The next morning, the sun rose with its warm light shining on Xiao Ping's face, as rays slipped through the holes in the hut's roof, seemingly just to disturb his sleep.
He turned to the other side to escape them, but the wooden clock shaped like a horse's head was different this time. It released the bird from the child's-palm-sized opening.
Cuckoo… cuckoo..!
The sound was loud, like last time, but this time Xiao Ping didn't jump up in fear. Instead, he lay back on the bed, looked at the ceiling allowing sunlight to deliberately fall on his face.
Then he sat up on the bed, stretched lazily, and looked beside him, seeing the package containing jam pastries next to him.
As he got up from the bed, he felt the strangely designed pistol pressing into his stomach, so he took it out and placed it on the bed before moving deliberately inside the room.
He looked at the floor where the water level had risen more than before… Leaves were floating alongside white papers stained with blood, and beneath them were mirror fragments reflecting the hole-riddled ceiling from under the water.
"This hut's condition is getting more wretched because of the rainwater! I need to find a solution for this, I'll fix it soon!" After saying this, Xiao Ping looked towards the small desk and saw that sky-colored flower enjoying the warm sunlight, swaying its head as if dancing inside the pot.
"Great! It seems you liked the fertilizer I brought you!" said Xiao Ping as he approached the small desk.
At that moment, the sky-colored flower turned towards Xiao Ping and stopped dancing. It had no eyes or mouth, but somehow Xiao Ping understood it was wary. He thought to himself that it could sense the energy flowing within him because he had been exposed to traces of a mid-level person's power.
"Hahaha, no need to be wary! I would never hurt you, so there's no need to worry!" Xiao Ping said while standing and reaching his hand towards it, adding internally: "I'll just make you my pet!"
Upon hearing Xiao Ping's words, the flower tried to lean back with its body, but in the end, it surrendered, acknowledging the demonic intention before it and allowing him to pat it.
"Hahaha, have you submitted?" he said while patting it, remembering the girl who patted his head at the church. His eyes gleamed with a strange sadness as he suddenly became lost in thought.
The flower noticed something strange in Xiao Ping's energy, so it suddenly jumped and climbed onto the top of his head in a bizarre scene, mimicking Xiao Ping's hand movements when he patted it… and patted his head. Noticing the pot it was in, it was empty except for some crumbs of fertilizer.
"Hahaha, are you trying to comfort me!" Xiao Ping laughed while reaching to grab it, but it evaded his hand and patted his head repeatedly.
After a while, Xiao Ping gave up hope of catching it, so he looked towards the pot it jumped from and was shocked! Because he saw it was completely empty except for some crumbs!
"Oh my! Where did the fertilizer go? Ah, don't tell me you used it all up!" Xiao Ping said while opening his palms, and the sky-colored flower jumped onto them before tilting its head as if saying: Yes, I did.
"Hmm… Forget it! So, did you like it?" Xiao Ping asked while walking back towards the bed.
The flower didn't tilt its head to answer yes; instead, it strangely bent its green branches and turned its head side to side.
"Oh, you didn't like it! Don't worry, I'll get you… No no… I think I'll bring you with me!" Xiao Ping said while placing the sky-colored flower on the bed next to his hat and the pastry-filled package. He moved, took the water-filled bucket… entered the tiny bathroom, removed all his clothes and hung them on the curtain, but he didn't remove the glove or the black abyss ring from his finger.
The flower looked at him but suddenly covered its face with its branches, looked backward, and didn't look forward again.
After fifteen minutes, Xiao Ping came out fully dressed, with only the hat remaining on the bed. Xiao Ping noticed the strange way the sky-colored flower was positioned on the bed while looking backward.
"Hahahaha, don't worry, I'm a reserved person and won't make you see such things again in the future!" Xiao Ping said while standing before the bed and taking the hat, before taking the package, sitting on the bed, and eating from it.
After finishing, he got up, took the sky-colored flower in his hand, and placed it in the pocket of his white shirt. Then he took the pistol and placed it in the same spot he did yesterday! Between his underwear and trousers to conceal it.
"Ah, wait! I forgot!" Xiao Ping suddenly turned towards the lantern hanging on a small hook on the hut's wall… and remembered the words from the guard captain, that he had to refill it every week if he used it for 7 hours a day.
He walked quickly… and extinguished the flame lighting the lantern by cutting off the gas, but Xiao Ping showed a severe expression on his face. He looked at the clock at that moment and saw it was 7:35.
He had used the lantern an hour and a half more than the usage rate the guard captain told him, meaning only 83% remained and he needed to refill it on the sixth or fifth day, even if he used it for the regular 7 hours.
"Damn it, because of the extreme exhaustion I was in, I only remembered the lantern now!" Xiao Ping said while returning to the bed, taking the empty package, heading towards the hut door, and exiting after taking the umbrella from the dry spot Xiao Ping placed it in the previous night.
Xiao Ping suddenly stopped and looked towards the grave of that fugitive man, feeling an omen of approaching misfortune. He wished the malevolent artifact wouldn't awaken now and would last as long as possible… until he could make necessary preparations like finding a dwelling far from this area… in a place like Verndstream city or another city if necessary.
These weren't just exaggerated preparations in Xiao Ping's view and that of other official and unofficial power holders when mentioning a mid-level artifact—this was truly catastrophic for the entire surrounding environment. He had seen the power of the Abyss pistol he possessed… with just one energy shot, it could penetrate almost anything, and this was only at level four! Let alone the fifth or higher.
Despite all these dangers, Xiao Ping didn't want to report it to the official power holders before it awakened, revealed its side abilities, and began strange ritual ceremonies like… what the entity told him, such as making people experience illusions or trials and controlling them like puppets. But he realized that each artifact had different effects, and also thought that even if there were two artifacts of the same level, they would have different abilities and effects too. Xiao Ping wanted to get his hands on it first above all else, so this time he turned away with his umbrella, leaving the hut without fully using his abilities to avoid a sudden attack like what happened with the flower earlier.
He circled around the hut from the side and descended from behind it, on a winding circular path between the trees, being careful not to fall because the rainwater made the ground slippery, not to mention Xiao Ping was also avoiding muddy spots on the path.
When he reached the village, he saw many women drying their clothes on ropes, while children ran around huts with stronger, sturdier designs than the dilapidated hut, carrying rubber balls in their hands.
....
The women looked at Xiao Ping with great astonishment when they spotted him descending the mountainside towards them, not believing this was the same vagrant who passed by them before, covering his eyes.
"Is it really the same person?" one woman asked her friend while drying a perforated coat.
"Yes! It's definitely him! But what happened to him to own such expensive, high-quality clothes? What did he do to get the money needed to buy these elegant clothes?" her friend replied, saying: "Are the priests' words untrue?"
"What do you mean the priests' words aren't true? Are you crazy? They're 100% true! That person… harbored an evil spirit in his hut, so they ordered us not to associate with him or go to him, lest that evil spirit corrupt us!" the woman replied nervously.
"But!—"
"Come on, stop talking and let's finish washing and drying the clothes! The priests will come in the evening! So we must prepare ourselves to receive them!"
....
End of Chapter ~ To be continued