Chapter 034 The Four

When the inn was killed abnormally, Zhui Ming was following the manager.

He walked hurriedly, as anxious as if there was a devil behind him coming to collect a debt. While walking through an alley, he had already wiped his sweat more than ten times.

Zhui Ming quietly followed him, carefully observing him all the way, and finally confirmed that this person was just an ordinary person.

Sure enough, there are still ordinary people in the prefectural government.

This means that the water in Jizhou Prefecture is deeper than they imagined, thanks to Lady Luo's magical powers. Otherwise, they would be on guard against this and that, and would not be able to take care of it even if they had three heads and six arms.

The alleys are interconnected, and the manager had to take several detours, twists and turns, with everyone leading the way. People who come here for the first time will most likely get lost.

After walking for about two quarters of an hour, the steward finally stopped in front of a house. He did not look around carefully, but simply pushed the door open and went in.

Zhui Ming stopped at the corner and looked around to make sure no one was passing by. The Flower-Armed Cat King reappeared in the world.

The sturdy cat jumped onto the wall with ease, and its triangular ears twitched, taking in all the conversation below.

There were indeed mutants here, two in total, with extremely burly builds and bloodshot eyes. They were very respectful to the steward, which showed that he had some status in the prefectural government.

The bewitching cat also watched intently, breathing slowly, and with the help of magic, his sense of presence was almost zero.

The steward asked: "Has the blood food that the master urged arrived? The queen has returned and is waiting for this fresh blood food. If it is not to the queen's taste..."

He made a gesture of spreading his arms on his neck, "None of us can escape. We will all be in danger of death."

The two nodded repeatedly: "Don't worry, Mr. Sun, I understand, I understand!"

Hearing that the queen had returned, the two burly men were immediately frightened and broke out in cold sweats. They took Steward Sun to the front room, opened the door, and a few low sobs came out from inside.

Zhui Ming's face changed. This was a child's voice.

He quickly jumped down the wall, caught up with the three people, and stuck half of his head out of the door to look.

It’s really a child!

The room was packed with people, at least twenty of them!

The two burly men led Steward Sun forward in a low voice, pointing at the group of children and saying, "Steward Sun, please look, they are all top-quality boys and girls. The oldest is no more than ten years old, and the youngest is four years old. They are all top-quality blood food. The queen will definitely be satisfied!"

More than twenty children were crowded together, and their eyes were filled with fear. The child who was crying just now stopped crying and huddled beside his peers in a daze, his body trembling visibly.

They were extremely terrified of these two adults who were as big as mountains. The eyes of most of the children had become blank in the extreme fear, and their still rosy faces had turned pale.

Manager Sun scanned the place with a critical eye and nodded with reluctant satisfaction: "Not bad."

As he said this, he said bitterly: "If it weren't for the thieves who burned the blood food I had prepared long ago, why would I need to come here to get it now!"

He spat twice, as if he wanted to eat the arsonist alive.

The two men who were also implicated in this incident also had hatred on their faces. That was the best product that they had spent a long time to find. It met the Empress's liking in every way. The two men hoped to win the Empress' favor with this blood meal.

If they are lucky enough, they might even be blessed by the Empress and enjoy immortality.

As a result, it was destroyed by that thief's fire!

When the two learned about this, they were furious. They lost control of their men that night and accidentally strangled two blood-feeding animals to death while feeding them.

Fortunately, this batch of blood food was what they had left over from their previous selection, so it wouldn't matter if one or two were missing. If the steward asked about it, he would say that the blood food was in poor health and had died of illness.

Apart from anything else, this batch of blood food tastes really good.

The two looked at each other, and both saw regret in their eyes.

One or two deaths would be fine, but if more people died, they would be reprimanded. In more serious cases, the divine water bestowed by the empress would be withheld, which would be a huge loss.

After a while, Manager Sun had chosen the people. He pointed at the children huddled in the innermost part and said, "These are the ones. They are young and taste fresh. Take care of them quickly. The Queen is very angry and the adults have been reprimanded."

We all hope that this blood meal can calm the Queen's temper, please don't let it implicate them!

The two did not dare to delay. They rolled up their sleeves, stretched out their hands as big as palm-leaf fans, roughly pushed away the children who were blocking their way, and grabbed the children pointed out by Manager Sun like an eagle catching chicks.

Phew!

Before they could grab the children who didn't even dare to hide, a blood-red dagger pierced through the chest of two people like lightning and then was quickly pulled out, taking not only their lives but also their blood.

There were two thuds and two bodies fell to the ground.

More than twenty children stared in amazement at the two men who had fallen to the ground. After a while, the first cry rang out, followed by the second and third cry...all the children burst into tears as if they were venting their feelings.

