[Wei'er went back to her room to change clothes and returned as if nothing had happened, not mentioning the earlier incident.]
[As a traveler with some smarts but not too much, you naturally didn't bring up the matter either.]
[But Aina laughed and said, "Sister Wei'er, did you forget we had a guest, haha, you're so used to sleeping in and getting muddle-headed...ow ow ow."]
[You watched as the little Lolita was silenced and violently thrown back into the room by her sister, daring not to utter another word.]
["Are you healed?"]
[Wei'er frowned as she examined the part of your leg that was bandaged, seemingly curious about how you could walk normally in less than a day. Was that medicine really that effective? But... whatever.]
[Wei'er handed you 5 silver coins, saying, "This is to pay you back, and we've taken another 5. Out of those, 4 are for the healing potion and your services, and 1 is for the cost of the questions you asked us. That was our agreement yesterday, wasn't it? If there's no problem, then you can leave."]
[You have obtained 5 silver coins.]
[The cat-eared girl brought you a piece of steamed sweet potato from the kitchen for breakfast and then opened the door, urging you to quickly leave their home.]
[You left through the door she opened, feeling disheartened.]
[The door closed behind you with a 'snap.']
[Your Happiness Level -20]
Luo Xi didn't know why, but he felt somewhat dejected, his finger taps at the screen losing strength.
Could the fluctuations in Happiness Level affect the real him too?
[But soon, you picked yourself up. As a traveler from another realm, you don't belong here, right?]
[Outside the door was a wall-mounted outdoor staircase structure, a makeshift iron staircase hanging on the wall. Going down this staircase would take you to the road below.]
[The environment here was somewhat similar to some of the urban villages you had seen during your research back then.]
[So they lived in such a poor place.]
[After descending from the third floor, you stood on a decrepit street and realized this street was built alongside the city wall of Winter City and did not belong to the city proper. The wall was at least thirty meters high, like an insurmountable mountain.]
[A towering tree that could rival a several hundred-meter skyscraper stood at the center of Winter City up ahead. No matter how many times you, the traveler, looked at it, you found it to be an undefinable creation.]
[On this street, nearly everyone was wrapped up in their clothes, covering their heads and bodies, hustling along.]
["Hello there, young man."]
[The voice that rang out beside you gave you a fright.]
[Turning your head, you saw a middle-aged man with a kind face, wearing a white hat, carrying a shoulder pole with some sweet potatoes hanging from it, standing to your right with a smile.]
[How did he appear beside you?]
[Your Confusion Level +10]
[You asked, "Can I help you with something?"]
["Nothing, nothing. I saw you come out from Liya's place, right?" The middle-aged man looked up the stairs and said warmly, "Did something happen? Yesterday little Wei'er even bought some healing potion from me."]
[Your Alertness Value +10]
[You said, "That was for me."]
["Oh, I see." The middle-aged man waved his hand upward, laughing, "Wei'er, remember to bring Aina to Uncle Noss's house for dinner next time."]
[You looked up to see the cat-eared girl leaning out of the third-floor window, also waving and smiling, "No need, Uncle Noss, we have food at home, thank you, and thanks for your medicine."]
[The middle-aged man put the sweet potatoes from his shoulder pole by the stairs, saying with a laugh, "I'll leave these here for you two, come down and get them later."]
["How could we do that, you should take them back, Uncle Noss."]
["Uncle has plenty of food at home, I am just by myself."]
[Traveler, you found that you could not join in the conversation, so you quietly moved on.]
[You walked aimlessly on the street for a period of time...]
[Suddenly someone shouted from behind, "Make way, everyone in front! If you get hit, it's your own fault!"]
[As someone shrieked something about 'the Snake and Rat Meeting,' a strangely shaped four-wheeled vehicle sped past you, whipping up gusts of wind.]
[People on the street vanished rapidly—some retreating into houses, others darting into alleyways, desperately trying to avoid them as if they were fleeing from deadly beasts.]
[You remembered the wolf-eared little Lolita mentioning something about 'Snake and Rat Meeting' last night, but regretfully, you hadn't asked in detail.]
[Ding! Talent: Many Misfortunes has been triggered.]
[On that four-wheel truck, a burly man sat among the load of goods at the back, his eyes fierce and menacing.]
[That's when he spotted you.]
[Your fearless demeanor, somewhat handsome face, and vacant stare caught the man's attention.]
[You see, almost none of the residents of Grey Stone Street dared to defy the Snake and Rat Meeting, and very few were bold enough to confront its members like you did.]
[The man gave you a smile.]
[The man's favorability towards you increased by 20.]
