Hourglass Project - Chapter 4

Smart people tend to have high awareness.

Coincidentally, all five of them were smart.

——

The villagers said to gather again at lunchtime. For the rest of the day, they were free to explore the village and get familiar with it. The real cultural experience will begin tomorrow.

Since they didn’t know each other, they couldn’t play together, so they each formed their own teams to look for quest clues.

“Hey sis, want to team up?”

The girl looked expectantly at them while the boy stood behind her watching.

“Sorry, we only want to team up with people we know.” Huang Jijun smiled politely and refused.

“But if we get to know each other, then we’ll be familiar, right?” the girl replied innocently.

Huang Jijun still shook her head apologetically.

The girl looked disappointed and left with the boy. Just a few steps away, they could hear the boy scolding her.

“Told you not to talk to them. They already have their own group. Why would they need us?”

“I just wanted to ask. Besides, they looked reliable!”

“Pfft, probably all for show.”

Huang Yuhan chuckled and looked at her. “For show, huh~”

“Sometimes being ‘for show’ is a good thing,” Huang Jijun smiled. “Not being seen as a threat is better, it lets us stay low-profile and unnoticed.”

Being seen as “for show” was a general perception of them. Once this idea took root, people would collectively assume they weren’t a threat. That made life easier.

“Hah, with the five of us, we can’t really stay low-profile even if we wanted to,” Huang Yuhan gave up and pulled a blade of grass to toy with. “It’s like we shine naturally.”

“Being humble is good,” Huang Jijun replied calmly.

Huang Yuhan burst out laughing.

The five-member team wasn’t afraid of being doubted, they preferred to let their strength speak. Doubt meant nothing to them.

The duo waited for a while before the others arrived.

The team and Shen Wenyu decided to start with the villagers. Li Moyao pointed out the dark circles under the villagers’ eyes, it seemed odd.

Dark circles under the eyes suggested they weren’t getting proper rest. If it were just one or two, it could be explained. But so many? That was strange.

“Big sis!” A little girl tugged on Huang Jijun’s pants and looked up at her with big eyes. “Are you here to visit our home?”

The group paused and looked at her.

Huang Jijun crouched down and gently patted her head. “Yes, we are.”

“Will you play with me?” the little girl asked.

Huang Jijun smiled gently. “What do you want to play?”

“Umm…” The girl went silent, lowered her head, then looked back up. “Do you know my name?”

The sudden change in topic was a bit unexpected, but no one showed confusion. Huang Jijun mentally noted it and responded with a question, “Then do you know my name?”

The little girl froze, seemingly surprised by the response. She shook her head. “No…”

“Then I don’t know yours either.” Huang Jijun pinched her chubby little cheek.

The little girl then looked at the others and walked over to Lin Yi, tugging on her pants with a look of pure innocence. “Big sis, do you know my name?”

Lin Yi opened her mouth, glanced at Huang Jijun, who was watching her with a smile, then looked down at the little girl and awkwardly reached out to pat her head. “I… I just got here. I’m not familiar yet…”

The little girl pouted and asked the same question to each of them. Everyone gave a vague response.

“You’re all so dumb! You don’t even know that!” she shouted angrily and stomped her foot.

Li Moyao smiled and squatted down, one arm holding Shen Wenyu, eyes curious. “Yeah, the sisters and brothers really are dumb~ Not as smart as you~”

The little girl beamed at the praise and raised her head proudly.

Li Moyao smiled again and asked, “Then can I ask you a question? Since you’re so smart, I’m sure you’ll know the answer~”

“Go ahead!” the girl said confidently.

“Why does everyone here seem so tired? What are they doing?”

The little girl stared at her for a while, then suddenly giggled.

Li Moyao patiently waited for an answer.

The other four stayed silent, watching the strange little girl.

She giggled for a while, then covered her mouth and mischievously asked, “Big sis, do you know how many people live in the village?”

Li Moyao shook her head.

The little girl laughed again and danced around them, chanting, “Big sis is dumb! Big sis is dumb!”

Tao Luo lowered her eyes to watch her. When the girl skipped past her side and kept giggling, she suddenly ran off.

Shen Wenyu looked at her retreating figure and said, “What a strange little child.”

