Eternal Heavenly Emperor-Chapter 432 - 422 Sinful Citizens
Although this youth was an ordinary person, his figure was extremely agile, moving with a practiced ease that clearly came from a life of fighting with wild beasts.
Chu Hao kept dodging; he was quite interested in the youth.
Obviously, the other party was not one of those who had entered here for training.
Chu Hao had been to many ancient ruins, but although there were living creatures in the ruins, they were generally just ferocious beasts and plants. The appearance of a person here was a first.
With a thought, a piece of wild boar meat appeared in his hand. He said, "How about this piece of meat as compensation?"
The youth immediately stopped his attack, clearly befuddled about how Chu Hao had conjured a large piece of meat out of thin air, but the intense hunger made him focus more on the meat.
"My wolf was much bigger than this piece of meat," the youth said, obviously wanting more benefits.
"Hey, this piece of wild boar meat is of Warrior class. Just a small sliver is enough to fill your stomach for three days. You little rascal actually dare to be picky?" Gu Qingcheng said with hands on her hips, having already consciously assumed the role of the Chu Family’s housekeeper. Seeing the youth still trying to haggle, she naturally jumped in.
"Vixen!" The youth’s attention had been on the wild boar meat until now, and upon noticing Gu Qingcheng’s presence, his eyes widened in intense admiration.
Gu Qingcheng became instantly annoyed and said, "I clearly exude the aura of a fairy, you should call me fairy sister, not vixen!"
The Barbaric Girl laughed heartily, finding the youth to her liking in an instant.
"I don’t want your compensation for my wolf anymore. Add this piece of meat, and sell her to me!" The youth bit his teeth as if making a difficult decision and pointed at Gu Qingcheng but spoke to Chu Hao.
Gu Qingcheng was so angry her teeth itched—had this youth grown tired of living, thinking he could buy her with a piece of wild boar meat? She felt utterly undervalued.
"Youth, have you grown tired of living?" she said fiercely.
"Sold to you!" The Barbaric Girl waved her hand, eager for Gu Qingcheng to get as far away as possible, lest she kept seducing her Chu Hao.
But the youth only looked at Chu Hao. In his mind, men were the decision-makers, and women were just appendages who couldn’t decide anything.
"You shouldn’t underestimate the price of a piece of wild boar meat. Know this, if the youth is willing to risk his life for a fight just to fill his belly. Now that he is willing to give up a piece of wild boar meat for you, it proves how much he values you," Chu Hao solemnly said to Gu Qingcheng.
"So after saying so much, you still mean to say I’m only worth a piece of wild boar meat, is that it?" Gu Qingcheng said through gritted teeth.
"Hahaha, well, that’s one way to put it," Chu Hao couldn’t help laughing loudly.
"Not selling! Not for sale!" Gu Qingcheng said irritably, "I am not for sale. No one shall entertain the thought of owning me."
"Truly not selling?" The youth still looked at Chu Hao.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am not the owner of this demoness. It’s up to her to decide," Chu Hao patted the youth’s shoulder.
The youth had a puzzled look, unsure of how a woman could possess her own sovereignty—it was utterly outrageous. Scratching his head, he took the piece of wild boar meat. As soon as Chu Hao released his hand, the youth cried out in alarm as the meat hit the ground.
This was meat from a Warrior-class ferocious beast, and ferocious beasts generally followed the path of Body Cultivation. Despite being just one large piece, its weight could match several elephants—it wasn’t something an ordinary youth could lift.
Unconvinced, the youth grabbed the wild boar meat, attempting to lift it, but all effort was in vain. The meat seemed rooted to the ground, immovable. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
"Told you, just a small bit is enough to keep your whole family from going hungry for three to four days. Now do you believe it?" Gu Qingcheng interjected.
The youth obviously had no idea about the existence of ferocious beasts nor understood that their muscles were dense, which significantly increased their weight. He looked at Chu Hao in utter amazement, remembering that just moments ago, this man held the wild boar meat with one hand.
What kind of strength was this?
Chu Hao casually picked up the wild boar meat and said, "Come on, I’ll help you take this meat back."
The youth nodded subconsciously, apparently lacking the sense of the treacherous human heart, and led Chu Hao and the others in a certain direction.
"Scoundrel, aren’t we going there anymore?" Gu Qingcheng asked, pointing at the green column of light.
"There’s no rush. We have more than two years this time, and I’m very interested in the natives that appeared here," Chu Hao said. After a pause, he added, "There are natives here, did you know?"
"Indeed, some ancient ruins do have natives, but they can only live inside. Once out, they become weak and their lifespans greatly diminish," Gu Qingcheng explained.
"That’s because they were born in this world lacking rules. When they enter a world with complete rules, they face rejection," Fat Cat explained.
"That’s so sad," the Barbaric Girl immediately felt sympathy.
