"No, no, that's not what I meant." Actually, as soon as the words left her mouth, Stone regretted it. Why was she still so sharp-tongued? Now, she'd better just stay in the ring space obediently!
"Stone!" Luo Pipi was also furious. It was already pitiful enough that she was ugly, and now she was reopening old wounds? And if this were in the capital, it wouldn't be so bad; after all, given Stone's status as the second young lady of the Huo family, most people wouldn't dare cause her trouble. But she specifically chose a time when their side was weaker—wasn't that just courting death?
"Stone? Aren't you the little girl from the Yi family? Is your name Yi Stone?" Unexpectedly, the man with the sesame-shaped round face didn't take Stone's words to heart at all, and his interest in Stone's surname remained undiminished.
Shi Tou was about to vomit blood, because at this moment, Xue'er's gaze could no longer be described by the simple adjectives "deep and piercing": "No! I'm not some little girl from the Yi family! I'm the second young lady of the Huo family, my name is Huo Yi!"
"Huo Yi? Isn't she still the Yi family's little girl?" For some reason, the man with the round face couldn't forget the Yi family, and he didn't know what the Yi family had done to him back then.
But that doesn't make sense either. Irene lived six hundred years ago, and according to Isamu, the Irene family gradually declined after Irene became the Goddess of Magic. In other words, this round-faced guy in front of me couldn't possibly know anyone from the Irene family.
"It's the Huo family, not the Yi family!" Shi Tou could only try to keep his distance from Xue'er as much as possible. He was still trying his best to explain, "Although the Huo family is also an Eastern family, the Huo family and the Yi family are completely different."
The man with the round, sesame-shaped face was stunned for a moment, standing there blankly for a while: "The Dongfang family? Oh, I see. Slaves of the Yi family? That's strange, what's going on? Did the Yi family intermarry with their slaves?"
That's really something...
Shi Tou suddenly realized that although her past life was Yi Lin, that wasn't the point. Besides, no one in the world knew this except for Yi Si Yue. The point was that, by blood, her current body was a direct descendant of Yi Lin.
"Ahem, the Yi family has completely fallen. And the descendants of the Yi family are the fourth prince and fifth princess of the Luo Ming Empire. However, I think perhaps my ancestors intermarried with the Yi family." That was all Shi Tou could say for now. She knew that Xue'er's air condensation was a real trump card, and now that she didn't have the help of the fire tongs, if Xue'er scratched her to death in a fit of anger, that would be a huge loss.
The man with the sesame-shaped, round face stared thoughtfully at Shi Tou, making Shi Tou's skin crawl. If it were a handsome guy, like Yi Si Yue, Shi Tou might have felt a little shy, but the sesame-shaped, round face was just too creatively shaped, making Shi Tou feel like he was definitely going to have nightmares that night.
"Fine, whether you're a girl from the Yi family or not, since you're already here, let's go in together. The Town of Strange People welcomes all races different from normal humans." With that, the man with the sesame-covered face picked up his small oil lamp and turned to walk towards the town entrance.
Luo Pipi hesitated for a moment, but finally called for everyone to follow. Shi Tou was at the back of the group, pondering the last words of that round-faced guy.
The town of Outcasts welcomes all races that are different from normal humans...
Damn it! Doesn't that mean I'm not human?! Even if I'm from the Dongfang family, even if I'm a descendant of the Yi family, I'm still a normal human being, okay?!
"Stone. I have something to ask you later."
Just as Shi Tou was muttering curses under her breath, she heard Xue'er suddenly lean close to her ear and whisper something. This startled her so much that she nearly tripped and fell flat on her face.
"Stone, you seem very nervous?" Xue'er reached out and pulled Stone back, preventing her from prostrating herself at the entrance of the Strange People's Town.
At this moment, Shi Tou was more than just nervous; she practically wanted to immediately disappear into the ring's space. Waaah, Xue'er was terrifying; she was a man-eating beastman!
"Xue'er, Shitou, hurry up!" Luo Pipi turned around and saw the two of them stop. She quickly called out, "It's getting dark. Stay close to me."
"Okay! Luo Pipi, we're coming." Xue'er grabbed Shi Tou's arm and practically dragged him into the town.
What else could Shi Tou say? It was useless to say anything now. What was worse, she couldn't directly enter the ring space because Xue'er was holding her arm. If she wanted to enter the ring space, she would definitely drag Xue'er in with her.
The town of the Strange People isn't actually that big. They had already walked around it several times before. Although it was dark, the streetlights along the roads made it easy to see.
After following the sesame-faced man for a while, the group found themselves in an open space in the middle of the town where they had previously made a brief stop.
“We were here during the day.” Luo Pipi, who had been following behind Sesame Pancake Face, was the first to notice: “Right, we also went to the surrounding houses during the day, but there was no one there.”
