My Goddess is Good at Pretending

Chapter 335: Herb Picker

"You can still make more money! If you were as talented as Ali, we wouldn’t have ended up like this!" The old lady snapped angrily and then muttered some almost inaudible words under her breath.

Her hair was so oily and gray. Her body was already pretty frail, along with the old age and accumulated stress. Her skin also has wrinkles everywhere.

Even though she had yet to reach the age of sixty, her appearance already resembled that of a grandmother in her seventies. In the current chaotic era, it was already a miracle for an ordinary person to survive past sixty.

"Sorry. I’m going to go to work now." A young lady pondered for a moment and left the hut.

She had already gotten used to receiving some verbal abuse, and the old lady’s half-madness was what she faced every day. Even so, she had to take care of the old lady.

Looking for money in this chaotic world with danger lurking everywhere. She had been thinking for a long time about when she would meet her death and what her ending would be.

"Sorry, sorry..." The old lady muttered a few more words while holding her head.

"Everyone left me one by one... What is the purpose of my life again?" The young lady stared at the blue sky blankly. She then left the hut and settlement to take on the task of collecting some plants and herbs in the wilderness.

Sometimes, she wished to be reunited with her deceased family and brother in Heaven. Regardless of her intentions in her deepest heart, she still had a fear of death. She also couldn’t just die because the old lady was still waiting for her to bring food and medicine.

"Grrr..." A Javan tiger appeared from behind a bush, watching the approaching human as if ready to pounce.

"Calm down, Linda. It’s just a big cat." Linda stood up straight, trying to calm herself down. She then took out some violet grass from her basket and burned it a little, producing a thin, sharp, floral-scented smoke.

"Grrr!" The Javan tiger jumped back toward the bushes when it inhaled the floral scent. Since the human was so confident and fearless, then the best choice was to run away!

"Phew... Don’t get distracted, Linda. The wilderness is super dangerous. Hundreds of herb pickers have died this month." Linda put on her disguise and went into the deep forest.

It was like a walking bush with a slightly spicy floral scent. Even though many mutated insects and wild beasts were everywhere, they did not want to approach the moving bush. They ignored the living bush because they didn’t feel threatened.

"Die, mutated beasts!" A warrior shouted out loud in the distance, startling the surrounding beasts.

A party of eight people came for a quest. Three of them were ability users.

They killed several beasts, but in a short time, they were surrounded by many mutated beasts and ended miserably.

Only two managed to escape, albeit with serious injuries. The other six died and became prey for the mutated beasts.

"..." Linda watched everything from a distance, terrified by it. She covered her mouth to prevent any noise from coming out.

The bloodlust-mutated beasts would kill her, too, if she wasn’t careful. However, two Javan tigers suddenly jumped out from behind the bushes and chased the two people who were running away.

The anguish screams soon echoed.

Linda couldn’t help but close her eyes and clasp her hands in prayer. ’May your soul rest in peace.’

After waiting for about an hour, the hunting ground became silent, and the mutated beasts calmed down. Thus, she could continue her journey into the depths of the wilderness to pick some precious herbs.

’I’m pretty lucky today to find some rare herbs~ They can be sold for a lot of money and can probably cover the living expenses for a few days.’ Linda’s eyes were sparkling when she found some precious herbs around the roots of a big tree.

She immediately collected them without further ado, unaware that the nearby large tree, resembling a treant, had begun to move.

Luckily, she brought the fancy amulet given by the mysterious expert everywhere, and it has protected her ever since.

"???" The big tree had many questions in mind. It could sense the human’s presence, but it was just the moving bush with zero threat.

That bush also emitted an aura of harmless creatures. Thus, the big tree returned to its place, thinking it was just a misconception.

*Rumble!*

Thunder rumbled through the cloudy sky.

The weather suddenly became very cloudy, indicating that heavy rain would soon arrive.

’!?’ Linda looked up at the sky in shock. The weather was sunny when she left, but that changed all of a sudden.

’I won’t have time to get out of the forest. If I get caught in the rain in the middle of the forest, I will be finished.’ Linda muttered in her mind and immediately left the area to look for the nearest shelter.

A few moments later, the big tree looked back to the location where the moving bush was previously located. That bush was no longer there, and the spirit grass was also gone! It was fine if the bush ate one or two spirit grasses, but it was too greedy to eat them all!

