Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!
The iron shovel dug into the hard soil again and again until they had carved out a one-meter-deep pit large enough for a person to lie flat. Together, they slowly lowered the body of the human boy named Shen Xinghe into the grave.
Bai Tang kept her lips pressed tightly together and remained silent the entire time. The feelings swirling in her heart were difficult to describe in words.
Sympathy? Regret? Guilt? Or perhaps a sense of powerlessness that washed over her entire body?
Maybe even emotions she herself couldn’t accurately name.
This was the first time since transmigrating to this hell world that Bai Tang had encountered a fellow human from Earth. Yet it had to be under such circumstances.
Of course she had the chance to save him from the Demon Hunter miss, but what then? With her current strength, she could die at any moment if she wasn’t careful. How could she possibly protect someone who had lost an arm and a leg and could no longer take care of himself?
The most important issue, however, was this:
The boy had already lost the will to live. He no longer had the courage to face the terrifying bizarre creatures. Bai Tang understood better than anyone that someone like him could not survive in this hell world.
She respected his choice. Perhaps dying cleanly under the Demon Hunter miss’s flintlock without further suffering was the best ending he could hope for.
“Alright~ Don’t look so down.” Theresa’s lips curved upward as she reached out and ruffled Bai Tang’s hair. “This world is just like that. For your compatriot, this is already a very good outcome.”
Yes, this world was exactly like that.
It was filled with danger everywhere. Death could come at any moment. The fact that Bai Tang had survived until now was already the result of the goddess of luck’s favor.
Bai Tang rolled her eyes speechlessly and brushed the hand off her head.
“I know.”
The girl suddenly recalled the “test” the Demon Hunter miss had given her two days ago at the blacksmith shop.
“So what was the meaning behind that ‘test’ you gave me back then? Does it have anything to do with what you’re doing now?”
Just as Bai Tang’s question stirred Theresa’s memories, text information appeared before her eyes at the same time.
【Congratulations on completing the quest ‘Test’.】
【Rewards Received: Demon Hunter Miss’s Favor, Demon Hunter Miss’s Recognition, Demon Hunter Miss’s Oral Secrets.】
These were the rewards that had been pending since the last quest completion.
“That’s right!”
Theresa slapped her thigh excitedly.
“I never expected you to actually take down that Pig-Head Man. When I went back to the blacksmith shop to pick up my things and heard about it, I was genuinely shocked!”
Bai Tang felt a small surge of pride but didn’t say anything. She simply puffed out her chest slightly.
“So does this mean I’ve passed the test?”
“Of course!”
Theresa continued,
“About those humans who suddenly appeared on Undead Street, we should start from the day you left the Goat Tavern…”
While burying her dead human compatriot, Bai Tang stayed quiet and listened attentively to the Demon Hunter miss’s explanation, gradually learning the full picture of her investigation.
It had happened on the Long Night the day Bai Tang left the Goat Tavern. A rare reverse summoning array suddenly lit up on Undead Street. When the light faded, several panicked boys and girls were left inside the array.
Half of those humans died that very Long Night, devoured on the spot by the bizarre creatures that had reverse-summoned them.
The ones who survived were sold as goods on Undead Street.
The human boy they were currently burying was one of them.
“Reverse summoning array?”
Bai Tang’s expression was one of shock.
Back on Earth, could people actually summon creatures from hell using magic arrays? She had never heard of such a thing!
No, wait!
She shook her head hard. The girl had keenly noticed the word “reverse” before “summoning array” in the Demon Hunter miss’s explanation.
Theresa noticed her confusion and explained,
“Bai Tang, you also fell into this world by accident, didn’t you? From this, it seems the cracks between the two worlds have always existed. However, due to many rules and restrictions, normal free travel between them isn’t possible.”
“But by drawing summoning arrays, making sacrifices, and other methods, a narrow passage can be briefly opened.”
With that, Bai Tang roughly understood what Theresa meant.
Similar summoning methods weren’t uncommon in movies and TV shows back on Earth. Things like Western legends where people sacrificed virgins and black goats to summon Satan, or traditional Chinese practices where disciples set up altars, offered incense, and invited immortal beings to possess them.
In essence, they were all forms of summoning. There wasn’t much difference.
“I think those guys were trying to summon something, but an accident occurred during the process and they were reverse-summoned into this world.”
Bai Tang nodded blankly.
Her brain had received too much information at once. It was all tangled up in her mind like a ball of yarn, impossible to unravel quickly.
“Then why did they want to summon anything in the first place?”
The moment she asked the question, Bai Tang felt a little stupid for even saying it.
It wasn’t entirely impossible that they knew bizarre creatures existed in this world and had drawn the array with some purpose in mind. But the far more likely reason was simple curiosity and a mysterious fascination with the unknown.
Who hadn’t gotten obsessed with horror movies as a kid and tried to play Pen Spirit with their friends by imitating scenes from films?
“I don’t know the exact reason they did it. He didn’t tell me everything.”
Bai Tang paused for a moment at those words.
After looking at the Demon Hunter miss’s face, she quickly understood.
It was probably to protect Earth. Just like the Dark Forest theory—revealing any information about Earth to a native of the hell world like the Demon Hunter miss could bring destruction to their weak home planet.
That was why, whenever the Demon Hunter miss asked questions involving Earth, the human boy had kept his mouth shut.
Bai Tang fell silent.
During the time she had been recuperating in the general store, she had completely missed all of this.
Seeing the girl looking a bit dejected, Theresa thought for a moment. It was a rare chance to reunite with a fellow countryman, only to completely miss it. Anyone would feel disappointed.
So Theresa spread her arms.
“Want a hug?”
“No.”
Bai Tang replied speechlessly. She did feel a little sad, but she wasn’t so fragile that she needed a hug, okay?
Whatever. She should just head back to the general store, take a shower, and adjust her mood.
“Where are you going?” Seeing the girl about to leave without another word, Theresa couldn’t help asking.
Bai Tang lifted the unopened bag of salt in her hand.
“The customer is gone, so of course I’m heading back to the store.”
The Demon Hunter miss blinked.
“But I haven’t finished talking yet. There should still be one human girl alive on Undead Street right now. Aren’t you going to save her?”
The footsteps that were about to leave suddenly stopped, as if weighed down by lead. They couldn’t move an inch.
Bai Tang slowly turned around, her eyes shining brightly.
“Why didn’t you say that earlier!”