Black City God was not surprised by Qin Ye's reaction. In his expectations, as long as Qin Ye was captured inside the Heavenly Law Cage, he could either struggle in vain like Guan Xinghe or do nothing at all, unable to change his predicament.
The only thing that surprised him was—he hadn't been able to see Qin Ye wailing or begging for mercy.
Unconsciously, Black City God squinted his eyes and smiled, but he did not feel angry or dissatisfied because of it.
'Stay calm for now. Once my clone merges with my main body, and my main body controls the Heavenly Law Cage, let's see if you can still remain calm.'
Then, Black City God directly put away the Heavenly Law Cage and moved toward his main body.
———
On the other side.
Inside the Heavenly Law Cage, Qin Ye sat cross-legged, stretched lazily, and gestured toward Guan Xinghe.
"Come, have a seat. Black City God is right—there's no way you can break the Heavenly Law Cage alone. So, let's just sit down and talk about something proper."
Guan Xinghe looked at Qin Ye with a strange expression.
'You're imprisoned by the enemy, yet you can still remain so calm?'
Though he didn't understand, after a moment of silence, Guan Xinghe still chose to sit down—just not right next to Qin Ye.
He sat down on the other side, maintaining a certain distance from Qin Ye. While recovering his strength, he also wanted to see what Qin Ye was up to.
"That's more like it," Qin Ye grinned and continued, "Let's continue the topic from before."
He spoke directly, "I don't know if you're still willing to tell me who you are?"
Continuing the conversation from before they were captured in the Heavenly Law Cage, and as he spoke, Qin Ye once again looked at the bead pendant of Guan Xinghe.
However, just like before, Guan Xinghe did not respond. He just stared at Qin Ye, hesitated for a moment, and then asked in return, "Why are you not anxious at all? You've been imprisoned by your mortal enemy—aren't you afraid that he'll kill you next? I don't believe that Black City God would just keep you locked up in the Heavenly Law Cage so comfortably."
"I'm not an idiot. The way he looks at you—he wants to tear you apart alive."
"He sees me as his mortal enemy, yes. He can't wait to kill me. But…" Qin Ye took out his phone and said leisurely, "I've never thought of him as my mortal enemy."
'Huh?' Guan Xinghe was taken aback.
But before he could process the meaning of Qin Ye's words, "Damn, no signal on my phone, can't play online games. Guess I'll have to play single-player games. Good thing I downloaded some offline games when I took a flight before."
Qin Ye opened a game and, while complaining, said, "Since you don't want to introduce yourself first, let's skip that and listen to a little story from me instead."
As the game started, Qin Ye's voice came slowly. "A long, long time ago—exactly how long ago, I don't know. But it was in ancient times."
"And there was a nameless village."
"This village was built along the mountains, and most of the villagers were hunters or people who relied on the mountains to make a living. Their daily routine was hunting, gathering herbs, and traveling far to sell them in distant towns."
"In their spare time, they would teach their children how to hunt and gather herbs so that they could have a skill to survive when they grew up."
"Because of this, the children's way of playing was different from kids elsewhere. They would compete over who could collect the most bird eggs or who could gather the most herbs."
"Until one day."
"The adults in the village noticed something strange. At some point, the children not only loved playing during the day but also started sneaking out to play at night."
"Moreover, they liked to leave the village and run up the mountain to play."
At this point, Qin Ye paused, glanced at Guan Xinghe, and smiled, "You know, mountains are dangerous, right? They're dangerous even today, let alone in ancient times. Just a few days ago, wasn't there news from Northeast China? Two Siberian tigers wandered into a village, and one old man's door was smashed open by a tiger."
"I even heard that another old man had his hand bitten off."
"In ancient times, the mountains had even more wolves, tigers, and leopards—especially at night, which was their hunting time. That's why villagers usually didn't let their children go out at night, let alone leave the village."
"But the kids didn't listen. They insisted on sneaking out to play, no matter how much they were scolded."
"This made the villagers feel strange."
"They had always taught their children not to go out at night—why weren't they listening now? What do you think the reason could be?"
Guan Xinghe was momentarily stunned. He was surprised that Qin Ye suddenly asked him a question. However, he was already drawn into the story, so he replied after thinking for a moment, "They were bewitched?"
After answering, he added, "Unlike today, ancient mountains were full of wild spirits and creatures, and they weren't controlled by anything. It was common for them to eat people—especially children. So, those kids must have been bewitched by mountain spirits?"
"You guessed right… but not entirely." Qin Ye continued playing his game and did not keep him guessing.
"Yes, there were mountain spirits that bewitched the children. But they were soon saved. The reason they kept going up the mountain at night was to play with their savior."
"Play? At night?"
"Yes, just play—stealing bird eggs, competing over who gathered more herbs."
"Who saved them?" Guan Xinghe was completely intrigued now and subconsciously asked, "Was it another child?"
"A child, yes. But with a prefix."
"What prefix?"
"A ghost."
"A ghost?"
"Yes, a ghost child. To be precise, a wandering spirit—a ghost child."
As soon as Qin Ye said this, Guan Xinghe's heart skipped a beat. The curious expression on his face gradually changed as a vague sense of familiarity crept in.
But unlike earlier when he couldn't recall the Heavenly Law Cage, this time, Guan Xinghe quickly realized why the story sounded familiar.
He subconsciously touched the bead pendant around his neck. 'This story… why does it sound exactly like the one my parents told me—the story passed down from our ancestors? Or rather, the story of how my ancestor got this bead pendant.'
'My ancestor encountered the benefactor who gave him this pendant in a village in the mountains. And at that time… My ancestor was a wandering ghost child.'
With this thought, Guan Xinghe couldn't help but ask, "What happened next?"
"Next, well…" Qin Ye focused on his game and said seriously, "The villagers noticed something was wrong. After all, their children had always been obedient—why weren't they listening now? Ancient times were different from today."
"People back then were very superstitious. They knew more about folk customs and taboos. So, some of the elders in the village suspected that the children were either possessed or bewitched by mountain spirits."
"So, after a discussion, the villagers decided to send three strong men to secretly follow the children at night to see what they were doing outside the village."
"And then, that night, they witnessed something they would never forget for the rest of their lives."
"The children of the village were playing in the mountains at night with a ghost child. The children took the ghost child to steal bird eggs and catch fireflies, while the ghost child led them to do things like sneaking up to touch a tiger's tail—whatever the children wanted to do."
At this point, Qin Ye stopped speaking and instead smiled as he asked, "What do you think happened next in this story?"
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