"Brother Ye, we've been teleported to this little broken village for two or three days now. What kind of place is this? We can't get out, and we don't know when we'll be trapped here. We can't even send out a message to let them know we're safe. What will happen to Sister-in-law and little niece then?"
Ye Tiancheng picked up a chopstick of greens, shook his head with a dejected expression, and said, "I don't know what to do either. I'm completely helpless. I can't get out, and I'm more anxious than any of you."
Inside a dilapidated earthen house with leaky walls, Ye Tiancheng, Fatty, and Little Fox were gathered around a small wooden table with a wobbly leg, eating. Fortunately, they had placed some square bricks under the table leg, allowing it to stand steadily on the ground so the three of them could have a decent meal.
The dishes on the table looked quite good, at least on the surface. However, upon closer inspection, one could tell that the dishes only looked presentable.
Ye Tiancheng and his two companions were eating three dishes and one soup. The soup was wild vegetable soup, and the dishes were smashed cucumber, stir-fried wild vegetables, and scallions mixed with tofu. They also had a modest amount of rice, with each person receiving less than a bowl. Moreover, they didn't get to eat rice every day; today was just one of the rare occasions they had rice.
Usually, their staple foods were more like flatbreads, steamed buns, and large steamed buns, with the large steamed buns appearing infrequently, as rare as rice.
Fatty was correct in calling this village a "little broken village." The people in this village were extremely poor and couldn't afford much good food, so naturally, they couldn't host them with anything good. However, the fact that the three of them couldn't eat meat wasn't solely due to the villagers' poverty.
There was a very peculiar point: even though the villagers were so poor, they ate meat at every meal, and there was quite a lot of it. Yet, they hadn't seen them raise many poultry. If they were hunting, the villagers didn't seem to have the capability for that.
On one hand, the village was poor, and hunting equipment was scarce. On the other hand, there weren't many mountains or forests nearby, so even if they wanted to hunt, there was nowhere to go.
Therefore, the three of them couldn't quite figure out where the villagers' meat came from. For this reason, they were hesitant to eat the meat from this village. They only ate it once when they first entered the village and hadn't touched it since.
Because Fatty couldn't quite be sure, he couldn't tell what kind of meat the villagers were serving him. In any case, he couldn't think of any way the meat matched the types of meat he had eaten before, which made Fatty completely afraid to eat the meat and unwilling to try and guess its origin.
It wasn't that the meat tasted bad, but its origin was truly unknown. Moreover, they were in such a strange place, and they had been teleported here after a battle near that stone. How could anyone feel at ease?
Although Fatty wasn't the most meticulous or composed person, he wasn't stupid either. Once he discovered something amiss, he secretly became vigilant.
Furthermore, the more pressing matter now was to figure out how they could leave this strange place as soon as possible. This was the top priority. Fatty and Little Fox didn't have any particularly urgent matters, but Ye Tiancheng definitely needed to return home urgently.
Over these past two or three days, Ye Tiancheng must have been extremely anxious, as he couldn't come up with any good ideas. Unlike his usual self, he couldn't offer any advice or be the backbone for Fatty and Little Fox.
Fatty guessed that Ye Tiancheng was too anxious. He was very understanding of Ye Tiancheng and tried his best to think of solutions for him, feeling anxious for Ye Tiancheng.
As for Little Fox, he was still young. After arriving in such a strange village, Fatty discovered that Little Fox couldn't use his cultivation. The things Little Fox knew were also unusable. Fatty didn't expect Little Fox, at his age, to be of any help to Ye Tiancheng. Therefore, he didn't force Little Fox to do anything, only asking him to protect himself, and that was all.
Fatty also found himself strange. During this period, he always felt an inexplicable anxiety and urgency, a constant unease, and couldn't calm down. He didn't know what reason caused him to feel this way.
Even with Ye Tiancheng here, he couldn't feel at ease. However, seeing how anxious Ye Tiancheng himself was, Fatty wasn't someone who relied solely on his brothers. Therefore, he didn't tell Ye Tiancheng about his abnormal emotions. Of course, he also didn't overthink things or complicate them.
Fatty felt that being suddenly teleported to such a strange place and being unable to leave, anyone would feel uneasy. Therefore, he didn't dwell on it too much, to avoid adding pressure to himself.
"Here, Little Fox, eat more. You haven't been eating well lately. Children are still growing, how can you not eat properly? Don't be willful. Even if it's not very tasty, at least eat a bit more, eat until you're full. Otherwise, in a place like this, if you get hungry and danger strikes, it will be terrible, and you won't be able to escape."
