Chapter 187 : Must First Raise Reputation in the Village
Chapter 187: Must First Raise Reputation in the Village
After a brief review and discussion, the two of them decided, just in case, to push the table against the front door to block it. Then, just like the previous night, they began taking turns standing watch.
The long night eventually passed. With the crow of a rooster, the sky gradually brightened.
Just after waking up, Long Tao felt the urge to relieve himself. When he got up and looked around, he discovered that True Person Mingzhu was standing by the door, her face flushed red as she looked at him.
“True Person, um… what’s wrong? You don’t look too well.”
“It’s already daylight. Help me move the table aside.”
“Oh, coming right away.”
Long Tao felt somewhat puzzled. Even if she had become a mortal, the physical foundation of True Person Mingzhu should still be there.
It shouldn’t be so difficult that she couldn’t move a table. But after he approached, he heard her whisper softly,
“I… I need to relieve myself…” She clutched the corner of her clothes, her ears already red. “You… help me find a place.”
Long Tao immediately fell into speechless silence. At the same time, he sighed inwardly. So this scenario had finally arrived.
As a Qi Refining Disciple, even after becoming a mortal, his daily life had barely changed. However he used to eat, drink, and relieve himself, he still did the same now.
But True Person Mingzhu had been an immortal fairy for several hundred years. Now that she had suddenly fallen into the mortal world, she had to start eating, drinking, and relieving herself again. That difference in feeling was truly something else.
So he led True Person Mingzhu to the backyard of the house.
From his bag, he took out a stack of grass paper and handed it to her. Then he thoughtfully asked,
“You still remember how to do it, right? Otherwise, should I go call Du Yiluo or another girl to come teach you?”
After taking the grass paper, Mingzhu looked at the stack of things she had not used for several hundred years. Her face turned even redder. When she heard Long Tao’s teasing tone, she finally became embarrassed and angry, driving him out.
“If you dare peek, you’re dead!”
Long Tao jogged back to the front yard and relieved himself happily by the base of the wall. After tying his trousers again, he checked the nameplate at the door as usual. When he saw that the names of Long Tao and Yi Suyue were still there, he finally relaxed.
“Oh! Long Tao, you’re up early today!”
Hearing the cheerful voice, Long Tao did not even need to turn around to know it was Du Yiluo. While tidying his clothes, he turned and greeted her.
“Miss Du, going to collect the letters?”
“Yeah. As the Postman, that’s my daily job. Although it’s simple, the distance I have to run is pretty far. By the way, how was last night? Did anything happen?”
Seeing that Du Yiluo was completely unhurried and even had a gossiping curiosity on her face, Long Tao recounted the events of the previous day. As expected, she revealed an expression that said “just as I expected.”
“Hmph! See? I already told you—never take things for granted in this village. Even if you doubt a senior’s reminder, you shouldn’t ignore it. But you and Mingzhu really are cultivators from the Uncircumvented Heaven World. You actually managed to resist the Spirit Speech technique. You should know… those youngsters—within the first three nights—because they didn’t listen to me, four people died.”
“How many people were there when they first arrived?”
“Sixteen or seventeen. Now there are only nine left. Sigh… The key is that most of them died for nothing. They didn’t even exchange their lives for any useful information.”
At the mention of information, Long Tao asked Du Yiluo again.
“Then… Miss Du, do you think we should proactively knock on doors? Use a chance to exchange for information, and then everyone shares clues with each other. Wouldn’t that be better?”
Hearing this, Du Yiluo once again showed the expression of “young people are still too naive,” and said with a smile,
“Everyone can think of that. But I’ll tell you—relying on everyone knocking on one or two doors and then exchanging clues is meaningless.”
“Why?”
“Because the clues villagers give depend on each person’s number of times knocking on doors. If everyone has only knocked two or three times, the information they get will only be shallow and common. If I’m not mistaken, when you knocked earlier, you probably asked where this place is, right?”
“Uh… that’s correct.”
