"Let her bark!" Linda was about to stop Stone when Luo Pipi suddenly stopped her: "Xue'er hates being called a puppy, so if Xue'er is nearby, she will definitely rush out angrily when she hears Stone barking like that."
Linda paused, then instinctively glanced around: "But what if Xue'er doesn't come out..."
“That means either Xue’er isn’t around here, or she’s currently caught up in something she can’t control.” Luo Pipi’s expression was very serious: “Although I’ve been here before, my mother kept me locked in my room back then, and it’s been so long that I don’t remember clearly.”
“Luo Pipi, you don’t mean, this…this…” Linda said as she moved closer to Luo Pipi, a look of fear on her face.
"Don't worry, although I don't know the exact situation here, since my mother told me to remember the way here, it means this place is safe." Although Luo Pipi's expression was serious, he didn't seem too afraid. "The problem now is that this is the Town of Strange People, and I'm more worried about you and Shi Tou."
"So, Xue'er will be alright?" Shi Tou called for a long time but still didn't hear Xue'er's voice, so he couldn't help but worry: "Actually, with Xue'er's strength, I wasn't worried at first, but the problem is, why doesn't she respond when I call her? Logically speaking, she should have rushed out and yelled at me, or even punched me."
"So you knew all along..."
Shi Tou suddenly jumped up and quickly hid behind Luo Pipi: "Hehehe, Xue'er, my little beauty, it's been a long time."
Xue'er felt too lazy to even bother with Shi Tou, who was so shameless. She rolled her eyes and looked at Luo Pipi with a serious expression: "I just went inside those buildings on the ground and looked around."
Is anyone there?
“No.” Xue’er lowered her head, her brows furrowed tightly. “The buildings on the ground are empty, but the furniture and furnishings are intact, and there’s also very fresh food…”
Luo Pipi looked up at the sky. By this time, the sun had moved to the west, and it looked like it would get dark at any moment. "It's not far from dark. If we can be sure that no one is here, it's fine. But it's so strange. It feels like someone could appear at any time."
"Well... how about we leave first? Staying in this unknown place is too dangerous. We might as well spend the night in the forest!" Linda suggested boldly.
After thinking it over, Luo Pipi finally decided to leave. Even she wasn't sure if it was safe here.
Signaling the others to follow him, Luo Pipi turned and walked towards the town entrance first, only to see Shi Tou looking up thoughtfully at the center of the town.
"Stone, what's wrong? Did you find something?"
A dazed look appeared on Stone's face: "Luo Pipi, have you ever heard of someone who turns day into night?" (Welcome! Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter 236 Giant Sesame Pancake Face
"What? Day and night reversed?!" Luo Pipi jumped up, staring at the stone in disbelief, a strange expression suddenly appearing on his face.
"Luo Pipi, is something on your mind?" Xue'er had been standing in front of Luo Pipi the whole time, so she naturally saw what was happening. "Do you remember when you came last time, was it day or night?"
Luo Pipi pondered for a moment with a strange expression: "I remember, I lived here for almost a month at that time. But during that time, I never saw the sun."
"So, what Shi Tou said is very likely?" Xue'er followed Shi Tou's gaze and asked, "Is there a problem with that open space?"
“No.” Stone withdrew his gaze and turned to walk towards them. “In any case, let’s leave here first. If I’m not mistaken, the sounds from this town will definitely come when night falls.”
The group agreed with Stone's statement and quickly left the small town.
Before long, the sun set, and night slowly descended upon the town.
"Look, what's that?" In front of the town, behind the bushes, Luo Pipi's eyes were fixed on the town. When it was completely dark, a sliver of light suddenly appeared in the town.
"A lamp." Xue'er has excellent eyesight, and most importantly, her night vision is also excellent: "Not a street lamp, but the kind of lamp you can hold in your hand."
Reminded by Xue'er, Shi Tou also noticed that the light was still moving.
