Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

Lina left, and Vittorio finished his breakfast without any appetite.

After breakfast, instead of immediately throwing himself into the task of building up his territory, he summoned the little elf named Lappland.

"What I said to her yesterday was just a temporary measure, and I think you can understand that. As of now, I don't completely trust her."

"What I want to know is, what do you know? Why did Lina go from being the count's daughter to a cultist, and why is there a 'teacher' residing in the back of her head?"

"You seem to know her quite well; you should know all this, right?"

"I need to remind you that this is a very serious matter, and if you can't explain it clearly, I won't let you stay here any longer."

Vittorio looked at the little sprite in front of him, clearly wanting it to explain itself.

Lapland shook its head, put its hands behind its back looking a little nervous, and flapped its wings incessantly.

It understood that what was bound to happen had finally happened, and Vittorio would not let it off the hook without an explanation.

So it stopped struggling, cleared its throat, and began to tell its story.

"Where should I begin? It's a very long story..."

…………

……

When the Lapland creature woke up, it was in a distorted view. After it came to its senses, it found itself in a semi-transparent crystal tank.

By the way, glass does exist in this world, but it's the kind of semi-transparent glass that lets in light but not people. The technology isn't mature yet, but it's still usable for making windows or containers.

However, that kind of glass is not transparent enough to be used for observation, while natural crystal is more advantageous, so this tank is made of crystal.

The crystal jar was clearly designed for observation from the outside in, and the object of that observation was the little elf Lapland.

Inside the crystal jar were some large, half-split and hollowed-out walnuts serving as a bed, seven or eight round silver coins stacked together to serve as a bed, and a huge banana leaf serving as a carpet.

In addition, there are miniature tableware, miniature cabinets, and various miniature furniture...

At first glance, this scene looks like a miniature world.

These small pieces of furniture were undoubtedly intended for use in Lapland.

But Lapland stayed here with little interest, spending his days eating, then lying in bed to sleep, and then eating again when he woke up.

The reason is simple: this is just a cage, or rather, a hamster cage. No matter how cozy it is decorated, it cannot hide the fact that it is imprisoned here.

Lapland didn't recognize the group of observers, only knowing that the leader was called the Temple of Truth Guardian, the Dean of the Imperial Institute of Miraculous Life.

Today, the dean came to see it again.

A middle-aged man with sleek, combed hair walked over, followed by a group of people—he was the dean—and a group of people respectfully introduced him to the dean.

"Your Excellency Dean, this is the miniature humanoid creature captured by our branch, commonly known as a forest elf. Most of the other captured individuals died from starvation, only this one survived."

"Our current research is limited to gentle observation and attempts to teach it human writing and language. Based on our observations, this creature possesses considerable intelligence."

The dean nodded.

"We will continue to follow up."

The dean then left Lapland to observe another creature, a huge crystal jar placed in the center of the basement hall, reinforced with sheet metal, and continuously injected with a gas that could anesthetize and render the creature unconscious.

The amount of this gas is enough to kill a cow.

Despite this, the creature inside the jar still twitched slightly from time to time, as if it could wake up at any moment.

The dean wanted to get closer to observe, but was stopped by the researchers who were with him.

"Dean, the control state of this experimental subject is not stable. It even went berserk once. It took several steam guards to recapture it. For your safety, please do not get too close."

At this point, the dean stopped and observed from a distance.

Before him stood a humanoid creature, about the height of a person. From its hair, skin, and mouth, it continuously exuded worm-like growths that floated gently in a gas-filled container, seemingly moving unconsciously, like a biological nervous system.

In these humanoid creatures, tubes are inserted into their mouths and nasal cavities to inject oxygen and nutrients, ensuring that they do not die even though they are simply staying in place.

Even though the dean was very knowledgeable, he couldn't help but be curious about such a creature.

"Report the situation."

"yes!"

"Reporting to the Dean, the creature you are looking at is a humanoid being captured by Research Institute No. 17. We have named it the 'Earth Diver'."

"Based on our observations, this creature possesses 80% human characteristics; its facial features, limbs, and organs are essentially identical to those of humans."

"The difference is that different degrees of variation have appeared on its skin surface and some organs, which is the kind of hyperplasia you see. We call it 'worm-like hyperplasia'."

"Before this proliferation occurs, we can be certain that there is a 99% probability that it was once human."

"We speculate that this proliferation was caused by the influence of the legendary entity, the 'Earth Dragon,' located underground in Research Institute No. 17."

"We have determined that the medium through which this influence is the cult called 'River Mother' that was previously discovered in this area."

"The local civilians are more or less connected to this cult, and this belief has existed since before the imperial era and continues to this day."

"Based on some murals and myths and legends passed down orally by local residents, it has a history of at least three hundred years."

"The 'earth-dwelling beings' we see before us are suspected to be the result of cultists sacrificing young children and making them live underground for a long time, placing them under the influence of 'earth dragons'."

"We speculate that the legendary creature 'Earth Dragon' seems to possess some kind of organ that emits invisible sound waves, which is the source of the mutation of these 'Earth Divers'."

Upon hearing the researcher's introduction, the dean seemed to be deep in thought. Just as he was about to say something, a huge tremor suddenly came from beneath his feet, like an earthquake or like some giant creature turning over beneath his feet.

Just as the dean was wondering, the researcher shouted with delight.

"It's an earth dragon turning over! Dean, come with us quickly, this is a rare sight, even we who are stationed at Research Institute No. 17 only see it a few times a year."

As the researcher spoke, disregarding their difference in status, he pulled the dean towards the door.

and many more.

I said wait.

"It seems we've gone off-topic, haven't we? I asked you to talk about Lina, why are you bringing this up? It's interesting, but what does it have to do with what I want to know...?"

Inside the castle, Vittorio was engrossed in listening, only to be interrupted by the chirping of birds outside the window, which reminded him that what he wanted to know was about Lina and her teacher.

Lapland, annoyed by the interruption, sat cross-legged on the coffee cup tray, fuming.

"I haven't even gotten to the point yet! You want to know who her teacher is, and you insist on hearing me tell the whole story from the beginning! Do you want to hear it or not?!"

Vittorio was defeated.

"Okay, okay, I'm listening. You can continue, I won't interrupt."

"snort."

Lapland continued his story...

In short, the director was led by the researcher out of the gate of Institute No. 17 and onto a platform outside.

But when he looked up, he saw not the sky, but a vast expanse of dark rock walls. Because they were so huge and empty, they looked like an impenetrable, deep darkness.

When he looked down, what he saw was an even more nightmarish scene: a huge, bottomless mine pit, several stadium-sized, stretched out before him, leading all the way to the earth's core.

It turns out that Researcher No. 17 was built inside the stone wall next to a huge underground cavern!

Just as the dean was gazing down into the deep darkness, suddenly, the tremor occurred again.

A gigantic, indescribable creature, resembling a snake magnified billions of times, appeared at the bottom of the pit!