Chapter 179: Chapter 177: The Small Village
Luna took another sip of soup before looking at Elliana Lyle, pursing her lips as if struggling to suppress something, then let out a heavy sigh, seemingly reluctant to bring it up.
She first glanced at Hannah Collins, then said to Elliana Lyle, "I’ll tell you after we finish eating."
The meal took an hour, afterward Hannah Collins returned to her room, while Elliana Lyle brought Luna back to her own room.
Luna sat at the edge of the bed, beginning to recount the events from two days prior.
...
―――Two days earlier.
Wyen, Hongjia Town.
The bright moon hung high, occasional chirping of insects could be heard, the small town’s night was gentle and serene.
Luna stood by the street, the streetlight shining on her, stretching her shadow long and thin.
With hands in her pockets, she surveyed the surrounding buildings; the front of the houses was mostly tiled with small white pieces of ceramic, most being four-story buildings with gray rolling shutters.
Behind her was a mahjong parlor without a sign, its rolling shutter tightly closed, yet faint sounds of chaos could be heard from within.
"East Wind."
"White Tile."
It seemed like that person wouldn’t be coming out anytime soon.
Might as well return to the car and observe covertly.
It was ten at night, she’d been waiting for three hours when she heard a piercing screech of metal.
The rolling shutter opened, and a crowd exited, both men and women, all fashionably dressed middle-aged people.
The person she was waiting for was among them—a bald man wearing a plain white T-shirt worth a few hundred and black sweatpants, even smiling, his face exuded menace.
This man was the domestic head of an illegal livestream, and according to her investigation, his name was Charles Clarke, from South City, quite wealthy, yet unmarried at 40 and preferred living in this remote town.
Originally she thought of having Galen Collins help capture him, but doing so would lose the clues she sought, so she proceeded alone.
Gradually, the group dispersed at the intersection, and Charles Clarke got into a car alone.
Seeing this, Luna turned on her phone and saw a symbol start moving on the map.
Earlier, she’d installed a tracker under Charles Clarke’s car, so she wasn’t in a hurry. Once some distance was achieved, she started her car.
She followed him from the small town to a place called Vashi Village; the journey wasn’t far, just a few minutes.
Upon arrival, Charles Clarke’s car was parked inside a large courtyard, which seemed to be his residence.
It was quite fortuitous; she initially meant to gather information on Charles Clarke, but as she parked by the roadside, she saw him enter the unmarked mahjong parlor.
Luna parked her car along the road, took some equipment, then quietly approached Charles Clarke’s courtyard.
Climbing up a wall by a large locust tree and parting the dense leaves, she looked inside. The courtyard housed a two-story row house, sizeable enough to be quite affluent by old standards.
Just as she was still observing, a bark from a dog startled her.
Only then did she notice a small house by the inner door, housing a black dog.
The large black dog barked more and more vigorously, from one bark per second at the start to continuous barking.
Sounds of people came from inside: "Who’s there!" as the door opened, a man with corn-silk-like hair emerged, and it wasn’t Charles Clarke.
Luna, atop the wall, neither advancing nor retreating, had to rely on the locust tree’s leaves in front of her for cover.
"Meow～"
A tabby cat elegantly and proudly tiptoed along the wall, pausing now and then to stare at the dog inside with its eerie green eyes.
"I thought it was something, but it’s just a tabby, kitty～."
Seeing the tabby cat, the man grinned and called out, then frowned at the still-barking black dog, scolding: "Why bark at a person, you fool, barking at a tabby for no reason?"
"Da Nao, who’s outside?" another male voice emanated from inside.
The man called Da Nao shouted back inside: "No one, just a tabby cat came."
Da Nao said this before rushing back inside, shortly emerging with a greasy chicken drumstick in hand.
"Kitty, I’ll throw it out for you, eat up."
...
A few minutes later, the courtyard quieted back down, and Luna, quite impatient, sighed. This Da Nao sure talked a lot, chatting away with a cat over the wall, causing her legs to go numb.
Forget it for tonight, with this big black dog, it won’t be easy for her to get in.
After leaving, she found a household and claimed to be lost, requesting a drink of water.
The household was inhabited by an elderly lady living alone. Despite being woken up in the middle of the night and a bit impatient, upon seeing a pitiful young girl, her heart softened.
The old lady boiled a kettle of hot water, sat on the kang, hands propped on a cane, and kindly watched Luna drink water and eat dry biscuits.
Perhaps no one had visited the house for a long time, the old lady seemed quite pleased, saying: "Girl, it’s late into the night, you shouldn’t leave, just stay here with this old lady."
"Ah? Thank you, granny." Luna replied, biscuit in mouth, her smile innocent and sweet.
―――The next day.
Luna woke up at 7 o’clock, finding the granny was already up, and the stove had hot roasted sweet potatoes and potatoes on it.
No wonder it was so warm.
Seeing her wake up from the kang, the granny smiled immediately: "Awake now? Eat up."
With that, she propped herself up with a cane, served porridge from the rice cooker, and got out pickles.
As Luna ate, she chatted idly with the granny, learning the granny lived alone, her husband having passed twenty years ago, and her son and two daughters only visiting during New Year from the city.
"Granny, last night I passed by your neighbor’s courtyard, the barking dogs scared me a lot, with that noise, seemed like a lot of dogs inside."
"You mean Da Nao’s house? They have a dog, just one big black dog."
"Da Nao?" holding her porridge, as if finding it funny, "Someone is actually named that?"
The granny chuckled, then explained, "Such down-to-earth names help grow well. Da Nao used to get sick a lot as a child, but after a change of name following a soothsayer’s advice, he got better."
"Oh, I see." Luna nodded, then casually added, "Seeing such a big courtyard, should be quite a big family. My grandmother’s house only had two people, and they just occupied a small room, never seen such a big yard in a village before."
The granny waved her hand, face showing a bittersweet expression: "Da Nao’s parents died young, and there’s no siblings, just him and his wife in that big courtyard along with her brother-in-law."
At this moment, footsteps sounded from outside, and both their conversations paused, looking towards the white curtain.
Soon, the curtain parted, and the man with yellow hair from last night—Da Nao—walked in!
"Granny Wang, having breakfast?" Da Nao held a bag of apples, pausing upon seeing Luna, asking, "Your granddaughter back?"
The granny explained, "No, this girl got lost driving here last night, came seeking water in the middle of the night, and I let her stay seeing how dark it was outside.
"Got lost, huh? Little sister, where are you heading?"
Luna promptly responded, "I’m going to Holy Spring Town to find my second aunt."
"Oh dear, you’re on the wrong path; it’s far from here to Holy Spring. With technology these days, follow the navigation next time, you won’t get lost, ya?"
Luna sheepishly replied, "I just happened to have my phone out of charge back then, so I followed the road signs and ended up off course."