Great, I'm surrounded by villains.

Chapter 8: Bone Eating
Duan Mingyuan stared at the steaming fried chicken with peppers on the plate. The dish on the plate felt completely different from the one in the disposable lunch box. He bought a lot of tableware at home, but rarely used them.

"What's wrong, Mr. Mingyuan? Is it not to your liking?"

September took off her apron and sat opposite him.

"No."

Duan Mingyuan put away his strange mood, picked up a piece of chicken with rich sauce, and the slight spiciness gently stung his taste buds, followed by the aroma of meat that quickly filled his mouth.

Much better than the usual takeout.

He quickly made a judgment in his mind. As an office worker who has to rely on takeout all year round, he rarely has such an experience. He can smell the fragrance filling the house during the cooking process, and his expectations are aroused little by little until the dishes are served one by one.

"good."

"right."

Unfortunately, Wen Xin did not stay in this room for too long. When she bit off a piece of chicken leg, Jiu Yue held her face with both hands, her face full of happiness, "In order to welcome the arrival of this day, this child has been working very hard."

"……child?"

Duan Mingyuan's chopsticks froze.

Jiu Yue looked at the plate with tenderness in her eyes. "Yes, this child was taking in nutrients seriously every day. Until he was taken away, he had maintained enough exercise every day, so the meat is firmer than other children."

……

Ogre Brawler.

For some reason, this nickname once again came to Duan Mingyuan's mind.

No, he was sure, it was just a chicken on the plate.

"How did you know?"

Duan Mingyuan heard that it has become popular in high-end restaurants recently to introduce the ingredients to the guests when serving the dishes, but September's introduction seemed a bit too vivid.

“This is our respect for the food.”

September said, “With just one bite, I can taste this child’s entire life.”

too heavy.

Even after he had cleared the dishes, the chicken's life was still lingering in Duan Mingyuan's mind.

After forcing September, who was still suffering from a cold, to lie down in bed and rest, he decided to clear his mind.

Knowledge always helped him calm down. He returned to his room and searched the bookshelf for a long time before he found a notebook from a pile of dusty exercise books.

The notebooks are printed uniformly by the school in high school and are used by students to take notes in class.

The content here has nothing to do with the knowledge taught in school, but I remember it in more detail. In order to prevent myself from forgetting it later, I added illustrations and detailed notes next to them.

He hadn't opened this notebook for some time. After graduating from high school, he let it stay on the bookshelf forever along with other textbooks and exercise books, just as a record of his boyhood.

Duan Mingyuan turned the notebook to a blank page, picked up the pen and wrote the entry "September, Ruihu" on the new page.

Today, he became interested in a fox.

Then he opened his laptop and used a search engine to search for some folk tales about the Ruihu.

September wasn't lying.

Many remote villages still regard foxes as a symbol of good fortune and build temples to worship them. The villagers believe that doing so can ensure a good harvest in the coming year. However, as of now, there has been no scientific research to prove that foxes can really bring good luck to the villagers.

During the search process, he also found an interesting statement.

The relationship between monsters and humans is very delicate. They want to avoid human life, but also hope that humans can remember their existence. Therefore, there are many folk legends, which seem to embody humans' beautiful imagination of monsters. It may also be that the monsters themselves made up the lies so that humans can believe them.

The person who made this statement was a famous cultivator who had been certified by the website. In Duan Mingyuan's eyes, his credibility was much higher than that of garbled characters, digital names, and anonymous netizens.

The monk's interest was to study monsters. He visited many villages and listened to many local folk tales, but he never saw a real monster.

In fact, most people will never see a monster in their entire life.

"I can prove that these legends are real and not made up by us. At most... we added some exaggerated artistic techniques."

September's voice came from behind.

When Duan Mingyuan turned around, he saw Jiuyue wearing cotton pajamas and holding her tail in her arms like a pillow. He guessed that this might be a unique way for foxes to keep warm in cold weather.

"Why did you show up again?" "I couldn't sleep."

She moved a chair and sat next to Duan Mingyuan. "If you are interested in monsters, just ask me directly. Why listen to the speculations of some laymen who have never even seen a monster?"