After a while, the light grew stronger, increasing in a line from the initial dimness. It was as if someone was holding an oil lamp, walking to the streetlights on both sides of the road, and turning them on one by one.
Is it a person?
Xue'er looked for a while and said, "It should be, but I can't see his face clearly. You know, the only difference between beastmen and humans is above the neck."
Stone pursed her lips. She really wanted to remind Xue'er that orcs had very noticeable long hair, while humans only had light body hair. But then she thought about it again. Actually, there wasn't much difference.
"By the way, Luo Pipi, didn't you see anyone besides your mother when you came last time?" Xue'er pursed her lips, her eyes fixed on the lights in the town. "At least you should have seen your mother's family, right?"
Luo Pipi remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "I remember that the reason my mother brought me back was because one of the elders in the family had passed away. But I really can't remember who it was. However, I have never seen any other people... no, any other living people."
Stone shuddered and almost fell into the bushes: "Luo Pipi. That's a creepy thing to say."
“It’s true, because I saw that elder.” Luo Pipi said, frowning as she tried to recall: “I can’t remember the exact appearance, but I vaguely remember that she was an old woman, um, an old lady.”
"Your maternal grandmother?"
"It shouldn't be. Stone, even if I'm stupid, I wouldn't forget my grandmother, would I? Besides, my mother wasn't sad at all back then. It was just a routine visit to pay her respects."
Stone fell silent, then turned to look at the town, but immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Something's not right!"
In just a short while, all the streetlights along the roads in the town were lit, but the person who had been in charge of lighting the streetlights had disappeared.
"Where is that person?" Luo Pipi also noticed something was wrong: "He was just here a moment ago."
"Could he have gone home? But if that's the case, why did he still turn on all the streetlights?" Stone asked softly, looking bewildered. "Was he just doing it for fun?"
"How is that possible! Think about it, why would there be streetlights installed along busy roads in the capital?"
Shi Tou rolled his eyes at Luo Pi Pi: "Of course, it's to make it easier for pedestrians to walk at night."
"But not all roads have streetlights." What Luo Pipi said was true. Although the capital was the most prosperous city in the Luo Ming Empire, it was not the technologically advanced country that Stone had lived in before. The capital simply could not install streetlights on all roads, at least not in the slums.
Moreover, even in the country where the stone lived in his previous life, it was impossible to install streetlights along both sides of the roads throughout the entire country.
Suddenly, Shi Tou jumped up, but luckily Luo Pi Pi was quick-witted and pulled her down: "What are you doing?"
“Someone… Streetlights are only necessary on roads with a lot of traffic!” Stone took a deep breath; her jaw was chattering.
It's obvious that there are people in this town, and not just the one who turned on the streetlight, but many, many people...
Of course, it's quite possible that the people living in the town aren't even human!
“We’ll discuss this later!” Xue’er suddenly interrupted Shi Tou: “I think the most important question right now is, where is the person who was in charge of lighting the lamps?”
"Maybe he really did go home to sleep?" Stone tugged at the corner of his mouth and answered with great difficulty.
"Maybe he went to the back of town, where there are many buildings, and maybe we just didn't see them."
"But...but..." Linda, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly stammered, "Maybe he's come looking for us..."
The other three glared at Linda instantly: "Don't scare yourself on purpose."
"But I think she's absolutely right!"
"ah!!!"
Stone jumped back instantly, deciding to immediately slip into the ring's space if things went wrong.
"Who are you?" Luo Pipi was the calmest of them all, but even so, her fingers were still trembling slightly.
"Lamplighter." The speaker held up a small oil lamp, bringing it close to his face as he spoke: "Can you see clearly now?"
A collective gasp filled the air.
Stone had already begun calling out to Baozi with deep affection. Although she could get herself into the ring space, the problem was, she was afraid she would faint from fright. If that happened, she would have to rely on Baozi to get her into the ring space.
