Chapter 151 - Are You Going To Cook? (1/2)

(Tom's PoV)

As far as I could see, I could only see trees, bushes, and mosses. The smell of damps woods and mosses mixed with the fresh air. My lungs ordered my nose to suck on the air as much as possible, filling them with the fresh air to the brim before they exhaled it and repeated the process for around three to four times more.

This was awesome! My body felt invigorated and I thought I could walk for hours without feeling tired.

Of course, that's only in mind since another important question popped in my mind.

Where am I? If I'm not mistaken, they asked me to stabilize the situation. But, what situation do I need to stabilize in a jungle?

That place was not even a forest, but really a jungle. I wouldn't be surprised if a lion popped out of nowhere. Probably an elephant, too, or a big snake capable of swallowing human.

My body shivered involuntarily. Instead of waiting my doom here, I chose to pick a direction and walked towards it. I walked carefully while looking for a trail, the one that human would make.

Damn, if it went on, my eight hours would end up with me being stuck in this jungle.

Why did they send me here exactly? Also, I was curious where they sent the other one. Did she end up in the deep jungle like me as well?

I shook my head. Wherever they sent her, it was none of my business. Oh, I found one!

My eyes widened in excitement as I happily walked towards the trail I found. After observing for a while, I chose to go to the right. Hopefully I could find a human settlement.

It didn't take long for me to finally smell what I assumed to be human's cooking. The smell was good and I could feel my stomach growling.

Wait. I stopped and stared at my own hands. I thought I was still in my spirit form. Now that I thought about it, I breathed like usual, touched everything like usual, and now my stomach even wanted me to feed it. Did those elders from Satu Village bring my body over?

What would happen if my mother went and didn't find me in my room?

Just the thought of my brokenhearted mother made me uneasy. It seemed like I need to speed up the process so I could go back earlier.

I hastened my steps and arrived at the... what the f*ck?! What happened here?

I was stunned at the border of the small village. I couldn't see anyone outside the houses. The road was abandoned as I could see some baskets were scattered as if the people were in hurry that they knocked down anything in their way. Some torches had not even been lighted yet, leaving some spots of the village a bit darker than the other side.

What scared them that made them abandoned everything? Did they see something? Since the sky had started to turn dark, I could only think so.

There was no serious damage, no screaming, which meant there was no wild animal entered the village. So, what made them run away?

As I was still observing the situation, I noticed the window in the nearest house was opened slightly. Somebody must be peeking from inside because as soon as I focused my sight on it, the window was pulled shut again.

Well, I wanted to say it was kind of rude, but I thought it was acceptable since it was okay to guard against someone they didn't know. But still, I felt hurt a bit...

Maybe I should be more active and approach them. Smile, Tom, smile, but not like a creepy stalker.

I was just about to take my first step to that house when I heard a screaming in the far end of the road. Without thinking much, I ran towards the source of the scream and saw something scarier that Kuntilanak.

My eyes widened and my body froze. It was my first time seeing 'it' with my own eyes, how could I not freeze? The sight was really horrifying that I didn't know what to do.

Was that the infamous Kuyang[1]?

Rumors said that Kuyang would target on babies or pregnant women. My eyes shifted from the floating head and internal organs in front of me to the woman who looked paled from being scared to death. Her big belly proved that the rumors was true, that Kuyang was after pregnant women and babies.

”Save me! Save me, please!” The pregnant woman cried in desperation.

The Kuyang only made a mad laugh as she advanced forward. Then, she hissed with her tongue licking her lips, as if she could imagine the taste of the pregnant woman. Truly disgusting!

My brain worked faster to find anything that could be used against this thing. Relying on physical power alone would lead me to a total lose, I needed to think of something.