WTYTIAAN Chapter 22
by Volare“Aunt Janice married into the village three years ago, Uncle Jim moved from the neighboring village four years ago, Uncle Sally a year ago…”
Yan Yunqing held a quill in his hand, writing and drawing on the parchment.
He didn’t know until he asked, but to his surprise, many people in the village had only joined after that accident six years ago.
Moreover, according to many people, the village was almost the size of a small town six years ago.
After all, it was a village close to the capital of Bato Vita, and it should have been very prosperous.
After so many people moved in, the village was still just a village, and the population hadn’t even caught up to what it was six years ago, indicating that many, many people had died in that defense battle six years ago.
Yan Yunqing went all the way asking questions, and finally stopped at the door of Hunter Rosen’s house.
This was a fierce-looking, one-eyed man with a very stern face, a full beard, a missing left eye, and arms covered in old scars, one after another across his arms. His right leg had a slight limp, which wasn’t noticeable when he was standing normally, but became apparent when he walked quickly.
A one-eyed, lame person being a hunter obviously meant he was someone with a story.
Yan Yunqing had tried to ask other villagers about Rosen, but many people weren’t very familiar with him. A small number of them would frown almost imperceptibly when they heard Rosen’s name, and then reveal a complicated expression.
Yan Yunqing intuitively felt that there must be a story behind it. According to the current mission storyline, it was very likely related to that defense battle six years ago.
Yan Yunqing knocked on the door, and a gruff “Who is it?” came from inside. The gruff voice, combined with Uncle Rosen’s face, made him even more terrifying.
Yan Yunqing pushed open the door. The Fourth Disaster was never afraid of such fierce people. “Uncle Rosen?”
The one-eyed man was sitting in the yard skinning a rabbit. The scene was bloody and extremely R-rated. Yan Yunqing’s eyebrows twitched. “Oh, are you busy?”
Yan Yunqing had been thriving in Sunset Village during this time. He was basically acquainted with every villager in the village, except for this Uncle Rosen, with whom he had little interaction.
As someone with social anxiety, Yan Yunqing had tried several times to strike up a conversation with Uncle Rosen, trying to get some missions from him, but each time he had returned empty-handed.
Compared to the socially anxious Yan Yunqing, Uncle Rosen seemed to be truly antisocial. Even the other villagers in the village weren’t familiar with him. He left early and returned late every day, often disappearing.
The children in the village all said that Uncle Rosen looked gloomy and like a ghost.
Rosen raised his head and coldly glanced at Yan Yunqing, who had entered uninvited, with his remaining eye. Rabbit blood had splattered on his face, and the blood droplets slowly slid down, leaving a long trail of blood, coupled with his fierce appearance holding the skinning knife, he looked just like a legendary deranged serial killer.
Yan Yunqing: 。
If a timid person encountered this, it could scare them to tears even in broad daylight.
Yan Yunqing cleared his throat, looked around, and simply pulled another small stool and sat directly opposite Uncle Rosen, one eye staring at the single eye.
Rosen: ?
“Boy, what do you want?” Uncle Rosen said in a cold voice.
Yan Yunqing wore an obedient smile: “I came to ask if there’s anything you need help with.”
“I’m very capable, you can entrust anything to me,” he added.
Rosen said coldly: “I don’t need anything, get out of here.”
Oh, ho, another failure.
Yan Yunqing didn’t mind being treated like this by Rosen. He continued, “I thought so too. You look very capable, Uncle. Hunting, chopping wood, cooking, you seem to be able to do everything.”
In reality, Uncle Rosen’s home was very simple, and things were placed in a messy way, indicating that he wasn’t someone who was good at managing his life.
However, there were many prey piled up in the corner, which showed that Uncle Rosen’s hunting skills were good. Why was his life so poor instead?
According to the prices Yan Yunqing knew, these prey could be sold for a good price. Even if it couldn’t compare to the blacksmith shop, at least it shouldn’t be to the point where even the house was dilapidated.
Rosen frowned, not knowing what the boy in front of him wanted to do. He could only continue to speak harshly, “So what are you trying to say?”
“I’m not trying to say anything. I’m just marveling at how amazing you are, Uncle Rosen,” Yan Yunqing said very sincerely, his two eyes watery, as if one could see the deepest thoughts in them.
