Chapter 2905: Small Town Infrastructure Construction Proceeds Happily 27

At the same time, in the sparse woodland on the western edge of Peace North Town, bordering the Wasteland Forest.

Amid the rain curtain, Huo Zhaoye was locked in combat with a deer-shaped aberrant beast of unusually massive size, its fur an ominous dark red.

This was a mutant deer that had tasted blood and eaten men, extraordinarily ferocious, harder to deal with than ordinary aberrant beasts.

And at this moment, Huo Zhaoye's condition was clearly different from usual.

His face lacked the usual calm sharpness tinged with nonchalance; instead, undisguised ferocity and wildness showed, his brows and eyes entwined with an unshakable killing intent, while his lips were pressed tightly shut.

A stabbing pain welled up from deep in his brain, racing along his nerves to every limb, making his temples throb and occasionally causing a blurry black shadow to flash across his vision.

This place is the burial ground of Huo Zhaoye's mother.

Many years ago, the former lord of Peace Town—a beautiful, strong woman who ultimately died of some strange illness in madness—lay buried at the edge of this land she had sworn to protect, facing the Wasteland Forest.

There is no tombstone, no Marking, only Huo Zhaoye knows exactly which tree it is.

He had sworn that each year, around his mother's memorial day, he would come here to kill a sufficiently ferocious aberrant creature as a blood offering.

To honor the woman who had once led this town better than anyone else, and who had suffered injustice earlier than he had.

And each time this occurs, perhaps due to the stress of being at the place where his mother fell, the frequency and intensity of his headache attacks reach a peak.

This year's memorial was delayed a few days because of an incident at the Flowing Fire Base and the town's busy affairs, but Huo Zhaoye had not forgotten.

He took advantage of the poisonous rain day, when most people would not go out, and came here alone.

Huo Zhaoye now had several bloody gashes on his body; rain mixed with blood clung tightly to him, and water kept dripping from his hair, making him look somewhat disheveled, but the ruthlessness in his eyes showed no diminution.

He panted, looking at the aberrant deer on the ground whose twitching was gradually subsiding; just as he was about to relax a little, he heard movement coming from the nearby thicket.

Damn.

Not just one.

Huo Zhaoye gripped his knife tightly, forced himself to focus, and swept his gaze toward the direction of the sound, his heart sinking.

In his current state, dealing with one was already a struggle, let alone two…

He gritted his teeth, advancing instead of retreating, but a sudden surge of head pain struck at that moment, his vision went black, and his movements slowed by a beat.

One aberrant deer seized the opportunity, lowing as it lunged forward, its sharp mutated antlers thrusting straight at his waist and abdomen!

Huo Zhaoye barely twisted aside; the antlers scraped past his side.

Whoosh!

A tearing sound rang out.

Two bamboo leaves shot out, piercing the aberrant deer's eyes.

Huo Zhaoye turned his head in astonishment.

All he saw was Jin Chen walking from the edge of the woods under a fine mist of rain, holding an old umbrella.

Thus, at the moment Huo Zhaoye was most disheveled and caught off guard, Jin Chen stepped on wet leaves and mud, arriving at this clearing reeking of blood and slaughter.

Huo Zhaoye was surprised only for an instant.

But he reacted extremely quickly; the other two aberrant deer—one with an injured eye suffering greatly, the other distracted by this sudden turn and its companion's cries—presented the perfect chance for a counterattack!

Huo Zhaoye suppressed the surge of complex emotions in his chest, as well as the feeling that welled up then—whether relief or something else—letting the ferocity sparked by pain and danger erupt once again.

Filthy blood spattered.

The two aberrant deer collapsed simultaneously, twitching as they breathed their last.

Huo Zhaoye braced himself on his knees, gasping heavily; rain dripped from his chin, and his head pain intensified, feeling as if countless needles were stirring inside his brain.

Exhausted, and in pain.

He instinctively stumbled two steps toward Jin Chen.

There was the umbrella, and there was the person who always put his mind at ease.

But as soon as he lifted his foot, he stopped again.

Huo Zhaoye realized he ought not to be here; this secret memorial site was never meant to be known to Jin Chen.

Today he had come alone, and happened to encounter danger, going against Jin Chen's earlier admonition.

He felt a little guilty, and moreover… unwilling to let the other see his stubborn fragility and disheveled state.

But Jin Chen had already stepped forward, the old umbrella shielding them both, blocking the continually falling rain.

Immediately afterward, Jin Chen raised his hand, touching Huo Zhaoye's protruding collarbone, his fingertip tracing along the edge of the wound,

Huo Zhaoye: "……"

He continued to feel guilty.

Jin Chen lowered his gaze slightly, looking at him, and said, "Do I also have to keep it a secret?"

"It's just you suffering here alone, Huo Zhaoye."

Huo Zhaoye actually wasn't all that surprised that Jin Chen could find this place.

His teacher Jin Chen always seemed to have a way of knowing what he wanted to know.

But… despite having clearly heard Jin Chen's admonition, he still chose to come alone, so facing Jin Chen now, he inevitably lacked confidence.

The intense head pain continued, leaving his thoughts somewhat sluggish.

Finally, Huo Zhaoye gave up futile explanations, leaned his body toward Jin Chen again, forehead resting on his shoulder, his gaze somewhat unfocused as he looked at Jin Chen.

"Jin Chen, my head hurts terribly—what should I do? It seems you never taught me this."

Huo Zhaoye intentionally tried to bluff his way through with this approach, drawing out his tone extremely long.

Jin Chen held the umbrella handle with one hand, the fingertip on the collarbone moving upward, gently lifting Huo Zhaoye's chin to make him raise his head.

"None?" Jin Chen looked at his eyes, which were somewhat wet and hazy from pain, and said, "Answer again."

Huo Zhaoye: "……"

Fine, there is.

——Don't smoke too much herbal smoke.

——My head hurts, I feel awful, so I came to find you.

He certainly remembers.

He remembers every sentence of what Jin Chen said clearly.

It's just that some habits and emotional knots aren't that easy to change.

His chin was being pinched, he couldn't shake his head, only managed a muffled grunt, which counted as an acknowledgment.

Seeing Huo Zhaoye press his lips and stay silent, Jin Chen stopped pressing and asked another question: "Why did you come here alone?"

Huo Zhaoye fell silent for a moment, rain sliding down his temples; he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, something else appeared in the depths of his eyes.

"I promised my father," he said softly, his voice sounding somewhat fleeting amid the rain.

"Every year I must kill an anomalous creature to honor my mother."

His gaze swept into the depths of the woods, as if it could pierce the rain and trees, seeing that unmarked place of rest.

"She is better at leading this town than I am, better than anyone else."

"In the past, Peace Town had no north-south divide; although they lived separated by the bridge, their hearts were united. Only she… was truly recognized by both sides, the sole lord."

His mother's era was the last 'peace' era of Peace Town.

After his mother met with misfortune, the town only then, under internal and external pressures, gradually split, forming the present north-south standoff.

Jin Chen let out a thoughtful 'oh'.

In other words, in his wife's heart, she actually wants to reunite the divided Peace Town, restoring it to how it was in his mother's time.

Perhaps he was thinking too obviously, and his expression gave something away.

Huo Zhaoye: '???'

Wait a moment.

He recalled the previous Flowing Fire Base incident, Jin Chen's 'convincing with reason' approach, and seeing their thoughtful expression now, a vague bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart.

Huo Zhaoye twitched the corner of his mouth: 'I and Lu Jun have no deadly feud. Teacher Jin, don't… be so violent.'