The village came into view at dusk on the third day, and something about the silence hit Wei Liang wrong before anyone said a word.
"No smoke," Brigh said, scanning the rooftops. "Fires should be lit by now, evening meal time."
Xu's voice sharpened instantly. "No birds either. Listen."
They moved in fast but careful, weapons ready, finding the first house with its door open, a pot of half-cooked fish still sitting over dead coals, no one inside.
"Abandoned mid-task," Liu Che said, checking a second house with the same result. "Everywhere. Nets still drying on the racks, laundry still on the lines."
"No blood," Garrow added, scanning the ground. "No signs of a fight. They didn't run from violence. They just... stopped."
Xu's voice came low, unsettled. "I feel something. Faint, fractur
