My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 84 Everyone did it

"Hmm—it should be around this location."

Rhodes laid out the map, his fingertip first landing on the abandoned quarry where they were, determining their location based on the current node, and then matching it to the positions and distances of other markers one by one.

Since those mages sealed something powerful, could we find other clues by examining the points of the seal?

Rhodes thought for a moment, first connecting the punctuation marks one by one, and then fell into deep thought.

can't read.

The positions of these punctuation marks did not match any star map he knew, and he could not deduce any useful information from those abstract patterns.

However, since there is a seal in the abandoned mine where they are, perhaps they can find a connection from the surface?

With that in mind, Rod drew a circle around all the points and the outer contours of the terrain, based on the punctuation marks and their corresponding terrain features.

After finishing the last stroke, he paused, staring at the paper without saying a word.

What is this thing?

Rhodes looked at the strange, unrecognizable monster he had drawn on the map with a troubled expression.

The front is a wide, flat blob, barely resembling the shape of an animal head, but the lines are crooked and irregular. The middle section is round and bulging, with two asymmetrical protrusions on either side, resembling either undeveloped wings or two extra lumps of flesh. A thin, long, and curved line trails behind, somewhat like a snake's tail, yet also hooked high like a scorpion. These patterns are pieced together from various sources, making it a masterpiece of abstract art.

Although there were many strange-looking creatures in the other world, he went through all the monsters he could name from his memory, but he couldn't match any of them to his name.

If you say it's some kind of patchwork monster, its outline is completely chaotic; if you say it's just a pattern that happened to come together from the earth's veins, it vaguely resembles the outline of a living creature, so it's somewhat plausible.

"Phew—" Rhodes sighed and put the map away.

Rather than speculating that the ancient mages were all masters of abstract art, he felt it was more likely that he was guessing in the wrong direction.

Perhaps this is actually some kind of secret code among monks?

No matter how many mysteries there are right now, it's useless. The important thing is to wake everyone up and find an exit to get out.

The impact of that white light was considerable; it even jolted Alina out of her consciousness space. Who knows if it left any other aftereffects?

Rhodes turned around and squatted down next to Alina, patting her shoulder with a steady, moderate touch: "Alina, wake up."

The golden-haired half-elf's eyelashes trembled several times before he slowly lifted his eyelids.

"Um?"

Her emerald green pupils swayed unfocused for a moment, but when she saw Rhodes in front of her and then scanned the unfamiliar stone chamber around her, her face was instantly filled with confusion. She opened her mouth to ask, "How did I get out of the consciousness space?", when she heard a woman's muffled groan from the side.

"Um----"

It's the sound of Milan.

Rhodes reacted extremely quickly, almost instantly shifting half a step to the side upon hearing the sound, using his back to firmly shield Alina on the ground, preventing the two who had just woken up from seeing the unusual situation.

He spoke in a very low voice to Alina, "Quickly merge."

Although Alina was full of questions and hadn't even figured out the current situation, she still subconsciously chose to believe the man in front of her.

Almost instinctively, she activated her soul connection, and a bluish-gold glow rose from her body, flowing into Rhodes' body through his palm.

In the blink of an eye, the figure on the ground completely disappeared, and Rhode's coarse gray clothes were replaced with his blue-gold ranger outfit, as if the half-elf girl had never appeared.

However, in contrast to the quiet and dullness outside, Alina's voice immediately rang out in the consciousness space.

She tried to remain calm, but the panic and confusion in her voice were impossible to hide. She asked Rhodes repeatedly, "Are you alright? What was that white light just now? I was inside when I was suddenly pulled out by a force and then lost consciousness."

"I don't know," Rhodes shook his head slightly, "I opened my eyes and saw all of you lying on the ground."

Before the two could say anything more, Don Quixote's groaning came from behind them, accompanied by the soft clanging of metal.

It looked like the girl had woken up and was getting up from the ground, wearing a suit of armor.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his surprise, and when he turned around, his face had returned to its usual calm expression, showing no sign of anything amiss.

"Hiss—what happened?" Milan propped herself up, her temples throbbing, her mind filled with a dull buzzing.

