Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 21 Human-machine Little White Hair

Just as I was thinking about it, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind me: "You guys have done something big!"

Lu Xingzhou turned his head and saw Sheng Yuanyao coming out from the corner of the street, his eyes sparkling. "You were the one who planned what happened to the Danxia Gang today, right? Are you still human?"

Lu Xingzhou was speechless. Your expression and your tone seemed to be a little mismatched...

"Commander Sheng, you don't seem to be responsible for this kind of thing... Besides, I didn't do anything wrong by planning this, so why am I not a human being?"

"How can you be a human being? You think you're capable of asking me to protect your mistress in the middle of the night, but you leave me alone when there's something going on?" Sheng Yuanyao grabbed him by the collar and said, "Tell me the whole story of this incident clearly! If you try to eat alone again next time, I'll arrest you for inciting a disturbance!"

Shen Tang is not his mistress...

The white-haired girl opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again.

It's hard to say.

"Come to think of it, I actually have something I want to discuss with Commander Sheng." Lu Xingzhou looked down the street and pointed at a teahouse: "Want to go in and have a seat?"

Sheng Yuanyao gave him a questioning look and took a half step back: "What do you want to use me for?"

The poor kid is stressed out...

Lu Xingzhou sighed: "This time it's true... there's something demonic going on."

Sheng Yuanyao's expression turned stern. He snatched the wheelchair handle from Dugu Qingli and pushed it into the teahouse at high speed.

Dugu Qingli: "..."

She felt that she could leave...but regarding the demon matter...Dugu Qingli thought about it and decided to follow her in.

Seeing Lu Xingzhou and Sheng Yuanyao sitting opposite each other in a small box, he went in and stood beside Lu Xingzhou.

Sheng Yuanyao and Lu Xingzhou both looked at her in confusion. Lu Xingzhou asked curiously, "Why don't you sit down?"

Dugu Qingli said seriously: "You didn't invite me to tea, I came in on my own to hear about the demons."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment, looking strange.

It turns out to be a human machine.

"Then I invite you now, too. Please take a seat."

Dugu Qingli sat down, his back straight as a sword.

The atmosphere was silent for several breaths, until the waiter came in to serve tea and broke the silence.

"Ahem." Lu Xingzhou coughed dryly and took the teapot from Xiaoer: "We can do it ourselves. Please close the door when you leave."

After watching the waiter leave, Lu Xingzhou quickly threw out a few spirit stones and set up an isolation formation.

Seeing his attitude, Sheng Yuanyao's expression became more serious, and finally asked, "What's going on? I haven't heard of any demons in Xiazhou."

Lu Xingzhou slowly poured tea for the two of them. "It's not like the demon is always here. This one must be new, or maybe he was seriously injured and hid here to recuperate, and only appeared recently..."

"Then how did you know?"

Lu Xingzhou didn't dare say he was searching for residual souls within the Ten Thousand Souls Banner... If he dared to say so, the official and the righteous humanoid robot on the other side would probably draw their swords and put them to his neck. Worst of all, his Ten Thousand Souls Banner was still weak, unable to fully restrain the soul. An Nuo had searched for it last night but could find almost no memories, and the information he could obtain was very little.

He pondered for a moment and could only say, "That day, the city lord sent assassins into the trading company, but we killed them. During the battle, we discovered that they were contaminated with some demonic energy. What I can confirm is that they were contaminated for no more than a day, and they definitely weren't brought in from somewhere else."

Sheng Yuanyao was horrified and couldn't believe it: "It's related to the City Lord? Do you know how serious this is? You can't just say that!"

Lu Xingzhou sipped his tea and said calmly, "Although I often lie to people... I wouldn't lie about something like this."

"Then...could it be that the city lord sent them to slay demons and monsters and they just returned..."

"It's unlikely, because these people are so weak... And you know the official business. If the City Lord discovered a demon, he would definitely inform you, the Demon Suppression Department. How could you be completely unaware of it? If a demon was killed by accident, even if it was just repelled, the City Lord would definitely publicize it as a major political achievement. It wouldn't be so quiet."

Sheng Yuanyao was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Yes. It's only possible that these people have come into contact with demons... What else do you know?"

"I glimpsed a few memories... It seemed like I was delivering something to someone, but it was very vague. The location wasn't in the mountains, but more like inside a house. That's all."

Sheng Yuanyao took a deep breath: "Sending something... If the demon is injured, sending medicine to treat it is better. If it is food..."

As soon as these words were spoken, even Dugu Qingli's eyes, which had remained unchanged for thousands of years, moved slightly.

There is a high probability that the food of demons is blood.

If the city lord helps the demons to eat blood, it would be a serious crime.

Lu Xingzhou said, "I suggest that Commander Sheng take a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, secretly send people to monitor the City Lord's Mansion to see if they have sent anyone there, and investigate where those people have been recently. On the other hand, investigate whether there are any missing cases in the city, whether they are human or livestock."

"Yeah." Sheng Yuanyao didn't even want to drink a sip of tea. She stood up suddenly and was about to leave.

"Wait." Dugu Qingli whispered, "There's another place we can go and see..." "Where?"

