Chapter 22
Another meaningless conversation.
Li Muyang earnestly inquires about Xiao Yecao’s past, and the little girl timidly and obediently tells him her tragic life story.
However, in the hundreds of failed reloads, this wretched girl has come up with over a dozen different versions of her story.
Obviously, the tragic experiences she talks about are all made up on the spot.
She has no intention of telling Li Muyang, a stranger she just met, about her family background and past encounters.
And this version of the story, Li Muyang is all too familiar with—it should be considered the most frequently occurring version among the stories the girl has concocted.
When Li Muyang heard these fake stories before, he was very frustrated.
He would either directly expose the little girl or earnestly ask her for the truth.
Either he would reload the game and try a different conversation tactic, hoping to persuade the little girl with his words, or he would get angry, pressuring her through private messages, attempting to force her to tell the truth…
He had been stuck at this stage for too long and was desperate to get past this level.But this time was different: this time, Li Muyang was truly tired.
He looked at the little girl in front of him with a weary face and sighed.
“Are you serious?”
What does it mean to be tired of heart… This is what it means to be tired of heart.
At this moment, Li Muyang suddenly felt the exhaustion of a father who catches his daughter lying time and time again, yet is too weary to even scold her.
He even had a moment of ‘forget it, let it all be destroyed’ resignation.
In the dimly lit stilt house, the timid-looking little girl paused, then nodded earnestly.
“Mm-hmm, everything Xiaocao says is true.”
The little girl affirmed herself with utmost seriousness.
Seeing her obedient and pitiful demeanor, who would have thought she was one to spout lies at the drop of a hat?
Li Muyang was almost brought to laughter by her exquisite acting skills.
“Alright, if you say it’s true, then it’s true.”
Looking up at the sky outside, Li Muyang said, “It’s getting late, and you’ve changed into new clothes, so let me take you out for a walk.”
“Since you don’t seem to want to stay with me, and frankly, I feel the same.”
“I’ll take you away from Black Cloud Village. After that, you can go wherever you want, so you won’t have to feel aggrieved staying in Black Cloud Village.”
Li Muyang, who had been wandering around the village, decided to try a different approach this time.
Since he had given up on clearing the level, he decided to play for fun and just mess around.
For instance, sending this troublesome kid out of Black Cloud Village to see if the system would force a game over.
Or perhaps after sending the little girl out of the village, to see if it would trigger a new storyline.
Having failed so many times before, Li Muyang had never tried taking the little girl out of the village.
After Li Muyang finished speaking, the little girl was startled, then quickly shook her head.
“No, Elder Brother, I won’t leave.”
“I was bought by you all, so I will stay and work obediently in the village.”
“Elder Brother, please don’t send me away. If I leave the village alone, I will die.”
“There are monsters and wild beasts in the forest!”
The little girl tearfully pleaded, not wanting Li Muyang to send her away.
Whether her words were sincere or not, Li Muyang couldn’t be bothered to care at that moment.
He directly took the only tool in the stilt house—a small bamboo basket.
“Enough. If I say I’m sending you out of the village, then that’s what I’ll do. If you keep crying, I’ll slaughter you first and then throw your body outside.”
Li Muyang’s fierce words seemed to frighten the little girl, finally silencing her.
Looking at the softly sobbing little girl in front of him, Li Muyang said with a sneer, “Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you in the wilderness.”
“After I take you out of the village, I’ll personally send you home.”
“Isn’t your home in the Shui Town of the Central Plains? Your father is a lecherous scumbag, and your mother is a villain who only loves your brother and mistreats you. They despised you for being a lost soul and sold you, so you hate them very much.”
“Coincidentally, I, Jiang Xiaoyu, also despise such scum. So, I’ve decided to personally accompany you back to your hometown and find your despicable parents to kill them to let them get the retribution they deserve.”
Li Muyang casually made up a story, placing a small bamboo basket in front of the girl and said, “Get in, I’ll take you away. I know a secret path to sneak out of the village.”
“There’s nothing good in Black Cloud Village. I’ve also wanted to leave for a long time. This time, we can leave together and go to your hometown to murder them.”
Li Muyang was relaxed and spoke casually.
However, the little girl’s eyes widened, seemingly frightened by his suggestion.
“Go… go to my home?”
The next second, the little girl shook her head frantically like a rattle drum.
“No, no! I don’t want my parents to die. Elder Brother, can we not kill my parents, please?”
The little girl pleaded, clutching Li Muyang’s hand.
But Li Muyang glared at her, “What? Didn’t you just hate your parents to the bone, wishing they were dead? How come you’re pleading for them now?”
“But let me tell you, it’s too late. Pleading is useless!”
“Your parents are as good as dead.”
“They live in Jiangyun County, Jizhou, right? It’s only about a ten-day journey from here.”
“I will personally take you there to find them and kill those two scum.”
“People who sell their own daughter to human traffickers don’t deserve to be parents!”
And so, with a mix of coercion and intimidation, Li Muyang got the little girl to squat in the small bamboo basket, covered it with cloth, and carried the basket out the door.
The secret path out of the village was one that Li Muyang had discovered while wandering around the village.
Now, it was coming in handy.
No one would expect Jiang Xiaoyu, a villager, to suddenly decide to flee the village with a soul-lost girl.
Thus, he passed through the village unobstructed and arrived at the southeast corner of Black Cloud Village, next to an abandoned house.
After carefully prying open the floor of the abandoned house, a winding staircase leading downward appeared.
The path was clearly often used, as there was no dust on the ground.
Li Muyang entered the tunnel while carrying the little girl, passed through the long, dark underground passage, and finally arrived at a cave amid the mountains.
When the two reemerged under the moonlight, Li Muyang clearly felt the little girl who had been quiet and well-behaved in the basket the whole way let out a sigh of relief.
—Clearly, this kid didn’t want to stay in Black Cloud Village.
Peeking out through a gap in the cloth covering the basket, the little girl timidly whispered, “Elder Brother, are we really going to my home?”
The little girl sought confirmation once again.
Under the moonlight, Li Muyang observed the dark and quiet forest around him, curious.
—The system didn’t consider this a game failure?
Does it mean that taking the little girl out of the village is also acceptable?
This nurturing game has no scene or route restrictions?
I see, the freedom is higher than I thought.
Thinking this, Li Muyang’s smile grew even brighter.
“Yeah, we’re going to your home.”
Hearing the timid question from the girl behind him, he laughed heartily and said, “We’re going to kill your parents to carry out justice on behalf of heaven.”
After saying this, Li Muyang paused for a moment before adding, “If I find out you’ve been lying to me when we get there, I’ll chop off your head and feed your chopped-up body to the dogs.”
“I, Jiang Xiaoyu, hate being lied to the most!”
Li Muyang’s voice carried through the moonlight, and the little girl’s breathing suddenly stopped.
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