Chapter 263: 259 God's Child

Fang Mu fell into silence and couldn't help but ask, "Do you know who that outsider is?"

"My impression isn't very deep; after all, it was just a fleeting encounter. I only remember seeing him from afar walking alone into the forest of Nong Mountain." Mo Longwei shook his head, as if somewhat depressed, and took a large, fierce gulp of beer.

Fang Mu did not speak; his deepened breathing betrayed his inner unrest, though the two people beside him did not notice.

"What exactly is that Toad God? It sounds like she is... very powerful." Fang Mu weighed his words carefully before asking.

Hearing this, Mo Longwei's drinking motion stiffened for a moment. His previously drifting mind was instantly pulled back to the high ground of consciousness by the fear deep within his heart. With panic in his eyes, he said, "Toad God... Toad God... If you were to ask me what deity in this world truly exists, I would tell them without hesitation: it is the Toad God.

But if you were to ask me what evil truly exists, I... I would give them the same answer."

Mo Longwei shook his leg uneasily, his thumb unconsciously pinching the beer can in his hand, and began to tell Fang Mu a local legend about the Toad God.

A long, long time ago, when the mainstream way of life for humans was collective living in tribal units, there was a tribe called Rong Village, which was rooted in a place almost isolated from the world.

Being difficult to communicate with the outside world was both a bad thing and a good thing. At the very least, no one would disturb the life of their tribe. The people living in this tribe at that time could be considered to be living in peace and contentment. Because the environment was favorable and food was abundant, everyone could do what they wanted to do besides the necessary farming and hunting. Rong Village was almost a real-life utopia.

But like most stories, beauty is always meant to be broken.

In a certain year, Rong Village encountered a natural disaster—a great drought. There was no water, people could not farm, and everyone failed to harvest any food. People wanted to go hunting, but water is the source of all things; without water, animals could not survive either. The hunters in the village returned empty-handed every time they went into the mountains. And what was fatal was that, just at this time, a terrifying monster appeared in the mountains.

That monster was like a giant centipede, its whole body covered in dense, long legs, and it had many eyes. It ate any living creature, especially humans; it bit anyone it saw. The people who risked their lives to go into the mountains to hunt not only failed to catch any prey but were often caught by the monster and eaten alive. It was quite gluttonous and cruel.

But the people of Rong Village had no choice. They could not survive without food. Farming was impossible, and going into the mountains to find food was the only way the village had a chance to survive. Risking their lives to hunt was a choice they had to make.

At that time, most of those who could enter the depths of the mountains were only young and strong men. Women had to take care of the home for the sake of their children, and even if they went into the mountains, they could not go very far. Therefore, the task of going into the mountains to find food was done by the men of Rong Village, but that monster had almost eaten all the men who went into the mountains.

Without men, it was impossible for the tribe to reproduce with only women. The disintegration of the tribe was almost foreseeable.

And just at this time, the witch of the tribe—whether she had fallen into madness because she had just lost her husband and was babbling, or whether she had truly received guidance from a deity—said that the tribe needed men, but the men of the tribe were all gone. The women of the tribe needed to pray piously to the deity to grant their tribe children.

Because people were very desperate and the tribe indeed needed to continue, and because the witch's status in the tribe was considered prestigious, no matter how strange the prayer method the witch spoke of was, the women in the village did it anyway.

The women used their hair as thread to weave a piece of cloth, which they hung at the head of their beds before they slept. At night, they had to open the doors of their rooms. Afterward, the witch required them to cover their eyes, and no matter what they heard at night, they were not allowed to take off the things covering their eyes.

That night, some of the women in the tribe vaguely heard the sound of toads croaking appearing near them in their deep sleep, but they kept the witch's requirements in mind and did not remove the cloth covering their eyes, waiting until the next day at dawn to take it off.

And at this time, the women were pleasantly surprised to find that they were pregnant. The witch, who was also pregnant, told the people of the tribe that they were all children of the deity.

The witch said this was a favor bestowed by the Toad God, and from now on, Rong Village would worship the Toad God.

In any case, the tribe finally had descendants, and the members of the tribe felt quite happy.

Perhaps the children in the women's bellies were truly special; they developed very quickly, and in less than a few days, the women's bellies were so big they were about to give birth.

In less than five days, the women of the tribe soon gave birth to children one after another.

These children of the deity looked very strange: flat heads, huge mouths, thick limbs, and their skin was covered with strange lumps. They could not speak, and their way of moving was quite eerie, but they were all immensely strong, and some even mastered strange magic. Some could make creatures that heard their voices fall asleep just by making a sound, and then eat the sleeping creatures in one bite; others could spit water or summon fire, possessing many powerful abilities.

As soon as they were born, it was as if they had decided on their mission from their mother's womb. They left the tribe in unison, entered the mountains, eliminated and killed the harmful monster, and then returned to the village to help the tribe multiply and develop, making Rong Village the most powerful tribe in Guinan.

As Mo Longwei told the story, he drank, and before he knew it, he had passed out drunk on the spot.

Fang Mu felt that the story had a sequel. Unable to bear the cliffhanger, he desperately shook the village chief, hoping he would climb back up and continue, but Mo Longwei was too drunk and did not wake up no matter how he teased him.

Seeing this, Mo Guangning stopped Fang Mu from trying to wake his drunken uncle. He couldn't help but smile and explain to him that the story really ended there, and then said it was getting late, telling Fang Mu to go back to sleep, as he would take him into the mountains tomorrow.

Tonight, the tour guide Mo Guangning had set up the drinking table just to get his uncle drunk. He knew that once his uncle was drunk, he would definitely sleep until dark the next day. In this way, they would have plenty of time to make a round trip to Nong Mountain.

Fang Mu expressed his gratitude for this and returned to his room, heavy-hearted.

This pair of uncle and nephew thought it was just a simple story, but in Fang Mu's view, it was not like that. Although there might be embellishments from the legend, the component of truth in it was so high that Fang Mu couldn't help but tremble.

Children of the deity, children of the Toad God?

Even though he had never seen it with his own eyes, Fang Mu couldn't help but think of the incident described in his diary where he was chased by a strange person on a foggy day. Didn't all the characteristics of that thing that "he" suspected was not human closely resemble the children of the Toad God in the story?