madnovel Chapter 68 Big Brother
Chapter 68 Big Brother
Chapter 68 Big Brother
The three of them walked through the dense oak forest and finally arrived at the abandoned quarry in the west of the village.
The afterglow of the setting sun slanted across the open space, gilding the sharp, angular pebbles with a dull golden-red hue.
The once bustling mine has long been abandoned. Rusty mine carts are stuck in cracked mud pits, and broken picks and shovels are scattered among the rubble, eroded and fused together by the passage of time.
The mountainside is covered with chisel marks of varying depths, the imprints left by countless miners over decades. Now, only sparse green vines climb along the cracks in the rocks, adding a touch of desolate vitality to this lifeless land.
"Is this the place?" Milan gently adjusted his cap, looking at the opening in front of him, and asked Rhodes beside him.
"Yes, this is the closest known entrance to Thornwood Village." Rhodes nodded, looking at the map in his hand.
According to the elders of Jimu Village, this place was a stone quarry in Misty City more than a hundred years ago, and most of the rocks used to expand the city walls came from this quarry.
For some unknown reason, the rulers of that time suddenly issued a decree to forcibly seal off the area, all the miners were evacuated, and even the mining tools were left unattended. No one knew the real reason.
From then on, the place was completely abandoned. Exposed to the wind and sun, the mine tunnels collapsed, and it gradually became a habitat for wild beasts and monsters. The villagers nearby would avoid it on weekdays and dared not approach this area.
The group could clearly feel that the temperature inside was significantly different from that outside, especially as the setting sun gradually disappeared, coupled with the chilly air, which made them shiver.
"Hiss—" Milan couldn't help but cover her nose as soon as she stepped into the shadows of the mine. "The magic in this place is truly stinking."
,””
Even without using magic to deliberately detect it, she could easily sense that nauseating dark magic.
"There are quite a few monsters here." Rhode glanced around.
Aside from the parts he didn't recognize, he found fresh traces of more than three different kinds of creatures just at the cave entrance.
The rock walls on both sides of the mine tunnel were rough and uneven, covered with chisel marks of varying depths and large patches of dried, blackened blood. The gravel underfoot was pitted and uneven, making a soft "crunching" sound when stepped on.
Going a little deeper, Don Quixote looked at the dark path ahead and the towering rock walls above him, and couldn't help but mutter, "It's so dark."
She could barely see anything anymore.
Milan instinctively summoned the illumination spell, but the moment the light pierced the darkness, a series of rapid, popping sounds came from above, breaking the deathly silence of the mine tunnel.
"Crouch down." Rhodes tried to stop them but it was too late. He quickly grabbed Milan and Don Quixote's shoulders, and the three of them instantly crouched down against the rock wall in a half-crouch.
Thousands upon thousands of black bats surged out of their nests within the rock face in fright, like an ominous dark cloud, whistling past the three of them.
The piercing screech was so loud it hurt the eardrums, and the fishy wind it brought made the gravel on the ground rustle, while countless tiny dust particles landed on the three people's hair and shoulders.
"What kind of monster is this?! We must—"
Don Quixote instinctively raised his sword to strike, but Rhodes immediately stopped him, saying, "Don't worry, they're just startled ordinary bats, they won't hurt anyone."
Only after the swarm of bats had completely disappeared into the light at the cave entrance did the three of them slowly straighten up.
Once the swarm of bats had completely disappeared into the light at the cave entrance, the three of them slowly straightened up and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Bats are afraid of light, so it's best not to use strong light," Rhodes said. "There might be some creatures inside that live in darkness for a long time, and using light rashly could lead to unnecessary battles."
"I see. We've seen similar plots in books before," Don Quixote said.
Seeing that they were all staring at her, Milan could only casually brush the dust off her robes and stubbornly say, "Who knew these weird things would hang overhead? Besides, are we supposed to walk in the dark without lights?"
"I can see normally in the dark, as for you—"
"We could consider using this kind of low-light."
As Rhodes spoke, he flicked a wisp of turquoise magic between his fingertips, creating a soft, firefly-sized dot of light. "This way, we won't disturb the monsters deep inside, and we can still provide you with some visibility."
"As for the investigation," Rod replied, seeing Milan's hesitation, "I'll take care of it."
