276 Family (1/2)
The speed with which Xue Wei's expression switched from malice to one of amiability was simply too fast for his companions to follow.
Even the King had an expression of great confusion when she saw it, all five of her eyes widened and then she laughed, her laughter resounding in the surroundings.
The door into the small house opened slowly, creaking slightly as it did.
A small, five-year-old-looking girl stood in the doorway, looking towards the four experts standing outside, with two wide eyes.
Her body seemed frail and thin, with the clothes that were draped over her tiny frame looking like rags that seemed as if they had never been changed or washed in a very long period of time.
”Who are you?” the little girl asked with an immature and cute voice that contained a childishness which made everyone's parental instincts flair up and want to protect her, but at the same time, there was exhaustion in her voice which did not seem to fit the age of the little child.
”We are just passing guests,” Xue Wei said while flashing a smile, slightly perplexed. Was this really an innocent little girl, or was she an old monster? He had no way of telling either way yet, so it left him in a confused state as to how exactly he should converse with her.
”This place never has guests,” the girl said suspiciously while leering at them with doubtful eyes, causing all of them to scratch their heads in embarrassment.
”How long have you been here?” Xue Wei asked, inquisitively. The little girl paused while pouting her lips slightly as if in deep thought. ”It has been many years,” she said with her immature and cute voice, ”at least a couple of thousand.”
Hearing this, Xue Wei was instantly aware that this young child was, in fact, an old monster, and was likely to be very important to him and his future resolution of the mystery. But at the same time, he also realized that although this kid seemed to be an old monster, her mind seemed to be the same age as a child's.
Xue Wei squatted down so that his head was level to hers, and then he flashed his most genuine and friendly smile.
”What are you doing here all alone in this area?” he asked slowly, hoping to coax some information out of the mysterious girl. At first, he did not have much of a hope to get any information out of her, but the moment he looked at the child's face, he found that her face was flushed red with excitement and her eyes shone.
”Those old fogeys left me here,” she said with a bit of a whine, filled with a sense of having been wronged.
”Which old fogeys?” Xue Wei asked with a patient voice, as he was coaxing the child into telling him the things he wanted.
”Those old Elders from when the Academy was being built.” The girl adorably pouted her lips, ”they used me, and abused my powers and then they left me here. It has been so boring over the years.”
”Has no one been here to visit you throughout all this time?” Xue Wei asked incredulously, he could not imagine that this little girl had been within the forbidden area for so long, neither could he imagine that the forbidden area had never been broken into before, considering how easy it was to gain access.
”No one enters the forbidden area,” the girl said with a sigh of disappointment. Her eyes were brimming with the onset of tears; it was clear that she had suffered over the years where she had been all alone.
”So does no one ever visit you?” Xue Wei asked again, to make absolutely sure that this child had been alone all along. The girl nodded her head.
”No one visits me anymore. In the beginning, the old Fogeys would come regularly, but then they died. Their descendants came a few times a year, but as time went by, they came less often, and eventually, they just left me to rot all alone.” Her voice, although immature, was somewhat fierce, and the words were much too severe for someone of her appearance.
Xue Wei could see that this girl had suffered a great deal, and he sighed deeply. ”Do you want to leave the forbidden area with us?” he suddenly asked, not caring about the shocked expressions of his companions, nor their widened eyes and clear display of disapproval.
They knew nothing about this young girl apart from the fact that her mind and body was that of a child, and that her real age was however much older than all of them added together multiple times.
”Leave… leave here?” The kid's eyes suddenly turned wide open like bronze bells, her voice quivering with discomfort but also slight excitement and disbelief.
”Is that even possible?” she muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.
”I tried before,” she continued. ”But the walls are so tall. I cannot climb them, I do not know how to get over them, and as a result, I am captured.”
”We can take you with us,” Xue Wei offered generously when he saw the excitement in the kid's face, his eyes warming up and his behavior becoming much more gentle. No one deserved to be held captive like this, not to mention she was likely a huge lead in solving this annoying mystery.