Divine Beast Creator

"Actually, there’s someone who’s the most suspicious..."

After failing yet again, Wen Yanrong had no choice but to throw out a sentence, hesitating for a moment under Cen Chudie’s expectant gaze, she said

"That Granny Yuan, although she’s Granny Mianlan’s good friend, but..."

"Are you talking about her? Indeed, no matter how popular, not all the kids would like her, right? Plus, she’s been ignoring us as if we were thin air, which is indeed odd."

"It’s not that..."

Wen Yanrong whispered, while Cen Chudie said loudly,

"Alright! Let’s sneakily investigate Granny Yuan!"

Wen Yanrong sighed and said,

"Forget it, have it your way..."

Seeing the excited Cen Chudie, Big Cat was a bit nervous, and when Big Cat’s situation caught Najia’s puzzled attention, it ended up drawing Yang Hongzhi’s notice. Yang Hongzhi looked at Big Cat and asked,

"Seeing you like this, does that Granny Yuan really have a problem?"

"Meow..."

"A swing? This tree probably can’t support my weight, right?"

Looking at the simple swing hanging from a thin tree branch, Feng Yuan scratched his head and said to the frail little boy, seeing the latter appear somewhat disappointed, Feng Yuan picked him up onto the swing, laughing as he said,

"I’ll push you then—though I can’t sit on it, you can, right?"

"Ji~"

Xiao Ji took the opportunity to squeeze onto the swing, turned to Feng Yuan indicating with his head, Feng Yuan scratched his head as he watched Xiao Ji, helplessly pushing the swing. As the swing soared higher and higher, the frail little boy broke into a joyful smile, Xiao Ji excitedly calling out, Dreaming Dragon Baby looked at Feng Yuan somewhat discontentedly and took the opportunity to float to the swing, wrapping around the wooden board. Granny Mianlan stood by, watching Feng Yuan and the others with a smile.

After a while, the swing gradually came to a halt, the frail little boy excitedly dragged Feng Yuan to him, handing Feng Yuan a slingshot. Feng Yuan took the slingshot, looked at another slingshot in the boy’s hand, and said with confusion,

"You mean to have a slingshot contest with me?"

The frail little boy nodded excitedly, and Feng Yuan picked up the slingshot and aimed at a bird that had just landed on the tree.

Inside the house, Granny Yuan was busy with cooking ingredients, while three people peeped through the window, sneakily observing the bustling Granny Yuan. Big Cat, disgruntled, followed behind the trio. If it weren’t for Cen Chudie’s stern warnings several times, and even plucking a few feathers, Big Cat would have cried out long ago. Fuming with indignation, Big Cat glanced towards the backyard.

"Xiao Ji, stop it!"

"Ji~"

Seeing Xiao Ji’s smug look, Feng Yuan sighed helplessly and said,

"What’s there to be proud of in using your Spark trick to hit a bird? We are having a slingshot contest here."

"Ji~"

"Do you want to give it a try?"

Feng Yuan placed the slingshot in front of Xiao Ji, and upon inspecting the slingshot, Xiao Ji glanced at its own small wings discontentedly, then looked at Feng Yuan. Feng Yuan smirked at Xiao Ji, and the frail boy glanced at them both before hesitating and pointing towards a large tree in the distance. Feng Yuan saw the tree overlooking a rice field full of grain and hesitated before saying,

"You want to go over there?"

Seeing the frail boy nod, Feng Yuan hesitated for a moment, picked up Xiao Ji, and said,

"Then let’s go."

On the way there, Feng Yuan, noticing his shoes covered with mud, felt a bit disgruntled and pouted, the frail boy suddenly turned and swiped at Xiao Ji. Seeing its fluff stained with a bit of mud, Xiao Ji was a bit angry, jumping out of Feng Yuan’s arms to chase after the boy who was running ahead.

Arriving under the big tree, Feng Yuan sighed, pulled out a tissue, and wiped the mud from Xiao Ji’s fluff. Seeing the boy looking apologetic, Xiao Ji turned its head away angrily. After cleaning Xiao Ji’s fluff, Feng Yuan followed the boy up the tree, sitting on it, they both enjoyed the breeze and viewed the lush green rice fields below.

After a while, Granny Yuan came over with a tray of exquisite snacks.

"Why the heck is that guy here?"

"And he’s playing with that brat!"

Cen Chudie, seeing Feng Yuan play happily with the little boy, felt somewhat disgruntled. Yang Hongzhi looked at Granny Mianlan with a puzzled expression and said,

"Why is Granny Mianlan always here? Does she really have that much free time?"

