"Walking back?"

Drizzt was startled, loosened his hands on the reins, and picked up the lantern to shine it.

This stone statue was undoubtedly exactly the same as the one they had seen before.

"Or are there many similar stone statues along the road to confuse people?"

He illuminated the stone statue. There was a gap on the head of the strange stone statue which had some religious meaning.

The gap was exactly the one that Lu Ban had knocked off with his crowbar.

“…”

Both of them were silent.

"I originally thought that something would happen at the wedding, but now it seems that just attending a wedding in Kushui Town is already difficult."

Drizzt sighed.

"At least we weren't attacked."

Lu Ban added.

As soon as he finished speaking, Trist saw that there seemed to be a human figure behind the stone statue.

The man had the same body shape as a normal person, but his face still had deep wrinkles and his eyes were bulging like a fish.

He was only wearing a sweatshirt on his upper body, revealing his dark and strong body. These were not the muscles shaped by bodybuilding, but the body that came from repeated hard work day after day.

The man stood behind the stone statue, staring straight at the carriage, at Lu Ban, and at Trist.

"Do you know how to get to Kushui Town?"

Lu Ban asked immediately.

"Ku Shui Zhen, go, forward."

The man pointed ahead, into the dark fog.

He spoke word by word, like a tape recorder that was stuck.

[Last Words] appeared in Lu Ban's hand. He listened carefully but still could not hear the other party's heartbeat.

After thinking about it, Lu Ban picked up the crowbar and got off the carriage directly.

"Hey, be careful."

Drizzt reminded.

Stepping on the hard and cold stone road, the bone-chilling cold seemed to be transmitted through the shoes. Lu Ban came to the stone statue with a flashlight. The fog was getting thicker, and the carriage and Trist were covered with a layer of gauze behind him. Lu Ban did not walk too close, and one hand was still holding the rope of the horse.

"We are going to Dry Water Town."

Lu Ban repeated.

"Ku Shui Zhen, go, forward."

The man repeated.

"Which way should we go?"

Lu Ban asked again.

"Take this road."

The man pointed to the gravel road under his feet.

"No, we are going to Kushui Town. This road will only turn back."

Lu Ban said something.

"Ku Shui Zhen, go, forward."

The man repeated it persistently.

"Can this road really lead to Kushui Town?"

Lu Ban confirmed it.

"Take this road."

The man said woodenly.

“…”

Lu Ban looked back at Trist, he was also helpless.

After thinking about it, Lu Ban began to ask.

"How do I get to Erxian Bridge?"

The man was stunned for a moment, then pointed to the gravel road underground.

"Take this road."

After hearing these words, Lu Ban already understood clearly.

This person, or the people in the fog, probably only have some simple reactions and have no cognition or intelligence of their own.

In other words, it is not certain whether these people are still alive.

Lu Ban shone the flashlight on the man's face. If it were an ordinary person, this would be very rude, but the other party did not react and just stood there woodenly.

Lu Ban raised the crowbar and slowly poked it towards the other person's shoulder.

Just as the crowbar was about to touch the man's shoulder, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Lu Ban's crowbar.

That's not this person's hand.

Looking to the side along the skinny arm, Lu Ban saw another person who looked different from the former, but also had big eyes and a wrinkled face.

Shining the flashlight backwards, Lu Ban saw that behind the two people, there were more people just like them.

These people seemed to have been standing here since time immemorial, without moving an inch, only staring at Lu Ban with their huge, protruding eyes.

Perhaps, when the driver got off the carriage to urinate, when Lu Ban and Trist were observing in front of the stone statue, when the carriage was driving in the dark and silent night, on the roadside, in the ruins of those buildings, in the weeds and graves, in the thick and impenetrable fog, these people stood quietly in place, staring at them.

"Come back soon."

Drizzt shouted, his revolver ready to fire.

His vision was blurry. The scene was undoubtedly horrifying. There were so many creatures that looked like humans but were completely non-human that it made Drizzt feel dizzy. Only the coolness of the metal in his hands could calm him down a little.

Without checking, one could tell that Drizzt's sanity must have dropped by at least three points.

"etc."

Lu Ban took a half step back and could see some people being obscured by the fog and disappearing from his sight.

He looked at the man in front of him. These guys had no intention of moving forward into the light and remained standing where they were.

"Do you know the Black Queen Mother?"

Lu Ban asked.

After hearing Lu Ban's words, everyone's eyes widened and turned to Lu Ban.

"Black, King, Mother."

Their voices rose and fell continuously.

Then, the man at the beginning showed expression on his face for the first time.

That's fear.

Lu Ban saw that his facial features were distorted, revealing emotions of fear, awe, and panic.

"ah……"

The man whimpered and then retreated as if to avoid Lu Ban.

Several people made the same sound, gradually retreating and disappearing in the fog.

"Black Queen Mother?"

Trist seemed to have never heard of this term.

"Do you know the [Black Queen Mother's Statue of Mercy]?"

Lu Ban returned to the car and asked.

Drizzt shook his head.

"This seems to be a religious belief in certain areas of the Kingdom of Night, or in the area near Dry Water Town. It is an evil religion that may have a tradition of sacrificing living people."

Lu Ban shared the information he had obtained from the [Black Queen Mother's Statue of Mercy].

"Heh, this kind of enemy is not uncommon in the Land of Silence... Wait, this is your first time in the Kingdom of Night, how do you know all this, could it be..."

Drizzt looked Lu Ban up and down.

"Have you ever used the [Knowledge of a Madman]?"

"Well, for this mission, I used it twice, so I know some mission-related knowledge."

Lu Ban nodded.

"... Twice, no, this mission?"

There was something odd in Drizzt's eyes.

"Although [Knowledge of Madmen] can obtain knowledge from other worlds, including mission contents and some extraordinary information, it is mostly knowledge that drives people crazy. This knowledge that humans cannot understand is a kind of pollution just by touching it..."

He sighed a little.

"I used to be ignorant and used the [Knowledge of a Madman] once, and the result was..."

Trist seemed to remember the experience at that time still vividly and was unwilling to talk about it too much.

"You have used the [Knowledge of a Madman] twice, so it must have been contaminated to a certain extent. Be careful. If your sanity drops to a certain level, it may be corroded and even transformed into a monster..."

"Why do you think these tasks are so difficult? When mortals come into contact with forbidden knowledge, they are polluted, their sanity is eroded, and they are alienated and turned into monsters..."

"The difficulty of a mission is the limit to which the Chosen One may fall during this mission."