Chapter 1694: Chapter 1687: Breakthrough Point
Although the little girl was thin and frail, her eyes were remarkably bright. Perhaps it was because she had eaten sothing; there was no trace of that weak and fleeting look in her gaze.
When Hu Daoke waved his hand to refuse, the girl hesitated for a mont. Then, she prepared to stuff the already dirty cornbread into her mouth, which made Hu Daoke even more agitated.
“No, no, don’t eat, don’t eat…” Hu Daoke waved his arms wildly, feeling like his clumsy self didn’t know how to express his energy.
The little girl seed frightened by his frantic gestures. She imdiately took a step back, her neck shrinking as she looked at him timidly, her eyes filled with an imploring expression.
Seeing this, Cheng Ziang felt torn between laughter and tears, and deliberately placed his hands on his hips and asked, “Old Hu, why are you scaring her?”
“I didn’t scare her! Are you purposely trying to make fun of ?” Hu Daoke turned around, his face full of grievance as he responded.
“With your rude deanor, don’t act like you’re not scary.” Cheng Ziang spread his hands as he spoke.
“You’re the scary one! If you’re not helping, stop acting like a wise guy!” Hu Daoke was so infuriated that he was practically steaming.
Tangmo ignored the two bickering n. She picked up a relatively soft pastry from a small vendor’s stall that was still sowhat intact and walked toward the little girl.
To avoid alarming the girl, she approached her slowly. Squatting down in front of her, she made sure to position herself at eye level and then handed over the pastry.
The little girl stared at her, hesitated for a mont, and cautiously stretched out her hand to take the pastry. However, Tangmo retracted her hand quickly.
Then, pointing at the pastry in her hand and the dirty cornbread in the girl’s hand, Tangmo spoke gently, “I’ll trade you this for that. You eat this, and give that one to , okay?”
Perhaps it was Tangmo’s naturally friendly deanor, or perhaps her gentle attitude earned the girl’s trust. After a mont of silence, the little girl handed over the cornbread. In exchange, Tangmo gave her the pastry she was holding.
The girl imdiately devoured the pastry. It was clearly her first ti eating sothing so delicious, and she looked rather frantic as she did so.
“Eat slowly; no one’s going to snatch it from you.” Tangmo said softly before handing the dirty cornbread to Hu Daoke.
“Should I throw this away?” Hu Daoke asked, taking the cornbread.
“Why throw it away? Just leave it sowhere; soone will want it eventually.” Cheng Ziang rolled his eyes at him and said.
“But it’s already dirty.” Hu Daoke protested, his eyes wide in disbelief.
“Having sothing to eat is better than nothing. Don’t impose standards on others. It’s clear you’ve never been poor or starved before.” Cheng Ziang said, his tone heavy with aning.
“Fine, then…” Hu Daoke glanced at him and then at Tangmo, nodding lightly.
Tangmo looked at the little girl with a smile. The girl had long, shoulder-length hair that was visibly ssy and greasy. Upon closer observation, it seed she was part of the Demon Clan.
She had a pair of triangular, furry ears that drooped weakly, likely due to malnutrition. The fur on her ears was the sa black color as her hair, which is why Tangmo hadn’t noticed them at first.
“Are you from the Qingqiu Clan?” Tangmo asked tentatively.
Upon hearing her question, the girl’s frail body visibly trembled. She then timidly looked up at Tangmo in fright and nodded hesitantly.
“So adorable! Why are your ears drooping? No wonder I didn’t recognize you right away.” Tangmo smiled and reached out to touch the girl’s ears.
She noticed that the fur in the girl’s ears was actually white but had turned yellowish from long periods without cleaning.
The girl seed astonished by Tangmo’s reaction, her face showing a mix of surprise and joy. For the first ti, she encountered soone who harbored no malice toward mbers of the Demon Clan. Tangmo’s indifference to her origins left her shocked and moved.
Faced with Tangmo’s sowhat self-dialoguing question, the girl blinked and remained silent for a long ti before finally whispering, “I pulled my ears down myself. This way, it’s, it’s less likely to be noticed.”
