Perhaps because of their similar builds, Banner and Zhang Jixin landed in the same courtyard.
Like two meteors, they smashed two irregular craters into the small yard.
The Blue Giant sprawled lazily at the bottom of one crater. Without even getting up, he began shouting, "Maodou? Maodou! Get the others over here and give me a hand!"
A gray figure sprang out of thin air and landed beside the Blue Giant's ear. Tongue lolling and panting, it bit his ear and tried to drag the fat man out of the crater, making him howl in pain.
"Quiet!"
Zhang Jixin, who had climbed out first, gestured at the fat man. A trace of seriousness appeared on his face. "We got separated. There are only the two of us here."
The man and dog immediately fell silent.
Zhang Jixin walked out of the crater and looked around.
This was a secluded courtyard. The air within it felt somewhat gloomy, and it was impossible to tell whether anyone lived here.
Wild roses and wisteria climbed through the cracks in the stone walls. The little vegetable patch was overgrown with weeds, a hemp rope was tied to the wellhead, and a damp wooden bucket lay carelessly overturned in the mud.
Looking out beyond the courtyard's stone walls—
Far in the distance stood a dense forest. Beyond it stretched rolling hills, and a winding river threaded between them like a ribbon. Vast cultivated fields exposed rich soil, while faint wisps of smoke rose at the far end of the farmland.
There were people living there.
"Where are we?" Fatty Xin climbed out of the crater and asked quietly.
Maodou had already vanished back into thin air.
"Doesn't know." Zhang Jixin tightened his gloves, then folded the talismans Zheng Qing had given him and tucked them