Charles Yin continued, "If I'm not mistaken, everyone in this village descended from a single couple. Over time, their family grew into what you see now."
Cecilia Gu instantly understood what Charles meant, and a wave of goosebumps swept over her.
If Charles Yin's guess was right, then the people in this village were truly terrifying.
Marriage and reproduction among close relatives.
Even animals don't go this far.
But with bloodlines this close, it's easy for deformities to occur!
A sudden thought struck Cecilia Gu—now she understood why there were so many elderly people in the village, but so few young adults.
They were all executed.
No wonder all the pregnant women were gathered in the center of the village—was it for easier disposal?
If a child was born with defects, they were killed immediately—only the healthy ones survived.
Just thinking about it made Cecilia Gu unable to sleep. She got dressed and said to Charles Yin, "Let's leave as soon as it's light out. This place is too creepy, I can't stand it!"
Charles Yin gently kissed Cecilia Gu's forehead and replied softly, "Okay."
At dawn, the village was still bustling—or maybe it was just that the women hadn't finished giving birth yet.
Cecilia Gu felt her goosebumps getting worse. She lost her appetite for breakfast and just wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Feeling sorry for Cecilia Gu, Charles Yin instructed Alex and the others to quickly pack up and get ready to go.
But before they could leave, someone came to invite them. "The Village Chief says you are honored guests, and we haven't properly welcomed you yet. Please don't mind and join us for a banquet!"
Cecilia Gu was about to speak, but caught a glimpse of the fierce look in the villagers' eyes and swallowed her words.
If she refused, would these people resort to violence?
Charles Yin squeezed Cecilia Gu's fingers gently and gave her a reassuring look, signaling her to stay calm.
Even though Charles Yin didn't have many people with him, each one could take on a hundred.
Taking these people down would be easy.
If it were before, Charles Yin wouldn't have hesitated to make them pay.
But things are different now—they just had a daughter, and want to build good karma for their children. No more needless killing.
Charles Yin replied calmly, "Since the Village Chief invited us, it would be rude to refuse. Please, lead the way!"
Cecilia Gu exchanged a glance with Charles Yin and followed him over.
Alex followed, while the others stayed behind—or pretended to. Some blended into the crowd, secretly protecting Charles Yin and Cecilia Gu.
With a nervous heart, Cecilia Gu followed Charles Yin to the Village Chief's house.
As soon as she entered, Cecilia Gu caught a faint scent of blood in the air.
Charles Yin pretended not to notice anything and said to the Village Chief, "I heard some commotion last night and wondered if you needed our help. But since we're unfamiliar with the village, we didn't want to intrude."
The wrinkles at the corner of the Village Chief's eyes smoothed out as he answered nonchalantly, "Oh, it's nothing. One of the Eighteen Families had a baby."
Cecilia Gu couldn't help blurting out, "Having a baby is so risky—why not go to a hospital?"
The Village Chief just smiled, but his wife explained, "Our village is blessed by the spirits, so of course the children are born here. It's been this way for generations. Why go to a hospital? Hospitals can't protect us!"
Cecilia Gu was instantly speechless.
She was at a loss for words!
Charles Yin said lightly, "Your village is blessed with outstanding people and ancestors watching over you!"
Charles Yin's words made everyone in the room much more satisfied.
The Village Chief's eyes flickered as he signaled to someone and said, "It's just simple food, please don't mind."
Charles Yin nodded, looking unconcerned. "Of course not."
Soon, the table was piled high with food.
Clearly, they'd been prepared for this—hardly 'simple food.'
But—looking at the food in front of her, Cecilia Gu just couldn't bring herself to eat.
She kept feeling there was something strange about this whole meal.
When Charles Yin glanced at the food, his expression barely changed, but he could hardly hide his disgust. He almost lost his composure.
How bold they were!
They actually dared to serve them this stuff!
Alex's face darkened too, but without orders from the boss, he did nothing.
"Please, don't be shy! Help yourselves!" the Village Chief urged.
Cecilia Gu couldn't hold it in anymore—she clapped a hand over her mouth and turned away, about to throw up.
Charles Yin was just about to apologize when he noticed the Village Chief and his wife staring at Cecilia Gu with eyes shining like lightbulbs.
Charles Yin's heart sank even further. He said, "I'm so sorry, my wife isn't well—she can't eat meat."
The Village Chief immediately replied, "No problem, we have vegetarian dishes too!"
The Village Chief's wife quickly had some vegetarian food brought over, but Cecilia Gu still couldn't eat.
Charles Yin just raised his wine glass and said, "I'm really sorry, but we can't eat this meal. My wife isn't well, so we may need to stay a few more days. I hope you don't mind, Village Chief."
"Of course not! Not at all!" the Village Chief replied cheerfully.
Charles Yin immediately took Cecilia Gu and said goodbye. He gave Alex a look, and Alex nodded and quietly left.
Back in the car, Cecilia Gu finally understood—the Village Chief had invited them just to keep them from leaving.
But why did the Village Chief want to keep them?
It wasn't until evening, after Alex reported in, that Cecilia Gu gasped and rushed to the bathroom to throw up.
Turns out, there really was something wrong with this village.
And it was a big problem.
This village moved here over a hundred years ago to escape war and disaster.
Back then, only two couples made the journey.
Normally, if the children of those couples married each other, the family could last three generations.
But without marrying outsiders, extinction was basically guaranteed.
After the war ended, they had the chance to leave, but their children didn't want to go—they thought life here was fine.
Then something happened—their children dug up a treasure in the mountains and made it the family heirloom. It was a book about a forbidden sect, preaching pure bloodlines and encouraging close-kin marriages, promising a chance at immortality.
Normally, anyone outside would call this nonsense.
Who would believe it?
But they actually did!
The book said that throughout Chinese history, royal families practiced close-kin marriages—nieces marrying sons, cousins marrying nephews.
In short, royalty relied on this to keep their bloodlines pure.
Not just in China—even abroad.
Many powerful families stayed strong thanks to pure bloodlines.
And so, the villagers believed it.
So close-kin breeding began.
With no birth control here, they just kept having kids.
The mountains and rivers here provided plenty of resources—food and water were never a problem.
So they kept having kids, again and again.
Some turned out incredibly smart, others were half-disabled.
The healthy ones were kept; the defective ones were destroyed.
The mountains and rivers here are polluted now, so even the food tastes off.
Cecilia Gu felt like even the air was foul—she just couldn't stand it any longer.
The people here were just too bizarre.
They were insane.
Utterly, unreasonably insane.