Chapter 274 Goat ge
I stared into his eyes, and after a long pause, I finally managed to say, "Thank you, mister..."
"Mister...?" He didn’t seem to like that title very much. "Calling me ‘mister’... might as well call me {Lord Vermilion Bird}."
"Lord Vermilion Bird?" I didn’t quite understand. This isn’t ancient times—why would someone still refer to themselves as {Lord}?
But Lord Vermilion Bird had indeed saved my life. If he hadn’t shown up, I would have definitely died here.
He must be a really, really good person.
"Xiaomeimei, you’ve made a very great decision today," Lord Vermilion Bird said with a smile. "From now on, you won’t go hungry, and no one will bully you anymore."
"Ah?"
"It’s getting late, let’s go," Lord Vermilion Bird beckoned with his hand and walked out the door.
Once outside, I finally saw that he was wearing a crimson feathered cloak."Lo—Lord Vermilion Bird, where are we going?" I hurriedly followed him.
He pointed to a nearby open space, where a glowing door had appeared.
"You are now part of the {Earthly Branches}, and every night you must board the {Train}. This is the first rule," Lord Vermilion Bird said. “May fate guide you to new friendships.”
‘Earthly Branches... Train... friendships?’ I didn’t understand a single word.
But in the blink of an eye, Lord Vermilion Bird had vanished.
Was he some kind of deity sent to save me?
As the darkness around me deepened, I could only keep walking toward the glowing door. It seemed like a door from the legends, floating in the air but leading to another place.
I slowly walked through the door and found myself standing in a long corridor, with wooden doors lining both sides. Many people wearing masks were walking out from behind those doors, heading straight for the opposite end of the hallway without pausing.
I turned around and saw that the glowing door I had entered through had disappeared, leaving only a wooden door behind.
"What is going on...?" Could it be that I came out of one of these wooden doors?
"Move aside, don’t block the way." A rough voice rang out behind me.
I jumped in surprise and quickly stepped aside, only to notice a tall man wearing a white tiger mask standing behind me.
"What’s this... how come there’s such a short one?" He glanced at me with disdain, then turned and walked ahead without looking back.
"Ah..." It took me a moment to react, and I immediately hurried to follow him. "Mister!"
The tall man froze for a moment when he heard the word "Mister," then slowly turned his head back.
"What...?" His tone softened instantly.
"Mister... h–hello..." I lowered my head slightly and asked, "Could you tell me where this place is?"
The tall man gave me a very complicated look before slowly responding, "This is the {Train}, a place where {Earthly Branches} rest."
"{Earthly Branches} rest here?" I was somewhat confused. "Why am I in a place for {Earthly Branches} to rest?"
Mister Tiger appeared to freeze again.
I thought he would answer my question, but he paused for a long time before finally forcing out four words. "How... old are you?"
"Mister, I’m about to turn ten." I answered earnestly.
"Ten...?" He blinked and then asked, "Are you hungry?"
"Hungry...?" I felt a little embarrassed and touched my head. "I... I am a bit hungry..."
"Come on, I'll take you to eat." He reached out his large palm and held my hand, filling me with a sense of warmth.
We had only taken a few steps when another mister walked out from the door ahead of us. His face was hidden behind a snake mask, and he smelled terrible.
"Well well!" The Mister Snake called out. "Isn't this little Tiger? Haven't seen you in a day, and you found yourself a little girlfriend?"
"Get lost." Mister Tiger’s tone when replying to him was anything but polite. "Do you believe I’ll tear you apart?"
"Hahahaha!" Mister Snake seemed to find this amusing for some reason. "You want to tear me apart on the {Train}? Come on, come on, I want to see what Goat ge will say if you do."
"Then laozi will just break your fingers then," Mister Tiger growled. "If it weren't for Goat ge, I'd break all ten of your fingers right now."
"Aiyo... alright, alright..." Mister Snake reached out and put his arm around Mister Tiger's shoulder. "Come on, as fellow {students}, is there really a need to kick up such a big fuss?"
"Get lost." Mister Tiger shook off his hand. "What {little girlfriend}? Watch your mouth when you speak with laozi
.""Haha! Isn’t it true?" Mister Snake bent down to look at me. "A loli-style little mouse? Not bad."
I swallowed slightly and looked into his eyes, then said, "Mis—Mister... hello..."
The moment those words left my mouth, Mister Snake froze.
"Eh?" His expression changed as he quickly turned to Mister Tiger. "What are you playing at...? This voice... this is still a child!"
"Did you just f*cking realize?" Mister Tiger shook his head. "What kind of nonsense were you spouting earlier?"
"I... I..." Mister Snake quickly slapped his mouth, cursing, "F*ck, how was I supposed to know?! But why?"
"Enough talk. Goat ge will figure something out," Mister Tiger said, pulling me in front of him. He scanned the area and then asked, "By the way, where's Ole Black? Is he dead?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the door in front of us was pushed open.
A person wearing a black goat head mask stepped out.
He shot us a cold glance, then walked off in another direction.
"Motherf..." Mister Tiger cursed. "They’re both {goats}, but just seeing him pisses me off."
"Alright, alright..." Mister Snake chuckled and patted Mister Tiger, then looked down at me and said, "Child, you must be starving, right? Mister will take you to eat."
I smiled awkwardly. If it weren’t for Mister Snake showing up, I probably would’ve already gone to eat by now.
The two of them each held one of my hands, guiding me through the crowd of masked people.
Mister Tiger seemed to have a lot of authority—many people stepped aside to let him pass.
We followed Mister Black Goat for a long while before finally stopping in front of a door.
I was a bit curious. All the doors here looked the same—how did they know where they were supposed to go?
Mister Black Goat reached out and knocked on the door, then said respectfully, "Goat ge, we’ve arrived."
"Come in." A man's voice came from inside.
After hearing that, the three of us slowly pushed the door open. Inside was a room that looked like a restaurant.
There were many kinds of food laid out on the dining table, and I immediately froze, staring at the spread.