At night, a ray of lit Timinoa headed north and followed the only road. The foothills stretched out, and the moon hung among the stars in the sky. The cold light penetrated into the gaps of the trees and sprinkled with clear light on the ground full of fallen leaves. The unknown night bird occasionally cried one or two deep in the depths, and was immediately interrupted by the sound of the branches.

Away from a distance, in the empty forest, there was a bonfire burning, and four figures sat around the fire, cooking dinner.

Langton broke a dead branch and threw it into the fire. He watched his companion named Linna stir the soup pot and put the ingredients picked from the mountains in it. The one-pot cooked may not be that delicious, but it is not so particular when you are away all year round and in the wilderness.

Another companion Carl sat on the stump, shaving the wooden stick boredly, the flames stroking, and her short green body held a scimitar and chased the crow above her head, "Gobu Gob, gaga--"

"I am the magnificent of the Nine Five. How can I see you like this? Your supper is mine!"

Grasping a piece of jerky snatched from Gaga's crotch, Jiu Ye landed on Xia Yi's shoulder over there. Gaga who chased after her stopped, and was so angry that she was still in place, waving her knife and jumping.

"I have the backbone, come on to me!" Master Jiu spread his wings and shouted.

The gaze next to the fire looked over and Lanton got up, scooped a bowl of soup from the pot, came here, sat next to Xia Yi, and handed the wooden bowl over.

"Stay overnight by the woods tonight, otherwise when you get inside, the ground will be wet and there will be many poisonous insects. It will be difficult to walk to Kamishire, but even if you rest here tonight, you may not be able to arrive on time tomorrow."

"Well, I've experienced a long journey and I won't be so slutty." Xia Yi took the wooden bowl and blew the rising heat: "By the way, ask one thing."

"You ask, as long as I know."

Xia Yi took a sip of hot soup and felt the heat slid into her stomach through her throat. She exhaled her lips very softly: "...Why are the upper country separate from the Southern Continent, but it is another country?"

"A country?" Before Langton could speak, Carl, who was sitting on the stump, wiped the dagger, put the carved wooden sticks into his arms, and spitted on the ground. "It's just two!"

"Carl!"

Langton tilted his head and kicked him. When he turned back, he looked at Xia Yi, and his face was a little confused: "Are you not from the upper country?"

"no."

On this side, the woman who was scooping the soup stopped, and Carl on the stump was also surprised, thinking that it was a bit different from their previous guesses.

Xia Yi saw their expressions and just smiled: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked the question I just now."

"So that's the case." Langton got a calm answer and felt relieved. He laughed: "Actually what Carl said just now is right. The upper country basically does not engage in labor. They are all supported by residents and land in the Southern Continent. Only in the war will people be sent to recruit soldiers and distribute some money to settle their families..."

"You didn't resist?"

"That's enough to beat them..." Langton wiped the ashes on his beard, and the fire was reflected in his eyes in his smile, "...The people in the upper country are all a group of blood-sucking insects from top to bottom."

As we walked along, Xia Yi didn't talk much with them, but as an employer, Xia Yi gave them a pretty good impression. After knowing that he was not from the northern country, he did not talk as cautious as before.

Langdon told him about the north, and the situation over there made Xia Yi feel incredible. This situation is actually very similar to the colonial rule in the old era of Earth, but after a different approach, the nobles of the Southern Continent became breeders of captive livestock.

After talking for a while, and after dinner, Langton brought a stall: "When the fire is about to go out, you can rely on these to keep warm, otherwise the fire will attract some beasts."

"That's not the right way to eat meat." Xia Yi joked. As an employer, he tried his best to act like an ordinary person, at least not reaching his destination. This is the case.

As he spoke, as soon as he shook his blanket, a subtle movement suddenly came from his feet. If it were ordinary people or the three adventurers over there, they would not be able to detect it at all.

The soil at Xia Yi's feet slightly raised out of small earth buns, and there was a rustling sound of digging soil inside. It arched the earth buns to approach the backpack. However, the soles of humans who had passed by suddenly turned and pressed on the road ahead.

"Interesting stuff..." Xia Yi reached out and grabbed it directly, broke through the soil, pinched something with his fingers, and took it out of the soil bun.

“Wow wow wow wow—”

A sharp scream suddenly sounded, and the three of them turned to look over, almost subconsciously drawing out their weapons. In front of their vision, they saw that Xia Yi's index finger and thumb were a human-shaped creature.

He has limbs similar to humans, dull skin color, very long arms, only three fingers in his palm, shoulders, head is larger than body, round face with baby fat, muddy soil, and feels particularly greasy.

"What is this?" Xia Yi held the little thing in front of him and shook at Langton over there.

The latter breathed a sigh of relief and inserted the hilt of the knife around his waist. He smiled and said, "That is a creature unique to this foothills. There is no threat. He will be attracted by the fire at night. He often likes to drill under the soil and steal food wrapped by travelers."

Xia Yi said "hmm, and as the struggle came from his hands, he unconsciously used force.

"Uh...I forgot to say, don't kill it, these little guys are hordes..."

Before Langton could finish his words, his eyes had already stopped in Xia Yi's hand. The little guy in his palm must have stopped moving, hanging from his fingers as if he was hanging...

"It seems that he is dead." Xia Yi looked around and looked at it, spread his hands at Langton, and then threw it into the nearby grass.

“…….”

Langton slashed his lips and didn't say anything. After a moment, he smiled bitterly: "Forget it, I'll pay more attention to it tonight. Although these little guys are not aggressive, once they are too many, it will cause a lot of trouble, especially for the creatures who killed their compatriots."

After dispatching the order of night, Xia Yi came to the fire and lay down with hay. Langton, Carl and the woman talked about some homely conversations by the fire.

As time passed, the night became deeper, and Xia Yi felt in a daze that there was a slight movement in the distant ground, so he opened his eyes and looked at it.

In the forest, there were countless dense gazes looking at this side, then sneaked into the soil and approached silently.

The next second, a high temperature seemed to lock them. The small bodies that were originally passing through the soil suddenly turned and ran away quickly towards the passage when they came.

The wind blew through the forest, and the gradually extinguished gunpowder swayed. Lina, who was on the night, heard the first noise, raised her head suddenly, grabbed the spear beside her, stood up, and spoke: "Be careful, there is...oh, why is it gone?"

Langton and Carl, who heard her voice, turned over and got up almost at the same time, and heard the woman's words: "Why are they missing?" He relaxed, went around to check and came back.

"The soil has been turned around, it must be those little guys coming to seek revenge..." Carl snorted, looked at Xia Yi who seemed to be asleep, and shrugged: "... But, it seems that he gave up in the end."

"Then go to bed, or follow the previous order of night duty."

The three of them came back to sit down, and they were quite puzzled about what had just happened, especially Lina, who was the most confused.

"..... It just seemed like I felt the temperature had risen a lot, is it an illusion?"

She sat down with a spear in her arms and thought.
Chapter completed!