Early the next morning, just after the rooster had crowed three times, they got up.
Their luggage had been prepared a few days ago, and Song Qingru seemed to be afraid they’d come back late. She packed half a room full of clothes and shoes for him, as well as small snacks and storybooks.
Jian Xiuyun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, finding it too troublesome. So he randomly picked up a change of clothes and tossed them into his Qiankun Pouch. Taking the Qinghan Sword, he set off together with Lin Liaoting.
The mission Lin Liaoting chose this time was in Ancient Stone City. Although the name contained the word ‘city’, when they arrived, they found out that it was just an ordinary town.
This town looked quite prosperous, but it was particularly deserted. It was obviously daytime, but not a soul could be spotted on the street.
They walked for a long time, occasionally coming across a person or two. Although, they would be walking in a hurry with their heads lowered, refusing to spare a single glance.
Lin Liaoting explained, “The person who invited us here this time is Li Zheng from Ancient Stone City. Starting three months ago, people have been disappearing every once in a while.”
“Disappearing?”
“Yes, as short as three days or as long as seven days, people will go missing randomly. In these three months, more than ten people have died, and when their bodies were discovered, a part of their body would be missing. Either an arm or a leg, none of the bodies would be whole.”
“So they assume it’s a beast?” Jian Xiuyun asked calmly, observing the desolate street in front of him.
Lin Liaoting nodded, “They think only beasts can eat people.”
Jian Xiuyun raised his eyebrows slightly, “Then this beast is quite picky. It only eats a part at a time.”
Lin Liaoting also had a hint of doubt in his tone, “This is also something I can’t make sense of.”
“Let’s go find Li Zheng first.” Jian Xiuyun said, randomly selecting a shop on the street and knocking on the door, “Is anyone there?”
The shop was dead silent, as if it was devoid of any person.
But as someone who cultivated immortality, his hearing was naturally much more heightened than that of an ordinary mortal. Although the people inside deliberately lowered their voices, he still heard it.
“Shizun, why don’t we find another shop?” Lin Liaoting suggested, seeing no one was opening the door.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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They looked at them for a long time, and seemed to finally come to a conclusion. The door opened a crack wider.
“Go straight to the end, two and a half miles to the west.” A thin, childish voice sounded.
“Okay, thank you very much.” Jian Xiuyun thanked her.
After hearing his answer, the door opened wider, revealing a round face. It was a little girl of about four or five years old.
The fear in the little girl’s eyes faded a little, and she kindly reminded, “Don’t run around, there are monsters here that can eat people.”
Hearing this, Lin Liaoting crossed his arms across his chest, revealing his sword. He said in an upbeat tone, “Don’t be afraid, we are here to catch that monster.”
Jian Xiuyun turned around and glanced at him helplessly.
When the little girl heard this, her eyes fell on his sword and she asked in surprise, “Really?”
“Ahem.” Jian Xiuyun coughed lightly, interrupting him. He leaned over and said to the little girl, “It’s getting late, we’ll leave first.”
The little girl’s eyes widened a bit, as if she understood something. A glimmer of hope ignited in them, and she suddenly reached out and tugged him.
“Wait.” She whispered.
“What’s wrong?”
The little girl did not reply, but ran back inside with her little legs. She soon came back, stretched out her hand to them, holding a small handful of pine nut candies in her palm.
Jian Xiuyun was a little surprised. “For us?”
“Yeah.” The little girl nodded firmly.
“Immortal Brother, you look very powerful. You must catch that monster. He took my brother away and ate my brother’s arm. Then my father and mother fell ill. He killed my brother, and you must also kill him. Is it okay to kill him?”
What the little girl said was somewhat confusing, but he still understood.
Jian Xiuyun was silent for a long time, then picked up a pine nut candy from her palm, put it into his mouth, and replied, “Okay.”
“Thank you, Immortal Brother!” The girl happily put all the pine nut candies in his hand, bowing in a decent manner before closing the door.
“Shizun…”
Before he could say more, Jian Xiuyun stuffed a candy into his mouth, blocking his words.
“I know what you are going to say, let’s go.” Jian Xiuyun said, and walked forward.
The two of them arrived at the City Lord’s residence. Just like before, the doors were shut.
After confirming his identity, he was let in.
They got some more news from the City Lord.
Originally, the missing people were all those who went out at night. Later, after they figured this pattern out, Li Zheng issued a death order, and they had to stay at home no matter how urgent the matter was at night.
After a few days of peace, people began to disappear during the day.
Li Zheng had no choice but to send someone to ask for help.
After Jian Xiuyun heard this, he asked, “Can we see the body of the deceased?”
“Of course, but those who have died long ago have been buried. The only one whose body is still there is the eldest son of the Zhao Bai family. He was only thirteen years of age.”
With that said, he led them outside.
When they arrived, Jian Xiuyun looked at the Zhao Bai family’s residence and felt speechless.
Li Zheng knocked on the door, and the same little girl opened the door.
When she saw them, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, and she exclaimed in a sweet voice, “Immortal Brother!”
Li Zheng asked, “Do you know each other?”
Jian Xiuyun said, “She was the one who pointed the way for us.”
Li Zheng stroked his beard, with a hint of sadness in his tone, “That’s really fate.”
They entered the shop.
Inside, there were furnishings, counters, and booths like that of an ordinary cloth shop.
There were clothes of various colors everywhere.
The only odd thing was that there were too many red clothes.
They were unfolded and spread everywhere, on the table, on the floor, and everywhere in sight was red.
Logically speaking, it should look festive, but the doors and windows here were closed, the room was dark, and coupled with the red color all around, it looked a bit overwhelming.
“Why so much red cloth?” Lin Liaoting asked.
Hearing this, Li Zheng sighed, “You will know in a moment.”
He proceeded to ask the little girl, “Xiao Xi’er, where is your mother?”
“Still in the back room.” Xiao Xi’er turned her head and looked inside, with some sadness in her tone.
Li Zheng didn’t say anything, raised his hand to pat her head, and led them inside.
I sense knives ahead.
Thank you for the update.
Thank you for the chapter!
Why do I feel like the little girl might end up being the monster? There are so many stories with such plots where the innocent ones are the monsters