Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

Vittorio took a closer look and realized it was a painting.

A dark children's drawing filled with red and black.

The painting depicts a man, a woman, a little boy, and a little girl with dark hair, surrounded by numerous deformed animals and livestock.

Except for the little girl with black hair, the heads of the other three people were painted with black ink, turning them into lumps of coal, and their bodies were covered with various shades of red, as if the artist was constantly imagining and simulating stabbing these three people with swords.

The only difference is that the adult man has a lot of red on his body, while the little boy and the woman have less red.

In other words, the person who painted this picture harbored the most intense hatred for the man without facial features.

The brushstrokes are childlike, clearly not painted by an adult, but the emotions conveyed in the painting—the despair, extreme anger, and hatred—are not something a child could express.

That extreme emotion even made Vittorio tremble slightly... or so he thought.

Vittorio casually tossed the drawing paper onto the ground.

Where did you find this painting?

Eileen casually pointed to a dilapidated hut next to a wooden fence.

"Inside, there was only a bed and a table. There were no signs of life inside, and it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. I found this painting on the ground."

Vittorio's eyes darted around, and after a moment's thought, his naturally gifted storyteller had already guessed most of the situation.

"How boring. I just saw this piece of paper and I already understand everything."

"I guess the little girl in the painting is the owner of that house, the one who created all those bizarre creatures, and the culprit who released the monsters under my castle."

"Her experiences... were nothing more than a broken family, a brutal father, a silent mother, a bullying brother, and a broken her..."

"Then she blamed it all on the world."

"It's not my fault, it's the world's fault!"

He pinched his throat and imitated the voice of a crazy, desperate little girl with remarkable skill, giving a vivid and expressive performance.

"That's definitely the case; there can't be any other version."

Eileen watched as Vittorio became completely absorbed in his art, her expression a mixture of emotions.

"Hmm... I think you might have been reading too many third-rate novels," Eileen commented.

Vittorio was slightly disappointed to see that no one appreciated his performance.

"Sigh, it seems we need someone here who understands art better."

Finally, they chatted idly and wandered around the shore, but apart from these strange animals and the giant fish in the lake, they found nothing else.

It's worth mentioning that while they were wandering around aimlessly, they found the exit.

A cave entrance leading to the outside world suddenly appeared before them.

Vittorio strode outside, looked at the daylight, and felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation.

Although only a few hours had passed, the time spent in the cave felt like centuries to him. If he could, he would never want to undertake any more underground exploration.

The scenery outside the cave also felt familiar to him; he always felt that there used to be a similar dead woodland behind the castle.

Because there is not much prey or plants inside, almost no one goes there; only some women gathering firewood will be active on the outskirts.

Relying on his improved physical abilities, Vittorio took two steps back, used the momentum to leap upwards, grabbed a large tree in front of him, and then began to climb upwards, moving slowly.

When he climbed to the top of the tree and looked out, he saw a familiar building not far away.

"River Bend Fort!"

Sure enough, although they walked underground for so long and swam for a while, they didn't actually get very far from River Bend Fort.

They were actually in the Deadwood Forest not far behind Riverbend Fortress, and no one knew that deep in the Deadwood Forest, on a cliff face, there was a hidden cave entrance that led directly to the Riverbend Fortress dungeon.

Vittorio turned around excitedly, ready to tell Eileen the conclusion.

Just then, while he was standing in the tree, he saw something huge on the horizon flying towards River Bend Fort.

The creature's appearance was unclear, but its sheer size revealed it to be a celestial overlord, a colossal being.

Only when the object got a little closer could Vittorio clearly see its true appearance.

It has the head of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the tail of a lion. Its limbs are sharp, pointed, and have huge talons. It has enormous wings on its back, which, when spread out, are like a huge shadow that blocks out a patch of sky.

Its sharp beak was as sharp as an awl, and its yellow eyes looked around warily.

Vittorio estimated with the naked eye that its body was about four meters long from front to back, and its wingspan was ten meters.

Its goal is unwavering: River Bend Fort.

He slammed down on the top of the castle, his four claws gripping the stone wall and embedding themselves in it, sending shards of stone flying from where his claws touched the top of the castle.

He seemed oblivious to the gasps and horrified stares below, looking down over the entire River Bend like a king surveying his domain.

It is a griffin!

Vittorio stared at the thing in shock. He even forgot to climb down from the tree. As if sensing Vittorio's gaze, the thing suddenly looked in his direction. Its sharp eagle eyes, even from a distance, sent a shiver down Vittorio's spine!

For some reason, Vittorio had a gut feeling.

It's watching me!

His target is me!

Eagle Eye took in everything and followed an invisible connection, traversing the entire south bank, crossing the winding river, and then the entire north bank, arriving at a secret room somewhere underground in the River Mother Church in Shangbu Town.

A black-haired, red-eyed girl stood in front of the table, her eyes fixed on the empty space in front of her. In her vacant gaze, she took in everything in River Bend Castle.

Clearly, the griffin was her scout, her detection eye.

But she is the real mastermind behind it all.

Through the griffin's eyes, she saw the pale-faced, panicked people of River Bend Fortress, and she also saw the white-haired, red-eyed man perched atop a tree, staring at the griffin from afar.

She was talking to herself.

"Ah, River Bend Fortress? That place still exists? I thought the demonic tide a couple of days ago had razed it to the ground."

"What's going on? There are still people alive, and it seems they killed my pet bear that I ran away with a while ago. Could it be those bastards?"

Just as she was talking to herself, a clanging sound suddenly came from beside her.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a small golden birdcage, but inside it was not a bird or any other animal, but a tiny elf the size of a palm!

The little elf had golden hair, fair skin, and constantly fluttering dragonfly-like wings. It was a perfect creature of nature, but unfortunately, its face was half white and half black, as if its head had been split open and then patched up from the side.

The little elf had a thin chain around its neck, like a prisoner locked in a birdcage, but the golden birdcage also had a hint of being an ornamental bird, anyway, it was a kind of humiliation.

Hearing the black-haired girl's frustrated mutterings, the little elf excitedly banged on the birdcage, emitting a noisy and piercing mockery.

"Hey, did someone kill your big, clumsy bear? Great! I've disliked it for ages, it was smelly and stupid!"

"You'd better watch out. If the bear killer finds out it was you, a cultist, who's behind this, they'll definitely come after you. They might just tear you to pieces and then piece your head and butt back together!"

The black-haired girl revealed an evil, chilling smile, suddenly opened the cage, and squeezed the little elf in her hand like a chick, making the elf's face turn red and its eyes swell.

The girl tilted her delicate and adorable head, and a string of vulgarities came out of her small mouth.

"Hey, you dead fly, are you tired of living? Did I pull your brain out when I sewed it back together?"

"Oh, no, even if a fly like you had a perfectly intact brain, it probably wouldn't be bigger than my little finger."

"If you're tired of living, why don't you just pull your own intestines out from behind, wrap them around your neck three times, and strangle yourself? Or do you think it's better for me to just strangle you?"