Chapter 175: Lord Lan (2/10, Autumn Subscription)

Lan Yuntian followed the sound of the voice and saw a young girl who had stayed at the village entrance, not daring to come out.

She looked presentable enough, but a dog's mouth could never spit out ivory.

Maintaining a friendly smile on the surface, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, Lan Yuntian asked the team member beside him in a low voice.

"What's that one's background?"

"Reporting to Captain Lan, the people of Gu Yue Cun said she seems to be An Shenyi's slave."

"Slave?"

Lan Yuntian laughed.

"Cut out her tongue."

That team member was stunned.

"This... isn't that a bit much? After all, she is An Shenyi's person."

"Mm... indeed a bit excessive. Fine, feed her some Dumb Gugu Grass, a small punishment."

"..."

"What are you standing there for? Go feed it to her!"

"Yes, yes!"

That person hesitated for a moment, then called over two others who flanked Chen Xiaomiao on the left and right and held her.

"What are you doing? Our Gu Yue Cun and Man Shui Cun have a friendly class relationship, you said so yourselves, don't do anything rash!"

Chen Xiaomiao was clearly nervous.

Earlier, fleeing for her life with the main group, she hadn't even had a chance to catch her breath; now that she was finally safe, they wouldn't even let her speak?

Chen Xiaomiao struggled desperately.

But the two people beside her were shockingly strong—at the very least, not something her 1 point of Control Power could break free from.

Pinning her on either side, the person in front took three stalks of blue grass from his waist pouch, rolled them into a ball, and shoved them straight into her mouth.

"Swallow it down!"

Help! Help! Help!!

I was just running my mouth a couple of times, is that worth all this!!

Chen Xiaomiao struggled desperately, her heart nearly crying out.

She felt wronged. In real life, Liu Zong forced her to work and find people, overtime every day, she barely got to play the game.

She could only AFK often, sneaking in from time to time to check the situation.

Originally tonight she was supposed to go check on the family of the driver from that car accident, but in the game she ran into a bizarre pursuit event and buried her head running with the group.

Although she was fine, she was exhausted.

Now that she had a moment to chat, someone got triggered? No way, no way, are the people of Man Shui Cun really this fragile?

"L-let her go!"

The three people from Man Shui Cun, who were in the middle of stuffing the grass, suddenly heard a voice from behind.

The three looked back and saw two young girls.

Ignoring them, they increased their efforts, forcibly prying open Chen Xiaomiao's tightly shut mouth and shoving the grass into it.

The Dumb Gugu Grass, like a living thing, slid smoothly down her throat straight into her stomach.

"Y-you!"

Wei Ba and Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu anxiously stamped a foot, then jogged over, but the three had already released Chen Xiaomiao.

"This is only a small punishment for her disrespect toward Captain Lan. Remember, next time you speak out of turn, it won't be this simple!"

Saying so, the three returned to Lan Yuntian's side.

Lan Yuntian glanced at the three of them, then continued standing in place gazing into the distance—the direction his horse had left.

"Are you okay?"

Wei Ba and Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu asked with concern, but Chen Xiaomiao opened her mouth and found she couldn't speak.

Panicking, she hurriedly pointed at her throat, making a gesture indicating she couldn't make a sound.

"... Uh, are you imitating Niu Niu?"

Imitating? Imitate what, I can't make a sound!

Chen Xiaomiao gestured frantically, but her movements suddenly stopped.

Right, Niu Niu!

Having added her as a friend, she hurriedly sent a message over.

"Two big sisters, help! I can't make a sound anymore!"

Wei Ba and Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu exchanged a glance and shook their heads in unison.

They didn't know medicine, they couldn't save Chen Xiaomiao.

Chen Xiaomiao immediately panicked.

She didn't want to become a second Niu Niu.

Lan Yuntian had ordered the poisonous grass fed, so that guy must have the antidote.

The question was how to make him hand over the antidote.

