"Cut the elderly some slack. That was thirty years ago—no smartphones with widespread internet access, no games of all kinds, and no money."
"That was just the norm for poor young people back then."
"Ah, too bad the times have changed." Ash sighed.
Kelly clasped her hands together and rubbed her arms, seeming a little cold. Perhaps it was because the forest was filled with too much sinister energy.
She glanced around, looking somewhat nervous.
"I keep feeling like something here is watching me. Maybe it's a woman's sixth sense."
"So you feel it too? I do too," Pablo said eagerly.
"Are you a woman, then?"
"Of course not. It's a pity you don't remember when Ash was possessed by his guardian messenger."
"What guardian messenger?"
"The true form of that cool little backpack on his back." The two kept bickering with each other.
Hank, however, looked grave.
He took a bottle of cloudy, viscous potion from his backpack, dipped a finger into it, and smeared it over his eyelids.
Then he looked around.
"Hiss!"
Hank sucked in a sharp breath, hurriedly spat twice into his palm, and wiped away the potion he had just applied to his eyelids.
"What's wrong, Uncle?" Pablo's attention was drawn by his reaction.
"Evil. It's simply too evil. Everywhere I look, there's dense evil energy, mixed with countless unimaginable great evil spirits!" Hank shook his head repeatedly, his face full of terror.
"This place is practically the entrance to hell!"
"If I keep looking for too long, I'm afraid those evil spirit auras will enter my body. Ordinary auras would be manageable, but some of those terrifying ones would probably turn me directly into a walking corpse—or an evil spirit."
"Sometimes, ignorance is the only way to survive." He sighed again and again.
"Ah,