Help, I’m Being Forced to Marry a Frail and Sickly Immortal Doctor! 36

Chapter 36: Short Are These Bitter Days

Better to have her fur standing on end!

The cold wind howled, and the evening snow covered the mountains, the shadows of the trees flickering in all directions.

Not long after Ning Ruoque followed her out, a light snow began to fall from the sky again.

The child shivered and walked quickly in her small leather boots.

She seemed to be very familiar with the area, winding through the forest and actually leading Ning Ruoque to an abandoned dirt road.

The child asked with a smile, “What’s your name? Where are you from?”

Her tone was still very much like coaxing a puppy, with the unique childishness of a child.

Ning Ruoque had been leaving marks all the way and did not answer her question.

But the child did not get angry because of this and even introduced herself, “My name is Pengpeng. I’m seven years old this year, and I live with my sister in Xiaochi Village.”

Xiaochi Village.

Ning Ruoque thought to herself, Isn’t this the place they were about to go to?

If Wang Laosan hadn’t lied, then the village should have suffered a demonic calamity and gradually declined. How could there still be people living there?

However, maybe this child isn’t human?

Thinking of this, Ning Ruoque responded as gently as possible, “My name is Ning Man. I’m from the town.”

“The town?” Pengpeng’s eyes widened as if in disbelief. “But my sister said there are monsters in the town, and everyone was eaten by monsters. She won’t let me go.”

After her exclamation, she ignored her and muttered to herself, “So strange. Could it be that she wasn’t captured?”

Ning Ruoque’s hearing was good, and she heard all of this, her doubts growing even stronger.

What does it mean to be captured?

But her intuition told her that with Pengpeng’s strange attitude towards her, it was better not to ask.

And, she had been gone for a while. Why hadn’t Chu Xuan and the others followed?

Chu Xuan’s speed couldn’t possibly be slower than a child’s, and Yin Buran was not that slow either.

A ray of the setting sun shone on the horizon, and a thin layer of mist actually rose in the forest, blurring the distant scenery.

Pengpeng clapped her hands. “Oh my, it’s getting dark so early today.”

Then she tugged on Ning Ruoque’s sleeve and walked even faster.

She did not walk on the dirt road every step of the way and would occasionally turn into a small path.

Ning Ruoque suddenly realized that there was most likely a barrier set up around here, and outsiders would be hindered if they tried to break in.

It was just that she didn’t know if the purpose of this barrier was for protection or to hide something.

After walking like this for nearly half an hour, the surrounding trees gradually thinned out until the view suddenly opened up.

What appeared before them was a small village.

It was the same as most of the villages Ning Ruoque had seen.

There were ordinary mud-brick walls, bamboo fences, an old yellow dog sleeping by the door, and a large rooster perched on a tree. Various farm tools were leaning against the mud walls, as if the owners of the tools had just gone to inspect the fields and would be home soon.

The only problem was probably that it lacked a bit of human presence. Only one house in the distance had its lights on.

Similarly, there was no demonic aura here. The windows of the farmhouses they passed were wide open, and it was dark inside, nothing could be seen.

But Ning Ruoque had a feeling of being watched, and she felt uncomfortable all over.

Pengpeng, on the other hand, showed no signs of anything unusual and even skipped up the stone steps, showing a bit of a child’s nature.

She took out a key and opened the courtyard gate, greeting warmly, “We’re here. This is my house. Ah Man, come in quickly.”

Ning Ruoque followed into the house silently, her hand on the hilt of her sword.

Unexpectedly, compared to the eerily quiet village, this place could be described as “bustling with noise and excitement.”

In the not-so-large courtyard, there were actually several people of different ages crowded together.

A lump of mud was thrown at her face and was dodged by Ning Ruoque’s sidestep. She looked up and saw a little girl foolishly stuffing the mud into her mouth.

Pengpeng quickly went up to stop her. “You can’t eat this!”

After finally snatching the mud away, there was a new movement from the courtyard wall.

A thin old woman was trying to climb the courtyard wall, muttering some inexplicable words.

Pengpeng grabbed her hand again. “Grandma! It’s getting dark soon. Don’t run around!”

Ning Ruoque saw the child busy running around, comforting these people’s emotions everywhere.

She was not old, but her ability to coax people was not bad, and she could even hum a light-hearted tune.

It was not difficult to see that most of the people here were in a daze, their speech disordered.

The situation was somewhat similar to the old woman that Chu Xuan had brought back.

The more she thought about it, the more her brows furrowed, forming a deep frown.

What on earth happened in Xiaochi Village? Is it related to the Shirou in Yunling Town?

She was lost in thought, and in the blink of an eye, Pengpeng had already coaxed most of the people into the house.

Then she trotted to Ning Ruoque and waved at her with a smile, “Ah Man is so good. Come and have a piece of pancake.”