At the moment the crying sounded, a transparent barrier covered the courtyard first, and the sound from inside could not be transmitted out at all.

Zhui Ming looked at this group of extremely pitiful children, then looked at Manager Sun who had collapsed to the ground in fear. The coldness in his eyes almost turned into reality.

He used the dagger, which had turned even more red, to press against Steward Sun's forehead. Before a trace of blood could fully appear, it was impatiently absorbed by the dagger.

The barrier and the short sword were both magic weapons given to him by Lady Luo, one to facilitate his work, and the other to give him the ability to kill enemies.

After seeing the prefect's servants going back and forth to the fire scene without any harm that day, he knew that no matter how high his martial arts skills were, he could not kill these mutants.

Fortunately, Ms. Luo loved him and gave him this self-defense treasure.

...But, isn't this baby a little too fierce?

In just a moment, Manager Sun's face turned extremely pale. He didn't even have the strength to sit up. He could only prostrate himself on the ground. He could hardly hear the trembling voice of begging for mercy.

Zhui Ming retracted the blood-red dagger, and the red dotted line wrapped around the tip of the sword snapped off, and Manager Sun's trembling instantly slowed down.

When Lady Luo gave him the dagger, she said it was an extremely ferocious magical weapon that was specifically designed to kill people with blood debts, and asked him to use it with caution.

Now that I see it, it is indeed extremely ferocious.

"Tell me everything you know." Master Cui said coldly, "If you dare to tell me anything false, I will kill you immediately!"

Manager Sun naturally didn't want to die, so he told everything he knew like pouring beans.

He didn't know much, but he and another person took turns in taking charge of the blood food.

When will the Holy Mother of Immortality appear? No one on their level knows. They only know that the Holy Mother has great magical powers and can enlighten others to immortality. The holy water she gives can even prolong people's lifespan. In a moment, they can possess power that surpasses the top masters in the world.

Longevity and power, who wouldn’t desire them?

The goddess bestowed blessings and required them to offer sacrifices and blood food.

The sacrifices must be pregnant women. Only those who are pregnant are worthy of becoming messengers under the throne of the goddess and ascend to paradise with her.

The blood food must be given to children born in a yin year, yin month and yin hour, and the age must be between two and ten years old. Children born at this age and at this hour are all sinners who committed great evil in their previous lives, and are born in this life only to harm the world.

The goddess was merciful and could not bear to see people suffer, so she made an exception and sent down the oracle.

She swallowed them and eliminated them with her Dharma body, thus getting rid of the turbid air they brought to the world and blessing the world with peace and tranquility.

Blood offerings are made once a month, with no fewer than nine people present each time. Steward Sun and another person have been preparing blood offerings for the Immortal Mother in this way for nearly a year.

No less than nine people at a time, once a month...

Zhui Ming could not bear to settle the score any further. The rage in his heart burned his reason. He tightened and loosened his grip on the dagger.

What blessing! What mercy! It's all bullshit!

It is clearly a monster that brought cholera to the human world, and it pretends to be a god to harm people!

However, the most hateful ones are those who are accomplices to the evil. Is there no one among them who can see through this crude lie?

No way!

They just want immortality and power, so they can cover their eyes and ears and kill people and eat their flesh and blood with peace of mind!

Damn it!

Manager Sun poured out the last words he knew, and kowtowed to Zhui Ming: "Please spare my life, brave man! Please spare my life, brave man! I have told you everything I know, please spare my life!"

While begging for mercy, he regretted that if he had drunk the holy water instead of taking it back to give to his sick only son, he would not have to beg for mercy so humbly.

A sneer came from above: "Okay, I'll spare your life."

He looked up in surprise, but before he could finish his words, a blood-red dagger pierced his heart and instantly drained his blood.

Manager Sun, with a look of joy on his face, became the third corpse falling to the ground.

It is difficult to find children who meet the requirements, so this is the only place to hold children. The two people who were first killed by the dagger were the most powerful among the mutants. Ge Tong trusted them very much, and these two people have been guarding this place all the time.

Zhui Ming squatted down and looked at the group of frightened children. He tried his best to make himself look more approachable: "Don't be afraid. I have defeated all the bad guys. You are safe now. No one will hurt you anymore."

The children sobbed for a while, and the largest child stood up and asked Zhui Ming in a trembling voice: "... Good uncle, are you here to save us?"

All the children looked at Zhui Ming, their eyes filled with hope and desire.

Zhui Ming choked for a moment, his eyes slightly red, and nodded: "Yes! I am here to save you!"

He couldn't just leave these kids alone, he had to rescue them.

Zhui Ming used the life-saving item given to him by Tarona, a magic item that could ignore any obstacles and achieve instant teleportation.

