Home Broken, Family Separated

"Hmm? You can speak human language?"

Li Hai looked at him in surprise. "Then tell me yourself, what exactly are you?"

"Master, I... I... am a human!"

The ghost-dweller stammered, "I am a human, truly a human, not a monster!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled back the pile of filthy, matted green hair covering his head and face, revealing a gaunt, withered, and deathly pale face.

This face was etched with sorrow and hardship, as if the owner had exhausted every ounce of strength just to stay alive.

Li Hai's attention, however, was focused more on the green-furred hood that the ghost-dweller had removed from his head.

Looking at the rows of crude, clearly hand-stitched seams inside the hood, Li Hai thought thoughtfully:

"The green hair on your head and face is fake, so this green fur all over your body... don't tell me that's all fake too."

"Master... you are, you are right."

The ghost-dweller kneeling on the ground stammered his reply while quickly stripping off the damp, thick green-furred suit, transforming in an instant into a thin, gaunt man wearing only tattered undergarments.

From his appearance, he was indeed human—a weak, sallow, and malnourished human. He couldn't be called powerless, but one could guess that anyone who had practiced a few moves could beat him to death.

Out of curiosity regarding the origins of this ghost-dweller group, Li Hai asked again: "What is your name?"

Hearing the question, the ghost-dweller answered honestly: "This humble one... is named Zheng Dashan."

"Very well, Zheng Dashan, in this creek..."

Li Hai shifted his gaze to the Turbid Creek and said indifferently, "There is more than just you, isn't there?"

The ghost-dweller Zheng Dashan trembled: "There, there, there are also my family members."

"Then take me to see them."

Li Hai said calmly, "I am curious how a group of living people can hide in a Turbid Creek filled with rocks and sand."

Through his ghost-tracking and aura-observing techniques, he could clearly sense several other ghost-dweller auras slowly emerging from the depths of the creek.

"This, this..." Zheng Dashan clearly did not want to satisfy Li Hai's curiosity.

"Rest assured." Li Hai's tone softened. "I am not a bad person. If you have encountered any difficulties, perhaps I can lend a hand."

As he spoke, he took out some gleaming silver dollars from his pocket and shook them, tempting him with profit.

"Al... alright."

Seeing the money, Zheng Dashan gritted his teeth and agreed.

Truth be told, even without the temptation of money, in this desolate wilderness, he had no courage to say "no" to a two-meter-tall, ox-like figure like Li Hai.

Consequently, Li Hai followed Zheng Dashan into the Turbid Creek and swam toward the bottom.

Only after entering the water himself did he realize that the creek was not as turbulent as it appeared on the surface; in fact, any child who knew how to swim could navigate it for quite a while.

However, the journey did not last long. After swimming down more than ten zhang to the bottom of the creek, Li Hai followed Zheng Dashan into a pitch-black pit at the edge of the creek bed.

After entering the lightless pit and swimming diagonally downward for another ten zhang, they reached a body of water that was significantly clearer, and Zheng Dashan began to ascend, with Li Hai following closely behind.

This Zheng Dashan has quite a strong ability to hold his breath.

Watching the figure ahead moving like a fish as he ascended rapidly, Li Hai thought to himself, It must be the effect of that so-called Adverse Survival skill.

After ascending for about twenty zhang, the two emerged from a dark pool inside an unknown limestone cave.

"A good place."

Looking up at the warm light filtering down from above and the vast, low-lying rocky slopes surrounding them, Li Hai couldn't help but smile. "Zheng Dashan, you are quite lucky to have found such a place. Tell me, what kind of enemy could force you to this extent?"

In reality, after climbing out of the deep pool, he had immediately spotted four ghost-dwellers hiding in the shadows a hundred zhang away, not daring to make a sound.

It was a woman and three children.

Although the three children were also deathly pale, their vitality seemed sufficient; clearly, they hadn't suffered from too much hunger.

The woman, however, was in much worse shape. While one could tell her features were likely decent, she was as withered and gaunt as Zheng Dashan due to their weak vitality and, perhaps, a long time without sunlight.

In short, these people plus Zheng Dashan were clearly a family of five, and what else could force a family of five to live in such a hidden place other than avoiding enemies?

"Master, we, we..."

Zheng Dashan fell to his knees with a thud. "Our... family, we were originally from Ox-Horn Town in Zhou Family Fort..."

Under his narration, Li Hai gradually learned that Zheng Dashan, his wife, and their three children had run a small inn in Ox-Horn Town.

It was the lowest-grade inn, consisting only of a large communal sleeping platform and clear noodle soup, with no guest rooms or meat dishes to speak of.

Such an establishment was usually only frequented by impoverished merchants or traveling laborers looking to crash for the night; anyone with a bit of money would never go there.

Therefore, the Zheng family had only managed to scrape by for years, far from being a wealthy household.

Even so, the family shared a deep bond and lived a harmonious, if modest, life.

But three years ago, on a certain night, a captain from the local militia under the Zhou family got drunk and, swaying unsteadily, brought two or three cronies into the Zheng family inn, where he caught sight of Zheng Dashan's wife, who was quite beautiful at the time.

Stimulated by the alcohol and the jeers of his friends, the militia captain's beastly nature flared, and he attempted to violate the poor woman on the spot.

Zheng Dashan stepped forward to intervene, but was beaten to the ground by the men.

Shortly after, just as that man was about to commit his vile act, Zheng Dashan rushed over with a knife and stabbed him.

Due to the severity of his wounds, the militia captain quickly fled the inn in a panic, supported by his companions.

Yet before leaving, the captain left behind a vicious threat:

"From this day on, I will make sure your family knows no peace!"

It was this very sentence that terrified Zheng Dashan so much that he abandoned his shop and fled Ox-Horn Town that same night.

Fearing an ambush, they didn't even dare to take the main road; they traveled along mountain paths for a full day and night until they escaped into these deep mountains.

Since then, Zheng Dashan's family of five settled down, hiding away for three whole years.

"Wrong."

By the side of the deep pool, Li Hai, sitting cross-legged on the ground, said to Zheng Dashan, "You left some things out."

"This..." Zheng Dashan stammered, "This lowly one... this lowly one has said everything that should be said."

"No, you haven't."

Li Hai said leisurely, "You didn't mention how your family found this hidden cavern, nor did you say how you knew there would be a stream leading to it. I suspect that... someone outside your family must have helped."

"It was the eldest uncle who hel—"

A hundred paces away, one of Zheng Dashan's children had just muttered half a sentence before their mother hurriedly covered their mouth.

But it was already too late; Li Hai had heard those words clearly.

"Your child says the eldest uncle helped."

He looked at Zheng Dashan, "The eldest uncle... that would be your brother-in-law, right? But didn't you just say that your family had no other relatives?"

"Sigh~"

Zheng Dashan sighed helplessly, "This lowly one will tell the truth now. My lord, please do not blame me. It is true that my brother-in-law helped us. He is not a blood brother-in-law; he is someone my wife recognized here in the mountains."

"It's pitch black in these mountains, there are barely any living souls."

Li Hai wore a strange expression, "Where did you find such a relative?"

"Uh, the brother-in-law, he..."

Zheng Dashan stammered, "He is actually... a... ghost."