3 - Little Yin, Yin'er

Yin, with her hands still akimbo, narrowed her eyes at the newcomer. He was a simple-looking man no older than his thirties, wearing a white robe with a crest of some sort of organization on the sleeves.

"And, who might you be?"

The man was startled to see a young girl speaking so flippantly while surrounded by carnage. She looked injured, but her expression was way too calm it's eerie. If it were him, he would be puking. Wait, he was actually puking right now.

"Oh, boy," he could hear her mutter in what was supposed to be a sweet, childish voice. As he dry-heaved behind a tree, she continued to nonchalantly comment on the side. "That's absolutely the most disgusting thing I've seen since, well, a long time."

He had no idea whether to cry or cry louder.

What was disgusting?

Wasn't the sight of self-detonation, those red-stained grass and torn limbs, disgusting? Those wide-eyed heads on the rocks and those headless torsos by the trees, weren't they disgusting too? This was, among all he had seen, the worst massacre visuals.

Yet here, the girl dare say his vomit is the one that was absolutely disgusting?

What kind of freak was this kid?!

"A-Are you all right?" he asked after he heaved for what it took the time of an incense to burn. He was visibly paler than before, but he could not appear any weaker in front of a child. He chalked up her weird nonchalance as some sort of head trauma. "I'm Ye Mo from the Ye Sect of Leaf City. What's your name, little girl?"

The girl blinked at him with big, doe-like eyes.

"I'm Yin."

"Ah, Little Yin, Yin'er." Ye Mo slowly approached her slowly, afraid that she would bolt out like a frightened rabbit the moment he came close. Worse, she would cry. He could not handle crying kids.  "Are you from Leaf City? From which family are you hailed from?"

The girl simply blinked at him again. "Just Yin."

"What?"

"Don't act cute with me. I'm plain, ol' Yin."

"All right, all right, but you're still small so I'll call you Little Yin for now." Ye Mo then crouched in front of her to rub her head and make sure she would be calm. However, she harshly swatted his hand away.

She raised a brow. "Did I tell you to touch me?"

"Uh, no." Ye Mo had never met such an overbearing little girl. She must be some princess or prized disciple from a nearby big family or sect. "I just wanna check how heavily injured you are."

"Are you a healer?"

"Uh, no."

"Then, it's useless to check right?"

Most people would have shrunk away, but Ye Mo did not give up. If he had one thing to be proud of, it was his patience.

"Members of my Ye Family are coming since I gave a distress signal. One of them is a healer. So, I really need to have you checked if you're injured so I can relay it to him."

Yin crossed her arms over her non-existent chest. "Well, why aren't you asking for permission? I'm a girl, you know. Not just any man can touch me."

Ye Mo was chanting to himself to have more patience. It seemed to be working.

"Uhh, can I touch you now?"

She then quirked her lips. "No, you cannot. Unless you become a female, then by all means, go ahead."

Ye Mo shook his head and decided to just let the others deal with her. "Do you know what happened here? Who attacked you?"

It seemed that he had forgotten he was supposedly talking to a four- or five-year-old girl.

Yin took a good look around and with her back to him, she shrugged in response. Her actions were so out of place on a toddler's body. "I was asleep the entire time."

Her body was dirty and wounded. To Ye Mo, it was as if she tried to look like a majestic tiger, but only the man could see that her appearance was nothing short of a drowned kitten.

But of course, he would never tell her that, for fear of being swatted once again.

"Elder Ye Mo!" A number of white-robed figures lined up behind him. One of them stepped forward. "We found no traces of the enemies in our jurisdiction. It seemed like they escaped towards the side of the Sunroot City. All the groups and mercenaries that they chanced along the way had been mutilated and killed. No one survived."

Ye Mo rearranged his expression into an aloof one.

"Well, we have one now."