as silent as a tomb.

The aberration had vanished without a trace.

Even when the eastern sky grew pale and the morning light drove away the gloom, nothing had happened.

Su Yu summoned his men to gather on the street once more.

The villagers of Wang Family Village, who were up and about, saw Su Yu and his men with numb expressions, as if they had expected this result all along.

A group of ragged children, so thin that their heads looked oversized, crowded around them. They stretched out their twig-like hands, whining and begging.

"Sir... Sir, please have mercy..."

"Sirs, Sirs, are you leaving? Can you give me something to eat before you go?"

"I’m starving to death, Sirs, please give me something to eat."

Su Yu looked into their eyes and sighed inwardly. He took a few coarse flatbreads from his ration pouch and passed them out.

The moment the children got the flatbreads, they began stuffing them into their mouths as if possessed, terrified that a second’s delay would mean starving to death.

But one little girl, after receiving a flatbread, didn’t shove it into her mouth. Instead, she carefully tucked it inside her clothes.

"Why aren’t you eating?" Song Mirror asked, his curiosity piqued.

The little girl swallowed and whispered, "My mom’s starving to death... and my little brother... I’m taking this back for them to eat."

Hearing this, Song Mirror and Zhao Tie felt a lump in their throats, momentarily lost for words.

"Enough!"

An impatient shout broke the heavy silence.

Zhu Rui covered his nose, a look of disgust on his face. "Lord Su! We’re here to catch the aberration, not run a soup kitchen!"

He pointed at the children, his eyes full of the same contempt one would have for sewer rats. "What’s the point of giving handouts to these vermin? It’s a waste of food! If we can’t solve this aberration problem, we should just go back to the city and report in!"

Su Yu slowly turned his head, his gaze icy. "We’ll stand guard one more night. If we find nothing, we return to the city tomorrow."

"Another night? I’m going back right now!"

Zhu Rui’s face darkened instantly. He was truly fed up with this godforsaken place.

He’d never stayed in such a wretched house. Last night, a damn dead rat had popped out from his bed, nearly making him sick to death.

And the food was inedible—wild vegetable and coarse flatbread, without a scrap of meat. It was pure torture.

Su Yu’s expression turned completely cold. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He didn’t speak. He simply rested his hand gently on the hilt of Mo Yuan.

SHIIING...

The blade slowly left its sheath. The sound slid into Zhu Rui’s ears, making his back tense up. The foot he had raised froze in mid-air.

He remembered Su Yu’s reputation. His face shifted between pale and flushed. Finally, he turned back and said fiercely, "Fine! One last night! But Lord Su, if we accomplish nothing again, this will have been a complete waste of time! Even if I take this matter to Commander Li, I will be in the right!"

With that, he turned and stormed off again in a huff.

"My Lord, based on the intelligence we have on the aberration, the chances of it appearing tonight are probably..." The worry in Song Mirror’s voice was clear.

Su Yu also knew that this matter of the aberration was a major problem, not something that could be solved in a short time.

But he had to produce results. Otherwise, three months from now, his so-called mission to quell the chaos and restore the trade routes would be nothing but empty words.

"Zhao Tie, come with me. Song Mirror, you stay here and keep an eye on Zhu Rui. Don’t let him cause any trouble."

"Yes, sir!" the two men replied in unison.

...

「At the banks of the Black Water River.」

The cold wind carried the fishy stench of the river.

"Stay here, watch the horses, and signal if anything happens."

At Su Yu’s command, Zhao Tie nodded honestly and led the two Black-scaled Horses to the riverbank to drink.

Su Yu watched Zhao Tie and nodded in satisfaction. ’Zhao Tie is simple and obedient. He never speaks much and never pries into matters that don’t concern him. He’s a subordinate you can trust.’

Su Yu walked a little further, arriving at the entrance of the watery cave by the cliff.

He stripped off his outer clothes and leaped, naked, into the icy river water.

He activated his Bibo Fish Dragon Skill. Moving as if on solid ground, he expertly swam into the hidden underwater grotto.

Su Yu climbed onto the stone platform and scanned the grotto. It was just as he had left it—dark, silent, and completely unchanged.

At this, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He continued to the stone crevice in the corner, pulled away the rocks covering it, and found the black stone.

The honeycomb-like black stone felt cold and sinister in his hand, still giving him a sense of unease.

Su Yu muttered to himself, "This damned thing is definitely related to the aberrations. I wonder if it can help." He placed the black stone into a wooden box he had prepared and sealed the lid.

SPLASH!

Su Yu’s figure once again disappeared beneath the water’s surface.

...

"My Lord!"

"Hm. Lead the Black-scaled Horses away from the water."

Zhao Tie took the order and immediately pulled on the reins, leading them away from the river’s edge.

Su Yu walked to the water’s edge, took out the wooden box from his robes, opened it, and glanced at the black stone inside. Then, without hesitation, he took it out and placed it in the water.

The moment the black stone entered the water, it was like a hot coal dropped into cold water. A SIZZLING sound erupted, and immediately after, a thick, ink-like black mist spewed out from the stone’s pores, rapidly spreading through the clear river.

Within a ten-foot radius, the river water quickly turned pitch-black and stopped flowing, as if it had become a pool of stagnant water.

Even more terrifying, a cold, sinister aura reeking of corpses slowly rose and spread with the black mist.

’This aura... it’s exactly the same as the aberration’s aura!’

Su Yu’s expression was grave. His eyes quickly swept his surroundings, observing for any movement.

After waiting a short while, the black stone’s reaction weakened slightly, but it still emanated wisps of black mist. It was unclear if the honeycomb-like stone had absorbed enough water, but it had become somewhat smoother, with a few of its hollows gone.

The next moment, Su Yu’s hand shot into the water and pulled the black stone out.

Once out of the water, the stone’s violent reaction ceased, and the wisps of black mist vanished.

A glint flashed in Su Yu’s eyes.

He couldn’t be sure about anything else, but this black stone was absolutely from the same source as the aberrations!

’If they’re from the same source, then what is this black stone’s purpose?’

His mind raced. He recalled how the members of the Water Snake Gang had placed black stones along the bank of the Black Water River, and then he considered the recent, sudden increase in aberrations.

An idea suddenly struck him. ’The recent surge of aberrations outside the city... they were being attracted by the Water Snake Gang using these black stones!’

The Water Snake Gang!

’To think they would dare lure aberrations here, creating such chaos and tragedy outside the city. They’re unbelievably audacious!’

’But how does the Water Snake Gang have this kind of power?’

’No, no! There must be a greater power involved!’

’But could these small black stones alone cause such a massive disturbance?’

’After all, aberrations have also erupted in the depths of the Black Water River. These little stones probably couldn’t have caused that, right?’

At that moment, Su Yu felt as if a vast web of conspiracy, larger than anything he had ever imagined, was looming over Black Stone City.

He had originally thought the Water Snake Gang was just a minor power, but it seemed he had been far too naive.

Su Yu took a sharp breath, suppressing the storm raging in his mind.

’The priority now is to test the function of this black stone. If it can really attract aberrations, then the Water Snake Gang and the force behind them are truly plotting something huge!’

"Zhao Tie, let’s go! To Wang Family Village!"