Now it was Stone's turn to be bewildered: "Are the orc elders terrifying?"
The little orc Xue'er spread her hands innocently: "Actually, I think it's because that child is timid."
"Not necessarily." Luo Pipi thought for a moment: "I vaguely remember that among the orcs, the elders have the highest authority. Maybe the elders here are more cruel to their people?"
Stone looked at the little beastman Xue'er with great sympathy, and Xue'er rolled her eyes at her: "Why are you looking at me? I don't necessarily want to stay here."
"Tell me, if the orcs find out we're human, will they just eat us?" Stone crouched down and poked the little rat boy's cheek. "I don't want to become orc poop!"
"Pfft!" Luo Pipi stared at the stone with utter depression: "Normally, shouldn't the orcs be afraid that humans will eat them?"
At first, Stone thought Luo Pipi's words were an exaggeration; after all, humans were so much more refined than the savage orcs. But after they carried the little toothed rat boy into the orc settlement, sure enough…
"What's wrong with them?" Of course, it wasn't Stone's turn to do heavy work. Stone led the way, with the others following behind. But she was dismayed to find that as they moved forward, the once bustling group of beastmen quickly split into two groups, giving them the middle position.
"Personally, I think they feel we want to eat this little toothed mouse." Luo Pipi is a typical person who never fails to make a shocking statement.
Stone rolled his eyes: "What's so good about him? He's all fat."
“Yeah, I’m not a picky eater, but I wouldn’t eat this kind of thing!” Xue’er kicked the little tooth rat boy with her foot, looking at him with great disdain.
"Hey, at least help him out! He's heavy!" Poor Linda, the people in front of her were all unreliable, and she was the only one struggling to carry the little toothed mouse boy.
Upon hearing her words, MiFen'er walked towards her without saying a word. Just as Linda was looking at her with shining eyes, MiFen'er suddenly lowered her body and sat down on the little toothed mouse.
Seriously?! Do you think I'm a tow truck driver?!
Linda got angry and simply let go of her hand, telling anyone who wanted to drag her to do it!
"Hey, where is your elder? We want to see him!" Stone had no idea what was going on. Seeing that the orcs were avoiding him and his companions, and hearing Luo Pipi say that orcs generally wouldn't harm humans, he simply put his hands in front of his mouth like a megaphone and roared.
When the orcs heard the stone roar, they were stunned for a moment, and then immediately took off running.
"Luopipi, what's going on?"
Luo Pipi watched the surrounding orcs flee quickly with deep affection, and said with great emotion, "I won't tell you that before Princess Irene slaughters the orcs, she always shouts like you first."
(@﹏@)~
Is this accusing her of being the same person in her past life and this life?
"So what do we do now?"
Luo Pipi gazed in the direction the orcs had gone: "Normally, if such terrifying humans came to the settlement, the orcs would go to the elders for help."
"So, all we can do now is wait patiently?" Stone raised an eyebrow. In the novels she had read in her previous life, orcs were all incredibly ferocious. She couldn't accept that orcs would be so wantonly oppressed by humans.
"Let's wait, we don't have anything to do lately anyway." Luo Pipi calmly sat down on the ground.
Uh, not on the ground, but on the little toothed rat boy's body.
"Humans, why have you invaded our orc territory again?" After a long while, a very old man finally came over, trembling and leaning on his cane.
Stone looked up at the sky: "Are you human or beastman?"
The old man probably hadn't expected Stone to ask that question, and was immediately speechless: "Of course I'm an orc."
"Then what are you?" Stone continued to ask.
"I am nothing!" The old man tapped the ground with his cane again, a little angry. "Humph, humans, please leave our settlement immediately."
Stone was about to speak when Luo Pipi stopped him: "Never mind, we're here to help Xue'er find her pet, uh, and her background, right?"
Xue'er gave Luo Pipi a cold look. Although she had agreed to act with humans because of Huoqian's persuasion, it didn't mean she was willing to trust them: "Let me ask."
Luo Pipi shrugged noncommittally, took a step back, and let Xue'er step forward on her own.
