Reborn as Xiao in another world, targeted by the little red bird

When Xiao entered Baili Ling's room, everyone else had already arrived and sat down around a square table. Even Ding Shu, who had just come to call him, had already sat down in his seat.

Baili Ling looked up, exchanged glances with Xiao, nodded slightly, and then said to the crowd, "Now that everyone is here, I will begin my speech."

Xiao walked straight to the only empty seat and sat down to listen to Baili Ling's speech.

“I have already found someone to lead us across the desert. We can set off tomorrow morning. Everyone should rest early tonight.

However, due to the recent special period, many locals are reluctant to enter the Heihe Desert, while many more outsiders want to enter. So the person I found also brought another team with him.

Earn two bucks on one trip?

Xiao supported his chin with one hand, said nothing, and continued to listen.

Ren Liang beside him asked, "Are they going to Xuan Chi Mansion like us?"

"No." Baili Ling shook his head, "They are going to hunt the Willow-Devouring Earth Dragon."

After saying that, he remembered that this was Xiao's first time in Lanyuan Town, and he probably didn't know what the Willow-Devouring Earth Dragon was. He was about to explain, but was interrupted by Xiao.

"I have some knowledge of this kind of spirit beast." Xiao put down his hand, looked at Baili Ling, and asked, "Is Chixuan Mansion the next stop?"

"Yeah." Baili Ling nodded.

Seeing that Xiao didn't need to explain himself, he continued, "I've already made an agreement with that team. As long as it doesn't delay their journey, any Willow-Devouring Earth Dragons they encounter along the way will belong to them and they will be responsible for handling them. However, if there are too many of them, they won't be able to handle them all in a short time..."

Having said this, he paused, his eyes sweeping over everyone's face one by one, before continuing, "Whoever kills it will own it."

No one's expression changed. After all, none of their targets were the Willow-Devouring Earth Dragon. Only Red Xiao muttered unhappily in Xiao's mind, "To kill prey, do I have to depend on others?"

"After all, these are the terms that have already been negotiated." Xiao responded in his heart.

The red goblin snorted and said nothing more.

If Baili Ling hadn't said this, he would have killed every Willow-Eating Earth Dragon he saw, leaving no trace of those teammates he had never met.

However, since Baili Ling had said these words, if he did this again, his other self would definitely stop him.

The valuable prey is right in front of me, but I can't do it. Just thinking about it makes me feel annoyed.

Well, I'll go to the sand and kill a hundred or eighty of them tonight.

Baili Ling let everyone digest this news for a moment before continuing, "There are many rules in the Black River Desert. These rules were established by our ancestors who risked their lives. So once you enter the desert, you must obey the instructions of the locals."

"What are the specific rules?" Xiao asked.

Baili Ling flipped his wrist, and a palm-sized booklet, about a finger thick, appeared in his hand.

He flicked his wrist again, and the booklet slid across the table and in front of Xiao.

"There are quite a few. There are many different kinds of phenomena in the Black River Sands. However, generally speaking, you will only encounter one or two phenomena each time you cross the sands, so there's no need to remember most of the rules. If you're interested, here's the book for you to take a look at."

Vision?

rule?

Why does it sound like a weird rule?

Xiao picked up the booklet in front of him and opened the first page. A passage that looked a bit like a nursery rhyme came into view.

[The withered willows are running, the catkins are floating, and the sand is falling on my body, making me itch quietly. I kill my companions and bury them in the sand.

The thumping sound is like a heartbeat, the dead puppet is performing in front of the human body, and whose new bones are added under the sand.

Once the wind stops, don't move forward. For ten years, Gui Liu has been performing the same old play, and it will be performed in silence until the next year.

Black River Crow, three black feathers, bow three times, do not laugh at me, my eyes will never see the light if thousands of crows cover them.

This is……

Xiao's eyes darkened and he closed the book silently.

Baili Ling had finished what he wanted to say, and everyone quickly dispersed and returned to their respective rooms.

Xiao sat down on the bed, still thinking about the text he had just seen.

