The Immortal Species - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Spirit Boy and Girl led the way up ahead.

The thick fog around us had thinned considerably, and the outline of the village at the foot of the slope gradually came into view.

At the four corners of the village stood four short, round towers built from brick and stone.

Big Beauty, Little Glasses, and Tattooed Guy followed behind me, still not quite recovered from the shock.

They looked at me, then at the two Spirit Boy and Girl walking obediently up ahead like they had been possessed by entirely different souls.

In the end, it was Little Glasses who mustered up the courage to ask, “Um, M-Miss Gu, you gave away so many flowers just now… Aren’t you scared of losing years off your life… or dying?”

I shrugged and made up some nonsense. “When I was little, my grandma took me to a spirit medium for a fortune-telling. She said that on the day of my eightieth birthday, I’d still have one last romantic disaster to get through, so I can’t die before then.”

Big Beauty’s eyes lit up. “Wow, she can even predict that? Miss Gu, could you give me that spirit medium’s contact information? If we make it out, I want to go get my fortune told too!”

I shook my head. “Forget it. Feudal superstition gets people killed. As women of the new era, we shouldn’t indulge in personality cults.”

Big Beauty nodded along, accepting it readily. “Oh, you’re right! Miss Gu, you’re so young and already so wise. You’re basically my idol!”

Me: “…Actually, a little personality cult now and then isn’t so bad.”

Little Glasses: “…”

Tattooed Guy snorted. “Tch. If she were really that capable, she wouldn’t have let the Jade Register get stolen! That thing has to be the key item for clearing this place!”

I didn’t respond, because I knew it wasn’t.

The Jade Register was just that bastard’s deliberate attempt to disgust me.

Even though, back then, he hadn’t known I was one of the long-lived.

He had even believed my lie and thought I had died before him.

An eerie silence shrouded everything along the way.

What was even stranger was that there wasn’t a single woman or girl to be seen in the entire village.

As our group passed by, the tightly shut wooden doors and paper windows opened silently.

Through the cracks appeared one man’s face after another. Without exception, they were all skin and bones, their complexions waxy yellow.

Their gazes were fixed on me, Big Beauty, and the girl.

Their eyes were filled with numbness and longing-yet there was no lust in them.

Tattooed Guy, at the back of the group, had clearly noticed too.

He naturally adjusted his position, placing himself between me and Big Beauty and those stares.

At last, the Spirit Boy and Girl stopped in front of a residence.

Blue bricks, black tiles, and vermilion-lacquered gates. Though the traces of age and decay were impossible to hide, it still stood head and shoulders above everything else in this village.

Creak-

The gate was pushed open, and we followed them inside.

In the courtyard, Jian Yi and Jing Yuzhou were already there.

It seemed that Brass Key had transported them directly to this safe house.

Jing Yuzhou was leaning against a pillar, his complexion still not great. Clearly, his waist was still hurting.

Seated in the main seat of the central hall was an old lady with a head full of white hair.

She wore a dark purple silk outfit patterned with the character for longevity, and she was holding Jian Yi’s hand with a loving expression as they talked.

The Spirit Boy and Girl, who had been making such a racket outside earlier, became perfectly well-behaved the moment they entered.

Hand in hand, they walked over to the old lady and called out in unison, obediently, “Old Ancestor.”

Only then did the old lady slowly turn her face, her gaze sweeping over us.

When she saw me, that loving expression instantly faded, replaced by a lofty, critical look.

“Girl Jian, is this the ignorant little thing you mentioned? The girl who even injured your companion by smashing him with something?”

[Hold up, is this still an NPC in a horror instance? Why is she so friendly to Master Jian? She looks exactly like a grandma protecting her own granddaughter!]

[Haha! As expected of Master Jian, the charm demon of horror instances. Men, women, young, old-nobody is immune.]

[Of course. Our Master Jian is the Big Boss’s handpicked bride-to-be. She’s practically related to half the NPCs by marriage, so it’s only natural she gets special treatment.]

Jian Yi lifted her chin as if it were only right, clearly long used to being favored and protected by NPCs in every instance.

The old woman’s cloudy eyes swept over me. “Young lady, you look decent enough. Why are you so rash and unruly? Where is your husband’s family from? Why haven’t they taught you any manners?”

I kept spouting nonsense. “Oh, my husband’s family? Divorced. Divorced eight times, actually. You could say I come from the House of Eight Divorces.”

The old woman’s brow furrowed even deeper. “Then all the more reason you should find a good family. When the time comes, try to do better and bear your husband’s family a boy with a proper handle. That is a woman’s duty.”

I suddenly smiled. “Old Ancestor, what you said makes so much sense. But now I’m curious-which useless woman gave birth to you?”

Behind me, Little Glasses couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

The old woman’s face first flushed red, then turned livid.

After all, I had lived for over three thousand years. I hadn’t mastered much else, but I had learned how not to let myself suffer losses.

And for that, I really had to thank a certain bastard who couldn’t even rest in peace after being buried.

The muscles in the old woman’s face twitched a few times, but she somehow squeezed out a smile that could almost be called benevolent. “You child. What a sharp tongue you have.”

She clapped her hands. “Shi Nu, bring the refreshments.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a black-haired boy in ragged clothes walked in from outside.

He stayed hunched over the entire time, his head lowered, his very long hair covering half his face.

The moment he approached, Big Beauty let out a terrified scream and shrank back.

Under Shi Nu’s long hair was a face that had been severely burned.

It was pitted and scarred, the damage stretching from his forehead all the way down to his jaw. His original features were almost impossible to make out.

Jian Yi clicked her tongue impatiently. “Seriously, Auntie, can you stop jumping at every little thing? You’re so noisy.”

Big Beauty immediately covered her mouth, not daring to make another sound.

The old woman’s gaze grew even more affectionate as she looked at Jian Yi. “Good, good, good. Girl Jian truly is different from those ordinary timid women. This old woman likes you more the longer I look at you. Why don’t you sleep in the main room with me tonight and keep me company? We can have a nice talk.”

Jian Yi was clearly pleased by the praise, but she still looked at Jing Yuzhou first, as if asking for his opinion.

But Jing Yuzhou was rubbing his waist with one hand, his eyes fixed on me in a glare.

Resentful, yet also somewhat thoughtful.

Jian Yi hesitated, then took out that bamboo tube again and ate a Prophecy Pill.

The next second, her expression changed slightly.

Jian Yi forced a fake smile at the old woman. “Thank you for your kindness, Old Ancestor, but I’ve been picky about beds since I was little. I’m more used to sleeping alone.”

“Ah, what a pity.” Regret appeared on the old woman’s face. Her cloudy eyes turned to me again. “In that case, this sharp-tongued young lady can sleep in the same room as this old woman.”

“Don’t agree to it.”

I paused, looking at Shi Nu, who was bowing in front of me as he served the refreshments.

His voice was very low and rough, as if it had been smoked raw.

And as I looked at him, I felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity…

“Sure.”

I lifted my eyes and agreed at once.

Shi Nu’s hand instantly froze, and the pastries on the plate wobbled out of place.

Not far away, Jian Yi looked at me with the pitying gaze one reserved for the dead.

She immediately leaned close to Jing Yuzhou’s ear and whispered a few words. Jing Yuzhou’s face, which had been twisted in pain from his waist injury, finally relaxed.

I returned an equally brilliant smile. “After all, I’m the kind of person who respects the elderly and loves the young more than anything.”