暴走的酒瓶

Chapter 96: The Truth About the Werewolf Village


Even though Liu Zheng was prepared, he couldn't react in time.


The rooster's neck was bitten clean through, warm blood spraying out.


"Master?"


In its dying moments, the rooster didn't struggle, only gently pecking the other's face with its beak.


This action seemed to awaken a trace of humanity in the dark figure.


It looked up blankly, revealing a hairy, ferocious wolf face.


"What have I done? What exactly have I done?"


It threw down the rooster as if electrocuted, muttering to itself.


"Why? Didn't I tell you to protect it?"

Suddenly, the werewolf roared loudly at Liu Zheng.

"Why did you bring it to find me? Why did it have to be you?"


Its tone was less angry and more pained.


"Your letter said both to come find you and not to come find you."


Liu Zheng explained.


"It must be the Priest! It must be the Priest forging my handwriting!"


The werewolf shouted angrily.


"Who exactly is the Priest?"


"You don't remember? How could you not know who the Priest is?"


The werewolf looked at him suspiciously.


"I was attacked by a group of werewolves. When I woke up, I'd forgotten many things."


Liu Zheng said.


The werewolf stared at him, its nose twitching.


"Yes, yes, I smell the life potion on you."


It accepted Liu Zheng's explanation.


"It must have been arranged by the Priest. He doesn't want you to grow stronger anymore. He wants to eliminate you, the biggest threat."


"Forgetting is good, forgetting is good. Come with me, Little Red Riding Hood. Let's leave this forest together, leave this village."


"We can start a new, happy life. If you want revenge on the Priest, we can come back after you've become stronger."


The werewolf said excitedly.


Well now, so the Witch is Little Red Riding Hood. Then is that old woman the grandmother?


"No, I don't want to be a person without memories."


"If you want me to go with you, you have to tell me the whole truth."


Liu Zheng said.


"The whole truth? I don't even know the whole truth myself."


The werewolf said bitterly.


"Then tell me what you know, starting with who you are."


"You've even forgotten who I am?"


The werewolf said sadly.


"Alright, I'll tell you. My name is Yager, the village carpenter."


"You are Little Red Riding Hood. We grew up together since childhood."


"The Priest is the villain. He spread plague in the village, turning many villagers into werewolves."


"Aren't you a werewolf too?"


Liu Zheng asked.


"No, I'm a wolf-man."


The little carpenter shook his head.


"Wolf-men are born that way. We can transform at will and don't lose our reason after transforming."


"Werewolves can only transform on full moon nights, and after transforming, they only have bestial instincts."


He explained.


"It sounds like wolf-men and werewolves are somehow connected."


"Yes..."


The carpenter hesitated for a moment but still told Liu Zheng the truth.


"The Priest used my blood and evil magic to create the werewolf plague potion, tricked the villagers who trusted him into drinking it, and turned them all into wolf-men."


"Why did you give him your blood?"


"He attacked me with his followers!"


The carpenter said excitedly.


"I didn't know at first. It wasn't until werewolves started appearing in the village that I learned the truth."


"I originally wanted to find you and take you away from here."


"But then I discovered you had come to the forest, so I chased after you."


"However, I didn't find you. Instead, I got trapped in the forest."


"To protect myself, I had to maintain my wolf-man form constantly. Plus, being eroded by the dark energy in the forest, I gradually lost my reason."


"As a result, I killed my only family."


It knelt before the rooster, covering its face and weeping bitterly.


"Who are the Tyrant, Forest Spirit, and Nightingale?"


Liu Zheng asked.


"How do you know these names?"


"They were also written on your letter."


He said without changing expression.


"Really? That must have been forged by the Priest too."


The carpenter didn't suspect much.


"The Tyrant is the Priest's collaborator. It was originally a tiger in the forest and one of the Forest Spirit's guardians."


"But it wasn't satisfied with its position. It collaborated with the Priest to eliminate the other guardians and became the ruler of the forest."


"The Forest Spirit is the embodiment of the forest's will and its protector."


"But now it's been corrupted by the dark power the Priest brought, becoming an evil entity. The forest is no longer safe."


"As for Nightingale, I don't know who that is."


The carpenter shook his head.


"Then what about my grandmother?"


Liu Zheng suddenly asked.


"I remember I have a grandmother. Where did she go?"


"Your grandmother... she disappeared not long after the Priest arrived. You came to the forest to look for her."


"The Priest must have killed her."


The carpenter said with certainty.


"Why does the Priest want to harm us?"


"Because you are of Morgana's lineage. You are naturally powerful witches who can freely use both white magic and black magic."


"You can use white magic to purify werewolves and the Forest Spirit, and use black magic to fight against the Tyrant and the Priest."


"But your grandmother was too old, and you were too young to defeat the powerful Priest."


"Come with me, Little Red Riding Hood. Let's hide outside first. When you become strong enough, I'll definitely come back with you to take revenge on the Priest and restore the forest to its former vitality."


The carpenter urged again.


"What about the other people in the village?"


"This... I don't know either."


The carpenter hesitated.


"I don't like people who lie to me."


Liu Zheng's expression turned cold.


"No, I'm not lying to you."


The carpenter quickly explained.


"I only know they left with the Hunter, but I don't know where they went."


"The Hunter?"


Shouldn't the leader of the villagers be the Seer?


Wait.


Priest, Seer, Tyrant, Guardian...


Liu Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly. He seemed to have discovered something incredible.


"Don't worry about them. They're not good people either."


Worried that Liu Zheng might not want to leave because of the villagers, the carpenter finally dropped a bombshell.


"Why do you say that?"


"They signed an agreement with a big merchant to sell this forest for more money than several generations could use up. But the condition was to minimize the risks of deforestation."


"The Priest succeeded in corrupting the Forest Spirit with their help."


"Tsk tsk tsk."


Liu Zheng couldn't help but marvel.


"This village really is full of villains."


"The ancestor brought wealth and civilization, but also brought the corrupt hearts of the outside world."


The carpenter also sighed.


"The ancestor you mentioned - is that the statue in the square?"


"Yes. This village was originally called Wolf-Man Village. All the villagers had wolf-man bloodlines."


"But due to inbreeding, the wolf-man bloodline gradually deteriorated. By the ancestor's generation, only he could transform into a wolf-man."


"So he went to the outside world and became a mercenary. He earned a lot of money and brought many people who wanted to escape the war back to the village, optimized the village's bloodline, and made the village prosperous again."


The carpenter said proudly.


"Then don't you want to continue protecting your ancestor's village?"


"Of course I do. But neither of us is strong enough yet."


"When we've both become powerful, we'll come back to set things right and make the village even more prosperous than when my ancestor was here."


The carpenter said wistfully.


"Set things right - that's a well-used idiom."


Liu Zheng clapped his hands.


"You told the rooster you were illiterate, but you actually can read."


"The contents of the letter were also written by you, not forged by the Priest, right?"


"This... this isn't important."


The carpenter said evasively.


"Then let's talk about something important."


He nodded.


"My grandmother's head is missing an axe from the back."


"Do you know where I can find it?"


Liu Zheng asked with a smile.