I Live on the Land in Global Games-Chapter 479 - 462: The Cost

A few men wielding crude weapons suddenly appeared around the corner of the fence.

"Beautiful lady, Le Xi must have tipped you off, right? I advise you not to resist, just hand over all your money obediently, surrender without a fight, and the pain will be over soon. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for being careless and leaving the house without any attendants!"

Le Xi wanted to say something, but Mu Ying stopped him, her magic wand appearing in her hand, and she still wore a smile, "Ugly men, you can resist all you want, but the pain won’t go away that easily. If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves for being blind and messing with someone you shouldn’t have!"

"I see you prefer punishment over a toast!" the men were quite infuriated by Mu Ying’s words.

But Xiao Lesi’s eyes widened as he looked behind them.

The tree had come to life, and its branches silently extended quickly towards these men.

"Ah—"

Suddenly caught by the legs and lifted upside down, the men were terribly frightened, dropping their weapons to the ground.

The screaming didn’t last long as a mass of vines blocked their mouths, and other branches twisted into whips, lashing them repeatedly, leaving only hoarse cries of pain coming from their throats.

"You, you, you..." Xiao Lesi was too astonished to speak.

"I told you I had means to defend myself; let them face their punishment. Let’s go see your father," Mu Ying said.

Xiao Lesi was good at telling stories because his father told him many stories, but his father’s stories were detached from reality, comprising fantasies, not the real stories the noble lady sought, which is why he hadn’t told any.

In his father’s stories, people with such magical talents were always evil-hearted witches.

But the noble lady who paid a lot of money for his stories, even gave him meat, and was even willing to heal his father, didn’t seem like a bad person.

"Le Xi, keep what just happened a secret for now!" Mu Ying said.

She wasn’t afraid; she was more concerned that spreading the word would cause trouble and inconvenience her continued story acquisition.

Xiao Lesi nodded. There was really nothing in their home worth scheming for, so he wasn’t worried about her having any ill intentions.

Most importantly, her impressive skills meant there was an even bigger chance of his father being healed.

Xiao Lesi led her inside. The house was a dilapidated wooden structure, half of its thatched roof blown away, where a haggard middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes lay in bed, his brow slightly furrowed and eyes tightly shut.

Mu Ying wasn’t a real traveling doctor and didn’t know how to treat illnesses, but she was skilled in Life Magic, nothing beyond her reach for common diseases.

With a light tap of her wand, a stream of green magic power flowed into the body of the man on the bed.

His complexion visibly brightened, the dark circles under his eyes faded, his eyelids twitched, and he woke up.

Mu Ying put away her magic wand.

Xiao Lesi rushed to the bedside: "Dad, are you awake? How do you feel?"

Vier touched his son’s head, wiping away his tears: "Don’t worry, I’m very well, feeling lighter than ever before."

"Did you save me?" Vier looked at Mu Ying, "I know my own condition well; a regular doctor couldn’t have healed me. Are you a witch?"

Mu Ying nodded her head, having noticed that this Vier’s manner of speaking did not resemble that of a peasant. Moreover, his hair, though dry and messy, was clearly blond, a color usually found only among nobles.

"Is there a price for saving me?" Vier’s face showed neither the joy of bodily recovery nor gratitude towards his benefactor. "If I can’t afford it, then take my life, I have already resigned myself to death, but not my son!"

"All you need to do is tell me a story, a real story," said Mu Ying.

It was only because of Xiao Lesi’s well-meaning reminder that Mu Ying became nosy, even if people were wary of her; she didn’t care, as the reputation of witches had been bad for more than a day or two.

Humans just love to reject and vilify things they don’t understand and cannot control.

"Really, just a story?" Vier was somewhat incredulous.

Mu Ying nodded slightly. "What else do you think you have that I would want?"

Vier had nothing to say. "Then I’ll tell you a story! There once was a couple who wanted to have a child but could never achieve it. Behind their house, there was a high-walled garden, where a witch lived..."

"Dad, isn’t this a fantasy story?" Le Xi asked, puzzled.

"It’s fine, continue," Mu Ying said.

Her task progress loosened up; this story was exactly what she was looking for.

"One day, the wife stood at the rear window of the house looking into the garden, and saw lush Miss Cuisine growing inside..."

Upon hearing this, Mu Ying already understood which story it was - it was Miss.

The story Xiao Lesi’s father was telling was basically identical to the one circulated on the previous world, Blue Star.

It was roughly about a pregnant woman who, just because she stole the witch’s Miss Cuisine, was forced to give her daughter to the witch, who then locked the girl in a tall tower, raised her, but never allowed her to see outsiders. Even the witch herself could only enter the tower by pulling the girl’s long hair. Eventually, in cliched fashion, a prince passed by, and the two swiftly fell in love. The witch, disrupting the lovers, cut the girl’s hair and abandoned her in the wilderness, then used deception to blind the prince, preventing them from meeting. However, in the end, true love is invincible, and the couple fortuitously met, the girl’s tears healed the prince’s eyes, and they returned to the kingdom to live happily ever after.

After the story was finished, the task progress was only at 40%.

There was only one possibility: the story was not entirely real and differed from the facts.

"Can you tell me what the witch’s name was? Or, where did this story take place? The residence of the witch and the location of that tower?" Mu Ying asked.

Vier shook his head. "I don’t know, I have finished the story, you can leave now."

"Dad!" Xiao Lesi, not understanding, looked at his father. "Didn’t you teach me to be polite? How could you..."

"Le Xi, witches and we are not on the same side, it’s better to stay away," Vier said. Impulsive witches could sometimes cause catastrophic harm to humans with just a single thought.

Mu Ying: "..."

Although she practiced kindness without expecting anything in return, she was still very irritated by the attitude of the man she had just saved.

"Your story isn’t entirely true, is it!" Being kind was difficult, so Mu Ying decided to revert to being the villain, pulling out her Magic Wand. "The price of Healing was a completely true story, and you lied to me!"

Vier pulled Xiao Lesi behind him. "I just gave it a happy ending, that’s all."

"What is the real ending?" Mu Ying pressed.