"But most humans are still good, right?" the White Flame Skeleton inquired.
Xiang Beifei hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Yes."
"Then I still trust humans," the White Flame Skeleton said, looking very optimistic.
"Yes! Humans have helped us a lot!" another small skeleton with a broken arm also spoke with flames.
The other skeletons also expressed their opinions, but when they spoke with their flame control, their language was not as fluent as that of the White Flame Skeleton, though they were still trying hard to speak correctly.
"At least so far, including you, the eight humans I've met have all been very friendly!" the White Flame Skeleton said.
Eight humans, that was indeed quite a few.
Xiang Beifei was quite curious about who the other humans were. He pondered for a moment, his family should have all been here, so who could the remaining few be?
"By the way, when did the Fire Ancestor come here?" Xiang Beifei asked.
"Thirty-four years ago!" the White Flame Skeleton replied.
"Is that year by your reckoning?"
"No, it's according to the Jiuzhou calendar. The day and night here are the same as in Jiuzhou; it was the Fire Ancestor who taught us," the White Flame Skeleton said.
Xiang Beifei rubbed his chin, thinking about his grandfather's matters.
So far, many secrets about his grandfather were still unclear. He had problems with the system, lost his memories, possessed formidable strength, and was guarding Si Hou, searching for the so-called answers...
In Xiang Beifei's memory, his grandfather had always been an old man who lived life optimistically, never losing hope in life, but he'd never shown any special abilities either.
So what exactly had he experienced?
Xiang Beifei really wanted to figure it all out.
"Is the Fire Ancestor famous in Jiuzhou?" the White Flame Skeleton inquired.
Xiang Beifei looked at his grandfather's statue and shook his head, "No one in Jiuzhou knows about his past, but many people know of him."
Many people in Jiuzhou knew the name "Xiang Qingde" because of Xiang Beifei. Most people across Jiuzhou knew that Xiang Beifei was raised by his grandfather.
"So do you know him too? Is he also a big shot in Jiuzhou?" the White Flame Skeleton asked.
After a moment of silence, Xiang Beifei said, "He is my grandfather."
The White Flame Skeleton was taken aback, and inquired, "You are the Fire Ancestor's grandson?"
"Yes," Xiang Beifei replied.
Many skeletons looked at one another, their eye sockets' flames seemed to flare up.
The White Flame Skeleton's eye flames burned even more fiercely. After a long shock, he said gruffly, "I need to verify this."
"How do you want to verify? See a photo?"
Xiang Beifei took out his cell phone. He hadn't used it since arriving in the Outer Domain Wilderness. It had been kept in Xiaohei's bubble, and with no signal here and a lot of interferences, electronic products didn't work well.
However, turning it on was still possible. It didn't matter if there was a battery or not; Xiaohei was enough.
He pulled up the photo album on his phone, showing a photo of himself and his grandfather. It was taken right after he received the admission notice from Liangzhou University, with his grandfather holding up the admission notice to take a picture with him.
In the photo, his grandfather's face was full of joy, brimming with happiness and pride, holding the admission notice with both hands, more excited than Xiang Beifei himself, pressing it tightly to his body as if he himself had been admitted to the elite university.
The White Flame Skeleton's eyes lit up again!
"It's the Fire Ancestor!"
A group of skeletons crowded around, pointing at and discussing the photo on the phone. Xiang Beifei also showed them videos of his grandfather. He hadn't taken many videos, most from the surveillance of Kong Daming's shop. However, last time Xiaohei did capture a video screen of him dining with his grandfather.
But soon a skeleton eagerly asked, "Why do you have the Fire Ancestor locked up in there?"
"Fire Ancestor, are you all right? Did he lock you up?" another skeleton asked, tapping the screen.
"Quick, let him out! Or I'll fight you!"
The first Purple Fire Skeleton Xiang Beifei met said anxiously.
"Wait, why are you locked up in the box too?"
Another Red Fire Skeleton looked at the phone and then at Xiang Beifei.
"Uh... that's a good question."
Xiang Beifei couldn't help but chuckle. He had forgotten what the cell phone meant to these skeletons.
These skeletons had always lived in this mountain range, unable to leave the range of Si Hou, unaware of what the outside world was like, their understanding of Jiuzhou restricted to certain knowledge, completely ignorant about technologies like cell phones common everywhere.
Not to mention that the pictures and videos inside were lifelike, much more vivid than the simple images carved on steles. A few skeletons even reached out their hands impatiently to tap the screen, trying to shatter the phone and rescue the Fire Ancestor inside, but their bony hands didn't work on the touchscreen.
Xiang Beifei briefly explained what a photo was and ended up recording a video of the Purple Fire Skeleton with his phone as a demonstration, then handed the phone over to the group of skeletons to watch.
"Ah! I've been locked up too!"
The Purple Fire Skeleton, seeing himself in the photo, hugged his arms and exclaimed, retreating several steps back.
Xiang Beifei rubbed his forehead.
After another half a day of explanation, he finally made the group of skeletons understand what a cell phone was.
Looking at the photo of Xiang Qingde on the phone with excitement, the White Flame Skeleton said, "I met him thirty-one years ago. I didn't expect he hasn't changed at all until now. He truly is a great man."
After a while, he added, "However, the Fire Ancestor said that if any human comes here, they must undergo his test."