Chapter Sixty-One
The rain was so heavy that there was no end in sight, and only lightning flashed across the black sky.
In the pouring rain, a single child walks across a plain that seems to stretch endlessly.
There wasn't even a house to shelter her from the rain, not even a tree big enough. She was completely exposed to the downpour, facing the cruelty of the world.
It's so painful, so agonizing. I can't see the end, I can only keep moving forward.
Lori wanted to stop because she had no strength left in her body, but she was still moving forward mechanically.
She didn't know where she was going, but she felt she had already come a very, very long way, and it would be a shame to stop now. Therefore, she could only keep moving forward, no matter what lay ahead.
As for which way is forward? All around is a curtain of rain, everything looks the same. She might even think she's been walking for a long time, when in reality she's just going in circles. She's trapped here; she'll die here, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in the next moment. In any case, she won't survive. This child doesn't deserve redemption. She's committed the sin of living; her very existence is a sin.
But she still wanted to live. To be honest, Lori couldn't remember what had happened before; she wasn't even sure if she had parents. Everything about her past was a lie to Carl, just so she wouldn't be abandoned by him.
From the moment she becomes a demon, her previous memories will disappear. In her place, only flames will remain.
She opened her eyes, looked at the fire in front of her, and sat up abruptly, gasping for breath.
"Good evening, did you have a nightmare?" Lori heard a familiar voice, turned her head, and saw Karl sitting cross-legged next to her.
There was no heavy rain around, only a fire in front of me. But it wasn't the kind of raging fire that could incinerate a city; it was just a normal bonfire, serving to provide warmth and light.
Her nose twitched; she could vaguely smell the aroma. She saw barbecue equipment hanging around, and jars placed in the flames.
It was meat I'd never seen before, not human flesh, but the flesh of some unknown entity. It was black, but as it roasted, it emitted a maddeningly fragrant aroma. There were also several grilled fish.
The jar inside should contain porridge, which is also emitting a fragrant aroma.
Yak's exact words were that it was not easy to gather so many people today, and the new team needed a decent meal to boost everyone's cohesion. Therefore, he didn't hold back on his food supplies this time and took out all the cured meat that had been stored for a long time.
Although some people were worried about food supplies, Ark said there was no need to worry, without explaining why, but they could only trust him. Since he said there was no problem, there probably wasn't.
At worst, we'll just eat Ghost Duke. That guy is sitting right next to us, warming himself by the fire and looking around, seemingly lost in thought.
This guy has been spacing out ever since he woke up, I don't know what he's thinking, he's just spacing out.
Perhaps he was feeling a little out of place. Ark had assumed this guy who spouted nonsense would be incredibly adaptable. But now it seemed he was probably just the kind of guy who gets shy easily.
This guy who can't die no matter what is obviously a good food reserve; as long as you have him with you, you don't have to worry about food.
It's just that this guy had been lying in the coffin all along and hadn't been noticed.
"Are you sure you don't need me to help treat your wound?" Karl asked Ghost Duke hesitantly.
This guy's injuries look very serious. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be able to get out of bed for at least ten days to two weeks.
Bah! It should be said that monsters take ten days to half a month to recover. As for ordinary people, they don't need to recover at all, because they're already dead.
But this guy is already able to sit here and seems to be able to eat, because he looks quite fond of the meat.
"No, really no need." He looked at the meat and said, "Does getting injured in this world turn you into a monster?"
“Normally that’s how it is, but it won’t be if there’s a priest.” Ark said, patting Karl on the shoulder next to him. “With this guy here, we can rest assured. No matter what dangers we encounter, we’ll definitely be fine.”
Indeed, with a priest present, as long as one survives, there's no need to worry about corruption. However, everyone present is roughly the same; few are truly normal. Even Denos can heal his wounds with magic. Once the corruption issue is resolved, they can fight with unrestrained abandon.
However, unlike Deedre, she couldn't completely ignore her wounds; she was currently receiving treatment next to Karl. She had previously been in charge of guard duties, and the extensive combat experience had left her with serious injuries.
Lori sat up and looked at the people sitting around her.
This was the first time she had ever seen so many people; strictly speaking, it was a large group of people who wouldn't want to hurt her.
While she was working at the church, strictly speaking, those people weren't considered human to her. Because if they knew Lori's true identity as a demon, they would quickly pull out weapons from who-knows-where and chop off her head.
So Lori had to hide from them, but these guys seemed to know who she was, yet they didn't seem to be hostile towards her.
Or rather, there isn't much energy to deal with this. There aren't many people who are unharmed right now, and most of the people sitting around have some kind of injury.
"Where's Klishen?" Suddenly, Lu Li remembered this. She vaguely remembered that it was Klish who saved them at the end.
But now we don't know where that child went.
Suddenly she saw someone raise their hand. Lori tilted her head and saw Spider-Man. He was rapidly stabbing at her with his four legs...
Because he was knitting a sweater.
Now everyone realized that the so-called knitted sweaters and scarves were actually made by the little spider using its own web. Ark also demonstrated the web's toughness, showing it could withstand the stabs of a dagger and was impervious to fire. It was said to be almost as hard as steel.
But this sweater is so comfortable to wear; the material is truly lovely because it's both practical and incredibly comfortable. There aren't many pieces of clothing that meet both of these criteria, but this scarf and sweater definitely do.
