In the Hall of Talent Cultivation, the sound of reading echoed clearly.
This was the cleanest and brightest place in the City of the Wrongfully Dead, and it was also where hope for the future resided.
Since the establishment of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, it had taken in all the displaced children and survivors.
On the podium, Ugly Hag wore a scholar's robe, holding a scroll in her hand as she recited with a gentle voice.
Her ugly paper face appeared somewhat terrifying in the sunlight, but her eyes were as tender as a pool of spring water.
In the eyes of the children below, this grandmother was not ugly at all. She was beautiful because there was light in her eyes—the light of love for them.
"At man's beginning, his nature is fundamentally good..."
Ugly Hag recited a line, her gaze falling on the three new students in the corner of the classroom.
They were Seven Kills, Greedy Wolf, and Army Breaker, brought back from the Southern Region.
These three children seemed out of place among the others.
They wore new clothes, but despite the fit, there was always a sense of jarring contrast.
Seven Kills clutched a sharpened charcoal pencil tightly, as if she were gripping a dagger. Her eyes swept the surroundings with vigilance, as if someone might rush out to kill her at any second.
Greedy Wolf and Army Breaker guarded her left and right, like two wolf cubs ready to bite at any moment.
They did not know how to speak, nor did they understand what it meant to study.
They only knew slaughter; they only knew how to snatch a bite of food from piles of corpses.
The children around them were somewhat afraid and didn't dare approach.
Ugly Hag set down her book and slowly walked over to Seven Kills.
Seven Kills tensed up completely, and the charcoal pencil in her hand rose instantly, aimed at Ugly Hag's throat.
Gasps filled the schoolroom.
But Ugly Hag did not dodge, nor did she even blink.
She simply reached out with those rough yet warm paper hands and, very gently, bit by bit, pressed down Seven Kills' raised hand.
"Child, you don't need to hold a blade here."
Ugly Hag's voice was hoarse, yet it carried the warmth of a gentle breeze.
"There are no demons here, no bad people. There are only classmates and your grandmother."
"Hands are for writing, not for killing."
Seven Kills was stunned.
She looked at the ugly old woman before her. Within those eyes, which were mere scribbles of ink, she saw the same thing she had seen in the black-robed god who had saved her.
It was... compassion.
The murderous glint in her eyes slowly faded, and her grip on the charcoal pencil loosened, letting it fall onto the table with a clatter.
"That's more like it."
Ugly Hag smiled, the wrinkles on her face bunching together.
"Hungry? Grandmother brought you something good today."
Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps came from outside the classroom.
A round, chubby little boy rushed in, hugging a large food box.
"Grandmother, Grandmother! I've brought the soup!"
It was Jiu'er.
Ever since moving into the Gathering Fortune Pavilion, Jiu'er had been steeped in the spiritual rhythm of the unaging pine every day and fed by Widow Li in every way possible, as if he were being fattened like a pig. He was now a whole circle rounder, looking like a New Year's doll.
"Slow down, don't spill it."
Ugly Hag took the food box, her face full of pride.
"I spent several days learning this from Widow Li. It's a specially brewed tonifying soup."
"It has spirit vegetables grown by Zhang Cuigu and herbs given by Su Xue. Most importantly, that girl Piao said it's delicious!"
At the mention of Piao, Seven Kills' gaze shifted in the corner.
She had seen that older sister. She was very strong and... also a monster.
Ugly Hag revealed the food box with an air of anticipation. Then, an indescribable scent instantly filled the entire hall.
How should one put it?
That smell was like fermented stinky tofu stewed with salted fish, with a bit of unwashed pig intestines added for good measure. Mixed together, it created a bizarre sensation that made one's scalp go numb.
The liquid was an ominous deep purple, and it was still bubbling away.
"Come, everyone have a taste. You're growing, so you need more nourishment."
Ugly Hag enthusiastically served a bowl to every child.
The children looked at the purple liquid in their bowls and exchanged glances.
"Grandmother... is this really drinkable?" a little boy asked, swallowing hard.
"Of course it is! Sister Piao finished three hundred huge pots of it and even praised my skill!" Ugly Hag said with absolute certainty.
Hearing that Piao had drunk it, Seven Kills no longer hesitated. She picked up the bowl, tilted her head back, and gulped it all down.
As long as it could make her stronger, she would drink even poison!
Seeing that the fierce new student had drunk it, the other children refused to be outdone and pinched their noses to swallow it down.
Ten minutes later.
"Oh... my stomach..."
"Grandmother, I need to go to the bathroom..."
"Me too..."
The Hall of Talent Cultivation, which had been filled with the sounds of reading, was instantly transformed into a chorus of wails.
Every child, including Seven Kills, was clutching their stomach with a pale face, racing each other toward the latrines.
The scene was more chaotic than a demon siege.
Classes at the Hall of Talent Cultivation were forced to stop for the day.
Ugly Hag stood in the empty classroom, looking at the more than half-full pot of soup, scratching her head in distress.
"That shouldn't be right. Piao was fine after drinking it."
"I followed Widow Li's recipe exactly. I just added a bit more of that purple grass. Su Xue said that grass has a strong effect..."
Just as Ugly Hag was questioning her reality, a swarm of insects flew in through the window.
After landing, they transformed into Piao.
She had nothing to do today and had specifically come to see her mother.
"Mother, what happened? Why did everyone run away?"
Piao blinked her heterochromatic eyes—one black and one gold—looking at the chaotic scene in confusion.
"Piao, tell Mother the truth. This soup... is it really good?" Ugly Hag asked cautiously.
Piao glanced at the pot of purple soup, and her eyes lit up instantly.
Without a word, she picked up the pot and tilted it back.
Gulp, gulp.
Within a few breaths, she had finished the remaining half-pot of soup.
Piao wiped her mouth and revealed a satisfied smile—a look of genuine joy.
"It's delicious."
For Piao, aside from those monks from the Aspect of All Beings, there was probably nothing in this world that could make her lose her appetite.
"It has Mother's flavor in it. It's very warm."
For a monster like Piao, who could eat copper poison as a snack, the potency of the medicine only added layers to the texture.
As for the taste?
As long as Mother made it, it was the most delicious thing in the world.
Even if it were arsenic, she would be able to taste the sweetness of sugar water.
Looking at Piao's sincere, smiling face, Ugly Hag's eyes suddenly reddened.
She knew it wasn't because the soup tasted good.
It was because this silly child treated everything she gave her as a treasure.
"As long as you like it, as long as you like it..."
Ugly Hag stroked Piao's head, smiling.
"Mother will make more for you in the future. I'll go learn more skills from Widow Li."
Outside the window, Seven Kills, who had just returned from the latrines feeling weak, leaned against the wall and watched this scene.
She watched the monster sister nuzzling against Ugly Hag, and she watched Ugly Hag smiling with such motherly kindness.
Seven Kills' cold, hard heart felt as if it had been struck by something.
So, monsters had homes too.
It turned out that the pot of soup that gave everyone diarrhea was called motherly love.
Even if this motherly love was a bit... heavy.
Seven Kills silently rubbed her stomach. Although it still throbbed with pain, that warm current seemed to have truly remained in her stomach.
Rate on N.U.
