2 Chapter 1: Can't Live More Than Three Years_2

With each rotation, the surrounding chill would lessen a little. Owen Bertram had grown up this way, yet he never felt this comfortable before.

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead: "It's too late!"

The sun was about to set, so he hurriedly put the Little Loach into the gourd, grabbed a small knife, and ran towards the entrance of the village.

...

Outside the dilapidated village, several Government Officials were shivering from the cold.

One of them, Abbott, kicked a stone by his feet and complained, "This Extinct Village is really a strange place. The sun hasn't set yet, but it's already so cold."

Team Leader said, "Isn't that why it's called Extinct Village? People who move into the village all die within three years, making them extinct."

A Government Official who had read a few books sighed, "The Life Saving Tax in this place is the lowest, and all those who moved here are pitiful people."

Abbott sneered, "Who can care for others in this world?"

He looked up at the sky and said, "I don't think anyone will come anymore. Team Leader, let's go. Staying in this ghost place for a while seems to shorten my lifespan by three years."

Team Leader, also fearing the Extinct Village, hesitated briefly before agreeing: "Alright..."

As the Government Officials were packing up their things, a frail little boy ran out from the village, holding a pearl in his hand: "Paying the tax, paying the tax..."

The Government Officials cursed their bad luck. The one who had read a few books said, "The sun hasn't set yet."

The Government Officials glared at him, and then reluctantly stopped to wait.

Owen Bertram ran gasping, "Good thing I made it." He felt a bit strange in his heart as it seemed like he ran much faster today.

Team Leader took out a scale, placed Owen's pearl on one side, and grain on the other. Finally, the two sides balanced.

Team Leader grabbed three handfuls from the grain and threw the remaining to Owen Bertram.

There was only a small bag of grain left. Owen Bertram sighed secretly. This was the "rule," but he still felt indignant. The food that he had risked his life for was not enough for him and his sister, so why should these Government Officials have their share?

Abbott glared viciously at him, "What, not satisfied?"

An old man from the village quickly came out, grabbed Owen Bertram, and smiled apologetically, "The child doesn't understand. Please don't take offense, sir."

With that, he pulled Owen Bertram back.

"Hmph!" Abbott snorted angrily, and together with the Team Leader, they collected their things and left.

The old man sighed deeply and patted Owen Bertram's head, "Robert, bear with it. If something happens to you, what will your sister do?"

Owen Bertram lowered his head, but there was a trace of unwillingness in his eyes.

...

On the edge of the village, there was a house with half of its roof collapsed, where a seven or eight-year-old girl was sitting on the broken doorstep, sucking her fingers and looking around. Seeing Owen Bertram's figure, she excitedly ran towards him: "Brother!"

Verna charged—attack!

Owen Bertram laughed and spread his arms wide open, but when his sister jumped and tried to leap into his arms... he suddenly dodged to the side.

Thud!

"Wah..."

The sister's crying was very loud, but she was unharmed. This child had always been particularly tough since she was little. Owen Bertram smiled, and over the years, 80% of their food had gone into Verna's stomach, making Ava Bertram the strongest child in the village.

Every day, she would lovingly greet her brother, and each time, he felt the impact was painful.

Owen Bertram told this to her, and she took it very seriously and remembered it, but would forget it the next day. After her brother left, she would sit on the threshold and suck her fingers, giving people the impression that her whole day's waiting was just for the sake of bumping into her brother.

"Wah... wah... Bad brother!" Verna pouted, tears streaming down her face.Owen Bertram waved the food in front of her, and her cries stopped abruptly: "Want to eat?"

Owen handed the food to her: "Cook some rice." Ava took the food with both hands and reverently went inside. To Verna, a bad brother taking advantage of his sister was the second greatest sin in the world, but the greatest sin was wasting a single grain of food.

In the small, broken house, smoke rose from the stove, and soon a pot of porridge was cooked.

Owen sat waiting for the meal, inhaling the deep aroma of the food. Verna wasn't good at much and had a knack for eating anything that came her way, but there was one thing she excelled at: her cooking was truly delicious.

The simple plain porridge, cooked to perfection with the heat controlled to maximize the aroma of the food.

Ava scraped the pot clean and gave a bowl to each of her siblings. As usual, Owen poured more than half ofhis bowl into his sister's: "I ate some wild fruit outside, I'm not that hungry."

After consuming half a bowl of thin porridge, Owen didn't feel very hungry - in the past, this small amount wouldn't have been enough to fill his stomach.

Considering the various anomalies of the day, Owen speculated in his heart: was it because of that warm current?

Verna licked her bowl clean, and even thought about licking the pot, but the charcoal fire inside the stove hadn't gone out yet, making her teary-eyed from the heat.

Night gradually fell, and Ava began to doze off.

Owen closed the door tightly, securing it with a thick wooden stick, and then held his sister as they crawled into a hole beside the stove. He patted her back: "Sleep now."

Owen didn't dare fall asleep himself.

The night in Extinct Village was even colder and darker than anywhere else. The siblings relied on the residual warmth of the stove to prevent them from freezing to death.

But compared to the real danger, the cold was inconsequential.

The earth suddenly shook and a muffled thunder-like sound approached. Something enormous was slowly making its way toward them. Owen held Verna tightly, lowering his head and not daring to look.

The old grandpas in the village had said that the large dirt mound behind the village was the tomb of an ancient demon god, and these gigantic monsters were all descendants of that demon god. At night, the descendants of the demon god would come back to pay homage to their ancestor.

There were many deaths in Extinct Village, not only because it was unusually cold and dark, but also because these giant creatures occasionally entered the village.

With just one step, they could crush people and houses alike.

But for some reason, those huge monsters usually didn't pass through the village.

However, today Owen clearly felt that something was wrong: the rumbling and shaking was getting closer and closer! It seemed that his own house was directly in the path of the giant monster.

Boom...

Boom...

It was very close now, Owen gathered his courage to look up. There was a hole in the roof, and he saw a foot larger than his house slowly descending from the sky.

At that moment, Owen felt ice-cold all over. The small gourd hanging on his body suddenly moved, restless as the Little Loach within.

The terrifying foot slowly stopped descending. Cold sweat dripped from Owen's forehead onto his sister's mouth.

Verna slept soundly, sticking out her little tongue and licking the drops a few times. The salty taste seemed quite good, so she smacked her lips twice in her sleep.

The terrifying foot moved away, and Owen felt as though everything had come to a standstill, with time passing unbearably slow.

After what felt like an eternity, a huge blood red eye suddenly appeared outside the crack in the roof!

The eye stared into the house for a long time. Owen felt as though his heart had stopped beating, but the eye suddenly vanished.

Boom...

Boom...

The sound gradually faded away, and Owen breathed a sigh of relief, only to discover that his entire body was soaked in cold sweat.

Owen fell into a daze and slept in the second half of the night. Those giant monsters only appeared in the first half of the night.