Cen Chudie glanced at Yang Hongzhi and said,

"Granny doesn’t have much to do anyway. Yun You is in charge of the estate. Moreover, Granny Yuan is Granny’s good friend. I’ve seen Granny looking at Granny Yuan’s photo and shedding tears more than once."

"Is that so?"

Yang Hongzhi scratched his head and continued to observe Granny Yuan’s actions alongside Cen Chudie.

After playing with the frail little boy for a long time, Feng Yuan looked at the sky and walked up to Granny Mianlan saying,

"It’s getting late; I should head back now."

"Be careful on your way, and take Chudie back with you."

Feng Yuan turned his head and looked at the frail little boy, sighed, with something he wanted to say to Granny Mianlan, but when the words reached his lips, he didn’t know how to express them. In the end, he simply sighed helplessly, picked up Xiao Ji, placed it on his head, and walked over to the three people sneakily peering through the window at Granny Yuan preparing dinner, and said

"Had enough of the detective game? Ready to head back?"

Cen Chudie was startled by the sudden voice and turned to find Feng Yuan, who was patting his chest and speaking in a dissatisfied low voice

"What detective game! Don’t you think this village is eerie?"

"No, I don’t."

"Do you know something?"

Upon hearing Yang Hongzhi’s question, Feng Yuan looked at Najia on Yang Hongzhi’s shoulder with a puzzled expression and said

"Are you ignorant or just playing dumb?"

"What’s wrong?"

Yang Hongzhi was somewhat confused. Noticing that Feng Yuan’s gaze was unusual, he followed it to see Najia stealthily wiping tears on his shoulder, and quickly tried to comfort Najia while urgently asking Feng Yuan,

"What happened to Najia?"

"Let’s go... Staying here will only make her sadder..."

Feng Yuan didn’t explain but took the lead, walking ahead. Yang Hongzhi hesitated for a moment, looked at Najia on his shoulder, and quickly followed Feng Yuan. Chudie and Wen Yanrong exchanged a glance and confidently said,

"He knows the truth!"

"Let’s go! Catch up with him! I refuse to believe he won’t spill the beans! To think I was running around all afternoon for nothing!"

Chudie said with some resentment as she followed Feng Yuan. When they reached the edge of the village and saw the torches below, Feng Yuan sighed, took out his phone and made a call, then said to Yang Hongzhi,

"I have some other things to deal with, so I won’t go back with you. If you’re in a hurry, you can go back first."

"What’s wrong?"

Looking puzzled at the torches at the foot of the hill, Yang Hongzhi could vaguely make out that the torches were being held in people’s hands. Chudie hurried over, stared at the torches with her hands on her hips, and said indignantly to Feng Yuan,

"Aren’t you going to give me an explanation? If you know the truth, why didn’t you tell me!"

Feng Yuan glanced at Chudie and said,

"Why should I tell you?"

"You have no idea how busy you’ve made me all afternoon, and, by the way, what’s with those people down the mountain?"

"A send-off, I guess..."

"A send-off?"

Chudie looked dissatisfied, her fists clenched, and assumed a stance as if to say, ’I’ll teach you a lesson if you don’t explain.’ Feng Yuan sighed and said,

"Don’t you need to hurry back to school?"

"No rush! You explain first! If you don’t explain, don’t even think about leaving!"

"I didn’t plan on leaving... I need to stay here..."

Looking at Feng Yuan’s somewhat melancholic figure, Chudie walked up to him, patted his shoulder, and said,

"What’s gotten into you? You’ve been acting weird all afternoon; do you have friends here?"

Feng Yuan looked at the steep mountain behind the village, sighed, and said,

"No..."

"Then what’s this about? Shall we stay here for the night? The ghostly energy is more active at night; maybe we can..."

"Where can you stay?"

Feng Yuan cut off Chudie’s words, let the night wind whip through his hair, and said in a low, depressing tone,

"Haven’t you noticed?"

"This village... it’s fake..."

"No way!"

The three of them looked at the village in surprise, then back at Feng Yuan. Wen Yanrong was the first to come to her senses, staring intently at the crops in the fields and said,

"I should’ve realized it sooner. No wonder something felt off!"

"Hold on! The crops! It’s harvest time now!"

"To think we never noticed..."

Yang Hongzhi sighed, gave a wry smile, and looked at Najia on his shoulder, saying,

"Did you notice this before? I really am way behind that guy..."

"Gina..."

Najia gently patted Yang Hongzhi’s cheek, unsure of how to offer comfort.