Chapter 25

After slamming the last disgusting thing that lunged at her to the ground with her staff, Lu Xiaoyao clearly felt a change in the surrounding aura the moment her staff struck.

Quickly, the flame of the torch in her hand returned to its orange color once more.

"Alright, we can go down the mountain now."

Mu Chen spoke at the right moment. Lu Xiaoyao took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling a sense of relief. As she stood up straight, the light rain that began to fall again calmed her earlier agitated emotions.

"We can go down?"

Startled by the rain, Lu Xiaoyao turned her head blankly to look at Mu Chen and the others, clean and untouched, as if nothing had happened. As for herself…

Lu Xiaoyao didn't want to admit that her sensitive nose was filled with a fishy stench, all from what she had been splattered with just now.

"Are you going back to take a shower after we get down the mountain?"

Seeing Lu Xiaoyao's deflated expression, Julian seemed to understand what she was thinking.

"I'm going back to the shop to shower. What about you guys?"

"I'm going to the village. You guys go back to the shop first... The boss probably locked the door, so you'll have to climb over the wall to get in."

Speaking of climbing over the wall, Lu Xiaoyao's face turned pale. She remembered the thing that had climbed onto the second-floor balcony last night and hesitated, "There wouldn't be... wouldn't be any more of those things, right?"

"That's why I'm having Julian go with you. It's enough for me to go to the village alone."

Mu Chen's tone left no room for argument. Even though Julian wanted to go to the village to take a look, he glanced at Lu Xiaoyao. She was the one who had worked so hard to break the formation earlier, so it didn't seem right to abandon her now.

"Okay, then be careful. We'll meet up with you as soon as possible."

"Okay."

…

"The Mountain God Festival is tonight, so eat more. Everyone will be busy this afternoon, and it won't be good if you're hungry later because there's no one to cook."

As he spoke, Wang Laosan added several more pieces of chicken to the two girls' bowls, which made Merui Ta, who had been eating chicken for several meals in a row, lose her appetite for a moment.

Holding her rice bowl, she secretly glanced at Wang Wenfei, wanting to ask if their family's menu was too limited, but she saw that Wang Wenfei was also eating with great reluctance.

Anyone would have trouble accepting roasted chicken at every meal. At least, at least give some green vegetables, even if it's just for decoration.

"I'm full."

After stuffing everything in her bowl into her mouth, Merui Ta mechanically chewed twice and immediately put down her bowl and said she was full. Wang Wenfei followed suit, and the two girls left one after the other.

Watching the two of them leave, Wang Laosan turned to look at "Cuihua" and asked, "Huang Er, is everything ready?"

"Almost. We're just waiting for them to agree to stay."

A furry face flashed across Cuihua's face, and even her sincere smile revealed a hint of cunning.

"Wait, you don't raise chickens at home, so how come you're eating chicken at every meal?" As soon as they left the house, Merui Ta asked all the questions she had in her stomach.

"How would I know? But there's someone in our village who specializes in raising chickens, maybe they bought it from there?"

Wang Wenfei didn't understand why her parents' tastes were so strange, they had to eat chicken every meal.

The two walked and talked, and whether it was fate or not, they ran into Er Bao, who had slipped out again.

This time, Merui Ta didn't know whether to be angry or laugh. What was wrong with this mischievous child? How could such a small child run out anytime he wanted without his parents noticing?

"Little devil, did you sneak out again while your mom was busy today?"

They had just picked Er Bao up from the road that morning and seen his parents crying so miserably, completely treating Er Bao as the apple of their eye. They had just scared his parents that morning, and he had run out again that afternoon?

Before Er Bao could run again, Wang Wenfei picked him up and walked towards Er Bao's house. As expected, she received a thousand thanks from Er Bao's family.

"Sigh, kids this age are at the stage where they like to run around. If you really can't do anything, just tie a rope around his waist and connect it to your wrist. Isn't there some kind of Mountain God Festival tonight? I heard Fei Fei say that your village will be even more lively then, so you need to keep an even closer eye on Er Bao."

Merui Ta couldn't help but say a few more words while Wang Wenfei handed the child to Er Bao's mother, urging them to watch their child carefully.

After all, this little brat, Er Bao, was really good at running.

"Yes, Er Bao's mother, Er Bao is very lively, so you need to watch him even more carefully. We won't always notice him running out, we'll naturally help if we notice, but..."

Wang Wenfei naturally wouldn't say the bad things that followed. How could Er Bao's family not understand the kindness of the two girls?

After the two of them left, Er Bao, who had been silent the whole time, stared quietly at the backs of the two girls as they left, and suddenly spoke.

"Mommy."

"Hmm?"

"We, are we Mountain God's people?"

"Yes."

"..."

That night, as Wang Wenfei and the others were preparing to go to the small square in the village to attend the Mountain God Festival, they saw Er Bao again.

What was this fate?

The two almost didn't laugh out loud, but this time, Er Bao seemed to be waiting for them on purpose.

"Er Bao?"

Just as she was about to pick up Er Bao, the little guy ran away in a puff of smoke.

"Er Bao! Stop!"

Seeing Er Bao suddenly run away, they were even more worried about the child being alone so late at night, and quickly followed. They ran all the way to the entrance of the village before Er Bao finally stopped.

Turning around, Er Bao's dark eyes looked at them, and Wang Wenfei and the others felt an inexplicable palpitation in their hearts. Just as they were about to call out to him, they saw him point in one direction. In the place he was pointing, a torch that was about to go out was still emitting light in the darkness.

"Do you want it?"

Er Bao shook his head, but kept pointing at the torch.

Wang Wenfei looked at the torch, and a voice in her heart kept telling her to go and get it! She turned to look at Er Bao again, and asked, "Do you want me to get it?"

This time, Er Bao finally nodded.

Hearing his words, Wang Wenfei walked towards the torch, while Merui Ta stayed by Er Bao's side, afraid that Er Bao would disappear again in the blink of an eye.

By the time Wang Wenfei picked up the torch, the flames on the torch seemed to have grown brighter, though it might have been Merui Ta's imagination.

"Er Bao, let's go home."

Just then, Merui Ta was startled by the sudden appearance of Er Bao's parents. She watched Er Bao obediently being held in his parents' arms. The family stood not far from Merui Ta and nodded to her. Before Wang Wenfei could return, the couple had already left with Er Bao in their arms.

Merui Ta watched them leave before turning to look at Wang Wenfei, but to her surprise, Wang Wenfei's face was extremely pale as she came back with the torch.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Merui Ta, it's all fake!"

…

"Wow~"

Looking at the two of them in the painting, having regained consciousness because they had retrieved the torch, Ming Mei praised them endlessly, standing in the temple and applauding for them.

After applauding, Ming Mei turned to look at the golden Mountain God statue, which already had faint cracks on its surface.

Seeing this, Ming Mei snorted, ignoring it. Anyway, she was the boss in this game, and she could give herself whatever ending she wanted. Anyway—"Huang Er and those bad things can't be left alive."