village
Chapter Thirty-Seven
As dawn broke, Lan Feiyu, myself, Monkey Zhizha, and Ma, who had been traveling all night, watched with delight as wisps of smoke rose from the village on the edge of the dense forest, accompanied by the cheerful chirping of birds in the woods.
I was almost in tears, my nose was sore and my eyes were blurry, and I sighed, "My God! We've finally arrived!"
Lan Feiyu echoed from behind me, "Yeah, I almost thought we were going to never get out of the forest."
These words made me turn around. Lan Feiyu calmly looked back at me. I thought of her silence last night. It turned out that she was just like me, bound by the rising despair. If we were alone, we might have given up long ago, lying face up in that unfathomable abyss, letting the demons and monsters take our lives.
We gritted our teeth, knowing full well that the possible outcome would be to die together in the jungle, but neither of us was willing to give up.
Because... at that time, the only option was to live and die together.
I smiled at Lan Feiyu and gently tugged at her hand. When she smiled back, she seemed a little shy.
"Thanks again to Zhizha and Ma... um, Yuanzi." As we set off again, I couldn't help but voice the question that had been bothering me, "She's really amazing, she actually knew that I would eventually agree to go to Baili with you!"
“Hmm,” Lan Feiyu said hesitantly, “I think she’s here to greet me.”
Although her tone was uncertain, I thought about it again and realized that it wasn't entirely impossible. Perhaps I was overthinking it.
Being overly cautious and unprepared is just creating unnecessary trouble for oneself.
I've decided to nip this doubt in the bud for now. As for whether the right conditions will allow it to sprout again in the future, we'll see then.
Seeing that it was already light, the monkey stopped tirelessly acting as the horse handler and instead leaped down to me, squatting down beside the horse's neck. It turned around and handed me the reins.
Squeak, are you really a monkey?
Even if it's a monkey, I can't be impolite. After thanking them, I took the reins, pulled up the horse that was happily munching on tender grass, and strolled towards the village.
The village looked close, but it actually took us about half an hour to walk down a long slope to reach the village entrance.
At first glance, the village is densely populated, with many groups of young men and women coming and going. Judging from their attire and the tools they carry, they are probably going to work in the fields.
I reined in my horse and turned to ask Lan Feiyu, "Where are we going?"
Lan Feiyu didn't answer, and in fact, she didn't need to. Monkey Chirp had already leaped off his horse and disappeared in a flash. Lan Feiyu sighed and said, "Let's wait."
A moment later, the monkey returned, chattering away. Not far behind it was the kite, who had changed her clothes and looked like a village girl.
It must be admitted that even though Iris was dressed in simple, even ugly, gray-blue coarse cloth, her figure, appearance, and the aura she exuded were completely out of place with a real village girl.
I became increasingly confused. What exactly was her identity?
The kite followed the monkey's chatter and slowly approached us. A slight smile played on her lips as she gave me a meaningful look: "You still came after me."
"I," I gripped the reins tightly, feeling inexplicably nervous, my mouth dry and my stomach rumbling with hunger, "I won't let Feiyu go to Baili alone!"
But Yuanzi seemed not to hear my heartfelt words of boldness at all. She suppressed her smile, reverted to her usual indifference, and said, "Let's go, the place where we rest is just ahead."
I pulled on the reins and felt Lan Feiyu wrap her arm around my waist from behind. I wanted to turn around and see what her expression was, but I held back. Yuanzi's unwavering gaze made it impossible for me to make any rash moves.
Unfortunately, I inexplicably recalled her abrupt and shocking act in the cave.
Fortunately, after walking a few steps, Yuanzi stopped. I looked up and was surprised to find that there was an inn in the village with a red wine flag fluttering in the wind. The inn occupied a lot of space, and there were already twenty or thirty horses tied up in the stable on one side.
Iris stepped forward and took the reins. Lan Feiyu jumped down first, then reached out to me. I endured the pain, turned sideways and stepped into the stirrups, and with Lan Feiyu's help, climbed off the horse.
"Does your injury still hurt?" Yuanzi asked without any apparent concern. Before I could answer, she handed the reins to Lan Feiyu and said indifferently, "I'll take Zhao Xi inside. You tie the horse up first."
Lan Feiyu hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "That 'medicine man' seems to have come to this village with us. Is it alright?"
Iris was also taken aback by this unexpected news, and I quickly added, "It's not just one, the one that Sister Muqing transformed into is here too..."
Speaking of this, I can't help but worry again. Lan Feiyu and Yuanzi had both been in close contact with the corpses and blood tainted by that "drug man". Will they also be mutated and become inhuman like Sister Muqing?
Just imagining it was enough to send chills down my spine. I looked at Yuanzi and Lan Feiyu respectively. To my surprise, Lan Feiyu turned her gaze away, but Yuanzi smiled at me. There was even a hint of comfort in that smile. What shocked me even more was that she said, "It's okay, don't worry."
I was surprised again, firstly because of her sudden change in attitude, and secondly... how could she know what I was thinking?
While I was still in a daze, Lan Feiyu had already led the horse toward the stable. I took a step to chase after her, but Yuanzi grabbed me with lightning speed. She held my wrist with such force that I had to struggle to break free.
“Yuan…Yuanzi…” I couldn’t help but feel a little flustered. I turned to look at Yuanzi, who had a cold expression on her face. Without saying much, she pulled me into the house.
The inn was large, with a dozen or twenty people inside, but none of the girls I had seen in the cave were there. They were all strong men dressed as farmers, but clearly not farmers. Some even had scars on their faces. They didn't look like ordinary farmers at all.
"What about them?" I asked.
"They're all in the upper rooms upstairs." Yuanzi still held onto me and went upstairs with me. After taking just two steps, she turned around and called out to the men downstairs, "Have the cook in the back cook some porridge and add some eggs and meat."
A single call to action garnered a hundred responses—it was merely an order to cook some porridge…
I felt a sense of awe towards Yuanzi before she led me into the room and silently began to undress me.
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