by Tinalynge
The others were perplexed at first, but when Xue Wei started moving, they did not hesitate to follow him. It was impossible to sense anything with spiritual energy, so the only thing that might have caused this sudden change in Xue Wei’s expression is if he had seen something, yet the house seemed similar to the other ruins, with no trace of inhabitants or movement to be seen from the outside.
Still, they were advancing slowly towards the house and were getting closer by the second. As they got nearer, they suddenly started hearing some weird sounds from within the house. They sounded like slow, scratching or scraping sounds as if someone was dragging a chair over the floor.
The sounds were eerie in the middle of the otherwise silent night. Although they were faint, no one was able to ignore them, it was obvious that there was someone within the house, but who could it be and what were they doing?
The forbidden area had supposedly been closed off to the outside world for seven thousand years. No one seemed to know what was within the forbidden area, not even the principal and his elders were entitled to enter the forbidden area.
Although there was no real protection, no one would dare enter the forbidden area. This was a taboo that was simply impossible to see someone break. Yet here they were, a group of four had entered, only to find that there was at least one living being within a ruined house.
They had arrived in front of the house. Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and the King were all looking at Xue Wei, wondering what he would do next. Would he try to force entry? Yell for the person inside to come out? Cause a scene?
Contrary to their expectations, Xue Wei calmly lifted his hand, clenched his fist and knocked on the door.
“Excuse me, we are wondering if you wouldn’t mind some guests?” His voice drifted through the air. Although his expression had been one of malice moments before, he suddenly looked like a gentleman as he stood outside the door. His face held an amiable smile on his lips, his eyes serene.
All his companions were shocked silly upon seeing him behave like this.
Chapter 22 - Family
The speed with which Xue Wei’s expression switched from malice to one of amiability was simply too fast for his companions to follow.
Even the King had an expression of great confusion when she saw it, all five of her eyes widened and then she laughed, her laughter resounding in the surroundings.
The door into the small house opened slowly, creaking slightly as it did.
A small, five-year-old-looking girl stood in the doorway, looking towards the four experts standing outside, with two wide eyes.
Her body seemed frail and thin, with the clothes that were draped over her tiny frame looking like rags that seemed as if they had never been changed or washed in a very long period of time.
“Who are you?” the little girl asked with an immature and cute voice that contained a childishness which made everyone’s parental instincts flair up and want to protect her, but at the same time, there was exhaustion in her voice which did not seem to fit the age of the little child.
“We are just passing guests,” Xue Wei said while flashing a smile, slightly perplexed. Was this really an innocent little girl, or was she an old monster? He had no way of telling either way yet, so it left him in a confused state as to how exactly he should converse with her.
“This place never has guests,” the girl said suspiciously while leering at them with doubtful eyes, causing all of them to scratch their heads in embarrassment.
“How long have you been here?” Xue Wei asked, inquisitively. The little girl paused while pouting her lips slightly as if in deep thought. “It has been many years,” she said with her immature and cute voice, “at least a couple of thousand.”
Hearing this, Xue Wei was instantly aware that this young child was, in fact, an old monster, and was likely to be very important to him and his future resolution of the mystery. But at the same time, he also realized that although this kid seemed to be an old monster, her mind seemed to be the same age as a child’s.
Xue Wei squatted down so that his head was level to hers, and then he flashed his most genuine and friendly smile.
“What are you doing here all alone in this area?” he asked slowly, hoping to coax some information out of the mysterious girl. At first, he did not have much of a hope to get any information out of her, but the moment he looked at the child’s face, he found that her face was flushed red with excitement and her eyes shone.
“Those old fogeys left me here,” she said with a bit of a whine, filled with a sense of having been wronged.
“Which old fogeys?” Xue Wei asked with a patient voice, as he was coaxing the child into telling him the things he wanted.
“Those old Elders from when the Academy was being built.” The girl adorably pouted her lips, “they used me, and abused my powers and then they left me here. It has been so boring over the years.”
“Has no one been here to visit you throughout all this time?” Xue Wei asked incredulously, he could not imagine that this little girl had been within the forbidden area for so long, neither could he imagine that the forbidden area had never been broken into before, considering how easy it was to gain access.
“No one enters the forbidden area,” the girl said with a sigh of disappointment. Her eyes were brimming with the onset of tears; it was clear that she had suffered over the years where she had been all alone.
“So does no one ever visit you?” Xue Wei asked again, to make absolutely sure that this child had been alone all along. The girl nodded her head.
“No one visits me anymore. In the beginning, the old Fogeys would come regularly, but then they died. Their descendants came a few times a year, but as time went by, they came less often, and eventually, they just left me to rot all alone.” Her voice, although immature, was somewhat fierce, and the words were much too severe for someone of her appearance.
