The moment the girl raised her head, her long hair instantly vanished.
The vaguely visible face from earlier also turned blood-red, as if there were no skin at all.
She wore a wooden mask on her face, and the mask even had two holes thoughtfully carved out for the eyes. But looking through those holes in the mask,
there were no eyes at all. Or rather, it wasn't that there were none; the eyes were open, but the eye sockets held absolutely nothing—not darkness, but a complete, hollow emptiness.
Saiki's right hand clamped down on the wooden person's right arm, rendering her unable to move.
[Can you understand what I'm saying?]
"Woooooooo..."
The wooden person quickly backed away, completely ignoring that Saiki was still firmly gripping her. Then in the next second,
"Rip—"
The wooden person broke free. Saiki froze, staring at the wooden arm still firmly held in his hand, and at the wooden person now running toward the forest behind.
(So decisive!)
Saiki didn't hesitate. In an instant he appeared in front of the wooden person who was trying to escape, sweeping his leg horizontally.
The wooden person fell to the ground. Saiki quickly extended his palm and chopped down toward the wooden person's face. He had no intention of leaving her alive.
After all, the thing in front of him wasn't human, so there was no clue to be gained. His telepathy couldn't pick up the other party's thoughts at all.
The wooden person, now fallen on the ground, watched Saiki's palm coming down toward her. Her eyes suddenly changed into ones carrying human-like emotion—fear—as she looked at Saiki.
Seeing this, Saiki felt a momentary daze.
"Boom!"
A loud crash rang out. A deep crater formed in the ground, accompanied by a cloud of dust and smoke.
"Cough cough, Saiki, are you okay!"
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the scene. After recovering a bit, they cautiously approached. They had truly been frightened by Saiki just now; they hadn't expected the boy in front of them to be so strong.
After the dust settled, everyone saw that Saiki's palm hadn't struck the wooden person. It was as if he had missed on purpose—or accidentally—stopping about 10 centimeters away from her.
Saiki withdrew his hand, stood up, and looked down at the wooden person lying motionless on the ground, her eyes now showing a human-like expression.
Not long after, the wooden person's eyes reverted to that lifeless state again. She suddenly jumped up and darted into the forest.
Saiki took two steps to chase but seemed to think of something and stopped.
He watched until the wooden person's figure completely disappeared into the forest, then sighed, turned, and looked at the puzzled group.
"You… you…"
Su Sheng bit his lip in disbelief, stammering as he looked at Saiki.
[You what? What do you want to say?]
"Saiki… no, Saiki-god, you're actually that strong. So awesome!"
Zhao Gao's eyes sparkled as he spoke from the side. Now he felt much more at ease. With such an amazing teammate, he could be carried all the way. This run was secure.
"Saiki-oniichan, you're so cool!"
"…"
Su Sheng also walked over, but he didn't open his mouth to mock or say things like "I could do that too." After witnessing Saiki's display just now, he had calmed down and was being relatively "honest with himself."
Akiyuki walked up to Saiki and asked: "Why didn't you chase after that wooden person earlier? Just letting her escape like that—aren't you worried she'll come back?"
"Yeah! Why?"
Saiki thought for a moment, expression calm.
[Couldn't chase her. There might not be just one, and if I went after her, what would happen to all of you?]
He really… I could cry. Hearing Saiki say that, the others unconsciously felt reassured. The person in front of them was actually considering their safety.
[We should get going.]
Saiki didn't care about the rest and continued along the path.
Mm, now that they were walking on the road, everyone was no longer as scared as before. After all, Saiki was so strong. If some ghost or monster capable of taking him down appeared, they wouldn't be able to escape anyway.
The system came out again, sitting on Saiki's shoulder and asking: "Saiki, why didn't you chase her earlier?"
Saiki glanced sideways.
[Yare yare daze, even you're asking the same thing.]
"You can't fool me. There's no way you couldn't catch up. And even if there were one or two, you could kill them casually, right? Also, you used instant movement psychic power just now!"
[I didn't. I just moved really fast. Is there a problem?]
"Ugh… no problem. Then why did you let her go?"
[…]
"Say something!"
[Not telling you.]
"Hmph! Fine, don't tell me then. Later when I find something out, I won't tell you either. I'm holding this grudge."
"..."
The group walked another ten minutes or so until they saw someone squatting on the ground ahead making crying sounds again, and they stopped.
"Is that a person or a ghost!"
The person squatting and crying softly ahead heard the voices and looked up. It turned out to be a young girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen.
Although her face had some dust on it, it didn't affect her appearance. She wasn't a peerless beauty or a heavenly fairy descended to earth, but she had the cute, girl-next-door vibe of someone pretty.
After seeing people arrive, the girl quickly ran up to Saiki, knelt down fast, and tried to grab his hand.
Saiki instinctively took a step back. The girl missed and fell forward with both hands on the ground.
"H-Help… help me!"
Girl [Please save me!]
(What is this situation now?)
The girl froze for a moment, then continued crying and explaining: "I… I got lost, I can't find the village. Please, take me back to the village, I beg you!"
The girl shed little tears as she spoke and even tried to kowtow. Su Sheng beside her couldn't stand it anymore. He walked forward, took the girl's hands, and helped her up.
"It's okay, it's okay. First tell me your situation."
(Hey! Hooking up so easily? Aren't you afraid she's a ghost, big bro?)
Just now when Su Sheng saw the girl crying, a desire to protect her surged in his heart. Simply put, he felt he had fallen in love.
"I… my name is Li Qing, 16 years old. Today I left the village, ran into heavy fog, and accidentally got lost. Wo~"
Su Sheng patted his chest reassuringly: "It's fine. I'll find a way to get you back. How about you come with us first? We're heading to a village—seems to be called Beginner's Village. Once we get there, we'll help you find your home!"
(Just casually promising someone like that? And why did you say the name Beginner's Village out loud? Won't others find that weird!)
Li Qing looked surprised: "I… my home is Beginner's Village. My grandpa is the village chief there."
(So it really is called that!)
In the end, the girl joined the group heading to the village.
Although suspicious, after Su Sheng took the initiative to request and guaranteed he would keep watch over Li Qing, Saiki also felt the person in front was likely human.
After asking for opinions, the other guys agreed too. They all felt the girl was quite pitiful.
Akiyuki still maintained her calm expression, completely unconcerned. Yao Yao hid behind Saiki, looking disdainfully at the girl in front.
Half an hour later, the group finally saw the village entrance.
There was even a sign in front of the village entrance that read Beginner's Village.
[Way too obvious!]