Li Moyao lifted him up and smiled toward the direction the girl ran, then turned to the others. “Let’s go find the village chief~”

Huang Jijun had the same idea, so the six of them set off. On the way, they discussed the little girl.

Analyzing her words: at first, she said “our home,” then later referred to “the village.” The difference in wording was subtle but telling if you were paying attention.

Throughout the conversation, the little girl asked four questions, each seemingly random. Connecting that with the earlier system announcement…

Answering the villagers’ questions might be their mission.

And the key question could be that one; “How many people live in the village?”

“Coming to visit our home” is a normal question, but “How many people live in the village?” doesn’t sound like something a child would ask.

So that might be the true mission question.

Which raises another problem; How can you find out the exact number of villagers? Counting them one by one wouldn’t be accurate. And the question might not be that simple, there could be more than one.

“Fvck! Did you just figure that out?” Huang Yuhan asked, amazed.

Shen Wenyu hugged the girl’s shoulders and smiled. “Of course! Yaoyao is amazing!”

Huang Yuhan looked at him in mock disdain. “You’re such a clown.”

Shen Wenyu grinned adorably.

In truth, he knew that this kind of micro-space was no challenge for Li Moyao. She might be able to get out in less than three days.

Huang Jijun smiled at Li Moyao. “Looks like we’ll be leaving here soon.”

“If you still want to experience the local customs~” Li Moyao yawned playfully.

“No, no, no,” Lin Yi shook her head like a rattle drum, clearly rejecting the idea. “I’d rather leave sooner.”

She really didn’t want to stay in this weird village full of strange villagers. Not a second longer.

Huang Yuhan laughed at her. “Coward!”

Lin Yi pouted and said nothing.

“Will we get caught if we try to leave forcefully now?” Tao Luo suddenly asked.

Li Moyao and Shen Wenyu looked at her. Li Moyao smiled knowingly. “Yeah. And I think you already know why.”

Their understanding was strong enough, they all knew what each other was thinking.

Based on memories from earlier, they found the village chief’s house.

If the theme is “village and villagers,” the chief must be involved.

Standing to the side, the six discussed who should go in. If all six entered together, the chief might get suspicious. After all, this was a game, not everything should be approached with real-world logic.

They decided that Li Moyao, Shen Wenyu, and Huang Jijun would go. One thinker, one speaker, and one to act cute.

The three were about to head in when they suddenly paused.

Huang Jijun turned and saw Li Moyao listening intently, Shen Wenyu with a serious face.

They had heard something.

She turned back and gave the others a calming look, then closed her eyes and listened too.

“Don’t even think about escaping!”

“Let me out!”

“Never!”

“You heartless man! How could I have a father like you?!”

“I never said I had a daughter like you!”

“……”

“How about I sing you a song? You used to like it when I sang.”

The female voice suddenly turned gentle.

“Shut up! No singing!”

The village chief continued shouting, followed by crashing sounds and more yelling.

“I told you to stay here! Don’t even think about leaving!”

Then, silence.

Huang Jijun calmly asked, “Should we still go in?”

The chief had just lost his temper. If they went in now, it might make things worse.

Li Moyao looked intrigued, turned to her with a smile. “Want to be a hero and save the beauty?”

Huang Jijun was surprised. “So impulsive?”

“Not impulsive,” Li Moyao smiled, “Just decisive. You’ve heard the saying.”

Huang Jijun paused. “Better to kill by mistake than to let the guilty go?”

“Exactly.” Li Moyao nodded.

Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty escape.

She cradled her arms, deep in thought.

The other three joined them, naturally full of questions. But Li Moyao gave the same answer, sending them into contemplation too.

Saving the girl sounded rash, but if you strip it down. It’s just another way to complete the mission.

Starting with what’s not normal might just lead to the real answer.

For now, the team and Shen Wenyu explored elsewhere, looking for clues.

Noon was near.

The villager from the morning was very diligent, he went around gathering everyone again and repeating the lunch meeting point. The team almost felt tired on his behalf.

The lunch spot was a wooden shelter. Few villagers were around. The food came from a nearby wooden cabin.

A little boy placed a bottle of iced tea on the table and tugged the skirt of the girl next to him. In a sweet voice, he asked:

“Sis~ do you know what my name is?”

Almost instantly, most people at the table turned to look.