[The man's possessive desire towards you increased by 39.]
[Traveler, you suddenly felt a chill.]
[Your Happiness Level decreased by 10.]
[Do you want to hide in the alleyways?]
[Yes.]
[You hid around a corner, and the four-wheel truck soon vanished from your sight. You thought to yourself that this might just be a chance encounter. More importantly, you realized that this world actually possessed a certain level of technology. At least, that four-wheel truck wasn't steam-powered; there was no billowing black smoke coming out of its rear.]
[Traveler, now you can choose to explore Grey Stone Street or leave this place to find a new town and residence.]
...
The truck full of various grains arrived unobstructed in the depths of Grey Stone Street.
No one dared to stop them, except for those high-ranking persons who regarded the residents of Grey Stone Street as cheap labor within Winter City. On this street where Variants clung to the existence of Winter City, they were the underground kings who controlled everything.
Eventually, the truck stopped in front of a warehouse. A dark-skinned man got out of the driver's cabin and cursed, "Damn, the one-pound Essence Crystal I just replaced five days ago is almost drained. This garbage car is just an iron waste that eats rocks and doesn't go far. Sooner or later, I'll dismantle it and get the boss to replace it with a better one... What's wrong, Black Snake? What are you looking at?"
The burly man looked interestedly in the direction they had come from. He jumped down from the truck, his fierce face breaking into an eerie smile.
"White Rat, I've found an interesting little fellow who piqued my curiosity," he said.
"Ugh... who caught your twisted attention now?"
White Rat's expression instantly stiffened, and he began to feel sorry for that unknown 'interesting little fellow.' To be honest, if Black Snake hadn't made it clear he didn't like dark-skinned people, White Rat would have even worried about his own safety at night.
White Rat whispered a caution, "You better be careful. The situation lately seems a bit off. Don't provoke some big-shot's wrath, or if the boss finds out, he'll flay you alive."
Black Snake's face broke into a scornful smile, "You needn't worry about that, and do you really think those city big-shots would care about us Variants? They wouldn't come to a place like this. By now, they have probably already left this city."
White Rat was taken aback, "What do you mean?"
"All the members of Noah's Church in Winter City left last week, didn't they?" Black Snake asked.
White Rat nodded, "They left, but what's that got to do with what you're saying?"
Black Snake's eyes grew complex, hatred flickering through them, "It's normal for you not to know, since you only came to Grey Stone Street five years ago to take over White Rat's position and perform tasks with me. But I've lived here for more than a decade."
"Do you know why the people from Noah's Church came and why they left?"
White Rat shook his head blankly.
"In this godforsaken place like Winter City, if it weren't for a vein of Essence Crystal nearby, I doubt Noah's Church would bother opening a branch here. Vampires never go where there's no blood to suck. They're just here to amass wealth," Black Snake said as he began to laugh madly. "Do you know? Ten years ago, it was the same. The people from Noah's Church left in advance, and then, a week later, Wind Disaster Hurricane struck."
"You know the outcome too. Even though we were just grazed by the fringe effects, almost all the residents of Grey Stone Street nearly died. Even within Winter City, protected by the main force of the Divine Tree, nearly a thousand people were injured or killed."
White Rat raised his voice, "Are you saying that they knew in advance about the arrival of the Wind Disaster and left Winter City early? Then why didn't they inform you?"
"What's the point?" Black Snake retorted with a sneer. "Are we, who are treated as less than dogs, any different wherever we go? Even the 'pure-blooded humans' in the city were kept in the dark, let alone us."
"Besides, even if you know now, would you dare cross the terrifying night and the vast distances to seek refuge somewhere else?"
White Rat fell silent.
Indeed, even if they knew everything, where could they go?
Winter City was one of the few large cities in the area, its Divine Tree's blessings far surpassing those of the few dozen-meter-tall trees in the villages. If the Wind Disaster came through here again, fleeing to other nearby villages could mean dying even faster.
"Does the boss not know either?" White Rat asked.
"What do you think? The boss has connections inside the city; he probably knew a long time ago. He can enter the city anytime, and under the core blessing range of the Divine Tree, how could the boss have any trouble? In the last Wind Disaster, only those tens of thousands within the core range of the Winter Divine Tree were unscathed," Black Snake explained.
He waved his hand dismissively and headed back the way they came, "Of course, this is just my guess. Maybe I'm just overthinking. After surviving from the ruins ten years ago, I understood one thing—no matter what the future holds, enjoying life while you can is what's most important."
"Now, I'm going to find that little fellow. It's not easy to come across someone who excites me like this; I can't let him slip away."