"Oh?" The man with the sesame-shaped face placed the oil lamp he was holding above a street lamp next to the open space, then turned to look at Luo Pipi: "You've checked every single house?"
Luo Pipi was stunned. How could this be?
“No, we only looked at a few houses, and they were all on the roadside. We didn’t go to any of the trees,” Linda added softly, standing beside Luo Pipi.
"That's it. We sleep during the day. But most people sleep underground, so it's normal that you didn't notice since you only looked around briefly."
"You?!" Luo Pipi suddenly raised her voice. She had already suspected that there couldn't be only one person in this town, but being reminded like this still surprised her. "Where are the others? How many people are there in total?"
The man with the sesame-shaped, round face suddenly stared intently at Luo Pipi: "By the way, without someone to guide you, it's generally impossible for you to find the Town of the Strange People. May I ask who among you is responsible for guiding you?"
Luo Pipi hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Me."
"You? So you've been here before? Or did someone tell you the way here?"
“I’ve been here before.” There was no point in hiding it, and Luo Pipi thought that if she was lucky, she might even find her long-lost mother here: “My mother brought me here.”
The man with the round, sesame-shaped face fell silent, staring intently at Luo Pipi. Suddenly, he slapped the back of his head and exclaimed, "I knew it! You look so familiar, it turns out..."
"Have you seen my mother? Is she here?" Luo Pipi instinctively tensed up and asked repeatedly, "Where does she live? Can I see her?"
The man with the round, sesame-shaped face suddenly looked very strange: "Your mother? Is your mother's name Mochi?"
Luo Pipi was shocked, and Shi Tou and the others were completely stunned. After a long while, Luo Pipi struggled to speak: "No... my mother's name is Lori."
Mochi, what a creepy name!
"How could that be? Oh, I know, she must have changed her name." The man with the round face nodded in sudden realization: "But she's not here now."
"Where did she go?"
The woman with the round, sesame-shaped face reached up and touched her chin. "Well, let me think. I remember she left a long time ago, I think she was looking for something? Did she ever come back? Oh, right, I think she came back when her great-aunt passed away. But did you come back then?"
Great-aunt?
That makes sense. Luo Pipi had mentioned that she had seen a dead old woman, but her mother didn't seem to be too sad at the time.
“I was with my mother at the time, but I was still very young. She hid me in her luggage and never let me out. Did she ever come back later?”
"No!" The man with the round, sesame-shaped face looked like he was racking his brains. "I don't remember her ever coming back. Our town is small, and there aren't many supernatural beings. If there were an extra person, everyone would know. Oh, of course, unless, like you said, she hid the child in her luggage. If she did that intentionally, it would indeed be very difficult to find out."
Luo Pipi lowered her head in disappointment. She had always believed that her mother would return to the town of the Strange People after she disappeared. So even though there had been no news of her mother all these years, she always felt that her mother was just safely staying somewhere else.
But she never expected this...
“That’s not right!” Stone suddenly spoke up: “If her mother never came back, how do you know who Luo Pipi’s mother is? Just by the name? The problem is that the two people have completely different names.”
"Hehe, of course not based on the name! I judge by appearance." The man with the round, sesame-shaped face suddenly smiled, but the smile looked extremely creepy.
"So, Luo Pipi looks a lot like her mother?" Shi Tou squinted at Luo Pipi. To be honest, Luo Pipi's features were quite delicate, but the thing was, when the features were put together, they had a particularly masculine air.
"No, that's not true! This little girl does look a bit like Mochi, but not very much. However, this little girl looks exactly like Mochi's eldest daughter's only son, Xiao Liuliu!"
What is this thing?! (You're welcome to type this out yourself; your support is my greatest motivation.)
☆, Chapter 238: The Search for the Divine Master of Light
Even more bewildered than the stone was Luo Pipi. She never expected that not only would she not find her biological mother in the Strange People's Town, but she would also find some kind of older sister.
"My half-sister?" After a long pause, Luo Pipi finally spoke. [~] She had managed to calm down; at least she wasn't really shocked by the news.
Sesame-faced hesitated for a moment: "Half-sister? I don't know, but Mochi does have an older daughter in the Otherworld."
"So where is she now? Can I see her?"
Just as the man with the round, sesame-shaped face was about to nod, his gaze suddenly fixed on something behind Luo Pipi. This time, Shi Tou reacted faster than Luo Pipi, immediately turning around and exclaiming in utter surprise, "Luo Pipi! Is this your son?!"
Luo Pipi turned around with a black line on her forehead, but when she saw the little boy in front of her, she was also taken aback: "This..."
"They really look alike! Luo Pipi, I think he really is your son!" Shi Tou was closest to the little boy, and being next to the streetlight, she could see him clearly. The little boy looked to be only six or seven years old, with short brown hair and a somewhat bewildered expression on his face. However, his features were indeed extremely similar to Luo Pipi's.
