Chapter Fifty-Three Key

  Originally, I shouldn't be bothered by these voices anymore, which suits me just fine. I should let go of this matter and focus on my training, and then head to Konoha. However, there's a lingering unease in my heart that won't go away.

  It's laughable, originally if this sound continued to appear and harass me, then I wouldn't have found any clues in the next day or two, I would have decided to leave and no longer care about this matter.

  But now "it" has disappeared, and I've become even more determined to find "it". This... is really the worst part of human nature! Hehe!

  I couldn't help but laugh out loud, though I wasn't sure if I was laughing at my own foolishness or the fact that I knew it was foolish yet did it anyway.

  "What's wrong?" Kuma asked curiously when he heard me burst out laughing.

  "Just thought of something funny. I guess there's nothing funnier than human nature!"

  "Come to think of it, didn't Hakuto take a bit longer than usual to fetch water? Sir." Kumaoro asked while fiddling with the preparations for their campfire.

  We are now preparing to spend the night in the forest. Bai is very sensitive to moisture, so let's have Bai go replenish water alone.

  Originally for convenience, we usually choose to camp by the river, but in the forest by the river, every evening, there are a lot of insects, even if the insects won't bite us, they still disturb us.

  Those swarms of black insects are really annoying, especially when I'm in a bad mood now, without Jiuyue now.

  And the humidity is very heavy, that kind of stuffy feeling, I also dislike it, just like I'm still living there.

  So we would choose a relatively high and dry place, even if it's a bit far from the water source.

  "Hehe, if you're worried, then go take a look yourself!" I muttered to myself as I gathered firewood. This was the job I had managed to get after much difficulty, and lying on the tree watching the two of them scurry about would make me feel embarrassed too.

  Actually, I just feel a bit stuffy and lying down staring blankly will always make me think of Jiuyue, finding something to do can slightly distract my mind.

  "No way, we've said it before, at least one of us must stay by the adult's side! When Bai returns, I'll go prepare dinner instead. Like last time, both of us can't be away from the adult's side at the same time, or else another sneak attack will happen. Even if we can't win a fight, at least we can take the hit for the adult!"

  "Alas!" Although they wouldn't go against my will if I firmly refused, never mind, I'm not used to countering others' opinions when I think it's unnecessary.

  However, I didn't expect Junmaro to listen to such nonsense.

  "Master! I'm back! By the way, I caught a few fish by the river and brought them back. You don't need to prepare dinner tonight."

  He nodded slightly and said, "Thank you." Of course, it's best not to leave the adult's side.

  "Adults should drink some water first! It's been almost a whole day without drinking any water."

  "White, have you had enough to drink?" I saw White nodding, and only then was satisfied with taking over.

  "You too, come have some." I took over the two water bottles handed to me by Bai and gave one to Jun Maluo.

  "Thank you!" Junmalu took over the kettle and started drinking immediately.

  After drinking a mouthful, Junmalu suddenly became dizzy.

  I was just about to open the lid and take a drink of water when I saw Kimura's strange behavior after drinking water, which interrupted my action.

  "What's wrong? Kunmaru, this water... is there a problem? This is river water and I've tried drinking it before, nothing seems out of the ordinary!" Byakuya also noticed Kunmaru's expression and asked.

  "I don't know, I just feel like something is off, it's a bit strange, this water is a bit strange, the water itself doesn't seem to have any problems"

  There's just a flavor that seems very familiar, but I'm not quite sure how to describe it?" After finishing speaking, Junmaru still had a puzzled expression.

  This water is a bit strange, but the water itself doesn't have any problems, does it? I opened the lid of the kettle and took a light sniff at the spout, then carefully tasted a small mouthful of the water.

  I closed my eyes and savored all the flavors of the water on the tip of my tongue.

  It's very sweet and lively river water, without any muddy or earthy taste... After swallowing all the water, there is a hint of extremely faint sweetness lingering in the throat... This isn't the sweetness of water.

  I know what it tastes like now, and I understand why Bai didn't notice anything unusual, but Junmaru would feel that something is off. After all, the two of them have different fighting styles.

  "Haha!" I think I've found the key to the goal.

  "What's wrong? Sir, do you know what smell it is?" Bai asked.

  "Sir, why are you smiling again?" asked Kimaru.

  "I know what this smell is, I've tasted it before. I can roughly guess where the source of that sound is. It's great! In such a desolate place, there would actually be such a smell... The source of this water, the upstream of that river must have a problem."

  "What's the taste of this thing? It's sweet." Bai asked, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the water, although it had a slightly different taste compared to ordinary water, but there wasn't any other problem, it was just a bit sweeter than ordinary water.

  "Ah, elder, what is that smell?" Kumaoro asked as well. He felt like he had come into close contact with this smell before, maybe even tasted it, but probably not in this form.

  "Hehe, it's better if you don't know, let's just go to the place where you fetch water!" I think we should be able to leave this forest soon!

  That's the smell of a corpse, white, or rather the smell of human flesh and blood! The hint of decay in that sweet and fishy smell is unique to human blood!

  But I can try it and be so sure of its origin... Haha haha haha!

  I gaze at the river water flowing from my hands with a cold and detached expression, laughing maniacally in my heart.