Xue'er walked up to the old man and whispered something. Because they were a bit far apart, Shi Tou didn't hear their conversation, but he saw the old man nodding and shaking his head repeatedly, seemingly out of nowhere.
Soon after, Xue'er returned to their side, looking dejected, and said, "Not here." Then she walked out of the gathering place.
Stone looked at Luo Pipi with a blank expression: "What do you mean not here? Is she looking for her pet or her origins?"
"Who knows? Anyway, my goal is to wander around outside. As long as I don't have to go back and get married, I'm fine with anything."
"Alright, let's just take it one step at a time." Stone didn't really care, but he figured that since he had transmigrated once, it would be a shame not to explore this world properly.
After leaving the gathering place, Xue'er didn't speak for several days. She always had a very disappointed expression, which made Shi Tou's teeth ache.
"Xue'er, what's wrong with you? Even if you can't find your pet, you don't need to look like that, do you? My pet is lost too, but so what? Maybe he's happy to be free!"
The pet that Stone was referring to was Yarn, but even now, she didn't know what kind of pet Yarn was. However, she didn't really care much about Yarn. If Baozi got lost, she'd be worried, but Yarn, well, if it got lost, it was gone.
“My people are all dead.”
After finishing his barbecue, Shi Tou, who was picking his teeth, suddenly stuck a toothpick into his tongue: "Ah! What did you say?"
"He told me that ten years ago, not far from that orc settlement, there was a wolf settlement. But..."
"Dead? They're all dead? But there must be a reason, right?"
"The reason?" Xue'er slowly raised her head, her eyes unfocused as she looked at the stone. "He told me the reason. It was humans. Humans killed them."
Shi Tou abruptly took a step back. In that instant, she clearly saw an intensely venomous killing intent in Xue'er's eyes. (Welcome! Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter 215 Moon Goddess's Forest and Steamed Buns
"Actually, I'm not human, really!" Shi Tou was stunned by Xue'er's murderous gaze. He didn't know what she was thinking, but she blurted out those words.
Xue'er was stunned, and the others were completely caught off guard.
Stone glanced at everyone and decisively hid behind Luo Pipi: "Xue'er, I was raised by the dwarves, she is the real human!"
Is this the legendary "better to die than to die"?
Everyone present, including Xue'er herself, was speechless. Xue'er pursed her lips, and the look in her eyes when she looked at Shi Tou was no longer the resentful expression from before: "Shi Tou, you...you are definitely human, absolutely!"
"No, no, how could I be a human? I'm not!" Shi Tou was a typical spineless coward. She didn't want to be scratched to death by Xue'er. Besides, she really had no sense of being a human being.
Perhaps shocked by Shi Tou's shamelessness, Xue'er fell silent.
Luo Pipi turned around and glared at Shi Tou, then pointed at Linda and said, "She's human too, why don't you say anything about her?"
“She is my servant. If I am no longer a person, then of course she is too.” Seeing that Xue’er’s emotions had gradually calmed down, Shi Tou breathed a sigh of relief and simply plopped down next to Luo Pipi.
Staying away from Xue'er means staying away from danger.
“Miss, although I am grateful that you remembered me when you were in danger, I still have to say that I am a human being, even if you are not. I still consider myself a human being.” Linda was quite blunt with Stone and said directly.
Stone glared at Linda relentlessly, his eyes practically daggers: "I know, I won't bother with you next time!"
Luo Pipi's lips twitched: "Xue'er. Although your people were killed by humans, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with us, right? Of course, if you find the real culprit, I won't mind helping you."
Xue'er looked up and gave the three humans present a deep look (although Stone didn't admit to being human, she was in fact a human, a shameless human), and nodded: "I know it has nothing to do with you. It happened ten years ago, when you were all still children."
“That’s right!” Stone clapped his hands. “Xue’er, I’m only a year older than you. Ten years ago, I was only two years old. Right, I was still in the Dwarf Kingdom back then!”
Xue'er didn't reply. She lowered her head and remained silent once again.
"Now that the news about Xue'er's people has been confirmed, where do we go next? Don't even think about looking for pets, Xue'er. You know, even if someone sees a kitten, they won't care."