The first thing he made was Lori's sweater, because she was the smallest in size. And since she was likely to encounter the most dangers during the journey, it was natural that the first sweater should be given to her.
The remaining order hasn't been decided yet; anyway, it will take a long time to finish weaving this thing. Before that, everyone received their scarves. These could be made in advance and were kept on the wagons where goods were stored.
Although this item wasn't a commodity, Ark never mentioned selling it. Even though it could easily fetch one of the highest prices on the market, he insisted it was best to keep it for himself. Selling it wouldn't be appropriate.
Lori took the scarf from Ark's hand. Though called a scarf, it was about the size of a blanket when fully unfolded. Warming it by the fire, it felt wonderfully comfortable to hold in her arms.
It's very peaceful outside now, a rare good day. After stopping, Denos used some methods to block the monsters' search, making them disappear from their sight. He can finally rest here.
"What's the route like next?" Karl wondered, needing to confirm whether they would be passing through a no-man's-land.
The forbidden zone of Nadera is truly deadly; it's a place no saint could possibly resolve. Nadera is said to have committed many acts against church rules. However, precisely because of its geographical location, the church has yet to send a saint there.
I can't believe that such a large city only has monks, not even a single priest. Even the small city I just left had a priest, and Nadera, a city with an ridiculously large population and area, a legitimate metropolis, only has monks to deal with the problem of corruption.
Although there are rumors that the Nidra has been a large-scale epidemic since ancient times, it has never shown any signs of abating.
Epidemics are far more destructive to a city than monsters, because people who are sick are far too easily corrupted by the chaotic elements, and once corrupted, they turn into monsters. And harming others will turn those people into monsters.
That would be an absolute disaster. Without a priest to oversee it, if a large-scale epidemic broke out in that city, the consequences would be catastrophic. It could even become a ghost town within just a few days.
“No map, we’re relying on this guy.” Ark pointed to the girl sitting not far from Karl, who was not saying a word: “She knows the way.”
That's Lady; she's still warming herself by the fire.
It's really strange. This guy hasn't said anything since the beginning. He just sat there, as if he wanted to get moldy.
I'm supposed to take her home now, but she seems a little reluctant.
Lady realized that Ark was talking about her, so she turned to look at Carl, hesitated for a moment, and said...
"I can't say for sure about the general route, as I don't have a map of that area."
Will we experience an upside-down volcano?
"Probably not, I'm not sure. The location of that thing changes every day." Lady said hesitantly, "I've never seen that thing, so I can only say it's probably not."
Because gravity is abnormal in the life-deprived zone surrounding Nidra, there is an inverted volcano in one area, like an overturned bowl filled with lava.
Walking beneath it is anything but safe, with crimson lava right above you. Walking under lava naturally requires extraordinary courage. A normal person certainly wouldn't go down there, unless they felt they were living way too long.
But as Lady said, that thing wasn't stationary; it would frequently change its position.
Such terrain makes it impossible to draw a map, so large areas are marked in red to indicate that the area is extremely dangerous.
“We have to pass through the forbidden zone.” Dedeline, who was beside Karl, noticed his concern: “It has nothing to do with who makes the decision, you should have noticed that, right?”
“Then we should choose a safer city as our next target.” Karl frowned and said, “I disagree. Entering the forbidden zone directly is too dangerous. This isn’t a result of our well-equipped forces; we only have four incomplete carriages, we have no way…”
“What if I told you that if we didn’t go to this city, Lori might be in danger?” Ark suddenly said softly, and the previously noisy environment suddenly quieted down.
Lori looked at Ark with some fear, but Ark waved his hand to indicate that he was fine and she didn't need to worry.
"What do you mean?" Carl said, somewhat displeased. "Are you using Lori as a threat?"
“No, don’t misunderstand.” Yak heated up a cup of wine for himself and drank it all in one gulp. “I know the dangers of entering the forbidden zone. I don’t want to see any casualties in the team, nor do I want my carriage to be damaged. Once we enter the forbidden zone, it’s all over if things go wrong. The best-case scenario is that we can get out alive, with only your carriage. Once it’s full of people, it can’t hold much else. Not to mention the worst-case scenario.”
He sighed helplessly, looked at Carl and said, "This was an operation where the danger and reward were completely disproportionate. If I had any business sense, I would have gone to another city. It's not close to us, but the chaos on the road is manageable. Although it's a mess, we'll be able to arrive more safely."
"So, why did you come this way?"
“The church people are coming.” Ark suddenly leaned against Karl and showed him the coin in his hand.
It was the same pendant. Karl glanced at it, and his facial expression became quite interesting. In the end, he could only turn his head away and sigh with some reluctance.
“This is proof that I’m familiar with the Church’s ways of doing things and their methods of assigning people.” Ark put the necklace back into his clothes. “They will prepare for a demon far more than you know. Now that we’ve left the city, this is the only place we’re not being watched. Because if we keep going forward, there’s only the forbidden zone. They will surround us from both sides, thinking we shouldn’t have gone this way.”
"So that's why we have to force our way through a dangerous place?" Karl said softly, scratching his head and feeling utterly powerless.
"But don't worry, with me here, getting through the forbidden zone isn't too dangerous." Ark shrugged. "Speaking of which, haven't I told you about my special skills yet?"
"What?"
"Malice, I can sense malice. Including the malice of the environment. This is my specialty. I've been doing business for hundreds of years without any problems because of this."
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