“You all think so too, right?” The man with the round face walked up to the little boy, squatted down, and faced him before speaking: “Liuliu, go find your mother.”
For some reason, the way Sesame-faced guy spoke was very strange. It was different from when he was talking to Luo Pipi and the others. This time, his voice was very soft. But his speaking speed was very slow, and the pronunciation of each word was very standard.
"He's Liuliu? What's wrong with him?" Luo Pipi had also noticed something was off. The little boy named Liuliu looked to be six or seven years old; there was no way he wouldn't understand them. The way the sesame-faced boy spoke was really strange.
The man with the round, sesame-shaped face watched Liu Liu run away before straightening up: "Sigh, Liu Liu, that child..."
"Can't he hear?" Stone couldn't help but ask.
"Huh? How did you know?" The man with the round face looked at Shi Tou with a puzzled expression. "Could it be because he didn't make a sound just now?"
"Uh. Yes." Actually, the reason why Stone thought Liu Liu had a hearing problem was because she had volunteered at an orphanage in her previous life. There, she had become friends with a child with hearing impairment. Generally speaking, children who can't hear can't speak, but some children can communicate with others through lip reading.
"How could this be?" Luo Pipi stared in astonishment at Liu Liu's disappearing figure. "He's my sister's son?"
"Actually, don't you really think Luo Pipi looks more like your son?" Shi Tou glanced at Luo Pipi with a depressed expression: "He really does!"
"Get lost! I'm still a virgin!" Luo Pipi glared at Shi Tou hatefully and muttered under her breath.
Stone touched his nose and decided to refrain from commenting for the time being.
Not long after, the little boy Liu Liu, who had run away earlier, returned, followed by a woman.
"Uncle Big Face..." The woman was thin and small, her age impossible to guess, because her face was covered with a cloth. "Ah! There's a stranger here! Wait. This girl..."
Sesame-faced, or rather, Big-faced Uncle (hearing this nickname, Stone shamefully covered his mouth and burst into laughter), pointed at Luo Pipi: "Liuliu's mom, she's Mochi's youngest daughter, which means she's your sister, right?"
The woman with her face wrapped in cloth, who was also Liu Liu's mother, stared blankly at Luo Pipi for a long while: "Little sister? Are you Tina?"
Luo Pipi was startled; she was certain. Previously, Shi Tou and the others had always called her "Luo Pipi," and only Shi Tou knew the name Tina: "I am Tina Longjiaha, are you really my sister?"
“That should be the case, at least that’s what Mom told me before she left. [~]” Liu Liu’s mom stared intently at Luo Pipi with her two exposed eyes, a strange look in her eyes: “You… how about we go home and talk?”
Luo Pipi glanced hesitantly at the sesame-faced man. Uncle Big Face waved his hand dismissively: "Go on, go on, it's rare for a guest to come to town."
After saying goodbye to Uncle Big Face, Stone and the others followed behind Luo Pipi like a burden. Liu Liu's mom seemed to have something to say, but with Stone and the others around, she swallowed her words. As a result, Stone felt even more like a burden…
Liu Liu's home was perched high in a large tree in a rather secluded part of the town. Stone stared blankly at the towering trunk. Of course, the trees here couldn't compare to those in the Crimson Forest, but this tree was still at least ten meters tall. Don't think that just because Stone has seen countless trees hundreds of meters tall, he can ignore this ten-meter-tall tree.
Keep in mind, over ten meters is equivalent to the height of a four or five-story building in the stone's previous life!
"We're going to climb up?" Luo Pipi was also stunned. Wasn't her sister human? Why was she acting like a monkey, or rather, an elf, only knowing how to climb trees?
"Hello, sister." Stone suddenly leaned closer and asked intimately, "Are you human, sister?"
Liu Liu's mother visibly stiffened: "I..."
"Stone! My sister is human, of course!" Luo Pipi bristled and dragged Stone to Xue'er's side: "Xue'er, keep an eye on her for me!"
Stone pouted innocently and looked at Xue'er: "Sister Xue'er..."
"Shut up!" Xue'er wasn't that patient, and besides, she was currently suspicious of Shi Tou's identity, so of course she wouldn't be polite to him. She grabbed Shi Tou's arm and subdued him with force.
"Sister, I'm sorry. My friend is just being blunt. She didn't mean it," Luo Pipi said apologetically to Liu Liu's mother.
“Actually…” Liu Liu’s mother glanced at Shi Tou awkwardly: “This little girl is right, I am not human.”
"ah?!"
Faced with numerous questioning gazes, Liu Liu's mother shrank back in fear: "This is the Town of Strange People, and most of the townspeople are not human."
Luo Pipi swayed slightly, looking at Liu Liu's mom with a nervous expression: "Then our mom is human, right?"
"Yes."