34 Chapter 33

Riding dire wolves, a common monster that was tamed by the goblin's head for important missions. Huhe, Zuyuan, and one of the hobgoblins, took one wolf each and went on their way to the goblin's chief. 

On their way, Huhe was sitting quietly in his saddle and didn't wish to talk much. The only one to keep Zuyuan company would be the rude hobgoblin from before and XB11 that occasionally chimed in from the sky. XB11 has been tasked to fly and scout their way because it has the advantage of higher ground. 

"So.. What's your name again?" Asked Zuyuan to the hobgoblin who had called him a prick before. 

"I am Lyk, you prick!" The hobgoblin bellowed, "See? It rhymes! Gahahahah!" 

The right corner of Zuyuan's eyebrows twitched when he saw that this hobgoblin make fun of him, did he somehow upset the hobgoblin or something, "Ah I see… so Lyk, would you tell me what the reason is for the goblins to fight against the orcs?"

"Mmm… We've been at odds for generations, the orc pricks have some kinda vendetta against every past chief. Including the current one." Lyk explained what he knew.  

Furrowing his eyebrows from the explanation, Zuyuan probed for more, "But then, why did you guys ask for help from the Death System this time?"

"Well, you see that we're not the only ones who asked for help… So we had no choice other than to ask for the Death System's help as well." Lyk raised a finger to his nose and poked out some green substance as he explained.

"Okay.." a little disturbed by the gross action of the hobgoblin, Zuyuan stirred his wolf away from Lyk a little, "How far are we from the chief's place again?" 

"Approximately by ten turns of an hourglass." replied by Huhe this time, breaking his silent treatment away and turned his head to Zuyuan, "Although Lyk is a capable warrior, but he's slow in the head." 

Lyk gasped, "Huhe my liege, how dare thee to call mein as slow in thy head?" He attempted to sound noble in nature, yet he completely butchered everything he spoke of. 

Rolling his eyes, Huhe replied curtly, "Oh whatever." 

"You're no fun…" Lyk pouted.

Somehow, Zuyuan had a feeling that he just watched a drama of a couple like those kdrama he saw on earth, but this time it was two goblins instead. 

-"You know XB11, If I'm not being pressed by missions from the system, we should make some TV dramas instead. Earning death points with a good and healthy way."- Joked Zuyuan as he sent a telepathic message to XB11.  

-"Master, what's a TV drama?"- asked XB11 innocently.

-"That thing you just heard below"- explained Zuyuan in a short way. 

-"Apologize, this one did not get it master."- 

-"Never mind…"- 

...

Time passes by, the wolves tire as they slowly approach their destination.

It had been over five hours since the four had left the goblin village, the chief's home was drawing near.

The sun had set and night had fallen, they rode for some more hours until they passed a clearing that was perfect for camping. Huhe glanced at the rest of the group and said, "We better rest for now, the night is more dangerous to travel than the day."

Zuyuan felt a little unconvinced to take a rest, there were still 5 more hours before they would reach their destination. But seeing the exhausted condition of the wolves, Zuyuan shook his head in resignation, "Sure." 

"Do you need me to hunt the nearby lifeforms, master?" offered XB11 as it landed to the ground. 

Nodding, Zuyuan replied, "Yes please. But don't go too far, and don't use your gun if possible. We don't want to alert any unwanted troubles." 

"Acknowledged." 

In another second, XB11 flew back again to the sky and went to the east, where the part of the jungle was a little more dense than the rest. 

Taking out some tools from their bag, Huhe said something to Lyk which the latter grimaced their face and sighed. Without another word, Lyk went to the forest and left both of them in the clearing. 

Zuyuan Raised his eyebrows in curiosity to Huhe, while Huhe only gave a side glance at him before stating, "His turn to get us food and hunt some small games. Next time would be my turn." 

Smiled slightly to show that he understood, Zuyuan took some space in the clearing to mediate. He chose to sit below a rather tall tree with slightly reddish leaves on the branches. He closed his eyes and circulated the Qigong on his body. His wound had healed considerably from before as he was still absorbing the Qigong in the air nonstop to fix the muscle tissues and others while on the road, not slacking in the slightest. 

Although his rate of absorption was not that much as he was half concentrating on it and half pointing his attention towards riding the wolf, conversation, etc, it still helped Zuyuan in suppressing the wound this whole time and sped up his natural regeneration a little bit. 

After some time that felt like just a few blinks of an eye, Zuyuan opened his eyes and saw that there's already a bonfire in front of him and some skewered meats in it. Noticing that its master was finally awake, XB11 took one of the meat skewers and gave it to Zuyuan, "Master, your dinner." 

"Thanks." Appreciating XB11's attentiveness to not disturb him in the middle of his meditation, along with hunting for some food, Zuyuan took the stick slowly and bit the meat as soon as it was in front of his mouth. 

"Sleepy already? You already slept in one turn of an hourglass." asked Huhe as he munched his own food while staring at Zuyuan. 

"That long?" mildly surprised from the fact that he had meditated for a while, Zuyuan nodded in answer to Huhe's question. Soon, the atmosphere was filled with silence and after ten minutes, the rest of them began to bury the bonfire with the dust around and went to sleep. 

Laying on his makeshift sleeping bag which was already prepared by XB11, Zuyuan gazed at the canopy of the trees in contemplation. It has been a while since he lived a new life different from what he had before, but one thing that had followed him in this new life, fighting. He had to fight because he didn't have that many choices when he was alive. Now he was dead, and he still had to fight again, for he had no choice unless he wanted to die again. 

'If I die on this time.. Would I have a second chance or would I die permanently?' 

His thoughts wandered as his eyelids started to feel heavy. Although the injury on his stomach feels like an itch that never stops, his mind and body feel exhausted as he begins to relax the moment his gaze falls to XB11 who was standing upright with its gun and guarding all of them for the night. 

'It's been a while since I know XB11.. Not that long. But in this new world where I had no one I could trust, XB11 was the only one whom I could depend on with its soul connected with me…'

His consciousness went deeper and deeper into the darkness as Zuyuan fell asleep shortly. In the darkness, he saw a light that shone brightly. Somehow, his legs took a step forward, each step felt lighter when he got nearer to the light. He didn't question how he could walk in the void or what that light was. His instinct told him to go, and so he went. 

Before long, he saw himself laying on the ground, covered with mud from head to toe. His eyes moved upwards as he saw a middle aged man standing in front of him. The man's eyes glistened slightly with blue hue even though their surroundings had poor lighting from the rain, the tree's canopy, and the sun that almost set in the horizon. 

The man's eyes looked at him with the same gazes he had seen in some of his relatives, the gaze of pity. The man opened his lips slightly as he spoke in an emotionless voice. 

"Boy, do you seek strength?"