Ancient Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 47 Seeing Evil and Good

When Yao Rongrong returned from the foot of the mountain, it was already dark.

She circled around the weeds outside the mountain path and immediately spotted the collapsed corner of the dilapidated temple. Her eyelids twitched, and she quickened her pace to approach.

Upon approaching, she found the storyteller Lin Xiu sitting on the ground a little distance from the dilapidated temple, his back to her, his figure exuding a sense of desolation.

Beside the storyteller stood a small mound of earth, which looked rather out of place in the dim light.

Yao Rongrong remembered that there was no such mound there before. It was flat and smooth, covered with wild grass that stretched from the base of the dilapidated temple wall into the mountains and forests.

Why is there a mound of earth here now?

"Da da da..."

Brother Donkey trotted over to Yao Rongrong, flicked its tail twice, and nudged the grass.

After finishing the burrowing, it started chewing.

Yao Rongrong patted the donkey's head and asked, "Brother Donkey, what's wrong?"

Brother Donkey shook his head, and his mane swished, splashing onto Yao Rongrong's hand, making her feel a little itchy.

She withdrew her hand, followed the donkey's gaze, and saw a dark patch of weeds on the ground, along with scattered bones and torn clothes.

That pitch-black expanse was undoubtedly blood under the dim light of the night.

Her pupils contracted slightly, and she then knocked on the mountain path. Sure enough, the undead on the mountain path had moved to a different location.

Fortunately, it seems the battle is over, the undead have returned to their places, and Lin Xiu and Brother Donkey are both safe and sound.

That's fine.

She quickly walked to Lin Xiu's side and asked, "Sir, what happened? How are you?"

As she spoke, her gaze still involuntarily fell on the mound of earth.

The soil on the mound was still wet, and as day turned to night, its color became even darker.

Yao Rongrong thought it looked like a newly built grave, but a grave shouldn't be this small...

Lin Xiu sighed softly and said, "I'm fine. Two people came, but they were eaten by the living dead..."

He then recounted the whole story, including how, after the little girl died, he found this slightly loose soil spot, dug the grave, buried the little girl, and the things he found on the two dead bodies.

Actually, there were only a few things: a gourd, dried rice, throwing arrows, and a long-handled axe.

There might be something good on the dead man with the axe, or there might not be, but it doesn't matter anymore.

It was completely devoured by the undead, leaving only bones and clothes. Anything else on its body seemed to have been eaten by the undead as well.

After listening to Lin Xiu's words, Yao Rongrong turned to look at him and sighed softly, "Sigh...sir, I never expected you to be such a good person..."

Lin Xiu turned and glanced at Yao Rongrong, saying, "I've always been a good person, how come Miss Yao didn't notice?"

Yao Rongrong didn't back down at all, returning Lin Xiu's gaze and saying, "Then I'm sorry, sir, I didn't realize it."

Before, I could only see that you were glib and good at fooling people, and that you were always suspicious, distrustful, and petty. You even stopped telling your story properly because others were taking energy-boosting pills...

"..."

Lin Xiu was silent for a moment, then said, "Alright, then you should go to sleep. Let this glib, suspicious, petty wretch be sad here by himself for a while."

He didn't look at Yao Rongrong, so Yao Rongrong stared at the back of his head. After a moment, she laughed and said, "What, are you planning to secretly shed a few tears here, sir?"

Lin Xiu sighed, "You're overthinking it. If I wanted to cry, I would have done it already. Why would I wait for you to come?"

That little girl was so pitiful, it was heartbreaking. I witnessed her death with my own eyes, and I felt a pang of sympathy and sadness. I'll feel better soon.

Regardless, I'm still grateful to Ms. Yao for finding such unique ways to comfort me.

Yao Rongrong, however, remained defiant, smiled again, and said, "Then you're overthinking it, sir. Who's trying to enlighten you? I was just mocking you."

Lin Xiu never expected that this female knight-errant Yao would be such a proud and arrogant person.

He didn't argue with the heroine. He took a deep breath, composed himself, stood up, dusted himself off, and said:

"This little girl, whose name she never knew until her death, called out 'brother' as she held the comic book 'The Tale of Grandma Wind' in her final moments."

I'm wondering who his brother is. Could these things have been hidden by his brother?

Yao Rongrong looked at the grave and said in a deep voice, "I think so..."

In that case, sir, we should really thank this young lady and her brother for getting such a useful thing from here.

This girl was all alone, being held hostage by those two thugs; presumably, her brother is already gone...

She suffered so much torment; sir, by bringing the living dead to devour those two villains, you have avenged this girl and freed her from suffering.

Lin Xiu didn't respond; he didn't want to continue the topic. Instead, he asked Yao Rongrong, "How did your trip to Lijiaji go?"

Yao Rongrong said, "I just came up the mountain and wanted to tell you about this, but I didn't expect such a sudden thing to happen here. I didn't have time to say it."

This morning, after I came down the mountain, I went straight to Lijiaji and waited in a secluded spot for a day. Finally, I discovered that people were coming and going in the village.

They did indeed make use of the undead. Whether at the village entrance or in the fields outside the village, there was an undead lying at intervals for defense. It seemed that those undead were deliberately lured to those positions.

There was also a respected official in that village.

In the afternoon, I saw a scholar from another place walk to the edge of the village, startling the living dead and almost being killed by them.

Afterwards, someone from the village came out and rescued the scholar. The official in his official robes then came out and welcomed the scholar into the village.

Before I left, the scholar left the village, carrying many more things in his trunk, and thanked the official and the other villagers.

I listened carefully and managed to make out some of what was said. The scholar had traded his books for some food in the village, and the official had asked him to stay in the village, but he refused, saying he wanted to continue his studies, and then he left.

Neither the official nor the villagers stopped him.

Lin Xiu was slightly surprised. He had been thinking about where to settle down, and judging from what Lady Yao said, it seemed that they had actually found such a place?!

But why does it feel so unbelievable?

However, if it is not credible, if the village's apparent goodwill is masked by malice, then according to Yao Rongrong, the village's power far exceeds that of the scholar, and the scholar is only one person. Facing an entire village, he should have little power to resist. So why should the people of Lijiaji pretend to be friendly?

Perhaps... it's just that I've only seen evil and not good along the way, so it's hard to believe that I'm hearing about such a place now...