"Stay in one place too long, and things will follow your scent."
"My village uses the Huang Family's Concealment Technique to hide this entire place from the Eerie's perception."
"That gray mist is kept outside the village. As long as the formation holds, the village is safe."
After she finished, she cautiously added, "But this technique requires a Spirit Eye as the formation's core."
"You could count the Spirit Eyes found across the entire wasteland on one hand."
"There happens to be one beneath my village. That's how I've barely managed to keep all this going."
As Yang Yong listened, he tapped his fingertips lightly against the table.
A Spirit Eye.
The Concealment Technique.
This was the apocalypse. A place where ordinary people could survive was itself the greatest bargaining chip.
Huang Santainai could not possibly be offering this information for free.
The old woman looked kindly, but she was actually very shrewd.
She had shown her hand first because she was waiting for Yang Yong to name his price.
"What do you want?" Yang Yong asked.
Huang Santainai smiled.
There was less courtesy in that smile now, and more shrewdness.
"City Lord Yang, you're an honest man."
"Then this old woman won't beat around the bush. I'd like to ask you to help me deal with a little trouble."
"A little trouble... that already has its eye on this village."
"Little trouble?" Yang Yong raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, yes, a little trouble."
The old woman nodded, but her gaze slowly darkened.
"Something that has grown powerful. It lives in Black Water Marsh to the west."
"It needs a good skin to inhabit."
"I sent several groups of my little ones there. They all became its snacks."
"If we let it keep eating, I'm afraid it won't be long before