Luo Pipi is the oldest here, so her words still carry some weight. Of course, the oldest should actually be Mi Fen'er, but no one listens to her opinion.
"We're very close to the Moon Goddess's Forest now." Xue'er quickly looked up in the direction of Mi Fen'er, then lowered her head again.
"The Forest of the Moon Goddess?" Stone felt the name was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it for the moment.
Luo Pipi frowned and took out a map from her spatial equipment, then leaned over the campfire to look at it.
Stone curiously peeked out and then immediately became curious: "Luo Pipi, can I have one of these?"
"I only have one copy. If you want, you can take it and make a copy," Luo Pipi said without looking up.
Stone quickly slipped on her black diamond ring, then aligned the ring face with the map and mentally commanded Baozi to draw it immediately. Poor Baozi. Now she's Stone's personal artist, and for free at that.
“It’s not far, but I estimate it will take us at least half a month to get there at this pace.” Luo Pipi closed the map: “There are no carriages here, and even if there were, the road would be difficult to travel.”
Stone scratched her head. In fact, she didn't have a clear sense of the world's terrain at all. It was only after glancing at Luo Pipi's map that she had a general impression: "The Crimson Forest and the Moon Goddess Forest are actually very close to each other?"
"It looks close on the map, but it's not actually that close for us to get there."
"But..." Stone found it very strange: "Why are they so close? Or is this whole area a forest?"
Looppi looked at her in surprise: "Stone, now I believe that you really were raised by dwarves."
puff!
Is this a compliment or an insult?
Seeing Shi Tou's constipated look, Luo Pipi felt a little better: "The continent where the Luo Ming Empire is located is called the Aida Continent. The Aida Continent is extremely large, but two-thirds of it is covered by forests. The remaining third is where humans and orcs live."
Stone raised an eyebrow. A primeval forest? It seems this world truly is a pollution-free, green world!
"Several hundred years ago, humans and orcs roughly shared this land, except for the forest. Later, as you know, due to the sudden emergence of Princess Irene, all the orc kingdoms were destroyed, and the remaining orcs were wanted by the human kingdoms, which directly led to the fact that even today, hundreds of years later, orcs are unable to establish a country."
"Besides humans and orcs, where do dwarves and elves live?"
"Elves live in the Moon Forest and the Demon Sound Forest, dwarves and gnomes live underground, and the great dragons dwell in the ocean." Lopipi was very knowledgeable about these historical matters, answering Stone's question without a second thought.
"Okay, so that means that now, apart from the forest, all the places have been occupied by humans?" Stone asked calmly. It seems that humans are an extremely powerful species no matter which world they live in.
“That’s not necessarily true.” Luo Pipi added some firewood to the campfire. “After all, several hundred years have passed. Even if Princess Irene had tried to exterminate the beastmen back then, it would have been impossible to truly wipe them out. Besides, so much time has passed. Even if the beastmen can’t return to their peak, their numbers are still much greater than during their most miserable period.”
Shi Tou swallowed hard. Even though she tried to convince herself that she and Irene weren't really the same person, she still felt strange whenever others mentioned Irene. She could accept praise or something similar, but…
The annihilation of a nation, the extermination of an entire clan—this is just too brutal!
Waaaaah, I'm such a kind and good child!
"Stone, what's wrong?" Luo Pipi turned around and saw Stone's green face. She asked in confusion.
"No, I just think that Irene is too cruel." This was absolutely true. Stone firmly believed that he was still the law-abiding citizen he was in his previous life, and that he was a completely different person from the vicious Irene.
"Is it cruel? Oh, maybe it's just a matter of perspective. Actually, it's much better now. At least I've never seen a scene of humans chasing orcs. According to my grandfather, this kind of thing was quite common when he was young."
"Chasing orcs?" Stone couldn't help but shudder and instinctively took a step back. Um, she seemed to see Xue'er's gaze change again.
“It’s gone now, isn’t it? At least it’s gone on the surface.” Luo Pipi took out the tent she bought from Tingyun Town from her spatial equipment and called Linda to help her set it up.