"Death row inmates." Dugu Qingli said seriously, "There have been similar cases before."

Sheng Yuanyao looked at her for a while, nodded, and strode away.

Lu Xingzhou also glanced at Dugu Qingli and continued to refill her tea. "This kind of case won't be spread outside. For example, I consider myself to be quite well-informed, but I haven't heard of this. Where did Miss Qingli come from?"

Dugu Qingli looked at him seriously: "I am neither your subordinate nor your friend."

Lu Xingzhou smiled and said, "So what are the prerequisites for making friends now?"

"I don't need friends, it's a meaningless concept."

"Shen Tang doesn't count?"

"She's just my protégé, that's all."

"I don't think so." Lu Xingzhou smiled leisurely, "You have already worked together. That's called comrades-in-arms. Comrades-in-arms are also a kind of friends, and they are closer than ordinary friends. For example, if you couldn't beat those people that night, Shen Tang would definitely help you. Therefore, you are already friends."

Dugu Qingli thought for a moment and replied, "Although it's a little different from what I understand as a friend, maybe you can barely be considered one. But even so, I don't want to be friends with you."

"why?"

"Because you always look at me when you have nothing to do." Dugu Qingli said expressionlessly: "No one likes to have much contact with someone who thinks he is a monster."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment, then pointed at his nose and said, "Do you think I keep looking at you because I think you're a monster?"

"What else? I won't be so sentimental. You said so too."

Lu Xingzhou didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Although I don't think you have anything to do with that kind of thing, you're definitely not a monster... Well, let me put it this way, if you were walking in the mountains and saw a bunch of particularly beautiful flowers, would you take a second look?"

"I won't. It's pointless."

"..."

"But I can understand other people's behavior."

Lu Xingzhou sighed: "That's it... In my eyes, you are that particularly beautiful bunch of flowers."

Dugu Qingli had a blank expression on his face: "But Anuo said that if you look at me like that, I'm looking at a dog."

Lu Xingzhou spat out all the tea in his mouth and didn't know how to answer for a long time.

The first attempt to get close to the little white-haired boy ended in failure.

Despite the failure, Little White Hair still quietly pushed his wheelchair back to Shen's Trading Company. As soon as he entered the gate, he saw An Nuo and about twenty awkward teenagers standing in the yard, while Shen Tang sat in a wheelchair, watching silently.

"These are all disciples brought up by my master, and they are all my junior brothers!" An Nuo patted her chest loudly. "They are all very good at refining pills! Sister, you also wanted to find someone to refine pills before, so why not take them in?"

In fact, apprentices are not considered formal disciples. Most of the time, they are no different from servants. How could a direct descendant like Anuo rush to acknowledge them as his junior brothers? It is obvious that they are just raising their value, fearing that Shen Tang will not accept them.

But her performance was too clumsy. Shen Tang found her expression really funny: "You are young, shouldn't you call them senior brothers?"

"The one who enters first is the elder!" An Nuo was anxious and grabbed a young man beside him fiercely: "Tell me, are you the senior brother or the junior brother?"

The young man smiled apologetically: "Of course I am Junior Brother, Senior Sister Nuo."

Ah Nuo put her hands on her hips and said, "This address should be formal! You should call me Senior Sister Lu. My name is Lu Nuomi Tuanzi!"

The young men also laughed and said in unison, "Master Sister Lu."

Anuo was extremely happy.

But even though the young men were smiling, their eyes couldn't hide their worry. It was easy to trick Liu Qingcang on impulse, but it was clear that they would face extremely brutal retaliation later.

Everyone's apprenticeship contracts were held by Liu Qingcang, and they were extremely harsh slave contracts... Even if Shen Tang hid everyone away and took on the Danxia Gang, most of them had families. What if they were retaliated against? Should he take them all in? Shen Tang himself was renting a house, so could he take in so many families? Or should he just let each of them live separately and let Lu Xingzhou take over?
Lu Xingzhou, who had just arrived at the door, also quietly looked at Shen Tang's back, waiting to see what she would decide.

But Shen Tang laughed and said, "I've told your master before that we lack talent in alchemy, which is unfair. We need to establish this system. Even if we don't do this business, it's necessary to train our own alchemists. It would be great if your master was willing to join us... It's fine if he doesn't join, but with so many of you ready-made experienced people, how could I not want you, Uncle Zhong?"

Tang Yunzhong quickly rushed over: "Sect Master."

"Bring some people with you to help take in all the families of these brothers so that everyone has nothing to worry about."

Tang Yunzhong warned quietly: "Master, this will lead to a fight to the death with the Danxia Gang."

"We're already enemies, do you still expect to shake hands and make peace?" Shen Tang said calmly, "You were defeated once, so you lost all your sword bones?"

Tang Yunzhong straightened his back and said, "Of course not. I just need to explain the pros and cons to the Sect Master and wait for the Sect Master's decision."

"Remember, what we want is not a foothold, but a revival. Even if they only want to follow Lu Xingzhou, I will recruit them. Besides, if I were to choose, there would be no need to choose at all." Shen Tang smiled slightly: "Go and pick them up, or something might happen later."

(End of this chapter)