On returning to reality and hearing the old man's question, Chen Zhiyu paused and heaved a sigh of relief.
"Nothing important" Chen Zhiyu shrugged his shoulders, however his curious eyes of suspicion betrayed his true thoughts.
"I know what you are thinking…" the old man snickered, almost mockingly, causing Chen Zhiyu to raise a cautious brow.
"I said it's nothing" Chen Zhiyu hurriedly replied, his tone already having an ether of anxiety.
"You must be thinking why I'm out here alone in this weird sitting with you, isn't it" the old man continued with a smirk.
"In any case, I was the one to intrude first, I was quite reckless" Chen Zhiyu quickly put on a serious face while commenting respectfully with clasped hands.
His actions caused the words that were about to flow out of the old man's lips to get stuck in the latter's throat.
"Uhn…Hais, Little Friend! So you do know what it means to intrude, don't you" he snorted immediately, pitching his face in another direction.
"I know…but please grant me a gentle and easier death than those ones outside" Chen Zhiyu said, almost sniffling tears in between his speech despite trying to put up a confident front.
The old man seemed to have lost control at Chen Zhiyu's reply. First, he rolled his eyes on the first clause.
However, when he got to the full sentence, a look of fury emerged on his face. He seemed to have had enough.
"You…You…You…Hais!" The old man stuttered uncontrollably, his eyes bloodshot angrily as he pointed at Chen Zhiyu, completely short of words.
The latter seemed to have felt the old man's expression of rage and insinuated that his approach served to worsen his own woes even further, he swallowed a massive glob of saliva right after.
"This one has spat the wrong words, show mercy" Chen Zhiyu immediately said and began kowtowing continuously to the old man.
The latter wore a confused expression, completely at a loss for what exactly Chen Zhiyu's actions meant.
Was this a psycho that had taken the wrong route back home?
"Hais! Little Friend, calm down. Here, have a seat" the old man couldn't bear Chen Zhiyu's helpless kowtows and immediately told the latter to seat calmly first.
Chen Zhiyu eventually sat down with the old man's beckoning. He sat down with a portion of his butts alone and not completely as he was still wary of the old man. Just in case, the latter changed his mind midway, he could still have some responsive time before then to make an adjustment.
"Hah" the old man sighed and shook his head with a smile, "If I really wanted to kill you like the rest, you would not have been able to make it this far by yourself. I also wouldn't have spent all night expelling the congestion of poison within your body"
Chen Zhiyu only began picking sense from the old man's words when he said he wasn't going to kill hin again.
In fact, he had also noticed that when he woke up, his body felt refreshed which was a stark contrast to his almost dead appearance the previous day. It was most possibly due to the old man's effort that he was able to appear refreshed.
It was indeed a good and virtuous act that could garner respect on a normal day. However, first impressions mattered, and this case was an example of millions where this saying was relevant.
The trauma of meeting those 'fresh' dead bodies laying in the cold, in a literal way…it was like a haunting nightmare for Chen Zhiyu and it made him have second thoughts on the old man's identity.
Doubts? Yes! Doubts, he was doubtful of the old man's words and actions for his own good.
"I do believe you" Chen Zhiyu said while the old man snorted right after, he was clearly sounding disbelieving in the latter's ears.
"Alright, but I mean didn't you have corpses as your front yard decorations. I couldn't think of anything more than an eccentric old man who fattened people up only to consume them wholly afterwards" Chen Zhiyu stated his speculation without holding back any detail anymore.
Afterwards, he subconsciously tweaked his gaze to the old man watching for micro changes in the latter's expression. The old man had a mocking smile as he listened to Chen Zhiyu's words after which he shook his head again.
"Those fellows are a different case. They dared to disturb this old man's rest. I was already being kind by sealing their lifeblood trajectory instead of hacking them into pieces. Hmph! Hmph!" the old man sneered, not hiding the disgust in his eyes that sparked with the luster of reminiscing.
His words however made Chen Zhiyu feel like he had suddenly sunk deep into an ice cellar…the pits of hell itself in fact.
"What do you mean killing someone because they disturbed your rest? Was that a valid reason to kill people at all? And yet you expect me to not be terrified by seating in close proximity with you? You're an eccentric elder!" Chen Zhiyu's heart pounded loudly as these questions shuffled within his heart.
Eventually, his unrest was noticed by the old man but the latter seemed indifferent to it this time around. He didn't do so much as lifting a brow to it, only muttering strange syllables to himself.
"So what's your reason for saving me then. I believe I also disturbed your sleep earlier on, I wouldn't just be sent scot-free would I?" Chen Zhiyu immediately asked when he had considerably cooled off from his anxiety.
"Hmm, the thing I need from you will take quite sometime and willful consent. When the time is right, I'll let you know. But I won't keep you around for too long anyways." the old man stated, leaving Chen Zhiyu with hesitation on what next to do.
He didn't know if he were to believe the old man's words and leave or if there was another subliminal message in the latter's words that he was missing out.