Chapter 916
Chapter 916 - 902: The Bewildered Lurker
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8 min read
Lake Town welcomed a novelist.
He wasn’t tall, the thick soles of his shoes (high heels) clearly meant to make him taller, even among the Black Feather Clan he was considered short.
But his rare black hair and black pupils (colored contact lenses), along with his youthful face untouched by hardship, and his well-educated and refined manner of speaking, combined with his slow, rhythmic gentlemanly stride (unaccustomed to these damned high heels), gave off a uniquely cultured vibe, which quickly won the affection of the local women hoping to wed.
"This is quite a cultured bird,"
Widow Ganna from the mill, watching his ever-peaceful demeanor (blindly), exclaimed sincerely.
And yet, this "cultured bird" was very principled, not like those city nobles who came to "hunt in the wild," very easily getting into a little something, then heartlessly leaving eggs and poor women behind.
"He’s a sincere and good match."
When he was out gathering materials, there were always the butcher’s and the fishmonger’s daughters, who tried to ’coincidentally’ meet him, hoping to initiate something...
"...Chris, have I been discovered? I keep feeling like someone’s watching me."
"Maybe... No, that’s not right. Look at that member of the Feather Tribe, we saw her twice yesterday, didn’t we? And now we’ve run into her again..."
The unfortunate Lu Ping’an had no idea what was happening. He just noticed that recently, while collecting "intelligence" under the guise of gathering materials in various districts, he seemed to always feel inexplicable stares. And if he looked back, he would see them clearly ducking their heads or turning away.
𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
If that could still be chalked up to misperception, the frequent encounters with familiar faces around the corners were anything but normal.
"Am I being targeted? My disguise should be good..."
He hesitated, wondering if he should just stop there... If they really found out, it would probably be pretty bad.
Just as he resolved to escape overnight, his landlady, Mrs. Huana, came knocking.
"Mr. An Nan, I have a friend, the friend has a relative, the relative has a niece..."
The winding local accent and even more convoluted way of speaking left Lu Ping’an befuddled. Just as his patience grew thin, and he began to suspect this was a stalling tactic while the hunters were about to break down his door, the landlady finally got to the point...
"...Young Master, how old are you, how many in your family, are you available for marriage..."
The original words were not exactly so, but to Lu Ping’an’s ears, it was this all too familiar yet horrifying pressure to marry.
He was very touched by the landlady’s kindness and enthusiasm, so much so that he was ready to escape immediately... After he gently refused, the lady came knocking two more times, once on behalf of her own daughter’s friend, and once for a young lady she had watched grow up.
The first blossom of romance in his life had appeared in an exotic realm, and it took the form of "beauties" with wings and claws. Lu Ping’an felt a mix of amusement and dismay, but someone else burst into laughter.
"Little Lu, won’t you give it some more thought? Be pragmatic for a moment, having a local woman as a cover, you’d be a lot safer, and it would be easier to carry out your work..."
"Meowwww! Beautiful meow! Let’s take a picture to remember meow!"
"Lu Ping’an, actually, that lady was quite pretty, are you really not considering..."
The message was relayed back by Big Cat, and for once, Lu Ping’an had eaten a loss and couldn’t really argue his way out of it.
Not to mention, whether it’s the Feather Tribe or the Tail Tribe, they indeed fit human aesthetics quite well, more like demi-humans with extra parts, or perhaps, like beings out of mythology.
Especially the Feather Tribe, somewhat reminiscent of bird-women sirens, though having small wings behind their heads and backs, their beast pupil-like eyes had more rationality than animal instinct, and they typically had above-average looks coupled with curvaceous figures, some even resembling supermodels.
The most obvious difference from humans was probably their wooden, cotton-like boots, mainly to protect their claw-like feet for free movement on the ground.
At the same time, they have a habit of wrapping their three-fingered hands... or rather claws, with bandages, or binding them with rope gloves for protection. Their claws on hands and feet might be their weak points, but judging by how easily they tore through animal flesh, it could very well be their strongest aspect.
The Feather Tribe didn’t have the concept of marriage, but they did embrace the idea of raising offspring together. The landlord lady’s so-called introduction was more like suggesting "nesting and laying eggs" together?
"...Uh, can they really lay eggs?"
"Seems like they can. The DNA in this star system leans toward the humanoid mainstream. Maybe it’s indeed possible to have hybrids. Lu Ping’an, are you really not considering it?"
"Get lost!"
After sending away the onlookers who were there for the excitement, Lu Ping’an refocused his attention on the important matters.
In the course of the week, while he "gathered materials," he also truly collected and organized a plethora of local intelligence... The identity of a material-collecting novelist suited him perfectly to ask all around, and it made it easy for him to ask some "stupid questions" that to the locals were common knowledge.
Probably, after this period of inquiry and collection, he knew more about the history and culture of this small town than most of the locals; after all, over ninety percent of the local population here were illiterate. Let alone reading, they even counted within ten using their fingers.
"But despite this, their standard of living isn’t too shabby..."
This was the most puzzling and even unsettling matter. The Feather Tribe had a lifespan of about seventy years, similar to Earth’s life forms, but their history in this state of living went back at least twenty generations... a whole peaceful farming civilization for more than a thousand years, stable enough to scare Lu Ping’an.
Ignorant of astronomy and geography, apart from worshipping a totemic god named "the White Bird," they had no clear concept of religion, and the fertile land here, with at least six harvests a year, easily sustained their growing population.
The physical constitution of the Feather Tribe was strong, or to put it another way, Lu Ping’an noticed that the average standard of strength was quite high among the life forms he saw here. The most direct evidence was that minor sicknesses and disasters were outright ignored by them, and most could easily live to an old age.
There was a part-time Priest in the village who also acted as a doctor, but the main treatments were various herbal remedies and feather-cutting therapy... Seeing that big pair of scissors filled with blood streaks, Lu Ping’an always thought of medieval bloodletting.
Perhaps his method of "cutting off the feathers to drive away the illness" actually helped the patients survive, but Lu Ping’an felt it was simply because the unfortunate ones were tough enough to endure (and the less fortunate were already gone).
"Does my being a spy here make any sense?"
For two days, Lu Ping’an also consciously questioned his heart.
These local residents didn’t even know of worlds outside their borders, worlds with technologically advanced ethnic groups of the same bloodline as them.
Their understanding of the world was confined to my town, my mountain, my water, and perhaps the big houses, big mansions, and masters a bit farther away.
Yet, while collecting materials, Lu Ping’an really did find some bizarre things—some things that were obviously off in their style.
"A common sense with no supernatural powers, yet there are all kinds of supernatural myths and epic hero legends... Are they hidden, or is there another explanation?"
There were lots of chaotic legends and stories here, and the abilities used by the heroes in these novel stories were very "real"... It was the reality of a systematic supernatural power system.
Just when Lu Ping’an genuinely began to think that this might be a "low-magic world," he met the guests from the City, that group of greedy tax officers, and the Knights with their "Demon-guns."
"This feeling... Silver-tier fluctuations, just from standard weapons?"
— End of Chapter 916 —