Niman watched the wooden boy leave, thought for a moment, and continued exploring Mingzhu City.
After stepping out of the alley, she simply found a piece of cloth to cover her face, which immediately drew far less attention. There were actually a number of people here who looked mostly human but had distinct differences from normal people.
For instance, some had abnormally large mouths, others were one-eyed, and some even had elephant trunks.
As long as their key features were concealed, they were hardly any different from ordinary people. So once Niman covered her face, the others stopped paying attention to her.
She walked for roughly ten minutes, knowing Yu Xian and the others might be getting anxious waiting. Finding an upside-down house, she climbed up and looked toward the city center. Sure enough, there was a building there.
The building was exceptionally massive, exuding an imposing presence. It had entrances on all sides and bore a plaque reading "Beast King Martial Arts Hall."
"Yu Xian's summoner once said that Feng Laixian practiced Beast King Boxing. That must be where Feng Laixian lives," Niman thought to herself as she looked at the Beast King Martial Arts Hall.
Having confirmed her target, she quickly turned and left.
……
Yu Xian and the others sat behind a tree, resting.
During that time, Little Huangquan woke up once, but due to her injuries, she quickly fell back asleep.
Yu Xian sat cross-legged on the ground, cradling the sleeping Little Huangquan while carefully holding the herbs against her wound with one hand. These herbs had been gathered by Niman along the way, consisting mostly of plants she recognized or believed to have identical properties to herbs she knew.
After several changes of dressing, the injury on Little Huangquan's back had noticeably improved.
"If I can get out of here alive this time, I really have to study hard."
"The ancestors were right after all—skills don't weigh you down; the more, the better."
Looking at Little Huangquan, Yu Xian let out a long sigh inside, feeling that he truly was too useless.
If not for Niman, they really wouldn't have known what to do. Little Huangquan's injuries would likely have grown far worse, and their situation would be in even direr straits.
Perhaps, aside from transcendence, no power could be trusted one hundred percent.
Everything could be stripped away by some unforeseen accident. That was why one had to learn and master more skills. A capability might go unused, but one could never afford to be without it.
One more skill meant one more trump card.
Finally, Niman returned.
Everyone looked toward Niman. After resting for a moment, she recounted everything she had seen and heard in Mingzhu City in detail, and then shared her deductions.
"Uncle Feng really is a bit arrogant, and he doesn't treat people he looks down on very nicely," Zhang Buyao agreed with a nod after hearing Niman's conjecture.
Although in her memories Feng Laixian had treated her pretty well, he wasn't like that toward others. He would wear a deadpan, extremely stern expression, and could even be quite harsh at times.
"That's actually for the best. We can strike straight at the heart and focus solely on dealing with Feng Laixian," Yu Xian smiled.
Originally, he had worried that Mingzhu City's order might become an obstacle to assassinating Feng Laixian. From the looks of it now, the city offered little protection to him. As long as they prepared well and figured out the extent of Feng Laixian's strength, they could attempt to kill him.
"That boy who looks so much like Yu Xian—do you think he could be Yu Xian's ancestor?" Nora asked curiously at this point. Compared to Mingzhu City and Feng Laixian, she was more intrigued by the wooden boy Niman had mentioned who looked so much like Yu Xian.
Yu Xian shook his head. "That's impossible, surely. I'm a native Earthling, born and raised."
"This place is Earth too, you know," Zhang Buyao chimed in at once.
This place was Earth too?
Everyone present was momentarily stunned. After all, this damn place didn't look like Earth at all.
"Earth sure has a lot of versions," Niman couldn't help but grumble. Fortunately, she wasn't an Earthling and didn't have to worry about having a whole bunch of homeworlds.
Seeing that Niman had rested enough, Yu Xian stood up with Little Huangquan in his arms and said, "All right, since the danger level in Mingzhu City isn't high, let's head into town right away to find resources and treat Little Huangquan first."
"Yeah, let's go," Niman agreed, standing up.
The group all got to their feet and set off toward Mingzhu City.
Sure enough, the group soon made their way smoothly into Mingzhu City. The guards couldn't see them at all. Yu Xian was genuinely curious how those two gatekeepers had ever been hired for the job in the first place—and how did they eat?
Then again, maybe Mingzhu City specifically wanted gatekeepers who couldn't keep guard.
The biggest difference between a memory world and the real world was probably that certain things truly required no logic. As long as it made sense in Feng Laixian's memory, it was entirely reasonable in this world.
After entering the city, everyone covered their faces. As expected, though the townspeople were somewhat curious about them, it wasn't to the extent of tailing them; most just cast a glance before going about their business.
"There's a clinic over there," Niman said, leading the way.
The top priority was healing Little Huangquan. Once she was fully recovered, it wouldn't be too late to plot against Feng Laixian.
"Yaoyao, if this is a real world, where did the King of the Abyss Battle Armor go?" Yu Xian whispered to Zhang Buyao.
Zhang Buyao guessed, "It'll probably be returned to you once you leave this world. I'm not really sure either—it's not like I've ever been to this kind of world before."
"I hope it gets returned," Yu Xian sighed.
If he lost the King of the Abyss Battle Armor, his heart would ache for a very, very long time. Even waking up centuries later, he'd probably slap himself across the face.
The group arrived at the clinic. Inside was an old woman wearing a veil emblazoned with the words "Greedy for Gain." The moment she saw Yu Xian and the others enter, she immediately prepared to rip them off.
Instead, Niman suddenly dashed forward, knocked her out with a chop of her hand, and proceeded to rummage through drawers and cabinets in search of useful medicine.
An Abyss doctor not only possessed methods to treat all kinds of bizarre Abyss afflictions, but was also proficient in the medical arts of countless worlds. Now that she knew this place was also Earth, Niman knew exactly what to do.
Even if the herbs had mutated, as long as their properties remained the same, she could prepare the proper medicine for Little Huangquan.
"Aren't we acting a bit too much like bandits?" Yu Xian couldn't help wryly smiling as he watched Niman swiftly gather all kinds of medicine.
"She should consider herself lucky I didn't kill her. She's just an NPC anyway," Niman retorted.
Who knew how many times this world had cycled? This person had lived and died again and again, repeatedly dying and repeatedly coming back to life. What did dying once or twice matter?
"Doctor, my stomach hurts..."
While Yu Xian and the others were helping pack the medicine into crates, the wooden boy walked in clutching his belly.
Yu Xian and the wooden boy's eyes met, and both of them froze. They truly did look alike—except the wooden boy was made of wood, while Yu Xian was flesh and blood.
Furthermore, Yu Xian was actually more delicately featured, looking something like a cosmetic-surgery version of the wooden boy. Even so, anyone could tell at a glance that they resembled one another.
What was going on here?
Could he be my long-lost twin brother from another mother and another father?
Chapter 331