“And the villagers’ answers must have been that this place is the village, people should stay inside the village, and only drifters and wild beasts remain outside. That sort of nonsense, right?”
Long Tao nodded again.
“But if you’ve already knocked on more than a dozen houses and then ask the same question, you’ll receive deeper and different answers.”
“And you?”
Du Yiluo smiled lightly again.
“I did indeed obtain some different clues. But… like I said before, if you want to exchange information, you must present something of equal value. Those youngsters can’t be relied upon at all, so I’m not counting on them. If you two want the clues I got from knocking on doors, then at the very least… you must also go knock yourselves and obtain some information others don’t have.”
Watching Du Yiluo walk toward the village exit with light steps, Long Tao fell into deep thought again.
This strange place really would not let people leave so easily.
He had originally thought it was a multiplayer cooperative game. Everyone would separate to collect clues, then gather together to piece them together, and finally find the method to clear the stage.
Only now did he realize it was closer to a single-player game.
If you wanted the truly critical clues, you had to go knocking on doors one by one yourself. According to Du Yiluo, the more times a person actively knocked on doors, the higher their “reputation” in the village would become. Only then could more valuable information be extracted from the villagers.
“They really won’t let anyone exploit loopholes…” he muttered.
At this moment, Mingzhu walked out from the backyard. Her expression had already returned to its usual cold composure. Long Tao told her about the conversation he just had with Du Yiluo, with a hint of frustration in his tone.
Unexpectedly, Mingzhu did not seem too surprised.
“This is actually not hard to guess,” she said calmly. “If simply exchanging information could really reveal the way out, then when Xin Wushe and those young people met us yesterday, the first thing they should have asked was what clues we had obtained. But they never mentioned it. I already felt something was wrong at the time.”
“That makes sense…” Long Tao scratched his head. “Then do you think we should take the initiative to knock on doors?”
“Not for now.” Mingzhu rejected it decisively. “Even if we ask questions, we must first have a clear direction. Random questions will only waste precious knocking opportunities. I think we should observe more first and become more familiar with the people here. At least Xin Wushe and Du Yiluo don’t look like fools.”
Afterward, the two decided to continue wandering around the village together and, at the same time, head to the warehouse in the south to see whether food would actually be distributed.
Unexpectedly, the moment they stepped out the door, someone approached them.
Both of them still remembered this person. He seemed to be the one among the group of young people yesterday who had quoted, “The Master did not speak of strange powers and supernatural phenomena”—that Brother Shi.
“Um, if I remember correctly, you should be Brother Shi, right? May I ask what brings you here?”
The Brother Shi before them was completely different from yesterday. That pedantic arrogance had vanished without a trace. He respectfully performed a salute, speaking sincerely,
“It’s already an honor that you two still remember me. I am Shi Wenyuan, an apprentice of the Mo Palace, from the Star Vessel Institute. Yesterday I was somewhat offensive—please forgive me.”
“No need to be polite.” Long Tao waved his hand. “You came to see us for something?”
He had already noticed yesterday that this Shi Wenyuan seemed to be the backbone of that group of young people, or at least someone capable of making decisions.
“First, of course, I hope to cooperate with the two of you to find a way to leave together.” Shi Wenyuan said. Then his expression suddenly became complicated. “Second… I am extremely curious about the world the two of you came from—the one filled with Spiritual Energy.”
“Oh?” Long Tao raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were the one who believed it the least.”
Unexpectedly, Shi Wenyuan revealed a bitter smile.
“Quite the opposite. On the very first night after arriving here, I already confirmed that this is absolutely not our original world. But…” he sighed helplessly,
“I am the oldest among them. I must pretend to be confident so that I can stabilize everyone’s morale. Even if that means acting like a pedantic old conservative.”
“But from what I see, your companions don’t seem to believe that explanation anymore.”
“Indeed.” Shi Wenyuan rubbed his temples, deep exhaustion visible in his eyes. “The longer we stay here, the deeper the despair becomes. Not just them—even I can barely hold on any longer.”