Chapter 148: Shadows in the Dark

Thomas brought Linjiang to a small cabin located to the south of the village.
Although the interior of the cabin was dilapidated and had a damp feeling, it was overall very neat.
Nila is sitting in front of the fireplace, with a stone pot on top of it, as if cooking something.
What interests Linjiang is that there is no firewood under the fireplace, but there is a small cluster of flames burning, it seems to be some kind of spell.
"Mr. Lin Jiang, please come and see the old lady for me."
Nila put down the wooden spoon in her hand and smiled at Lin Jiang.
Thomas nodded respectfully to Nila, then withdrew, leaving only Lin Jiang and Nila in the room.
Lin Jiang took the small wooden stool that Ni La handed to him and sat down, asking, "Madam Ni La, what can I do for you?"
Ni La smiled warmly, her wrinkled face becoming more crowded, and said, "Is the place of exile very bitter?"
Lin Jiang was shocked by what the other party said.
What does it mean? Could the other party still see through the origins of oneself and others?
"Although it's harsh and cold here, complaining too much is meaningless."
Faced with Nila's question, Linjiang could only give a perfunctory answer.
Nila took out a small wooden bowl and ladled a bowl of soup from the stone pot, handing it to Linjiang.
There wasn't much in the soup, only a few unidentified grass roots, which didn't smell as odd as the ones we had the night before.
While Lin Jiang hesitated whether to drink, Nila spoke again.
"I know you don't belong to the place of exile."
Lin Jiang remained silent and did not respond.
Nila continued, "There are spatial fissures that contain different dimensions and various resources. Fooling Thomas, that reckless young man, might work for a while, but I know it doesn't exist."
Nira glanced at Linjiang, seeing no rebuttal from the latter, and continued, "When I was young, I once accidentally entered the cracks in the boundaries of space."
Although Linjiang didn't understand what Nira meant, he didn't think their identities as beings from another dimension would be exposed. At most, it would just be a lie about the alternate space being revealed, which wasn't a big deal.
He is now even more curious that Nila in front of him once mistakenly entered a space crack.
"What is there?"
After taking a sip of soup, Lin Jiang asked.
"...There is nothing."
Nila finished speaking, looking a little absent-minded, as if she was reminiscing about something.
Seeing Nila's expression, Linjiang knew there might be some hidden secrets, but he figured that the other party wouldn't reveal them even if he asked.
"Old lady, I don't really care where you all come from. I can see that you have no ill intentions towards the village and are resolutely fighting against the forces of nature. I just have one request."
As Nila spoke, she looked earnestly into Lin Jiang's eyes.
"What is it?"
Lin Jiang also put down the wooden bowl in his hand.
"If it is really impossible, I hope you can protect Lika well," said Nila with a sigh.
She spoke slowly.
"... Are you saying that we should give up the village and take Lika with us?"
The room became very quiet, with only the sound of boiling water in the stone pot.
In this silent atmosphere, Nila closed her eyes and nodded slowly.
……
On the third day, nearly 900 little demons attacked the village, including three leaders.
The battle ended quickly, with only a few little demons escaping, and the rest were all killed.
The wilderness is filled with the bodies of the little demons. Despite the temperature not being high, the smell of blood and the stench of the corpses have reached the village.
It is also difficult to cremate them since there is no spare firewood or igniting material in the village.
Nila's spells are very weak and can only be used to cook food. It is not realistic to expect her to burn a large number of corpses.
Transporting corpses is a pointless waste of labor. The villagers of Hakka Village do not have time for this, as they focus their energy on building defensive structures every day.
Therefore, everyone should bear with this stench that is so annoying and distracting.
For instance, at this moment, little Lika, after being knocked to the ground, even waved her hand near her nose.
She really felt that this smell was nauseating.
After two days of training, she was able to dodge some of Lin Jiang's attacks when she was in good condition.
Watching from the side, Sika no longer made mocking remarks.
After the training session, on the way back with Lin Jiang, they coincidentally ran into Qin Ling.
This girl, who was threatened the day before yesterday, visibly trembles and lowers her head to make way when she sees Lin Jiang.
Lin Jiang doesn't care about Qin Ling's performance.
These days, Qin Ling hasn't been participating in the battles, she is only observing from a distance within the defensive fortifications.
As for why she didn't leave Hakka Village, it's also understandable, after all, it's much more dangerous outside with chaos and turmoil.
Besides, she believes that there are probably explorers in many small villages, and although people like Lin Jiang are rough in their actions, they haven't killed her.
Meeting other explorers is not guaranteed. Although she is timid and fearful, she has survived more than twenty mission worlds and has a good understanding of the nature of explorers.
……
In an underground cavern, several candlelights flicker.
"How is the cleaning going?"
In the dim environment, someone speaks, their voice low and hoarse, sending shivers down one's spine.
The person was lying sitting on a stone platform, with the candlelight only illuminating half of his body.
Vaguely, it could be seen that this person was covered in bandages, even the head was tightly wrapped with bandages, leaving only a pair of crimson eyes exposed.
The dark blue dagger in his hand spun up and down as he spoke.
"Master Hui, we have cleared 80% of the surrounding villages and our food reserves are nearing the target," he reported.
A muscular troll knelt on the ground, tremblingly answered.
"Yes?"
The spinning dagger came to a halt, seemingly unsatisfied with this response.
"There are, there are some villages with inexplicably strong resistance. Please give us more time."
巨魔把头压的更低了，他知道这个时候的回答如果有一丝让上面的那位大人不满，立马就会身首异处。
“加快速度，拖延了计划，你知道是什么下场。”
The conversation continued, and the dark blue dagger glided around the troll's neck, causing it to tremble even more.
"Please believe in our clan, Great One. We will definitely complete the task on time."
A few drops of sweat fell from the troll's head, hitting the slippery lava and making a distinct sound in the quiet underground space.
"Go ahead."
Upon hearing this sound, the troll felt as if it had been pardoned and immediately got up and turned away, without wanting to stay for another moment.
"Oh, by the way, your fellow tribesmen are born in the blood pool..."
The troll, sitting on the stone platform, spoke again, causing the troll who was about to leave to stop in their tracks.
"...worthless."
The troll's body stiffened, then he heard a voice behind him.
He gritted his teeth and took a step away.
After the troll left, the figure on the stone platform sat up and stretched lazily.
"What kind of slaughter awaits me this time? It's truly exciting."
He licked the azure dagger, unaware of the blood on his tongue. Under the dim candlelight, his crimson eyes looked particularly eerie.