Chapter 584: Binding the Birth System to Become a Life Winner Chapter 585 Infinite Flow Cannon Fodder (32)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

The Spirit Fire Talisman and Spirit Thunder Talisman shone against each other, raining down on the mist without cost.

The mist ahead surged up and down without cease; whatever was inside could burst out at any moment, yet each time it fell just short of the crucial step. In the end, the mist was worn thinner and clearer by their talisman paper, and the thing inside could no longer hide, forced to reveal its true form.

Hiss

How to put it?

Calling it a chicken wasn't quite right; this thing did look very much like a domestic rooster, except its fur was black and white, especially its beak, sharp as a needle and particularly prominent.

Shen Yao subconsciously retreated two steps, then realized this thing couldn't chase them, so she took a few steps forward, trying to observe more carefully.

"No eyes, and no ears visible either. This should be an evil spirit."

Though its appearance was frightening enough that the timid would have nightmares upon seeing it, its strength was still too weak. Their talisman attacks weren't strong, yet they could still wear this thing half to death, showing how low its status was among demons, monsters, ghosts, and evil spirits.

The 'chicken' disliked by Shen Yao scraped its claws, wishing it could fly over and take a bite.

Its tightly closed beak suddenly revealed a small hole; the thin mist around it was sucked into its body, then spat out in circles.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao tilted her head to look at the not-too-smart 'chicken,' then turned and waved at Xu Ningchen.

The two of them studied this half-dead yet stubbornly resilient 'chicken' together, finally concluding that this was the lowest-ranking evil spirit among demons, monsters, ghosts, and evil spirits—it had little ability to harm people, but because of its frightening appearance, it could indirectly draw out people's deepest fears, thus achieving the goal of harming them.

In the end, two Spirit Thunder Talismans sent this not-too-smart evil spirit on its way.

The two soothed the frightened mule, hitched up the carriage, then turned and left.

"Will our actions just now earn us extra settlement points when we return to the Infinite World?"

Shen Yao pointed at the evil spirit that had already vanished into smoke and ash, feeling that although this Instance hadn't revealed hidden points, there must be other ways to earn points.

Just now, they had directly taken action to deal with the evil spirit; in the Instance's judgment, it should count for points.

Xu Ningchen nodded and shook his head—he really didn't know the calculation rules of the Infinite World, but when acting within an Instance, not killing innocents indiscriminately and helping Instance NPCs at the right time was something the Infinite World was pleased to see.

"We took the initiative to eliminate the evil spirit, indirectly protecting the NPCs in the Instance."

Based on previous precedent, the Infinite World would surely give some points as a token gesture.

But even if they didn't, they had tested several types of talismans on the evil spirit, which would help with their upcoming missions.

The two continued forward to find people, finally arriving at a village before nightfall.

No different from the previous village, the only difference was that cooking smoke rose from this village, proving someone lived here!

Having people was good—they had supplies, and mutual exchange would make everyone happy.

"Halt! Don't approach the village!" A sharp shout stopped them near the village entrance.

Xu Ningchen held up the wild rabbit in his hand high, indicating they had no ill will, were just passing through, and wanted to take the opportunity to ask for some news.

After a long while, just as Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen thought the other side wouldn't answer, a figure suddenly jumped out from ahead.

The figure was short and thin, clearly a child.

A child?!

"This"

Shen Yao let out a short sound, then exchanged a glance with Xu Ningchen; both wore shocked expressions.

The person living here was actually a child—truly beyond their expectations.

"You, who are you? How did you come to this remote Sanglin Village?"

The childish voice pulled Shen Yao's thoughts back to reality; even though standing before her was a genuine child, Shen Yao still wouldn't underestimate the other party.

Being able to survive, looking free of illness and disaster—perhaps this child's adaptability was stronger than that of ordinary adults.

"We are a married couple from Jingzhou; there was war and disaster there."

The Capital fell into chaos, unable to suppress unrest in the various States. Families with connections all wanted to move upward, while ordinary people without connections just sought a way to survive.

As Xu Ningchen's words landed, the child before them made an "oh" sound, clearly knowing about the situation in Jingzhou. He scanned up and down Xu Ningchen and Shen Yao's clothing, his gaze fixed tightly on the wild rabbit Xu Ningchen was holding.

