“Huh? It can talk?”
Li Hai looked at him in surprise, “Then you tell me yourself, what exactly are you?”
“Lord, I…I…am a person!”
The Ghost Folk stammered, “I am a person, truly a person, not a monster!”
Saying this, he hurriedly pulled aside the messy green hair covering his head, revealing a shriveled, gaunt, pale face.
This face was filled with sorrow and hardship, as if simply living had exhausted all the strength of its owner.
Li Hai’s attention, however, was more focused on the green fur hat that had been completely removed and was now held in the Ghost Folk’s hands.
Looking at the lines inside the hat, which were very rough but clearly left by hand-stitching, Li Hai said thoughtfully:
“The green hair on your head and face is fake, so this green hair all over your body…it can’t all be fake too, right?”
“Lord…you are, are right.”
The Ghost Folk kneeling on the ground stammered as he spoke, and in a few quick movements, he took off the damp, thick green fur suit, transforming into a thin man wearing only a worn single layer of clothing.
From the outside, this person was indeed human, and a person with weak qi and blood, and a sallow face. It wasn't that he was completely powerless, but it was estimated that anyone who had practiced a couple of moves could beat him to death.
Out of curiosity about the origins of the Ghost Folk group, Li Hai asked again, “What is your name?”
Hearing the question, the Ghost Folk answered honestly, “This humble one…is named Zheng Dashan.”
“Very good, Zheng Dashan, in this stream…”
Li Hai shifted his gaze to the turbid stream and said lightly, “You are not the only one, are you?”
The Ghost Folk Zheng Dashan trembled, “There, there, there are also my family members.”
“Then take me to see them.”
Li Hai said calmly, “I am very curious how a turbid stream full of stones and sand can hide a group of living people.”
Through Seeking Ghosts and Tracking Monsters and the art of observing qi, he could clearly feel several non-human, non-ghostly Ghost Folk auras slowly emerging from the depths of the stream.
“This, this…” Zheng Dashan clearly did not want to satisfy Li Hai’s curiosity.
“Don’t worry,” Li Hai’s tone softened, “I am not a bad person. If you have encountered any difficulties, perhaps I can help.”
Saying this, he even took out some bright silver dollars from his pocket and shook them, tempting him with profit.
“Okay… okay.”
After seeing the money, Zheng Dashan gritted his teeth and agreed.
To be honest, even without the temptation of money, facing someone as tall as two meters and as strong as an ox like Li Hai in this deserted wilderness, he simply didn't have the courage to say “no” to him.
So afterwards, Li Hai followed Zheng Dashan and jumped into the turbid stream, swimming all the way to the bottom of the stream.
It was only after entering the water himself that he realized that this stream was not as rapid as it appeared on the surface; in fact, any child who was good at swimming could swim in it for a long time.
However, this trip did not involve swimming for too long. After swimming down more than ten zhang to the bottom of the stream, Li Hai followed Zheng Dashan into a dark pit at the edge of the stream bed.
After entering this lightless pit and swimming diagonally down another ten zhang, they reached a significantly clearer area of water, where Zheng Dashan began to surface, and Li Hai followed closely behind, also surfacing.
“This Zheng Dashan’s ability to hold his breath is quite strong.”
Looking at the figure in front, which was rapidly surfacing like a fish, Li Hai thought to himself, “It should be the effect of that so-called ‘Survival in Harsh Environments’ skill.”
After surfacing about twenty zhang, the two emerged from a secluded pool within an Unknown cave.
“This is a good place.”
Looking up at the warm light shining down from above and the large areas of gently sloping rock all around, Li Hai couldn't help but smile, “Zheng Dashan, you are quite lucky to have found such a place. Tell me, what kind of enemy could have driven you to this point?”
In fact, after climbing out of the deep pool, he immediately saw four Ghost Folk hidden in the dark environment a hundred zhang away, not daring to even breathe heavily.
It was a woman and three children.
Although the three children were also pale, their qi and blood were quite sufficient, clearly indicating that they had not suffered much from hunger in their daily lives.
But the woman was much worse off. Although it could be seen that her appearance should have been decent, due to her qi and blood being very weak, like Zheng Dashan, and possibly due to not seeing sunlight for a long time, she also had a withered and shriveled appearance.
In short, these few people, plus Zheng Dashan, were clearly a family of five, and the only reason they would live in such a hidden place was to avoid enemies.
“Lord, I, we…”
Zheng Dashan plopped down on his knees, “We…we are a family, originally from Niujiao Town in Zhou Family Fortress…”
As he spoke, Li Hai gradually learned that this Zheng Dashan, his wife, and their three children ran a small inn in Niujiao Town.
It was the lowest-grade inn, with only large communal beds and clear noodle soup, without any so-called guest rooms or meat.
This kind of establishment was usually only frequented by poor merchants on the road or wheat harvesters passing through for a night; those with a little money would not go there.
So, the Zheng family had only managed to make ends meet for many years, far from being a wealthy family.
Despite this, their family was deeply affectionate and happy, and their lives were quite bearable.
But three years ago, on a certain night, a Captain from the Zhou Family’s militia got drunk and stumbled into the Zheng family’s inn with two or three of his cronies. There, he saw Zheng Dashan’s wife, who was still quite beautiful at the time.
Stimulated by the alcohol and the instigation of his friends, this militia Captain was overcome with bestial desire and immediately wanted to insult the poor woman.
Zheng Dashan stepped forward to stop him but was beaten and injured on the ground.
Then, just as the man was about to commit his evil act, Zheng Dashan rushed over with a knife and stabbed him.
Due to the severity of his injuries, the militia Captain quickly fled the inn in a panic, supported by his friends.
But before leaving, that Captain left a harsh threat:
“From now on, I will make your family restless!”
It was this sentence that scared the Zheng family so much that they didn't even dare to keep the inn and fled Niujiao Town overnight.
They were so afraid of being ambushed that they didn't even dare to take the main road, taking a small path instead, and fled into these deep mountains after a day and a night.
Since then, the Zheng family of five settled down and have been hiding for a full three years.
“That’s not right.”
By the deep pool, Li Hai, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, said to Zheng Dashan, “You left out some things.”
“This…” Zheng Dashan stammered, “This humble one…this humble one has said everything that should be said.”
“No, you haven’t.”
Li Hai said leisurely, “You haven’t said how your family found this hidden cave, nor have you said how you knew there would be a stream leading to this cave. I think…there should have been someone outside your family who helped.”
“It was my uncle who helped…”
A hundred zhang away, one of Zheng Dashan’s children had just mumbled half a sentence when his mother quickly covered his mouth.
But it was too late; Li Hai clearly heard the half-sentence.
“Your child said your uncle helped.”
He looked at Zheng Dashan, “Your uncle…that would be your brother-in-law, but didn’t you just say that your family had no other relatives?”
“Alas~”
Zheng Dashan sighed helplessly, “This humble one will tell the truth now, Lord, please do not blame me. It is indeed my brother-in-law who helped us, not a real brother-in-law, but someone my wife recognized in these mountains.”
“It’s pitch black in these mountains and there are hardly any living people.”
Li Hai had a strange expression, “Where did you recognize a relative?”
“Uh, brother-in-law…he…”
Zheng Dashan stammered, “He is actually…a…Ghost.”