Nightmare Light

Chapter 71 The Scale of the Stars

"We were attacked."

When Dog Brother said this, people were sitting in the dead woods with a fire burning in the middle. Several mercenaries were squatting in front of the fire to heat up food.

The firelight made everyone's faces flicker.

Gou Ge took a small branch and poke the fire, thinking slowly.

When he was thinking, he would frown slightly and look serious, as if thinking was something very important.

"That was during the third attempt to enter the village."

"Four guys in black and yellow robes suddenly appeared from behind us. They appeared in a cloud of yellow smoke, shouting strange slogans like 'Dusk is Coming' and attacked us the moment they appeared."

Lin Wang noticed something suspicious: "There were four of them, and more than a dozen of you, and you were the ones who got beaten?"

"...Yes, their secular magic is too strange, we can't stop it at all - they use a strange sacrificial ritual, very similar to the ancestral ritual, but it summons an infinite number of candles that emit a strange yellow light at the same time. We can't stop it at all."

"In just one encounter, two of our brothers died—two of them failed to dodge in time and were engulfed in wax."

"Then we started running. They were like a cat chasing mice... There weren't really any mice, I was just using a metaphor!" Wiping his sweat off his face, Dog Brother waved for Cat Girl to sit down, then continued, "They just kept chasing us. If we slowed down even a little, they'd attack and kill one or two of us..."

"So when you see me, your first reaction is to surrender?"

Dog Brother looked at his brothers around him, then felt very embarrassed, but shook his head very seriously: "Brother Lin, Captain Qiao, to be honest, my brothers and I were planning to lure those weird guys in and kill them."

He squatted on the ground, holding a half-burned stick in his hand. He looked disheveled but his eyes were bright.

He grinned, revealing a completely calm smile: "We, the Wild Wolf Group, may have had bad luck, but we have never been cowardly."

"We can't beat those bastards, and we've been badly bullied by them. Let's discuss it and decide to die with them."

"We'll just hide on the side of the road, pretending to rest, and wait for those bastards to come over. Then we'll suddenly rush over, hug them, and then we'll all blow ourselves up together—no matter how strong they are, a few of them will die, right?"

The mercenaries' words were extremely calm, but people could hear a kind of resolute and iron-blooded spirit in their voices.

Old Joe patted Gou Ge’s shoulder hard, almost knocking the bearded man over. “Good man! Our ancestors like good men like you!”

Old Joe stood up with a bang: "Brothers, get ready and set off!"

Dog Brother also stood up: "Your destination is actually that village, right?"

"Yes, that is most likely the village of the Mist Tribe."

Dog Brother was a little embarrassed and rubbed his hands: "Um... Qiao Tuan, Brother Lin, can you take us with you?"

"You guys want to go too?" Old Joe frowned. "What are you going for? You're no match for those guys!"

"Then you are definitely their match?"

"We are soldiers. These guys are destroying the security of the Federation. This is our duty!" Old Joe frowned. "You are mercenaries, mercenaries..."

"Mercenaries are still soldiers! If these cultists succeed, will the entire federation be in trouble?"

After receiving everyone's affirmative response, Dog Brother spread his hands and looked at Old Joe without showing any weakness: "So stop looking down on us! We can fight too!"

After the two exchanged glances for a few seconds, Old Joe snorted, "In that case, then organize your team."

At this time, Gou Ge turned his head and looked at Lin Wang: "Brother Lin, why do you want to go? As far as I know, you are neither a soldier nor a mercenary."

Lin Wang thought for a few seconds, then said in a gentle but serious tone, "First of all, I also have a semi-official identity in the Public Security Bureau... Is it a detective or something? It's almost the same."

Beside him, the cat girl suddenly looked up and glanced at Lin Wang: "Tell the truth?"

Lin Wang smiled and rubbed the cat girl's head: "The real reason... He raised his head and looked at the sky covered with dark clouds."

“If you set your sights on a higher, farther scale—among the stars.”

"We will find that the birth of any life or civilization is an incredible miracle and should be cherished."

"Of course there is birth and there is death... but it shouldn't be destroyed by a bunch of idiots with bad reasons."

"That's my reason."

Old Qiao stared at Lin Wang blankly. Suddenly, in his sight, Lin Wang's figure merged into one with an old and stubborn figure.

He seemed to hear the old man walking towards the fog, saying in a deep and hoarse voice: "Of course people will die, but people should not die confused." Lin Wang had a deep and serious face. After he finished speaking, he turned his head and saw that the cat girl had suddenly conjured up a small fish, threw it into the air and played with it.

"I knew you didn't want to hear this." He laughed dumbly, shook his head and prepared to leave.

At this time, he heard the cat girl behind him say in a lazy voice: "Meow, I don't dislike listening to it - Lin Wang said it very well!"

"Also, the tone of your voice just now was really similar to that woman's."

……

Three groups of people (plus one from the Mist Tribe) set out together, heading towards the col that Dog Brother mentioned.

Along the way, they did not encounter the cultists that Dog Brother mentioned.

After traveling for nearly two hours on the road, the outline of the valley that Gou Ge mentioned had already appeared in our sight.

After crossing the col, Gou Ge squatted down by the road, a little nervous but pretending to be calm, pointing into the col: "Brother Lin, Qiao Tuan, that's it."

Everyone followed his gaze.

At first, there was just a strange open space in the valley - it was strange because the open space was too flat, as if someone had deliberately constructed it.

"There's nothing here." A soldier muttered.

"Don't worry." Dog brother waved his hand, "The village will only take a moment."

After a while, Gu Shuochuan's tone suddenly became excited: "I feel it! It's the breath of my people! It's the breath of my people!"

As the Mist Clan member spoke, people felt a low "buzzing" sound coming from the valley in front of them.

As the sound rang out, the valley began to shake, the ground trembled, and rocks fell. And with this shaking, the flat ground in the valley...

Light appeared.

Light gradually filled the entire valley, and in this light, the outline of the building gradually emerged: bricks, rammed earth, walls, beams and columns...

The light outlines the contours of the building and weaves into every component of the building. Finally, when the buzzing sound disappears and the light dissipates, a quaint village appears in everyone's sight.

Old Joe made a gesture, a soldier nodded, took out some red paper, cut a small paper man, and ran towards the village in a crooked manner.

The next second, something that surprised everyone happened.

In full view of everyone, the little paper man passed through a village wall as if passing through a non-existent phantom!
"We have encountered this phenomenon before. Brother Lin, Qiao Tuan, do you know what is going on?" asked Dog Brother.

Old Joe thought for a moment; "I think it's because the Mist Tribe's village hasn't completely arrived in this world yet, so..."

"I have a different opinion." Lin Wang interrupted Lao Qiao - his tone was direct and unequivocal.

Whenever he entered a state of thinking and judging, he always seemed to lack emotional intelligence and manners.

However, as a typical empiricist, Old Joe never minds the other person's tone as long as what the other person says is right.

Actually, I don’t dare.

Lin Wang said, "Before, I saw an illusion of a village across the street."

"At that time, the person who created the illusion used it as a curtain to mislead me and make me ignore the empty space above my head."

"So now, I have reason to believe... all of this is also a deliberate fabrication by the mastermind behind this case."

Lin Wang smiled and changed the subject: "However, I already have experience and know how to solve this problem."

He gestured to the cat girl and patted her shoulder: "Let's follow the plan we just discussed..."

A hoarse laugh suddenly rang out: "Heh... no need to go through so much trouble."

"You can stay."

At that moment, everyone's attention was drawn to the direction of the sound.

No one noticed, only Lin Wang's mouth corners curled up in a subtle arc.

(End of this chapter)