Xue Wei could see that this girl had suffered a great deal, and he sighed deeply. “Do you want to leave the forbidden area with us?” he suddenly asked, not caring about the shocked expressions of his companions, nor their widened eyes and clear display of disapproval.
They knew nothing about this young girl apart from the fact that her mind and body was that of a child, and that her real age was however much older than all of them added together multiple times.
“Leave... leave here?” The kid’s eyes suddenly turned wide open like bronze bells, her voice quivering with discomfort but also slight excitement and disbelief.
“Is that even possible?” she muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.
“I tried before,” she continued. “But the walls are so tall. I cannot climb them, I do not know how to get over them, and as a result, I am captured.”
“We can take you with us,” Xue Wei offered generously when he saw the excitement in the kid’s face, his eyes warming up and his behavior becoming much more gentle. No one deserved to be held captive like this, not to mention she was likely a huge lead in solving this annoying mystery.
The girl hesitated, and her eyes darted back and forth from one of them to the other, apparently unsure of what to do and what to say.
Xue Wei did not rush her as he knew that this was a massive decision. Even if she was basically trapped and locked in the forbidden area, it had now been so many years that it had most likely turned into her safe haven and a home. Leaving would open up a whole new world, but it would also bring with it frightening experiences and things she was unfamiliar with.
If she chose to stay in the forbidden area, Xue Wei would not pressure her to leave either; instead, he would come to visit her often to see what kind of information he could get from her, but it would make everything much easier should she decide to leave with them.
The girl was hesitant, but after looking at the genuinely friendly looking Xue Wei, her worries faded slightly. Although she was a monster who had lived for thousands of years, the truth was that she currently had the mentality of a child. Being treated
with such friendliness after thousands of years of imprisonment, it was clear that she felt an instant connection to him.
The King, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou were all looking at Xue Wei as if they saw the greatest con man alive. Before knocking on the door, his appearance had been utterly ferocious and bloodthirsty, yet now he seemed so gentle and kind. It was clear that he could change his mood at the drop of a hat, and that he was capable of playing tricks on a small child.
“Come inside first,” the girl said after contemplating for a bit. Xue Wei quickly accepted the invitation and entered into the ruined house that belonged to the small girl.
The house was just one room. There was no kitchen, neither were there any signs of food or drinks, all there was was a table and chair alongside a bed.
She had no books, no papers, nothing at all was present within the tiny house, making Xue Wei frown.
“Little Girl, how have you spent your time all these years?” Xue Wei asked in confusion, “you do not seem to eat or drink, neither do you seem to read or write, there are no signs of you trying to master formations, alchemy or other professions either. Have you not been bored?”
The girl looked at Xue Wei with slightly depressed eyes as she sat down on the chair. “I sit here,” she said. “Then I look at the ceiling or look out at the skies. When it gets dark, I go to sleep and rest.
“Every day is the same. It is just a different weather, a different sleep. Nothing much happens.”
Xue Wei frowned when he heard this. To be able to live this long without food, obviously, this girl was much more powerful than he had expected, but she seemed so small, and at the same time he could feel no power coming from her body.
“Since your life is so bland, is it not better to go with Big Brother and see the world outside. We will take you to eat delicious food, and you can play with us and our friends and experience a bustling environment?”
The girl was hesitant again. “I really want to,” she said, her voice displaying the longing she felt for the outside world. “But I am afraid,” she admitted.
“The outside world is not as simple as this prison. I am not used to having people around me, and I am not used to anything that has to do with other people. Will I embarrass myself, will I hurt myself? I do not know. Here, I am safe; here, I have a home. Leaving here will be dangerous.”
Xue Wei pondered on her words for a moment, and then he nodded his head. “I understand,” he said amiably, “but you have to keep in mind, if I were to take you away from here, then I would be your older brother.” Xue Wei continued, “as your older brother, I would protect you. If you go somewhere, I would go with you and protect you. My friends will also help me protect you so that no harm will ever befall you.
“Although you are strong, you might not be able to manage amongst other people yet, but as your older brother, I would never leave you alone with other people.”
The girl looked at Xue Wei with big watery eyes, she seemed like a small porcelain doll that could easily be broken, but at the same time, Xue Wei felt that she was much stronger than any of them. He felt that if she wished, then none of them would ever leave this place alive.
Still, he understood her insecurity. She was not willing to use her power to force people to submit to her, she wanted to be treated like a living being, but she just feared that she could not live a normal life after all those years of isolation.
Xue Wei could sense that she was being swayed by his persuasive words, and he reached out his hand, taking the kid’s hand into his and started walking towards the wall.
“Look at this wall,” he said as he looked up at the wall in front of him, “it is holding you back, it is capturing you and not letting you go. Are you sure you wish for this to be the rest of your life? Locked in here all alone and never seeing another living being again?”