Chu Hao fell silent for a moment, then said to the youth, "I am Chu Hao, and they are Gu Qingcheng, Yun Cai, and Fu Xue. What’s your name?"
"I’m Zui Cheng," the youth said, glancing at Gu Qingcheng again.
"Zui?" Chu Hao was surprised. There were people with such a surname?
The youth nodded and said, "We are the descendants of sinners; our ancestors made us take the surname Zui to constantly remind ourselves that we are suffering for their sins, to atone for their wrongdoings."
What an odd tradition!
Unable to hold back, Gu Qingcheng said, "Even if your ancestors committed sins, that has nothing to do with you. Why should you have to suffer?"
"Exactly, it’s too unfair!" the Barbaric Girl said, indignant.
Fu Xue also nodded in agreement, the environment here was too harsh, just to fill one’s stomach, you had to fight to the death with hungry wolves.
"No, this is our sin," Zui Cheng said very seriously.
This was a concept that had been brainwashed into generation after generation, establishing the deep-rooted belief that they were sinners, and that the suffering they now endured was to atone for their ancestors.
"Where are your parents?" Chu Hao asked, the boy was only 14 or 15 years old, and he was taking care of himself and his sister alone?
"Dead," Zui Cheng said somewhat numbly.
"How did they die?" Gu Qingcheng pressed.
"They starved to death," the boy said, his tone almost unchanged, "To save the last bit of meat for my sister and me, both my father and mother starved to death."
Chu Hao and the others were momentarily at a loss for words, feeling an indescribable oppression in their hearts.
"So now it’s just you and your sister left?" Gu Qingcheng asked again.
"There are still some people in the village, about sixty or seventy in total," Zui Cheng replied.
There were still so many people!
Chu Hao picked up the boy, saying, "I’ll carry you, just point us in the right direction!" Whoosh, he suddenly quickened his pace.
Zui Cheng couldn’t help but be extremely shocked, could people really run this fast? He immediately noticed that not just Chu Hao, but the other three women were also as swift as the wind, completely dumbfounding him.
In his mind, women were incapable of fighting, but the three women completely overturned his beliefs.
Within minutes, under Zui Cheng’s guidance, they arrived at a small village.
A tall wooden wall had been erected around the village, with spikes covering the door. If an ordinary beast tried to force its way through, it would undoubtedly end up becoming a meal for the villagers.
Chu Hao stopped, put Zui Cheng down, and the boy seemed to wobble like he was seasick, staggering a bit before he suddenly leaned over and retched violently. But since he was already on an empty stomach, he didn’t throw up much.
Chu Hao gently pressed on his body, transferring a stream of Star Force, and the boy immediately perked up.
He looked deeply at Chu Hao and the others, then stepped to the village gate and shouted, "Open up, I’m back."
"Little Cheng is back," a voice inside replied, and with a creaking, the large door slowly opened, controlled by a windlass that required several people to operate.
They were women, all emaciated from chronic malnutrition, looking like sticks.
"Come in," Zui Cheng said to Chu Hao and the others.
"Eh, which village do they come from?"
"Such pretty girls."
"Look at this skin, so smooth, like it’s made of water."
The women couldn’t help but praise them upon seeing Gu Qingcheng and the other two women.
Chu Hao patted Zui Cheng on the shoulder, saying, "Let’s go to your house first, your sister must be starving."
Zui Cheng quickly nodded and led Chu Hao and his companions to a wooden house. The house was quite spacious, likely left by his parents, or even their parents, but since people here did not live long, they never had to worry about overpopulation and running out of space.
"Brother—" A little girl came out, her face suggested she was over ten years old, but she was as short and thin as a seven- or eight-year-old.
Gu Qingcheng’s maternal instincts kicked in, and she quickly said to Chu Hao, "Hurry up and prepare some food."
Chu Hao smiled, took out the wild boar meat again, and got water ready to wash it.
"What are you doing!" As he was about to pour the water, the boy rushed over like a madman, snatching at his water bag, and the women who had followed were staring at it with wolf-like eyes.
Chu Hao was startled for a moment but then understood; this was a drought-stricken area, where water was a precious resource. Seeing him use clean water to wash the meat was seen as an extravagance, bound to provoke anger.
He smiled and said, "Bring some cups, I’ll share the water with you."
At these words, the entire village erupted.
The men of the village had all gone out hunting by day, leaving only women and children behind, over thirty of them, who brought their bowls and basins, each one of them looking at Chu Hao with hopeful eyes.
Chu Hao distributed the clean water, and these women and children didn’t dare to drink it right away, only touching it with the tip of their tongues, their faces showing a rapture as if savoring the finest wine.
"Don’t worry, there’s plenty of water, drink up," Gu Qingcheng also full of compassion, encouraged everyone.
It was only after Chu Hao brought out three more water bags that these people finally dared to take a sip. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote, monthly ticket at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)
