Even the fat cat Tufei had a reserved seat, but the three of them did not.
"Damn it... are you discriminating?"
Ding Ding gnashed his teeth and looked at Jia Yunlian, who was tied with a rope and sitting calmly in her seat.
"Jun Ci."
Duan Chen called out. Jun Ci snapped his fingers, and the light rope around Jia Yunlian disappeared.
"Duan Chen! On what grounds!"
"If you have the ability, go persuade the village chief to give you a seat, and I'll untie your rope too." Duan Chen took a sip of tea from the table, leisurely.
"Fine, I'll go."
Before she could even approach, just by making a move, the dining table fell silent. Everyone stared coldly at Tian Qi, their gazes as if they wanted to skin her alive.
This was too abnormal.
Duan Chen frowned slightly. He had only said that to let Tian Qi test the waters, and he hadn't expected the people of Yueling Village to have far greater hostility towards sea monsters than outsiders.
He certainly didn't think people in cities liked the strange or the heretical; that was impossible. It was just that the degree of disgust for sea monsters in Yueling Village seemed to have reached its peak.
Duan Chen began to suspect if all the sea monster corpses scattered throughout the village were...
"Little friend Duan."
Zhao Yuan suddenly spoke.
"Ah, Village Chief."
Duan Chen snapped back to attention and smiled at Zhao Yuan.
Zhao Yuan did not return the smile. On the contrary, his smile faded slightly.
"You honorable guests have traveled a long way, and you are long-awaited guests of our Yueling Village. Thus, let me tell you a tale. This story has been passed down from our ancestors and is always talked about, a topic of conversation after meals. Such a wonderful story, I wish to share it with you."
"Please do."
Zhao Yuan's gaze drifted towards the private room door, as if he could see the entire village through the door, and then from the village to a more distant past.
"Once upon a time, there was a small town called Riling Town. As its name suggests, it was as old as the sun, eternal and inextinguishable."
"Perhaps there truly was an extraordinary power in the town's name. The people in the town rarely fell ill, and many elderly people lived well past a hundred years old, still strong and able to eat and drink. Such times lasted for decades."
"Until one day, the fame of Riling Town reached the ears of a god. He came out of admiration and stayed in Riling Town for tens of days under the guise of a tourist. Before leaving, he said: 'The spiritual energy here is pure, untainted, and can be of great use. I will return to Riling Town again someday. At that time, I can grant you any condition, I only hope you will not regret it.' With that, the god, like an ordinary person, walked away leisurely."
"What happened next? Did the god return?"
The dishes were served, and surprisingly, there were no strange items, only normal food.
Yuan Yuan scooped a piece of Guo Bao Rou onto his plate and asked while eating.
The village chief chuckled.
"A god, I suppose, would keep his word. He did return. This time, he held a box. That box was no ordinary box; it was an ancient bronze cauldron. It felt heavy in his hand. The then town mayor of Riling Town asked the god, 'What is this for?'"
"The god replied: 'This is a curse bestowed upon Riling Town. Do you dare to accept it?'"
"The town mayor laughed heartily: 'What do you mean? You've clearly told me it's an ominous object, a curse. How dare I accept it? I'd run from it as fast as I could!'"
"The god simply smiled, 'If I add that accepting this box can protect the world, would you still accept it?'"
"The town mayor stopped laughing. He knew the god was a god, and he knew he wasn't lying. Gods wouldn't lie."
"And then?"
Following the narrative arc, Duan Chen felt that this story would most likely end in tragedy.
"Then, the god, holding the small bronze cauldron, placed it solemnly in front of the town mayor. When he first arrived in Riling Town, it was also this town mayor who received him."
"'I keep my word. You accept this cauldron, and I will grant you any condition, but at the same time, I hope you will not regret it.' The town mayor was silent. For a whole day, they maintained the same posture, not moving at all."
"Later, the town mayor said this was a matter for the entire town, and he couldn't make the decision alone. So, through the town's broadcast, the news spread to every corner of Riling Town. The townsfolk were immersed in the joy of the god's promise, completely ignoring the curse of the bronze cauldron. In the end, the town mayor accepted the bronze cauldron according to the people's wishes."
"Did the god fulfill his promise?"
"Of course. The god was true to his word and never lied." At this point, Zhao Yuan took out a cigarette. He didn't eat anything, only smoked.
"As promised, the god fulfilled everyone's wishes in the town. The town mayor was last. When it was his turn, he said with a heavy tone: 'I wish that when the day of calamity arrives, everyone in the town will have the ability to protect themselves and will not die from the disaster.' This moved the god, and he nodded heavily, agreeing."
"The bronze cauldron was buried in the earth at the end of the town. According to the god, the spiritual energy here was pure and dense, and might even delay the arrival of the curse."
"Day after day, the town mayor prayed for the townsfolk. Unfortunately, disaster eventually befell Riling Town. A few uninvited guests came to Riling Town and directly demanded the bronze cauldron from the town mayor. But he had promised the god not to hand over this cauldron to anyone."
"Those uninvited guests were manifestations of demons. In their time of crisis, every townsfolk awakened a power, a magical power, enough to help them overcome this calamity. Whether they underestimated the demons, or the god underestimated the demons, in short, under the rampage of the demons, the town mayor sacrificed himself."
"A new town mayor took office. He possessed extremely strong leadership skills and directly led the townsfolk to drive away the demons and protect the bronze cauldron. The day the small town regained peace, he buried the ashes of the former town mayor. But things did not end there."
"One day, the god visited again. He looked at Riling Town, which no longer possessed its former glory, and sighed softly. He knew the curse was coming."
"When Riling Town was trapped in a cage, with no possibility of seeing the daylight again, the town mayor knew that this was the curse the god had spoken of, and the previous demons were merely an appetizer."
"Everyone in the town was alive, yet they were all dead. Some became mentally incapacitated, some became insane, acting madly all day long. The only one who remained clear-headed was the town mayor."
"The once infinitely glorious Riling Town had completely turned into a town of madmen."
Having said this, Zhao Yuan extinguished his cigarette and exhaled a breath of turbid air.
"So, the question is, in the calamity of Riling Town, who was at fault? Who was innocent?"