Chapter 194: The Prophecy from Twenty Years Ago

"You still haven't answered my question," Ye Lin reminded him.

"This is Bajin City; as for the rest... I don't know," the boy shook his head.

"You don't know what class-changers and monsters are?" Ye Lin was somewhat surprised.

The boy continued to shake his head.

"Then what is this 'quota' you speak of? Why are they so excited as soon as they hear I'm sick?" Ye Lin pressed on.

"Great-Grandfather says the people of Bajin City are just livestock kept in captivity. Every year, we must send one hundred thousand people to the sacrificial altar to avoid the city being slaughtered. These one hundred thousand people are the quota. Those who are sick are sacrificed first; once the quota is filled, the others don't have to die," the boy explained numbly.

Ye Lin's heart skipped a beat; this coincided exactly with his own suspicions.

With no power to protect themselves, yet able to survive in a place crawling with monsters, the only explanation was that these humans were livestock and rations kept by the Demon race.

"You came to save us, right?" A light ignited in the depths of the boy's eyes. "Great-Grandfather said that someone would come from the outside world to save everyone in Bajin City!"

"You're mistaken; I'm just passing through," Ye Lin said with an indifferent expression.

"Impossible! Great-Grandfather wouldn't be wrong. Come with me to see Great-Grandfather, he surely..."

The boy wanted to say more, but Ye Lin had already delivered a hand-chop to the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious, and tossed him into a corner.

If he chose not to help, nothing would happen to him; but if he chose to help, there was no telling what kind of trouble he might invite.

When prosperous, one should benefit the world; when poor, one should focus on one's own virtue.

Treating people like livestock was not something ordinary monsters could pull off. There was definitely a Demon presence behind Bajin City, and with the enemy's strength unknown, Ye Lin did not want to bring trouble upon himself.

In any case, he would just level up in peace, and once the Crying Soul Secret Realm closed, he would leave directly.

Ye Lin put his hat and mask back on and turned to leave Bajin City. On his way out, he passed a towering stone platform; that platform must have been the "sacrificial altar" the boy spoke of.

Carved upon the stone platform were many ancient and profound runes, flickering with a dark and eerie light. The massive platform was like a giant beast, devouring all the vitality in its surroundings.

Whenever the numb crowds saw that stone platform, they would show expressions of fear and then quickly move away.

Yet at this moment, a little girl carrying a crude, woven cloth bag was picking something up from beneath the platform.

Ye Lin looked closely and realized that what the little girl was picking up were pieces of flesh.

Those pieces of flesh looked extremely strange, as if they had been drained of blood and then dried by high heat; they were shriveled and dry, like aged, cured meat.

The little girl's face was dirty, but her round eyes were very bright and pure.

One piece...

Two pieces...

Three pieces...

She was like a diligent little bee, picking up those scraps of meat from the rubble one by one, not stopping even as sweat seeped from her forehead.

"Is this your food?" Ye Lin couldn't help but ask.

The little girl looked up at Ye Lin and shook her head.

"No, this is my father."

After saying this, the little girl ignored Ye Lin and lowered her head to continue picking up the scraps of meat under the stone platform.

Ye Lin fell silent; his whole body felt as if an electric current were passing through it, and he couldn't stop the numbness.

Without a word, he crouched down and began to help the little girl search for the scraps of meat among the rubble.

Neither the large figure nor the small one spoke again, just quietly busying themselves beneath the stone platform.

Time ticked away, bit by bit.

By now, the crowd in Bajin City had also begun to gather toward this spot.

At the head was an old man leaning on a cane, his hair completely white.

The old man's face was covered in age spots, and his skin was wrinkled and sagging, like an orange peel that had been left in a refrigerator for a month.

The boy who had just been knocked out by Ye Lin was now following behind this old man.

After the crowd gathered, no one spoke; they just stood where they were, quietly watching Ye Lin help the little girl pick up the scraps of meat.

However, the numb expressions on their faces underwent a subtle change, and a glimmer of something called hope appeared in their hollow, vacant pupils.

Ye Lin picked up a small bag of meat scraps and handed it to the little girl.

"Thank you."

The little girl reached out with her chubby hand, took it, and carefully placed it into her crude cloth bag.

Ye Lin patted the little girl's head, his expression unreadable.

"What is your name?" Ye Lin asked.

"My name is Bai Siyou."

There was no fear or sadness to be seen on her face; there was only a kind of indescribable numbness.

Thud!

The white-haired old man knelt to the ground, his knees hitting the gravel hard.

Immediately after, the dense crowd behind him also knelt down like a tidal wave.

"Please, save Bajin City," the white-haired old man said, his voice trembling.

"Please, save Bajin City!"

The crowd behind the white-haired old man let out hysterical cries, and countless gazes filled with hope turned toward Ye Lin.

Ye Lin looked at these people and asked calmly.

"Why do you think I can save you?"

The white-haired old man looked at Ye Lin and explained.

"Because of a prophecy."

"You are not the first outsider to come to Bajin City. Twenty years ago, another outsider appeared in Bajin City."

"He left us a prophecy; only when everything in the prophecy is fulfilled can the people of Bajin City welcome true freedom."

"And you are a part of that prophecy!"

The white-haired old man looked at Ye Lin with excitement.

"The stone tablet engraved with the prophecy is still in the city. Please, come with me!"

Ye Lin narrowed his eyes and set off, following behind the white-haired old man.

At first, he hadn't intended to get involved in the affairs of Bajin City, but upon seeing Bai Siyou, Ye Lin suddenly changed his mind.

When that little girl was numbly picking up the scraps of meat from the ground and calmly saying "This is my father."

Ye Lin realized that perhaps he should do something.

The white-haired old man led Ye Lin to a slightly dilapidated courtyard in Bajin City, where the originally white walls were already covered in dark green moss.

The white-haired old man pushed open the courtyard gate, and as he turned a stone pillar behind the gate, a long underground passage appeared before Ye Lin, and a smell of decay rushed toward him.

Ye Lin walked to the end of the underground passage, and what appeared before him was a stone tablet, with the prophecy the old man spoke of carved upon it.

"In the twentieth year after I depart, someone shall come from afar from the outside world. Evil shall ravage Bajin City, and blood shall stain all things. When the sunlight shines upon this city, the guardian deity of Bajin City shall awaken from the origin..."

Ye Lin stepped forward and reached out to gently stroke the characters on the stone tablet; his breathing gradually became rapid!

Because he recognized this handwriting!