Chapter 80: Village Massacre Foreshadowing

It has to be said.

After the little girl finished her bath and changed into a new set of clothes, she really looked different.

Her face was fair and clean, her lips red and teeth white, and her hair had been tied up; she looked much cleaner overall.

According to Nina, she noticed many scars of various sizes on the girl's body while she was bathing.

Renée even specifically used healing magic to treat them.

The scars did fade away.

Unfortunately, her throat didn't seem to be successfully healed.

No matter how the two women tried to guide her, the little girl remained completely silent.

It was unclear whether it was because Renée's current Rank was too low and her healing magic wasn't powerful enough to succeed.

Or perhaps Beggar simply didn't know how to speak or didn't want to.

Or if there was some other reason.

At this moment.

Mu An also fulfilled his previous promise and ordered a table full of food.

Upon seeing so much food, Beggar's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

In the past, this was food meant for the 'masters'; there was no way a smelly Beggar like her could ever covet such things.

At most, she could only snatch some leftovers dumped into the trash heap.

Even that was considered a 'lucrative job,' and someone as weak as her simply couldn't compete with those strong and experienced old Beggars.

Going hungry was a common occurrence.

When she was truly starving, she would go and steal something.

If she was lucky, she could escape successfully; if she was unlucky, she would get a sound beating.

Therefore.

Even if this meal today was her last, she... accepted it!

After observing the situation again, Beggar carefully reached out her hand, attempting to grab a plump and tempting duck leg.

But Mu An tapped her little hand with his chopsticks.

"Don't use your hands; use chopsticks to eat!"

Beggar aggrievedly pulled back her hand, which had been stung by the tap.

Then, she clumsily picked up the chopsticks.

It looked like she didn't use them very often.

The two chopsticks were clenched in her palm; she couldn't open them, and she couldn't pick up any food at all.

It made sense, really.

She barely had enough to eat on a daily basis, and eating was all about snatching.

Where would she have the opportunity to use such 'elegant' chopsticks?

Mu An sighed.

He placed the duck leg into the little girl's bowl.

"Only this one can be eaten with your hands..."

Upon hearing this, Beggar immediately grabbed the duck leg with her small hand and started gnawing on it, eating very quickly, as if she were a reincarnated starving ghost.

As the man placed more food into her bowl, he reminded her.

"Eat slowly! No one is going to snatch it from you!"

"Brother Mu, are you planning to take this child with you?"

Compared to Beggar, that yellow-haired girl who knew nothing, Xiao Qingzhu's movements while eating were much more elegant.

One look and you could tell she was a young lady from a prominent family; even while eating, she was a sight to behold.

She had already exchanged names with Mu An and the others earlier, so they could be considered formally acquainted.

"I'll bring her along for now! It's not like I'm missing the food she eats!"

Mu An nodded.

He still held the same thought; if he could recruit a Daughter of Destiny as an employee, he would be ten thousand times willing.

But based on what he knew so far, saving up 100 Top-Grade Spirit Stone to purchase an employee contract was truly as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Before coming here, Mu An really hadn't expected that cultivation resources in this cultivation world would be so scarce.

The Spiritual Qi in the surrounding air was indeed much denser than in the real world.

But it didn't seem that much denser.

Well, it was certainly not as dense as the Source Power in the 5x Source Power Array at his home!

Now, he was pinning his hopes on joining that so-called Qingyun Sect in seven days.

To see if he could find more cultivation resources inside.

...

"Have you heard? Another village recently received a village massacre warning!"

"Is that true? Counting the one you just mentioned, it seems like seven or eight villages have already been massacred! That murderer is a ruthless character. When bandits kill, they at most don't spare the elderly, the weak, women, and children, but he not only didn't spare them, he didn't even spare the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs in the village! He kills anything that is alive!"

"Those masters up top are useless. They are more active than anyone else when it comes to collecting taxes, but when it comes to life-and-death matters like this, they drag their feet and can't do a damn thing! Then again, everyone is just an ordinary person earning a monthly salary; it's not worth losing one's life over that little bit of money!"

"Shh! Watch your tongue! There's someone over there…"

A restaurant is naturally a place where all kinds of people mingle.

It was not strange for many people to be chatting about everything under the sun.

Therefore, this was a good place to inquire about news.

Xiao Qingzhu naturally knew that the guests at the tables nearby were talking about her.

She was wearing the uniform of a yamen constable; anyone who wasn't blind could tell her identity.

But the young girl didn't mind it too much.

She often came here to eat.

On one hand, the food here was relatively tasty; on the other hand, she could gain a deeper 'understanding of public sentiment' and promptly learn about some real situations.

"Do you want to get involved?"

Seeing Xiao Qingzhu silently pricking up her ears to 'eavesdrop,' Mu An asked with a smile.

"Hmm, I have that thought."

"Before, relying only on myself might have been overestimating my abilities, but now that you have joined, I feel it is definitely worth a try."

"Of course, this still depends on your own thoughts."

"The murderer who is massacring villages is quite powerful; at least over five hundred people have died at his hands so far! Saying there is no danger is definitely false!"

Xiao Qingzhu looked at Mu An with burning eyes.

Truth be told, she couldn't gauge this man's true strength right now.

She was even prepared in her heart to be rejected by him.

For anyone, the words 'cherishing one's life' were a very normal thing.

Especially in this chaotic world where evil cultivators and great demons ran rampant.

"What is the specific reward?"

Mu An did not answer directly.

Instead, he asked about the reward.

After all.

Talking about a mission without mentioning the reward is just being a hooligan!

If the reward didn't entice him, he certainly wouldn't be willing to wade into these muddy waters.

Mu An didn't consider himself great enough to risk his own life for a group of strangers from another world.

Everything... was just about interests!

Well, the adult world was filled with the exchange of interests.

"The bounty from the Demon Exorcism Bureau has now reached fifty taels of gold and one Low-Grade Spirit Stone."

Xiao Qingzhu said truthfully.

Upon hearing the new term, Mu An felt slightly confused.

"Demon Exorcism Bureau?"

"It is a special department set up by the imperial court specifically for exorcising demons and eliminating evil."

"I originally wanted to... hmm, I wanted to go in and become a Demon Exorcist."

"But for some reason, I was helplessly rejected, so I had to come to the small town's yamen to be a constable!"

"By the way, only those who reach the Rank of 'Jinyi Baihu' inside can receive a monthly salary of three Low-Grade Spirit Stone!"

Immediately after, Xiao Qingzhu briefly shared some information about the Demon Exorcism Bureau.

For example, the Demon Exorcism Bureau in every location has a nine-story Tower of Demon Suppression, which holds many demons and evil cultivators that wreak havoc on the human world.

Mu An rubbed his chin, having his own considerations.

A Jinyi Baihu who manages a hundred people can only get three Low-Grade Spirit Stone a month?

Looking at it this way... the reward for this mission didn't seem low at all!

I wonder if one can gain experience points by killing demons or evil cultivators?

If so, wouldn't the Tower of Demon Suppression be a 'dungeon' for grinding experience points to level up?