Back to the City

The next morning, Lu Hao and Su Jin woke up early so they could go to Mist Village for the remaining livestock as soon as they had breakfast.

Lu Hao knocked on Nie Qing's door. To their surprise, it opened almost instantly. When they saw him, Nie Qing's eyes were red and swollen, as though he had just been crying.

Lu Hao, "..."

What was up with his master now?

"My disciple, the villains in your TV are so well-portrayed! Runyu, that poor man!"

Runyu? Who was Runyu? Lu Hao was utterly confused. After all, he usually only watched the news and rarely had time for any other television shows.

Su Jin nearly died laughing as she got into the car. Nie Qing had not slept at all that night, watching more than a dozen episodes of 'Ashes of Love'. He even discussed the plot with them during the ride…

"Uncle Nie, no matter how good the show was, you shouldn't stay up all night watching it!"

"How could I sleep? The people in the television were performing for me! Wouldn't it break their hearts if I went to sleep?"

Su Jin was speechless. How was she supposed to explain to this ancient fossil that TV dramas were not live shows for an audience of one…?

They headed to Mist Village early in the morning, and they soon understood how the village got its name. Almost the entire way into the village was shrouded in mist during the morning.

Lu Hao drove the truck ahead of them alone, while Su Jin and Nie Qing took the car behind him. The two vehicles maintained a fixed distance between them, and all the head and rear lights were on, just in case.

Even so, the two drivers did not dare to go too quickly. The mist was everywhere, obscuring their view of the cars behind them even in the rearview mirror. Thankfully, Mist Village was out in the boonies, so their vehicles were the only ones driving slowly down the road.

"Lass, something feels odd about this place."

"Are you overthinking things, Uncle Nie?" Su Jin was behind the wheel, but all she could sense around her was the most. Everything else was beyond her for now.

"This mist feels natural, but there's also a hint of evil energy in it." Nie Qing closed his eyes to get a better sense of it.

Su Jin immediately gave Lu Hao a call. She told him to keep his guard up and not drive too fast, relaying Nie Qing's words to him.

Lu Hao replied that he understood, keeping the call on speaker as he put his phone onto the passenger seat. That way, they could keep in contact should anything go wrong.

As it went, Nie Qing's suspicions were soon confirmed. Su Jin remained vigilant the entire time, which was how she immediately noticed when Lu Hao had to slam the brakes.

The screeching of the brakes was extremely loud and harrowing. Su Jin hurriedly asked Lu Hao what had happened over the phone, and if he had been hurt.

"I'm fine. There seems to be something ahead, but I didn't hit it." Thanks to Su Jin and Nie Qing's warning, Lu Hao had been keeping his foot on the brakes. When a black figure suddenly dashed out in front of him, he could hit the brakes fast enough.

"Good to hear that you're okay. Let's go check it out."

"Right. Be careful."

Lu Hao and Su Jin opened their doors at the same time. Nie Qing got out of the car too, following behind Su Jin.

Lu Hao was the first to go around the front of his truck, only to find a deer collapsed on the road. Was it a wild deer from the mountains? It was as big as a grown goat.

Lu Hao heaved a sigh of relief and turned around to tell Su Jin that it was fine, it was not a person. Even though he did not hit it, it… Wait, he did not hit it? There must be something wrong with that deer!

As soon as the thought occurred to him, Lu Hao spun around and threw a ball of flames from his hand at it. The collapsed deer was just about to take a bite out of Lu Hao's thigh when it was hit head-on by the ball of flames.

Everything had happened in an instant. By the time Su Jin and Nie Qing approached him, they saw the deer zombie struggling even though it was already ablaze. They could tell that it was a zombie because its body was already rotting away, and its eyeballs were greyish-white.

Why was there a zombified deer here?!

Su Jin's and Lu Hao's hearts sank. At this rate, it would not be long before…

A few seconds later, the deer zombie was reduced to ashes. Lu Hao took the remaining special ability flames on the ground back into his body, while Nie Qing found a sparkling stone amidst the ashes.

Su Jin recognized it as an animal crystal core. She did not expect to see an animal with a crystal core so early on, though. That must mean the deer had been zombified for some time now.

"Lass, this stone is full of spiritual energy!" Nie Qing exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, but humans can't absorb animal crystals. It's a shame." In the previous life, most people did not even bother gathering crystals from animal zombies because there were too many impurities in the crystal cores. If special ability users forced themselves to absorb it, it would have negative effects instead of strengthening their abilities.

"Can I have this, then? It would be such a waste to throw it away." Nie Qing knew that he had not earned the crystal core on his own. Even if the rightful owner was his disciple, he had to ask for their permission first.

Su Jin and Lu Hao agreed, of course. They would be more than pleased if Nie Qing could discover uses for animal crystals.

After that little incident on the road, the morning mist had more or less dissipated, so the three of them continued on their way.

They received the remaining livestock smoothly. Su Jin did the same thing as yesterday while they were on the way back, teleporting all the animals directly into the dimension. Once she jumped out of the back of the truck, she told Lu Hao that he could return the truck now.

Nie Qing did not ask Su Jin how much space she had in her dimension. He was very curious, of course, but he knew that everyone had their own secrets. They were his only companions now, so all he could do now was to respect their privacy.

Just like yesterday, Mist Village seemed normal. Su Jin knew that she should not interfere too much, and she could not exactly mind a whole village's business anyway.

Nevertheless, she gave the poultry seller lady who had helped them considerably yesterday a few more words of advice. She told her that there was a contagion going around the city now, and that they should be careful not to touch any people or animals that looked ill.

The lady nodded incessantly, but she did not take Su Jin's words to heart. The villagers were accustomed to bird and swine flus, so a contagion did not scare them.

Su Jin could tell from her expression that the warning fell on deaf ears, so she did not waste any more time. After bidding the lady and her family goodbye, she headed home with Lu Hao and Nie Qing.

On the way back, Lu Hao was driving so Su Jin joined Nie Qing for a chat in the backseat, briefing him on their current situation.

"You're saying that your entire family believes you? That's why they're buying supplies as well and even selling their houses?" Nie Qing was stunned. He only believed what Su Jin was saying because he could see some of her secrets, and it corroborated with the results of his predictions, which he had a lot of faith in. However, Su Jin's family consisted of normal people with smooth-sailing lives. Even so, they somehow believed what she said and joined her on the forefront?

"Isn't that what family's about? Unconditional trust. Besides, even if what I said doesn't come true, they won't blame me." Su Jin had that much faith in her family, at least.

"Your family's incredible. Now I really want to meet them."

Nie Qing had always been an orphan. Aside from his fellow students in the sect who cared for him to some extent, he did not have any other friends or family. The family Su Jin talked about sounded distant and strange to him. He just hoped that they would not be too unwelcome to an outsider like him.

"Uncle Nie, you're Lu Hao's master. A teacher for a day is a father for life, so you're part of our family now too. Don't worry, we won't hurt you." Su Jin seemed to understand what Su Jin was thinking, so she teased him with a nonchalant tone.

"Hmph, with what I can do, you won't be able to hurt me even if you wanted to," Nie Qing retorted with contempt. He was not going to admit that he was delighted to hear what Su Jin just said.

Lu Hao and Su Jin burst out laughing. Still, they did not want to embarrass the old man too much, so Su Jin hastily said, "Yes, yes, of course. You're an ancient immortal that we begged to come down the mountain with us. You're amazing."

"But of course. With my protection, you children should fret not about the future," Nie Qing proclaimed arrogantly. 

Although he felt a little guilty saying that, he still believed that confidence was key.