Just as Chen Xiaomiao was thinking, she saw in the extreme distance of the darkness what seemed to be a faint flicker of firelight, and the people in the group began to stir uneasily.

"A bizarre?"

After the previous battle, they had no energy left to fight.

But very soon, they were relieved.

Because as the firelight quickly drew from far to near, Fang Yue's figure appeared before everyone.

"Giddyup!"

On Fang Yue's horse sat a man with a broken leg — it was none other than… An Shenyi!

"He didn't die?"

Ma Ling'er in the group looked startled, then quickly composed herself.

The others burst into cheers and rushed forward to meet them.

"Lost too much blood, collapsed on the village road. Lucky no anomalies passed by, or he'd be done for."

Fang Yue explained as he led the group into the village.

"Does Man Shui Cun have a doctor? Get someone to save An Shenyi first!"

"No problem! I'll arrange it right away!"

An Shenyi's fame was well known, so Lan Yuntian didn't dare slight him.

They were all people who worked with their lives hanging by their belt loops — a physician with superb medical skill who was still willing to go out and treat people, who wouldn't want to curry favor with him.

Once the group entered Man Shui Cun, Lan Yuntian quickly arranged temporary lodging for them.

With so many wounded, Lan Yuntian could only wake more physicians to carry out the rescue.

Sure enough, Man Shui Cun was indeed much bigger than Gu Yue Cun, with far more people too.

The medical staff were clearly of a much higher caliber — at a glance they were experienced, and their technical skill seemed far stronger than their village's Hong Dafu.

Xiao Hu really got the short end of the stick sticking with Hong Dafu; coming to Man Shui Cun or following An Shenyi to Mo Cun would also be great options.

Too bad Xiao Hu was worried about trouble on the road and refused to come no matter what.

"So lively!"

"What's going on?"

"No idea, heard some anomaly showed up at the village entrance and a lot of people got hurt."

"That's not right — why so many new faces? Could it be new refugees entering the village? Ha ha ha! At last I can bully some newbies!"

Besides the villagers of Man Shui Cun, the refugees who had entered the village earlier also poked their heads out curiously, pointing and gossiping.

These people were useless at everything, but first in line to watch the show.

The villagers of Man Shui Cun had long found them a nuisance, but after the anomaly entering the village a few days ago, the village had suffered heavy personnel losses and could only take people in to fill the manpower shortage.

Under Lan Yuntian's orders, the large inn being used as temporary lodging for the Gu Yue Cun members was quickly cordoned off by the Guard Team — no unauthorized persons allowed near.

The Man Shui Cun players who'd come to watch finally got chased off amid grumbling, but they still lingered around nosing for news everywhere, excitedly thinking something good was about to happen.

"Big quest! Definitely a big quest! We have to make contact with the Gu Yue Cun people — there'll definitely be a quest!"

"Right, judging from my years of gaming experience, they'll definitely need something from us, like letting us join their party or whatever. Once we finish the quest, we'll definitely get a huge chunk of lifespan, maybe even divine weapons! Martial arts manuals!"

As everyone discussed, their hearts burned with excitement, wishing they could rush into the inn right now to pick up a quest.

Too bad none of them were a match for the Guard Team, so they could only stand outside dry-mouthed, waiting for the escort party to come out on their own, or for the cordon to be lifted, then approach the escort party to see if there were any quests.

While they were fantasizing about the escort party providing an epic quest chain, Fang Yue inside the inn had already sought out Lan Yuntian.

"Captain Lan, may I have a moment of your time?"

"Of course! A man I admire can come to me anytime to unburden his troubles."

"…It's just, what's the deal with your Lord Lan here in Man Shui Cun?"

Lord Lan?

Lan Yuntian was momentarily stunned.

"You want to know about Lord Lan?"

"Mm!"

"…That's a long story."

Lan Yuntian suddenly shifted his voice, speaking slowly in that earlier disgustingly mature tone: "Lord Lan is the guardian deity of our Man Shui Cun. No one knows what he is, nor how long he's lived."

(End of chapter)