Chapter 169 (First Release)...
Xiao Zhou: "Based on my judgment, they are definitely no longer here."
If Ansel had said those words, Ning Wanwan would definitely have glared at him again.
But it was Xiaozhou, who never jokes, who said it himself.
Ning Wanwan felt that all sorts of thoughts were tangled up in a mess, leaving her confused.
Why did Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao just leave so suddenly?
Ning Wanwan still couldn't believe it.
"Xiao Zhou, excuse me, I need to go out for a bit!"
Ning Wanwan hurriedly ran out of the house, looked around, and ran towards another exquisite little building.
That was the best and most eye-catching accommodation arranged by the village chief before Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao moved in with them.
Although things seem much dimmer after this terrible blizzard...
Along the short journey, although everything was still a pristine white, you could still see that the surrounding environment had changed from before.
It has become much more messy and desolate than before.
Many collapsed houses can still be seen, and perhaps corpses lie buried beneath the thick snow...
Ning Wanwan felt a mix of emotions, including a sense of unease.
Although she didn't like the village, Ning Wanwan never imagined she would see such a scene.
Seeing that they had arrived at the place, Ning Wanwan didn't have time to think too much. She quickly stepped forward, walked to the door, raised her hand to knock, but hesitated for a moment.
For a moment, she was inexplicably hesitant to confirm whether Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao were inside.
Just then, the door creaked open by itself.
Ning Wanwan was stunned for a moment, and saw a person dressed as a knight walk out of the house.
"Who are you?" the other person asked, frowning slightly and somewhat warily.
Ning Wanwan saw the other person's face clearly and suddenly couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She had seen this knight from afar; he was probably one of Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao's subordinates, who had come to the village with them.
Since the subordinates are still here, it means that Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao haven't actually left and are still here.
Thinking of this, Ning Wanwan's heart, which had been pounding all the way here, slowed down considerably.
Ning Wanwan answered the knight's question: "I'm from the village, I live over there..." Ning Wanwan pointed in a direction.
The knight glanced at the house in sight, his attitude softening slightly, but still not much better: "Then what are you doing standing here at our door?"
Ning Wanwan: "I've come to find Qi... Lord Qi Lin and Lord Zhou Yanyao..."
"Who is this person?" The knight frowned, a little impatient.
He raised his hand to shoo them away, "Hurry up and leave, don't linger here, or you'll disturb the distinguished guests from the capital, and you'll be in big trouble!"
Then, he closed the door directly.
Ning Wanwan stood there, bewildered.
Distinguished guests from the Royal City
Weren't the distinguished guests from the royal city Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao?
Why does this knight, as a subordinate, seem completely unaware of this?
Ning Wanwan didn't care about anything else and quickly raised her hand to knock on the door again.
The door opened, revealing a knight's impatient face. He looked down at her: "I already said I don't know the person you're talking about! You're asking for death for bothering my lord."
Ning Wanwan pursed her lips nervously: "No, I just wanted to ask, the distinguished guest from the royal city you mentioned, isn't that...?"
Just then, a voice came from inside the house: "What's going on?"
Ning Wanwan glanced inside subconsciously and saw a slightly overweight, unfamiliar middle-aged man strolling in, dressed in fine clothes, clearly of unusual status.
The arrogant knight in front of Ning Wanwan quickly lowered his head and said respectfully, "My lady, someone came looking for someone..."
"Oh, looking for someone."
The middle-aged man in fine clothes walked over, and after seeing Ning Wanwan clearly, he immediately smiled. However, his smile was more like that of a bystander enjoying a good show, full of the superiority of a person in a higher position over a person in a lower position.
"So it was you, Miss Ning." The middle-aged man sighed and pretended to be embarrassed. "I misunderstood before that you were the one who had been chosen as the master of the 'weapon,' so I promised to recommend you to the royal city and take you there."
“But since you are not the owner of the ‘weapon’, but Mr. Anseil is, then the situation is naturally different.”
"You can't entirely blame me, especially since you don't even have the talent yet."
“I know you’re trying to find reasons to fight for it, but you have no talent or ability, so there’s nothing I can do to help you.”
"Or, come find me after your talent test is over in a couple of days."
Unlike Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao, this "lord" from the royal city seemed to speak in a relatively gentle manner, but his words were filled with the feeling that "we are not on the same level." Every expression of his indicated that he was just saying things casually to smooth things over.
His smile made Ning Wanwan feel very uncomfortable.
What happened next showed that this man really didn't take Ning Wanwan seriously. Before Ning Wanwan could say anything more, the knight slammed the door shut with a loud "bang" after just one look from the middle-aged man.
Just before closing the door, he raised the sword in his hand threateningly at her.