"Can Ruihu really guarantee a good harvest next year?"

Duan Mingyuan cares a lot about this matter. If the folk legend is true, it means that the ancestors of September may be able to call the wind and rain, change the climate and ensure good weather in the coming year. This is undoubtedly a power beyond scientific cognition.

"Of course, how could I lie to you?"

Jiu Yue looked very proud, and she could talk for hours about the glorious history of Ruihu.

"How did you do it? With magic?"

"Of course not. We don't need to rely on something as intangible as magic. We just need to rely on our hands and feet. We regularly form teams to patrol the fields, help them water and fertilize, and drive away animals or pests that steal crops."

This is much more scientific.

No wonder some people swore that their village was blessed by the auspicious fox. Once he had to leave home for a month due to an urgent matter. When he came back, he was surprised to find that the crops were still well taken care of, as if there were gods blessing them in the dark.

"So how did the villagers repay you?"

"They built temples for us and occasionally left their chickens in the temples as tribute. At that time, chickens were free-range and roamed outside every day. They were delicious, much better than chickens in the city."

When the tribute was mentioned, happiness overflowed on Jiu Yue's face.

The happy smile infected Duan Mingyuan, forcing him to stare at the other person with shocked eyes. He took a deep breath and sorted out his thoughts. "If I understand correctly, your ancestors have always been working in the fields to help the villagers, and the villagers occasionally offered a few chickens in the temple and sent you away."

"……what?"

September's smile froze.

She instinctively wanted to refute, but after thinking for a long time, she felt that Duan Mingyuan did not deliberately distort the facts. He just used sharp words to destroy the harmonious, naturally friendly atmosphere.

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood you before."

Duan Mingyuan apologized sincerely. He thought that Jiu Yue was an extremely... naive child who couldn't adapt to life in a big city, which was why she ended up being sold and having to help others count money. However, he didn't expect that this was a family inheritance.

Even September may well be the pioneer in their family to take the first step towards the big city.

He looked at the entry about September in the notebook and dispelled his previous thoughts of "calling the wind and rain" and "luck". Although the existence of monsters was full of mythology, their protection of the villagers eventually returned to science.

It's like if you don't water and fertilize your own fields, you have to find a way to ask a group of foxes to do the work for you.

"Level 3 cooking, level 3 farm work."

Duan Mingyuan found a more suitable label for Jiu Yue, and sincerely worried about their clan's current situation, "Are there many monsters like you?"

If the company discovers the existence of monsters, it will have a huge impact on today's society.

Not only will the monsters be reduced to free labor and oppressed, but it will also deal a heavier blow to the already depressed employment environment.

From a macro perspective, this is much more serious than the appearance of an evil spirit.

"There used to be many, but since the aliens came, everyone has moved deep into the mountains."

Jiu Yue felt a little lost. She witnessed that the villagers all ran to the big city built by the aliens. The fields were abandoned and even the livestock were not raised. Their children no longer believed in the existence of Ruihu and criticized the village elders for their superstitions that had no scientific basis.

Only by going to big cities can you make big money, and the young people in the village are ambitious.

"Outsiders."

Ever since Duan Mingyuan could remember, he had been living in the era of the aliens. However, he had no idea about the era before the arrival of the aliens. He only learned from the history books in his high school textbooks that a hundred years ago, a huge flying object suddenly came to this world, bringing the aliens and their knowledge and technology.

The emergence of the aliens promoted the vigorous development of the era and gradually transformed the world into its current appearance.

Questions about the Tianwaimin people occupied half of the history exam paper. Duan Mingyuan had been dealing with them until after graduation. Their company was a branch of the Tianwaimin Enterprise, and the head office was located somewhere in the universe. Every year when the head office came to Yunlong City for inspection, everyone was on edge.

One big advantage of resigning is that he doesn't have to worry about the inspection by the head office this year.

Duan Mingyuan calmed down and began to review his lessons.

"Huh? What is this?"

September took the initiative to move forward, moved the small chair next to him, and pointed at the open notebook.

The loss was only temporary, and she never worried about these things. Now she found something new and more worthy of attention. "Are these all evil spirits? You've dealt with so many of them!"

(End of this chapter)