Reborn with a Space: Hoarding Food and Raising My Kid

Chapter 476: Chapter 409: Divine Decree

Lex Cross’s brow furrowed. He tightened his arm around Flora Bloom, lowered his head to kiss her forehead, and then looked at the old man. "Sir, I’m afraid your eyes must be failing you."

Flora Bloom nodded and blinked sheepishly. "That’s right. Sir, please hurry and lead the way. We’re starving!"

The old man’s steps faltered for a moment. He glanced at Lex Cross’s cold, threatening gaze, looked as if he wanted to say something but held his tongue, and then continued walking. His whole body, wrinkled and nothing but skin and bones, was filled with sorrow.

The three of them walked into an old house built with brick, tile, and mud walls. It wasn’t large, but it was located in the very center of the ancient town.

The houses in this area all looked more or less the same, and they were all the same size. These weren’t the magnificent-looking, modern, antique-style buildings, but true ancient structures that had weathered the storms of history.

Inside a house like this, you could see the very clear marks of history left by time, from antiquity to the present. The vicissitudes of time and age made these buildings look old and worn, but they were still full of ancient charm. To walk inside was to be completely immersed.

"Come in. This is my home."

There was one table and two chairs. Beside them was a kang—a heated brick bed—with a small table set upon it.

The entire layout of the house could be seen at a glance, with only the kitchen on the left partitioned off by a heavy cotton curtain.

The fire under the kang was still burning, so the room was very warm. Once the door was closed, all the cold air from outside was shut out.

Flora Bloom and Lex Cross unceremoniously took a chair each at the table. The kettle on the table was only half-full of water. Flora Bloom opened it and took a look; the water was clean enough.

However, ever since she got pregnant, she hadn’t drunk any water other than spiritual water.

The old man saw the two of them sitting at the table, staring at him expectantly. His withered old face was so wrinkled his features were almost obscured. He then went into the kitchen, brought out a plate, and placed it in front of them.

"I only have peaches here. I really don’t have any other food at all."

Lex Cross showed no reaction. He simply sat in his chair, his journal lying on the table, and tapped his fingers against the surface with a relaxed air.

Flora Bloom, however, saw the helplessness on the old man’s face. She took the plate and looked at the three large, pink, juicy peaches on it. She truly felt a craving stir.

She picked up a peach and, right in front of the old man, washed it with water she produced using her superpower.

The old man saw that the young woman before him was pregnant, and a hint of pity had initially appeared on his face. But when he saw her conjure water out of thin air to wash the peach and even wipe down the table, his expression shifted.

"Young lady, don’t eat it!" The old man’s hands, like skeletons wrapped in old leather, suddenly snatched the peach from Flora Bloom’s grasp. "Sigh... just go! Leave the same way you came!"

Flora Bloom frowned in confusion, looking at her empty palm, her eyes fixed on the peach in the old man’s hands.

"Sir, it’s just a peach. Why are you so reluctant to part with it?"

Lex Cross, however, just smiled. His gaze toward the old man softened slightly from its earlier coldness.

"Tell me, where is the Rook family?"

The old man’s expression turned strange the moment Lex Cross spoke.

"The Rooks?" The old man looked at Lex Cross, full of wariness but pretending to be calm. "Who are you? What are you looking for the Rook family for?"

His expression and body language gave away too much.

’The Rooks? Could it have something to do with Nina Rook? Did he use the excuse of taking me out to relax just to look for the Rook family?’

’But that can’t be right! Nina Rook isn’t from Earth. This ancient town was just a tourist spot before the apocalypse; it has nothing to do with Nina Rook!’

It wasn’t just the old man watching Lex Cross warily; Flora Bloom’s eyes were also filled with questions. But she chose to trust Lex Cross and didn’t voice them.

"You stopped my girlfriend from eating the peaches here, which shows you still have a conscience. If you tell me, we can get you out of here. How about it?"

’What is Lex Cross talking about? What does this have to do with me eating a peach? Get him out of here?’

The old man let out a deep sigh. "It’s useless! We’ve been cut off from the outside world here. We can’t leave. The moment we step out of the peach grove, our bodies will rapidly wither and die. There’s no getting out!"

"How could that be? You die if you leave the peach grove? Looking at you now, I’d say you don’t look far from death anyway!" The more Flora Bloom thought about it, the stranger it seemed, so she asked.

"Sir, why have you all become like this?"

"Sigh! In a way, it was our own choice. From the day the apocalypse arrived, people in the village started turning into monsters. The people in our village were either young folks who had left to work elsewhere and hadn’t returned in a long time, or us old folks.

"How could we possibly fight off those monsters!"

"And then?"

"Thankfully, a celestial being came to our aid! A celestial being descended, helped us drive out the evil spirits, and saved the village. And it established a Divine Light here to protect us."

"From that day on, outsiders couldn’t get in, but we couldn’t get out either."

Flora Bloom understood, but this only made her more confused. "If you can’t leave, and this place is just a peach grove, what do you eat? We saw on our way here that you don’t raise any livestock or grow any vegetables or grains. How have you survived?"

The expression on the old man’s face grew even more sorrowful.

Lex Cross pointed to the plate of peaches.

"The peaches?"

The old man nodded. "After that, we villagers ate all our stored food. When there was nothing left to eat, the peach grove surrounding our ancient town began to bear fruit."

"From autumn through winter, it never stopped. It just kept bearing fruit, so we’ve been eating that to stave off hunger!"

"No wonder we could smell the sweet fragrance of peach blossoms from so far away. Is this peach grove some kind of variety that bears fruit in all four seasons?"

"No, this grove’s variety is special. In the past, they only ever blossomed and never bore fruit. And even if they did, the fruit would be tiny, unripe green peaches smaller than apricots. We would always knock them down, afraid they would affect the blossoms."

"That’s not so strange. It’s normal for plants to mutate in the apocalypse. But even if you eat peaches every day, you shouldn’t end up this skinny, right?"

"I don’t know about that. I only know that the Divine Light protects us and keeps outsiders from entering, but at the same time, we can’t leave."

"Ever since we started living on peaches, our bodies began to change. We became skin and bones, yet we also grew stronger by the day. So, even though this is how we live, none of us villagers have any complaints."

Lex Cross continued tapping his long fingers on the tabletop.

"What do those four peach trees have to do with all this?"

The light in the old man’s eyes dimmed. "Sigh, those four peach trees... they were planted by that old man from the Rook family! When the Divine Light descended, it struck those four trees, and that’s when the grove started bearing fruit."

"Everyone was so agitated earlier because they were afraid the Divine Trees would be damaged. If the peach grove stops bearing fruit, we’ll all starve to death. It’s only natural they’d get emotional!"

"Then who is this celestial being?"

Lex Cross’s expression sharpened. The old man shuddered under his gaze, which felt as piercing as a knife to the bone, and for a moment, his mind cleared.

"It’s... it’s a deity that descended upon Old Rook! All the deity’s decrees are relayed through Old Rook!"