Chapter 217: The Sky Will Darken
After two seconds, Shi Mei poked half her head out from behind Zhou Shiqing, cautiously looking back at Xuan Xia.
Her big eyes seemed to be asking Xuan Xia if she needed to introduce something.
Xuan Xia understood and asked, “You’re from that city, right?” She pointed to the white city above the beach.
Shi Mei nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Very good.
Xuan Xia continued to ask, “Do you have any other family?”
Shi Mei quickly shook her head, then her eyes welled up with tears again.
She said, “My only family member was just killed by the Sea God.”
That woman whose head was bitten off was her only family member.
Xuan Xia first said “oh,” then froze, turned her body sideways, and glanced at the dead snake on the stone pile not far away.
This… just because it mutated and grew three heads, does that make it a god?
But that’s not the main point.
Xuan Xia quickly turned back and asked her again, “Are there other people in that city?”
To this question, Shi Mei first looked puzzled, but soon nodded.
Xuan Xia hummed, then suddenly asked, “Besides the Sea God, do you worship any other deities?”
Shi Mei: “…”
“No.”
Shi Mei really wanted to say that just one Sea God had already taken away her only family member; if there were more deities, everyone she knew would be gone.
Suddenly she thought of something, no longer hiding behind Zhou Shiqing, and ran toward the stone pile.
Xuan Xia and the others’ line of sight followed Shi Mei, not knowing what she was going to do.
Shi Mei ran all the way to the stone pile and suddenly stopped just as she was about to lift her foot to step onto it.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she turned her head, looking pitiful as she asked, “Can you help me?”
Although she didn’t specify whose help she needed, Xuan Xia gauged that her line of sight was directed at Zhou Shiqing.
Xuan Xia had noticed this oddity early on; ever since Shi Mei saw the three of them, she had immediately chosen Zhou Shiqing, seeking his protection. Even after she herself killed the three-headed snake, she still felt that Zhou Shiqing gave her the most sense of safety.
This was really too interesting.
Xuan Xia glanced at Zhou Shiqing and, seeing that he had no intention of responding, curled her lip and took the initiative, “What do you need us to help you with?”
Shi Mei bit her lip slightly, looking at Zhou Shiqing with rather resentful eyes.
Just as Xuan Xia thought Shi Mei would insist on Zhou Shiqing speaking, Shi Mei unexpectedly responded to her, “Can you help me find my family member’s head?”
As she spoke, Shi Mei started sobbing.
Her family member’s head had only been bitten off a short while ago, and Shi Mei guessed it probably wouldn’t be digested so quickly, so she wanted to retrieve the head.
And to find the head, they would inevitably have to cut open the three-headed snake’s corpse.
Xuan Xia pondered for a moment; this favor… she didn’t really want to help with it.
“How about…” Xuan Xia looked at Zhou Shiqing, but before she could finish, she immediately gave up and turned her eyes away, “Forget it, Chang Xi, you help her.”
Chang Xi: “…”
Zhou Shiqing: “…”
Both wanted to ask Xuan Xia: why?
Chang Xi even had an expression of “are you serious?”
Xuan Xia said, “You’re more capable, and you’ll definitely be faster.”
Chang Xi couldn’t refute; compared to an ordinary person like Zhou Shiqing, she was inevitably more capable.
“Alright.”
Chang Xi walked straight toward the three-headed snake’s corpse.
Passing by Shi Mei, Chang Xi paused slightly and jerked her chin at her, “Come on, together.”
Shi Mei pursed her lips and followed Chang Xi, not forgetting to glance at Zhou Shiqing again.
At this time, Zhou Shiqing was already questioning Xuan Xia, “What do you mean? What do you mean she’s more capable?”
“The literal meaning.” Xuan Xia smiled, her tone matter-of-fact, “Have you ever killed a snake? Gutted it like that.”
Zhou Shiqing was stumped by the question and lost his confidence, “No.”
“And it’s to retrieve a human head. Even if you did it, are you sure you’d dare to hand it to her?”
Zhou Shiqing: “…”
Better not to think about it too much; thinking about it made him feel unwell all over.
In just a few words, Zhou Shiqing no longer pressed the issue but instead cursed himself in a low voice.
He was also puzzled; he hadn’t watched any gory horror movies recently, so why was he having such a dream?
Damn, he just wanted to wake up now.
Thinking this, he also tried issuing commands to his brain, wanting to end this “dream,” but after a while, he frustratedly discovered he was still trapped in the dream.
If he couldn’t wake up, he tried “changing scenes,” but found he couldn’t even switch scenes.
He wanted to curse even more.
Who has a dream where they can’t freely control the dream?
Xuan Xia didn’t know what was going on in his head; after shutting Zhou Shiqing up, her attention turned to Chang Xi and Shi Mei, who were busy gutting the snake.
Mainly observing Shi Mei.
Chang Xi lived up to Xuan Xia’s praise and quickly helped Shi Mei retrieve her family member’s head.
Since her family member’s body was already buried under the stone pile, Shi Mei finally buried the head in the stone pile as well.
After completing this major task, Shi Mei returned to Zhou Shiqing’s side.
Zhou Shiqing couldn’t help but frown again, this time because Shi Mei had quite a bit of blood on her, and the bloodstains were extremely foul-smelling and pungent.
However, Chang Xi, dressed all in white, miraculously had no blood on her at all, cleaner than the white city behind her.
Xuan Xia spoke first, “Shall we take you home?”
Shi Mei nodded weakly, pitifully, and helplessly.
“Then lead the way.” Xuan Xia made a “please” gesture.
Shi Mei led the way, Xuan Xia pulled Zhou Shiqing along to follow, and Chang Xi walked at the end.
The group walked silently for a stretch, and as they were about to enter the city, Shi Mei seemed to have composed herself and turned to ask Xuan Xia and the others, “Did you come from on the sea?”
“Sort of.” Xuan Xia was noncommittal.
“We rarely have visitors here.” Shi Mei said, “It’s getting dark; if you have nowhere to go, you can stay at my place tonight. I live alone.”
When she said it was getting dark, Xuan Xia and Zhou Shiqing simultaneously turned to look at the setting sun in the sky.
From the time they arrived until now, had the setting sun moved at all? No!
Could this sky really turn dark?
Just as he thought this, the setting sun on the horizon suddenly sped up several times and quickly fell onto the sea surface.
The two: “…”
As the sun sank, night gradually took over the sky, and twinkling stars slowly appeared.
Xuan Xia looked at the sky and murmured, “It doesn’t have to be quite this fast.”
Day and night were alternating, and with that, Xuan Xia noticed lights coming on in the city.
Orange-yellow glows shone from the windows of many houses, and there were quite a few of them.
“There are really people in the city?” When Zhou Shiqing first arrived here, he had also checked the city, but his conclusion then was that it seemed like an empty city.
And now there were so many lights?
Suddenly, the door of a certain house opened, and out came a man who, upon seeing Shi Mei, greeted her with a smile, “Shi Mei, it’s already dark, and you’re just coming back?”
Shi Mei shyly replied, “Yes.”
At this moment, Zhou Shiqing suddenly grabbed Xuan Xia.
“This man…”
