Stranger Danger

“Heads up, everyone! We’re approaching Redstone Forest!”

Ye Qing looked up from the “Twelve Incense Sticks of Ghosts and Gods” when he heard Yan Feng crying out from the forefront. What greeted him was one of the most amazing sights he had seen in his life.

Standing in a massive formation, the tall rocks in front of him were shaped like tall spears that were pointed defiantly at the heavens. Not a trace of green could be seen anywhere. The exposed rocks were as red as blood, and at first glance it looked like the aftermath of a great battle, scary and gruesome. Half of the sky was dark gray, and the other half as red as fire. It was both vast and stunning.

“Croak croak…”

Kung Fu Frog was croaking in excitement with shiny eyes. It had probably never seen such a stunning sight in its life either.

“It is very impressive!” Ye Qing echoed in agreement before breaking off a small chunk from a tall rock next to him. Upon closer examination, he noticed that the unusual coloration wasn’t just limited to its surface. The insides of the rock were blood red as well. It was cool to touch and fairly heavy.

“The redness is probably some sort of mineral!” Ye Qing played with it a while longer before tossing it aside.

“Squeak squeak!”

Suddenly, a mouse with blood red fur let out a frightened squeak and scurried out from deeper within the stone forest. It ran far, far away from them.

“Oh, it’s just a Redstone Mouse. I was surprised for a second there!” Yang Guan looked at the escaping rodent and chuckled. “Your rock probably hit it by accident!”

Ye Qing shrugged. A Redstone Mouse was a Stranger that fed on insects, nuts, flowers and grasses. It was extremely cowardly and rarely a danger to anyone.

“Chirp chirp chirp…”

It was at this moment more Redstone Mice scurried out into the open. They ignored the group and ran right past them.

Ah,they’re probably the family of the Redstone Mouse! Ye Qing thought. However, his guess was quickly overturned when more chirps came from deeper within Redstone Forest—far, far more—and red dust clouds rose into the sky.

This was clearly unusual, but Ye Qing still thought, Mice do breed like crazy. Maybe it’s the whole clan migrating somewhere?

The noise grew louder, and the dust clouds kept swelling until it resembled a dust storm. It was coming straight for them.

The commotion did not escape Yan Feng, of course. He shouted, “Get ready!”

The guards immediately drew their long sabers with stern expressions. A short while later, someone cried, “It’s the Redstone Mice! A lot of Redstone Mice!”

When the dust storm got close, the group finally realized that the dust storm wasn’t a dust storm at all—at least not a natural one. It was the dust clouds kicked up by what looked like millions and millions of Redstone Mice!

The tsunami of Redstone Mice was kicking up what looked like the mother of all dust clouds. The blood red dust clouds that covered half the sky looked like it would bury them and the entire stone forest whole.

Blanching, Yan Feng roared, “Dismount and gather around the carriage now!” Everyone obeyed the order instantly and formed a tight circle around Yan Yufei’s carriage.

It was at this moment the group noticed that Ye Qing hadn’t joined them. He was standing on the road alone like he had no idea what was about to happen. Yan Feng shouted, “Joyless? What are you doing? Come quickly!”

“It’s fine!” Ye Qing shook his head and walked a few steps closer to the group. Then, he patted Kung Fu Frog on its shoulder and said, “We’re counting on you, Brother Frog!”

This time, it was Yan Yufei who shouted, “Joyless! Are you trying to kill yourself?! Get over here before it’s too late!”

The dignified-looking man was grim-faced when he pushed away the curtains and looked out of the window. He was even paler when he noticed that Ye Qing was standing in the middle of the road as if he would face down the tidal wave of Redstone Mice himself.

While the Redstone Mice were harmless in most circumstances, a stampede at this scale was just as life-threatening as a tsunami or an avalanche, if not more.

“Don’t worry! It will be fine!” Ye Qing replied without a trace of fear or worry whatsoever. When the Redstone Mice swarm was seconds away from hitting him, Kung Fu Frog finally took a few steps forward and slapped its belly almost imperiously. First, it put its hands together in a double palm strike pose and channeled an invisible ball of force between its palms. Then, it crouched a little and slowly rotated its body clockwise and moved its hands behind its waist. Every time its hands had crossed an inch of distance, his aura and the invisible force between its palms would swell in power. Finally—

“CROAAAAAAAAAAAAK!”

Three inches later, Kung Fu Frog let out a mighty croak and threw its hands forward. There was a moment of complete silence before the world roared, and a pillar of pure power burst out of its palms and into the incoming swarm. It was utterly unstoppable. The beam of light did not just punch a hole in the swarm, it kept going as if its power was infinite and turned countless Redstone Mice into mincemeat. At the end of it, the red tsunami was cut in half just like Moses had split the Red Sea into two!

“What the…”

For a long time, the humans could only stare at a certain frog Stranger in utter disbelief. Even Ye Qing—although his face-fu was as impeccable as ever—wondered if he was in a dream.

Who am I? Where am I? Did that really just happen?

His plan was for Kung Fu Frog to act as a one-man frontliner and take out most of the Redstone Mice swarm headed their way. Anything it missed would be handled by Yan Feng’s group.

That was the plan, until Kung Fu Frog had surpassed his expectations and cut the entire swarm in half with a frog style Kamehameha! Seriously, it was practically identical to the signature attack of a certain world-famous manga!

Is there actually a Master Roshi in this world? Are you his student??

The Redstone Mice stampede would pass by the group harmlessly after Kung Fu Frog’s astounding attack. It was almost as if they were watching the tidal waves passing them by from atop a hill. The humans did not recover their senses until the swarm had completely vanished into the horizon.

