"Your old father would be heartbroken." Zheng Yichen, who couldn’t ride a horse, walked on and said as the Forest Witch and Katrina rode on horseback. Indeed, a part of him wanted to join them, but three people on one horse would be too much for the animal.
"...I really don’t want to live in such a small town." Katrina fell silent for a moment, then glanced at Zheng Yichen and spoke softly.
She too wished to experience the power of technology, and of course, it would be even better if she could do so with Zheng Yichen by her side.
"Let’s first go check out the graveyard I visited when I first came here."
In the deserted graveyard, Zheng Yichen looked around at the environment. The bones he had shattered were still scattered about, only now they were even more decayed and tattered.
The Forest Witch took a deep breath as she observed the surroundings: "There are many signs of the deceased stirring here."
"..." Zheng Yichen gazed at the surroundings, and unlike the last time, he perceived many additional things. The presence of death energy was very pronounced, and it was converging on a specific location.
His gaze landed on a gravemound, and he walked over to inspect it. He noticed that the soil on the grave had been disturbed: "Shall we dig it up and take a look?"
The Forest Witch looked at him with some surprise: "I think it’s better not to do that."
While she wasn’t skilled at creating zombies or commanding the Undead, she could tell that this grave had been tampered with. Something was buried beneath the mound, and from her observations, it was likely part of a ritual to create zombies: "You were right before, this area indeed belongs to a witch."
"The specter that brought me here is in this place."
"...Which means that the witch hasn’t left? That’s very strange." The Forest Witch was quite astonished.
"Let’s leave this place for now," Zheng Yichen said without any intention of causing conflict with the local witch.
He had been attacked by a group of Evil Spirits before and had thought about reasserting himself, but he thought further. Since the witch hadn’t gone through the specter to another place but had stayed, and since all of the hunter squad’s equipment had been taken away, one might wonder who took that equipment?
It goes without saying.
The likelihood that a hunter squad’s equipment was in this witch’s possession was high, and to generate conflict with her? Well, that wouldn’t be very wise. Even now, while he was at a new stage of enhancement, he still couldn’t dodge bullets, and the two witches by his side didn’t know any magic to block bullets either.
Conflict would be to no one’s advantage.
After Zheng Yichen had left, a woman dressed in black mourning clothes arrived at the abandoned graveyard. She stood where the grave was located, her gaze seemingly penetrating the soil, and inside the grave’s coffin was a zombie with guns in both hands, adorned with other firearms...
"All you witches are quite beautiful, so why does the church paint you as these hideous hags? Those who produce such propaganda must be spies, aren’t they?" Zheng Yichen said, holding a small spyglass and observing the situation at the abandoned graveyard. After taking a good look, he handed the spyglass to Katrina.
Such a device also existed in this world, albeit as a less convenient monocular. Without any need for Zheng Yichen’s guidance, the girl knew how to use it herself.
She too saw the witch in black mourning clothes, her complexion pale and the shadows beneath her eyes dark.
"Ugly things are more easily associated with evil," the Forest Witch said beside him. "The manuals from the church make witches look too attractive, which can agitate the younger ones."
"Isn’t the bigger problem the false advertising? This has to be beneficial for you, right?"
Zheng Yichen’s words left the Forest Witch noncommittal, as indeed this was beneficial for them. As long as they didn’t intentionally make themselves look like those ugly witches and kept themselves neat and tidy, without exposing any use of magic or other traces, they could perfectly integrate into normal society.
Once integrated, if one was inadvertently exposed, it could easily be the end, with nowhere to escape.
Gathering information still had to start from the big cities where the flow of news was quick, unlike small towns where there were hardly any strangers and naturally no new information.
"We’ll stay here for now." After finding an inn, Zheng Yichen said to Katrina and the Forest Witch, "I’m going to collect some information."
Zheng Yichen pondered how to gather information in this kind of city. This wasn’t the internet era where information was easily accessible, and he lacked relevant experience. He sounded confident at the inn, but once he actually started, he felt somewhat overwhelmed.
"Young man, how about buying me a drink?"
Just as Zheng Yichen was considering whether to follow the process he’d seen in novels before transmigrating, finding a tavern, a sudden voice spoke up next to him. He turned his head to see a middle-aged man dressed in leather armor, wearing a slightly damaged round-top hat, with a wistful beard on his face, and draped in a short cloak. Beneath the cloak, the outline of a weapon was vaguely visible.
On his feet were sturdy boots made of animal hide, an image that immediately gave Zheng Yichen a strong sense of déjà vu, almost identical to the Hunter-Demon’s description provided by Katrina earlier.
Zheng Yichen looked puzzled at the Hunter-Demon, who smiled and slightly opened his short cloak to reveal a weapon very familiar to Zheng Yichen, a firearm not from this era.
"Sure, I’ll buy," Zheng Yichen said without hesitation upon seeing that weapon. He didn’t know what was up with the Hunter-Demon in front of him, but he was certain that the man knew more than he did.
Tavern.
The middle-aged hunter took a big gulp of the ale that was served: "Huff~ My name is Raymond, I never thought I would encounter a fellow transmigrator in a place like this."
"Fellow transmigrator?"
"What else? I don’t know which world you come from, but your outfit is quite eye-catching," Raymond said with a smile on his face. "But life in this world isn’t too comfortable."
"...So I’m looking for new anomalies."
Raymond shook his head: "Anomalies aren’t so easy to find. I’ve been in this world for several years and haven’t encountered any new anomalies. Occasionally, I receive related news, but those anomalies appear far from where I live, and the news is outdated by the time I get it."
At this point, his expression showed some regret and loneliness: "The transportation in this world and the speed of information dissemination are too poor. Even with timely news, it’s not certain that one could reach the site of the anomaly in time. Over time, I’ve given up. I never imagined I’d meet a fellow transmigrator today, haha, this really makes me so happy!"
Raymond’s words made Zheng Yichen feel uncomfortable. He was prepared for a long-term struggle here, but Raymond’s words really dampened his spirits.