"Hmph—what's there to be proud of?" Milan curled her lip and reluctantly dimmed the light of her staff, leaving only a hazy halo surrounding the three of them.
"Speaking of which, I haven't asked before, but you, Hiro—" Milan leaned closer to Rhodes in the dim light, scrutinizing him carefully as she asked, "What race are you?"
"Your archery skills are excellent, and you can still see in this environment. Your demeanor is also somewhat similar to—you wouldn't actually be related to those elves, would you?"
"But your characteristics are all human, which is truly remarkable."
"————" Rod remained silent, only turning his head slightly away.
However, Milan only asked this trivial question casually, and soon opened her magic book to search for it.
"You go ahead and work hard for now, while I look for a spell that can grant people the ability to see in the dark —"
The three continued on their way, but this time Rod walked in front, while Don Quixote followed beside Milan.
"In such darkness, is it really possible to see anything?" Don Quixote asked, looking at Rhodes walking ahead of him, using the only light around him.
Rhodes didn't speak, but pressed his ear against the cold rock wall, carefully discerning the sounds coming from deep within the mine.
call----
With the Ring of Nature, his perception was greatly enhanced, allowing him to clearly detect subtle movements coming from different directions through the wind energy.
Looking again at the footprints and droppings left by the monsters on the ground, Rhode quickly compared them to the blurry route map in his mind and pointed to a fork in the road on the left: "Let's go this way, there seem to be a lot of monsters over there."
The two had no objections and followed Rod into the left fork in the road.
This path is much narrower than the main road, only wide enough for one person to pass at a time, and there are many abandoned hemp ropes hanging on the rock face.
Rod walked at the front, his steps so light that if Milan and the others hadn't been right behind him, they probably wouldn't have even noticed him.
Even so, the two, whose vision was extremely limited, dared not move the light away even an inch, for fear that he would disappear in an instant.
He would stop every few steps to check his surroundings, successfully avoiding several groups of monsters.
They occasionally encountered a few lone monsters along the way, but the three of them quickly and silently dealt with them all.
A mutated lizard that darted out from a crack in the rock had barely let out a half-scream when Don Quixote cleaved its head in two with a single sword stroke.
Two goblins who were slacking off in the corner were burned to ashes by Milan's small fireball before they could even see who was coming.
Rod was in charge of cleaning up the traces, and the whole process was clean and efficient, without making any unnecessary noise.
After walking down for about fifteen minutes, the narrow fork in the road suddenly opened up.
This appears to be a platform where miners used to pile up stones, with large and small granite blocks scattered on the ground, along with several overturned, dilapidated wheelbarrows.
Just then, the light from Milan's staff swept across a corner of the platform, and the three of them stopped in their tracks at the same time.
A dozen or so corpses lay scattered on the open ground, their clothing resembling that of the villagers of Jimu Village, all of whom had been altered beyond recognition.
The three instantly entered battle mode.
Rhodes raised his hand and nocked three iron arrows simultaneously, pointing them directly in the direction from which the sound came; Milan raised his staff, purple magic rapidly gathering at his fingertips; Don Quixote stepped in front of the two, his greatsword held horizontally in front of his chest, his eyes warily scanning the darkness.
Rod stepped forward first, his gaze sweeping briefly over the corpses.
Some were forcibly pieced together with the limbs and claws of wolves; some had their torsos covered in dense, twisted growths of flesh; and some had their heads split open and stuffed into the bodies of monsters.
"Bring some light."
Rod said to Milan, and sensing the approaching light, he squatted down to examine the contents carefully.
Rough, blackened sutures crawled all over their bodies like centipedes, and dark red blood soaked into the stones beneath them, long since dried into a deep brown.
The stench and strange, fishy-sweet smell in the air made my stomach churn.
Milan turned pale and instinctively covered his mouth. Don Quixote also suppressed his excitement, gripped his greatsword tightly, and became more serious than ever before.
Just as Rod was about to warn the two to be careful, a faint, intermittent sobbing sound suddenly came from behind the pile of corpses.
"You...you've come to save me?"
Immediately afterwards, a small figure stumbled out from behind the layers of corpses.
It was a little girl who looked only five or six years old, dressed in clothes stained with blood and dust, her slightly long hair sticking messily to her face, covering most of it.
