Yesterday, Aunt Cuihua was worried sick about her husband, desperate to find him.

How could she have such a terrible attitude toward Wang Laosan today, even extending to Wang Wenfei?

"Hey, Auntie, is Ning okay? Would you like a Liuliumei to suck on if you're alright? Why are you yelling at people first thing in the morning?"

Wang Wenfei didn't bother arguing with Cuihua, but that didn't mean Lu Xiaoyao wouldn't. She hated NPCs with that kind of face the most.

Standing in front of Wang Wenfei, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Didn't you see we're all dressed and ready to go up the mountain to help you—呸!—help my classmate find her dad?!"

"Go up the mountain?"

Cuihua's voice changed at that, and she looked at Wang Wenfei in surprise and suspicion, asking, "You're willing to go up the mountain?!"

Wang Wenfei fell silent.

Lu Xiaoyao and the others sensed that Cuihua's attitude was strange. What was going on now?

Before they could speak, Cuihua started muttering to herself, overjoyed, "Going up the mountain is good, you go up the mountain. If you still can't find your dad, you can make a wish to the mountain god! Your dad will definitely come back."

"If it's so good, why don't you go up the mountain and make a wish?"

Mei Ruita also felt that this NPC gave off an unpleasant aura, so she couldn't help but retort.

"I... I don't have as much face as my girl, do I?" Cuihua suddenly stopped, glared at Mei Ruita and the others, and waved her hand, "Forget it, I can't talk to you outsiders. Since you want to go up the mountain, I won't delay you."

With that, the shrewish look she had just had vanished completely, and she waved her hand and left.

In the end, Mingmei glanced at the NPC, a trace of disgust flashing in her eyes.

Turning around, Mu Chen and Julian came downstairs. Seeing that they seemed to be ready, Mingmei stopped Wang Wenfei, Julian, and Mu Chen.

"As I said yesterday, if you go up the mountain, I'll prepare a little gift for you." Mingmei smiled and handed them three torches.

The torches looked unremarkable, but when they took them, they noticed the different remarks—[This is a torch that will never go out once lit, and it can also dispel all illusions.]

"You two, why don't you bring the torches from your rooms." Julian, after receiving the torch, was silent for a moment before reminding Lu Xiaoyao and the others.

The delivery of this item indicated that they would likely need torches next. Only Lu Xiaoyao and Mei Ruita hadn't bought box lunches, so since they weren't getting a special torch from the boss, it wouldn't hurt to prepare one themselves, right?

"Okay."

...

"Huh? Boss, are you going up the mountain with us too?"

In the end, they discovered that Mingmei had followed them when they went up the mountain.

"Yes, as a believer of the mountain god, I often bring offerings up the mountain," Mingmei said with a smile, following behind them, and generously showed everyone the lunch box she was carrying.

"Wow! Roasted chicken?"

Lu Xiaoyao's heart turned sour as she looked at the golden and shiny roasted chicken.

It was better than anything she had eaten in the past two days.

Even Mu Chen took a few more glances, but his focus was strangely different: "The boss didn't make this, did you?"

Mingmei: "..." Was he mocking her?

"Of course, I don't have such good skills." Mingmei glanced at Mu Chen, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

After speaking, Mingmei quickened her pace and walked directly to the front of the group. At this moment, a fog suddenly rose in the mountain forest. Before they could notice, Mingmei disappeared from their sight.

Leaving only a vast expanse of white.

The thick white fog in the mountains in the early morning caught people off guard. Coming back to their senses, everyone lit the torches they had brought.

Julian watched as the warm orange light emitted from the lit torch instantly dispelled the thick fog within a meter's radius around him.

Lu Xiaoyao and Mei Ruita followed suit, taking out the torches they had brought from the store.

However, not only was the effect of dispelling the fog with their torches not as good as with Julian's, but their torches also made crackling sounds when they came into contact with the fog.

