The Real Mooncake Thief, The Talisman of Peace

【Congratulations, Host. You have successfully invested in ‘Lu Fuying’ and saved her life.】

【Investment Reward: A Peace Talisman.】

【Peace Talisman】: "An ordinary talisman carrying simple hopes and wishes."

What’s with this "Mooncake Brother" thing?

The Southern Border doesn’t even have a tradition of eating mooncakes...

Li Mo was just about to ask when a woman’s sobbing voice came from beside him. The gaunt woman rushed to Fuying’s side and tightly clutched the little girl in her arms.

She had seen with her own eyes how this young man saved her daughter.

But she had also seen him shatter a military formation with a single punch.

"Honored sirs, we cannot repay your great kindness..."

"A simple home-cooked meal will suffice."

Li Mo smiled warmly.

The woman fell silent for a few seconds before nodding and leading her daughter away.

Li Mo glanced at Murong Xiao and Huang Donglai, and the two followed him.

Entering the town, they walked along narrow paths winding between bamboo houses. Fuying’s family lived in a remote area—across a river and over a mountain.

This must be what parents called "the road to school."

"Brother Li, how did this case suddenly get resolved? It was clearly a wrongful accusation from the start!"

Murong Xiao was boiling with indignation but didn’t know how to express it.

At his age, he was full of righteous fervor and couldn’t stand such injustice.

Though Li Mo had memories from before his birth, even he found this situation absurd.

He agreed with Murong Xiao.

Huang Donglai was silent for a moment before sighing bitterly:

"The ones who wronged you know better than anyone how innocent you are."

"And once we leave, that little girl’s family might still face retaliation..."

"If soldiers act like bandits, we should just rid the people of this scourge!" Murong Xiao clenched his fists.

Li Mo thought for a moment. "If we’re going to do this, it’s better to act in secret. Mixing laxatives into herbicide would definitely work wonders."

Huang Donglai: "..."

Laxatives in herbicide?

Even he had never concocted something so absurd.

After a pause, he sighed. "If the garrison leaves, what if disaster beasts or monsters attack the town?"

Li Mo asked, "Then... should we clear out the monsters around the town?"

"Monsters and beasts each have their own territories. If the local ruler dies, another will take its place," Huang Donglai shook his head.

Murong Xiao fell silent, scratching his bald head as if his brain was overheating.

Li Mo looked ahead at the frail mother and daughter and the dilapidated bamboo house they were approaching.

Among his peers across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, he could be considered exceptional.

Yet his strength couldn’t even change the fate of a single small town.

Because this was the "tide of fate" in the Southern Border—an unstoppable current beyond mortal power.

If one day, even the Qingyuan Sect was swept up in this tide...

How different would he be from this mother and daughter, who only wished for peace and happiness?

Young Li Mo rubbed the red cloth peace talisman between his fingers, lost in thought.

The group entered the bamboo house, where there wasn’t even a stool to sit on. Li Mo and the others settled on the floor.

"Mooncake Brother, here."

Fuying brought over three half-filled bowls containing a thin, gruel-like paste.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

Li Mo took a sip. It was likely made from ground starchy roots—far from delicious.

"Why do you call me Mooncake Brother?"

"Because Mooncake Brother is Mooncake Brother!"

Fuying tilted her head, then scampered barefoot to a corner and carefully opened a box.

Inside was half a mooncake with a cartoonish big-headed doll drawn on it.

"The missing lotus seed mooncake?"

Li Mo froze.

An image flashed through his mind:

A moonless night, a certain ice block sneaking into the kitchen when no one was around, picking out all the lotus seed mooncakes with his face on them under the pale moonlight, stuffing them into a big-headed doll container, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction...

Young Li Mo was stunned.

Even if he racked his brain, he’d never have guessed the mooncake thief was the ice block!

That very same Fairy Ying, revered as a celestial beauty by the Hengyun Sword sect, cold and aloof as the moon, already ranked high on the Hidden Dragon Ranking at just sixteen...

Why would she steal all the lotus seed mooncakes?

It couldn’t possibly be because she just really liked lotus seed...

"Mooncake Brother?"

Fuying waved her little hand in front of his face.

Mooncake Brother’s expression looked a bit like the fairy sister’s just now.

Snapping out of it, Li Mo retrieved a snow-skin red bean mooncake from his system space:

"Here, if you like mooncakes, you can have this one."

"Wow, it’s the fairy sister!"

Fuying gasped in delight before running off to show her mother.

Watching the three young men squatting on the floor, casually drinking the gruel without complaint, the woman’s guarded expression finally softened.

"Young master, did you come here to ask about the woman in this picture?" the woman ventured.

"Yes."

"I didn’t interact with her much, and I don’t know where she went. But I’ll tell you everything I saw."

The woman cooperated fully. That day, her attention had been entirely on her daughter.

She recounted everything she had witnessed in detail.

Li Mo nodded. "She flew away on a roc demon? That demon must not have been very fierce."

"Yikes... its head feathers were all chopped off? I’d behave too if that happened to me..."

Murong Xiao’s empathy was misplaced.

"Fairy Ying is truly brilliant—she didn’t venture deep into the Southern Border alone. Roc demons are fast and know the terrain well," Huang Donglai praised.

"..."

Li Mo recalled the time the ice block looked at a map and pointed straight to his house.

The directionally challenged ice block probably took the roc to avoid getting lost...

But as for where Ying Bing had gone, the mother and daughter didn’t know.

Not knowing her exact whereabouts left young Li Mo uneasy.

Before heading to Murong Xiao’s hometown, he wanted to at least clarify this matter.

That meant finding the roc demon.

The group exchanged glances.

Li Mo stood. "Thank you for the information. We won’t trouble you further."

As they reached the door, the woman hesitated before finally saying:

"May the young masters travel safely."

"Mm."

Just as Li Mo stepped out, Fuying darted past her mother and caught up to them.

"Mooncake Brother, I... I want to ask you for a favor."

"What is it?"

"Mother misses Father terribly, just like the fairy sister misses you. She even wrote him letters, but we don’t know how to send them."

Fuying pulled out a few sheets of rough paper covered in dense handwriting, her voice growing quieter:

"I miss Father too..."

Li Mo took the letters. They were addressed to the military camp—Fuying’s father was a soldier.

He smiled gently:

"Mooncake Express, delivery guaranteed!"

"Thank you, Mooncake Brother!"

Fuying beamed with joy.

Tucking the letters filled with longing into his robes, Li Mo cast one last glance at the rundown bamboo house.

The woman scraped the leftover gruel from the three bowls into a small dish for her daughter to eat, while she herself stood nearby, her exhausted and gaunt face bearing the relief of one who had narrowly escaped disaster.

"Peace and happiness..."

Li Mo's breathing softened as he momentarily lost himself in thought.

Those four simple words seemed to carry far more weight than he had imagined.

A moment later.

"Silly child, why did you give the letter to a stranger?"

"Because Brother Mooncake seemed like a good person..."

The woman anxiously pulled Lu Fuying along as she rushed outside, but there was no trace of Li Mo or his two companions to be seen.

All that remained were a few bags of dried provisions stacked by the fence.

And a bright red talisman of protection, hanging from the fence, swaying gently in the wind.

"There are little hard beans inside this!" Lu Fuying exclaimed curiously, pinching the talisman.

The woman untied the pouch of the talisman and froze for a long moment.

"Mother, do you think Father will see your letter?"

"Yes, he will."

...