“Hey, can you talk? Uh, wait, wait… you…” Tangmo was utterly caught off guard by the girl’s sudden reply, stumbling over her words as she failed to respond for a while.
The girl tilted her head and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“You rarely seem flustered! Where was the boldness you had when yelling at Anxiang Zheng earlier?” Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but tease.
“I was just talking to myself. Who knew she’d actually respond…” Tangmo turned to glare at him as she spoke.
“Now that she’s spoken, hurry up and ask if you can extract any useful information from her.” Cheng Ziang suggested.
“She’s just a little girl, what could she possibly know?” Tangmo asked skeptically.
“Are you looking down on her, or are you looking down on yourself?” Cheng Ziang spread his hands and shook his head.
After hearing Cheng Ziang’s words, Tangmo felt he had a point. She thought for a mont, then turned to the girl and asked seriously, “What’s your na?”
“Na?” The girl appeared puzzled once again.
“I forgot. It’s probably safe to assu she doesn’t even have one…” Tangmo exclaid, slapping her forehead.
“Enough chit-chat, get to the point already.” Cheng Ziang reminded her.
“Does she even understand?” Tangmo hesitated and asked.
“You need so sort of breakthrough.” Cheng Ziang answered in resignation.
After deliberating for a mont, Tangmo turned back to the girl seriously and said, “I’m going to ask you so questions. If you know the answer, please be honest and tell , okay?”
The girl tilted her head again, but eventually nodded with a confused expression.
“A lot of people have died in this city from Star-shattering. Do you know about this?” Tangmo asked.
Tangmo didn’t expect much when she asked this question. A girl this young likely wouldn’t know what Star-shattering even ant, let alone provide any answers.
But to her surprise, the girl nodded almost imdiately and replied earnestly, “I know. About a hundred people, I think.”
“Do you know what Star-shattering is?” Tangmo asked in astonishnt.
“Yes!” The girl nodded.
“Oh my god…” Tangmo looked at the little girl in front of her with newfound respect.
“See? I told you so.” Cheng Ziang shrugged with a smug smile.
“Do you know who’s behind it?” Tangmo asked urgently.
“Hmm…” The girl tilted her head, blinked her big eyes, and thought for a mont before answering, “Good people!”
“Good people? So you’re saying the people who died from Star-shattering were all bad people?” Tangmo, quick-witted, imdiately expanded on her question.
“Yes, they were all terrible!” As soon as the topic ca up, the girl’s expression turned solemn, and she nodded decisively.
“Do you know why they died?” Tangmo asked curiously.
“Umm…” The girl didn’t answer right away but instead glanced around uneasily.
Understanding her concern, Tangmo took her hand and led her to a secluded corner. She squatted down again to question her seriously.
Through her inquiries with the girl, Tangmo gradually grasped the identities of those who died from Star-shattering. Most of them were cultivators, their skills ranging in quality but at least established in Qitian.
Perhaps because of this, these cultivators were extrely arrogant, considering themselves superior and looking down on the lower-class citizens.
The city of Guyi was under the control of the Anxiang family, which was staunchly supportive of the Wu Family. As a result, the city’s rules prioritized brute force. The West Market, however, was outside the jurisdiction of the Anxiang family, making it rife with banditry and chaos despite being within city limits.
The cultivators practiced cultivation without moral restraint, using their strength to repeatedly commit heinous acts. They clearly understood the rules: as long as they didn’t harm the Anxiang family’s mbers or the city’s major clans, no one would intervene, allowing them to act increasingly brazen.
The Anxiang family wasn’t entirely negligent—they had sent their troops to patrol the West Market and maintain order in the past. But those efforts were years ago. Nowadays, the Anxiang family had no interest in governing the West Market.
If it hadn’t been for the Advance Team’s three mbers running into danger in the West Market, there wouldn’t have been such a large-scale intervention. It was now clear to Tangmo that Anxiang Zheng had lied; the Anxiang family’s troops weren’t there to restore order in the West Market. Their actions were solely for the sake of the three mbers.
Reviews
All reviews (0)