Witch Redemption

"She's quite cunning for her age," Li Lan commented.

"So, what do you want to say?"

After regaining her footing, Li Lan was the first to speak. Even though she was now disguised as "Caitlyn Nassa," as long as she didn't reveal her true identity and the other party didn't show too much hostility, Li Lan would rarely kill, especially this immature kid.

"There's a hidden force behind the scenes that's hired a lot of powerful guys to kill you. They say that if you bring your head to a guy named Kowell, you'll get a huge reward."

In reality, this was no big deal of information; it was common knowledge throughout the entire Skandar slum. However, Li Lan was completely withdrawn within the slum community, so he was extremely shocked when he heard the news. He never expected that a complete stranger would specifically ask for his head.

"Does Caitlin Nassa have that many enemies?"

It's tricky, it really feels like it's extremely tricky.

"Who is Kewell?" Li Lan had no idea how many people wanted him dead. In any case, there were plenty of them lately, and they all used any means necessary. He just wanted to know who was behind this and why they wanted to kill Caitlin Nassa.

"Noble, it's said to be an officer, and it seems you killed some of his relatives..." Given this little brat's experience, she naturally wouldn't know much information. Her current answer was just something she heard from some adults, without any evidence. She just instinctively felt that this might be useful to deceive this old woman.

"A military officer, or a nobleman?"

Li Lan was a little surprised.

...... ...... ......

After the minor incident, Li Lan was quite generous and gave the two portions of "relief food" for herself and Juliet to the group of hungry kids. Before leaving, she also helped to kill a few adults who had secretly followed them, so that these bastards would not attack the kids later.

"They're probably after the grain I have. These brats are really something."

"No one visits the temple without a reason," Li Lan thought. He even felt that if he hadn't intervened and intimidated these little devils, they might have turned out to be just as despicable as the adults who launched sneak attacks.

That's how the world is; you can't let your guard down just because the other person is an elderly person or a child.

Having finally returned to their ruined home, they were surprised to find that an elven man in a black military uniform had already gotten there first. Li Lan was no stranger to this man; he was the rumored "corpse collector," one of the watchers of the entire slum.

Wherever conflict breaks out, if the perpetrators are unable to collect the bodies of the dead, they must hire these people to do it. If they cannot pay them, the killers must be executed.

Li Lan had made preparations before entering the border city, so she quickly dealt with it using more than ten low-level magic cores.

"Major General Kowell has nothing to do with what happened here. Please don't believe the rumors. If you set your sights on that side, you'll bear the consequences. This is advice, after all, I still want to earn more money from you."

The stern-faced body collector left quickly, taking with him the three corpses that Li Lan hadn't had time to deal with that morning.

When the surroundings fell silent again, Li Lan's expression turned serious. It seemed that his conversation with those kids had been overheard, and he hadn't even realized he was being eavesdropped on? Was it because the other party hadn't shown any murderous intent?

Thinking about it carefully, he used to have the help of the black-haired Yu Hui, and he could live a smooth life. He could avoid certain risks by relying on the perception domain of the True God and the "survey" of the magic book. But now that he has lost this advantage, he seems to be in a very passive position.

"This is a bit troublesome. To be honest, given Caitlin Nassa's past personality, she shouldn't have bothered with the military. In other words, those kids might be deceiving me. No, whether they are deceiving me or not, I can't change the situation. This is a bit of a problem."

Faced with these continuous assassination attacks, the only options are to either cut off the source or passively defend.

Passive defense often means sitting and waiting for death, but with a severe lack of intelligence, Li Lan has no good solutions.

“Caitlin Nasa’s identity has been a hot potato from the beginning. If she could get a noble status, perhaps…” When she didn’t have a suitable identity, she was overwhelmed and at a loss. Now that she has a suitable identity, she is somewhat disgusted. Li Lan felt that she was being a bit too realistic.

"How? The best way to stay safe indefinitely is for me to be the only one left in this slum."

Li Lan was startled by this thought. He had never been so extreme before. Maybe he had really been annoyed by this lately.

Moreover, what he didn't expect was that the very next moment this thought crossed his mind, a barely perceptible fluctuation of thought came from the depths of his consciousness.

