Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1574 - 1567: Revealing the True Self

Chapter 1574: Chapter 1567: Revealing the True Self

"How did you know?" Cheng Ziang asked with furrowed brows.

"Just guessing," Ah Si said with a tilted head and a playful smile, "When wandering the world, how could one possibly reveal their true name so carelessly."

"Then..." Cheng Ziang hesitated to ask.

"My name is real though," Ah Si said with a smile, squinting her eyes.

"Is that so..." Cheng Ziang said, covering his face with his hand and taking a deep breath.

A faint fragrance entered his mouth and nose, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally obstructing his ability to access the information stored in his brain, causing him to be unable to recall the identity of the person before him no matter how hard he tried.

Perhaps due to overly concentrated focus, Cheng Ziang would subconsciously forget that there was someone next to him. If it weren’t for the bell on her body that jingled continuously, Cheng Ziang might have long been lost in his slightly blunt imaginations.

"You seem a little uncomfortable; why don’t you rest for a while? I’ll take you to see something tomorrow, maybe it will help you remember something," Ah Si suggested.

"No, I have to go find my companions now." Cheng Ziang shook his head, struggling to try and stand up.

"Hey hey, it’s already getting late, how are you going to find them? I’ll come with you to look for them tomorrow," Ah Si quickly held him back and said.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Cheng Ziang curiously asked, looking at her holding his hand.

"Well, I’m nice to everyone like that," Ah Si said with a tilt of her head, as if it were only natural.

"Why do I feel..." Cheng Ziang said with furrowed brows, "that you seem familiar?"

"Really? Does that mean you remember something?" Ah Si first paused, then eagerly asked.

"I can’t remember..." Cheng Ziang averted his gaze, gently shaking his head.

"It’s alright, you should rest well. You have companions, right? I believe they will be alright too," Ah Si consoled him.

While saying so, she stared intently at Cheng Ziang without uttering a word. Cheng Ziang felt somewhat uncomfortable under her gaze and couldn’t help but ask, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"No, I was just wondering, do you sleep with your mask on?" Ah Si asked with wide eyes.

Hearing her question, Cheng Ziang glanced at her and hesitated for a while before finally, biting the bullet, he took off his mask.

Subconsciously, he felt that the girl in front of him was trustworthy, even though he didn’t know her origins.

After removing the mask, Cheng Ziang revealed his true face. Ah Si took a deep breath and, at the first glance of Cheng Ziang’s true face, her breath stopped for a moment.

She had not expected that there could be such a strikingly handsome man in the world before she saw Cheng Ziang.

Cheng Ziang was a mixed-blood of the Northern Aud people and the Odelanqi royal family. The Northern Aud people naturally carried Elf blood, while the royal lineage bestowed upon him that captivating hair color.

The well-traveled Cheng Ziang had a more mature appearance; perhaps because he hadn’t shaved for a long time, his chin was clearly covered with a stubble beard, adding to his mature and steady demeanor.

Because he only carried part of the Elf lineage, Cheng Ziang was not as young as Luo’er compared to others. After all, this was almost their tenth year in the Otherworld; everyone had long since grown out of being the greenhorns they were at the beginning.

"What’s wrong?" Noticing Ah Si’s astonished expression, Cheng Ziang turned his head and asked.

Although the originally aloof Cheng Ziang had become much more amiable after the team’s shared experiences, he still habitually wore that icy expression, and his eyes always involuntarily emitted a cold and aloof aura.

"Ah, I, uh, you... hehe... You are not a local, are you..." Faced with Cheng Ziang’s question, Ah Si seemed very unnatural.

Her hands, with nowhere to rest, covered her mouth, then crossed over each other. Her face evidently showed infatuation, but she became embarrassed when Cheng Ziang noticed.

"Do you think I look very strange?" Cheng Ziang asked.

