A Hero's Heart - Chapter 7

When people were furious, they tended to laugh three times out of sheer disbelief.

I narrowed my eyes at the man pretending to be innocent. I was so angry that I nearly punched him until his head looked like a pig’s.

Just as I was about to swing, he produced a roasted rabbit and shoved it into my hands.

The smell was incredible.

All my anger vanished.

I squatted on the floor without a shred of dignity and began devouring it.

The man sat down beside me and laughed. “What young lady eats like that?”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“I’m your grandmother,” I said through a mouthful of meat.

“What?”

He froze and looked me up and down.

“I said I’m your grandmother.” I tossed aside the bone and kicked him over.

He rolled several times before scrambling up, rubbing his sore back. “How can you repay kindness with hatred?”

“I’m repaying kindness with hatred?” I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. “Why didn’t you let me out? And what’s your relationship with that masked man who plays at being a demon?”

He stared at me, apparently still trying to understand my question. Then he became excited. “The masked man? You saw him?”

I gave him a suspicious look.

He finally understood. “I only heard noises from inside. I thought there were rats or cockroaches trapped in there. I didn’t know there was a person. Even if I had known, I wouldn’t have known how to open the door.”

He gestured around the room as if to prove it.

I looked around. It was an exquisitely decorated chamber.

Apart from being more luxurious, it was no different from the rooms outside.

The place I had come from had been concealed by a stone door. Once it closed, the entrance was almost impossible to see from the outside.

I glanced at the man.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

This was probably the lair of the masked man who abducted women. Anyone found living here was unlikely to be a good person.

I tightened my grip on the hairpin.

Although my inner force was gone, if I found the right moment to drive the pin into his chest, he would not even have time to cry out.

The man noticed my hand and hurriedly introduced himself. “My name is Lu Zichen. I heard that there was a demon here who ate women, so I came to investigate.”

“You came for the thousand-tael reward?” I pressed.

“Reward?” He shook his head and straightened proudly. “No. I am a great wandering hero who has made it his mission to protect the world. Whenever there is a demon or monster, I am the first to stand against it.”

…

He looked too foolishly sincere to be lying. I lowered my guard and put away the hairpin.

After talking with him, I learned that he had already been trapped inside for two days.

He had not heard me calling for help. He had only heard scratching from within and assumed it was mice or cockroaches hidden underground.

I looked at the rabbit bones. “If you were lost in the forest, where did the rabbit come from?”

He pointed toward the concealed opening. “I don’t know. It suddenly ran out.”

It must have wandered in from the forest.

Whatever. That was not the most important problem now.

Without saying anything else, I turned and strode toward one of the passages leading out of the room.

The corridors outside had been dug by hand. At every intersection, several new paths branched away, which explained why Lu Zichen had become lost.

After walking for a while, I saw two people lying on the ground.

“I knocked them out,” Lu Zichen said.

“Did you question them about the masked man?” I asked.

He scratched his head. “No.”

I rolled my eyes and dragged one of the men up from the floor.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked.

“We got lost, too. Can you at least show us a way out?”

The man was dressed like a spoiled young master from a wealthy family who had come out to experience the martial world.