36. Empty

Even though the storm had stopped, it didn't mean it would not come again. I knew I didn't have much time, so I walked quickly.

Even the air was very painful in this cold temperature. When you just inhaled it, it gave a stinging sensation in your nose and chest. "Why don't you ask to be delivered by carriage?! It will be faster than having to walk like now" the fat cat complained even though he didn't walk. I took him in the wooden basket I carried.

"Everyone is busy right now. After all, this is my own will, it has nothing to do with anything else." I didn't tell anyone that I was going to the mixed-blood settlement. They would definitely ask 'Why?', and I wasn't ready for an answer.

I really wanted to know what the place was really like. I had been to Winter's house before, but even then I had never actually seen the place. I passed by a few times too, and it was just passing by.

When I arrived, it was really very quiet. I wondered where everyone was. "Shouldn't it be better not to go alone?!" one of the Manji slowly formed a figure resembling an old woman, then walked slowly with a hunched body.

"It's very dangerous to be alone. Why didn't ask the main bodyguard to escort me?" a second manji appeared beside me, with a figure resembling a small dog.

Honestly, I was annoyed to hear them say that, sounded annoying. It looked like they were caught by Mickey's virus. "Don't mention him. He's very busy. Don't ask him to drive me." I purposely walked faster to get ahead of them.

I saw the lights on in each house, but strangely I didn't hear any sound. This place was so quiet that made me even more suspicious of what was going on. It seemed like everyone was going somewhere. "Can you find out where people are?! Why is it so quiet?!" I asked.

One of the Manji who resembled the form of a dog immediately ran, inspecting the existing houses. Mickey and I also did the same thing but to no avail. There seemed to be no one here.

I remembered the big building that was said to be in the center of the village, I quickly ran to that place. Maybe they were currently having an event, so they all chose to gather there. That could be the explanation. I remembered the location of the building, Ane took me through it once to go to the apple orchard while buying groceries a few days ago.

One of the Manji was still checking every house, it might be that those people were in another part of the house. While I, another manji, and Mickey immediately ran to that place.

When we got there, the conditions were not much different. The place was deserted. The door to the building was slightly opened, drawing my attention. I hurriedly climbed the stairs leading to the entrance. "Be careful, Tha," Mickey looked worried.

"Calm down, tubby." I peeked through the crack in the door, but couldn't find anyone in the building either. "Empty" I was getting confused wondering about their whereabouts. I did remember that a few days ago, when Ane and I passed by this place, I still saw many people passing by and some were even harvesting in the garden. But today, they seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

A barking sound from another manji beckoned us to follow her. We immediately followed that dog which was originally the Manji. She directed us around the back, through the forest near the village.

When I arrived, I saw some of them were there, but I didn't know what they were doing. I guessed these were the nameless graves that Antonie told me about. I dared not to approach, and we only watched from a distance.

I kept wondering what they were doing. They dug up the nameless tomb, then took out the wooden coffin that was inside. "What are they doing?" I asked curiously, in a low voice.

"Let's wait and see," Said Mickey.

They removed the body in the coffin, which had rotted and swelled up like a crippled rag doll. After cleaning up the body, they opened a brand new wooden chest, which had brought with them, and took out something really disgusting me the most, a fresh organ that was still intact, brain, eyes, heart, and apparently all the organs of the human body.

They cut open the corpses very carefully, then removed the rotting organs inside, and replaced them with new ones. Once the organs were in place, then they stitched it carefully. What they did and everything reminded me of Summer. She always replaced her old organs with new ones when they started to rot.

"What are they doing?" I didn't understand at all. I looked at Mickey in bewilderment, while the two manjis were ready with their swords and bows. They turned into guardian forms. I knew this was not a common thing, Manjis had strong instincts. They probably found out what was really going on before I did.

"Are you still willing to see it through to the end?" asked one of the Manji.

I nodded. Honestly I was very curious. The two Manjis granted my request, but they asked me to stay further away. They also advised me to hide in the log storage, in one of the houses not far from where we were. I obeyed because I thought what they said was true.

When I was about to enter the place, I had a chance to peek through the window. I saw that there were people in the house, they seemed to be the owners of this log shed. They hid under the dining table in frightened expressions. I was confused. What were they afraid of and why were they so scared?.

I turned my attention to the people in the tomb again. After they put in all the new organs and stitched up the wounds on the corpse, they replaced the clothes with new ones and put them in the coffin again. However, the coffin was not immediately closed. They carefully picked up the top snow—which was untouched, sowed it over the corpse, then poured some kind of liquid like water.