Too Traditional

"Chase me away? I think you're more likely to want to kill me." Zheng Yichen glanced at the broken wooden spear on the ground, feeling a bit displeased. The town had a murder case, and they were already suspicious of outsiders? This... uh, this wasn't entirely unreasonable?

Especially in a place that seemed so backward for this era.

"No, no, no, we just want to ask you to leave, sir. We absolutely have no other intentions." The town chief quickly shook his head and argued, "We will compensate you..."

"No need for compensation. I'll leave once I understand a few things."

Zheng Yichen wasn't interested in compensation. Looking at the town, he could tell it was basically broke. Perhaps there were some Jewels, but the value of such things... Well, if he had money, he might take some as travel expenses when he left.

The town chief hastily agreed. Zheng Yichen primarily wanted to understand the specific situation of this world. Although this town was remote, it still maintained contact with the outside world and wasn't completely isolated. The town chief answered all of Zheng Yichen's questions one by one.

When Zheng Yichen asked about 'Ghouls' and 'Vengeful Spirits', the town chief's gaze towards him changed. It was a look of... ecstasy? That seemed to be the emotion.

"Are you a Demon Hunter?"

"Huh?" Zheng Yichen blinked. Did they have such a profession here too? Thinking about the rotten flesh he'd encountered earlier, it didn't seem strange for this world to have such a profession. "You could say that, but I'm not very professional."

He wasn't lying about that.

"That's great!"

In the town chief's eyes, Zheng Yichen was no longer an unknown outsider, but an unknown outsider Demon Hunter. Since he was from out of town, he wouldn't know much about the local situation. The Art Style of his Clothes, which were different from theirs, was perfectly normal for a Demon Hunter in his opinion.

Those clothes looked different from what they wore, but as Protective Suits, their protective qualities were obvious.

As the town chief's attitude towards Zheng Yichen became more enthusiastic, he answered every question. Zheng Yichen further understood the situation of this world.

This world had many Supernatural Events. There were Vampires, Ghosts, Ghouls, Witches, and even Demons. Since such creatures existed, there naturally had to be organizations like the Church.

After understanding the specific situation, Zheng Yichen nodded. The Demon Hunters in this world were different from what he had imagined. They weren't the type who often had their pay withheld or were reluctant to take medicine. As for those Abnormal Creatures, they didn't appear very frequently.

To many people, such Abnormal Creatures only existed in stories, but they were indeed real. The town chief himself had witnessed monks from the Church exorcise Evil Spirits in his youth.

He had seen it with his own eyes, but most people in the town had never seen an Abnormal Creature.

After obtaining enough information, Zheng Yichen had a preliminary judgment about this world. The Technology in this world was still in its developmental stage. Besides Abnormal Creatures, there were weapons like Firearms, specifically the Flintlock Gun type. Ranged weapons were primarily Crossbows.

Abnormal Creatures weren't something you'd easily encounter in groups of three to five. Most could only be found in sparsely populated or special locations. The abandoned graveyard where Zheng Yichen first appeared was a sparsely populated area. Moreover, there were many Corpses there, which would attract Abnormal Creatures.

Places with a lot of people rarely saw things like Ghouls. Those things mostly hid in graveyards. They were quite ferocious, but if there were enough people, they could be dealt with.

In that abandoned graveyard, Zheng Yichen encountered dozens of Corpses that couldn't be called Ghouls, only Zombies... Those things, though scary, ignored pain and were fearless, but their bones were brittle, and their rotten flesh offered little defense. With enough courage, a standard Adult wielding a stick could take down several.

This world probably didn't have magic that could destroy an entire town at will.

Regarding the existence of Vampires and Witches, the town chief said he had only seen them in books and knew very little about them. Firearms were not present in this town, and Zheng Yichen was unsure if they had Crossbows.

In Zheng Yichen's understanding, this world should be a low-magic type. It had supernatural powers, but for the vast majority of Ordinary People, those powers were equivalent to an Olympic gold medal on Earth – a real existence, but very few people could obtain the real thing through their own abilities, aside from fakes.

You can learn about the existence of those things through various channels, but you might not have the chance to come into contact with or see them face-to-face in your lifetime. If there are special powers like magic, they mostly have only auxiliary effects...

The Town Chief of the small town could say so much mainly because, as the Town Chief, he had a few books at home. One of them was bought from the Church. Among Ordinary People, it was a rare item, and it recorded information about many Abnormal Creatures... oh, here they are called Evil Creatures.

It's a popular science type of book.

Zheng Yichen looked at the book at the Town Chief's house. He had to say the book was quite exquisite. Although it wasn't a product of modern industrial printing, it thoughtfully included some illustrations. The things Zheng Yichen encountered in the abandoned graveyard were Corpse, Zombie, and similar creatures.

Ghouls were much stronger than those things. They were beyond Zombies in the food chain. They were strong, and even three to five adult strong men might get injured fighting them.

Vampires in this world die upon exposure to sunlight and fear silver. They are traditional Vampires, unlike those in many anime works from Earth. As Vampires, they would be too embarrassed to go out if they had those traditional weaknesses.

The illustration of a Witch was an ugly old hag. After reading this book, Zheng Yichen, as a modern person, had the thought... it's too damn traditional.

It's so traditional it's like the Renaissance. As a Vampire, you're afraid of sunlight and dare not wear silver jewelry when you go grocery shopping. Is that reasonable? As a Witch, you're not a delicate or even naturally cute girl. Is that reasonable??

More importantly, the illustrations in it were uglier than each other. He didn't know if they were really like that or if they were deliberately drawn so ugly to further emphasize that they were Evil Creatures. As a Transmigrator, the word "Church" always reminded him of figures like Yue Buqun and Hua Tiegong. Uh, perhaps thinking that way is also inappropriate?

After finishing the book, Zheng Yichen began to ponder what to do next. Finding some Abnormal Creatures was also necessary. Otherwise, his body would wither again over time. It was like tending to flowers, except he had to water himself regularly, and no one would come to water him.

Besides, finding Anomalies was also necessary. He was worried that if the Abnormal Creatures in this world couldn't satisfy his abnormal needs in the future, he would have to seek Anomalies to contact more powerful worlds.