Although the oil lamp's light was very dim, Stone was no longer the severely nearsighted person she had been in her previous life, with a prescription of 500 degrees. In this life, her eyesight was excellent, but at this moment, she felt an intense hatred for her once-perfect vision.
Beside the oil lamp was an enormous face. How to put it... While most human faces are roughly the same size—some have oval faces, others square faces—generally speaking, adult faces are about the same size.
But the person in front of me had a face almost 1.5 times the size of a normal human face. Looking at him, you could barely see his hair, ears, chin, or neck; all you could see was his enormous face. It was as if his neck was the only part of his body that was his face.
If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, but his face was also incredibly flat. His forehead was flat, his eyes were flat. Even his nose was flat. It was as if his face had been crushed by something, and his features were all deeply embedded in his face.
Even more outrageous, this big face actually has sesame seeds?! Oh, no, not sesame seeds, they should be moles. Except for the areas where facial features are located, it's densely covered with black moles.
Stone choked on his breath, unable to breathe for a long time. Holy crap, the legendary round face really does exist! And it's a sesame-seed-sized round face at that!
"Ahem, excuse me..." Luo Pipi was the one closest to that sesame-pancake face among the group. The oil lamp in that person's hand was originally placed at his waist, so she didn't see the person's face clearly.
But as the person moved, Luo Pipi saw that terrifying face almost face-to-face. Instantly, even she, who was usually bold, was so frightened that she didn't know what to say.
"Little girl, what do you want to ask?" The man with the round face had a very gentle voice, but the problem was that with his face, no one would find his voice pleasant.
Shi Tou paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered that this woman with the round, sesame-shaped face seemed to be the first person to immediately recognize that Luo Pipi was a girl. Of course, that wasn't the point right now.
"Excuse me, is this the Town of Strange People?" Stone had moved very quickly; as soon as she heard the voice, she darted to the back of the group, making her the furthest away from Sesame Face.
“Yes, human girl.” The man with the round, sesame-shaped face turned his gaze to the stone-like face: “Little girl, do you have any connection with the Yi family?”
Damn it!
Stone jumped back in fright. How the hell did this guy figure that out? The Yi family... Yilin...
Waaah, Stone thought that if her identity were exposed, not only would that big-faced girl not let her go, but even Xue'er wouldn't let her off the hook.
"Ahem, my young lady is just an Easterner; she's the second young lady of the Huo family." Linda was also very scared, but she had signed a magical contract with Stone. How to put it? The unequal contract meant that if Stone died, she would die, but if she died, Stone would be completely unaffected.
"Huh? A descendant of the dragon race? No, that's impossible. The proud dragon race would never intermarry with humans. Oh, I know, did your ancestors have dragon blood?"
These words startled Stone and the others, even Linda herself was quite shocked: "Huh? Me? A dragon?"
"Looks like someone's unaware of this." The man with the round, sesame-shaped face sighed. "And an orc girl? Heh, your group is really strange!"
Stone withdrew his gaze from Linda. Regardless of whether Linda possessed dragon blood or not, she posed no threat. To put it bluntly, having signed that magical contract, Stone could kill Linda with a single thought.
Trying to calm himself down, Shi Tou looked at the round, sesame-faced man and asked, "Excuse me, um..."
"Little girl of the Yi family, ask away. I will answer whatever I know." The man with the round face remained kind, but his words left a bad taste in Shi Tou's mouth.
Xue'er's gaze shot over with a chilling intensity!
"Excuse me, when you were born, did you land face-first?!"
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This character is entirely fictional; please do not assume any connection to real people or places.
Shengjianbao would like to make a special statement hereby: I absolutely did not intend to criticize any particular face.
☆, Chapter 237 The Little Stranger of the Strange Town
Honestly, that wasn't what Stone originally wanted to ask. However, she was suddenly angered by Sesame-faced's comment about "the Yi family's little girl," and blurted it out without thinking.