Starting with the frog, he has ruled for eternity.

Chapter 28 Croak! Decision

"Who are you calling a brute?! Lu Yong, don't think you're so great just because you've read a few more pretentious essays..."

"Isn't that right? Father just passed away, his body barely cold, and you're already thinking about using your savior to pave your own way. Have you even thought about Mother and my sister?!"

"you……!"

The argument grew increasingly heated, and even began to include some offensive and vulgar insults.

Suddenly struck by disaster, no one is in a good mood. No one is willing to yield to anyone else, and no one feels they should give way to the other...

How can they have a calm and rational discussion?

So the sound grew louder and louder...

The bright smile that had just appeared on Nan Nan's face because she had guessed the answer correctly quickly faded and disappeared.

She turned her head sharply towards the house where the arguing was coming from, her small brows furrowed tightly, and her lips pursed.

Fang Yuan quietly looked around the room.

No one called out.

It always croaks, partly a habit formed over the five months since it transmigrated, and also to try and become more like a real frog.

Now that Nan Nan knows he can understand human speech and treats him as a human being, there is naturally no need for him to continue pretending.

Nan Nan turned back to look at Fang Yuan. She tried to pull a smile up, but only managed a stiff curve.

She spoke in a low voice, very quickly:

"Little Frog... don't worry about him. Big Brother is just impatient. He just woke up and was seriously injured. The doctor said he can't practice martial arts anymore... He didn't mean any harm."

"Second brother... second brother was only thinking of the family, afraid of making mistakes... he meant well..."

However, for some reason, Nan Nan's voice grew softer and softer, her fingers unconsciously picking at the dirt on the ground, her eyes lowered, and she dared not meet Fang Yuan's gaze.

……

croak.

Fang Yuan neither nodded nor made any further movements.

He just squatted there and looked at her.

He didn't have a five-hundred-year-long rebirth experience. In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person who hadn't experienced so many mundane family matters or complicated events.

To be honest, he didn't know what he should do at that moment.

Fang Yuan didn't have much contact with Master Lu, Lu Yong, or Lu Feng... or rather, the only person he was relatively familiar with in the entire Lu family was Nan Nan.

Without Nan Nan, Fang Yuan couldn't even see the faces of most people in the entire Lu family mansion clearly, let alone remember them. So how could he have any impression of them or any feelings towards them?

Therefore, he could not understand the feelings of the Lu family after they suffered such a great calamity.

He couldn't understand Nan Nan's feelings, nor could he comprehend what she was thinking at that moment.

Therefore, he felt that since he hadn't experienced what others had experienced, what right did he have to comfort them?

quack...

After a while, the argument inside the house seemed to have come to a temporary end, perhaps because neither of them could convince the other, and they fell into a cold stalemate.

……

It was dinnertime at the Yinyangcheng Road family's courtyard.

A suffocating silence hung over the dining table.

There was only simple porridge, pickled vegetables, and some dry food on the table.

Lu's mother silently served porridge to everyone.

Lu Feng, with a sullen face, swallowed large mouthfuls, the chewing sounds particularly loud, as if he were wrestling with the food.

Lu Yong held his chopsticks, his hands trembling slightly, needing to use both hands together to pick up the food. He listlessly stirred the porridge in his bowl, his eyes wandering, lost in thought.

Nan Nan hugged her small bowl, sat down next to her mother, and ate in small bites, occasionally stealing a glance at her older brother across from her before quickly lowering her head again.

Fang Yuan was placed on the stool next to Nan Nan, with a small plate in front of him containing a few grains of cooked rice and some vegetable leaves.

But he didn't move.

Frogs can't eat cooked food or vegetables. If they did eat these things, they would probably excrete them exactly as they ate them.

So it's better not to eat it.

Fang Yuan simply observed the family.

The silence did not last long.

Soon, Lu's mother spoke.

"Today... Lord Zhang told me some news." She took a deep breath, her voice choked with emotion.

The other three people at the table stopped what they were doing.

Lu Feng stopped chewing, Lu Yong froze as he fiddled with the porridge, and Nan Nan held her breath, staring wide-eyed at her mother.

What news?

"Lord Zhang said... the person he sent to Lujiacheng to deliver the message to Ye Zi has returned. The entire Lujiacheng is now... deserted. Not a single chicken or dog remains, not a trace of human or animal."

"Clang!" Lu Feng's chopsticks fell onto the table.

Lu Yong's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"Throughout the entire city... there were no signs of fighting, no bloodstains, no destruction..."

Lu's mother's voice grew softer and softer, more and more ethereal, like a dream: "Lord Zhang also sent people to ask the farmers in the nearby villages... those who used to sell vegetables said..."

She paused for a moment:

"...They said that on the very night we left Lujiacheng, it seemed...it seemed that everyone in the city...disappeared overnight."

The word "disappeared" landed lightly on the deathly silent dining table, yet it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, shaking everyone's hearts and making them stop breathing.

...?

Quack?

Disappeared?

Lujiacheng, that's an entire city!?

Fang Yuan couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Is this... is this still considered low-level martial arts?

Fear, the most primal fear of the unknown, seized him.

A city vanished overnight, leaving not a single person alive?

Wasn't what we encountered before like the strangeness of the small pond... or like the rumors the steward told us when we returned to the Lu family mansion?

Or perhaps it's the bizarre story of the Zhao family being wiped out, yet leaving behind dried corpses and traces?

How did it suddenly become such a bizarre phenomenon that it could make everyone in a city, even the animals, disappear?

This...this...!??

"This...how is this possible?!" Lu Feng finally roared, his eyes wide with disbelief as he grabbed his mother's shoulders. "A city! Such a big city! Are you sure? People, livestock, even rats and insects...all gone?! Surely some insects must have been left behind?! Lord Zhang, are you mistaken?! Are those peasants just spouting nonsense?!"

"Xiaofeng! Quiet!" Lu Yong took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice, but his eyes were also fixed on his mother.

"...Yes, even birds and insects are gone. Even some plants have mysteriously disappeared..." Mother Lu nodded, confirming this statement once again.

"It's not just Lord Zhang saying this; everyone on the streets is talking about it now."

"..."

The room fell silent again for a brief moment.

But soon, Lu Yong spoke up again: "Now, we need to discuss our family's future plans after Dad's passing."

"And... what should we do with this frog?"