“Joyless, your companion… is absolutely incredible!” Yan Feng praised from the bottom of his heart as he stared at Kung Fu Frog. The frog Stranger was currently putting its hands on its waist and letting the wind carry its bandanna and its cape in the air. Say what you want about the frog, but it was an absolute master at looking cool as fuck.

Before this Yang Feng was fairly certain that he could take down Kung Fu Frog even though he felt threatened by it. Now? He knew that Kung Fu Frog could kick three, no, five of him with no effort whatsoever. The frog Stranger wasn’t just a Malice-class Stranger, it was close to the ceiling of its power level!

I must be crazy to think I stood a chance against it!

“You’re not wrong!” Ye Qing replied “humbly” to hide the fact that he was just as surprised as all of them.

“Joyless, Kung Fu Frog is a Malice-class Stranger, isn’t he?” Yan Yufei asked from his carriage. Although he didn’t know martial arts, his eye for them was as sharp as a razor.

Ye Qing nodded. “You have a discerning eye, Lord Yan!” 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝑚

“That’s incredible!” Yan Yufei praised before probing him a little, “If you don’t mind me saying this, I doubt that an ordinary person can enjoy the protection of a Malice-class Stranger. Your background must be pretty extraordinary, am I right?”

Once again, Ye Qing replied “humbly”, “You’re not wrong!”

Technically, it wasn’t a lie. He was a transmigrator after all. If that didn’t count as an extraordinary background, then what possibly could?

Of course, Yan Feng completely misunderstood Ye Qing’s response. He thought to himself, I knew it. If Ye Qing was the scion of a major clan, that would explain why he’s so knowledgeable and guarded by a powerful Stranger!

Everyone else thought the same thing as Yan Yufei. For the first time, they weren’t just looking at Ye Qing with curiosity. There was a healthy dose of fear and respect in their eyes as well. It was the kind of look people got when they confirmed that someone was not to be trifled with!

Suddenly, Ye Qing frowned and summoned Kung Fu Frog back to his side. “Wait. Something’s not right about this!”

His words shook the humans out of their reverie and earned him quite a number of puzzled looks. Yan Yufei asked, “What do you mean, Joyless?” Ye Qing said, “The Redstone Mice are docile in nature and extraordinarily timid. They would normally veer out of harm’s way at the mere sight of a human, much less a group like ours. However, the swarm we encountered earlier never stopped even though Brother Frog killed a ton of them and revealed his power. That is not normal behavior, is it?”

Yan Feng thought for a moment before agreeing, “You’re right!”

Yan Yufei asked, “What do you think might have prompted such a behavior, Joyless?”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose and said slowly, “I think they’re running from something!”

“Running?” Both men frowned in deep thought.

Ye Qing explained, “This is just a guess, but I bet that the Redstone Mice encountered something dangerous deeper within the Redstone Forest; something that was even more dangerous than our group and Kung Fu Frog. It is the only reason I can think of as to why they would charge us like mindless beasts!”

“You’re right!” Yan Yufei and Yan Feng exchanged a glance with each other before agreeing with Ye Qing’s deduction.

It was at this moment Kung Fu Frog suddenly broke away from its cool pose and leaped onto the donkey Stranger’s head. It then croaked and made a series of rapid gestures with an anxious expression.

“You sense the danger as well, Brother Frog? Alright! We’ll leave immediately!”

Ye Qing immediately climbed onto his beloved donkey. It immediately turned in the direction the Redstone Mice were heading to and broke into a gallop!

“Joyless, wait! Where are you going?” Yan Yufei called out to him from behind.

Ye Qing held back the donkey temporarily and looked back. “I’m running for my life, of course! It’s confirmed by the Redstone Mice and Kung Fu Frog that something terrifying and dangerous is about to happen real soon. I’m not about to wait here and die! Are you?”

“...”

Everyone in the group exchanges glances with each other. He was totally right, but at the same time, it was rare for someone to make a snap decision and act on it without so much a thought.

You must’ve had a lot of practice, haven’t you?

“Ahem. Everyone, mount up and follow Joyless! Quickly!”

Despite their strange feelings, Yan Feng did not hesitate to bark out the orders and follow behind Ye Qing. No one wanted to die after all.

As for why they were running in the direction of the Redstone Mice swarm, it was because their danger sense was extremely well-honed. There was a high chance they would be able to avoid the unknown danger if they followed them!

Also, it so happened that the direction the Redstone Mice were heading to wasn’t at odds with their destination, Anyang. They were basically killing two birds with one stone!

“Everyone, look! There’s a fog behind us!” Someone shouted suddenly. Everyone obeyed the voice and noticed that a thick fog had appeared behind them before they knew it. The strange thing was that it was blood red in color.

“I’ve never seen a blood red fog,” A guard said curiously before lifting a hand to touch it.

“Don’t!” Yan Feng tried to stop him, but it was too late. The second the bodyguard touched the red fog, his whole body abruptly turned blood red as if he had fallen into a dye vat.

“Chen Long, you—!”

He didn’t manage to finish before the fog abruptly changed colors from red to green. This would’ve been alarming enough, but Chen Long and even the tall rocks within the fog had turned green as well! It wasn’t the superficial kind of coloring either. They were green from the inside out almost as if they had been assimilated by the fog around them!

Three breaths later, the fog changed colors once more and turned as blue as the sea. Another three breaths passed, and they turned from blue to purple, cyan, orange, yellow…