"Servant, you have a good idea, I like it very much. Although I don't know what's happening outside, if you're really that wicked, I can give you a big gift. Remember Leviathan's 'Hand of Abhoth'? That finger has regenerated a little. You could consider taking a small piece and infusing it into some uncontaminated land..."

The fluctuation of thought abruptly ceased, and the lifeless black-haired Yu Hui seemed to fall into a deep sleep once more, without informing Li Lan of the consequences of his actions.

"Uh, you can't even finish your sentence, how am I supposed to judge?"

Li Lan was somewhat surprised by the thoughts transmitted by the black-haired Yu Hui, but she did not complain at the moment, and was even a little worried.

From the moment they approached the Elf Kingdom, Black-haired Yu Hui and Leviathan inexplicably became more discreet. When he finally decided to enter the border of the Elf Kingdom, the two of them repeatedly declared that they should not be allowed to show themselves unless absolutely necessary, otherwise it might lead to an even more terrible disaster.

What could possibly make two people who should be high and mighty be so cautious? Li Lan didn't know, but he chose to trust them; there was no other way.

"Let's deal with the current crisis first. I originally planned to take advantage of the opportunity to enter the Elf Kingdom to investigate the Star Goddess Gaia that I had heard about before. Now it seems that in less than a month, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Plans can never keep up with changes."

The thought of not being able to get any rest tonight became a problem, and in a fit of anger, Li Lan decided to take a small, sealed iron box from her personal storage space.

...... ...... ......

In the completely dark underground space, the two elven girls who squeezed in through a crack groped around for a long time before finally finding a secret passage leading to the sewers.

The girl in the lead had numerous hideous scars on one side of her face. After entering this area, her tense nerves began to relax, as if she had found a gentle haven in her dreams.

Happiness—this is a "vocabulary" she learned from those two people, and it's also the driving force that has led them to where they are today.

"Fu, what about those two older sisters..."

The elven girl who spoke in a low voice was named Natalie. She was ten years old, a year older than Bifu. Her face was bruised and swollen, and it was unclear how long ago she had suffered a brutal beating. As a result, her expression and behavior were somewhat timid, unlike the assertive "leader."

"It's alright, they're still conscious. They're not monsters. As long as they're given enough food, they'll definitely recover."

Fu had forgotten how long ago it was since the two of them ate, since they couldn't take the food with them when they received "relief food" every day because it would be stolen.

So they usually had to secretly save a little bit of food and bring it over to the two of them, but they never expected that in the past few days even the little bit of food they had secretly saved would be looted.

If they hadn't been truly desperate, they wouldn't have bothered with that ruthless woman from the North District. Fortunately, the old woman wasn't so bad-hearted after all, and she kept her promise.

"Waaah—"

When she squeezed into the sewer, she was hit by a terrifying stench that was suffocating. Every time Natalie came here, she would have a miserable face and almost cry.

Only Fu, who must have gone through something in her childhood, could be so calm and composed.

"Hurry up, we can't leave for too long, or the ghosts will become suspicious."

No one knew what the little girl meant by "ghost." After entering the sewers, the two little ones walked along the abandoned, dried-up underground riverbed for several minutes before finally squeezing into a small room.

"Sister White Antelope, Sister Snow Antelope, we're here."

This little guy, whose face is extremely ugly on one side, once had the ability to show such a gentle and happy smile, which could even infect Natalie, who was resistant to this place.

"Yes, it's Fu..."

A faint sound came from the dark little room, like the last moments of a life, like a flickering candle flame that might be extinguished at any moment.

The elven girl named "Fu" excitedly led Natalie into the room. Having already gotten used to the darkness of the underground world, she could barely make out two humanoid, pitch-black monsters huddled together on the ground, with a strange, unopened black book floating beside them.

In addition, there were two greatswords with the same horn-shaped markings on their blades, leaning against the corner of the house.

"Is only Sister Snow Antelope awake? What about Sister White Antelope...?"

Faced with these unsettling words, the "monster" lurking in the darkness simply offered words of comfort, its weak voice somewhat indistinct, like the gurgling of boiling water, "She's fine, just a little tired."

"You two older sisters really have a hard time. Every time I come over, I can't find you both awake."

"Hehe, if we were all awake, you'd be in big trouble."

The "monster" in the darkness seemed to be hinting at something, and it appeared that even maintaining consciousness was incredibly difficult.

"Oh, right, Sister Xueling, I brought you something good today... this!"

