Zhang Xiaobei didn't sleep all night because the mute boy said nothing.
But soon, she knew what had happened last night.
At dawn, when the sky was barely light, screams echoed through the village.
Someone else had died.
And not just one person.
Zhang Xiaobei rushed over immediately, and upon seeing who the deceased were, she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
The dead were the brats who had been beaten by the mute boy yesterday.
The brats all had huge claw marks on their bodies, as if they had been attacked by some ferocious beast.
"My child, my child, woo woo woo—"
"What kind of ghost thing is this! If you have the guts, come find me! What kind of thing is it to go after children!"
The cries of the women and the angry shouts of the men converged in the sky above the village.
Zhang Xiaobei staggered, retreating in disbelief.
At this moment, she thought of the mute boy's strange behavior last night and the smell of blood on him.
She thought of Da Zhuang before he died not long ago...
She seemed to have argued with him a few words, and then complained to the mute boy after returning.
She thought of the journey, whether it was in the bandit's lair or in Xiangtian Village.
The mute boy was always there when the 'Mountain God' appeared.
Was the Mountain God really chasing them? Da Feng Novel Network
Or else...
Was the so-called 'Mountain God' always by their side?
Zhang Xiaobei turned and ran home, not even wiping the snowflakes from her face.
In the yard—
The mute boy had already packed his things and was sitting there, as if waiting for her to return.
Zhang Xiaobei panted and walked over step by step, stopping in front of him.
"You... who exactly are you?"
The mute boy looked at her quietly for a moment, then calmly raised his hand.
[Leave here, otherwise, they will all die.]
Her answer confirmed, Zhang Xiaobei's legs went weak, and she knelt directly on the ground.
The cold of the ice and snow could not match the cold in her heart at this moment.
But why?
She murmured blankly, "Why are you doing this? Why?"
"They just said a few words, not enough to die..."
It was one thing to deal with bandits, but why kill the villagers too?
Suddenly, she thought of something and raised her head sharply.
"Do you also need human sacrifices?"
Clearly, nothing had happened in the past two years...
"Is two years your limit?!"
To her questioning, the mute boy merely watched her in silence.
Silence often meant consent.
Zhang Xiaobei's mind went blank.
How could this happen? How could this happen?
She had fled for the Sea God sacrifice... only to find a 'Mountain God' by her side who needed sacrifices.
In the bandit's lair, he had saved everyone.
But the villagers were innocent...
If it weren't for her arrival, Da Zhuang and those children would not have had an accident...
What did he want to do?
In the ice and snow, the mute boy sat quietly, snow accumulating on him.
Zhang Xiaobei knelt on the ground, her face ashen.
After an unknown amount of time.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and her lips trembled, "Go, go..."
"Let's leave here."
She decided to leave and immediately got up with difficulty, supporting herself on the table beside her, then took the other bundle from the mute boy.
She walked out of the yard first, heading towards the outskirts of the village without looking back.
Leave here, as far as possible.
She couldn't bring herself to tell the mute boy to die.
Looking back at their years together, she couldn't bring herself to abandon him and let him leave alone.
Leaving here together was the best path she could think of at the moment.
A few snowflakes fell.
Gradually covering their departing footsteps.
"Mute boy, if you can't help yourself next time, just eat me."
...
...
Seeing this, Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow.
He had thought everything would be covered by the heavy snow and end here.
But unexpectedly, not long after the mute boy and Zhang Xiaobei left, there was a sudden burst of lightning and thunder.
Thunderclaps sounded, and bolts of lightning struck down.
The first bolt of lightning landed in the fields of Xiangtian Village.
It ignited a raging fire.
Those black insects rolled, burned, and struggled in the flames, but their fate was sealed.
The villagers watched the scene before them, terrified, yet heartbroken by the destruction of their fertile land.
"Stop, stop—"
They circled the fields, but were helpless.
"Heaven, aren't you forcing us to a dead end!"
"Stop, stop!"
No matter how they cried out, those fields and those unusual black insects were still engulfed in the flames.
In the sky, two deities, hidden within the lightning, watched below with indifferent expressions.
One held a hammer, and a red drum floated before the other.
Every movement was accompanied by divine power.
"We are ordered to exterminate demons today. You all leave quickly and do not get caught in the crossfire!"
These black insects lived in the soil, and if they only fed on soil, they would not become a force in a short time.
But with the villagers constantly feeding them corpses, these insects were no longer what they used to be.
If they were allowed to mature,
they would eventually be unable to resist coming out of the soil and turn their attention to the villagers in search of food.
Because of previous cases elsewhere, the Thunder God and Electricity Mother received an order to exterminate demons, which recorded:
Once such demonic creatures are encountered, they must be eradicated as early as possible!
"What demons! What demons! This is clearly the land, the grain—"
The villagers could not hear this at the moment.
They saw no demons, no black and white, only raging fires that burned the land they depended on for survival.
"Even if there are really demons, don't exterminate them, we don't need to exterminate demons!"
"Spare the demons, spare us!"
The villagers wailed powerlessly before the bonfire.
The Thunder God and Electricity Mother exchanged glances and shook their heads, "Let's go, to the next place."
There was still a mountain demon to exterminate nearby.
...
"Mute boy, did something happen over there?"
The commotion in Xiangtian Village was too great, even though Zhang Xiaobei and the others had walked a considerable distance, they could still hear some of it.
Looking into the distance, the sky was filled with rolling clouds, lightning, and thunder.
The lightning seemed to pierce through space, which was terrifying.
The mute boy glanced over, his gaze tightening.
After observing for a while, seeing the thunderclouds flying towards the bandit's lair, his heart skipped a beat.
He pulled Zhang Xiaobei's hand and hid behind the nearby rocks.
Before Zhang Xiaobei could react, she suddenly heard a voice.
The voice was slightly hoarse, as if it hadn't been used for a long time.
But it also seemed to carry a certain power, inspiring awe.
"【Hide】"
"...?!"
Zhang Xiaobei was stunned, her ears buzzing.
She looked at the mute boy, who was facing away from her, staring intently in the direction of the thunderclouds, and felt a sense of disbelief.
Was that voice just now from the mute boy?
But the mute boy, he... he...
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something several times, but in the end, she said nothing.
She only felt a dizziness, and many things became a muddled mess.
After an unknown amount of time, seeing the thunderclouds gradually move away.
The mute boy breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew his power.
He prepared to take Zhang Xiaobei and continue their journey, preferably to go further.
But after taking two steps, he found no movement behind him.
He turned back and saw Zhang Xiaobei looking at him in a daze, murmuring:
"Are you still the mute boy?"
"You are not the mute boy."
Mountain God, speaking, killing... what else didn't she know?
Could she still trust him?
Was he still the same mute boy as before?
Or, was he always this unfamiliar?
"..."
The mute boy was stunned, his brow furrowed.
He scratched his head in bewilderment and kicked a small stone at his feet.
Just as Zhang Xiaobei thought she wouldn't get an answer, she heard that familiar yet unfamiliar voice again.
Hoarse, and with a dry tone.
"I, originally, was not, mute."
The mute boy said, his expression still a little puzzled.
...