Having grown accustomed to being mentioned in the same breath as Luo’er, Cheng Ziang subconsciously overlooked one fact: he himself was also a handsome young man with the charm to captivate girls.

"No, no, how could that be, haha... haha..." Ah Si vigorously shook her head, then lowered it, unable to restrain herself from letting out a silly chuckle.

"So... I... later on..." After a pause, Ah Si sheepishly asked, "Will I be able to see your true face again in the future?"

"As long as you keep it to yourself." Cheng Ziang said.

"I won’t, for sure I won’t." Hearing Cheng Ziang’s answer, Ah Si excitedly waved her hands and said, her eyes brimming with joy.

"Where is there water? I’d like to wash my face." Cheng Ziang looked around and asked.

"Ah, you just stay seated here, don’t move, I’ll go get you some water." Ah Si said, waving her hands, then hurriedly stood up, holding her skirt hem as she left the campfire.

Cheng Ziang stared at her receding back, and suddenly a question popped into his mind: "She’s the hunter’s daughter, why is she dressed like this? That’s what girls from the city wear."

But his query didn’t last long, as the lingering fragrance again invaded his nostrils, causing his brain to go blank in an instant, and also erasing his question.

"Eh, what was I thinking about?" Feeling his brain go blank again, Cheng Ziang knocked on his head in pain.

He sat in front of the campfire, trying hard to recall the events of the day. He vaguely remembered they were all knocked out by a man in black; what was up with these guys, not even caring when he fell on the road.

That’s not right, Ah Si just said that she saw a bunch of corpses on the road. Could it be that these men in black also ran into trouble?

Wait, who is Ah Si?

"Why is my head muddled again? Did I become stupid from a fall?" Cheng Ziang held his head, feeling helpless and angry about the blankness in his brain.

At this moment, a rustling sound came from the woods, as if someone was hurrying through the forest towards the campfire. Although Cheng Ziang’s head had gone blank, he subconsciously reacted to the situation.

He decisively put on the mask, grasped his sword scabbard with one hand, slowly undid the buckle on his pistol holster with the other, and stared intently in the direction of the sound.

Before long, three dark figures leapt out of the woods, seeming to head straight for the campfire. The moment they burst out of the thicket, all three stumbled to the ground, exclaiming in pain.

Clang!

Cheng Ziang took a decisive step back to keep his distance, then drew his long sword and questioned in a stern voice: "Who’s there?"

"Manor Lord, we won’t run anymore, please spare us, please spare us!" Noticing Cheng Ziang, the three immediately started kowtowing in fright, amidst the inconsolable cries of a child.

These were two men and a child, and upon closer inspection, Cheng Ziang realized they were all members of the Demon Clan. One of the men was from the Qingqiu Clan and the other from the Maoyou Clan, the two most common types of the Demon Clan found in Kyushu. The child also seemed to be from the Qingqiu Clan, but it was unclear what relationship he had with them.

This child looked about six or seven years old and barely reached Cheng Ziang’s waist when standing up. His crying was immature and irritating, annoying to anyone who heard it.

"Shut up, stop crying, it’s because of you that these people were drawn here," the Qingqiu clan member said angrily, slapping the child and speaking sternly.

"Who are you?" Cheng Ziang asked, remaining expressionless.

"Manor Lord, please take the child, we... we don’t want him anymore, we only beg you to spare our lives," the man from the Maoyou Clan knelt on the ground, waving his hands pleadingly.

"What do I want a child for?" Cheng Ziang asked puzzledly.

"Eh, Manor Lord, you... you aren’t...?" Hearing his response, the two men were taken aback, exchanging glances with each other.

Just then, two more men sprang out of the bushes. They were two men in their thirties or forties, carrying sharp blades and dressed in tattered clothes, clearly seasoned adventurers.

Unlike the two Demon Clan men, these two were bona fide Kyushu natives. They had just sprung from the bushes and immediately became wary upon seeing Cheng Ziang standing opposite them.