"Why are there so many today?" The voice, as loud as boiling water, revealed surprise, but beyond surprise, there was more worry and vigilance.

"It's like this..."

The little girl recounted what had happened that day. She was a precocious and intelligent person, and she always picked out the key points to explain, managing to condense a whole host of experiences into just a few sentences.

"Hmm, it seems you've met a good person. Normally, they wouldn't be this easy to talk to."

Although I really wanted to say that there might be a trap involved, I hesitated for a long time and couldn't bear to say it. The world is so big, and there might be other beings similar to Rebecca and Susan, and these little ones.

"Really? But she seems really fierce, fiercer than any adult I've ever met."

"The kid next to her, who's about the same age, is pretty quiet. I'm a little envious," Natalie added timidly.

“Indeed, but we still have Sister Xue Ling and Sister Bai Ling. She should be the one envying us.”

Fu responded proudly, head held high, and the atmosphere began to quiet down.

Witnessing the "monster" in the darkness slowly devouring this hard-won food, both Fu and Natalie concealed their hunger. After all, children in the slums are like this; when they're hungry for a long time, it seems like they can never get enough to eat.

"Sister Xueling, is it not to your liking?" Fu felt uneasy when she saw the "monster" in the darkness stop moving.

"No, it's just you..."

“We’re not hungry. We’ve gone to great lengths to bring you food, and we don’t know when we’ll be able to do it again. The older sisters need this more than we do, so… so…”

Overwhelmed with sorrow, the two little ones suddenly burst into tears.

The tentacles that rose from the darkness were meant to comfort the little creature, but in the end they dared not extend them, for fear of frightening them.

"Thank you, you are truly our angels. It's so wonderful that we can stay true to ourselves for you. We will definitely work harder in the future too. Just don't push yourselves too hard. You must live well, because only by living can you have a future and hope."

"Yes, let's cheer each other on!"

The strength that belies her age is evident on the face of this nine-year-old girl; it speaks for itself without needing to be explicitly stated.

The principles of survival are simple and everyone can understand them, but even with just that, it's still difficult to live a good life.

Because the reality facing them right now is so cruel, and who can change it?

Chapter 16 The Source of Pollution

The sealed little iron box contained the finger of the "Hand of Abhoth," or rather, a mass of black, viscous flesh.

Li Lan only remembered that Leviathan had treasured this item ever since he obtained it, and he wouldn't have entrusted it to him if he hadn't come to the border of the elven kingdom a while ago.

He had never actually witnessed the power of this item firsthand; he had only heard that the ancient wills of Black Hair Feather Radiance and Leviathan had once disguised a small piece of similar substance as life-size and then tricked a newly resurrected Moonlight Ancient God.

When asked about it later, the two women simply commented, "Art is an explosion."

In other words, this small piece of material can perhaps be understood as "explosives made of flesh and blood," with considerable power.

In other words, this is all part of the body of a true god from beyond the realm. A mere drop of dark blood can kill a person, let alone this real body.

For a fleeting moment, Li Lan felt that the sealed iron box in her hand was Pandora's box from Earth's legends, and that once opened, it would likely cause irreparable consequences.

"Putting aside how dangerous this thing is, my current situation is not optimistic either. After all, I can't go on a killing spree. If I were to reveal my true strength as a witch, the subsequent events would definitely be contrary to my original purpose of sneaking into the border. This is the problem that's giving me a headache right now. The current situation has forced me to the point where I have no other choice."

Originally, he only intended to use Caitlin Nassa's past methods to intimidate the slave class here, and then continue to live a low-key life while waiting for the right opportunity.

But who knew that some guy hiding in the shadows would offer a huge sum of money for his head? That's not funny anymore.

Li Lan was new to this disgusting city and knew absolutely nothing about it. It would take him at least a year and a half to truly understand the city and slowly build his own network of relationships and intelligence. By then, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to find out who wanted to kill him.

But here's the problem: the other party isn't giving him any time at all, and they're willing to pay a hefty sum to take his life.

Li Lan had considered capturing a few unlucky guys and interrogating them, but these guys were the kind who would kill people as soon as they made a move. How could Li Lan dare to hold back?

Faced with such a life-or-death attack, let alone capturing them alive, sometimes it's even difficult to leave them with a whole corpse. Only a dead person can give him a sense of security.