"Aaaooo!" A scream of agony echoed from the depths of the forest.

Linda was scared and immediately went to a rocky hill, taking cover in a small cave.

A few minutes later, heavy rain fell, soaking the earth.

The rain fell so heavily and was accompanied by loud thunder. Linda felt a bit cold and went to light a campfire in the cave.

Just as she felt somewhat relieved, she was terrified when she witnessed a gigantic moving shadow in the distance behind the clouds and thunder.

She had never known this forest had such a massive monster. That shadow was so massive and moved like a human titan with a cane in hand.

An earthquake occurred, and Linda was terrified. She immediately closed her eyes and clasped her hands in prayer, hoping that the massive creature would just pass by.

’Is that giant shadow gone?’ Linda wondered in her mind and opened her eyes.

To her surprise, that giant shadow suddenly stopped and looked at her location. That giant shadow changed its direction and went closer.

’No, no, please no. Don’t come here! Oh, dear God... Father, mother, and my brother in Heaven... it seems like Linda can’t take care of auntie anymore and will be reunited with you soon.’ Linda was terrified and immediately extinguished her campfire with rocks and sand.

She closed her eyes and curled up within her bush disguise. As an ordinary person without power and background, she could do nothing and only had to accept her fate.

"..." Elysia was speechless when the giant ghost chose to approach her with obvious menace.

She stood above the tallest tree on that hill without spiritual disguise. Her presence was known to that giant ghost, but that giant ghost still chose to come near even after her early warning.

"Leave." Elysia spoke softly as the second warning caused the ripples in the sky.

The giant ghost behind the storm clouds stopped, feeling doubtful and hesitant. It then moved away and disappeared within the storm clouds.

’That giant ghost comes from the underworld. The underworld gate has appeared around here.’ Gaia could sense the underworld fragment had just appeared in the middle world.

’I see... This country needs more experts to come. I’ll do something about it, hehe~’ Elysia smiled and looked down at a particular small cave.

She had just observed Linda for some time and was quite satisfied with Linda’s survival skills.

’What are you going to do?’ Gaia was curious but also concerned. Whatever Elysia would do could clearly bring a huge wave to the world.

’Hehe, you don’t know much about Ely’s way of doing things. It’s not like what you imagine. You’ll find out soon.’ Elena couldn’t help but laugh, too, understanding Elysia’s intentions.

’It’s time to meet her. She’s changed a lot from the little Linda I remember.’ Elysia jumped down from the tree and walked closer to the small cave.

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

Linda could hear some footsteps approaching, but it was more like splashing in puddles of rainwater.

"Hou~ A campfire and a bunch of bushes. I guess someone just took the shelter, hmm." Elysia pretended to be ignorant and sat relaxed, leaning against the stone wall. She lit a campfire and grilled barbeque leisurely.

*Growl...*

Linda was surprised because someone suddenly came over. This shelter seemed to belong to that man, and she felt incredibly embarrassed when her stomach growled due to the delicious barbeque smell.

"Oho~ Is this bush the legendary moving bush? Why does it growl?" Elysia poked the bush with a twig.

"Sir, sir, please pardon me from entering your shelter without permission. I’m just an ordinary herb picker. I hope you don’t take offense." Linda immediately came out of her bush disguise, apologizing on her knees.

She looked up at the dark-robed, dashing young man before her eyes with another sense of shock. This kind of beautiful man was too good for this world. The fair white skin, beautiful long hair, elegant visage, and mesmerizing eyes... that could only exist in a fantasy drama. However, this person was present before her eyes.

Strangely enough, this dashing young man was still dry and clean even though he had just returned from heavy rain. There was not even a trace of a wet footprint on the ground.

"No need to be so formal. It’s probably fate for us to meet here. My name is El. Do you want a barbeque, miss?" Elysia offered the barbecue.

"Thank you for your kindness, sir. My name is Linda, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Linda replied with her introduction.

She was indeed hungry, and Mister El had a lot of barbeque. It was probably provisions bought before entering the forest. Mister El was also probably a powerful hunter and an ability user.

Regardless, since the kindness was already offered to her, then it would be impolite to refuse.

Thus, she shyly accepted the barbeque and had lunch with someone she had just met. She didn’t feel suspicious at all because she had a feeling that Mister El was a good person.