She had just settled down when a faint gray shadow flashed through her hazy vision, followed by a very faint cyan-gold light that disappeared in an instant.

Her vision blurred, she instantly tensed, her staff instinctively raised to her chest, a purple light slowly illuminating its tip: "Who goes there?!"

But when their gaze focused, all they saw was Hiro standing quietly in front of them, his silhouette clearly defined in a blue-gold ranger outfit, the surrounding stone ground empty and devoid of anything.

"It's me," Rod turned to her and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Milan blinked, then shook her head vigorously. The purple light at her fingertips slowly dissipated. She gave a self-deprecating twitch at the corner of her mouth: "Looks like I was really affected by that strange white light. I even started hallucinating."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a metallic clang came from the side.

"Hoo-hoo—" Don Quixote rubbed the back of his head and sat up. Instead of feeling any lingering fear from surviving the ordeal, he looked quite energetic.

"I'm awake!" Her voice was loud and clear, not at all like someone who had just been unconscious. "Heh heh~ You'd never guess what kind of dream I just had!"

"I dreamt that I was galloping across the grasslands like a free horse, the wind whistling past my ears, and a shimmering silver dragon emerged from the clouds, declaring me the chosen knight and promising to lead me to vanquish the Abyss Demon King! Along the way, I filled my backpack with treasure chests, and even touched the Holy Sword!"

She got more and more excited as she talked, and at the end she smacked her lips as if she hadn't had enough, "What a wonderful dream, I wish I could have it a little longer."

Milan's temple throbbed with embarrassment, and she tapped her head with a smacked emoji: "What time is it and you're still thinking about adventures in your dreams?"

"Could this be a clue?"

Rod looked up at her, his tone calm yet probing: "And you? Did you dream of anything while you were unconscious?"

Milan's smile froze instantly, her eyes darted around awkwardly, and she cleared her throat, mumbling, "It's nothing, I just fainted. How could I dream every time?"

"Not necessarily." Rhodes tapped the hilt of his sword lightly with his fingertips. "That white light was aimed at the soul, and it could even forcibly tear the soul out. The dream during the unconsciousness might be related to the effects of the seal, and it might be a clue."

Milan's expression became even more embarrassed after hearing his words. Her fingertips unconsciously twisted the leather tassel on her staff. After a long while, she finally lowered her voice and said with a straight face, "---It wasn't a very important dream. I just dreamt that I turned into a stupid half-orc. My mind was completely blank. I had forgotten all the magic knowledge and spell formulas I had learned. I couldn't even cast the most basic light spell."

She turned her face away immediately after she finished speaking, her expression showing barely suppressed anger.

For a self-important monk, it would be undignified to talk about such a nightmare of losing his talent and knowledge.

"Huh? Orcs?" Don Quixote's eyes widened, and he slapped his thigh. "Hmm—that's certainly hard for Lady Milan to accept."

"Shut up." Milan gave her a cold glare, and the knight immediately covered her mouth.

Rhodes didn't interrupt, his brow furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought.

The white light was less of an indiscriminate impact and more of a penetration through the surface of consciousness, bringing to light what was most cherished in one's heart.

He whispered in his mind, "Alina, what about you? Did you dream about anything while you were unconscious?"

After a few seconds of silence in the consciousness space, Alina's somewhat dazed voice rang out, tinged with a faint sense of melancholy: "I dreamt of fragments from my childhood—back then, I lived with my mother in the Elf Forest, where the forest was full of glowing fireflies, and the wind was filled with the scent of pine needles and tree sap."

"So, Hiro, what about you? Did you dream about anything—"

Milan pursed her lips, about to ask Rod what he was dreaming about, when two soft sobs, mixed with a childish voice, suddenly came from the corner, lightly interrupting her.

"you----"

Several people turned to look at the same time.

The half-wolf girl, who had been lying unconscious on the ground, had woken up at some point, her small, half-human face now open with round, bright eyes.

She stared blankly at the stone wall above her head for a few seconds, then slowly lowered her gaze and met the wary and serious eyes of the three strangers. Her little mouth twitched, and she burst into tears with a "waaaah".

"?"