Temporarily putting aside those messy thoughts, since there was no solution anyway, Fatty sighed and put a chopstick of smashed cucumber in front of Little Fox.
Little Fox, however, gave Fatty a resentful look. His large, dark grape-like eyes were misty, looking very pitiful, as if he was about to cry. He quietly complained to Fatty, "But I really want to eat meat. Brother Fatty, can't we eat meat? Eating these dishes every day, my face is almost turning green!"
Ye Tiancheng, standing beside them, glanced at Little Fox and then echoed his sentiment, "Yes, Little Fox is still growing. He's young, how can he not eat meat? Eating only vegetables all day."
"You also know that Little Fox needs to eat more. Fatty, for the next meal, go and get some more meat dishes. Even if the two of us can't eat meat, eating like this every day isn't sustainable. I feel like if I keep eating like this, I'll turn into a vegetable. I also really want to eat meat."
Hearing Ye Tiancheng say this, Fatty looked utterly astonished and completely unable to comprehend. "No way? Brother Ye, you can't endure it for this long? This is a special situation we're in. In this weird, broken place, would you dare to eat that meat that mysteriously appears from who knows where??"
"There's no other way now. If we endure this for a while, there will be plenty of opportunities to eat well later. But if there's something wrong with those things, and we all get stuck here, what future will there be?"
"Brother Ye, have you forgotten Sister-in-law and little niece? They are waiting for you at home. This shouldn't be the case. Even considering them, why have you become so reckless? You're even more reckless than I am. Really? Even if you want to eat meat, we have to endure it now!"
Ye Tiancheng's expression immediately turned unpleasant. He heavily placed his chopsticks on the table, making a loud "bang" that startled Little Fox, who flinched and shrunk his neck, not daring to make a sound.
With a dark expression, Ye Tiancheng said to Fatty in a displeased tone, "Am I not concerned about Little Fox? Little Fox wants to eat meat, and we haven't eaten meat for a long time. People can't stand it if they don't eat meat. That's why I said that. Would I do something to harm you? What do you mean by that? Are you implying I have ill intentions?"
"I... I didn't mean that. Sigh, I'm sorry, Brother Ye. Now is not the time to argue. I just wanted to persuade you to endure. We really can't eat meat now, and none of us can do anything about it. We can only bear with it."
Seeing Ye Tiancheng get angry, Fatty dared not say more. He didn't think Ye Tiancheng intended to harm them; he trusted Ye Tiancheng completely. So, after explaining his intentions, Fatty stopped talking and didn't insist on serving Little Fox any more food. Since Little Fox didn't want to eat, forcing him would be useless.
"I'm sorry, Brother Ye, Brother Fatty. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be arguing. If we don't eat meat, we don't eat meat. I don't really want meat that much. The vegetables are also quite delicious."
Little Fox forced a smile and picked up a chopstick of wild vegetables, trying to smooth things over. However, his expression was also very unhappy. Clearly, his thoughts were different from what he said. He didn't agree with his own words of mediation, which was obvious.
"Little Fox, I understand you. I don't know what Fatty is doing, refusing to eat meat, making it seem like we two are the odd ones out. How can people not eat meat?"
Ye Tiancheng said discontentedly. He said this to Little Fox, but he was actually speaking to Fatty. Fatty clearly understood this and felt very uncomfortable, only managing a bitter smile.
Little Fox lowered his head and ate his rice, not saying anything, not agreeing with Ye Tiancheng's words. However, his attitude naturally mirrored Ye Tiancheng's. He tacitly agreed with Ye Tiancheng's statement, but it seemed he felt he shouldn't add fuel to the fire, so he didn't say much.
Fatty really didn't know what to do. What was going on? Wasn't it Ye Tiancheng who had been suspecting Little Fox all along? And their relationship had become so strained.
Now, Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox seemed to be on the same side, making him feel like he was caught in the middle, offending both of them and unable to please anyone. It shouldn't be like this. It wasn't that Fatty wished Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox wouldn't get along, but he just felt something was too strange, yet he couldn't articulate it.
They couldn't leave this village because the village seemed to be on an isolated island, surrounded by boundless water. They didn't know if it was on a lake, the sea, or a river. The water surface was always covered by an unmoving mist, making it impossible for them to leave.
Moreover, they couldn't use their cultivation now, making it difficult to move around. The mist outside also seemed very strange. In any case, Fatty had a bad feeling about it, and out of caution, he didn't want to get close.