A sincere puppy is watching you. GIF
Rosen: ……
Rosen averted his gaze with the eye that wasn’t blind, lowered his eyes and continued to skin the rabbit in his hand, his tone still as fierce as ever, “If you have nothing to do, go wash the pelts over there. Don’t wander around in front of me, you’re an eyesore.”
Yan Yunqing turned his head to look and found several freshly skinned pelts piled up next to Rosen, bloody and a little scary to look at.
It was obvious that a player could use a single harvest to turn a Luluzhu pig’s corpse into several pieces of pork, but NPCs had to skin animals so realistically to collect animal hides.
A prompt box popped up in front of Yan Yunqing, still the daily mission series [Wash Rabbit Pelts for Uncle Rosen].
Yan Yunqing had taken countless such daily missions these days, but this daily mission was very different. It was the first daily mission Rosen had ever given him. No matter how he pestered Uncle Rosen before, he wouldn’t even get a glance from him.
He inexplicably felt a sense of finally seeing the light after enduring the darkness.
Yan Yunqing didn’t mind the stingy mission reward of 1 experience point and 1 copper coin at all. He directly clicked to accept the mission and went out to fetch several buckets of clear water, dragging the heavy wooden basin in front of Uncle Rosen.
Uncle Rosen silently stared at Yan Yunqing’s movements.
Yan Yunqing smiled at him, and Uncle Rosen frowned. “Your gums are showing, hurry up and close your mouth, go eat the wind at someone else’s house if you’re hungry.”
Yan Yunqing: 。
Such a venomous mouth.
No wonder the children in the village couldn’t get close to Rosen. With this face and this mouth, it would be strange if he were popular.
Yan Yunqing chuckled awkwardly and lowered his head to scrub the rabbit pelt in the water.
The skinned rabbit pelt couldn’t be used directly. It needed to be tanned using some techniques. After several processes, it could be turned into usable leather.
In Yan Yunqing’s original world, technology had long developed to the point where artificial tanning of leather was unnecessary. He had never had the opportunity to come into contact with these things since he was a child, and he had only learned about the general processes when reading novels.
Relying on his rough memory, he confidently got started.
Uncle Rosen thought that Yan Yunqing knew how to do this work and didn’t plan to interfere. He figured that Yan Yunqing would naturally leave when he got tired of doing it. As a result, he had only lowered his head to skin the rabbit for a short while, and when he raised his head again, Yan Yunqing had already rubbed a hole in a rabbit pelt.
Rosen: ?
Yan Yunqing: Uh…
Rosen looked at the rabbit pelt in disbelief and then at Yan Yunqing’s hand.
“Do you know how to wash pelts?”
Yan Yunqing coughed lightly, “Well… how can you say I don’t know how?”
Rosen: ……
Rosen closed his eyes, feeling a sense of powerlessness, “You get out of here, go to the side, don’t ruin my pelts!”
His accent came out, and after being translated into Yan Yunqing’s ears by the system’s translator, it had a sense of familiarity.
It was similar to the Northeastern dialect from his original world.
Yan Yunqing obediently stood up and gave up his position. Rosen glared at him fiercely, reached out and bumped him with his elbow, pushing Yan Yunqing a little further away.
Rosen looked fierce, but he subconsciously restrained his strength when he bumped Yan Yunqing with his elbow.
He sat down on the small stool that Yan Yunqing had been sitting on, “Watch carefully, this is how you wash a pelt!”
Rosen soaked the pelt in water, holding a scraper in one hand and gently rubbing the pelt with the other, showing Yan Yunqing the complete process.
“If you wash pelts like that, how many pelts would be wasted by you!”
Rosen muttered naggingly, and when he looked up, he met Yan Yunqing’s innocent little eyes.
Yan Yunqing blinked.
Rosen suddenly stopped talking.
The two faced each other.
Rosen came to his senses, his face darkened. He wondered what this kid had come here for. He had said he wanted to help, but he was only causing trouble and had even ruined one of his pelts! He really was a troublesome little devil!
He had to quickly send this little devil away!
Rosen put on a straight face and threw the pelt back into the wooden basin. He stared at Yan Yunqing for a long time, “Say it, what do you want to do? Leave my house quickly after you’re done!”