The girl who was asked froze. She thought it was just a kid’s random question but realized others were unusually alert.

She panicked and looked around. No one spoke up. She glanced at the village chief, who was pouring local wine for nearby guests, seemingly unaware.

She swallowed hard. “…I don’t know…”

From a few seats away, Tao Luo noticed Li Moyao hadn’t even glanced over. Shen Wenyu was whining for a drink, and Li Moyao just laughed and poured the iced tea into Tao Luo’s cup.

Shen Wenyu pouted, but Li Moyao poured him a full cup next.

Tao Luo looked at her drink and smiled helplessly.

The little boy laughed and ran away without asking anything else.

The girl was confused and asked others, but no one gave her an answer.

Soon, the village chief announced the meal, giving a short speech thanking the tourists for improving the local economy. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Then it was just eating and drinking.

“Judging from everyone’s reactions just now, most of them must’ve been asked that question too,” Lin Yi said to Huang Jijun.

The latter nodded. “These kids love asking questions. Maybe it’s a guide.”

“A guide?” Lin Yi questioned. “Could it really be that simple?”

Huang Jijun smiled. “It’s simple for us, because we have Yaoyao. Not everyone’s lucky enough to be asked a question like ‘how many people are in the village.’”

True. Judging by their experience, not every kid kept asking follow-up questions.

That’s where luck came in. They were lucky enough to be teased by the girl and then get the village headcount question.

Lin Yi understood and nodded with a smile. Huang Jijun clinked cups with her.

“To luck.”

Meanwhile, Huang Yuhan watched them, confused.

After lunch.

“Chief.”

The village chief turned and saw two travelers approaching. When they got closer, he asked, “Yes? What is it?”

“We’d like to learn a bit about the village,” Huang Jijun said with a notebook and pen in hand.

Li Moyao stood nearby, hands in her pockets, curious about the chief’s brief flicker of surprise at the question.

The chief’s alertness vanished quickly, replaced by a bright smile. “Why do you want to know?”

“To better connect with the village. It’ll help us appreciate the local culture,” Huang Jijun kept smiling. “Just a few questions, nothing over the line.”

The chief nodded. “Alright, ask away.”

“What are the customs of the village? Anything we should know?”

The chief replied, “Customs? Oh, every year we dig up aged wine from the ground and hold a wine festival at year’s end. Nothing special to watch out for.”

Jijun jotted that down. “What do the villagers usually do together? Any group activities?”

“Not really.”

“Where do you get daily supplies? What’s the source?”

The chief thought. “Clothes and such are made by elderly women in the village. They distribute them, and the villagers pay them. Other goods are collected from the town at the end of each month.”

“I see…” Jijun nodded. “How many villagers are there? How long does it take the elderly women to finish the whole village’s needs?”

The chief thought a bit longer. They watched him closely but noticed nothing odd.

Eventually, he answered, “There are about 100 households… I think around 341 people. The older women take one to two months.”

Jijun noted the number and thanked him. “Got it. Thank you, Chief.”

He quickly replied, “No need to thank me, I should thank you for visiting. Everyone here loves having tourists.”

After bidding farewell, the two returned home, discussing the population count.

Based on the chief’s reaction, the number of villagers wasn’t a secret.

But that meant…

Suddenly, Li Moyao smiled. “Jijun, remember I mentioned graves on the mountain?”

Jijun paused, eyes wide. “We have to count the dead too?”

That would make things much harder.

“That’s just one possible answer~” Li Moyao said cheerfully. “Maybe there are others~”

Jijun didn’t respond, just fanned herself with her notebook.

As they walked back, they passed a house where a man was chopping wood. That wasn’t strange. What was strange was the crowd of women watching him.

The man chopping wood was handsome, rugged, and looked no older than twenty, tall and strong. The muscle lines on his body changed as he chopped wood. He had wheat-colored skin, and perhaps because the weather was hot, he was not wearing a shirt.

No wonder there are so many women.

The two stopped and paused, finding the scene novel.

After looking for a while, Chai Lang discovered them and waved his hand to greet them warmly.

When he raised his hand, he also raised the other women over, and they all stared at the two of them, fearing that they would seduce Chai Lang away.

“…………”

Under the gaze of the group of women, the two left without saying a word.