"Overestimating himself," the other person muttered under their breath.
I didn't bother to say another unnecessary polite word to her.
The door slammed shut in front of her. Ning Wanwan stood outside the door, and a gust of cold wind blew in, making her shiver.
It's so cold.
Actually, Ning Wanwan doesn't care much about their attitude right now.
What terrified Ning Wanwan the most was that she had never seen this middle-aged man before, but he acted as if he had seen her before, and they had even had some conversations about recommending her to go to the royal city.
But Ning Wanwan swore that she had never seen this "big shot" middle-aged man before.
Moreover, when Ning Wanwan mentioned Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao, the knight, as her subordinate, seemed completely unaware of their names...
This is not normal at all.
Ning Wanwan walked back somewhat confused, thinking about many things.
On the way, by chance, she ran into the village chief.
"Xiao Ning, did you go to see that important person?" the village chief asked with a smile.
Ning Wanwan looked up, then nodded: "Yes..."
A glint flashed in the village chief's eyes: "Did the lord say anything? Did he still agree to take you to the royal city?"
“No…” Ning Wanwan shook her head.
She asked somewhat anxiously, "Village Chief, who are those lords? Lord Qi Lin and Lord Zhou Yanyao?"
"That lord is Lord Nemo from the royal city! How could you forget that?" The village chief gave Ning Wanwan a strange look. "And who are Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao?"
Ning Wanwan: "They are distinguished guests from the royal city! Village Chief, don't you remember?"
"But the only distinguished guest from the royal city is Lord Nemo."
The village chief sighed, looking earnest, "Xiao Ning, stop overthinking. Just wait for the talent test in a few days. If you find out you have good talent, maybe Lord Nemo will agree to take you to the royal city again."
Ning Wanwan stood there, somewhat lost and disoriented. Realizing a possible fact, she felt a chill run down her spine, her mind went blank, and boundless fear and shock almost overwhelmed her.
The village chief shook his head and sighed as he walked away, looking quite helpless. He didn't say anything more to her, as if he had only spoken to her to find out Lord Nemo's attitude towards her.
Now that I've found out the truth, I naturally won't say anything more to her.
Ning Wanwan walked slowly along the road for a while longer and saw two villagers.
The two villagers were staring at her, pointing and whispering amongst themselves.
Normally, Ning Wanwan would never have approached them; she would have simply walked away to avoid them. But at this moment, she was so eager to know the answer that she couldn't care less about anything else.
She ran over quickly and mustered her courage to stop them.
"What are you doing?" The villagers frowned at her, looking very unwelcoming.
Ning Wanwan: "Can you tell me... what are you talking about? What has happened to me recently?"
"You don't know what happened yourself." Several villagers found it amusing and laughed, looking at her with mocking eyes.
Ning Wanwan desperately wanted to run away, but she had already come this far. She endured her discomfort and remained standing in place, finally getting her answer.
Ning Wanwan was stunned.
"You mean, I wanted to go to the royal city, so I tried to please Lord Nemo, and then Lord Nemo rejected my request after discovering that I had no value to him?"
"Yes, you really overestimate yourself, how dare you bother Lord Nemo!"
"A talentless outsider who only stayed in our village because of Ansel has the nerve to want to go to the royal city, haha."
"Don't you even know if you're worthy?"
The villagers chatted and laughed, exchanging glances as they walked away.
"Wait a minute!" Ning Wanwan quickly called out to them, asking with great anticipation, "Do you know Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao?"
"Everyone knows that. Have you heard of it?"
"Never heard of it, you must be from out of town."
"Outsiders can only get to know these unknown outsiders."
The villagers left.
As villagers, they were already very xenophobic, let alone outsiders like Ning Wanwan who had no talent or strength and were worthless in their eyes.
The fact that such a weak outsider could possibly want a spot in the royal city, a place that even the villagers dream of, seemed utterly ridiculous to them.
The reason they're stopping here and saying so much is because they want to see a joke.
As Ning Wanwan watched their retreating figures, she suddenly realized that her situation in the village might be even more difficult than before.
If it was basically ignored before, it's now an open form of exclusion.
However, the most crucial thing right now is that they don't know Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao.
This was originally impossible.
When Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao came to the village, almost everyone was paying attention; it was impossible for no one to know.
There was even a Lord Nemo who appeared out of nowhere, and things happened that I had no recollection of...
Has everyone forgotten Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao?
Could it be that Qi Lin and Zhou Yanyao don't actually exist, and are just figments of my imagination?
That's true. It's really unrealistic to suddenly have two benefactors who are so kind to you out of nowhere...
So is it really just a non-existent fantasy?
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