Wasn’t this loosening up?
As expected, the “lift the roof” effect was very useful for dealing with this kind of kind-hearted person with a fierce appearance.
Yan Yunqing hid the smile in his eyes to avoid completely annoying the one-eyed, lame uncle in front of him. He rubbed his wet hands on the hem of his clothes and coughed lightly against his nose, “It’s like this, Uncle Rosen, I want to ask you about something.”
“About that defense battle six years ago, can you tell me about it in detail?”
Rosen was stunned when he heard this, and then his face changed, “Six years ago? Why do you want to ask about this?”
Yan Yunqing took out a quill and parchment from his backpack, waiting to collect information from Rosen.
From the reliable village head’s information station, Yan Yunqing had received a message: countless people were killed or injured in that defense battle six years ago. Not many young and middle-aged people in the village survived. Rosen, the hunter who lived near the forest, was one of them.
His one eye and limp were left over from six years ago. Compared to the tragic deaths of his other companions, his injuries could be considered lucky.
As Rosen, who had participated in that battle and fortunately survived, should know more than the uncles and aunts at the village head’s information station.
“I was attacked by a monster near the pond in Sunset Forest yesterday,” Yan Yunqing said, “A level 12 Grimace Earthworm.”
The pupil of Rosen’s intact eye shrank, “Monster?”
Yan Yunqing nodded, “I’ve already told the old village chief about this. He asked Uncle Lane to seek help from the Bato Vita army today.”
The old village chief considered that the villagers would panic, so he didn’t publicly tell everyone. Only the patrol team members knew, and after they told their families, and their families spread the word, basically the whole village knew about it.
It was also causing a stir. Only Rosen, who lived on the edge of the village and rarely left his house except to hunt occasionally, was unaware of this news.
Rosen’s expression changed again and again after hearing Yan Yunqing’s words, leaving behind a look that could be described as ugly. It might even scare a few children who didn’t want to sleep at night to tears.
“When the old village chief mentioned going to seek help from the army, he didn’t seem to believe that the army would come to rescue us. I’m a little curious, can you tell me why, Uncle Rosen?”
“After all, the army did come to rescue us in that battle six years ago, even though it was a little late, didn’t they?”
Yan Yunqing tapped the parchment in his hand with the quill, “And this time we’re asking for help so early, how could they be late again?”
Rosen sneered, “Those nobles? Hah.”
His emotions were a little out of control, “If those nobles really cared about the lives of commoners, then the tragedy of six years ago would never have happened!”
Yan Yunqing’s eyes lit up. As expected, Rosen knew a lot about the inside story of the monster attack six years ago. Judging by his tone and words, a lot of important information was probably hidden inside.
Rosen breathed heavily several times, his veins bulging, the eyeball of his intact eye protruding outward, covered with bloodshot, and a gasping sound coming from his chest, like a broken bellows, making people suspect that he was at risk of passing out at any time.
Yan Yunqing frowned and reached out to smooth Rosen’s breathing.
Rosen closed his eyes and tried hard to calm down for a long time before finally calming down and looking at Yan Yunqing again, “So, you’re just asking this out of curiosity?”
Yan Yunqing didn’t change his expression, “I want to know the truth of what happened six years ago. If it’s confirmed that there’s no rescue, it’s better to organize the villagers to leave here and live in a safer place.”
“Although I solved that monster yesterday, it was only a level 12 monster after all. If I encounter a powerful monster that is far beyond level 30 like six years ago, I’m not confident that I can kill it.”
Killing a monster two levels higher wasn’t difficult for Yan Yunqing, but killing a monster twenty levels higher meant that Yan Yunqing might not be able to grind down its health bar even if he used low-level magic for three days and three nights.
However, Lillian’s level was high enough, but the abilities that Lillian had shown so far were all inclined towards support. He wasn’t sure if Lillian had the power to fight a high-level monster.
So it was better not to solo if he could avoid it, at least let him level up steadily first.
“Move to another place to live?” Rosen murmured, “Do you think no one thought about it after that battle?”
“The villagers who tried to move away from Sunset Village are all dead.”
“This is Sunset Village’s curse!”