Terro, the slums.
Randall, carrying a girl with an injured ankle, urged the children around him, "Hurry up!"
Climbing up the moss-covered old wall, Kellogg used its tail to hook onto the bricks for balance, looked ahead for a moment, then lowered its head and shouted, "I see it!"
Bulwell rubbed his sore shoulders and let out a heavy breath: "We've finally arrived."
After walking a while longer, Randall straightened up and, through the layers of plant stems and leaves, finally saw the safe house Karin had mentioned.
A long-abandoned clock tower located in the slums of Terro, built on low hills.
Looking at the exhausted children around him, Randall encouraged them, "Cheer up! Our destination is just ahead, and someone will come to pick us up and take us away from this city soon."
The children's faces lit up with smiles of hope, but Randall's good mood didn't last long.
"They've caught up."
Carroll walked over to Randall and lowered his voice: "At least three large hordes of zombies have merged together and are moving rapidly toward here."
Randall glanced behind him. The sky was filled with billowing black smoke, and a dense black shadow was gradually engulfing most of the city, slowly encroaching on his direction.
Gritting his teeth, Randall whispered to Carroll, "Get the children into the clock tower as soon as possible, search for any usable supplies inside, buy time, and wait for rescue."
Everyone quickly made their way through the dilapidated alley, stepped through the gates of the clock tower, and entered a hall filled with broken walls and ruins.
A statue of the Virgin Mary lying on the ground, broken into several pieces; a fountain that has been dry for a long time, covered with moss and fungi; a large bell covered in rust, half buried in the ground.
Randall looked up at the ceiling and saw a spiral staircase built along the wall, stretching as far as the eye could see, all the way to the rooftop.
Randall nodded and said, "This is indeed a good, secluded place."
After settling all the children in, Barbara could no longer support her exhausted body and collapsed to the ground.
Hearing the sound, Randall turned around and, startled, rushed to Barbara's side, asking urgently, "What's wrong?"
"It's okay, I just need to rest for a while."
Barbara's lips were deathly pale. She patted Randall's hand and said, "Go do what you need to do. I can take care of myself."
Randall helped Barbara to a clean open space, helped her sit up, and gently kissed her forehead.
Aldenan lay sprawled on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.
Carroll threw a jug of water in his face and said in a deep voice, "If you want to live, get up and help me."
Aldenan turned his eyes to Carol and calmly asked, "I've always had a question."
"explain."
Why should I live?
Carol picked up the water bottle and took a sip: "If you want to die now, I absolutely won't stop you."
Ignoring the orcs' mockery, Aldnan slowly asked, "For more delicious food? More comfortable housing? Or for fame, wealth, or women?"
Carol was silent for a moment, then said, "You should have something more precious..."
Aldenan said with self-deprecation, "When I was eleven, I was sold into an underground fighting arena. To survive, I did everything, good and bad."
"When I was beaten to a pulp and collapsed on the ground time and time again, I would often ask myself, what am I doing just lingering on in this hellish place?"
Aldenan turned to the others: "Each of you has something you believe in, and you're willing to fight tirelessly for it. But I'm different from you. I live in chaos, and I can never find a direction to struggle towards. I just want to live, to live without any purpose..."
A rare softening appeared on Carol's face as he patted Aldenan on the shoulder: "One day, you will find it, find that thing more important than life itself."
Kellogg walked over to Randall and pointed to what he was carrying, saying, "I found this in the back storeroom."
It was an old oil lamp with a kerosene container underneath.
Randall picked up the oil lamp and shook it, making a clanging sound from the jar. He nodded and said, "There's still half a jar left."
Just then, Bulwell suddenly rushed in from outside and shouted to Randall, "They're here!"
Randall froze for a moment, then eagerly ran out of the clock tower, onto the hill outside, and looked up at the sky.
On the distant horizon, several small dots in the sky slowly grew larger, accompanied by a clear griffin cry, and finally arrived above the clock tower.
Ashley, the leading Valkyrie, slowly landed her griffin on the open ground. Seeing Randall approaching, she immediately demanded, "What the hell are those things in the city?!"
Randall shrugged and said with a wry smile, "I don't know."
"Useless guy, I knew asking you was pointless." Ashley waved to her sisters, indicating that everything was normal and they could land.
Randall watched the Valkyries descend one by one, counting them as he frowned and asked, "Only ten have come?"
Ashley turned around upon hearing this, looking at Randall with amusement: "What? Ten people aren't enough for you? Is it my fault for not bringing you a red carpet and entourage?"
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