"Waaaaahh ...

"Awooo————"

She cried haphazardly, her shoulders trembling, her wolf ears drooping listlessly, tears streaming down half of her human face, while the other half of her wolf face occasionally howled.

She mumbled incoherently, saying things like "want to go home" and "scared," huddled in the corner trembling uncontrollably. She looked exactly like an ordinary, frightened child, with not a trace of her previous madness and resentment.

"?"

The situation suddenly stalled.

Don Quixote stood frozen in place, sword in hand, unsure whether to advance or retreat. He frantically tried to comfort her but was afraid of frightening her. After opening his mouth for a long time, he managed to stammer out, "You...you don't cry," which only made Lily cry even harder.

Milan, who had been keeping a straight face and preparing to interrogate, frowned upon seeing this and rubbed her temples with a headache.

"This consciousness should belong to Lily?" Milan analyzed, looking at the incessantly crying Lily. "The soul that previously occupied Lily's body has disappeared, so the original suppression is gone, and the one that has awakened is the original Lily."

"I don't know," Rod replied honestly. "Maybe he's faking it."

Considering what "Lily" had done before, Rod, as a victim who was almost killed by her, couldn't be sure if this wasn't part of her acting.

"Phew—okay, but what do we do now? She's been crying nonstop and seems unable to communicate; we can't get anything out of her."

Milan's temples throbbed from the crying. Seeing Don Quixote standing there, the crying only grew louder the more he tried to comfort him, Milan gestured with his chin toward Rhodes, "Rhodes, you're better at soothing children, you do it."

"?"

'

Rod looked at Milan, pointed to himself in confusion, and after seeing her nod and confirm that she wasn't joking, he paused, then got up and walked over.

Upon seeing the half-wolf face, he unconsciously reached for the skull cap in his pocket, attempting to negotiate using the more efficient, old-fashioned method.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Alina in the consciousness space immediately called out upon seeing this.

"Hmm—communicate with her?" Rhodes replied uncertainly, "Let's see if we can get any useful information out of her."

"Didn't Milan say that she should be the original Lily?" Alina asked in a terrified voice.

"But we can't be sure if she's faking it," Rod replied seriously. "The real enemy won't go easy on us just because she looks like a child."

"Even if you say that," Alina hesitated, "she still looks like a child—wouldn't you rather not hit a child like you did before?"

"You're wrong about that," Rod corrected her righteously. "First of all, based on the shape of that black spirit, we can clearly see that it is not a child."

"What kind of kid would sneak up on us without a trace?"

"Um...it seems so?" Although Alina felt something was off, she was still convinced.

"Secondly, I've only been hitting the wolf's face, so at most it's animal abuse, not child abuse," Rod said seriously. "Therefore, your accusation is unfounded."

What on earth is this guy spouting?

This doesn't seem to be the main point, does it?

"And, if we're really going to count, besides me, Milan and Don Quixote also fought," Rod said seriously. "Everyone did."

"Including you, don't forget we were accomplices," Rhodes pointed out. "So you should say 'we,' not just me."

"Enough! You bastard, stop this now!" Alina finally snapped out of it and roared in her mind's eye, "Stop making excuses for your wicked deeds!"

"But Milan made me do it," Rod argued.

"I don't think that's what she meant—" Alina said, somewhat exhausted. "Have you forgotten our mission to find Lily? Aren't you afraid that doing this will jeopardize the mission?"

Rhodes wanted to remind Alina of the other party's terrifying regenerative ability, but sensing her less-than-pleasant mood, he silently kept quiet.

If the resonance decreases, then it would be a loss.

But how do I communicate with a child who keeps crying?

After being sternly rebuked and stopped by Alina in the consciousness space, Rhodes scratched his head.

After a while, he took out a piece of candy from his pocket.

"Want some?" He half-squatted down in front of Lily, and seeing that she was only crying and didn't respond, he added to attract her attention, "If you don't say anything, then I'll eat this candy myself."

"Waaaaah—candy?" Lily looked up, sobbing, when she saw what Rod was holding.

Although tears still clung to her face, her eyes were already fixed on the candy in Rod's hand: "I want...I want some—"

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