Slurp

Shen Yao heard the sound of swallowing saliva. Since it wasn't one of the two of them who had just finished eating, it could only be this child before them, pretending to be deep and mysterious.

It seemed the situation in this Sanglin Village was not good; food shortage was inevitable.

Xu Ningchen smiled and handed over the wild rabbit in his hand. "This is game we hunted on the road. Thinking there was human habitation here, we came over to ask for news."

Bartering goods—neither side loses out.

The charm of the wild rabbit was irresistible, especially for a child who hadn't eaten meat for several days. He hesitantly took the rabbit into his hands. "Follow me into the village. Nowadays there's no one here." They could move in—it was a bargain.

Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen followed the other person into the village. They had taken only a few steps when they saw a huge Mulberry Tree.

Under the Mulberry Tree were several even smaller figures. Seeing outsiders, they dared not come forward, merely hiding and peeking at one another while standing in place.

They were all children!

Where were the adults in here? Or rather, there were no adults, only children.

Shen Yao's mood was not good. Seeing this, Xu Ningchen pressed his lips together, signaling to the stone who had just told them to wait a moment—they still had some hunted game in their carriage.

The two of them couldn't finish eating it all no matter how much they ate, while this group of children before them found it comparatively difficult to obtain enough food to supplement their nutrition. Better to make full use of everything.

One deer, several wild chickens and wild rabbits, and a small wild boar—all were successfully unloaded from the carriage by Xu Ningchen.

Shitou licked the corner of his mouth. Heaven only knew how long it had been since they escaped and last ate meat. So much meat before his eyes—if well preserved, it could last a year and a half.

"All for us?"

A child spoke up boldly, no longer on guard as before.

Compared to adults who would consider these wild game issues, the children's thoughts were simple; if not for the family misfortune, they would still be living carefree lives right now.

Shen Yao smiled, "Mm, they're all for you."

As soon as she finished speaking, a cheer rose up, and the game on the ground was cleanly divided among the children in twos and threes; even the heavy wild boars and wild deer that one person couldn't lift were carried by two or three people together.

Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen had originally planned to help, but Shitou waved them away with a smile on his face, already considering them great good people.

After all, someone who would unconditionally give meat (gathering information was just a few words, defaulting to losing nothing) surely looked down on these penniless children.

"Come with us; not far from the village entrance, we all live together for safety."

Shitou pointed to a house not far away, cooking smoke puffing out from it.

Obviously, they had planned to eat dinner, and the arrival of Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen, two uninvited guests, interrupted their plans.

Shitou walked lightly, briefly telling them about Sanglin Village along the way.

They were not originally from Sanglin Village; one day, many mad beasts attacking people came to the village, and they fled with their parents, running all the way to Sanglin Village.

Sanglin Village was famous for its mulberry trees; they had come at a good time, but unfortunately, recent drastic weather changes meant the mulberry trees bore no fruit, looking lush and tall but serving little purpose beyond shade.

After all, the children didn't know how to raise silkworms, and they didn't even know Sanglin Village's mulberry trees were an important product for the villagers; they only occasionally climbed the trees to check their surroundings, adding a layer of safety.

"Where are your parents?"

Shen Yao asked, thinking this topic wasn't exactly welcome.

Sure enough, Shitou hung his head and dejectedly pointed, "They're all dead."

"My parents collapsed and didn't wake up when they reached the village; we could only bury them."

A little girl with two flower-bun hairstyles spoke, her eyes looking dazed.

Shen Yao's heart ached slightly, and she couldn't help but reach out to touch the little girl's head, "You're really brave."

Children of a few years old without adults to care for them, living by pulling each other along; surely they had encountered plenty of trouble in daily life.

"We're here."

Shitou spoke at the right time, not only breaking the overly silent atmosphere but also awakening the children's desire for meat.

The children carrying so much loot re-entered the courtyard, chattering that they had to add a meal tonight.

Since Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen had come, they had no intention of leaving that day.

And since this group of children lived difficult lives, the two adults couldn't stand by idly; they simply helped out, and even if dinner was delayed a bit, being able to eat meat made the children much happier.

After dinner, some children rubbed their eyes and were led by older ones into rooms to rest, while Shitou deliberately stayed behind to tell them about Lankou Commandery.

"I heard my father say that the commandery city was normal before, but one day suddenly no one could leave the city, while people outside could enter."