Each time they crackled, Lu Xiaoyao watched as the flame on her torch shrank by a circle, and then, in less than ten minutes, her and Mei Ruita's torches went out.

In comparison, Julian couldn't help but sigh: This box lunch was worth it!

Lu Xiaoyao's vision fell into a white blur once again, and she was dumbfounded.

She could still hear voices and knew her companions were by her side, but she couldn't see anything.

"Stand closer."

Julian's soft sigh came from the white fog, and then Lu Xiaoyao's wrist was grabbed by a hand and pulled to the side, until she bumped into the other person's firm chest, and then Lu Xiaoyao realized that she had been "taken in" by Julian? m..oΓg

[Ehhh~~~~]

[Good heavens, I told you, the way this guy looks at our baby is definitely not innocent!]

[No, no, no, before it was called murderous intent! Now... tsk, tsk, tsk!]

...

Lu Xiaoyao didn't know why, but looking at the other person from so close suddenly made her feel nervous, and her face started to burn.

She was just about to say that she wanted to change places, but on the left, Mu Chen was holding a torch alone with a "no admittance" expression, and Lu Xiaoyao was scared half to death when she peeked at him!

She couldn't plot against the big shot's torch!

Thinking about it, she looked to the right, but saw that Wang Wenfei and Mei Ruita were already standing together, and it wouldn't be appropriate for her to squeeze in!

Then... she would just have to make do, what else could she do?

"What's with that look?"

Julian looked at the girl in front of him, who looked around before looking at him with an expression full of disgust and helplessness, and he couldn't help but laugh.

What a silly girl!

"What's going on with the thick fog in the mountains? Feifei, do you know?"

Relying on the torches, the group finally managed to adapt to the sudden thick fog in the mountains. Although it was daytime, the surroundings were filled with white fog, but after the fright of the pitch-black fog last night, they were all suffering from some degree of fog-related PTSD.

"I've heard that there's fog in the mountains, but I haven't heard of anything serious happening because of the fog. At most, some villagers get trapped by the fog, and then they safely descend the mountain after the fog clears," Wang Wenfei said, sharing all the information her character knew. "This is a good thing, at least the fog in the mountains isn't as scary as at night."

"Then what do we do now?"

Hearing Wang Wenfei's words, Lu Xiaoyao and the others gradually breathed a sigh of relief.

"Go up the mountain, find people, let's go to the mountain god temple."

Standing still wouldn't solve anything. There were stone steps specially built under their feet. Although they weren't neat, they could tell it was a path, and they wouldn't get lost as long as they followed it.

With this in mind, the group kept walking upwards. Whether it was psychological or not, the fog seemed to dissipate a lot as they went higher. When they reached the end of the stone path, they saw Mingmei standing not far away, and behind her was the mountain god temple that had aroused everyone's curiosity.

Because Mingmei was standing at the door and didn't go in, the group didn't immediately enter the temple either, but instead stood here with Mingmei, looking around.

As they looked around, everyone couldn't help but mutter to themselves—this mountain god temple was too dilapidated.

The vermilion doors were discolored, the plaques were peeling, and even the ancient inscriptions on the stone couplets on the walls had long been eroded by time, with only a few words vaguely visible.

"Demons and ghosts don't eliminate disasters... Summoning wind and rain... Why are so many words missing from this? Even the horizontal inscription only has the three words 'Ze Qianqiu.'"

Lu Xiaoyao scratched her head and muttered, "How awkward, there are only a few words left, might as well scrape it off, it's so uncomfortable to look at."

"Isn't it said that the mountain god is highly worshiped? Why is this place still so dilapidated?" Mei Ruita also raised a question, "If they believe in him, shouldn't the incense be flourishing and the facade be decorated?"

Just as the group was commenting on the dilapidated entrance of the mountain god temple, the discolored vermilion wooden door creaked open, and two people walked out of the temple, one of whom Wang Wenfei recognized—

"Dad? You're really on the mountain?!"