A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 183: Strange Silence

"Oh? She’s your child?"

As expected, she seemed confused.

People normally did not think of men giving birth.

"It’s a somewhat special situation," Qiong Xing explained calmly. "But she is a child I carried and gave birth to." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"...I see. You worked hard then. She’s a very cute child."

"Yes."

Just as Qiong Xing expected, the old woman did not question it any further.

She simply accepted that Qiong Xing had given birth to the baby.

"If she’s this cute, you will have a lot to worry about in the future. Her father must already be worried."

"...Well," Joa replied.

He had not expected her to speak to him directly, so his reaction was a little slow.

It seemed she had assumed that Joa was Lian’s father.

"That’s right," Qiong Xing said with a small smile. "He’s already saying things like, ’So, what if this child ends up alone her whole life? I can take care of her’ I keeps reminding him not to worry so much."

Qiong Xing did not deny it at all.

Instead, he lightly scolded Joa for already becoming an overly protective parent.

"I’m just saying... we have to keep strange bugs away from her—"

"Yes, yes," Qiong Xing interrupted calmly. "You say that, but what if one of those ’bugs’ turns out to be a good person? And it’s far too early to think about that."

"..."

Joa knew he was being overprotective, so he could not argue back.

The old woman simply laughed as she watched their exchange.

Joa felt a little awkward.

Talking about things like this in front of someone else seemed strange.

When he looked down, he saw Cari still clinging close to Qiong Xing.

Joa handed him the flower crown he had been holding.

"You made it, so you should give it to her yourself."

"...Here."

Cari still seemed a little shy, but he walked over without resisting and handed her the flower crown he had made.

"Oh my, for me? Thank you. Just like Qiong Xing said, you made it very well."

"Mama taught me," Cari said proudly.

"Is that so? That’s wonderful. I’ll decorate it properly."

Cari nodded nervously, but he looked happy to be praised.

After that, everyone drank tea together.

They chatted about simple things and helped the old woman with some work around the house with things she probably could not do alone.

Most of the heavy work, of course, was done by Joa.

"Thank you so much for helping me. I’m very grateful. If you’d like, please come visit again. Of course, all of you together."

"Thank you very much."

"Thank you."

She even gave them many freshly picked vegetables as gifts before they left.

They were just about to head home when Qiong Xing suddenly said something unexpected again.

"Let’s go hunting."

"...Why?" Joa asked.

"To build muscle."

"..."

Joa could not understand the idea that hunting automatically meant building muscle.

"Sarin said that eating meat is good for building muscle," Qiong Xing explained seriously.

Joa silently cursed Sarin for saying unnecessary things.

He wanted to say that Qiong Xing did not need to do anything like that.

But seeing how motivated Qiong Xing looked and thinking about how Qiong Xing did not actually eat that much anyway Joa eventually gave up and decided to go along.

"Actually... has he ever hunted before?" Joa muttered.

Qiong Xing marched forward confidently through the forest.

Joa thought that searching like that would never find anything, but he chose not to say it out loud.

Even if they did find something, it would not really be a problem.

Still, part of him secretly hoped they would not find anything.

They had come to hunt, well, technically to search for meat... capture animals... hunt.

But strangely enough, they could not find a single animal.

Qiong Xing looked around carefully, trying hard to find something, but there was nothing.

"This is bad," he muttered while scanning the area carefully. Yet even then, nothing appeared.

"Did all the animals run away because they were afraid of em...? No, that can’t be right, can it?" he said.

"Probably not," Joa replied. "If anything, animals would probably come closer to you."

"That..."

Qiong Xing paused.

No... he decided it was better not to think about that too deeply.

Still, it was strange.

Normally they would at least see deer or rabbits.

But there were none.

They had not even seen a single bird.

Even Joa was starting to feel that something was wrong.

"What’s going on? It’s strange for there to be this fe—"

"Joa?"

Joa suddenly stopped speaking.

When Qiong Xing looked at him in confusion, Joa quietly gestured for him to stay silent and pointed up toward a tree.

"? ...Hm?"

At first Qiong Xing only noticed something red fluttering.

When he looked closer, he thought he saw something that looked like a person.

The tree was extremely tall and Qiong Xing was not very tall himself, so the branches and leaves blocked most of the view.

He could only make out the vague shape of someone up there.

"What is that person doing up there?" Qiong Xing wondered aloud. "Taking a nap? Or maybe that person is also chasing animals—"

He suddenly gasped.

"Wait... could that be a ninja?"

Qiong Xing looked at Joa with excitement.

As expected, Joa clearly had no idea what a ninja was.

Instead, he looked at Qiong Xing with a tired expression as if thinking, What strange thing is he imagining now?

"Just kidding, just kidding. But still... what are they doing up there? Even if it’s for a nap, that’s a really bad spot."

"Hey, it’s not like it’s definitely a nap," Joa replied.

"But... what else would you do up in a tree?"

"...Reconnaissance, maybe?"

Qiong Xing glanced around the forested area feeling skeptical.

Reconnaissance here?

Even if someone climbed up, all they would see are more trees and mountains.

Joa seemed to share that doubt, looking uncertain.

"Mama, let’s go,"

Suddenly, Cari who had been quietly listening to the conversation between Joa and Qiong Xing tugged on Qiong Xing’s hand.

She wanted to leave immediately.