Chapter 765: What a Miracle!
Xiao Luo did not promise Ghost anything. He neither agreed nor disagreed. He really did not want to take her, but this girl saved him. He just could not refuse her. So, he decided to play it by ear.
“Little Luoluo, we need to leave the Dark Forest as soon as possible. My brothers are much more horrifying than those blue wolves.” Ghost was leading the way. She had opened her small red umbrella.
Xiao Luo found her very weird. It was very dark in the forest, but she was always holding an umbrella. He also found Ghost was intentionally avoiding the sunlight getting through the bunch of leaves.
‘Was she afraid of sunlight?’ Xiao Luo thought. Since his right foot had been injured, he was walking with a wood stick behind Ghost.
Duck Emperor was staying comfortably in the waist pocket of Ghost, poking its head out to see the world. From time to time, it would look back to roll its eyes at Xiao Luo, as if it was saying, “You don’t want me, but someone does!”
At noon, they stopped by a river to take a rest.
“I’ll go and find some fruits. Little Luoluo, wait for me here with Duckling. Don’t walk around,” Ghost told Xiao Luo. Then she disappeared after a few leaps.
Xiao Luo sat down cross-legged to heal himself. He would not waste any opportunity for that.
Duck Emperor felt estranged from Xiao Luo since he gave it to Ghost without hesitation. Of course, that was only what Duck Emperor thought. So it questioned Xiao Luo again, “Goddamn jerk, wouldn’t your heart ache?”
Xiao Luo ignored its complaint. Then it occurred to him that it was a very good opportunity to get rid of Ghost.
Becase Ghost knew this forest well, she would not run into any danger without him or Duck Emperor, and he was not willing to take her to the sacred place of the Light Clan indeed. After all, he was not going there for sightseeing as he claimed.
Opening his eyes, he ended his healing process. “Duck, let’s go.”
“You are not going to wait for that little girl?” Duck Emperor said in surprise.
“I didn’t say I would take her to the sacred place of the Light Clan,” Xiao Luo argued. Then he started to walk.
Duck Emperor was struck dumb. Then it cursed, “Mother ducker. No wonder your heart won’t ache. Jerk, you don’t have a heart at all.”
It followed him while cursing. However, it flew into his pocket in the end. After all, that was free transport for it.
To avoid being caught up by Ghost, Xiao Luo changed his route on purpose. Of course, they were still more or less going in that direction, to Mu City as pointed out by Ghost. However, after going around three or four hours in the forest, he was embarrassed to find that he had got lost. The mountains were endless, and the trees were boundless. It just looked the same everywhere.
“You look worried. That tells me you are lost. That is fate. We will be stuck here. We will become savages,” Duck Emperor commented.
Xiao Luo was not in a good mood. Duck Emperor’s irony really pissed him off, so he gave its head a punch. “Shut up!”
“Mother ducker. You are lost, and you don’t even allow me to talk about it.”
Duck Emperor went on nagging him, “Well, let me fly into the air to see whether there are people around. As long as there are people, we can follow them and leave the Dark Forest for sure.”
Then it flew out of Xiao Luo’s pocket. It turned into a white ray of light and flew up 300 feet. After looking into the distance, it flew back excitedly.
“There is smoke from cooking a few miles away. They must be mercenary coups that came into the forest to hunt exotic beasts. Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” Xiao Luo was still in doubt. After all, he did not find that annoying duck very reliable.
“Mother ducker, believe it or not. Just keep walking around here aimlessly. Let’s see who will get anxious in the end.” Duck Emperor lifted its head proudly.
Xiao Luo rolled his eyes at it and took it back into his pocket. Then he went in the direction it had pointed out. After 1.6 miles, he did see smoke rising slowly from far away.
“See? I didn’t lie, did I?” Duck Emperor spread its wings.
“The credit goes to you this time.”
Xiao Luo looked happy. He sped up, but then stopped when he had been only 100 yards away. He would not act recklessly this time. After that experience with the Black Blood Mercenary Coups, he had a bad impression of mercenary coups. What if they were the same as the Black Blood Mercenary Coups? He was not strong enough to deal with them at the moment.
He observed them secretly and found they were from mercenary coups indeed. There were 15 or 16 armed men. It seemed they had got lots of gains and killed lots of exotic beasts, so he was sure they would leave the Dark Forest very soon. All he needed to do was to follow them secretly.
“Smells so good. Those pieces of shit are roasting meat. Speaking of roasting meat, goddamn jerk, I miss our days in the Forest of Infinity Edge a lot. We roasted different kinds of meat every day. My appetite was really satisfied.” Duck Emperor was drooling. It was not a vegetarian duck. Instead, it was quite interested in meat.
“We will satisfy your appetite later, okay?” Xiao Luo rolled his eyes.
“Of course. Look at my belly. I have lost weight these days,” Duck Emperor said.
Looking at its fat round belly, Xiao Luo could not help but curse, “Lost weight my foot.”
The man and the duck kept hiding. Once those people hit the road, they would follow them secretly.
At this moment, a man collecting firewood seemed to see something. He shouted, “Who is there?”
At the same time, several arrows whooshed fiercely across the air towards Xiao Luo.
Xiao Luo’s pupils shrank. He was sweating in fear. However, he reacted fast. He did a carp flip and dodged those arrows. It was a close call, but he made it.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Ten-odd figures suddenly showed up and surrounded him. He could tell from their sharp look that all of them were masters. He also sensed a threatening killing intent from them. He could imagine that they must have once experienced some life-or-death battles.
“Who are you? Why are you sneaking here?” a large muscular man shouted in a harsh voice.
The others were all pointing their knives, swords, and crossbows at Xiao Luo. It seemed as if they weren’t satisfied with Xiao Lu’s answer, they would kill him.
Xiao Luo explained, “I’m a hunter. I was hunting, and then I got lost. I want to follow you to leave the Dark Forest.”
“Hunter?”
Narrowing his eyes, the large muscular man said, “Camel, go and see whether he has sharp teeth in his mouth, whether he is a puppet of vampires.”
“Yes.”
A lean muscular man put his crossbow away. He took a step back to grasp Xiao Luo’s jaw and check the latter’s teeth carefully. In the end, he shook his head at the large muscular man. “No sharp teeth. He is not a puppet of vampires.”
Those people were obviously less hostile after that confirmation.
The large muscular man scratched his head. Bending down, he asked Xiao Luo, “Are you really a hunter?”
“Yes.” Xiao Luo nodded. He needed their help, so he had to be humble.
“Why are you here then?”
“I got lost while chasing an elk. And I am here before I knew it,” Xiao Luo lied.
Got lost while chasing an elk?
The 10-odd men burst out laughing after hearing his story.
The large muscular man patted Xiao Luo on the shoulder. “It is deep in the Dark Forest here. There are carnivorous beasts everywhere. You are just a Martial-Master-level hunter and seemingly badly injured. It is a miracle that you are still alive!”