Her tone was exactly the same as before, and even her words were similar.

The reason for her strange attitude towards Ning Ruoque before was now self-evident.

Ning Ruoque: “…”

Ning Ruoque now understood why Pengpeng had brought her home.

It was most likely because she saw her squatting on the ground, gnawing on a “stone,” and thought she had a problem with her brain.

She pressed her lips together, her ears burning red.

Do I look like a fool?!

Seeing Ning Ruoque standing still like a block of wood, Pengpeng deliberately sighed heavily.

She put the pancake on the stone table in the courtyard. “I’ll put it here for you. If you’re late, it might be snatched by others.”

Then she turned and walked into the house.

“…”

Ning Ruoque silently walked over, picked up the half-pancake, and sniffed it.

A smell of wheat, not poisonous, edible.

But she did not move, put it down as if nothing had happened, and continued to observe the surrounding situation.

Night fell, and the bright moon and stars were hidden by the clouds. Without this light source, the visibility became extremely poor.

As far as the eye could see was a stretch of darkness. Ning Ruoque frowned, and just as she was about to go into the house to see, she heard the sound of a cup falling to the ground.

Accompanied by a familiar cry of alarm, “Ah!”

The Sudden Rain sword was drawn three inches. Before Ning Ruoque could rush into the house, a bloody mass rushed out faster than her.

Her eyes suddenly shrank, and she saw this thing clearly in the light of her sword.

Strange eyeballs, writhing hands and feet, even a glance could pollute the eyes.

It was a mutated Shirou!

In a flash, the Shirou’s eyeballs rolled, firmly locking onto Ning Ruoque, and then pounced on her.

“Clang—”

The hum of the sword being drawn resounded through the small courtyard, and Ning Ruoque swung her sword without hesitation.

The sword’s momentum was like a sudden downpour, unstoppable.

A small half of the Shirou’s body fell, and the other half continued to pounce on her without any hesitation.

Just as Ning Ruoque was about to strike again, she heard the child shout anxiously, “Ah Man, what are you doing?! That’s Grandma!”

What?

The Shirou was already in front of her. Under its bloody body were dense, sharp teeth, biting fiercely at Ning Ruoque’s arm.

But Ning Ruoque was so shocked by the information in Pengpeng’s words that her movements subconsciously slowed by half a beat, and a piece of her flesh was bitten off just like that.

A faint chewing sound was heard, making one’s scalp tingle.

Pengpeng ran out anxiously, wanting to grab Ning Ruoque’s sleeve, but her hand was filled with sticky blood.

She was so frightened that her tears couldn’t stop falling. “You—”

Seeing that the Shirou was about to run, Ning Ruoque shook off Pengpeng and chased after it without hesitation, as if the injury on her hand did not exist.

In fact, she really didn’t care. Her mind was filled with one thought—

This is insane. How can a person turn into a demon?!

The Shirou’s movements were fast, but Ning Ruoque was faster.

The black shadow leaped onto the roof, almost as if walking on flat ground, and shuttled between the houses.

She had the intention of capturing this Shirou alive. She struck out with her sword several times, each time cutting off a part of the Shirou.

The Shirou’s regeneration speed could not compare to Ning Ruoque’s sword light.

It was already so weak that it was running in a panic, crashing straight into a wall. But a teacup flew out of nowhere from a distance. It suddenly grew several times larger and directly covered the Shirou in the bowl.

Then it turned into a stream of light and returned to its master’s hand.

The black-clad sword cultivator came to a screeching halt, as if she had sensed something even more terrifying than the Shirou.

She didn’t even dare to turn her head and could only stand stiffly, facing the wall.

A gentle breeze brought a wisp of fragrance, like a sprinkle of white sugar in the snow.

After a moment of silence, Ning Ruoque turned around with her hands behind her back.

She glanced at the white-clad person not far away, quickly lowered her head, and even took a few steps back without a sound.

In the snow, Yin Buran’s white clothes danced lightly with the wind, and the flowing cloud patterns on her dress reflected the moonlight.

She curled up the corners of her mouth slightly and chuckled, “Ning Ruoque, come, I’ll treat you to a medicinal meal.”

Ning Ruoque sucked in a sharp breath. She felt that her smile was even more terrifying than when she wasn’t smiling.

Better to have her fur standing on end!

She was very flustered, but there were no more sweet cakes in her storage bag.

So she could only try her best to hide her injured hand and try to find something useful in her mind to coax her.

Yin Buran tilted her head, and a strand of white hair fell messily.

If one looked closely, one would find that her dress was also a little messy, and she didn’t even care about the grass leaves stuck to it, as if she had been in a great hurry.

Even so, she was still unhurried and asked with extreme patience, “Why don’t you come forward? What, can other people’s pancakes lure you, but mine can’t? Or is it that…”

“You’re afraid that I’ll discover the injury on you?”