Moved to the land temple outside Jizhou Prefecture.

That was where Tarona and Zhui Ming met for the first time. At that time, she enclosed the land temple and turned it into her first safe house in this world.

Wuqing has one of this item, and the Golden Sword and Silver Sword also have one.

Taking all of them into consideration and the various situations that might occur, Tarona set the transfer range to within three meters and modified the transfer conditions to non-single-person transfer. As a result, the magic item that could originally be used three times became a disposable item.

Once the prop takes effect, everyone within three meters will be teleported together, no matter how many people there are, as long as they do not exceed this range. In case someone accidentally loses the prop, they can still use someone else's.

The only objects that can be teleported are normal humans. If something that does not meet this standard sneaks into the teleportation range, it will be useless and will be given a friendly attack when the prop takes effect.

Zhui Ming moved all three bodies on the ground to the yard. He returned to the house and asked all the children to gather around him. The three-meter range was enough for all of them to stand.

After making sure that every child was standing within the range, Zhui Ming took out a whistle carved from white jade from his arms, put it in his mouth and blew it.

A clear whistle sounded, and a platinum-colored transfer magic circle was spread out under everyone's feet. In the blink of an eye, more than twenty living people came from the green brick and green tile house to the land temple located halfway up the mountain.

The tool that completed its mission, along with the magic circle, turned into starlight and dissipated into the air.

Zhui Ming looked at the land temple that had been transformed into a new look at who knows when, and once again felt that meeting Lady Luo was the greatest fortune in their lives.

There has never been such a prosperous war (bushi).

Although the land temple had become brand new and had all the necessary food and supplies, Zhui Ming couldn't just leave these children there and not care about them.

He thought that Madam Luo would be back soon, and that the eldest senior brother would have more life-saving things on him than he did. He was not in a hurry to go back tonight. He would use this little time to settle the children down first, and then go back before dawn tomorrow. He should be able to catch up with everyone for breakfast.

Mr. Cui Sanye had a good idea, but like Tarona, he overlooked the fact that there is always a loophole.

Accidents often come unexpectedly.

Zhui Ming thought that Lady Luo was going to go straight to his eldest senior brother, but he didn't expect that -

As soon as it got dark, he coaxed the still frightened children to sleep on the couch, and walked out to catch his breath. Before he could even finish expressing his regret about how hard it was to raise children, a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

The hand was wearing a black glove with lace of the same color on the edge of the cuff. The slender fingers were twisted abruptly, light and almost weightless. Only a chilling chill quickly spread from the shoulders to the whole body.

Zhui Ming froze instantly.

——He smelled blood coming from behind him.

Very heavy.

Tick, tick, tick.

...It was the sound of blood dripping on the ground.

"Chasing life."

An extremely cold wind blew straight into his ears. Deep, hoarse voices came from all directions, growling and murmuring his name.

Zhui Ming felt as if he had turned into a sieve at this moment. The cold and chilly wind were wreaking havoc in his body, turning him into a piece of stone or cold iron. He no longer looked like a human being.

A question suddenly arose in his mind: Am I still alive?

——Of course he is still alive.

He heard the hoarse voices rushing in the wind, roaring and asking him:

“…Chase my life, chase my life!”

"Where are my children?"

"...My child! Where did he go?!"

"Who is it..."

"Who took my child away!? Who!!!"

The roars became sharper and sharper, almost bursting Zhui Ming's eardrums. His face turned pale, perhaps because of internal injuries, or perhaps he was almost losing his senses due to the constant coldness raging in his body.

——Ms. Luo.

The "person" behind him is Miss Luo.

…Something happened to our senior brother.

"Chasing life."

In a trance, the cold wind that wanted to cut him into pieces suddenly stopped, only the bone-chilling coldness remained.

A pair of hands extended from behind the back in an intimate manner, one of which was twisted completely over, with the palm becoming the back of the hand and the back of the hand becoming the palm.

One was wrapped around his neck, the other around his chest. The smell of blood, so thick that it almost turned into substance, filled his nostrils, making him think that he was soaked in blood.

A pale yet beautiful face appeared on his shoulder, with a black veil covering the eyes, but it could not stop the blood from flowing.

The nun in black and white whispered in his ear, her dark blue lips opening and closing, revealing a tongue with most of it missing. A long crack from the corner of her lip to under her ear opened and closed with her lips.

Her voice is still ethereal and eerie.

The cold and fierce ghost was lying on the back of a living person. Her disguise was so crude that she no longer wanted to disguise herself. There was no one here who was worthy of her disguise. She stubbornly wanted only the answer to one question.

"Tell me..."

"Where have you gone, my child?"