Chapter 1733: Bitter Fruit (21)

It couldn't be something as simple as a Tree Infant.

Heading downstairs, Fu Qian took one last look at the building—now finally lit with a faint glimmer—and silently came to a conclusion.

Even with so much distance between them, the crying hadn't diminished in the slightest. It felt identical to his last experience at Ehm Palace.

But Fu Qian leaned toward the belief that this wasn't just a simple illusion created by some little stalker.

Back then, restricted by the Record of Recollection, he hadn't even reached the Demigod Rank, so failing to sense anything was normal. Now, however, his perception wasn't compromised in the least.

It was truly empty. It felt as if the Divine Child had merged into the entirety of Akons through some special method, becoming a fundamental attribute of the place.

The entity hating him wasn't some little creature that might jump out at any moment, but rather a fragment of the 'world's will'?

What an honor. Hopefully, it would bring more surprises later.

Another regret was that, up until now, the "it" whose name couldn't even be spoken still hadn't revealed itself.

Indeed, even after making such a huge commotion and deliberately walking through the dark without a light, Fu Qian still hadn't encountered that legend.

'Slacking off this much? Does that do justice to your fearsome reputation?'

Although he mocked it inwardly, Fu Qian naturally wouldn't view it so simply. Instead, he brainstormed the reasons.

Was he really despised this much, or was there another reason?

Naturally, he quickly dismissed the first guess, and his footsteps grew a bit heavier.

"Excuse me..."

A moment later, at the edge of town, within the desolate and silent darkness, a small, thin figure darted out from behind a carriage parked against the wall.

A person's hearing becomes sharper in the dark. Even though the voice lacked strength, Fu Qian believed the volume was more than enough to make him halt at this distance.

As he naturally came to a stop, the other party approached but stopped to maintain their distance.

"Have you seen a slightly hunched person wearing a hat walk past?"

The voice was cautious yet full of expectation—and very familiar.

...

'People say the more experienced one gets, the more cautious one becomes. Yet you're this wild, Old Lady?'

Fu Qian, who was in no rush to speak, marveled inwardly.

Indeed, the newcomer was none other than the Old Lady who had pointed the way for him in the setting, tried in vain to persuade him in the Healing Dreamscape, and ultimately given him the Boon Potion.

While walking along just now without encountering that unnamable gentleman, Fu Qian had easily noticed this figure groping through the dark.

Who would have thought that the Old Lady, who had acted so meticulously cautious before, was actually the wildest one of all?

When darkness fell, even the half-mad Madam Sarah had merely turned off the lights and sat alone in her locked room.

Yet this woman was not only travel-worn; she had even ventured out without a light source, navigating through the pitch black.

After sensing this unique nightwalker, Fu Qian casually plotted a route to bump into her right at this spot, deliberately walking with heavier steps.

It seemed the Old Lady was indeed sharp of hearing and sight; she had successfully noticed him without him needing to make a bigger fuss.

"Hello."

Casually hiding the Doll behind his back so as not to frighten her, Fu Qian altered his voice slightly as he replied.

Back in the Church, the crowd had mentioned that very few outsiders would come out and show any interest in conversing with people after receiving treatment.

Although the contents of the dream weren't guaranteed to be true, there was still no need to rush and increase the risk of scaring the Old Lady.

"How old is this person, and when did he come out?"

Although he hadn't bumped into anyone outside, Fu Qian didn't rush to deny seeing him. Instead, he asked for more details.

...

"He's my husband. He's very old, very thin, and has a beard on his cheeks."

It seemed the Old Lady truly hadn't recognized his voice.

Seeing that Fu Qian was a friendly and communicative person visibly relieved her, and she earnestly described her husband's features.

"He's been out for a long time... It was too dark, and we got separated around here. He never came home..."

By the end of her sentence, her tone could hardly be called sorrowful; it was closer to numbness.

But the more she acted like this, the more believable she felt. This was likely far from her first time coming out to search for someone.

The Old Lady's husband had actually gone missing.

While listening attentively, Fu Qian didn't doubt the authenticity of her words, but he also felt deeply puzzled by this kind of accident.

"Doesn't everyone know it's extremely dangerous at night? Why did you still come out?"

He didn't hide his confusion. Even as he expressed his inability to understand, he didn't care that he, too, was wandering outside late at night.

...

This question seemed somewhat difficult for the Old Lady to answer.

Fu Qian could even see a sudden peculiar expression appear on her face.

"We were supposed to go to the Church..."

However, after a moment of silence, as if some long-accumulated emotions were finally impossible to suppress, she chose to pour her heart out to this stranger.

"Or rather, I was supposed to go to the Church..."

"I believed that was the only safe place, that it could shelter us... But he, like everyone else, no longer believed in our past faith."

"Finally, during an unbearably long night, I couldn't take it anymore and insisted on going to the Church... He insisted on walking me there..."

"Unfortunately, we didn't get far before the lights suddenly went out. Then he told me to hide in an empty house while he went out to check the situation..."

So that was it. Putting aside the matter of faith, it sounded like her husband had encountered that thing in the dark.

And it was almost entirely because of her?

That made the Old Lady's resolve to risk coming out to look for him perfectly understandable.

Fu Qian played the role of a faithful listener, lending an ear the whole time and nodding occasionally in response.

Moreover, it sounded like this person, who sat the farthest from the divine statue in the Church, probably had a level of devotion surpassing Saint Hilaria.

Was that also why she could produce that Boon Potion?

True, Fu Qian didn't think the Old Lady had lied, but she might not have told the whole truth.

Although the lighting was dim, it still wasn't difficult for Fu Qian to notice that the area between the Old Lady's nose and mouth was noticeably wetter than the rest of her face.

And this was exactly the method of using the potion she had told him about.

Brother Dorian's Healing Dreamscape was surprisingly realistic in some aspects.

The Old Lady seemed to have genuinely received some special boon, making it easier for her to evade the threats in the dark. The only difference from the dream was that she wasn't glowing.

And this was highly likely the leverage she had used to persuade her husband to go to the Church in the dead of night, as well as her confidence to act.