It was a child who looked only five or six years old, covered by half a bloodstained wolf pelt, with rough stitches running from her neck to her back. Most horrifying of all was her head; the left half was the pale, tender face of a human child, while the right half was forcibly pieced together with half a gray-black wolf's head, sharp fangs protruding from the corners of its mouth, and its wolf ears twitching slightly.
She wore a little dress whose original color was no longer recognizable, stained with dried blood and mud, and her bare feet left shallow bloodstains on the cold gravel.
"Watch out!" Don Quixote's pupils shrank, and without thinking, he raised his greatsword and slashed at her.
"Don't do it!" Rhodes shouted sharply, grabbing Don Quixote's wrist and pulling the greatsword back from mid-air.
The girl screamed in fright, crouched on the ground, covering her head, and trembled violently. A low whimper came from the wolf's head, while the human's face was covered in tears.
"No, don't kill me—" Her voice was thin and hoarse, filled with heavy sobs, "I'm not a monster—"
Milan's hand, holding the staff, froze in mid-air. Her face was even paler than when she saw the corpse. She stared blankly at the small figure crouching on the ground, trembling, and the magic in her hand almost went out of control.
Don Quixote stood frozen in place, his hand gripping the greatsword trembling slightly, unable to believe that he had just almost killed a child.
Rhodes slowly lowered his bow and arrow, then stepped forward, lowering his voice: "We won't kill you. Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The girl looked up, revealing a pair of wet, black eyes.
"Big brother, big sister—" she looked timidly at Rod and sobbed, "I, my name is Lily—"
"Lily?" Don Quixote exclaimed, exchanging a glance with Milan, both of them showing disbelief.
The child they had been searching for with such difficulty had turned out to be like this.
Lily nodded, her tears falling even harder: "Three days ago, my friends and I were playing hide-and-seek at the village entrance when suddenly a lot of monsters rushed out."
"They grabbed me, threw me into a very dark car, and then brought me here."
"When I woke up, my whole body ached terribly—" She raised her little hand and touched the half-wolf head on her head, her voice choked with sobs, "Strange things grew here. I called for my dad and mom, and for the uncles and aunts in the village, but no one paid any attention to me."
"I don't know when I fell asleep, and when I woke up I found myself here—"
She became increasingly distressed as she spoke, squatting on the ground with her knees drawn up to her chest and wailing loudly. Wolf Head's side also let out a mournful howl. The two sounds mingled together, echoing across the empty platform, sending a shiver down one's spine.
Milan turned her head away and blinked hard.
Don Quixote was so angry that his chest heaved violently, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Rhodes crouched down, looking at Lily who was trembling with sobs, and said in a softer voice, "Don't be afraid, we're here to save you."
"Come with us, we'll take you back to the village."
Rod gently patted Lily on the back, signaling her not to be afraid, then turned to Milan and Don Quixote and winked: "You two keep watch around, I'll quickly search the area to see if there are any other survivors."
The two nodded immediately, standing back to back in the center of the platform, their staffs and greatswords poised to strike at any moment.
Rod moved quickly along the edge of the platform, carefully examining every crevice in the pile of stones, under the abandoned wheelbarrow, and at the forks in the road leading deeper into the area.
He found a rusty iron barrel in the corner, half-filled with blackened liquid that emitted the same fishy, sweet smell as before.
There were many broken syringes and blood-stained bandages scattered around, as well as several pieces of torn clothing belonging to villagers.
Further in, there was a mine tunnel blocked by rubble. Through the gaps, one could vaguely see more twisted limb remains, but there was no sign of any living people.
Ten minutes later, Rhodes returned to the two and shook his head: "There are no other survivors. This is just a dumping ground for failed experimental subjects. The surviving villagers should have been transported deeper inside."
Milan looked at Lily, who was crouching on the ground, still sobbing softly, and bit her lower lip: "So what do we do now? Should we keep going in to see if there are any other survivors, or take her back first?"
"Let's get out of here," Rhodes said without hesitation. "Lily is in very poor condition; it won't be good for her to stay any longer."
"Besides, we know nothing about what's inside. It's too dangerous to go in rashly. Let's send her back to the village first, and then we'll wipe out this den together once the guild's reinforcements arrive."