At the next moment, the sound of a door being opened reached the ears of those still awake.
Wan Qian lifted the dead rabbit from beside the door with one hand and opened the door with the other.
"It's so late—why aren't you sleeping?"
The village at night was unusually dark. On this particular night, even the moonlight was gone. Wan Qian couldn't see the person standing outside her door clearly. In the pitch black, there was only a vague silhouette.
The figure wasn't tall, with oddly long and thin limbs, arms and legs nearly the same length, and it appeared to be wearing some kind of head covering.
Wan Qian thought to herself. The customs in this village sure are weird. Performing opera in the middle of the night? And with a head covering, no less. But as an outsider, she felt it wasn't her place to judge. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Still... she raised the rabbit in her hand and, expressionless, said to the opera performer, "I'm hungry."
The performer said nothing, standing completely still.
Wan Qian continued, "Do you know where I can cook this? I want to eat rabbit meat."
Finally, the opera performer moved. It slowly lifted its head and opened its mouth at Wan Qian.
In the darkness, Wan Qian didn't see clearly. What she assumed was a head covering was actually a massive dog's head. A row of razor-sharp teeth gleamed faintly—bright enough to catch the eye even in a moonless night.
Seeing those sharp fangs coming for her neck, Wan Qian reflexively raised her leg and kicked the thing square in the chest.
In an instant, the creature flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground with a pained, agonized howl.
"Awooooo!!!" it howled—its cry reminiscent of both a dog and a wolf.
"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Wan Qian exclaimed, startled by the force of her own kick. As she hearing its agonized cries, and felt a pang of guilt—she hadn't meant to hurt it; it was merely a reflex.
Hurriedly, she stepped forward, intending to help it up. But before she could get close, the thing suddenly dropped to all fours and charged at her with incredible speed.
In the dark, its row of gleaming fangs was clearly visible again. But before it could reach her throat, a hand came down hard on its head, pinning it a few steps away.
The thing thrashed its limbs wildly, as if struggling through water, but made no progress.
Could this guy be mentally ill? Wan Qian had seen on TV that some families were too poor to send their mentally ill relatives to the hospital. Sometimes, these patients would sneak out when their families weren't paying attention—even going so far as to attack people on the street.
No wonder, she thought—what kind of village has customs like this, with people putting on performances in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? The only explanation that made sense was that the guy was mentally ill.
A headache began to form as Wan Qian looked at the madman before her. She knew full well that under the law, a mentally ill person who injures someone is not held criminally responsible.
Thus, her first task was to confiscate his weapon—both to prevent him from harming others and himself.
"Clack, clack, clack!" After a few sounds, the glinting "weapon" fell to the ground.
The guy, who were firmly constrained by Wan Qian so he couldn't move, could only emit a series of pitiful "woo-woo-ow" cries. The sound was so heartrending that it brought tears to one's eyes.
Wan Qian kicked the scattered weapon further away and let go, finally relieved.
Putting everything else aside, when she had pinned the guy down just now, her hands had felt a thick layer of fuzz beneath them. Judging by that, he might be skinny, but clearly his family still cared about him—a cold night like this, and they'd made sure he was bundled up in a thick cashmere sweater.
She couldn't help but wonder if his family would be worried upon discovering he had been out at this hour.
Wan Qian handed the rabbit and the bag filled with mushrooms to the guy, asking him to hold them for her.
The guy let out a somewhat aggrieved "woo-woo" but still obediently took them, one hand holding the rabbit, the other slinging the mushroom-filled bag over his arm.
Wan Qian was quite satisfied with his behavior. See? Even mentally ill people can cooperate if you just communicate properly.
Of course, the most important thing was to disarm him as soon as possible. Otherwise, it could be really dangerous.
Wan Qian grabbed his furry arm with one hand and pulled him along, while the other hand knocked on the villagers' doors.
The sky looked like a faded black cloth, not pure black but a faint shade of grayish clouds. There were no stars, no moon. Only a faint, diffused light through the clouds barely illuminated the road ahead, enough to make out the doors of each house.
Wan Qian was already drowsy, and with her notoriously poor sense of direction compounded by the darkness, she found herself repeatedly circling back and knocking on the same doors.
"Hmm? This house seems familiar... didn't I just come here? Ah... never mind, I'll just knock again."
"Is anyone still awake? Open the door, please. Has someone in your family gone missing?"
"Why isn't anyone answering? Come on, call out. Let the people inside hear if it's someone from their family."
"Awooooo!"
Wan Qian kept wandering through the village, not sure how long she had been going in circles. No matter how many times she knocked, not a single door opened.
Yet sometimes, she could faintly hear sounds from behind the door, but whenever she knocked again, the noise would fall silent.
In the pitch-black night, within the ancient and tranquil village, a woman—accompanied by a peculiar creature—wandered about, murmuring softly and knocking on door after door.