My father was carrying household items to sell there at the time; he was timid and didn't go in, so he set up a stall at the city gate.

When it got dark and he planned to go home, my father saw those who had entered the city in the morning, all pacing near the city gate, unable to get out no matter what.

Shitou's memory of this matter wasn't deep; after all, he was under ten years old, and he only heard some of it because he was mischievous and didn't sleep.

"My father never went to Lankou Commandery again; later, the village was attacked by beasts," their family ran out, some dead, some injured, and it became difficult to find out anything about Lankou Commandery.

Blinking his eyes, Shitou thought these two people wanted to go to Lankou Commandery; considering all this game, he reminded, "Don't get too close; I've heard evil spirits roam inside."

Shen Yao thought of the chicken they had eliminated with talisman paper and said calmly, "You know about evil spirits?"

Shitou puffed out his chest, "Of course, I've seen one; it was really ugly and eats people."

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao thought that chicken was indeed strange-looking; as for eating people, evil spirits live on human essence and qi, so it could indeed be counted as eating people.

Shitou was a child, including the others living in the room, who were all young.

Even their escape was in a daze; if you really asked about Lankou Commandery, they probably wouldn't know much.

Shen Yao and Xu Ningchen rested here for one night, then set out on the road the next day.

"Are you leaving? Don't go to Lankou Commandery; it really eats people."

Shitou clenched his small fist and fidgeted, indicating he meant well, not truly trying to stop them.

Shen Yao smiled and touched Shitou's head; thinking that evil spirits had already appeared outside, she said, "Don't go out; live well here, and remember to dig some hidden traps at the village entrance."

Even though this wouldn't improve safety much, man proposes; even if it only delayed things for a while, it was worth it if it let Shitou and the others escape smoothly.

Waving goodbye to the children behind her, Shen Yao leaned in the carriage and, holding Xu Ningchen's wrist, spoke of the remaining few days of the instance survival mission.

"Find a place to wait."

In the end, they still gave up the plan to go to Lankou Commandery.

Xu Ningchen drove the carriage and finally chose to stop and rest at the foot of a mountain.

Surrounded by timber, they used tools in the space to fell it; after drying in the sun, it became bonfire material.

There were wild camping tents in the space; after spreading them out, they added a layer of camouflage cloth, reducing the probability of being discovered by others.

The space inside the tent was huge, enough for the two of them to lie down and rest, and even to partition off a small space as a daily talisman-drawing studio.

Swish swish swish—

As the instance survival mission neared its end, the two's tension grew day by day.

This was a medium-difficulty regular instance; the last general instance ended with a sky-covering tsunami—could this instance let them pass safely? Don't even think about it.

"We still have plenty of talisman paper," especially the Spirit Thunder Talismans and Spirit Fire Talismans; these were talismans they had to draw, and when dealing with species beyond human power, the talisman paper's effect was huge.

Xu Ningchen and Shen Yao had placed plenty of talisman paper on their sleeves, chests, and even in the space, to ensure they could throw them out at the quickest speed when encountering danger.

Exhale

Exhaling, Shen Yao looked at the distant horizon faintly darkening and decided not to rest tonight, just enduring it.

Crack—

The bonfire burned, the pitch-black firewood breaking into two sections, as if emitting sorrowful cries.

Shen Yao rested her chin and sat at the edge of the tent; the system in her mind jumped around and screamed.

Shen Yao suddenly thought of a certain world from the past; when killing pigs for the New Year, it was just this lively and piercing.

"Okay, the supernatural anomalies haven't come over yet, what are you afraid of?"

Good-for-nothing, even if failure injures Shen Yao, the system is an entity-less thing; those things wouldn't know how to catch it even if they wanted to.

"Host, chaos, chaos, once Qingzhou's Four Commanderies fall into chaos, you'll find it very hard to escape Qingzhou."

Previously Qingzhou had internal unrest and Jingzhou suffered military calamity, it would feel smug that the Host could escape in time; now looking again, it's not as good as staying in Qingzhou and Jingzhou to stir things up with those people, at least the Host's hands-on capability is invincible.

Not knowing if the system disdains its own immature means of dealing with supernatural anomalies, Shen Yao gripped the talisman paper in her sleeve tightly, deciding that once she discovered a problem in her surroundings, she would blow the talisman paper out in one go, first treating them to a firework rain to open their eyes.