Hearing this, the girl’s pupils constricted, her teeth began gnawing on her lower lip and her hands fidgeting as she tried to make a decision. She did not want to be alone again. After seeing these people that offered her something after so much nothing, was she really willing to go back to her life of staring at the sky? But could she really do it, could she really step out from the cage that had trapped her for thousands of years but had kept her safe?
“It all depends on you,” Xue Wei affirmed gently. “In the end, it is your life.” He was coaxing her with a friendly voice and words that the child could understand. “We will help you if you want to leave, we will protect you and look after you. We will be your family and your friends if you wish, but if you do not wish to leave this house, this prison of loneliness, then we will never force you to do so.”
Hearing this, the girl no longer had any hesitation in her mind. Knowing that they would be her family, all her doubts evaporated into the wind, and her eyes once more turned watery and misty.
She had always wished for a family.
Chapter 23 - Brat
Seeing the girl’s happy expression, Xue Wei smiled as well, reaching out a hand and offering it the girl who hesitatingly placed her small palm in his.
“Big Brother, where are we going?” She asked with a timid voice, her words causing Xue Wei to smile slightly, and feel that this girl who was calling him ‘Big Brother,’ was rather cute.
Even if she was an old monster, her mind was still a child’s, and thus she had cast all her hope, reliance and dependence on Xue Wei in the belief that he would look after her.
“We are leaving this place,” Xue Wei smiled as he turned around and started walking out the house and towards the tall wall once more.
Xue Wei had single-handedly made all the decisions about what they were to do. He had decided to bring the girl with them out; he had also decided that they would be her family— everything that had happened this night was decided by him.
Although the others felt rather confused and slightly unsure of why Xue Wei had made this decision, no one was against it. Even the King, who was supposed to be in control of the continent, had no opinion about this strange man abducting this small child out of the forbidden area.
In fact, her eyes were shining with excitement. She could not help but feel that something exciting was finally happening, and she also felt as if Xue Wei was much more humane than she had first thought.
As they reached the wall, Xue Wei took the girl into his arms and sprung high into the air, jumping to the top of the wall and quickly down again.
Quickly, the others followed after him, all jumping up the wall and down again before anyone was able to notice them.
It was still the middle of the night. The moon was hidden behind the clouds in the sky, and the stars could not be seen. Although the roads were illuminated by street lamps, there was mist all around in the still night’s air, and thus the visibility was rather low.
Although a few students were walking around the academy grounds, no one was close to the Forbidden area to arouse any suspicion. As they landed on the ground, Xue Wei put down the child-sized person, but he continued to hold her hand as they walked hand-in-hand like a pair of siblings. A smile soon sprouted on her face that she could no longer hide.
She felt warmth in her heart, a warmth that she had no place to hide; she was feeling so happy and relaxed after leaving the forbidden area, and even a bit giddy. She could not believe she had actually left, it was like a dream come true, but at the same time, she was also still slightly scared.
Scared of the unknown that was all around her, scared of being left alone in this world so foreign to her, and scared of suddenly being abandoned by the one person who was treating her as their family.
As a result, her palm was starting to turn sweaty, and she gripped Xue Wei’s hand tightly, fearing that he would let her go.
Sensing her unease, Xue Wei once more scooped her up and let her rest on his arm. She was a small child, and so he treated her exactly like he would a child. It felt exactly like having a smaller sibling, and from the moment that she had called him ‘Big Brother,’ it w
as cemented that he would treat her like his little sister, a girl that he would protect with all his heart.
Being lifted up and feeling the warmth from Xue Wei, the girl felt much more at ease, and she started to curiously examine her surroundings. She saw many students coming and going, but their clothes were all different from what she was used to, and their faces appeared filled with questions when they looked at Xue Wei and his group.
The houses were another style of architecture than she was familiar with too. The houses had been rebuilt since the last time she had left the forbidden area, and now everything was much more advanced than it was before.
As they walked, Xue Wei checked behind him, only to see that the King had vanished at some point along the way. She was nowhere to be seen, but he was not too surprised or worried by this. If she was noticed by the common students, things would become quite troublesome, not only for her and the academy but also for Xue Wei.
They went straight back to their courtyard, where Bai Tianyi was awaiting them. He had not returned into the house itself but was standing in the front yard, leaning against a tree and looking at the entrance as he was waiting for them to return.
His eyes widened when he saw the small girl in Xue Wei’s arms, and his pupils contracted when he felt a very familiar scent envelop him.
“Where’d you kidnap this kid?” He asked curiously as he looked at Xue Wei, whose face turned rather black when he heard those words.
“I did not kidnap her,” he defended himself, “I saved her from the forbidden area.”
“She was in the forbidden area?” Bai Tianyi was rather shocked when he heard that a small girl was all alone in the middle of the area that no one had entered, and when he saw Xue Wei nodding his head, he displayed an expression of surprise.