It’s not that he didn’t believe that the guide Baili Ling found could lead them away from danger, but what if an accident happened and they got separated from the guide?

The booklet clearly warns, "Once the wind stops, don't move forward."

Now is the year of silence when the wind stops and the sand is still. Obviously, it would be very dangerous to enter the Black River Sand at this time, and this danger is related to the Blood Crown Ghost Willow.

The Blood Crown Ghost Willow has the ability to cause hallucinations. Under the influence of the illusion, everyone is separated. This is reasonable, right?

Xiao thought about it, and finally took out the booklet again, opened the first page and began to study.

When you go out, you still have to rely on yourself.

The first sentence of the nursery rhyme mentions dead willows, catkins, and sand. According to the description, these three will eventually kill each other.

During the day today, Xiao learned some information about the mutated withered willow. Combined with this sentence, he can easily draw the conclusion:

Cannibalism is the consequence of an illusion, the trigger of which is related to willow catkins, which in turn are related to sand.

Thinking of this, Xiao nodded, feeling that he had interpreted this sentence enough, so he moved his gaze to the second sentence.

This was the first time Xiao had heard of the thing mentioned in this sentence. The nursery rhyme didn't even give a specific object. Fortunately, the sentence was not very riddle-like, so it didn't hinder his interpretation.

There is something in the Black River sand. It makes a sound similar to a heartbeat and can manipulate bones, performing a "wolf in front pretending to be asleep to lure the enemy" trick to confuse people, causing the person to be ambushed and killed, and his bones buried in the yellow sand.

This is enough for the interpretation, skip to the next sentence.

Xiao's gaze continued to move downward.

The first half of the third sentence is easy to understand. It means that the Black River Sands in the Year of Silence are very dangerous and you should not go in. The second half should be talking about the ability of the Blood Crown Ghost Willow.

So... the illusion takes the form of "acting out old plays"?

What does this "old play" refer to?

"Perhaps it refers to recreating old scenes."

Just as Xiao grasped a thought, Green Xiao suddenly spoke up, "The Black River Sands were once a battlefield, and many souls must have been born there. I'm not familiar with the situation here, but in Liyue, there are cases of the dead lingering in the world, repeating their deeds in life. Some human scholars call this 'reenacting the old story.'"

Green Xiao gave an answer based on his experience.

Xiao then asked, "So what does 'acting until next year' mean?"

The green goblin pondered for a moment and replied, "Those who fall into illusions will not have the chance to leave until the next Year of Silence."

Xiao thought about it and felt that the answer given by Green Xiao was very reasonable, so his eyes fell on the last sentence of the nursery rhyme.

In this fourth sentence, there appeared something that Xiao had never heard of when he was inquiring about information, but the species of this thing can be confirmed, it is a crow.

This sentence has a very strange flavor to it.

Xiao muttered to himself, "If you see a crow, you must bow three times and not laugh at it, or you'll go blind. That doesn't seem right. Could this 'eternal blindness' refer to a bad luck curse? But if it's just a bad luck curse, it doesn't seem that scary. No, this is terrifying."

If the African is even darker, he will probably choke to death if he drinks any water, right?

After briefly analyzing the contents of the first page, Xiao flipped through the contents on the back to leave a general impression in his mind.

Xiao didn't understand the meaning of most of them, but he didn't delve into it.

The main content of the nursery rhymes were things he had never understood, and there was no point in delving into them. He might understand once he actually encountered them.

I don’t know why, but Xiao always feels like he is cramming before an exam.

After finally finishing reading the contents of the booklet, Xiao stretched out his body, fell on his back on the bed, and suddenly felt sleepy.

Sure enough, reading helps people sleep.

Just as Xiao was about to drift off to sleep, he suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke weakly to the air, "The Black River Sands appear to be more dangerous than expected. Before you go hunting the Willow-Devouring Earth Dragon, read through the contents of this booklet. It's best to memorize everything so you can prepare for any unexpected events you might encounter."

After saying this, without waiting for Hong Xiao to protest, he fell asleep completely.

So, the next morning, Xiao got a depressed little red bird.